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Franklin Templeton, other firms helping to fuel the genocide in Darfur
[Press release from the Save Darfur Coalition:]
‘DIVEST FOR DARFUR’ CAMPAIGN RAPS U.S. MUTUAL FUNDS FOR GENOCIDE-LINKED HOLDINGS
National advertisements, San Francisco ‘station domination’ urge Franklin Templeton, others to divest PetroChina holdings
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1—The Save Darfur Coalition today launched the latest phase of its divestment advertising campaign with provocative national television and online advertisements targeting genocide-linked investments held by firms Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, and Capital Group. The coalition also unveiled new “station domination” divestment advertisements in San Francisco’s Montgomery Street BART Station specifically targeting San Mateo-based mutual fund company Franklin Templeton. To view the television or online ad, click here: http://www.savedarfur.org/divestment/presskit.
Continue Reading: Franklin Templeton, other firms helping to fuel the genocide in Darfur
BBC: Darfur attack kills peacekeepers
An attack on an African Union army base in the Sudanese region of Darfur has reportedly killed 12 peacekeepers.
The casualties were the most serious losses suffered by the AU mission since it arrived in 2003, a spokesman said.
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is due to arrive in Sudan on Sunday, leading a group of elder statesmen and women to discuss peace in Darfur.
It is not yet clear whether government or rebel troops were responsible for the attack on the AU base on Sunday.
Continue Reading: BBC: Darfur attack kills peacekeepers
Commentary: Genocide Olympics
Jamie O’Connell
Sunday, September 23, 2007
The San Francisco Chronicle
President Bush’s recent decision to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games looks as unwise as his May 2004 appearance on an aircraft carrier to proclaim “mission accomplished” in Iraq. Human rights activists have labeled the games the “Genocide Olympics,” highlighting the Chinese government’s support for genocide in Darfur, in western Sudan.
Just as Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Berlin Olympics to present Nazi society as a model of orderly virtue, they argue, Beijing will use the Games as an international coming out party, casting itself as an economic power, technological innovator and diplomatic leader of the first rank. An international campaign joined by the US Save Darfur Coalition - comprised of organizations as diverse as B’nai B’rith International, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination League, and the NAACP - aims to reverse this image unless China fundamentally changes policy on Darfur. This “Olympic Dream for Darfur” (www.dreamfordarfur.org), along with more action by the U.S. government and rising public outcry in Europe and elsewhere, could help end the first genocide of the 21st century.
Continue Reading: Commentary: Genocide Olympics
UN says violence increasing in Darfur camps
Mon 17 Sep 2007, 12:04 GMT
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL17190673.html
Reuters - By Simon Apiku
KHARTOUM, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Violence is increasing in camps for displaced people in Darfur, where nearly a quarter million people have been displaced so far this year, a U.N. report said on Monday.
The United Nations said rising violence in the overcrowded camps of the remote region of western Sudan was making it harder to carry out humanitarian aid work to help the thousands of newcomers arriving each week.
“Over 240,000 people have been newly displaced or re-displaced during 2007,” the U.N. report said. “In many IDP (internally displaced people) camps, armed elements are present, and violent incidents are increasing.”
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Op-Ed: Holding Khartoum accountable in Darfur
The Boston Globe - [Permanent Link]
By Eric Reeves - September 6, 2007
DOES GENOCIDE continue in Darfur? Do we still see “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, [Darfur’s African ethnic groups] as such,” the high standard set by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention? The question acquires urgency as skepticism grows in some quarters about the intentions of Khartoum’s Islamist regime. Genocide is a crime of intent, not motive; if the intention of Khartoum is no longer genocidal, their moral and negotiating equities change considerably in any peace talks with fractious rebel groups.
Some skepticism about genocide in Darfur is politically motivated: much of the British left regards Darfur advocacy as a diversion from Iraq. The Bush administration, embarrassed by its weak actions following a September 2004 genocide determination, has attempted to “walk back” the g-word. Yet others argue - to diminish the urgency of deploying military protection - that Darfur’s terrible realities are much improved and no longer deserve such strenuous characterization.
Continue Reading: Op-Ed: Holding Khartoum accountable in Darfur
Is Justice Slipping Off Darfur Agenda?
By Lisa Clifford and Katy Glassborow in The Hague (AR No. 131, 07-Sep-07)
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=338518&apc_state=henh
Escalating violence in Darfur and efforts by the international community to restore peace has dominated the news headlines this month.
Particularly prominent has been coverage of the first visit by the new UN secretary-general to the region and his thoughts on peacekeeping, political solutions and humanitarian aid. Noticeably absent, however, from Ban Ki-moon’s statements on Darfur has been any mention of the International Criminal Court, ICC, and the two arrest warrants it issued earlier this year for a Sudanese rebel leader and a government minister.
Continue Reading: Is Justice Slipping Off Darfur Agenda?
Darfur refugees long for peace
By Orla Guerin
BBC News, Darfur - September 6, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6982728.stm
Al Salaam camp sits like an open-wound on the Darfur landscape, battered by the rains, and scorched by the sun.
This place, named peace, stands as a monument to four years of conflict.
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Ordering peace
Much has been written about the limitations of deploying peacekeepers to Darfur. Here, some of this analysis fits into a larger argument (perhaps reasonable but ultimately misguided) that a Darfur peace accord must be hammered out before the deployment of any large force to Western Sudan.
Certainly, peacekeepers cannot substitute for a peace process. Relative calm cannot be achieved and reconstruction in Western Sudan cannot begin unless the U.S and its allies, Darfur’s different rebel groups, and the Government of Sudan accept and earnestly implement a robust political settlement to stop the bloodshed and dying.
That said, we have to look at the other side of the coin. Civilian security in Darfur is absolutely paramount not only from a political perspective, but more importantly from a basic moral perspective. The UN and AU officials and the think-tank types who rightfully stress the need for a real Darfur peace agreement need to respect the moral claims of the mothers and young girls who are still being raped (PDF link), and the one million Darfuris who live near oblivion exactly because the Government of Sudan has blocked humanitarian assistance from reaching them.
Continue Reading: Ordering peace
New Photos Indicate Arms Flow to Darfur
By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, August 24, 2007; A08
Recent photographs purportedly showing Sudanese soldiers in the Darfur region moving containers from a Russian-made Antonov cargo plane onto military trucks reinforce suspicions that Sudan continues to violate a U.N.-imposed arms embargo, the London-based human rights group Amnesty International said.
The photographs, taken in July and released today by the rights group, also purportedly show Russian-supplied Mi-7 and Mi-24 military helicopters in the town of Geneina in Darfur.
Eyewitnesses in Darfur and the International Peace Information Service, based in Antwerp, Belgium, sent the photographs to Amnesty. The images bolster evidence published in a May report by Amnesty that accused Russia and China of having broken the arms embargo, according to a news release from the human rights group.
The Russian-made Antonov, with registration ST-ASA, is listed as operated by Azza Transport, which is under investigation by a U.N. panel monitoring the Sudan arms embargo and arms transfers into Darfur.
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Sudanese government fails to investigate new details on Darfur rapes: UN
The Associated Press
Published: August 21, 2007
GENEVA: The U.N.’s top human rights office on Tuesday released gruesome new details of rapes of Darfur women, reportedly by soldiers and government militia, and accused the Sudanese government of failing to investigate.
“The abuses may also constitute war crimes,” said the report by the office of Louise Arbour, U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
Continue Reading: Sudanese government fails to investigate new details on Darfur rapes: UN