Daily Darfur
Daily Darfur: Rebels Endanger Refugees
Published July 08, 2009 @ 03:47AM PT
I have some sympathy for the cause of Darfur's rebels, at least in its abstract, but it ends abruptly when turning to how they actually conduct their insurgency.
The BBC reports that the presence of rebels in camps for Darfuris in Chad is endangering the lives of the refugees: In the Oure Cassoni camp, a mere 5 km from the border with Sudan (an exception to UNHCR's standard of 50km from borders on account of access to water), rebels openly drive through the camp, violating international laws against carrying weapons into refugee camps, and are known to recruit children into their ranks.
Last month, in a move which provoking astonishingly little international reaction, the Sudanese air force crossed the border and dropped bombs a mere 3 km from Oure Cassoni.
Not the rebels' fault, you may say? Wrong. When you know you your foe has no regard for the conduct of just war, and a history of chasing you in and out of civilian areas with no concern for "collateral damage" or, even worse, the intent to directly target civilians in their effort to crush you, stay the @#$! away from refugee camps.
You can't defend your moral high-ground from behind a human shield.
Daily Darfur: Who Are You Calling "Illegitimate"?
Published July 07, 2009 @ 05:22AM PT
What happens on July 9?
The accord signed by the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement and the political opposition Umma party reportedly has ruling National Congress Party leaders fit to be tied --- and wondering exactly what is in store for Thursday.
The new alliance declared that the current NCP government will become illegitimate on July 9, the original date of national elections set by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the North-South Civil War in 2005. Elections were first postponed until February 2010, and then put off for another two months.
So do JEM and Umma have a plan to install an interim government on Thursday, or is the demand mere saber-rattling? If it's the latter, then to what effect?
Let's see how long it takes the NCP to starts throwing opposition members in jail.
Daily Darfur: Immunity, Gift-Wrapped
Published July 06, 2009 @ 05:05AM PT
Special delivery, from the African Union to its favorite indicted war criminal: Immunity, a dictator's crucible of power.
The AU announced official non-cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday, in response to the arrest warrants issued for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The resolution, passed by AU delegates at a meeting in Libya, states that member states will not comply with calls to arrest the beleaguered dictator. The resolution supposedly allows Bashir to move freely throughout the continent, rather than restricting travel to non-ICC signatory states.
Though troubling, and undoubtedly damaging, especially given the utter disregard for the many victims of Bashir's violent rule, the resolution is not entirely indicative of a strong united front against the ICC. The resolution does not ask members states to withdraw from the ICC, as has been threatened recently, and many are reported to have expressed significant discontent with the language. Is it perhaps the result of strong-arming by a select faction of AU leadership, with visions of their own chances for prosecution dancing in their heads?
It will be interesting to see just how far Bashir tests his new continental passport --- Botswana, for one, is distancing itself from the resolution, and continuing calls for his arrest and trial. I doubt Bashir is gutsy enough to make Botswana put its money where its mouth is and defy the AU, but I sure wish he'd try. (I wonder what would happen if Botswana was able to carry out the warrant?)
Daily Darfur: Games of all kinds
Published July 03, 2009 @ 09:47AM PT
Political Games
The Justice and Equality Movement rebel group signed a deal with a Sudanese opposition party to "push for a new transitional government," according to both sides.
The opposition Umma party is an Islamic party led by Sudan's last elected leader, former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi (deposed just over 20 years ago by Sudan's current leader, Omar al-Bashir). As Reuters notes, this move is sure to "infuriate Khartoum".
It will be interesting to see how they proceed.
Umma and JEM leaders said Sudan's government would become "illegitimate" on July 9, the date that national elections were originally due to start under the CPA.
That will leave a "constitutional vacuum that can only be addressed through a national government," Umma vice-president Fadlalla Burma Nasir told Reuters.
The question is how they plan to set up that national government. JEM's attempts at taking over in Khartoum sure haven't gone well for them in the past.
Poker Games
Daily Darfur: The debate over justice
Published July 02, 2009 @ 09:20AM PT
The International Criminal Court and its prosecutor's case against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been the topic of great discussion recently.
The Washington Post's Colum Lynch recently noted that the court is "under unusual fire," in part because of some African leader's push against the court and in favor of Bashir.
Those in favor of the court and its mission for international justice have been vocal in response. As I noted the other day, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recently had an op-ed in the New York Times in favor of the court and its case against Bashir.
Yesterday, the ICC's chief prosecutor wrote in the same space about his work and the importance of support for the pursuit for international justice .
The drafters of the Rome Statute were not naïve idealists. They were the ultimate realists. In their lifetimes, they had watched the Khmer Rouge kill millions, they had let Srebrenica happen and they had let Rwanda happen. They had failed the “never again” promises of their fathers. [...]
Even critics of the court are talking about ending impunity. Sometimes the process is painful and sometimes it is controversial, but it is changing international relations forever.
A number of Nobel Laureates and African leaders agree. In a statement released recently, they said:
The people of Darfur deserve more than negotiating warlords forgiving each other for the violence – including brutal sexual violence – they have perpetrated primarily against women, children and other non-combatants.
Daily Darfur: What's another two months between friends?
Published July 01, 2009 @ 10:19AM PT
The Sudanese elections have been pushed back yet again (collective gasp of surprise).
Originally slated for mid 2009, then pushed to February 2010, the elections are now supposed to happen in April 2010. Why?
"The National Elections Commission has been deliberating and observing the circumstances relating to the national elections and has decided on the modification of the previous timeframe," said a statement signed by Commission chairman Abel Alier.
Oh, that clears things up. To be fair, AFP obtained a copy of a slightly more coherent explanation:
"The electoral process depends on the results of the census, but those results were not received until mid-May, a month and a half later than expected," the letter said.
Of course, even the census results are still a point of contoversy.
Over at Making Sense of Darfur Alex de Waal has an in-depth assessment of the problems with Darfuri participation in the elections.
Sadiq al Mahdi summed it up: “Elections are vital but not viable without peace.”
Daily Darfur: A not-so-happy 20 years of dictatorship to you, Omar al-Bashir
Published June 30, 2009 @ 07:04AM PT
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's Islamist-backed coup.
The BBC explains:
On 30 June 1989 he led fellow officers in a mutiny against Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. General Bashir said in a televised communique that the coup was "to save the country from rotten political parties".
The coup was also aimed at preventing the signing of a peace treaty with John Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). General Bashir opposed the plan, which would have allowed secular law, instead of Sharia, in the south.
A letter to the Guardian has a nice little review of Bashir's time in office:
In the past two decades he has waged two civil wars, taking the lives of more than 2.6 million people, and displaced a further 6.5 million; he has funded murderous rebel armies in Chad and Uganda; and most recently he has been indicted by the international criminal court for five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crime.
Of course, in the finest dictator style Bashir set out to defend himself in an interview with Sudan TV, saying he "saved" Sudan from "economic and military collapse".
Now just what do you get a dictator to celebrate his two decades in power? Perhaps an e-card?
"Congratulations on staying in power after completely destroying your own country."
"I'm inspired by your callous disregard for human life."
Or better yet, an indictment for genocide?
