Sudan elected to chair UN Group 77

Sudan has scored another diplomatic coup . . .

ICC and Bashir: the Biritish and French Connection

So the French and the British are ready to support the deferral of the arrest warrant for the Sudanese President . . .

It had been a an issue thatan arrest warrant will put the peace in Southern Sudan in danger of collapse and wosrsen the plight of the Darfuris. And ofcourse put the UNAMID force under more danger.

Are we right? Are the possible threats real? It seems the world dont want to be on the trail and error side. To err may cause more lives than already been lost.

So better the caution.

The indictment of President Bashir is imminent!

The world is bracing itself for the possible indictment of President Bashir and VP Taha for war crimes and genocide in Darfur!


What a development. The ICC prosecutor is preparing his case, which may be as early as Monday.


I don't know whether I should be happy or sad. The atrocities in Darfur really deserve world attention, the failure of implementation of the CPA in South Sudan needs more attention. The issues of Eastern Sudan and other areas are all of equal concern.


But what will the indictment of Bashir mean for peace in Sudan? At worse the world is bracing itself for a backlash: renewed fighting in South Sudan; more suffering of Darfuris; expulsion of UNAMID and withdrwal of cooperation with th einternational community. Expuslsion of ambassadors of Western countries, etc


As the Sudanese UN ambassador said "all options are open . . . and sky is the limit".

I think the world is right to be concern. Do we seek justice for long term effect at the cost of short term suffering and more deaths?


The next few days will surely be the most stressing for the Sudanese government.


. . . unless if the Chinese pull another trick and delay the indictment.

Ban Ki Moon press conference

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Another round of Darfur peace talks

After reassuring Southern Sudanese of his support for the complete implementation of the CPA, Ban Ki Moon announced the resumption of peace talks with the rebels on 27th October in Libya.

What had exactly been agreed in the meetings remain to be seen. Which of the rebel movements are attending? How about SLM leader Abdel Wahid el Nur? It seems the talks will start without him. This guy is playing on the huge support he has in the refugee camps in Darfur to wait his time out. He considers himself the champion of the Darfuris.

Will his strategy work? Nur wants peace keepers on the ground and the disarmament of the Janjaweed first before talks. Is it reasonable or delaying tactics? Maybe, they should change the meaning of the UN force in Darfur from Peace Keeping Force to Peace Making/Enforcing! The former means there has to be peace for the forces to keep first, not the other way round!

Ban Ki Moon in Sudan

The presence of the UN Secretary General in the Sudan is very important for two reasons: the fragile North-Peace Agreement is in need of support and importantly peace in Darfur. Everyone knows that.

The failure of CPA in the South will surely hamper any progress in Darfur. How can you believe Khartoum about any agreement in Darfur if they don't honour another in the South? The government in Khartoum don't seem to see this or they are just playing a game of wait and see.

Ban Ki Moon has a big task in his hands. If he failed the people of Darfur in his first year in office, he will be remembered for it years from now, no matter what he does again for the world. Now, everyone is giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I pray he succeeds.

The Darfur rebels Arusha deal

The rebels have finally reached a consensus on how to move forward towards negotiations with the government. However, it is not clear who will represent them in talks. It is still hard to see how they will workout the final details.

Meanwhile, the SLM leader has his own plans for Darfur, a three-prong approach he called conflict suspension, conflict resolution and conflict transformation. Now we wait and see how the process is going to turn out.

Next stop for the AU/Un mediators: Khartoum.

Darfur rebels talking in Arusha

The meeting to unify the ranks of the fragmented Darfur rebel movements is going on in Arusha, Tanzania. The AU and UN are hoping that they will be able to front one voice for talks with the regime in Khartoum. But will they?


I believe it is going to be a daunting task, but not impossible. What is fragmenting the rebels is not their demands for the people of Darfur, but greed for power. The regular splits wee all about power. They can all claim to be speaking for the poor people of Darfur, but what is happening is not the case.

Is the rebel group of Abdel Wahid el Nur right in not attending the reconciliation talks? He claims he will not attend the talks until fighting stops in Darfur and a multilateral ceasefire is in place. Unfortunately for him his actions will bring more damage to the people of Darfur. If they are fighting the same cause, at least he should go and listen to what the others are saying. His claims will be legimate if he joint the other groups, THEN demand cessation and disarmament of the Janjaweed or whatever as ONE voice. It will have more effect than his sole rantings.

The UN had already secured the force for Darfur, and he should not put himself as an obstacle now, for the sake of his people . . .

Sudan's diplomatic coup

Sudan has won a huge diplomatic coup with its acceptance of the new hybrid force for Darfur. UNAMID (United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur) will be a force that follows Sudanese demands: African structure, no chapter seven, no force disarmaments, no threat of sanctions. As the FM said, Resolution 1769 was made with their full consultation.

True, the international community watered down the resolution in order to avoid veto by China and ensure Sudanese acceptance. What happen next? With the rebels divided into a dozen faction and some refusing to attend the Arusha talks, Sudan looks on with glee!

Now the international community will have to work hard to unify the rebel command for a political settlement.

UN approves Darfur forces

The UN has unanimously passed theresolution authorising the deployment of over 20 thousand peace keepers. Now let the waiting begin . . .

Bashir in Darfur

Why is the high profile visit of President Bashir to Darfur causing a stir? Is it not only logical that a president visits any part of his country? These are the questions, but they seem to be different when it comes to Darfur.

The Sudanese media is hyping the visit to show case that Darfur is getting peaceful, although he travelled to the region amid massive security of his own! And his call for peace and development? It is being called propanda in the West, because he finds himself squeezed on all fronts.

Yah, the playing field is still littered with conspiracy, etc. But peace will come to Darfur oneday.

How the UN is re-colonizing Africa . . .

And the rest of the third world. Just food for thought, guys. . .


United Nations missions
1. Middle East (Untso, Jerusalem) 2. Kashmir (Unmogip) 3. Cyprus (Unficyp) 4. Golan Heights (Undof) 5. Lebanon (Unifil) 6. Western Sahara (Minurso) 7. DR Congo (Monuc)
8. Ethiopia/Eritrea (Unmee) 9. Liberia (Unmil) 10. Ivory Coast (Unoci) 11. Haiti (Minustah) 12. Sudan (Unmis) 13. Sierra Leone (Uniosil) 14. Burundi (Binub)

Mixed
15. Afghanistan (Unama and Nato-led Isaf) 16. Kosovo (Unmik and Nato-led K-For) 17. East Timor (Unmit and Australian-led force) 18. Georgia (Unomig and Russian-led CIS force)

Non-UN
19. Darfur (African Union force) 20. Somalia (African Union force) 21. Sinai Peninsula (mainly US force) 22. Bosnia (EU - Eufor) 23. Tajikistan (Russian-led CIS border force) 24. Trans-Dniester (Russian force)

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Time to talk, again

Another Darfur peace talk starting in Libya, but without the rebels! No, the AU, UN and the Libyan government say they are laying down the blue prints for talks that will be restarted soon. Good to hear. At least, also, the rebels are talking to each other and are fronting one body for the talks with Khartoum.

UN Resolutions and Darfur

The USA is calling for more UN resolutions to push Khartoum to comply with the numerous other ones. How many UN resolutions will it take to make Khartoum capitulate? There were many UNR on Sudan, which include the ones about the previous conflict in the South.

Below are the ones that deal with the conflict in Darfur.

• 1709 (2006) of 22 September 2006
• 1706 (2006) of 30 August 2006
• 1679 (2006) of 16 May 2006,
• 1665 (2006) of 29 March 2006,
• 1663 (2006) of 24 March 2006,
• 1593 (2005) of 31 March 2005,
• 1591 (2005) of 29 March 2005,
• 1590 (2005) of 24 March 2005,
• 1574 (2004) of 19 November 2004,
• 1564 (2004) of 18 September 2004
• 1556 (2004) of 30 July 2004

Some important ones highlighted are:

• 1556 (2004) Calls on Sudan to end attacks by militias
• 1564 (2004) Threatens Sanctions against Sudan if violence continues in Darfur
• 1591 and 1593 (2005) Recommend suspects of war crimes in Darfur to ICC
• 1706 (2006) Vote to send UN troops to Darfur

That last resolution is the one causing headaches to Khartoum these days.

Sudan accepts Phase II of UN plan

It seems Khartoum has atlast capitulated to the demands of the international community on deployment of UN troops. The FM said they can now allow more deployment of AU troops with UN support, as part of the Phase II plan.

Is this a true change of heart or just a breathing space? The previous continuous resistance of Khartoum to the phase 2 plan, and changing its stand every time, withdrawing and reneging on agreements has always been the game. What is happening this time?

This moment is long over due. I don't believe this results from the threat of sanctions from the USA. Khartoum is relying more on its Chinese support than America and the said sanctions will not affect it much in the short time. They know that. There will be another long delay before the real phase 3 is agreed for sure.

So what is hapenning? Your guess is as good as mine . . .

China seeks explanation of Sudan

The Chinese are now listening. Asking Sudan for an explanation for the descreptancy in the agreements between the UN is a welcome move.

Now we just gotta wait and see how Bashir will reply. The plot thickens.