Daily Darfur: 36 Child Soldiers Demobilized, More to Come

Published July 28, 2009 @ 06:13AM PT

First, a bit of good news:

The Darfur Child Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program, along with UNICEF and UNAMID, facilitated the voluntary demobilization of 36 child solders serving with rebel groups in Darfur. Seventeen more are expected by the end of the week --- a small step towards the program's target of demobilizing 2000 child soldiers in the region.

Now on with the rest:

More discussion of the Uganda/Bashir debacle in African papers this morning:

Kenya's East African writes that if Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had accepted his invitation to a conference in Kampala this week, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni "would have been damned if he arrested Bashir, and damned if he didn't," as he weighed the balance of incurring the wrath of the African Union versus its legal and moral obligations as a member of the International Criminal Court.

Lucky for Museveni, after a Ugandan foreign ministry official created a bit of a hullabaloo earlier this month by announcing that Bashir might be arrested in Uganda, the world's first indicted sitting-head-of-state decided to pass on his trip.

A column in Uganda's New Vision takes a different stance that previous commentary from the paper, arguing that Uganda actually is not legally obligated to arrest Bashir:

"It would also be politically embarrassing to arrest another head of state and subject him to a national legal procedure without due process as required by Article 59 of the Rome Statute."

Personally, I would find it more embarrassing, not to mention morally depraved, to align oneself with a man responsible for such large scale death and suffering --- but I suppose that's just me.

Quickies

The UNSG special representative to Chad and the CAR is set to deliver is report to the Security Council today. For more information on Chad, it's internal conflicts, and its complicated relationship with Sudan, see a new Enough report released this week.

The International Press Institute issued a statement criticizing Sudan for its repressive media climate.

Mohamed Suleiman reports that the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Minister acknowledged the lack of tents and shelters for IDPs during the rainy season and the poor sanitary conditions in many of the camps.

[Photo of demobilization from the Sudan Tribune.]

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Author

Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.