Aid Worker Attacks in Chad a Sign of Worse to Come?
Published November 13, 2009 @ 04:37PM PT
I'd like to think that there's a special place in a particularly fiery afterlife for anyone who attacks humanitarian aid workers.
The UN announced today that six international humanitarian agencies are suspending operations after a French ICRC worker was kidnapped and a Chadian national staffer with Solidarite was murdered. The suspension will impact service delivery to 37,000 Darfuri refugees and internally displaced Chadians, and comes after an increase in attacks in recent months. Since the beginning of 2009, 190 attacks on aid operations have been reported.
The culprits remain unknown, but could be any of the number of rebel factions (Chadian or Darfuri) or opportunistic bandits that roam freely in the Chad-Sudan border region. Sudanese-backed Chadian rebels are known to attack humanitarian convoys and compounds in eastern Chad, steal their vehicles, and drive them back to basecamp in Sudan; evidence of this was also noted in the recent UN Panel of Experts report on Darfur.
Attacks often peak in advance of another rebel incursion -- now that the rainy season is over, are Chadian rebels gearing up to make another pass at N'djamena? Or is this just a case of cut-and-dry banditry?
GOP Failure of Leadership on Tea Partier Abuse of the Holocaust
Published November 12, 2009 @ 02:52PM PT
The use of Holocaust imagery and rhetoric by the GOP's so-called Tea Party Patriots has progressed from annoying to downright disgusting.
Last week, several House Republicans joined right-wing ideologue (er, Representative) Michelle Bachmann for a 5,000-person strong protest of Obama's health care reform in front of the US Capitol. Directly in front of the speakers, which included House Minority Leader John Boehner, was a 5-by-8 foot sign with a famous image of a pile of dead bodies from a Nazi concentration camp and the words, "National Socialist Healthcare, Dachau, Germany, 1945." No one condemned the horribly disrespectful use of the tragic image, and many even denied seeing it when confronted after, despite numerous eye witness and photographic accounts that place the rather large sign in plain sight of the podium.
The Anti-Defamation League, National Jewish Democratic Council, and others are calling on Republicans to put an end to the vile abuse of Holocaust imagery by their constituents. ADL sent a letter to Boehner and several others condemning the failure of Republican leadership on the "inappropriate and profoundly offensive" use of Nazi symbolism athealth care protests. Bachmann issued a belated statement essentially agreeing that the incident was distasteful, calling the incident "regrettable" but failing to apologize for neglecting deal with -- and thus implicitly supporting -- the issue when it arose at the rally she organized last week. And as Rep. Steve Israel commented, "It shouldn't have taken peer pressure, media inquiries or national outrage to get Rep. Bachmann to take a stand in defense of Holocaust victims."
Is Obama's Man Too Nice for Sudan?
Published November 11, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
"I feel like I'm watching George Bush."
Such was the reaction of the person I sat next to yesterday while watching the White House's live webcast with US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration. Indeed, Gration's rambling answers to questions posed by Save Darfur President Jerry Fowler and STAND Student Director Layla Amjadi were oddly reminiscent of our verbally-challenged ex-president. Only a handful of questions received a direct answer. An idea for drinking game came to mind as we listened to repeated phases like "psychological stuff" and "a bright future" or "a future that is...bright."
Personal style aside, Gration is clearly committed to his job and is diligently trying to move all of the pieces into place for sustainable peace for Africa's largest nation. And he is clearly a good guy -- a nice guy trying to do the right thing. But is he too much of a nice guy to deal with the hard-nosed, militant, manipulative authoritarians in Khartoum?
While Gration rightly notes that we have to deal with the bullies in Khartoum whether we like it or not, his nice-guy approach at least has the appearance of failing to push the government of Sudan to change its brutal ways. The US might not have infinite leverage, but Khartoum is quite keen on normalized relations with the US -- they wouldn't hire lobbyists and take out full-page ads in DC newspapers if they weren't -- but we've yet to see any indication that Gration is using this to his advantage.
A Devastating Report on Darfur
Published November 10, 2009 @ 04:25AM PT
After reading the latest UN report on Darfur, it should be abundantly clear to anyone that the Government of Sudan (GoS) is far from deserving cookies and gold stars.
In fact, no one comes out of the Report of the Panel of Experts looking good. The report, which covers a broad investigative mandate including arms embargoes and violations of international humanitarian law over the past year, exposes all actors in the Darfur conflict -- the governments of Sudan and Chad, the rebels of both countries, and a three-page list of corporations -- as the morally-depraved, power-hungry thugs they are, and in meticulous detail. It's a fascinating read, especially considering that the extensive documentation was assembled by the Panel despite significant obstruction of their work.
In fact, GoS stonewalling and obstructionism is repeatedly noted through the report, including intimidation and at least one case of arrest and detention of Darfuris interviewed by the Panel. Several government officials agreed to provide requested information and then were never heard from again. The Panel also noted multiple incidents of cosmetic measures implemented by GoS to feign the appearance of concern for its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, such as committees to combat sexual violence and decrees against torture and targeting civilians during combat operations; according to evidence uncovered by the Panel, these measures are hollow efforts to pay lip-service to human rights and civilian protection and actually change nothing about the situation of Darfuris on the ground.
Nothing raises suspicion like acting like you have something to hide.
Breaking: Bashir Cancels Turkey Visit, After All
Published November 08, 2009 @ 01:42PM PT
[Update: Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan told a state-run news agency that he is comfortable talking to Bashir "Because a Muslim couldn't do such things. A Muslim could not commit genocide." Can he really be that naive and foolish?]
What caused Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to cancel plans to visit Turkey this weekend?
The indicted war criminal was scheduled to fly to Turkey on Sunday for a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The trip grabbed international headlines after human rights groups protested the rolling out of the Turkish welcome mat for the wanted president, and European Union (EU) asked the wanna-be-EU-member to rescind the invitation. Turkey, however, remained defiant.
But word broke this afternoon that Bashir's plane left for Turkey without its VIP passenger -- though the reason remains unclear. Did Bashir cancel his visit at the last minute because:
a.) Turkey caved to EU pressure and quietly revoked the invitation?
b.) He was worried by rumors that Israel or Greece might intercept is plane en-route and arrest his genocidal arse? Or,
c.) Who the hell knows, but I sure would've paid money to be a fly on the wall of the room where that decision was made.
Jewish World Watch in the Congo
Published November 08, 2009 @ 12:52PM PT
"When your translator is in tears, you know you're in trouble."
My friends at Jewish World Watch (JWW) are currently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on a mission to record survivor testimony and to visit organizations working on the ground in the region. The travelers are diligently posting blogs, photographs, Tweets, and more and they make their way through what must be an emotionally and physically exhausting trip.
Here's more information about JWW and the Congo trip from JWW staffer Ari Averbach:
A Case of Liable
Published November 06, 2009 @ 02:44PM PT
So far the drafters of the Genocide Convention had established a definition and punishable acts. The next step was to clearly establish who could be held liable for genocide.
The Secretariat draft placed criminal liability for genocide on "rulers, public officials, and private individuals." In their commentary the experts stressed that the greatest responsibility for genocide prevention lies with rulers or statesmen. They also took the position that international law should concern itself with prosecuting "rulers" and that states should be in charge of prosecuting lesser public officials.
In a nod to the famed "Nuremberg defense" the Secretariat draft also prohibited "command of law or superior orders" as a justification of genocide. However, it did acknowledge that in some cases command of law or superior orders may constitute extenuating circumstances. This question would be left to the judge.
The Ad Hoc Committee unanimously voted to impose criminal liability on "heads of State, public officials or private individuals." Interestingly a Soviet proposal to include a prohibition of the Nuremberg defense was rejected. Other committee members explained that an in accordance with the definition of genocide an individual could not be held liable unless they possessed the requisite intent and orders were not sufficient to meet this requirement.
