ME and Ophelia
Sunday, June 27, 2004
HERE'S OPHELIA
To say hello
To say hello
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/27/2004
0 comments
Saturday, June 26, 2004
WHERE'S OPHELIA?
Resting - Mission accomplished
[Updated] This post is especially for Nick with love from little old me and ophelia. It was written into yesterday's post - to go with the "jazzy arm action of the foot tapping squirrel" that I found at Hank's - but pulled it for later because I didn't think life here by the seaside fitted in with the genocide in Darfur.
Over the past several weeks it's been pretty busy here. New balcony's almost installed. Four visitors for lunch Monday - the Longest Day, which means summer is on the wane. We've enjoyed superb weather for three whole weeks. Blue sky. Blue sea. No wind. I'll miss the carpenter when he's finished. Nice chap.
But he keeps running out of nails. And wood. And other bits and bobs. Off he goes for supplies and doesn't return for a week. Maybe he juggles different jobs and tells each customer the same story. Last week his van blew up which delayed things further. Today he returned to secure a temporary gate and a pipe that had fallen during a storm. And left five minutes later, grumbling about his suppliers. It's a good surprise when he turns up. We've had nice chats while eating dark chocolate covered ice cream on sticks, and even witnessed a baby seagull emerging from its egg.
Ophelia is as perfect as ever. She has lost her winter fur. And is all slim, sleek, soft and glossy. Right now she's catching up on sleep. A ginger Tom visits here every night. Heh. As soon as she goes out, he sneaks into the kitchen and sticks his nose into her food bowl. He must be casing the joint to know when she is out. She eats daintily and quietly. He rattles her dried food around making it sound like a bowl of marbles. So I know it is him. I get up to say hello but he hightails out. Ten minutes later Ophelia comes back in, looking happy and fine. It's a ritual, every evening around 10 o'clock.
The big news is that the crucial peace talks, due to open yesterday in Kenya, have been postponed for two days, seemingly to deal with "international community" pressure and find a way round negotiating Darfur into the peace deal. Kofi Annan and Colin Powell (with evidence of ethnic cleansing and an extra $95m in US aid) will be in Darfur and Khartoum on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mission here is accomplished.
Yesterday, I drafted a post "Did we bloggers make a difference?" I believe we did. (Update: I've emailed best British blogger Alistair Coleman and David Sifry, CEO of Technorati, to ask if there is a way to find out - note David's latest post: "Keyword search ads are live").
My draft conveys how grateful I am to my warm hearted readers for linking on the Sudan. Hope I didn't come across too pushy, time was of the essence because the rainy season peaks in July, afterwhich it'd all be too late. The response was amazing. Huge thanks to everyone. Sorry I have been too over tired to post original commentary or finish draft posts, comments and emails. Which is why I've had to resort to linking to reports these past weeks. Now that brilliant help is on its way for the people of Darfur, I need to take a blogging break for a few days. God bless the USA, UN aid, Dr James Moore and all the thousands of others helping the people of Sudan. With love to you all. Bye for now xx
PS In 1270 Marco Polo praised the carpets of Kerman as a marvel to see. Kerman is still one of the great cities for Persian Carpets. The Kerman Carpet has a rich tradition. Here is a great find for anyone interested in Persian carpets and rugs: Barry O'Connell's Kerman Carpet blog and his RugNotes blog out of Washington, DC.
- - -
Update - inserted Saturday morning 10:40: I have updated the above post - tidied text and inserted links into my summary on: UN head meeting Powell in Khartoum over Darfur with evidence of ethnic cleansing, extra $95m from the US, summary of UN aid, two day postponement of peace talks (at the request of both sides to give more time for consultation) - and Barry's RugNotes blog. Further updates may appear here below over the next few days.
In the meantime for those wishing to take action, "Survivors United to Save the Women of Darfur, Sudan from the Genocide" have useful links, addresses and photos [via Jim Moore's Journal today].
Also, the latest major breaking news on the Sudan crisis, posted as and when it occurs, is at Jim's Journal or the Passion weblogs out of Harvard - and at Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit.
Here is the latest full story from the New York Times on June 26: "U.N. Chief to Join Powell in Sudan to Try to Halt Massacres" at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/international/africa/26NATI.html?ex=1403582400&en=eb7b7bae5e8316b2&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
Note: June 26 via Mathaba: "Sudan - London Conference on Alternatives to Government, Darfur. An important conference being held by Sudanese civil society this evening in London will explore the alternatives to the current Sudan islamist dictatorship regime based in Khartoum."
- - -
And some more great news - via the BBC on June 25: "Deal agreed to avert DR Congo war. The presidents of Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have agreed to abide by a 2002 peace pact to avoid renewed conflict in the region."
And this too, on Iraq - via BBC June 26: "US and EU have pledged strong support to the new Iraqi government ahead of the June 30 transfer of power. The leaders issued a joint statement at the end of a summit in Ireland saying Baghdad needed the world's backing if Iraq was to become a democratic nation. It is Mr Bush's first official visit to the Irish Republic."
- - -
HISTORIC DAY AND QUOTATION
US hands over sovereignty in Iraq
This post inserted on June 28, 2004: Today, BBCreports that the US has formally handed over power in Iraq, two days ahead of schedule. At a low-key ceremony in Baghdad, US administrator Paul Bremer gave legal documents to an Iraqi judge. He later left the country by plane.
Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who also took part in the ceremony in the heavily-guarded Green Zone, said it was "a historic day". Hours later, Mr Allawi was officially sworn in along with the other members of his government. After formally taking office, he said the transfer of power was a "massive victory" for the forces of good in Iraq. "This is a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to" Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
- - -
Quotation of the day, courtesy of the New York Times:
"We have the forces. We have the judicial system, and he is going to go to court. It's going to be a just trial, unlike the trials that he gave to the Iraqi people."
IYAD ALLAWI, Iraq's interim prime minister, on taking custody of Saddam Hussein.
- - -
PRIVATE SPACE CRAFT FASTER THAN M-16 RIFLE BULLET
63 year-old pilot became an astronaut while floating M&Ms
Had I had not been so busy with visitors and blogging about the Sudan crisis, I would have posted on the historic event that took place at Mohave Airport in America: the flight of the world's first privately funded craft into sub orbital space.
Millions of people around the world watched the finger nail biting event. It took place on Monday and was attended by former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and Konrad Dannenberg, one of Werner Von Braun's lead scientists on America's original space development.
63 year-old American test pilot Mike Melvill travelled "faster than an M-16 rifle bullet" in SpaceShipOne, at about around 2400 km/h (1500 mph) or mach 3.2, and reached an altitude of 62 miles, which qualified him as an astronaut during the world's first privately funded venture into sub orbital space. When pilots reach 100 km above the Earth, it qualifies them as an astronaut.
Melvill said: "As it reentered the atmosphere, falling like a badminton shuttlecock almost straight down, the rushing air sounded like a hurricane. Coming down is frightening, because of that roaring sound. You can really hear how that vehicle is being pounded." But it was the sublime view that affected him the most. "The sky was jet black, with light blue along the horizon - it was really an awesome sight," he said. "You really do get the feeling that you've touched the face of God."
NASA can take comfort from the number of hair raising glitches that occurred during the flight. Take a read of this New Scientist report at Gavin's Blog - and put yourself in the pilot's shoes.
On TV news I saw Melvill's perfect landing and marvelled at the tiny craft, it's chubby belly of painted stars, dinky wheels and port hole windows. Upon landing, he stuck his arm straight out of the cockpit window and waved excitedly. He jumped out of the craft, bounded up to the waiting journalists, and cheerily explained how, to see weightlessness in action, he'd opened a packet of M&Ms and was thrilled to see them float around him. The TV newscaster remarked it probably wasn't the sort of thing the sponsor Microsoft had in mind for the pilot to say when he landed back on Earth :-)
Blogging pathologist Madhu asks "what would a pathologist do in space?" My favourite Silicon Valley techies James Lee and Don Park posted some neat pictures. Great photo too over at Shelley Powers' Burningbird.
Resting - Mission accomplished
[Updated] This post is especially for Nick with love from little old me and ophelia. It was written into yesterday's post - to go with the "jazzy arm action of the foot tapping squirrel" that I found at Hank's - but pulled it for later because I didn't think life here by the seaside fitted in with the genocide in Darfur.
Over the past several weeks it's been pretty busy here. New balcony's almost installed. Four visitors for lunch Monday - the Longest Day, which means summer is on the wane. We've enjoyed superb weather for three whole weeks. Blue sky. Blue sea. No wind. I'll miss the carpenter when he's finished. Nice chap.
But he keeps running out of nails. And wood. And other bits and bobs. Off he goes for supplies and doesn't return for a week. Maybe he juggles different jobs and tells each customer the same story. Last week his van blew up which delayed things further. Today he returned to secure a temporary gate and a pipe that had fallen during a storm. And left five minutes later, grumbling about his suppliers. It's a good surprise when he turns up. We've had nice chats while eating dark chocolate covered ice cream on sticks, and even witnessed a baby seagull emerging from its egg.
Ophelia is as perfect as ever. She has lost her winter fur. And is all slim, sleek, soft and glossy. Right now she's catching up on sleep. A ginger Tom visits here every night. Heh. As soon as she goes out, he sneaks into the kitchen and sticks his nose into her food bowl. He must be casing the joint to know when she is out. She eats daintily and quietly. He rattles her dried food around making it sound like a bowl of marbles. So I know it is him. I get up to say hello but he hightails out. Ten minutes later Ophelia comes back in, looking happy and fine. It's a ritual, every evening around 10 o'clock.
The big news is that the crucial peace talks, due to open yesterday in Kenya, have been postponed for two days, seemingly to deal with "international community" pressure and find a way round negotiating Darfur into the peace deal. Kofi Annan and Colin Powell (with evidence of ethnic cleansing and an extra $95m in US aid) will be in Darfur and Khartoum on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mission here is accomplished.
Yesterday, I drafted a post "Did we bloggers make a difference?" I believe we did. (Update: I've emailed best British blogger Alistair Coleman and David Sifry, CEO of Technorati, to ask if there is a way to find out - note David's latest post: "Keyword search ads are live").
My draft conveys how grateful I am to my warm hearted readers for linking on the Sudan. Hope I didn't come across too pushy, time was of the essence because the rainy season peaks in July, afterwhich it'd all be too late. The response was amazing. Huge thanks to everyone. Sorry I have been too over tired to post original commentary or finish draft posts, comments and emails. Which is why I've had to resort to linking to reports these past weeks. Now that brilliant help is on its way for the people of Darfur, I need to take a blogging break for a few days. God bless the USA, UN aid, Dr James Moore and all the thousands of others helping the people of Sudan. With love to you all. Bye for now xx
PS In 1270 Marco Polo praised the carpets of Kerman as a marvel to see. Kerman is still one of the great cities for Persian Carpets. The Kerman Carpet has a rich tradition. Here is a great find for anyone interested in Persian carpets and rugs: Barry O'Connell's Kerman Carpet blog and his RugNotes blog out of Washington, DC.
- - -
Update - inserted Saturday morning 10:40: I have updated the above post - tidied text and inserted links into my summary on: UN head meeting Powell in Khartoum over Darfur with evidence of ethnic cleansing, extra $95m from the US, summary of UN aid, two day postponement of peace talks (at the request of both sides to give more time for consultation) - and Barry's RugNotes blog. Further updates may appear here below over the next few days.
In the meantime for those wishing to take action, "Survivors United to Save the Women of Darfur, Sudan from the Genocide" have useful links, addresses and photos [via Jim Moore's Journal today].
Also, the latest major breaking news on the Sudan crisis, posted as and when it occurs, is at Jim's Journal or the Passion weblogs out of Harvard - and at Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit.
Here is the latest full story from the New York Times on June 26: "U.N. Chief to Join Powell in Sudan to Try to Halt Massacres" at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/international/africa/26NATI.html?ex=1403582400&en=eb7b7bae5e8316b2&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
Note: June 26 via Mathaba: "Sudan - London Conference on Alternatives to Government, Darfur. An important conference being held by Sudanese civil society this evening in London will explore the alternatives to the current Sudan islamist dictatorship regime based in Khartoum."
- - -
And some more great news - via the BBC on June 25: "Deal agreed to avert DR Congo war. The presidents of Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have agreed to abide by a 2002 peace pact to avoid renewed conflict in the region."
And this too, on Iraq - via BBC June 26: "US and EU have pledged strong support to the new Iraqi government ahead of the June 30 transfer of power. The leaders issued a joint statement at the end of a summit in Ireland saying Baghdad needed the world's backing if Iraq was to become a democratic nation. It is Mr Bush's first official visit to the Irish Republic."
- - -
HISTORIC DAY AND QUOTATION
US hands over sovereignty in Iraq
This post inserted on June 28, 2004: Today, BBCreports that the US has formally handed over power in Iraq, two days ahead of schedule. At a low-key ceremony in Baghdad, US administrator Paul Bremer gave legal documents to an Iraqi judge. He later left the country by plane.
Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who also took part in the ceremony in the heavily-guarded Green Zone, said it was "a historic day". Hours later, Mr Allawi was officially sworn in along with the other members of his government. After formally taking office, he said the transfer of power was a "massive victory" for the forces of good in Iraq. "This is a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to" Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
- - -
Quotation of the day, courtesy of the New York Times:
"We have the forces. We have the judicial system, and he is going to go to court. It's going to be a just trial, unlike the trials that he gave to the Iraqi people."
IYAD ALLAWI, Iraq's interim prime minister, on taking custody of Saddam Hussein.
- - -
PRIVATE SPACE CRAFT FASTER THAN M-16 RIFLE BULLET
63 year-old pilot became an astronaut while floating M&Ms
Had I had not been so busy with visitors and blogging about the Sudan crisis, I would have posted on the historic event that took place at Mohave Airport in America: the flight of the world's first privately funded craft into sub orbital space.
Millions of people around the world watched the finger nail biting event. It took place on Monday and was attended by former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and Konrad Dannenberg, one of Werner Von Braun's lead scientists on America's original space development.
63 year-old American test pilot Mike Melvill travelled "faster than an M-16 rifle bullet" in SpaceShipOne, at about around 2400 km/h (1500 mph) or mach 3.2, and reached an altitude of 62 miles, which qualified him as an astronaut during the world's first privately funded venture into sub orbital space. When pilots reach 100 km above the Earth, it qualifies them as an astronaut.
Melvill said: "As it reentered the atmosphere, falling like a badminton shuttlecock almost straight down, the rushing air sounded like a hurricane. Coming down is frightening, because of that roaring sound. You can really hear how that vehicle is being pounded." But it was the sublime view that affected him the most. "The sky was jet black, with light blue along the horizon - it was really an awesome sight," he said. "You really do get the feeling that you've touched the face of God."
NASA can take comfort from the number of hair raising glitches that occurred during the flight. Take a read of this New Scientist report at Gavin's Blog - and put yourself in the pilot's shoes.
On TV news I saw Melvill's perfect landing and marvelled at the tiny craft, it's chubby belly of painted stars, dinky wheels and port hole windows. Upon landing, he stuck his arm straight out of the cockpit window and waved excitedly. He jumped out of the craft, bounded up to the waiting journalists, and cheerily explained how, to see weightlessness in action, he'd opened a packet of M&Ms and was thrilled to see them float around him. The TV newscaster remarked it probably wasn't the sort of thing the sponsor Microsoft had in mind for the pilot to say when he landed back on Earth :-)
Blogging pathologist Madhu asks "what would a pathologist do in space?" My favourite Silicon Valley techies James Lee and Don Park posted some neat pictures. Great photo too over at Shelley Powers' Burningbird.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/26/2004
0 comments
Friday, June 25, 2004
DARFUR AID WORKER'S BLOG STYLE DIARY
'The scale of the need... is overwhelming'
Blog style diary of aid worker Marcus Prior as he travelled with the World Food Programme (WFP) to visit the refugees caught up in what the UN has described as the worst humanitarian situation in the world.
- - -
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
Courtesy New York Times
"We were expecting such an escalation, and we will witness more in the next few weeks. We will deal with it and crush it." - IYAD ALLAWI, Iraq's prime minister.
'The scale of the need... is overwhelming'
Blog style diary of aid worker Marcus Prior as he travelled with the World Food Programme (WFP) to visit the refugees caught up in what the UN has described as the worst humanitarian situation in the world.
- - -
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
Courtesy New York Times
"We were expecting such an escalation, and we will witness more in the next few weeks. We will deal with it and crush it." - IYAD ALLAWI, Iraq's prime minister.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/25/2004
0 comments
Thursday, June 24, 2004
INSTALANCHED ON THE SUDAN
In England
On Monday, I received acknowledgement of the letter I emailed to my Member of Parliament, Oliver Letwin, re the Sudan crisis. Over the weekend I'd spoken to two friends who said the Sudan was being prayed for in their churches. Currently, I am working on several draft posts for publishing here next week, and catching up on thanks to all who have picked up on my Sudan posts.
A few days ago, I received a lovely surprise email from Madhu saying she had sent my blog URL to the big one. As a result, this blog got instalanched by a whoosh of unidentifiable strangers who rushed in and out of here like a swarm of locusts without a hi or bye :-)
Madhu, who holds the oil-for-food scandal close to her heart, kindly linked to my posts on the Sudan three times. In one, she asked: "Wouldn't it be amazing if millions took to the streets to protest this?" Yes I agree Madhu, it would be amazing - especially since it's like pulling elephants teeth trying to get bloggers interested in linking to the latest news at passionofthepresent.org :-)
Big hugs to Doctors Madhu and Reynolds. Loved the catblogging.
- - -
INSTALANCHED ON THE SUDAN
In Malaysia and Boston
Happily, Rajan Rishyakaran, blogging out of Malaysia, also got Instalanched by Prof Reynolds on his Sudan post. Also it was good to see the big one had picked up on Jim Moore's heartfelt post entitled: "I'm surprised more of the blogosphere is not picking up on the new developments about Sudan and Darfur, and the possibility of US and UK military intervention"
Gentleman Jim praised Rajan for the powerful annotated list of links on the genocide in Darfur and suggested that readers copy it to their friends.
Further reading:
"Pull Together" at passionofthepresent.org.
Blackfive's "Sudan - America Must Act Now".
Gregory Djerejian's Belgravia Despatch from Belgrave Square in London.
Nicholas Kristof, in his recent NYT editorial, says readers keep asking him what they can do about the genocide unfolding in Darfur, so he listed some links for readers. Patrick Hall has thoughtfully "html-ized" the links at links in his blog The Horn of Africa.
- - -
SUDAN: WHAT IS ANNAN WAITING FOR?
By Jihad Watch blog
Thanks to Rajan Rishyakaran for pointing to Jihad Watch's post on the Sudan - "What is Annan waiting for?" - it has attracted many comments that make interesting reading.
Having asked myself the same question two months ago, I've spent every day since looking into an answer. Over the coming weeks and months I hope to complete several draft posts I've worked on since April. The answer to Jihad Watch's question is more complicated than one would imagine. I am working on articulating the answer in a simple way. Easier said than done.
Further reading:
Jim Moore: "Kofi Annan's role in the Sudan genocide".
Kathleen Nelson's Cake Eater Chronicles [via Instapundit]: Annan, the UN (interesting comments), Humanity (note comment) and SPLM/A.
- - -
JAZZY ARM ACTION
By foot tapping squirrel
Check out the jazzy arm action of Hank's foot tapping squirrel. Click into his blog Quadrophenia and wait for the squirrel to show below "about me". Please be patient, it takes less than a minute to load and is worth the wait, I promise.
For some reason I cannot find any archives at Jim Moore's Journal or at passionofthepresent.org. Maybe the squirrel will bring some cheer to Jim (who says his brother plays the harmonica) when his roses in blender fade and disappear into the ether ;-)
- - -
LONDON SKY
Work in progress
Thanks to Madhu at ChaiTeaLatte for finding this little gem containing photo essays from 39 year-old sculptor Richard Saum.
Richard lives and works in King's Cross, London. His studio is in a Victorian freight depot on strategic real estate near the canal, due for development in 2007. He blogs about other small businesses and people such as furniture maker Richard Newnham, who has a beautiful workshop on the Berlin Bank - and Joel Cockrill, a photographer, film-maker, location finder, who has just started blogging at A Sense of Place.
In England
On Monday, I received acknowledgement of the letter I emailed to my Member of Parliament, Oliver Letwin, re the Sudan crisis. Over the weekend I'd spoken to two friends who said the Sudan was being prayed for in their churches. Currently, I am working on several draft posts for publishing here next week, and catching up on thanks to all who have picked up on my Sudan posts.
A few days ago, I received a lovely surprise email from Madhu saying she had sent my blog URL to the big one. As a result, this blog got instalanched by a whoosh of unidentifiable strangers who rushed in and out of here like a swarm of locusts without a hi or bye :-)
Madhu, who holds the oil-for-food scandal close to her heart, kindly linked to my posts on the Sudan three times. In one, she asked: "Wouldn't it be amazing if millions took to the streets to protest this?" Yes I agree Madhu, it would be amazing - especially since it's like pulling elephants teeth trying to get bloggers interested in linking to the latest news at passionofthepresent.org :-)
Big hugs to Doctors Madhu and Reynolds. Loved the catblogging.
- - -
INSTALANCHED ON THE SUDAN
In Malaysia and Boston
Happily, Rajan Rishyakaran, blogging out of Malaysia, also got Instalanched by Prof Reynolds on his Sudan post. Also it was good to see the big one had picked up on Jim Moore's heartfelt post entitled: "I'm surprised more of the blogosphere is not picking up on the new developments about Sudan and Darfur, and the possibility of US and UK military intervention"
Gentleman Jim praised Rajan for the powerful annotated list of links on the genocide in Darfur and suggested that readers copy it to their friends.
Further reading:
"Pull Together" at passionofthepresent.org.
Blackfive's "Sudan - America Must Act Now".
Gregory Djerejian's Belgravia Despatch from Belgrave Square in London.
Nicholas Kristof, in his recent NYT editorial, says readers keep asking him what they can do about the genocide unfolding in Darfur, so he listed some links for readers. Patrick Hall has thoughtfully "html-ized" the links at links in his blog The Horn of Africa.
- - -
SUDAN: WHAT IS ANNAN WAITING FOR?
By Jihad Watch blog
Thanks to Rajan Rishyakaran for pointing to Jihad Watch's post on the Sudan - "What is Annan waiting for?" - it has attracted many comments that make interesting reading.
Having asked myself the same question two months ago, I've spent every day since looking into an answer. Over the coming weeks and months I hope to complete several draft posts I've worked on since April. The answer to Jihad Watch's question is more complicated than one would imagine. I am working on articulating the answer in a simple way. Easier said than done.
Further reading:
Jim Moore: "Kofi Annan's role in the Sudan genocide".
Kathleen Nelson's Cake Eater Chronicles [via Instapundit]: Annan, the UN (interesting comments), Humanity (note comment) and SPLM/A.
- - -
JAZZY ARM ACTION
By foot tapping squirrel
Check out the jazzy arm action of Hank's foot tapping squirrel. Click into his blog Quadrophenia and wait for the squirrel to show below "about me". Please be patient, it takes less than a minute to load and is worth the wait, I promise.
For some reason I cannot find any archives at Jim Moore's Journal or at passionofthepresent.org. Maybe the squirrel will bring some cheer to Jim (who says his brother plays the harmonica) when his roses in blender fade and disappear into the ether ;-)
- - -
LONDON SKY
Work in progress
Thanks to Madhu at ChaiTeaLatte for finding this little gem containing photo essays from 39 year-old sculptor Richard Saum.
Richard lives and works in King's Cross, London. His studio is in a Victorian freight depot on strategic real estate near the canal, due for development in 2007. He blogs about other small businesses and people such as furniture maker Richard Newnham, who has a beautiful workshop on the Berlin Bank - and Joel Cockrill, a photographer, film-maker, location finder, who has just started blogging at A Sense of Place.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/24/2004
4 comments
- - -
FIRST HAND IMPRESSIONS OF DARFUR -
By blogging political scientist Daniel Geffen
A few minutes ago, Daniel Geffen left a comment at my previous post. He wrote: "I attended a Darfur-themed breakfast this morning with Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times and the Secretary General of CARE International. I've posted a report on what they had to say here, if you're interested."
Thanks for that Daniel. I've not yet had a chance to read it. Thought I would share it here first. And write more later on. Looking forward to reading it right now. Looks great.
Here is an excerpt from Daniel's opening paragraph:
"I just got back from a breakfast hosted by CARE International, where NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, CARE Secretary General Denis Caillaux and Peter Dut (one of the "lost boys" of Sudan) spoke on the crisis in Darfur. It was an emotionally wrenching event.
Dut's description of his flight from the civil war in southern Sudan as an orphaned 5-year-old was particularly affecting to this new father. But beyond the effective plea for support, the speakers also provided some counter-intuitive points that are worth considering. I hope I'm not breaking any rules by offering these notes, so here they are.
- - -
Note: Daniel Geffen of The Bonassus weblog is working on his PhD in political science at Columbia University. Before going to graduate school, he worked as a legislative assistant to a member of the US House of Representatives for three years. He has also been a visiting researcher at the New Zealand Institute for Economic Research.
FIRST HAND IMPRESSIONS OF DARFUR -
By blogging political scientist Daniel Geffen
A few minutes ago, Daniel Geffen left a comment at my previous post. He wrote: "I attended a Darfur-themed breakfast this morning with Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times and the Secretary General of CARE International. I've posted a report on what they had to say here, if you're interested."
Thanks for that Daniel. I've not yet had a chance to read it. Thought I would share it here first. And write more later on. Looking forward to reading it right now. Looks great.
Here is an excerpt from Daniel's opening paragraph:
"I just got back from a breakfast hosted by CARE International, where NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, CARE Secretary General Denis Caillaux and Peter Dut (one of the "lost boys" of Sudan) spoke on the crisis in Darfur. It was an emotionally wrenching event.
Dut's description of his flight from the civil war in southern Sudan as an orphaned 5-year-old was particularly affecting to this new father. But beyond the effective plea for support, the speakers also provided some counter-intuitive points that are worth considering. I hope I'm not breaking any rules by offering these notes, so here they are.
- - -
Note: Daniel Geffen of The Bonassus weblog is working on his PhD in political science at Columbia University. Before going to graduate school, he worked as a legislative assistant to a member of the US House of Representatives for three years. He has also been a visiting researcher at the New Zealand Institute for Economic Research.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/24/2004
0 comments
- - -
US SECRETARY OF STATE TO VISIT DARFUR
Colin Powell will visit Khartoum Tuesday
Today Reuters reports Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Sudan's Darfur region next week to pressure Khartoum to stop the humanitarian crisis caused by government-backed militias attacking residents.
Interesting news but not unexpected given that the Peace Accord talks formally open in Kenya tomorrow and Kofi Annan is due to visit Darfur next week. The rebel SPLM/A and JEM launched a revolt in Darfur last year, accusing the government of neglect and of arming Arab units known as Janjaweed militias, who loot and burn ethnic African villages. Khartoum has denied the charges. Sudanese government teams met with the SPLM/A and JEM in Paris (and possibly Germany) early this week as the first round of peace talks and workshops began on Tuesday June 22 before formally starting in Kenya tomorrow June 25.
Report excerpt: "The State Department said Powell will visit the capital, Khartoum, on Tuesday as well as the western region of Darfur, where U.S. officials accuse Khartoum-supported militias of 'ethnic cleansing' against black Africans.
"The secretary will make clear our concern about the people in Darfur (and) will make clear that we believe that much of the hardship has been caused by the activities and the violence perpetrated by the militias," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
"The secretary's visit to Sudan is intended to continue to call attention to the dire humanitarian situation in Darfur, to do whatever we can to stop the violence there, and to make sure that the needy people of that region receive supplies," he added.
- - -
Update inserted 21.10 HRS June 24 via Xinhuanet: Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey left Switzerland today for a three-day trip to Sudan where she is expected to witness the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
It is the first visit by a Swiss foreign minister to the African nation, which has been plagued by fighting and civil war for 21 years. According to the foreign ministry, Calmy-Rey will visit camps set up for displaced persons in Darfur.
Calmy-Rey is also expected to discuss the peace process and bilateral relations with Sudanese officials in the capital, Khartoum, during her visit. But the foreign ministry would not confirm whether Calmy-Rey was traveling to Sudan to mediate a peace deal for Darfur.
Switzerland played a key role in brokering a truce between the Muslim-led government in the north and rebels in the Christian south. But despite encouraging steps towards peace in southern Sudan, the separate conflict in the western region of Darfur has continued to rage since early 2003.
- - -
Update 24 June: UN: UN health envoy visits Darfur camps to assess humanitarian needs.
June 24 allAfrica: "Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) today announced they are leaving Washington on Friday night for Darfur to assess humanitarian crisis.
US SECRETARY OF STATE TO VISIT DARFUR
Colin Powell will visit Khartoum Tuesday
Today Reuters reports Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Sudan's Darfur region next week to pressure Khartoum to stop the humanitarian crisis caused by government-backed militias attacking residents.
Interesting news but not unexpected given that the Peace Accord talks formally open in Kenya tomorrow and Kofi Annan is due to visit Darfur next week. The rebel SPLM/A and JEM launched a revolt in Darfur last year, accusing the government of neglect and of arming Arab units known as Janjaweed militias, who loot and burn ethnic African villages. Khartoum has denied the charges. Sudanese government teams met with the SPLM/A and JEM in Paris (and possibly Germany) early this week as the first round of peace talks and workshops began on Tuesday June 22 before formally starting in Kenya tomorrow June 25.
Report excerpt: "The State Department said Powell will visit the capital, Khartoum, on Tuesday as well as the western region of Darfur, where U.S. officials accuse Khartoum-supported militias of 'ethnic cleansing' against black Africans.
"The secretary will make clear our concern about the people in Darfur (and) will make clear that we believe that much of the hardship has been caused by the activities and the violence perpetrated by the militias," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
"The secretary's visit to Sudan is intended to continue to call attention to the dire humanitarian situation in Darfur, to do whatever we can to stop the violence there, and to make sure that the needy people of that region receive supplies," he added.
- - -
Update inserted 21.10 HRS June 24 via Xinhuanet: Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey left Switzerland today for a three-day trip to Sudan where she is expected to witness the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
It is the first visit by a Swiss foreign minister to the African nation, which has been plagued by fighting and civil war for 21 years. According to the foreign ministry, Calmy-Rey will visit camps set up for displaced persons in Darfur.
Calmy-Rey is also expected to discuss the peace process and bilateral relations with Sudanese officials in the capital, Khartoum, during her visit. But the foreign ministry would not confirm whether Calmy-Rey was traveling to Sudan to mediate a peace deal for Darfur.
Switzerland played a key role in brokering a truce between the Muslim-led government in the north and rebels in the Christian south. But despite encouraging steps towards peace in southern Sudan, the separate conflict in the western region of Darfur has continued to rage since early 2003.
- - -
Update 24 June: UN: UN health envoy visits Darfur camps to assess humanitarian needs.
June 24 allAfrica: "Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) today announced they are leaving Washington on Friday night for Darfur to assess humanitarian crisis.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/24/2004
0 comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
SOUTH KOREAN HOSTAGE
Kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq
A South Korean hostage threatened with execution in Iraq was killed yesterday by a group of al-Queda linked kidnappers after Seoul rejected demands for South Korea to stop contributing troops to U.S.-led forces in Iraq. The beheaded body of translator Kim Sun-il, 33 was found on the road between Baghdad and Falluja in Iraq. Today ABC reports that an Islamist web site has posted a videotape of the beheading. Condolences to young man's family, friends and colleagues. God Bless and Rest In Peace Kim Sun-il + + +
James Lee asks Where do we go from here? My answer is, we keep on going with even stronger resolve against the evil of terrorism and continue to help protect those who are defenceless in the face of abhorrent cruelty and savagery, and battle for equal human rights.
Don Park's post, detailing an Appeal by 365 Korean organisations to the Iraqi group that were holding the Korean national, has attracted comments that make interesting reading. Recently, a friend of mine advised me to follow what is happening North Korea. I do keep my eye on the news and will blog about North Korea at a later date.
- - -
Update June 24: Don Park commented on this post, quote: "Kim Sun-il had an Iraqi security guard when he was kidnapped. It's sad that nobody cares about his disappearance. So sad." [Note, if anyone hears any further news on this, I would be interested to know. Thanks. Ingrid]
- - -
The following inserts were added here on June 24:
June 24 Rajan Rishyakaran's post: "Kim Sun-il, RIP".
June 23 Instapundit's post in full:
"ANDREW BOLT WRITES THAT WE'RE BEHEADING OURSELVES, and the media are the knife":
"Not only did Saddam house and help terrorists, including Abu Abbas, Abu Nidal, Palestinian suicide bombers and a bomb-maker of the 1993 World Trade Centre attack, but his scientists worked on chemical and biological weapons up until the war, as the Iraq Survey Group now confirms. The day would surely come when Saddam's weapons and the terrorists who wanted them finally met.
This is what Bush, Britain's Tony Blair and our John Howard warned of. But now this history is being shamelessly rewritten in the media.
This week's 9/11 commission reports also said Saddam approached al-Qaida at least three times when it was based in Sudan, and again, it seems, when it was in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden asked for training camps and weapons, but, the reports claim, "Iraq apparently never responded", and the talks "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship", although at least one Iraqi terrorist group did join his "broader Islamic army".
The reports for some reason don't discuss other reported links between Iraq and al-Qaida, but cautiously conclude: "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaida co-operated on attacks against the United States."
So there were links between Saddam and al-Qaida, not to mention other terrorists, but no proof (yet) of active collaboration or co-operation in the September 11 attacks.
This is almost word for word what Bush has long said.
"We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September 11th," he repeated on CNN last year. But there was evidence "that he has been involved with al-Qaida".
Yet ABC TV news said this week's reports prove al-Qaida "had no links with Saddam Hussein, as suggested by the White House", and ABC's The World Today added: "One of the Bush administration's central arguments for going to war with Iraq appears to be in tatters." As if Bush had blamed Iraq for the September 11 attacks. The liar.
More of this and al-Nashami can take it easy. We'll have cut our own throats already.
Ouch."
Kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq
A South Korean hostage threatened with execution in Iraq was killed yesterday by a group of al-Queda linked kidnappers after Seoul rejected demands for South Korea to stop contributing troops to U.S.-led forces in Iraq. The beheaded body of translator Kim Sun-il, 33 was found on the road between Baghdad and Falluja in Iraq. Today ABC reports that an Islamist web site has posted a videotape of the beheading. Condolences to young man's family, friends and colleagues. God Bless and Rest In Peace Kim Sun-il + + +
James Lee asks Where do we go from here? My answer is, we keep on going with even stronger resolve against the evil of terrorism and continue to help protect those who are defenceless in the face of abhorrent cruelty and savagery, and battle for equal human rights.
Don Park's post, detailing an Appeal by 365 Korean organisations to the Iraqi group that were holding the Korean national, has attracted comments that make interesting reading. Recently, a friend of mine advised me to follow what is happening North Korea. I do keep my eye on the news and will blog about North Korea at a later date.
- - -
Update June 24: Don Park commented on this post, quote: "Kim Sun-il had an Iraqi security guard when he was kidnapped. It's sad that nobody cares about his disappearance. So sad." [Note, if anyone hears any further news on this, I would be interested to know. Thanks. Ingrid]
- - -
The following inserts were added here on June 24:
June 24 Rajan Rishyakaran's post: "Kim Sun-il, RIP".
June 23 Instapundit's post in full:
"ANDREW BOLT WRITES THAT WE'RE BEHEADING OURSELVES, and the media are the knife":
"Not only did Saddam house and help terrorists, including Abu Abbas, Abu Nidal, Palestinian suicide bombers and a bomb-maker of the 1993 World Trade Centre attack, but his scientists worked on chemical and biological weapons up until the war, as the Iraq Survey Group now confirms. The day would surely come when Saddam's weapons and the terrorists who wanted them finally met.
This is what Bush, Britain's Tony Blair and our John Howard warned of. But now this history is being shamelessly rewritten in the media.
This week's 9/11 commission reports also said Saddam approached al-Qaida at least three times when it was based in Sudan, and again, it seems, when it was in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden asked for training camps and weapons, but, the reports claim, "Iraq apparently never responded", and the talks "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship", although at least one Iraqi terrorist group did join his "broader Islamic army".
The reports for some reason don't discuss other reported links between Iraq and al-Qaida, but cautiously conclude: "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaida co-operated on attacks against the United States."
So there were links between Saddam and al-Qaida, not to mention other terrorists, but no proof (yet) of active collaboration or co-operation in the September 11 attacks.
This is almost word for word what Bush has long said.
"We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September 11th," he repeated on CNN last year. But there was evidence "that he has been involved with al-Qaida".
Yet ABC TV news said this week's reports prove al-Qaida "had no links with Saddam Hussein, as suggested by the White House", and ABC's The World Today added: "One of the Bush administration's central arguments for going to war with Iraq appears to be in tatters." As if Bush had blamed Iraq for the September 11 attacks. The liar.
More of this and al-Nashami can take it easy. We'll have cut our own throats already.
Ouch."
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/23/2004
0 comments
- - -
FRESH ATTACKS BY MILITIAS IN DARFUR
Reported by UN field workers
June 23 UN News: "UN field workers report fresh attacks by Janjaweed militias in Darfur. Arab Janjaweed militias continue to attack villages in the south of Sudan's Darfur region, burning and looting homes on Monday and reportedly killing six civilians, United Nations field workers say.
Staff from UN agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) operating in the region say nearby army and police did nothing to intervene during the attacks, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told a press briefing today. Mr. Eckhard said there have been reports of banditry and other acts of violence in the north and west of the vast Darfur region, and that concerns are mounting about the safety of aid workers."
FRESH ATTACKS BY MILITIAS IN DARFUR
Reported by UN field workers
June 23 UN News: "UN field workers report fresh attacks by Janjaweed militias in Darfur. Arab Janjaweed militias continue to attack villages in the south of Sudan's Darfur region, burning and looting homes on Monday and reportedly killing six civilians, United Nations field workers say.
Staff from UN agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) operating in the region say nearby army and police did nothing to intervene during the attacks, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told a press briefing today. Mr. Eckhard said there have been reports of banditry and other acts of violence in the north and west of the vast Darfur region, and that concerns are mounting about the safety of aid workers."
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/23/2004
0 comments
- - -
UK AND US HOLOCAUST CENTRES
Close in protest of crisis in Darfur
June 23 LONDON Reuters: Two Holocaust memorial centres, in Britain and the United States, will close for one hour on Thursday to highlight the humanitarian crisis in west Sudan's Darfur region.
"We hope to draw attention to the fact that what we are seeing in Darfur is a serious threat of genocide," a spokesman for the British centre told Reuters by telephone. "As organisations which spend every day of the year dealing with the issue of the Holocaust and carrying the moral authority of the survivors, we feel that ours is an important voice to be heard," he added.
The two centres, one in Washington and one near the central English city of Nottingham, commemorate the murder of millions of European Jews in World War Two. "If our voice was not heard this time when a serious threat of genocide is present, it would be to our shame," the British spokesman said.
UK AND US HOLOCAUST CENTRES
Close in protest of crisis in Darfur
June 23 LONDON Reuters: Two Holocaust memorial centres, in Britain and the United States, will close for one hour on Thursday to highlight the humanitarian crisis in west Sudan's Darfur region.
"We hope to draw attention to the fact that what we are seeing in Darfur is a serious threat of genocide," a spokesman for the British centre told Reuters by telephone. "As organisations which spend every day of the year dealing with the issue of the Holocaust and carrying the moral authority of the survivors, we feel that ours is an important voice to be heard," he added.
The two centres, one in Washington and one near the central English city of Nottingham, commemorate the murder of millions of European Jews in World War Two. "If our voice was not heard this time when a serious threat of genocide is present, it would be to our shame," the British spokesman said.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/23/2004
0 comments
- - -
KENYA STEPS UP EFFORTS
To resolve crisis in Darfur
23 June Nairobi VOANews.com: Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka says Nairobi is prepared to take a leading role in resolving the political crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan. The 17-month conflict in Darfur has caused more than one million people to flee their homes, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Foreign Minister Musyoka says that in a recent telephone conversation, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan requested that Kenya lead efforts to bring peace to Darfur. "He specifically requested that if Kenya could play a leadership role in this conflict in western Sudan, the Darfur region, "I'm sure this is a challenge you would want to take," said Mr. Musyoka.
Kenya has hosted peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which is based primarily in the south of the country. A final peace agreement is due to be signed in the coming weeks.
But Mr. Musyoka says that peace deal will mean little if the Darfur question is not addressed, and with Kenya's help. "Although we have successfully tried to mediate in the conflict in the south, there cannot be sustainable peace in Sudan without making sure that even the west is comfortable. So we are ready to take up that challenge," he added.
Black African rebels in Darfur started an insurgency against government forces in February 2003, because of what they saw as neglect by the government, which is predominantly ethnic-Arab. Human rights groups charge that Arab janjaweed militias, supported by the government, are attacking Darfur's black civilian population in response. More than one million people have fled their homes for the relative safety of refugee camps in Darfur and over the border in Chad. For more than a year, Sudan allowed little access to international aid groups. The refugees face shortages of food, possible outbreaks of disease and continued attacks by the militias.
Last week, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir pledged to disarm all the militias. His government has also recently allowed greater access to the refugee camps by aid groups.
- - -
SUDAN AND CHAD
Agree to disarm militias
23 June Khartoum Reuters: Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said Africa's largest country had agreed with neighbouring Chad to disarm militias on both sides of the border, a semi-official news service reported on Wednesday.
Two rebel groups launched an uprising in February 2003 accusing the government of neglect and of arming Arab militias to loot and burn African villages. The Khartoum government denies the charge, saying that the Arab militia groups, known locally as Janjaweed, are outlaws.
"We have completed an agreement with Chad to collect arms in Darfur and the Chadian lands neighbouring Darfur at the same time," Sudanese Media Centre reported Bashir as saying on Tuesday during a meeting with invited journalists. "To disarm the groups in one area without the other would not help in resolving the problem," Bashir said.
Chadian President Idriss Deby's adviser on foreign affairs warned last week that Sudan's inter-tribal violence could spill over the border and said the Janjaweed had been seeking the backing of Chad's Arab tribes. Aid workers say about 158,000 refugees from Darfur have fled into Chad. Humans rights groups, aid agencies and refugees have said that Janjaweed, with government support, have crossed several times into Chad to attack local villagers and refugees.
Bashir ordered "a complete mobilisation" to disarm all illegal armed groups in the Darfur region on Saturday, including the Janjaweed, who have been accused of burning African farming communities to the ground to drive away villagers. The government and the rebel groups signed a truce with the government on April 8, but each side has since accused the other of truce violations.
KENYA STEPS UP EFFORTS
To resolve crisis in Darfur
23 June Nairobi VOANews.com: Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka says Nairobi is prepared to take a leading role in resolving the political crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan. The 17-month conflict in Darfur has caused more than one million people to flee their homes, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Foreign Minister Musyoka says that in a recent telephone conversation, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan requested that Kenya lead efforts to bring peace to Darfur. "He specifically requested that if Kenya could play a leadership role in this conflict in western Sudan, the Darfur region, "I'm sure this is a challenge you would want to take," said Mr. Musyoka.
Kenya has hosted peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which is based primarily in the south of the country. A final peace agreement is due to be signed in the coming weeks.
But Mr. Musyoka says that peace deal will mean little if the Darfur question is not addressed, and with Kenya's help. "Although we have successfully tried to mediate in the conflict in the south, there cannot be sustainable peace in Sudan without making sure that even the west is comfortable. So we are ready to take up that challenge," he added.
Black African rebels in Darfur started an insurgency against government forces in February 2003, because of what they saw as neglect by the government, which is predominantly ethnic-Arab. Human rights groups charge that Arab janjaweed militias, supported by the government, are attacking Darfur's black civilian population in response. More than one million people have fled their homes for the relative safety of refugee camps in Darfur and over the border in Chad. For more than a year, Sudan allowed little access to international aid groups. The refugees face shortages of food, possible outbreaks of disease and continued attacks by the militias.
Last week, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir pledged to disarm all the militias. His government has also recently allowed greater access to the refugee camps by aid groups.
- - -
SUDAN AND CHAD
Agree to disarm militias
23 June Khartoum Reuters: Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said Africa's largest country had agreed with neighbouring Chad to disarm militias on both sides of the border, a semi-official news service reported on Wednesday.
Two rebel groups launched an uprising in February 2003 accusing the government of neglect and of arming Arab militias to loot and burn African villages. The Khartoum government denies the charge, saying that the Arab militia groups, known locally as Janjaweed, are outlaws.
"We have completed an agreement with Chad to collect arms in Darfur and the Chadian lands neighbouring Darfur at the same time," Sudanese Media Centre reported Bashir as saying on Tuesday during a meeting with invited journalists. "To disarm the groups in one area without the other would not help in resolving the problem," Bashir said.
Chadian President Idriss Deby's adviser on foreign affairs warned last week that Sudan's inter-tribal violence could spill over the border and said the Janjaweed had been seeking the backing of Chad's Arab tribes. Aid workers say about 158,000 refugees from Darfur have fled into Chad. Humans rights groups, aid agencies and refugees have said that Janjaweed, with government support, have crossed several times into Chad to attack local villagers and refugees.
Bashir ordered "a complete mobilisation" to disarm all illegal armed groups in the Darfur region on Saturday, including the Janjaweed, who have been accused of burning African farming communities to the ground to drive away villagers. The government and the rebel groups signed a truce with the government on April 8, but each side has since accused the other of truce violations.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/23/2004
0 comments
- - -
KHARTOUM NEGOTIATED
With Darfur rebels in Paris Yesterday
June 22 arabicnews.com: A meeting was held in Paris yesterday between a high ranking Sudanese government delegation and officials from the rebel Sudan's liberation movement in Darfur.
The Sudanese news agency said that the talks would start by an open session to be followed by a five day work session to discuss all aspects of the situation in Darfur, west Sudan. The agency said that the French foreign minister Michael Barnieh would play a role in the negotiations.
Officials said that the secretary general of the ruling party in Khartoum province, al-Haj Atta al-Mannan, would preside over the government's delegation and that the talks were a continuity of the talks held with other rebels from the "justice and equality movement" last March.
Both the "Justice and equality" (JEM) and Sudan's Liberation' movements (SLM) rebelled in Darfur in February 2003, saying they want their own just share of the authority and wealth. The two movements signed a truce with the government on April 8th, however, every and each side used to accuse the other of violating the truce.
Meantime, the EU foreign police coordinator Javier Solana announced the arrival of European observers to Sudan to help the African Federation to monitor the cease fire between the Sudanese government and the two rebels in Darfour. The African federation is leading a UN team composed of 120 observers to monitor the truce.
Further reading: June 21 Reuters: Sudan government team left Sudan on Monday to meet Darfur rebels in Paris. Hassan Burgo, a senior official from the ruling National Congress party, said talks with the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) were expected to last about one week and would cover "points of difference".
The JEM and another rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), launched an uprising in Darfur in February 2003, saying they wanted a fairer share of power and resources in Sudan, a poor country which produces oil. Both groups signed a truce with the government on April 8, but since then each side has accused the other of violations. Rebels accuse the government of arming Arab militias, known locally as Janjaweed, to loot and burn African villages in the arid area, where tension between Arab nomads and African farmers has often flared in the past but not into fullscale conflict.
"There is communication between the government and the political leadership of the rebels via mediators to bring us together for these talks," Burgo told Reuters. Burgo said the government would urge the return to Sudan of JEM's leaders, who are based in Europe.
Burgo said he did not expect a lot from the Paris talks. "I don't want people to attach too much importance to what will happen in Paris. It is a continuation of negotiations but the important thing is the ceasefire which was agreed upon and we are committed to," he said. Officials said the ruling party's secretary-general for Khartoum state, Al-Haj Atta al-Manan, was heading the government team and the talks were a continuation of discussions with the JEM first held in March.
- - -
YESTERDAY FRENCH ENVOY TOURED MORNAY REFUGEE CAMP
And said "the situation is as dangerous as we thought"
In Darfur on Tuesday, French envoy Muselier toured the Mornay camp where Sudanese authorities say 100,000 people have taken shelter from the separate conflict there. "The situation is as dangerous as we thought," Muselier said after his visit.
- - -
SUDAN MILITIAS TERRORISING MORNAY REFUGEE CAMP
Said Doctors without Borders in Darfur - on Monday
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday that "Khartoum-backed Sudanese janjawid militias", accused of conducting "ethnic cleansing" in Darfur, were terrorising the Mornay camp.
War broke out in Darfur in February 2003 when black African rebel groups, complaining of economic neglect of their region and a lack of protection for local people, rose up against the Sudanese government. Clashes between the Sudanese army and the rebels in Darfur have left at least 10 000 people dead and forced more than a million from their homes, according to UN estimates.
June 23 Geneva (AFP) Tehran Times: Sudan militias terrorise camp holding Darfur displaced -- Sudanese militias accused of conducting "ethnic cleansing" in the Darfur region are now terrorizing a camp holding tens of thousands who fled their attacks, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) –- Doctors Without Borders -- said Monday.
- - -
FRENCH ENVOY DISCUSSES DEVELOPMENT WITH SUDAN PRESIDENT
French envoy meets Wednesday with SPLA leader John Garang
22 June News 24: Khartoum and rebels from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) are soon to sign a peace accord to end 20 years of civil war in southern Sudan that has claimed some 1.5 million lives and displaced four million people.
At yesterday's meeting, French envoy Muselier and Sudan's President Beshir discussed the situation in Darfur, the Sudanese peace process and the cooperation between Paris and Khartoum for development in the postwar period, French and Sudanese sources said.
Commenting on his meeting with Sudan's President Beshir, the French envoy said he had stressed the need to implement agreements signed in Chad to end the conflict in Darfur "and to eliminate all problems related to the practices of the janjawid (militias) and to create conditions that will allow displaced people to return to their homes as soon as possible".
Muselier is to meet SPLA leader John Garang today.
- - -
FRENCH AID TO SUDAN
French envoy donated three million euros for aid to Sudan
Senior French foreign ministry envoy Renaud Muselier signed an agreement to donate €3m in French aid to war-torn Sudan, during a meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Tuesday.
The agreement, signed between the French and Sudanese governments and the UN World Food Programme, will channel €3m to the western region of Darfur, one million to the south and the third to support school feeding.
"France is concerned about the ongoing efforts to bring about peace in Sudan," Muselier said after the meeting.
- - -
SUDANESE GOVERNMENT LEFT FOR GERMANY MONDAY
For peace talks with Darfur rebels JEM and SLM
June 21 SudanTribune report excerpt (note I am unsure about this report - cannot find another report to cross check and verify):
"A Sudanese government delegation left for Germany Monday for peace talks with the representatives of the rebels in the western province of Darfur, a Cabinet minister said. The talks have been arranged by German mediators and should begin Tuesday in Berlin, Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmad told reporters.
Ahmad didn't identify the mediators. In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry said it had no scheduled meeting with a Sudanese government delegation. Previously the government and Darfur rebels have held talks in Switzerland sponsored by the Henry Dunant Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.
Tuesday's talks aim to "find a final solution to the Darfur crisis, stop the bloodshed and bring peace to the region," Ahmad said. The government delegation will be led by Ibrahim Omar, the secretary general of the ruling Congress Party, Ahmad said. The government and the two main rebel groups signed a cease-fire in April, but each side has accused the other of violating it."
KHARTOUM NEGOTIATED
With Darfur rebels in Paris Yesterday
June 22 arabicnews.com: A meeting was held in Paris yesterday between a high ranking Sudanese government delegation and officials from the rebel Sudan's liberation movement in Darfur.
The Sudanese news agency said that the talks would start by an open session to be followed by a five day work session to discuss all aspects of the situation in Darfur, west Sudan. The agency said that the French foreign minister Michael Barnieh would play a role in the negotiations.
Officials said that the secretary general of the ruling party in Khartoum province, al-Haj Atta al-Mannan, would preside over the government's delegation and that the talks were a continuity of the talks held with other rebels from the "justice and equality movement" last March.
Both the "Justice and equality" (JEM) and Sudan's Liberation' movements (SLM) rebelled in Darfur in February 2003, saying they want their own just share of the authority and wealth. The two movements signed a truce with the government on April 8th, however, every and each side used to accuse the other of violating the truce.
Meantime, the EU foreign police coordinator Javier Solana announced the arrival of European observers to Sudan to help the African Federation to monitor the cease fire between the Sudanese government and the two rebels in Darfour. The African federation is leading a UN team composed of 120 observers to monitor the truce.
Further reading: June 21 Reuters: Sudan government team left Sudan on Monday to meet Darfur rebels in Paris. Hassan Burgo, a senior official from the ruling National Congress party, said talks with the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) were expected to last about one week and would cover "points of difference".
The JEM and another rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), launched an uprising in Darfur in February 2003, saying they wanted a fairer share of power and resources in Sudan, a poor country which produces oil. Both groups signed a truce with the government on April 8, but since then each side has accused the other of violations. Rebels accuse the government of arming Arab militias, known locally as Janjaweed, to loot and burn African villages in the arid area, where tension between Arab nomads and African farmers has often flared in the past but not into fullscale conflict.
"There is communication between the government and the political leadership of the rebels via mediators to bring us together for these talks," Burgo told Reuters. Burgo said the government would urge the return to Sudan of JEM's leaders, who are based in Europe.
Burgo said he did not expect a lot from the Paris talks. "I don't want people to attach too much importance to what will happen in Paris. It is a continuation of negotiations but the important thing is the ceasefire which was agreed upon and we are committed to," he said. Officials said the ruling party's secretary-general for Khartoum state, Al-Haj Atta al-Manan, was heading the government team and the talks were a continuation of discussions with the JEM first held in March.
- - -
YESTERDAY FRENCH ENVOY TOURED MORNAY REFUGEE CAMP
And said "the situation is as dangerous as we thought"
In Darfur on Tuesday, French envoy Muselier toured the Mornay camp where Sudanese authorities say 100,000 people have taken shelter from the separate conflict there. "The situation is as dangerous as we thought," Muselier said after his visit.
- - -
SUDAN MILITIAS TERRORISING MORNAY REFUGEE CAMP
Said Doctors without Borders in Darfur - on Monday
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday that "Khartoum-backed Sudanese janjawid militias", accused of conducting "ethnic cleansing" in Darfur, were terrorising the Mornay camp.
War broke out in Darfur in February 2003 when black African rebel groups, complaining of economic neglect of their region and a lack of protection for local people, rose up against the Sudanese government. Clashes between the Sudanese army and the rebels in Darfur have left at least 10 000 people dead and forced more than a million from their homes, according to UN estimates.
June 23 Geneva (AFP) Tehran Times: Sudan militias terrorise camp holding Darfur displaced -- Sudanese militias accused of conducting "ethnic cleansing" in the Darfur region are now terrorizing a camp holding tens of thousands who fled their attacks, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) –- Doctors Without Borders -- said Monday.
- - -
FRENCH ENVOY DISCUSSES DEVELOPMENT WITH SUDAN PRESIDENT
French envoy meets Wednesday with SPLA leader John Garang
22 June News 24: Khartoum and rebels from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) are soon to sign a peace accord to end 20 years of civil war in southern Sudan that has claimed some 1.5 million lives and displaced four million people.
At yesterday's meeting, French envoy Muselier and Sudan's President Beshir discussed the situation in Darfur, the Sudanese peace process and the cooperation between Paris and Khartoum for development in the postwar period, French and Sudanese sources said.
Commenting on his meeting with Sudan's President Beshir, the French envoy said he had stressed the need to implement agreements signed in Chad to end the conflict in Darfur "and to eliminate all problems related to the practices of the janjawid (militias) and to create conditions that will allow displaced people to return to their homes as soon as possible".
Muselier is to meet SPLA leader John Garang today.
- - -
FRENCH AID TO SUDAN
French envoy donated three million euros for aid to Sudan
Senior French foreign ministry envoy Renaud Muselier signed an agreement to donate €3m in French aid to war-torn Sudan, during a meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Tuesday.
The agreement, signed between the French and Sudanese governments and the UN World Food Programme, will channel €3m to the western region of Darfur, one million to the south and the third to support school feeding.
"France is concerned about the ongoing efforts to bring about peace in Sudan," Muselier said after the meeting.
- - -
SUDANESE GOVERNMENT LEFT FOR GERMANY MONDAY
For peace talks with Darfur rebels JEM and SLM
June 21 SudanTribune report excerpt (note I am unsure about this report - cannot find another report to cross check and verify):
"A Sudanese government delegation left for Germany Monday for peace talks with the representatives of the rebels in the western province of Darfur, a Cabinet minister said. The talks have been arranged by German mediators and should begin Tuesday in Berlin, Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmad told reporters.
Ahmad didn't identify the mediators. In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry said it had no scheduled meeting with a Sudanese government delegation. Previously the government and Darfur rebels have held talks in Switzerland sponsored by the Henry Dunant Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.
Tuesday's talks aim to "find a final solution to the Darfur crisis, stop the bloodshed and bring peace to the region," Ahmad said. The government delegation will be led by Ibrahim Omar, the secretary general of the ruling Congress Party, Ahmad said. The government and the two main rebel groups signed a cease-fire in April, but each side has accused the other of violating it."
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/23/2004
0 comments
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
DONORS FAIL TO DELIVER
For people of Darfur, Sudan
Today, Oxfam today attacked donor governments for failing to deliver enough funding to help an estimated two million people affected by the crisis in Darfur - with this warning: “Humanitarian aid, while not the only solution to this crisis, is the key to preventing tens of thousands of deaths in the coming months. Donors must deliver immediately if lives are to be saved. "
Considering the size and population of the USA (you can fit Great Britain into the State of Texas) it is interesting to note the UK gave $52.1 million, the US gave $89.5 million, and that the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and rich Arab countries have been some of the least generous:
France has given just $3.45 million, Spain $600,000, Germany $7.14 million, Japan $3.29m, Italy $2.4million, Saudi Arabia $204,000, and United Arab Emirates $82,000.
Report notes for Editors:
·For Darfur and Chad, the UN has appealed for US$349,542,643 since March 2004. So far, the UN has received just 33% of its appeal, $114,085,877.
· In the first three months of the 2003 Iraq appeal, donors mobilized nearly $2 billion.
·Six months after the United Nations announced its $2.95 billion Consolidated Appeal for the world’s emergencies in 2004, only $696.8 million had been received by 16 June 2004, according to OCHA. At just 23.6 % of the amount requested, this level of funding is much lower than at the same time in previous two years, when 33% had been received.
·Oxfam is rapidly scaling up its work in Darfur and Chad and has launched a GB£1 million public appeal to raise funds. It is providing clean drinking water, toilets and bathing facilities as well as hygiene kits in North and South Darfur and refugee camps in neighboring Chad. By the beginning of July 2004, Oxfam will be providing water and sanitation to a total of 200,000 people.
·Oxfam’s emergency work in Darfur is supported by the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Commission’s Humanitarian Office (ECHO).
- - -
June 22 BBC: Polio epidemic warning for Africa
For people of Darfur, Sudan
Today, Oxfam today attacked donor governments for failing to deliver enough funding to help an estimated two million people affected by the crisis in Darfur - with this warning: “Humanitarian aid, while not the only solution to this crisis, is the key to preventing tens of thousands of deaths in the coming months. Donors must deliver immediately if lives are to be saved. "
Considering the size and population of the USA (you can fit Great Britain into the State of Texas) it is interesting to note the UK gave $52.1 million, the US gave $89.5 million, and that the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and rich Arab countries have been some of the least generous:
France has given just $3.45 million, Spain $600,000, Germany $7.14 million, Japan $3.29m, Italy $2.4million, Saudi Arabia $204,000, and United Arab Emirates $82,000.
Report notes for Editors:
·For Darfur and Chad, the UN has appealed for US$349,542,643 since March 2004. So far, the UN has received just 33% of its appeal, $114,085,877.
· In the first three months of the 2003 Iraq appeal, donors mobilized nearly $2 billion.
·Six months after the United Nations announced its $2.95 billion Consolidated Appeal for the world’s emergencies in 2004, only $696.8 million had been received by 16 June 2004, according to OCHA. At just 23.6 % of the amount requested, this level of funding is much lower than at the same time in previous two years, when 33% had been received.
·Oxfam is rapidly scaling up its work in Darfur and Chad and has launched a GB£1 million public appeal to raise funds. It is providing clean drinking water, toilets and bathing facilities as well as hygiene kits in North and South Darfur and refugee camps in neighboring Chad. By the beginning of July 2004, Oxfam will be providing water and sanitation to a total of 200,000 people.
·Oxfam’s emergency work in Darfur is supported by the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Commission’s Humanitarian Office (ECHO).
- - -
June 22 BBC: Polio epidemic warning for Africa
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/22/2004
0 comments
Monday, June 21, 2004
EUROPEAN OBSERVERS HAVE BEGUN ARRIVING IN SUDAN
To help African Union monitor ceasefire
21 June Reuters - European observers have begun arriving in Sudan to help the African Union monitor a ceasefire between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups in Darfur, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday. The African Union is leading an international mission of up to 120 observers to monitor the ceasefire after more than a year of fighting, which has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
"The consolidation of the ceasefire is crucial to prevent a real humanitarian crisis in Darfur. This is the reason why the EU member states have quickly decided to take part in the ceasefire monitoring mechanism," Solana said in a statement.
The European Union will support the international mission with 12 million euros ($14.50 million) and its member states are expected to send between six and nine observers to Sudan. The bloc's 12-month funding, which will cover roughly half of the observer mission's budget, will be released from its recently established African Peace Facility.
($1=.8275 Euro)
- - -
MOZAMBICAN OBSERVERS FOR DARFUR
To join African Union mission in next few days
June 21 allAfrica: The Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) are to send five military observers within the next few days to join the African peace-keeping mission in the troubled province of Darfur, in the western Sudan. According to a statement from the Defence Ministry, received by AIM today, the observers will help monitor a ceasefire in the region, under an agreement signed in April in the Chadian capital, N'djamena.
Mozambican forces have been involved in United Nations and African Union peace keeping missions in East Timor, the Comoros, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The largest commitment is a unit of 200 troops currently stationed in Burundi.
To help African Union monitor ceasefire
21 June Reuters - European observers have begun arriving in Sudan to help the African Union monitor a ceasefire between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups in Darfur, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday. The African Union is leading an international mission of up to 120 observers to monitor the ceasefire after more than a year of fighting, which has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
"The consolidation of the ceasefire is crucial to prevent a real humanitarian crisis in Darfur. This is the reason why the EU member states have quickly decided to take part in the ceasefire monitoring mechanism," Solana said in a statement.
The European Union will support the international mission with 12 million euros ($14.50 million) and its member states are expected to send between six and nine observers to Sudan. The bloc's 12-month funding, which will cover roughly half of the observer mission's budget, will be released from its recently established African Peace Facility.
($1=.8275 Euro)
- - -
MOZAMBICAN OBSERVERS FOR DARFUR
To join African Union mission in next few days
June 21 allAfrica: The Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) are to send five military observers within the next few days to join the African peace-keeping mission in the troubled province of Darfur, in the western Sudan. According to a statement from the Defence Ministry, received by AIM today, the observers will help monitor a ceasefire in the region, under an agreement signed in April in the Chadian capital, N'djamena.
Mozambican forces have been involved in United Nations and African Union peace keeping missions in East Timor, the Comoros, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The largest commitment is a unit of 200 troops currently stationed in Burundi.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/21/2004
0 comments
Sunday, June 20, 2004
UK AID PLANE LEAVES FOR SUDAN
Second plane leaves on Friday
A plane carrying emergency food and equipment took off for Sudan today, says the Scotsman:
Six tonnes of food, tents and plastic sheeting were on the flight bound for Nyala in southern Darfur.
Four Toyota vehicles and temporary warehouses were also on the flight which left Oslo this morning.
The aid plane was jointly organised and funded by the UK-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod) and Norwegian Church Aid.
Cafod staff in Sudan will race to deliver aid to villages in Darfur before the rainy season starts early next month.
A second Cafod-funded aid plane is due to set off for Sudan on Friday.
See details on further aid sent to Sudan, in June 17 post entitled "UK is second biggest bilateral donor in the world to Sudan".
Update June 21: " Two million could starve unless aid gets through. As militia attacks continue, Marcus Prior of the UN World Food Programme in Darfur warns that the rainy season is about to accelerate the disaster.
Statement via U.S. Newswire of John Kerry on World Refugee Day and the Need for Action in Darfur:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=101-06202004
"The United States must lead the UN Security Council to immediately impose tough and effective sanctions on the government of Sudan, unless it moves without delay to act on its stated commitment to disarm militias and allows full, unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance. The Security Council should also provide authorization, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, for an international humanitarian intervention. Advance authorization will signal to the Sudanese government that the international community will not acquiesce in continued dying in Darfur and would help accelerate preparations for intervention, should that prove necessary.
"Because of the urgency of the crisis we must also be ready to take additional measures to pressure the Sudanese government: time is not on the side of those displaced by the violence. The coming rains will further limit humanitarian access, and disease could kill hundreds of thousands in crowded camps."
Second plane leaves on Friday
A plane carrying emergency food and equipment took off for Sudan today, says the Scotsman:
Six tonnes of food, tents and plastic sheeting were on the flight bound for Nyala in southern Darfur.
Four Toyota vehicles and temporary warehouses were also on the flight which left Oslo this morning.
The aid plane was jointly organised and funded by the UK-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod) and Norwegian Church Aid.
Cafod staff in Sudan will race to deliver aid to villages in Darfur before the rainy season starts early next month.
A second Cafod-funded aid plane is due to set off for Sudan on Friday.
See details on further aid sent to Sudan, in June 17 post entitled "UK is second biggest bilateral donor in the world to Sudan".
Update June 21: " Two million could starve unless aid gets through. As militia attacks continue, Marcus Prior of the UN World Food Programme in Darfur warns that the rainy season is about to accelerate the disaster.
Statement via U.S. Newswire of John Kerry on World Refugee Day and the Need for Action in Darfur:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=101-06202004
"The United States must lead the UN Security Council to immediately impose tough and effective sanctions on the government of Sudan, unless it moves without delay to act on its stated commitment to disarm militias and allows full, unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance. The Security Council should also provide authorization, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, for an international humanitarian intervention. Advance authorization will signal to the Sudanese government that the international community will not acquiesce in continued dying in Darfur and would help accelerate preparations for intervention, should that prove necessary.
"Because of the urgency of the crisis we must also be ready to take additional measures to pressure the Sudanese government: time is not on the side of those displaced by the violence. The coming rains will further limit humanitarian access, and disease could kill hundreds of thousands in crowded camps."
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/20/2004
0 comments
- - -
CHINA, PAKISTAN AND ALGERIA
Oppose intervention in Sudan
Canada's U.N. ambassador, Allan Rock, singled out one of the UN Security Council's five permanent members, China, along with non-permanent members Pakistan and Algeria, as countries that oppose intervention in Sudan because it would violate national sovereignty.
One expert argues that the United States, one of four other permanent council members, could increase pressure to pass a resolution condemning Sudan, but, "I think we're saving most of our diplomatic equity at this point for Iraq ... it's understandable but unacceptable," says John Prendergast of the non-profit International Crisis Group (ICG).
More than two months ago, on Apr. 7, Annan suggested he would push for an armed intervention by international forces if humanitarian workers and human rights observers were not "given full access to the region, and to the victims, without further delay."
- - -
CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER
Expects permanent peace in Sudan
June 20 Xinhua report via the People's Daily Online:
"Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing talked over phone with Sudan Minister of External Relations Mustafa Ismail on June 19, hoping an early realization of permanent peace in Sudan. During the phone talk, Ismail briefed Li on the latest progress of the peaceful process in Sudan. Li said that he was glad that major progress has been made in Sudan in realizing a reunited, peaceful and stable country.
The two ministers both hoped that the two countries could expand their cooperation in various areas, strengthen communications in international affairs, and maintain close cooperation."
- - -
WORLD REFUGEE DAY
75% of the planet's 12 million refugees are in the developing world
Today is United Nations World Refugee Day. About 75 percent of the planet's roughly 12 million refugees and asylum-seekers are in the developing world. Sudan has the largest number of refugees within its own borders, according to Amnesty International. And no refugees are at greater risk than Darfur's dispossessed, who have fled to other parts of the country or crossed the country's border into neighbouring Chad.
"Nowhere else in the world are so many lives at stake as in Darfur at the moment," said U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland this week, adding that as many as two million people displaced by the repression may need food aid and other supplies in coming months.
Canada's U.N. ambassador, Allan Rock, who said in a meeting Monday that the world body's top decision-making organ, the Security Council, must "demonstrate greater resolve in addressing even sensitive and politically challenging situations." In an interview Friday, Rock said that Egeland told him Thursday that the situation on the ground had improved.
- - -
Further reading from Why War? Analysis. Note echoes of today in March 15, 2002. Also note July 21, 2003 report and IRC statement "five years of civil war in the Congo have taken the lives of a mind-boggling 3.3 million people". Excerpts and links to reports:
April 7, 2004 US President Condemns Atrocities in Sudan: "The Sudanese Government must immediately stop local militias from committing atrocities against the local population and must provide unrestricted access to humanitarian aid agencies. I condemn these atrocities, which are displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians, and I have expressed my views directly to President Bashir of Sudan."
April 4, 2004 UN Urges Global Action on Darfur: "Fighting in Darfur broke out more than a year ago, when rebels attacked government targets, saying black Africans were being oppressed in favour of Arabs. Mr Egeland described it as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises."
February 26, 2004 Sudan's Darfur War Still Ongoing: "The scale of the humanitarian crisis continues to escalate, with internally displaced persons estimated to be in excess of 700,000 requiring urgent humanitarian assistance, according to EU reports."
July 21, 2003 No Answer: "If the greatest injustice in the world is U.S. imperialism, the world's greatest injustices must be found where U.S. imperialism is strongest. And, here, Africa poses a problem. Africa, after all, has less contact with the United States than any other part of the world ... the United States has avoided acting like an empire in post-cold-war Africa, and, thus, the hard left has found little cause for moral concern.
In Congo alone, according to the International Rescue Committee, five years of civil war have taken the lives of a mind-boggling 3.3 million people. How can the leaders of the global left—men and women ostensibly dedicated to solidarity with the world's oppressed, impoverished masses—not care? The answer, I think, is that the left isn't galvanized by victims; it's galvanized by victimizers. The theme of answer's upcoming protest, after all, is "Occupation and Empire." In a recent essay, Roy explained that "the real and pressing danger, the greatest threat of all, is the locomotive force that drives the political and economic engine of the U.S. government." In other words, imperialism, what she elsewhere calls "a super-power's self-destructive impulse toward supremacy, stranglehold, global hegemony."
September 3, 2002 Al Qaeda, Taliban Shipping Gold to Sudan: "European, Pakistani and US agents told The Washington Post that most of the valuable cargo passed through Iran and the UAE."
June 18, 2002 'Rogue' No More – US Eyes Oil in Libya, Sudan: "With both oil-rich Central Asia and the Middle East riddled by conflict and U.S. voters' continued distaste for new domestic oil exploitation, Washington is getting serious about changing policy toward Africa." Note: PNS Editor Franz Schurmann (fschurmann@pacificnews.org), emeritus professor at UC Berkeley, has written on the politics of oil since the late 1970s.
March 15, 2002 US Expanding Involvement In Sudan: "Since Sept. 11, Washington has tried to re-establish a working relationship with Khartoum in order to gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, which once operated out of Sudan. U.S. special envoy and former senator John Danforth has traveled to the country to mediate peace talks, and the Nuba cease-fire is a direct result of these efforts."
March 8, 2002 US Expands Its Presence Across the Globe: "U.S. forces are active in the biggest array of countries since the second world war. Troops, sailors and airmen are now established in countries where they have never before had a presence. The aim is to provide platforms from which to launch attacks on any group perceived by George Bush to be a danger to the U.S."
- - -
June 19, 2004 BBC report: More than 1,000 refugees a day are arriving in Burundi from the Democratic Republic of Congo. So far, 30,000 refugees have crossed from Congo into Burundi.
- - -
PEACE DEAL
To unlock oil wealth in the balance
June 20 report via Scotsman in full:
In the peaceful setting of Kenya’s Lake Naivasha, home to one of the world’s largest flocks of pink flamingos, one of the world’s long running civil wars is being brought to an end. Oil-rich Sudan stands to make a gigantic leap forward if final negotiations between its government and southern rebels this week can produce a comprehensive settlement.
The two sides meet on Tuesday, and have said they will stay at the talks until they agree on a deal to end the devastating 21-year civil war in the south in which more than two million people have perished. They are already a long way down the road, having signed six protocols in which they have agreed how to share power and wealth in Africa’s largest country and what to do with their armed forces during a six-year transition period.
The conflict broke out in 1983 when the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army from the mainly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north. The insurgents say they are fighting for better treatment and for southerners to have the right to choose whether to remain part of Sudan.
Under the proposed peace deal at the end of the six-year transition period, the South will vote in a referendum on whether to secede. Meanwhile, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir is to remain head of state while rebel leader John Garang will become first vice-president.
Among the issues still not settled are a final, internationally-monitored ceasefire agreement and a timetable for implementing it. This week’s negotiations will focus on power-sharing arrangements, setting up a joint military observation of the ceasefire, and the number and location of observers, according to senior officials in Kenya. The ceasefire calls for the deployment of up to 120 observers in Darfur to be led by the African Union. The European Union has allocated 12 million euros to the mission.
Despite optimism that a comprehensive agreement to end the war will be reached soon, it could be months before it is clear whether the diplomatic solution is being honoured on the ground. Rogue government and rebel militias who prowl rural areas are hardly accountable to higher authorities.
If the deal does come off it will be a triumph for international pressure, especially from the United States. Rebuilding devastated southern Sudan will cost billions of dollars that Sudan cannot afford to pay for itself. But Sudan hopes for substantial debt relief once a southern deal is signed, as well as an ending of US sanctions. Both moves would boost foreign investment in a country which is potentially oil-rich.
Despite the war, the Sudanese economy has grown solidly, helped by rising oil exports which last year were about 300,000 barrels a day, and should reach 600,000 barrels per day next year. However, potential Western donors are expressing mounting concern about the fighting in Darfur in western Sudan, warning that it could derail the southern peace agreement if it is not stopped. The governor of the central bank of Sudan, Sabir Mohammed al-Hassan, said last week that a negotiated peace in the civil war in southern Sudan would not endure if donors used the fighting in the west as a reason to withhold much-needed aid.
"If Darfur is used as an excuse not to support Sudan, then the peace will not be sustainable," he said in Cairo. "You need the support of the international community."
CHINA, PAKISTAN AND ALGERIA
Oppose intervention in Sudan
Canada's U.N. ambassador, Allan Rock, singled out one of the UN Security Council's five permanent members, China, along with non-permanent members Pakistan and Algeria, as countries that oppose intervention in Sudan because it would violate national sovereignty.
One expert argues that the United States, one of four other permanent council members, could increase pressure to pass a resolution condemning Sudan, but, "I think we're saving most of our diplomatic equity at this point for Iraq ... it's understandable but unacceptable," says John Prendergast of the non-profit International Crisis Group (ICG).
More than two months ago, on Apr. 7, Annan suggested he would push for an armed intervention by international forces if humanitarian workers and human rights observers were not "given full access to the region, and to the victims, without further delay."
- - -
CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER
Expects permanent peace in Sudan
June 20 Xinhua report via the People's Daily Online:
"Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing talked over phone with Sudan Minister of External Relations Mustafa Ismail on June 19, hoping an early realization of permanent peace in Sudan. During the phone talk, Ismail briefed Li on the latest progress of the peaceful process in Sudan. Li said that he was glad that major progress has been made in Sudan in realizing a reunited, peaceful and stable country.
The two ministers both hoped that the two countries could expand their cooperation in various areas, strengthen communications in international affairs, and maintain close cooperation."
- - -
WORLD REFUGEE DAY
75% of the planet's 12 million refugees are in the developing world
Today is United Nations World Refugee Day. About 75 percent of the planet's roughly 12 million refugees and asylum-seekers are in the developing world. Sudan has the largest number of refugees within its own borders, according to Amnesty International. And no refugees are at greater risk than Darfur's dispossessed, who have fled to other parts of the country or crossed the country's border into neighbouring Chad.
"Nowhere else in the world are so many lives at stake as in Darfur at the moment," said U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland this week, adding that as many as two million people displaced by the repression may need food aid and other supplies in coming months.
Canada's U.N. ambassador, Allan Rock, who said in a meeting Monday that the world body's top decision-making organ, the Security Council, must "demonstrate greater resolve in addressing even sensitive and politically challenging situations." In an interview Friday, Rock said that Egeland told him Thursday that the situation on the ground had improved.
- - -
Further reading from Why War? Analysis. Note echoes of today in March 15, 2002. Also note July 21, 2003 report and IRC statement "five years of civil war in the Congo have taken the lives of a mind-boggling 3.3 million people". Excerpts and links to reports:
April 7, 2004 US President Condemns Atrocities in Sudan: "The Sudanese Government must immediately stop local militias from committing atrocities against the local population and must provide unrestricted access to humanitarian aid agencies. I condemn these atrocities, which are displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians, and I have expressed my views directly to President Bashir of Sudan."
April 4, 2004 UN Urges Global Action on Darfur: "Fighting in Darfur broke out more than a year ago, when rebels attacked government targets, saying black Africans were being oppressed in favour of Arabs. Mr Egeland described it as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises."
February 26, 2004 Sudan's Darfur War Still Ongoing: "The scale of the humanitarian crisis continues to escalate, with internally displaced persons estimated to be in excess of 700,000 requiring urgent humanitarian assistance, according to EU reports."
July 21, 2003 No Answer: "If the greatest injustice in the world is U.S. imperialism, the world's greatest injustices must be found where U.S. imperialism is strongest. And, here, Africa poses a problem. Africa, after all, has less contact with the United States than any other part of the world ... the United States has avoided acting like an empire in post-cold-war Africa, and, thus, the hard left has found little cause for moral concern.
In Congo alone, according to the International Rescue Committee, five years of civil war have taken the lives of a mind-boggling 3.3 million people. How can the leaders of the global left—men and women ostensibly dedicated to solidarity with the world's oppressed, impoverished masses—not care? The answer, I think, is that the left isn't galvanized by victims; it's galvanized by victimizers. The theme of answer's upcoming protest, after all, is "Occupation and Empire." In a recent essay, Roy explained that "the real and pressing danger, the greatest threat of all, is the locomotive force that drives the political and economic engine of the U.S. government." In other words, imperialism, what she elsewhere calls "a super-power's self-destructive impulse toward supremacy, stranglehold, global hegemony."
September 3, 2002 Al Qaeda, Taliban Shipping Gold to Sudan: "European, Pakistani and US agents told The Washington Post that most of the valuable cargo passed through Iran and the UAE."
June 18, 2002 'Rogue' No More – US Eyes Oil in Libya, Sudan: "With both oil-rich Central Asia and the Middle East riddled by conflict and U.S. voters' continued distaste for new domestic oil exploitation, Washington is getting serious about changing policy toward Africa." Note: PNS Editor Franz Schurmann (fschurmann@pacificnews.org), emeritus professor at UC Berkeley, has written on the politics of oil since the late 1970s.
March 15, 2002 US Expanding Involvement In Sudan: "Since Sept. 11, Washington has tried to re-establish a working relationship with Khartoum in order to gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, which once operated out of Sudan. U.S. special envoy and former senator John Danforth has traveled to the country to mediate peace talks, and the Nuba cease-fire is a direct result of these efforts."
March 8, 2002 US Expands Its Presence Across the Globe: "U.S. forces are active in the biggest array of countries since the second world war. Troops, sailors and airmen are now established in countries where they have never before had a presence. The aim is to provide platforms from which to launch attacks on any group perceived by George Bush to be a danger to the U.S."
- - -
June 19, 2004 BBC report: More than 1,000 refugees a day are arriving in Burundi from the Democratic Republic of Congo. So far, 30,000 refugees have crossed from Congo into Burundi.
- - -
PEACE DEAL
To unlock oil wealth in the balance
June 20 report via Scotsman in full:
In the peaceful setting of Kenya’s Lake Naivasha, home to one of the world’s largest flocks of pink flamingos, one of the world’s long running civil wars is being brought to an end. Oil-rich Sudan stands to make a gigantic leap forward if final negotiations between its government and southern rebels this week can produce a comprehensive settlement.
The two sides meet on Tuesday, and have said they will stay at the talks until they agree on a deal to end the devastating 21-year civil war in the south in which more than two million people have perished. They are already a long way down the road, having signed six protocols in which they have agreed how to share power and wealth in Africa’s largest country and what to do with their armed forces during a six-year transition period.
The conflict broke out in 1983 when the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army from the mainly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north. The insurgents say they are fighting for better treatment and for southerners to have the right to choose whether to remain part of Sudan.
Under the proposed peace deal at the end of the six-year transition period, the South will vote in a referendum on whether to secede. Meanwhile, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir is to remain head of state while rebel leader John Garang will become first vice-president.
Among the issues still not settled are a final, internationally-monitored ceasefire agreement and a timetable for implementing it. This week’s negotiations will focus on power-sharing arrangements, setting up a joint military observation of the ceasefire, and the number and location of observers, according to senior officials in Kenya. The ceasefire calls for the deployment of up to 120 observers in Darfur to be led by the African Union. The European Union has allocated 12 million euros to the mission.
Despite optimism that a comprehensive agreement to end the war will be reached soon, it could be months before it is clear whether the diplomatic solution is being honoured on the ground. Rogue government and rebel militias who prowl rural areas are hardly accountable to higher authorities.
If the deal does come off it will be a triumph for international pressure, especially from the United States. Rebuilding devastated southern Sudan will cost billions of dollars that Sudan cannot afford to pay for itself. But Sudan hopes for substantial debt relief once a southern deal is signed, as well as an ending of US sanctions. Both moves would boost foreign investment in a country which is potentially oil-rich.
Despite the war, the Sudanese economy has grown solidly, helped by rising oil exports which last year were about 300,000 barrels a day, and should reach 600,000 barrels per day next year. However, potential Western donors are expressing mounting concern about the fighting in Darfur in western Sudan, warning that it could derail the southern peace agreement if it is not stopped. The governor of the central bank of Sudan, Sabir Mohammed al-Hassan, said last week that a negotiated peace in the civil war in southern Sudan would not endure if donors used the fighting in the west as a reason to withhold much-needed aid.
"If Darfur is used as an excuse not to support Sudan, then the peace will not be sustainable," he said in Cairo. "You need the support of the international community."
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/20/2004
0 comments
- - -
PAUL JOHNSON
US citizen beheaded in Saudi Arabia
British journalist Gavin Sheridan provides a report and links to pictures. Also for the record, here is a report by the BBC.
I have not seen the pictures, nor do I have any wish to do so.
God bless and Rest In Peace Paul Johnson + + +
PAUL JOHNSON
US citizen beheaded in Saudi Arabia
British journalist Gavin Sheridan provides a report and links to pictures. Also for the record, here is a report by the BBC.
I have not seen the pictures, nor do I have any wish to do so.
God bless and Rest In Peace Paul Johnson + + +
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/20/2004
0 comments
Saturday, June 19, 2004
CRUCIAL ROUND OF PEACE TALKS
Start in Kenya Tuesday June 22
Talks open on Friday June 25 - and continue until July 19
June 17: A key round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and southern rebels is due to open in Kenya on June 25 and continue until July 19, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Negotiations will focus on power-sharing arrangements, setting up a joint military, observation of the ceasefire and the number and location of observers, a senior official told the official Al-Anbaa newspaper.
The discussion points were set out in the ceasefire protocol, signed between both parties in Switzerland in December 2001, added Mutraf Sadik, undersecretary of state to the foreign ministry. The government and Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) are to discuss "the final preparations for the last annex relating to the implementation of the protocols", he said.
From Tuesday June 22 until the talks open on June 25, the SPLA, which is led by John Garang, and the government will organise a workshop in Kenya to clarify the steps needed to implement the ceasefire "with military experts from both sides and the United States", Sadik said.
Khartoum and the SPLA have signed accords paving the way for an end to 21 years of civil war in southern Sudan and providing for a six-year transitional period before a referendum on possible cession for the south. The war in Sudan erupted in 1983 when the mostly Christian and animist south took up arms to end domination and marginalisation by the wealthier, mainly Muslim north. Together with recurrent famine and disease, the war has killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.
June 19 UN appoints Sudan envoy: Kofi Annan has appointed Jan Pronk of the Netherlands as his special representative for Sudan and head of the peace support operations that the Security Council might authorize for the country later. The appointment of Netherlands' former minister for environment and development cooperation comes as the reports of massacres, looting, raping and burning of villages by militias allegedly supported by government in the Darfur region are pouring in.
On Thursday, Annan urged Sudan to seek international help if it cannot stop the violence on its own but declined to characterize the situation as genocide or ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said for security reasons more than 106,000 refugees have moved from the Chad-Sudan border to eight camps inside Chad.
- - -
SUDAN'S PRESIDENT
Orders crackdown on armed groups
June 19: According to this report today Sudan's state run radio said Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir reiterated today his commitment to a Chad-brokered ceasefire deal with Darfur rebels. "What happened in Darfur is bloody and severe for all Sudanese people, not only the Darfurians," the President said in a statement also carried by some newspapers. "We renew once again our commitment to what we agreed in Ndjamena and underline that the security of sister Chad is an indivisible part of Sudanese security. Therefore, we will not allow anybody to disturb stability in Chad from Sudanese territory," he added.
The report explains Sudan's President said today he's ordered:
--all Government departments to reinforce security and clamp down on law-breaking rebels, the pro-Khartoum janjawid militias and other armed groups, disarming them and taking them to court;
--state institutions to strengthen the security and stability of the border with Chad and prevent any illegal access to the neighbouring country;
--police were to be deployed to provide protection in the region and secure the return of people to their villages;
-- legal authorities in Darfur were told to set up prosecution offices and courts to try bandits and other criminals "without delay";
-- ministries to provide seeds for the farming season and to implement development programs and basic service;
-- governmental and non-governmental organisations to launch a humanitarian campaign for the return of displaced people and provide them with shelter, food, clothing and medicine.
June 19 Aljazeera report: "Sudan orders disarming of Darfur militias": Sudanese government officials have previously said it would be difficult to disarm the Arab militias as long as the two main rebel groups - the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement - were active in the region. Analysts say that part of the problem in Darfur is that the central government in Khartoum, 1000km from the Chad border, does not have the resources to control the area. "
June 18 allAfrica: Clerics Seek UN Force - All Africa Council of Churches (AACC) want a United Nations' peace-keeping force set-up to monitor the peace process in Sudan. Yesterday, Sudan criticized the US for threatening sanctions if Sudan did not improve efforts to stop human trafficking, saying such a step would worsen the humanitarian situation. A US State Department report released on Monday claimed that Sudan and nine other countries engaged in human trafficking and held out the possibility of sanctions. Other countries in the trafficking report are Bangladesh, Burma, Cuba, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, North Korea, Sierra Leone and Venezuela. Other reports say Secretary-General Kofi Annan will visit Sudan in the next few weeks. UN associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed that Sudan will be one stop on a trip to Africa that Annan is planning later this month or early next month."
June 18 allAfrica: The World Is Obligated to Prevent Genocide in Darfur.
June 18 theage : "This is genocide. And it is happening NOW" by Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas Kristof, a columnist with The New York Times: "The United States Government says it is exploring whether to describe the mass murder and rape in the Darfur region of Sudan as "genocide". If she and her people aren't victims of genocide, then the word has no meaning."
June 16 in "Dare We Call It Genocide?" columist Nicholas D Kristof, along the Chad-Sudan border, writes: "The Bush administration says it is exploring whether to describe the mass murder and rape in the Darfur region of Sudan as "genocide." I suggest that President Bush invite to the White House a real expert, Magboula Muhammad Khattar, a 24-year-old widow huddled under a tree here." Read more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16KRIS.html?ex=1402718400&en=489e3a074fa589dc&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
- - -
Note these two odd reports:
June 18 allAfrica: 'Sudan Govt Not Party to Crimes in West' by Mr Dahab, Charge D'Affairs, Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan, Kampala: It was completely baseless to talk about ethnic cleansing in Darfur region or any other allegations as opposed, to the mere fact of a problem in Darfur which is mainly labelled and characterised by many credible circles as a humanitarian crisis escalated by rivalries between different tribes and groups in the vast and somewhat arid parts of Darfur in search of adequate land, water and pastures. Furthermore, some outside interferences and as a reflection of the hidden agenda especially of the former American administration in which it was designed to destabilise Sudan and topple its regime by the aid of some of its neighbours has mainly contributed to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
That was apparently one of the causes behind the insurgency that erupted in western region of Sudan last year, and which shamelessly invited and encouraged hungry mouths from certain sick and ill-intentioned circles here and there. However, some reports have failed to recognise some of the causes behind the conflict which were mainly derived from the past external economic pressures against the Sudan which entailed evelopmental deficiencies in Darfur and elsewhere.
The Sudanese government has spared no effort to cater for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur region and has indulged in diplomatic and political endeavours to end the insurgency in Darfur with the aid of neighbouring Chad and its President Idris Deby.
June 17 by Chris Ochowun - Kampala via allAfrica: Uganda: Kony Recalls Commanders to Sudan "Ochora said Kony was also disappointed because his commanders failed to carry out his order to attack the displaced people's camps in Gulu".
- - -
CHAD FEARS SPREAD OF DARFUR WAR
A hidden force is trying to export the Sudan conflict into Chad
June 18 afrol excerpt: There is growing evidence that the Darfur conflict is spilling across the Sudanese border into eastern Chad. The government supported Sudanese Janjaweed militia is reported to recruit inside Chad and fighting is increasingly noted on the Chadian side of the border. 69 Janjaweed militiamen were recently killed by Chadian troops.
Authorities in Chad's capital N'djamena are reported to be increasingly concerned that the disastrous Darfur conflict may spread into its territory. Also the UN and humanitarian organisations are worried as they concentrate their Darfur relief work in bases in eastern Chad, which houses over 110,000 Sudanese refugees.
Eastern Chad has the potential of becoming the expansion of the Darfurian killing fields. Ethnic divisions follow the same lines as on the Sudanese side of the border. An "Arab" minority of nomadic herdsmen is opposed to the "black African" majority population of sedentary farmers. The ancient Darfur Kingdom - one of pre-colonial Africa's most long-lasting empires - often included what now is eastern Chad.
The most concerning reports from eastern Chad hold that the "Arab" Janjaweed militia - which is accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur - is now recruiting "Arabs" in eastern Chad to join their files. Ahmad Allami, a personal advisor of Chadian President Idriss Deby, today told this to the UN media Irin.
N'djamena authorities are convinced that the Sudanese militiamen were not confused about where the Chadian-Sudanese border is located, but indeed had businesses in Chad. "There is a hidden force trying to export the conflict between the Sudanese into Chad," Mr Allami told the press today.
So far, Chadian authorities have addressed the crisis by playing a major part in the peace negotiations between the warring parties in Darfur. Further, Chad has welcomed large numbers of Darfurian refugees and cooperates thoroughly with the UN and humanitarian agencies trying to meet the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and in the refugee camps.
As the conflict is threatening to spread into Chad, however, N'djamena authorities are becoming sceptical towards the Sudanese government. The Chadian government today went far in threatening to stop hosting the Darfur peace talks if there were not made efforts on the Sudanese side to contain the infiltration of Janjaweed militias in Chad.
Chad is slipping into becoming a party to the conflict as armed action on its territory increases. Pressure is also high on President Deby to speak up against the slaughtering of his kinsmen in Darfur by militias armed by the Sudanese government. A recent army uprising in N'djamena is commonly understood to have been a protest against Chad's failure to condemn the Khartoum government, and a tougher line from President Deby is now expected.
- - -
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Putting Khartoum under increasing pressure
June 18 Brussels: The international community is stepping up pressure on the Sudanese government. On Monday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur required immediate attention. Yesterday, the EU heads of government and state at their meeting Brussels, signed a summit statement calling on the government of Sudan to do its utmost to ensure humanitarian access, the protection and security of civilians and humanitarian workers, and to disarm the militias. The 25-member bloc welcomed a ceasefire accord signed in April and urged the parties "to conclude a political agreement as soon as possible. It commended the efforts by the African Union (AU) to implement the ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the Darfur region and confirmed the EU's involvement in, and financial support to this mission.
June 18 VOA: The Africa Union sends two missions to the Darfur region of Sudan.
June 17 VOA: Pentagon US preparing to send team to assess humanitarian situation in Darfur: "should the European Command be ordered to send a humanitarian assessment team, it would be made up of military specialists who would determine requirements for a possible civil-military operations in a humanitarian crisis area. Based on the recommendations of the HAST team, the commander of the European Command could direct the formation of a special task force to conduct operations."
- - -
EUROPEAN UNION MINISTERS
Give green light for battle groups
May 17 2004 EU ministers give green light for battle groups. Excerpt:
"EU defence ministers gave the green light Monday to detailed plans for rapid-reaction "battle groups" to be deployed to international hotspots from 2007, officials said. The plans were originally launched late last year by France and Britain, after the first-ever EU military mission outside Europe, a French-led force that helped quell fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
On Monday defence ministers approved proposals by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for up to nine such groups, each comprising 1,500 troops, by 2007, with some forces available as early as next year. Under the latest proposals, 1,500-strong contingents would be deployable within 10 days and able to stay on the ground for a few months. A typical scenario in which they would be deployed would be in response to a UN request, said an aide to Solana.
"If the UN Security Council for example asked for support to protect a humanitarian mission in Darfur, Sudan, we would be ready to respond to the request," he said. The plans are due to be finalized in time to be formally approved by EU leaders at a summit in mid-June.
Solana said last month that Europe wants ultimately to have the capacity, if necessary, to deploy several such forces at the same time -- and stressed that they were part of a wider shake-up of Europe's defences. "If you want to deploy rapidly you need rapid decisions and rapid planning," he told reporters, citing the DRC mission as a model of how such relatively small forces would be deployed to secure an area, before larger forces arrive.
The EU, which expanded from 15 to 25 members on May 1, has long pursued ways of increasing cooperation on defence matters, while insisting that there is no question of duplicating capabilities with the US-dominated NATO alliance."
- - -
UK'S MERLIN
Carries out emergency Darfur assessement
June 18 Reuters London - "Merlin carries out emergency Darfur assessment": Merlin, the international medical relief agency, is to carry out an emergency assessment in Dafur, western Sudan with a view to starting a programme in the region, where the humanitarian need is at crisis level. Recent improvements in access have meant that humanitarian agencies are better able to reach the most vulnerable populations.
Next week, Merlin will assess health related needs in the region, to determine how it can best contribute to the current relief effort. The current food crisis is expected to increase further in the coming months – meaning that malnutrition will inevitably worsen - and Merlin is looking to position itself in co-ordination with other humanitarian agencies on the ground.
Since its foundation in 1993, they have worked in over 30 countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Georgia, India, Kenya, Russia, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Chechnya and Liberia. Patrons include Natasha Kaplinsky, Edward Stourton, Nick Danziger, Martin Bell, Hugh Bonneville and Stephanie Cook.
Merlin is an international humanitarian charity which provides an immediate response to medical emergencies throughout the world. It is the only UK charity that specialises in providing emergency healthcare on an international basis. It always aims to make use of existing health structures, empowering local communities to rebuild and develop their own infrastructures. By training and equipping health workers and local communities in this way, people are better able to help themselves.
- - -
AUSTRALIA BOOSTS AID TO SUDAN
Gives $8M over last month for Darfur
June 18: ABC: Australian is to give an extra $3 million for victims of the Sudanese conflict. This follows $5 million in aid last month to help displaced people in Darfur, in south-west Sudan. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says the latest contribution is for Sudanese in eastern Chad refugee camps. UNICEF activities will receive $1.5 million and $500,000 each is being allocated through World Vision, Care International and Oxfam.
- - -
THE WORLD SEEN FROM ROME
Relief agencies team up in Sudan
June 16 Zenit - Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants Aim to Stave Off Disaster: Caritas Internationalis and Action by Churches Together International have joined forces to respond to the humanitarian emergency in Sudan's Darfur province. Both organizations are faith-based networks representing Catholic and Orthodox churches and Protestant denominations and their related agencies across the world.
The joint ecumenical response will be known as the ACT/Caritas Darfur Emergency Response, according to a statement issued today by Caritas Internationalis. Caritas and ACT will issue a joint 18-month appeal in June. A year and a half is considered to be the shortest possible time needed for internally displaced people and refugees to return to their homes and resume their lives. The estimated number of beneficiaries will be in excess of 125,000 people, mainly in Mershing and Ta'asha in South Darfur and Zalingi in West Darfur.
ACT member Norwegian Church Aid is assisting some 45,000 refugees in three camps in Chad. In the Darfur area where ACT members are working, more than 67,000 displaced people are camped in public buildings and open areas.
- - -
KUWAIT SENDS SECOND AID CONVOY TO DARFUR
Kuwaiti Direct Aid Committee (For African Muslims)
June 18 Islam Online - Kuwait has sent its second aid convoy to Darfur. Fifteen tones of tents, 40 tones of corn products and 20 tones of wheat were aired to Al-Fashir city, for distribution among the local inhabitants of the northwestern historical caravan center in Darfur.
The Kuwaiti plane also carried 520,000 Sudanese pounds-worth of medical stuff and oil components for other residents of Darfur, where international aid workers have long complained from failure to reach many victims despite repeated requests for access made to the Sudanese government. The aid convoy by the Kuwaiti Direct Aid Committee (For African Muslims) is the second in less than three months. In March, the relief group sent 60 tones of supplies to the conflict-scarred region.
Further reading: IHT: The developing world needs insurance.
Start in Kenya Tuesday June 22
Talks open on Friday June 25 - and continue until July 19
June 17: A key round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and southern rebels is due to open in Kenya on June 25 and continue until July 19, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Negotiations will focus on power-sharing arrangements, setting up a joint military, observation of the ceasefire and the number and location of observers, a senior official told the official Al-Anbaa newspaper.
The discussion points were set out in the ceasefire protocol, signed between both parties in Switzerland in December 2001, added Mutraf Sadik, undersecretary of state to the foreign ministry. The government and Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) are to discuss "the final preparations for the last annex relating to the implementation of the protocols", he said.
From Tuesday June 22 until the talks open on June 25, the SPLA, which is led by John Garang, and the government will organise a workshop in Kenya to clarify the steps needed to implement the ceasefire "with military experts from both sides and the United States", Sadik said.
Khartoum and the SPLA have signed accords paving the way for an end to 21 years of civil war in southern Sudan and providing for a six-year transitional period before a referendum on possible cession for the south. The war in Sudan erupted in 1983 when the mostly Christian and animist south took up arms to end domination and marginalisation by the wealthier, mainly Muslim north. Together with recurrent famine and disease, the war has killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.
June 19 UN appoints Sudan envoy: Kofi Annan has appointed Jan Pronk of the Netherlands as his special representative for Sudan and head of the peace support operations that the Security Council might authorize for the country later. The appointment of Netherlands' former minister for environment and development cooperation comes as the reports of massacres, looting, raping and burning of villages by militias allegedly supported by government in the Darfur region are pouring in.
On Thursday, Annan urged Sudan to seek international help if it cannot stop the violence on its own but declined to characterize the situation as genocide or ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said for security reasons more than 106,000 refugees have moved from the Chad-Sudan border to eight camps inside Chad.
- - -
SUDAN'S PRESIDENT
Orders crackdown on armed groups
June 19: According to this report today Sudan's state run radio said Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir reiterated today his commitment to a Chad-brokered ceasefire deal with Darfur rebels. "What happened in Darfur is bloody and severe for all Sudanese people, not only the Darfurians," the President said in a statement also carried by some newspapers. "We renew once again our commitment to what we agreed in Ndjamena and underline that the security of sister Chad is an indivisible part of Sudanese security. Therefore, we will not allow anybody to disturb stability in Chad from Sudanese territory," he added.
The report explains Sudan's President said today he's ordered:
--all Government departments to reinforce security and clamp down on law-breaking rebels, the pro-Khartoum janjawid militias and other armed groups, disarming them and taking them to court;
--state institutions to strengthen the security and stability of the border with Chad and prevent any illegal access to the neighbouring country;
--police were to be deployed to provide protection in the region and secure the return of people to their villages;
-- legal authorities in Darfur were told to set up prosecution offices and courts to try bandits and other criminals "without delay";
-- ministries to provide seeds for the farming season and to implement development programs and basic service;
-- governmental and non-governmental organisations to launch a humanitarian campaign for the return of displaced people and provide them with shelter, food, clothing and medicine.
June 19 Aljazeera report: "Sudan orders disarming of Darfur militias": Sudanese government officials have previously said it would be difficult to disarm the Arab militias as long as the two main rebel groups - the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement - were active in the region. Analysts say that part of the problem in Darfur is that the central government in Khartoum, 1000km from the Chad border, does not have the resources to control the area. "
June 18 allAfrica: Clerics Seek UN Force - All Africa Council of Churches (AACC) want a United Nations' peace-keeping force set-up to monitor the peace process in Sudan. Yesterday, Sudan criticized the US for threatening sanctions if Sudan did not improve efforts to stop human trafficking, saying such a step would worsen the humanitarian situation. A US State Department report released on Monday claimed that Sudan and nine other countries engaged in human trafficking and held out the possibility of sanctions. Other countries in the trafficking report are Bangladesh, Burma, Cuba, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, North Korea, Sierra Leone and Venezuela. Other reports say Secretary-General Kofi Annan will visit Sudan in the next few weeks. UN associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed that Sudan will be one stop on a trip to Africa that Annan is planning later this month or early next month."
June 18 allAfrica: The World Is Obligated to Prevent Genocide in Darfur.
June 18 theage : "This is genocide. And it is happening NOW" by Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas Kristof, a columnist with The New York Times: "The United States Government says it is exploring whether to describe the mass murder and rape in the Darfur region of Sudan as "genocide". If she and her people aren't victims of genocide, then the word has no meaning."
June 16 in "Dare We Call It Genocide?" columist Nicholas D Kristof, along the Chad-Sudan border, writes: "The Bush administration says it is exploring whether to describe the mass murder and rape in the Darfur region of Sudan as "genocide." I suggest that President Bush invite to the White House a real expert, Magboula Muhammad Khattar, a 24-year-old widow huddled under a tree here." Read more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16KRIS.html?ex=1402718400&en=489e3a074fa589dc&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
- - -
Note these two odd reports:
June 18 allAfrica: 'Sudan Govt Not Party to Crimes in West' by Mr Dahab, Charge D'Affairs, Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan, Kampala: It was completely baseless to talk about ethnic cleansing in Darfur region or any other allegations as opposed, to the mere fact of a problem in Darfur which is mainly labelled and characterised by many credible circles as a humanitarian crisis escalated by rivalries between different tribes and groups in the vast and somewhat arid parts of Darfur in search of adequate land, water and pastures. Furthermore, some outside interferences and as a reflection of the hidden agenda especially of the former American administration in which it was designed to destabilise Sudan and topple its regime by the aid of some of its neighbours has mainly contributed to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
That was apparently one of the causes behind the insurgency that erupted in western region of Sudan last year, and which shamelessly invited and encouraged hungry mouths from certain sick and ill-intentioned circles here and there. However, some reports have failed to recognise some of the causes behind the conflict which were mainly derived from the past external economic pressures against the Sudan which entailed evelopmental deficiencies in Darfur and elsewhere.
The Sudanese government has spared no effort to cater for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur region and has indulged in diplomatic and political endeavours to end the insurgency in Darfur with the aid of neighbouring Chad and its President Idris Deby.
June 17 by Chris Ochowun - Kampala via allAfrica: Uganda: Kony Recalls Commanders to Sudan "Ochora said Kony was also disappointed because his commanders failed to carry out his order to attack the displaced people's camps in Gulu".
- - -
CHAD FEARS SPREAD OF DARFUR WAR
A hidden force is trying to export the Sudan conflict into Chad
June 18 afrol excerpt: There is growing evidence that the Darfur conflict is spilling across the Sudanese border into eastern Chad. The government supported Sudanese Janjaweed militia is reported to recruit inside Chad and fighting is increasingly noted on the Chadian side of the border. 69 Janjaweed militiamen were recently killed by Chadian troops.
Authorities in Chad's capital N'djamena are reported to be increasingly concerned that the disastrous Darfur conflict may spread into its territory. Also the UN and humanitarian organisations are worried as they concentrate their Darfur relief work in bases in eastern Chad, which houses over 110,000 Sudanese refugees.
Eastern Chad has the potential of becoming the expansion of the Darfurian killing fields. Ethnic divisions follow the same lines as on the Sudanese side of the border. An "Arab" minority of nomadic herdsmen is opposed to the "black African" majority population of sedentary farmers. The ancient Darfur Kingdom - one of pre-colonial Africa's most long-lasting empires - often included what now is eastern Chad.
The most concerning reports from eastern Chad hold that the "Arab" Janjaweed militia - which is accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur - is now recruiting "Arabs" in eastern Chad to join their files. Ahmad Allami, a personal advisor of Chadian President Idriss Deby, today told this to the UN media Irin.
N'djamena authorities are convinced that the Sudanese militiamen were not confused about where the Chadian-Sudanese border is located, but indeed had businesses in Chad. "There is a hidden force trying to export the conflict between the Sudanese into Chad," Mr Allami told the press today.
So far, Chadian authorities have addressed the crisis by playing a major part in the peace negotiations between the warring parties in Darfur. Further, Chad has welcomed large numbers of Darfurian refugees and cooperates thoroughly with the UN and humanitarian agencies trying to meet the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and in the refugee camps.
As the conflict is threatening to spread into Chad, however, N'djamena authorities are becoming sceptical towards the Sudanese government. The Chadian government today went far in threatening to stop hosting the Darfur peace talks if there were not made efforts on the Sudanese side to contain the infiltration of Janjaweed militias in Chad.
Chad is slipping into becoming a party to the conflict as armed action on its territory increases. Pressure is also high on President Deby to speak up against the slaughtering of his kinsmen in Darfur by militias armed by the Sudanese government. A recent army uprising in N'djamena is commonly understood to have been a protest against Chad's failure to condemn the Khartoum government, and a tougher line from President Deby is now expected.
- - -
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Putting Khartoum under increasing pressure
June 18 Brussels: The international community is stepping up pressure on the Sudanese government. On Monday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur required immediate attention. Yesterday, the EU heads of government and state at their meeting Brussels, signed a summit statement calling on the government of Sudan to do its utmost to ensure humanitarian access, the protection and security of civilians and humanitarian workers, and to disarm the militias. The 25-member bloc welcomed a ceasefire accord signed in April and urged the parties "to conclude a political agreement as soon as possible. It commended the efforts by the African Union (AU) to implement the ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the Darfur region and confirmed the EU's involvement in, and financial support to this mission.
June 18 VOA: The Africa Union sends two missions to the Darfur region of Sudan.
June 17 VOA: Pentagon US preparing to send team to assess humanitarian situation in Darfur: "should the European Command be ordered to send a humanitarian assessment team, it would be made up of military specialists who would determine requirements for a possible civil-military operations in a humanitarian crisis area. Based on the recommendations of the HAST team, the commander of the European Command could direct the formation of a special task force to conduct operations."
- - -
EUROPEAN UNION MINISTERS
Give green light for battle groups
May 17 2004 EU ministers give green light for battle groups. Excerpt:
"EU defence ministers gave the green light Monday to detailed plans for rapid-reaction "battle groups" to be deployed to international hotspots from 2007, officials said. The plans were originally launched late last year by France and Britain, after the first-ever EU military mission outside Europe, a French-led force that helped quell fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
On Monday defence ministers approved proposals by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for up to nine such groups, each comprising 1,500 troops, by 2007, with some forces available as early as next year. Under the latest proposals, 1,500-strong contingents would be deployable within 10 days and able to stay on the ground for a few months. A typical scenario in which they would be deployed would be in response to a UN request, said an aide to Solana.
"If the UN Security Council for example asked for support to protect a humanitarian mission in Darfur, Sudan, we would be ready to respond to the request," he said. The plans are due to be finalized in time to be formally approved by EU leaders at a summit in mid-June.
Solana said last month that Europe wants ultimately to have the capacity, if necessary, to deploy several such forces at the same time -- and stressed that they were part of a wider shake-up of Europe's defences. "If you want to deploy rapidly you need rapid decisions and rapid planning," he told reporters, citing the DRC mission as a model of how such relatively small forces would be deployed to secure an area, before larger forces arrive.
The EU, which expanded from 15 to 25 members on May 1, has long pursued ways of increasing cooperation on defence matters, while insisting that there is no question of duplicating capabilities with the US-dominated NATO alliance."
- - -
UK'S MERLIN
Carries out emergency Darfur assessement
June 18 Reuters London - "Merlin carries out emergency Darfur assessment": Merlin, the international medical relief agency, is to carry out an emergency assessment in Dafur, western Sudan with a view to starting a programme in the region, where the humanitarian need is at crisis level. Recent improvements in access have meant that humanitarian agencies are better able to reach the most vulnerable populations.
Next week, Merlin will assess health related needs in the region, to determine how it can best contribute to the current relief effort. The current food crisis is expected to increase further in the coming months – meaning that malnutrition will inevitably worsen - and Merlin is looking to position itself in co-ordination with other humanitarian agencies on the ground.
Since its foundation in 1993, they have worked in over 30 countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Georgia, India, Kenya, Russia, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Chechnya and Liberia. Patrons include Natasha Kaplinsky, Edward Stourton, Nick Danziger, Martin Bell, Hugh Bonneville and Stephanie Cook.
Merlin is an international humanitarian charity which provides an immediate response to medical emergencies throughout the world. It is the only UK charity that specialises in providing emergency healthcare on an international basis. It always aims to make use of existing health structures, empowering local communities to rebuild and develop their own infrastructures. By training and equipping health workers and local communities in this way, people are better able to help themselves.
- - -
AUSTRALIA BOOSTS AID TO SUDAN
Gives $8M over last month for Darfur
June 18: ABC: Australian is to give an extra $3 million for victims of the Sudanese conflict. This follows $5 million in aid last month to help displaced people in Darfur, in south-west Sudan. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says the latest contribution is for Sudanese in eastern Chad refugee camps. UNICEF activities will receive $1.5 million and $500,000 each is being allocated through World Vision, Care International and Oxfam.
- - -
THE WORLD SEEN FROM ROME
Relief agencies team up in Sudan
June 16 Zenit - Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants Aim to Stave Off Disaster: Caritas Internationalis and Action by Churches Together International have joined forces to respond to the humanitarian emergency in Sudan's Darfur province. Both organizations are faith-based networks representing Catholic and Orthodox churches and Protestant denominations and their related agencies across the world.
The joint ecumenical response will be known as the ACT/Caritas Darfur Emergency Response, according to a statement issued today by Caritas Internationalis. Caritas and ACT will issue a joint 18-month appeal in June. A year and a half is considered to be the shortest possible time needed for internally displaced people and refugees to return to their homes and resume their lives. The estimated number of beneficiaries will be in excess of 125,000 people, mainly in Mershing and Ta'asha in South Darfur and Zalingi in West Darfur.
ACT member Norwegian Church Aid is assisting some 45,000 refugees in three camps in Chad. In the Darfur area where ACT members are working, more than 67,000 displaced people are camped in public buildings and open areas.
- - -
KUWAIT SENDS SECOND AID CONVOY TO DARFUR
Kuwaiti Direct Aid Committee (For African Muslims)
June 18 Islam Online - Kuwait has sent its second aid convoy to Darfur. Fifteen tones of tents, 40 tones of corn products and 20 tones of wheat were aired to Al-Fashir city, for distribution among the local inhabitants of the northwestern historical caravan center in Darfur.
The Kuwaiti plane also carried 520,000 Sudanese pounds-worth of medical stuff and oil components for other residents of Darfur, where international aid workers have long complained from failure to reach many victims despite repeated requests for access made to the Sudanese government. The aid convoy by the Kuwaiti Direct Aid Committee (For African Muslims) is the second in less than three months. In March, the relief group sent 60 tones of supplies to the conflict-scarred region.
Further reading: IHT: The developing world needs insurance.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/19/2004
0 comments
- - -
UNRELIABLE WWW.FAXYOURMP.COM
Takes ten days to notify of non delivery
What a drag. I've just received this email. And on a Saturday to boot. So this morning is taken up with trying to find an email address for my MP. No address is given on his website.
How maddening that another two hours are wasted - along with two more whole days - not to mention the past ten. As it's the weekend, I doubt if my email has a chance of even being looked at until next week.
Technology is not reliable. Sorry Clive, I cannot recommend www.FaxYourMP.com. Seems better to email an MP and follow through on it personally. You can spend hours composing emails to people and never get a word back. Grrr.
Imagine communications between the 191 sovereign member states of the U.N. - and the "stuff" criss crossing the African continent between London, the UN, EU Washington and the Sudan - not to mention all the charities and reporters ... the bureaucratic hold ups, entry visas, shipments, discussions, meetings, zillion bits of paper churning out of photocopiers and faxes ...*groan*
From: ingrid.jones@virgin.net
Subject: Email from Ingrid Jones re Sudan Crisis EDMs
Date: 19 June 2004 09:55:33 BST
To: charlesa@parliament.uk
Dear Mrs Charles,
On June 8, 2004, I sent a fax to Dr Letwin via faxyourmp online. Sadly, it has just been returned to me. I am so disappointed it did not get through. Now I regret not sending it by email. For some reason, I thought faxyourmp was an official channel preferred by MPs. Hope this reaches him in time to do something about it. Any help you could give on this would be warmly appreciated. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Ingrid Jones.
From: info@faxyourmp.com
Subject: Sorry, We Couldn't Send Your Fax
Date: 19 June 2004 00:49:05 BST
To: ingrid.jones@virgin.net
Hi Ingrid Jones
Sorry, but we've not managed to fax your message to Mr Oliver Letwin MP. Rest assured that we don't give up easily; our automated system has made 20 attempts to send your fax. Why? Well, sometimes fax machines won't talk to each other, and in other cases the fax number we have might be out of date. Or the MP's fax machine might have been switched off / have run out of paper / have had coffee spilt on it.
It might work if you try again later, or you can post a letter to your MP at the following address: Mr Oliver Letwin, MP for West Dorset, House Of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
We've attached an exact copy of the fax we tried to send to this mail as an Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file, and also included the text of your fax below as you may fine that better to cut and paste if you do send a letter. You may download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free from http://www.adobe.com
If you feel unnaturally motivated, you might write to your MP asking for their fax number. Then send it to us so that we can keep the service in tip-top shape. Since we're a volunteer-run service separate from Parliament, we're not often informed when MPs change their fax numbers.
Sorry we couldn't be more helpful...
- The FaxYourMP.com Team
http://www.FaxYourMP.com
Here is the text of your fax
---------------------------------------
From: Ingrid Jones [address, tel and email] Dorset, England, UK.
To: Mr Oliver Letwin, MP for West Dorset, House Of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Date: Tuesday 8 June 2004
Dear Dr Letwin,
REF THE SUDAN CRISIS
I have a weblog where I have posted almost daily on the Sudan crisis since April 24, 2004. My weblog can be found at http://www.meandophelia.blogspot.com
Words that are highlighted in the weblog are links that one can click on and open. Posts of mine on the Sudan have been linked to and reproduced by weblogs around the world.
Two in particular are 'Passion of the Present' and 'Jim Moore's Journal' out of Berkman Center at Harvard in Cambridge, Boston where a rally for Sudan is taking place tomorrow, the day before Kofi Annan is due to speak at Harvard. Passion of the Present weblog can be found at http://www.passionofthepresent.org It focuses on the Sudan crisis and is co-authored by three volunteers: Dr James Moore of Berkman at Harvard, Joanne Moore, and Dan O´Huiginn who is studying Indian languages at Cambridge University, England. Yesterday, through an initiative by Joanne Moore, Desmond Tutu sent a message for posting to Passion of the Present weblog and reading at the rally being held tomorrow.
I have checked the EDMs and have not seen your name listed. I would be most grateful if you could please sign EDM1051. And EDM293 as well. I would like the UK to take a high profile leading role in helping to resolve the Sudan crisis. Please do everything you can to help the people of Darfur and treat it as a matter of urgency. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Ingrid Jones.
cde452f7b294ad270e3b7fefff5d53de (Signed with an electronic signature in accordance with subsection 7(3) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000)
_________________________________________________________________
Delivered via www.FaxYourMP.com - if any MP would rather receive emails please drop us a line at mps@faxyourmp.com (We will not publish your email address.) Alternatively, you can send a fax or leave a voicemail on 0703 1150115. Please let us know if we've got your fax number wrong, or if you are receiving abusive faxes. Thanks - The FaxYourMP.com Volunteers.
UNRELIABLE WWW.FAXYOURMP.COM
Takes ten days to notify of non delivery
What a drag. I've just received this email. And on a Saturday to boot. So this morning is taken up with trying to find an email address for my MP. No address is given on his website.
How maddening that another two hours are wasted - along with two more whole days - not to mention the past ten. As it's the weekend, I doubt if my email has a chance of even being looked at until next week.
Technology is not reliable. Sorry Clive, I cannot recommend www.FaxYourMP.com. Seems better to email an MP and follow through on it personally. You can spend hours composing emails to people and never get a word back. Grrr.
Imagine communications between the 191 sovereign member states of the U.N. - and the "stuff" criss crossing the African continent between London, the UN, EU Washington and the Sudan - not to mention all the charities and reporters ... the bureaucratic hold ups, entry visas, shipments, discussions, meetings, zillion bits of paper churning out of photocopiers and faxes ...*groan*
From: ingrid.jones@virgin.net
Subject: Email from Ingrid Jones re Sudan Crisis EDMs
Date: 19 June 2004 09:55:33 BST
To: charlesa@parliament.uk
Dear Mrs Charles,
On June 8, 2004, I sent a fax to Dr Letwin via faxyourmp online. Sadly, it has just been returned to me. I am so disappointed it did not get through. Now I regret not sending it by email. For some reason, I thought faxyourmp was an official channel preferred by MPs. Hope this reaches him in time to do something about it. Any help you could give on this would be warmly appreciated. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Ingrid Jones.
From: info@faxyourmp.com
Subject: Sorry, We Couldn't Send Your Fax
Date: 19 June 2004 00:49:05 BST
To: ingrid.jones@virgin.net
Hi Ingrid Jones
Sorry, but we've not managed to fax your message to Mr Oliver Letwin MP. Rest assured that we don't give up easily; our automated system has made 20 attempts to send your fax. Why? Well, sometimes fax machines won't talk to each other, and in other cases the fax number we have might be out of date. Or the MP's fax machine might have been switched off / have run out of paper / have had coffee spilt on it.
It might work if you try again later, or you can post a letter to your MP at the following address: Mr Oliver Letwin, MP for West Dorset, House Of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
We've attached an exact copy of the fax we tried to send to this mail as an Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file, and also included the text of your fax below as you may fine that better to cut and paste if you do send a letter. You may download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free from http://www.adobe.com
If you feel unnaturally motivated, you might write to your MP asking for their fax number. Then send it to us so that we can keep the service in tip-top shape. Since we're a volunteer-run service separate from Parliament, we're not often informed when MPs change their fax numbers.
Sorry we couldn't be more helpful...
- The FaxYourMP.com Team
http://www.FaxYourMP.com
Here is the text of your fax
---------------------------------------
From: Ingrid Jones [address, tel and email] Dorset, England, UK.
To: Mr Oliver Letwin, MP for West Dorset, House Of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Date: Tuesday 8 June 2004
Dear Dr Letwin,
REF THE SUDAN CRISIS
I have a weblog where I have posted almost daily on the Sudan crisis since April 24, 2004. My weblog can be found at http://www.meandophelia.blogspot.com
Words that are highlighted in the weblog are links that one can click on and open. Posts of mine on the Sudan have been linked to and reproduced by weblogs around the world.
Two in particular are 'Passion of the Present' and 'Jim Moore's Journal' out of Berkman Center at Harvard in Cambridge, Boston where a rally for Sudan is taking place tomorrow, the day before Kofi Annan is due to speak at Harvard. Passion of the Present weblog can be found at http://www.passionofthepresent.org It focuses on the Sudan crisis and is co-authored by three volunteers: Dr James Moore of Berkman at Harvard, Joanne Moore, and Dan O´Huiginn who is studying Indian languages at Cambridge University, England. Yesterday, through an initiative by Joanne Moore, Desmond Tutu sent a message for posting to Passion of the Present weblog and reading at the rally being held tomorrow.
I have checked the EDMs and have not seen your name listed. I would be most grateful if you could please sign EDM1051. And EDM293 as well. I would like the UK to take a high profile leading role in helping to resolve the Sudan crisis. Please do everything you can to help the people of Darfur and treat it as a matter of urgency. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Ingrid Jones.
cde452f7b294ad270e3b7fefff5d53de (Signed with an electronic signature in accordance with subsection 7(3) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000)
_________________________________________________________________
Delivered via www.FaxYourMP.com - if any MP would rather receive emails please drop us a line at mps@faxyourmp.com (We will not publish your email address.) Alternatively, you can send a fax or leave a voicemail on 0703 1150115. Please let us know if we've got your fax number wrong, or if you are receiving abusive faxes. Thanks - The FaxYourMP.com Volunteers.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/19/2004
0 comments
- - -
EU HEADS GATHER TO CELEBRATE
The Beginning of United Europe
Another interesting piece from the Scotsman who seem to be more informative than the BBC these days, especially when it comes to daily reporting on the Sudan.
EU HEADS GATHER TO CELEBRATE
The Beginning of United Europe
Another interesting piece from the Scotsman who seem to be more informative than the BBC these days, especially when it comes to daily reporting on the Sudan.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/19/2004
0 comments
Friday, June 18, 2004
BLAIR HAILS EU CONSTITUTION DEAL -
A success for Britain and a success for Europe
Prime Minister Tony Blair has proclaimed the deal - announced a few hours ago - on the first ever EU constitution as "a success for Britain and a success for Europe".
Mr Blair said the treaty kept the UK veto on "essential" issues such as economic policy, defence and foreign affairs.
The talks showed that in the "new Europe" there were allies ready to back Britain's vision for the EU.
Now every country has to ratify the treaty. In some cases that will be done by a national parliament but Britain is among those countries to have already promised a public referendum.
The next crucial step is election of a President of the European Union. Hopefully, Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt aka "Baby Thatcher" (the one France and Germany are pushing for - and who is a friend of Tony Blair) will not get the job.
According to the EU website: Diplomats say that France and Germany, the twin cylinders of the European engine, want Verhofstadt, a likeminded figure, to ensure their interests are not drowned out in a Union of 25 member states. Britain, which still hasn't forgiven Verhofstadt for launching an outspoken campaign against the war in Iraq, says the Flemish liberal is a dangerous federalist bent on creating a European superstate.
Good that one of those nominated for the Presidency is EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten, a former British cabinet minister and the last governor of Hong Kong. He won last minute backing from the centre-right European People's Party, the biggest group in the European Parliament. Here's hoping he gets the job as President of the newly expanded European Union. He has a great intellect, is a monster diplomat with great people skills, and a decent chap too. He did a great job on the hand over of Hong Kong. It would be a feather in our cap to have him presiding over the EU and, now that we are operating in a Europe of 25, would give this country a brilliant opportunity to get some great things done.
Note that British officials said they were unhappy that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had tried to link the EU presidency with any trade-offs over changes to the constitution. Also, French President Jacques Chirac criticised the UK's position before the talks even began. Yesterday he accused Mr Blair of trying to water down the constitution and during today's talks indicated he was not happy with the direction of the summit.
Last night I watched televsion news and noticed Tony Blair walking up to greet Chirac with a friendly smile and outstretched arm, ready to shake hands. Chirac reacted stupidly and stuck his hands in his pocket. Blair handled it decently, and politely launched into what he wanted to say. It made Chirac look unintelligent and childish. The French ought to get rid of him. He is giving France and its people a reputation for being rude, arrogant and obnoxious. Recently, I'd read somewhere that it's well known fact that the French have a reputation for caring only about themselves. What a shame for all the nice French people.
A success for Britain and a success for Europe
Prime Minister Tony Blair has proclaimed the deal - announced a few hours ago - on the first ever EU constitution as "a success for Britain and a success for Europe".
Mr Blair said the treaty kept the UK veto on "essential" issues such as economic policy, defence and foreign affairs.
The talks showed that in the "new Europe" there were allies ready to back Britain's vision for the EU.
Now every country has to ratify the treaty. In some cases that will be done by a national parliament but Britain is among those countries to have already promised a public referendum.
The next crucial step is election of a President of the European Union. Hopefully, Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt aka "Baby Thatcher" (the one France and Germany are pushing for - and who is a friend of Tony Blair) will not get the job.
According to the EU website: Diplomats say that France and Germany, the twin cylinders of the European engine, want Verhofstadt, a likeminded figure, to ensure their interests are not drowned out in a Union of 25 member states. Britain, which still hasn't forgiven Verhofstadt for launching an outspoken campaign against the war in Iraq, says the Flemish liberal is a dangerous federalist bent on creating a European superstate.
Good that one of those nominated for the Presidency is EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten, a former British cabinet minister and the last governor of Hong Kong. He won last minute backing from the centre-right European People's Party, the biggest group in the European Parliament. Here's hoping he gets the job as President of the newly expanded European Union. He has a great intellect, is a monster diplomat with great people skills, and a decent chap too. He did a great job on the hand over of Hong Kong. It would be a feather in our cap to have him presiding over the EU and, now that we are operating in a Europe of 25, would give this country a brilliant opportunity to get some great things done.
Note that British officials said they were unhappy that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had tried to link the EU presidency with any trade-offs over changes to the constitution. Also, French President Jacques Chirac criticised the UK's position before the talks even began. Yesterday he accused Mr Blair of trying to water down the constitution and during today's talks indicated he was not happy with the direction of the summit.
Last night I watched televsion news and noticed Tony Blair walking up to greet Chirac with a friendly smile and outstretched arm, ready to shake hands. Chirac reacted stupidly and stuck his hands in his pocket. Blair handled it decently, and politely launched into what he wanted to say. It made Chirac look unintelligent and childish. The French ought to get rid of him. He is giving France and its people a reputation for being rude, arrogant and obnoxious. Recently, I'd read somewhere that it's well known fact that the French have a reputation for caring only about themselves. What a shame for all the nice French people.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/18/2004
0 comments
Thursday, June 17, 2004
BRITAIN MAY INTERVENE MILITARILY IN SUDAN -
UK supporting African Union and UN teams
17 June London VOA excerpt:
"Britain's foreign aid chief says the international community may have to intervene militarily in Sudan's western Darfur region if the security situation does not improve. International Development Secretary Hilary Benn discussed the Darfur crisis in an interview with VOA's Michael Drudge in London.
Mr. Benn says Britain is lending financial and moral support to an African Union mission, which hopes to deploy 120 cease-fire monitors in Darfur by the end of July. He says Britain also will fund a U.N. human rights monitoring team seeking Sudanese government permission to work in Darfur. However, he says if the fighting continues despite those efforts, the international community may have to consider military intervention.
Mr. Benn says the only long-term solution for Darfur will be a political settlement similar to what the Sudanese government has recently negotiated with a southern-based rebel movement to end a war that killed two million people."
Update: allAfrica Sudan Crisis: UK Donates further 15m. "According to a release made available to THISDAY by the Press and Public Affairs Section of the British High Commission in Abuja, the donation of oe15 million from the British Government brings to total oe36.5 million since September 2003."
June 17 Reuters: UN chief Kofi Annan expects to go to Sudan in the next few weeks and said today: 'I think it is the responsibility of the government to protect the population, and we need to encourage it and must insist it does it,' he told reporters at U.N. headquarters. 'And of course, if it is not able to protect them, the international community may have to assist the Sudanese government to do that, and the Sudanese government should be willing to accept that assistance,' he said. In a speech to mark the tenth anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Annan warned of the risk of genocide in Darfur and said a military force may be needed to help gain access to those affected by the conflict."
June 18 N'DJAMENA violent clashes in the Chad-Sudan border region, involving Chadian army troops and pro-Khartoum Arab militias, sparked fears the devastating conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region could widen still further. "There is a hidden force trying to export the conflict between the Sudanese into Chad," said Allami Ahmat, diplomatic advisor to Chadian President Idriss Deby.
UK supporting African Union and UN teams
17 June London VOA excerpt:
"Britain's foreign aid chief says the international community may have to intervene militarily in Sudan's western Darfur region if the security situation does not improve. International Development Secretary Hilary Benn discussed the Darfur crisis in an interview with VOA's Michael Drudge in London.
Mr. Benn says Britain is lending financial and moral support to an African Union mission, which hopes to deploy 120 cease-fire monitors in Darfur by the end of July. He says Britain also will fund a U.N. human rights monitoring team seeking Sudanese government permission to work in Darfur. However, he says if the fighting continues despite those efforts, the international community may have to consider military intervention.
Mr. Benn says the only long-term solution for Darfur will be a political settlement similar to what the Sudanese government has recently negotiated with a southern-based rebel movement to end a war that killed two million people."
Update: allAfrica Sudan Crisis: UK Donates further 15m. "According to a release made available to THISDAY by the Press and Public Affairs Section of the British High Commission in Abuja, the donation of oe15 million from the British Government brings to total oe36.5 million since September 2003."
June 17 Reuters: UN chief Kofi Annan expects to go to Sudan in the next few weeks and said today: 'I think it is the responsibility of the government to protect the population, and we need to encourage it and must insist it does it,' he told reporters at U.N. headquarters. 'And of course, if it is not able to protect them, the international community may have to assist the Sudanese government to do that, and the Sudanese government should be willing to accept that assistance,' he said. In a speech to mark the tenth anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Annan warned of the risk of genocide in Darfur and said a military force may be needed to help gain access to those affected by the conflict."
June 18 N'DJAMENA violent clashes in the Chad-Sudan border region, involving Chadian army troops and pro-Khartoum Arab militias, sparked fears the devastating conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region could widen still further. "There is a hidden force trying to export the conflict between the Sudanese into Chad," said Allami Ahmat, diplomatic advisor to Chadian President Idriss Deby.
# posted by Ingrid J. Jones @ 6/17/2004
0 comments
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- - -
INTERESTS OF U.S. PUT AHEAD OF AFRICAN LIVES
G8 could have wiped out Africa's debts
Last week, the leaders of the world's most powerful nations met at the annual G8 summit and talked about the challenges facing the poorest people on the planet.
Many African countries grappling with the AIDS crisis now spend twice as much in debt payments as they can afford for their citizens' healthcare.
The G8 turned down a proposal put by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to give 100% debt cancellation to some of the world’s poorest countries. Instead, the G8 promised to extend the debt relief scheme until 2006.
Mr Blair's bold proposal would have canceled these debts and allowed these nations to use their resources to help their own people. The Bush administration had its own debt-cancellation plan, but this one focused on Iraq's debts. Iraq owes about three times more in debt than all of the poorest nations in the world combined. In the end, there was no major breakthrough on any of these debt issues.
With so many lives at stake, it is disappointing that the G-8 didn't step up its support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund is working to treat people living with AIDS and prevent the next big wave of the epidemic in 121 countries. Without new contributions from the G-8, the Global Fund's financial future is in jeopardy. Bush's current budget cuts the U.S. contribution to the fund by nearly two-thirds. The United States should be leading its allies in supporting the fund not cutting its funding.
Bush and the other G-8 leaders should have seized this unique opportunity to end the debt-trap once and for all for the world's poorest people.
[Above extracts courtesy of report "World leaders missed good opportunities on several issues" by David Gartner, policy director of the Global AIDS Alliance published June 17, 2004 Herald.com - free registration]
BLAIR'S BOLD PROPOSAL AT G8 TO CANCEL DEBTS OF THE POOREST NATIONS - Would have ended the debt-trap for the world's poorest people
June 8 On "G8 Failure" CAFOD has condemned the backtracking at the G8 summit on UK plans that would have given Africa a significant boost in efforts to fight poverty. Henry Northover, CAFOD policy analyst, said:
"...G8 could have wiped out Africa’s debts and given more aid, giving the continent a real prospect of achieving the Millennium Development Goals signed up to world leaders in the year 2000. Apparently the lives of Africans are less important than the strategic interests of the US. This week has witnessed G8 policy-making that ranks the worth of human lives according to the self-interest of the most powerful. It devalues us all. It is unjust that the grandiose declarations of this year’s G8 Summit mask a failing debt policy for Africa and a lavishly financed one for Iraq.
When it comes to standing shoulder to shoulder on Africa - "the scar on the world’s conscience" - Bush has dismissed Blair. The G8’s backtracking on debt is shameful - a gross dereliction of previous promises made by the world’s richest countries to the world’s poorest.
The G8 have ignored their commitment made two years ago at their summit in Canada to finance Africa’s poverty reduction efforts to meet the internationally agreed development goals. Naked self-interest has won out at the expense of the life chances of millions of the world’s poorest..."
Further reading: June african oil politics: June 8 Savannah (Guardian) "Bush backs UK plan for debt relief": George Bush will back an ambitious British-designed plan for more generous debt relief for the world's poorest countries this week as the White House seeks backing from the G8 industrial nations for the financial reconstruction of Iraq. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,11268,1233783,00.html Guardian:
- - -
UK CHAIRS NEXT G8 SUMMIT
Blair's Africa Commission will report to the G8 next year
Next year the G8 summit will be chaired by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The concerns of developing nations have been on the agenda of the G8 summit for the last several years.
Of the annual G8 meetings, Tony Blair has said that Africa was one of his absolutely top priorities. At a Prime Minister's press conference held June 15, 2004, he said:
"We've made very generous additional provision in our aid and we want to carry on doing so -- the Africa Commission that I've established will report to the G8 next year under our chairmanship, so that will be the moment at which we really decide whether we are prepared to give a big impulsion towards a different attitude on Africa and I believe that we will. I hope we will, anyway, and I will certainly be working very hard for that."
INTERESTS OF U.S. PUT AHEAD OF AFRICAN LIVES
G8 could have wiped out Africa's debts
Last week, the leaders of the world's most powerful nations met at the annual G8 summit and talked about the challenges facing the poorest people on the planet.
Many African countries grappling with the AIDS crisis now spend twice as much in debt payments as they can afford for their citizens' healthcare.
The G8 turned down a proposal put by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to give 100% debt cancellation to some of the world’s poorest countries. Instead, the G8 promised to extend the debt relief scheme until 2006.
Mr Blair's bold proposal would have canceled these debts and allowed these nations to use their resources to help their own people. The Bush administration had its own debt-cancellation plan, but this one focused on Iraq's debts. Iraq owes about three times more in debt than all of the poorest nations in the world combined. In the end, there was no major breakthrough on any of these debt issues.
With so many lives at stake, it is disappointing that the G-8 didn't step up its support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund is working to treat people living with AIDS and prevent the next big wave of the epidemic in 121 countries. Without new contributions from the G-8, the Global Fund's financial future is in jeopardy. Bush's current budget cuts the U.S. contribution to the fund by nearly two-thirds. The United States should be leading its allies in supporting the fund not cutting its funding.
Bush and the other G-8 leaders should have seized this unique opportunity to end the debt-trap once and for all for the world's poorest people.
[Above extracts courtesy of report "World leaders missed good opportunities on several issues" by David Gartner, policy director of the Global AIDS Alliance published June 17, 2004 Herald.com - free registration]
BLAIR'S BOLD PROPOSAL AT G8 TO CANCEL DEBTS OF THE POOREST NATIONS - Would have ended the debt-trap for the world's poorest people
June 8 On "G8 Failure" CAFOD has condemned the backtracking at the G8 summit on UK plans that would have given Africa a significant boost in efforts to fight poverty. Henry Northover, CAFOD policy analyst, said:
"...G8 could have wiped out Africa’s debts and given more aid, giving the continent a real prospect of achieving the Millennium Development Goals signed up to world leaders in the year 2000. Apparently the lives of Africans are less important than the strategic interests of the US. This week has witnessed G8 policy-making that ranks the worth of human lives according to the self-interest of the most powerful. It devalues us all. It is unjust that the grandiose declarations of this year’s G8 Summit mask a failing debt policy for Africa and a lavishly financed one for Iraq.
When it comes to standing shoulder to shoulder on Africa - "the scar on the world’s conscience" - Bush has dismissed Blair. The G8’s backtracking on debt is shameful - a gross dereliction of previous promises made by the world’s richest countries to the world’s poorest.
The G8 have ignored their commitment made two years ago at their summit in Canada to finance Africa’s poverty reduction efforts to meet the internationally agreed development goals. Naked self-interest has won out at the expense of the life chances of millions of the world’s poorest..."
Further reading: June african oil politics: June 8 Savannah (Guardian) "Bush backs UK plan for debt relief": George Bush will back an ambitious British-designed plan for more generous debt relief for the world's poorest countries this week as the White House seeks backing from the G8 industrial nations for the financial reconstruction of Iraq. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,11268,1233783,00.html Guardian:
- - -
UK CHAIRS NEXT G8 SUMMIT
Blair's Africa Commission will report to the G8 next year
Next year the G8 summit will be chaired by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The concerns of developing nations have been on the agenda of the G8 summit for the last several years.
Of the annual G8 meetings, Tony Blair has said that Africa was one of his absolutely top priorities. At a Prime Minister's press conference held June 15, 2004, he said:
"We've made very generous additional provision in our aid and we want to carry on doing so -- the Africa Commission that I've established will report to the G8 next year under our chairmanship, so that will be the moment at which we really decide whether we are prepared to give a big impulsion towards a different attitude on Africa and I believe that we will. I hope we will, anyway, and I will certainly be working very hard for that."
ME and Ophelia
is the personal blog of Ingrid J. Jones
I live by the sea in England, United Kingdom
Here on my laptop I communicate to my friends
About things in general and my life with M.E. and cat Ophelia
Home user technology and business services
Food and household management
How it all impacts on my *lifestyle management programme*
And my battle for more energy.
My Blogger Profile
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