Sudan Watch (to July 2012)

[marct]

I'm on one of the Darfur support lists and this just came ver it.

NBA Dream Team Rallies for Darfur
For immediate release - May 10, 2007
Contact: Jill Savitt, Dream for Darfur, (917)-941-3530, Jill.Savitt@dreamfordarfur.org
Steve Kauffman, for Ira Newble, (310) 456-5400, Ksmg4@aol.com

NBA “Dream Team of Conscience” Urges China to Protect the People of Darfur
Cleveland Cavalier Ira Newble Rallies Players to Stop the Genocide

Cleveland – May 10 – Cleveland Cavalier small forward Ira Newble announced today that 11 of his teammates have joined him in co-signing an open letter to the government of the People’s Republic of China, urging the Chinese government to take immediate action on the crisis in Darfur, in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Read the full text of the letter and signatures.


“I have been distraught about the crisis in Darfur, and especially with recent news that shows the situation has not improved – and more innocent people are continuing to die,” said Newble. “China is playing a major role in the crisis. The 2008 Beijing Olympics gives professional athletes the chance to speak out about the ideas of peace and brotherhood that the Olympics represent. I urge all athletes to ask China to do what it can to protect civilians in Darfur.” For information on China’s role in the Darfur crisis, see below.

More...

[Tom Odom]

26,000 personnel--7,000 AU, 6400 UN civilians, 12500 other military, supposedly to come mainly from Africa with US airlift and money, British financial aid and logistics. All of this is supposedly to be finalized in 90 days.

I will be quite surprised if they do it in 90 days. I am equally doubtful they will be able to draw another 12,000 troops from Africa. MONUC in the Congo has been and still is a struggle with 16,700 troops, 700 milobs, 1000 police, and 1800 expatriate civilian workers (permanent or UN volunteer).

Plus one can make the argument that the Congo is relatively developed when it comes to infrastructure avaliable when compared to Darfur and Kordofan.

Tom

[Granite_State]

26,000 personnel--7,000 AU, 6400 UN civilians, 12500 other military, supposedly to come mainly from Africa with US airlift and money, British financial aid and logistics. All of this is supposedly to be finalized in 90 days.

I will be quite surprised if they do it in 90 days. I am equally doubtful they will be able to draw another 12,000 troops from Africa.
Tom

Yeah, I know next to nothing about African militaries, but I was wondering about that.

[Stan]

13 August - By Martin Plaut, BBC Africa analyst

"And so far these UN troops have caused no difficulties for the Sudanese government."

Really ? Now this begs the question...who's nominally in charge whilst the rest beg, borrow and steal

The chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, dropped something of a bombshell after holding talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Speaking to the media, he insisted that the 26,000-strong hybrid United Nations-African Union force would be drawn entirely from Africa, and that it would be under African command.

The initial response to the statement was one of surprise.

The Americans, among others, had argued that Africa does not have enough trained soldiers to make up a credible and effective force.

The Sudanese are fearful that some of their number might be arrested by UN forces, under a sealed warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, for crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.

African troops, led by an African commander, might be prevailed on not to carry out this exercise.

But in some ways the whole rumpus is a little puzzling.

The UN already has 10,108 total uniformed personnel, including 8,824 troops, 591 military observers, and 693 police patrolling South Sudan, as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement reached between the authorities in Khartoum and rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in January 2005.

More at the link

[tequila]

Chaos in Darfur on the Rise as Arabs fight with Arabs - NYTIMES, 3 Sep.

Some of the same Arab tribes accused of massacring civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan are now unleashing their considerable firepower against one another in a battle over the spoils of war that is killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands.

In the past several months, the Terjem and the Mahria, heavily armed Arab tribes that United Nations officials said raped and pillaged together as part of the region’s notorious janjaweed militias, have squared off in South Darfur, fighting from pickup trucks and the backs of camels. They are raiding each other’s villages, according to aid workers and the fighters themselves, and scattering Arab tribesmen into the same kinds of displacement camps that still house some of their earlier victims.

United Nations officials said that thousands of gunmen from each side, including some from hundreds of miles away, were pouring into a strategic river valley called Bulbul, while clashes between two other Arab tribes, the Habanniya and the Salamat, were intensifying farther south ...

The images with the article gives a good idea of just how far the "ethnic" definition of "Arab" can stretch in Sudan:

[Stan]

Hey Tequila !
Nice post and pics

Setting road blocks and gaunlets is not a good sign for Africans of any tribe. It boils down to a lack of everything, and borders on total chaos. These so-called movements actually have little politically 'to do' with motivating the troops (although it often sounds great in the press).

Once the chow's run out and there's nobody left to steal from or rape, the UN troops will really have their hands full (because they'll be next on the food chain).

Regards, Stan

Some aid workers say Darfur is beginning to resemble Somalia, the world’s longest-running showcase for AK-47-fed chaos. Highwaymen in green camouflage — rebel fighters? local militia? janjaweed? — routinely flag down trucks and drag out passengers, robbing the men and sexually assaulting the women. Newly empowered warlords are exacting taxes. The galaxy of rebel armies — the Greater Sudan Liberation Movement, the Popular Forces Troops, the Sudan Democratic Group, to name a few new arrivals — keeps expanding, and ideology seems to fade away. Despite peace talks among them in early August, the rebels, mostly non-Arabs, are now also battling themselves.

[TROUFION]

I hate to say this but, the effectiveness of UN PK forces has been very suspect for a long time. I hate to say this becuase it is often seen as a slam against non-western militaries ability and professionalism. It is also seen as elitist. That said here goes, the idea of a stand alone UN military force is written into the UN Charter, the capacity fielding this force exists yet it is not politically viable. Too many questions on command and control, loyalty etc.

Stand by for controversy:

What the UN should do is higher Blackwater or another firm, combination of firms, to provide professional uniformed military forces. The quality would go up, the quantity could be a problem but that is a $ thing. But the money is there note--The amount of money spent to higher say Bangladeshi troops is huge, and then you have to pay extra to arm and equip them. By resorting to PMC's the UN could build effective first rate forces, that are governed by the UN (new international SOFA style and UCMJ style rules would have to be created) commanded by the UN and sanctioned by the UN. Note Blackwater ahs stated they could outfit a battalion fairly easily. This could at least provide a professional QRF. The existance of a quality QRF could stiffen the resolve of the other forces.