OurPledge

Activists press China with Genocide Olympics label

From the June 26, 2007 edition of The Christian Science Monitor

Activists press China with ‘Genocide Olympics’ label
By Danna Harman

New York—It all started with a petite blonde in a fury. Horrified by the violence she saw on trips to Darfur, and angry with what she perceived to be China’s complacency on the issue, movie-star-turned-UNICEF-goodwill-ambassador Mia Farrow sent off a fuming op-ed piece to The Wall Street Journal in March. “These are the Genocide Olympics,” she protested, in reference to the upcoming 2008 Games in Beijing. “China is funding the first genocide of the third millennium.”

ANALYSIS: Khartoum wins diplomatic victory over Darfur force

15 Jun 2007 – Source: Reuters
By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, June 15 (Reuters) – Sudan has won a diplomatic victory by accepting a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur on terms that, once again, buy it more time and stave off sanctions, analysts say.

After months of negotiations, Sudan accepted a joint force of at least 20,000 troops and police, but said it would be under AU command and control and most troops would be African, conditions analysts say weaken its ability to protect 2.5 million Darfuris driven from their homes by four years of conflict.

“This has to count as a diplomatic victory for the regime,” said Eric Reeves, a U.S. academic and Darfur activist. “Time and time again they’ve had their backs apparently against the wall, but have wiggled out to retain overall control of the security crisis in Darfur.”

“Anything that causes delays is to (Khartoum)’s advantage, as is any type of agreement that leaves them basically unscathed in terms of power within Sudan,” said Sudan expert John Ashworth.

The United Nations and the AU hailed Sudan’s acceptance of a joint force as a breakthrough, no matter whether it resulted from threats of sanctions and international arrest warrants for a junior minister and allied militia leader for war crimes, or from open discussions and negotiations.

37 NGOs Urge UN Secretary-General Ban to Intervene on Darfur

From UN Watch:

Geneva, June 14, 2007 – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s stance on Darfur has “dissipated pressure rather than building it,” according to an appeal published today by UN Watch and 36 other non-governmental organizations. Based in Geneva, UN Watch represented the largest NGO coalition at the UN Human Rights Council’s December 2006 special session on Darfur, and organized the Council’s March 2007 international NGO summit.

The letter calls on Mr. Ban to immediately intensify pressure on all sides to stop the conflict, criticizing the UN for “getting Sudan to repeat previous commitments” which it then portrays as victory. The appeal, coinciding with Ban’s completion of six months in office, comes as the UN Human Rights Council—which has failed to take action on Darfur—struggles to conclude its first year without being judged a failure.

“Khartoum has used the ‘time for diplomacy’ line for the last four years, and the UN has taken the bait,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. “The Secretary-General must push for immediate action to show that the UN is no longer falling for Sudan’s crying wolf.”

According to Neuer, the current Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva underscores the insufficiency of the UN’s approach. Yesterday, the Council discussed yet another UN report on Darfur that called for more reports, “all of which has done absolutely nothing to abate the killings, mass rape and ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese army and the state-sponsored Janjaweed militias.”

Neuer urged the UN Secretary-General “to tell the Sudanese government, the victims in Darfur, and the international community that this time, if Khartoum backs out of its promise to allow UN peacekeepers, there will be serious consequences. The lives and futures of the suffering Darfuri people will depend on it.”

57 Statements of Concern, But Where Is the Real Action?

From London’s Metro.co.uk:

‘Last chance’ over Darfur – warning
Thursday, June 14, 2007

Tony Blair must take his “last chance” to put warm words on Darfur into action to end the killings and humanitarian crisis, a new advert will warn.

A coalition of campaign groups has taken out the full-page newspaper adverts in a bid to persuade European leaders to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible.

The situation in the western region of Sudan will be on the agenda at next week’s EU summit – less than a week before Mr Blair quits 10 Downing Street.

What the New News Really Means

More commentary soon about the Government of Sudan’s apparent acceptance of a UN-AU force for Darfur. The most important point: The evidence indicates that Khartoum is up to its old tricks again.

The most important part of the NYTimes article below:

[Such formulations allow for unacceptable delay, said John Prendergast, a Sudan expert who helps lead Enough Project, an initiative of the Center for American Progress and the International Crisis Group to abolish genocide and mass atrocities.

“The gulf between the rhetoric of acceptance and the reality of deployment is huge,” he said, adding that haggling over the composition of the force “is putting a condition on the deployment which ensures its failure."]

Avoiding Responsibility

The important upshot suggested by International Crisis Group Senior Adviser and ENOUGH Co-Founder John Prendergast’s Congressional testimony yesterday: The White House has been blaming other countries for their inaction on Darfur, but really, this is a case where the critic has to take the beam out of his own eye first and foremost. Here’s Prendergast:

“A crucial misperception, I think, has to be corrected if we’re going to be effective in Darfur. The UN doesn’t move by itself: It has to be moved by the brain inside the United Nations, which is the United Nations Security Council…and the most powerful nation in the Security Council is the United States.”

“The UN moves when the U.S. moves it. I worked in the last administration, I spent a lot of time doing this stuff…It simply doesn’t happen unless we move. So to displace responsibility to other nations or other “international organizations” of which we are the dominant member does a disservice to the cause.”

[End of Post]

NYTimes: “Sudanese Lawyers Receive Guidance for Possible Trials Over Darfur”

Sometimes you have to prepare for hope; sometimes you have to prepare for a hopeful day. Here’s a New York Times story about lawyers training for a yet-to-be Darfur trial at the Hague:

Sudanese Lawyers Receive Guidance for Possible Trials Over Darfur
By Eric Pfanner

LONDON, June 6—As international pressure increases over the situation in Darfur, Sudanese lawyers are looking ahead to the day when victims of mass rape and torture seek justice in tribunals like the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Video: Dem Presidential Candidates Discuss Darfur During New Hampshire Debate

[Video no longer available] [End of Post]

Hundreds flee Darfur town after attacks

Bradley S. Klapper – Associated Press

GENEVA, June 2, 2007—Hundreds of women and children fled by foot and on donkeys from Darfur to the neighboring Central African Republic after their town was attacked by planes and helicopters, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees was rushing aid to the 1,500 refugees who made the grueling 125-mile journey over 10 days, said spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis.

The refugees told U.N. officials their town of Dafak was attacked repeatedly by janjaweed militia from May 12 to May 18 and that their homes had been bombarded by airstrikes, Pagonis said.

“There were more air attacks even as they were fleeing,” the refugees told UNHCR monitors, according to Pagonis. “Refugees said they will not return to Darfur before basic safety…can be guaranteed. Many of them expressed fear of further attacks.”