tagged w/ Darfur
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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has arrived in Qatar for an Arab summit due to discuss an indictment against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
He has already visited Egypt, Eritrea and Libya over the past week to drum up support from his neighbours.
Qatar has not signed the ICC charter, which obliges member states to arrest indictees on their territory, but clerics have urged Mr Bashir not to go.
Libya's leader earlier said the ICC was a "new form of world terrorism".
Muammar Gaddafi, who is also president of the African Union, spoke out against the ICC warrant on a visit to the organisation's headquarters in Ethiopia on Sunday.
Sudan's leader was accused by the ICC on 4 March of seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in his country's Darfur region.
'First World terrorism'
Qatar's emir greeted President Bashir with hugs and kisses in a red carpet welcome at Doha's airport on Sunday, reported AP news agency.
Qatar, which hosts a key US military base, said last week it had faced pressure not to receive Mr Bashir.
Sudan's highest religious authority last week issued a fatwa urging Mr Bashir not to risk himself by attending, citing threats from enemies.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend Monday's opening of the Arab summit despite the presence of Mr Bashir, AFP news agency reported.
Meanwhile Col Gaddafi told reporters the indictment was an "attempt by [the West] to recolonise their former colonies".
"It is a practice of First World terrorism," he added.
Many African states, along with Sudan's key ally China, have called for the ICC proceedings to be suspended, arguing it will hamper efforts to bring peace to Darfur.
The Sudanese leader is said to have been emboldened by the 22-member Arab League's decision not to enforce the warrant even though three of its member countries are ICC signatories.Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has arrived in Qatar for an Arab summit due to... more
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This is an update on the the current situation in Darfur. We also take a look at the social media activism about Darfur, including an interview with vlogger activist, Gabriel Stauring from Stop Genocide Now, who visits the refugee camps in Chad and uploads daily vlogs for a series called "iAct".This is an update on the the current situation in Darfur. We also take a look at the... more
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UNITED NATIONS (CNN)--Over one million people in Darfur are at risk of losing food, water, and shelter in the coming months.UNITED NATIONS (CNN)--Over one million people in Darfur are at risk of losing food,... more
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A peacekeeper with the joint UN-African Union force (Unamid) in Sudan's western Darfur region has been shot dead by unknown assailants, a spokesman for the mission says.
The attack on Tuesday was the second targeting international peacekeepers since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, on war crimes charges.
"Unamid peacekeepers coming back from a patrol in Nyala were ambushed by eight unidentified gunmen," Kemal Saiki, a spokesman, said.
"This was not a carjacking gone wrong. This was a cold-blooded ambush. They were waiting for us."
The soldier, whose nationality was not released, died after he was airlifted to the mission's headquarters in the North Darfur capital of Al-Fasher.
On March 10, four Unamid troops were wounded in another ambush near Geneina in West Darfur.
More information in original story...A peacekeeper with the joint UN-African Union force (Unamid) in Sudan's western... more
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More than a year ago, the United Nations mandated a peacekeeping force for the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan.
Undermanned and under resourced, the peacekeeping force is losing the trust of those it was meant to protect.More than a year ago, the United Nations mandated a peacekeeping force for the... more
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US President Barack Obama has described as "unacceptable" the expulsion of foreign aid workers from the Sudanese region of Darfur last week. Mr Obama was speaking at the White House after his first talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Sudan expelled 13 aid agencies after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes. After his talks with Mr Ban, Mr Obama said he wanted to send a strong message with the UN to bring peace to Sudan. "It is not acceptable to put that many people's lives at risk," he said. "We need to be able to get those humanitarian organisations back on the ground."US President Barack Obama has described as "unacceptable" the expulsion of... more
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pibbio
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Reuters reports on the fears of radicalization of youth through internet chat rooms. A good read for those concerned about the content of current.Reuters reports on the fears of radicalization of youth through internet chat rooms. A... more
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Four members of the peacekeeping force in the Sudanese region of Darfur have been injured in an ambush. It is the first attack on the Darfur peacekeepers since the International Criminal Court indicted President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes last week. Meanwhile, the US embassy in Khartoum said it was allowing all non-essential embassy staff to leave the country. A spokesman for the joint UN-African Union mission said Monday evening's attack on the peacekeepers marked a worrying escalation of the violence in Darfur.Four members of the peacekeeping force in the Sudanese region of Darfur have been... more
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pibbio
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The African Union has appointed former South African President Thabo Mbeki to chair a committee to investigate human rights violations in Darfur. South Africa's Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Mr Mbeki's role was to intercede between the International Criminal Court and Sudan. The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir over atrocities committed in Darfur. Mr Bashir has rejected the charges and accused the ICC of colonialism. The African Union has asked the ICC to delay the charges for a year, warning that attempts to arrest Mr Bashir could further destabilise the situation in Darfur.The African Union has appointed former South African President Thabo Mbeki to chair a... more
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pibbio
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March 5, 2009 – Sudanese authorities in Khartoum this morning demanded the immediate expulsion of a second section of the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from Darfur.
The decision to expel the French section of MSF, brutal and sudden, follows the expulsion yesterday of the organization’s Dutch section. MSF is appalled by this order, which clearly holds the needs of the population of Darfur hostage to political and judicial agendas. The organization protests the order in the strongest of terms and appeals to the government to repeal these decisions and allow MSF to resume independent and impartial humanitarian assistance immediately.
“The order to expel MSF from Darfur is a dramatic turn of events that will have unprecedented consequences for the people of the region. Much of the population of Darfur is totally dependent on international humanitarian aid,” said MSF International President Dr. Christophe Fournier. “The sudden halt of our medical programs, including vital surgical, nutrition, and basic healthcare programs in large areas of Darfur will have an immediate and devastating impact on the population.”
The vast needs of the population left unaddressed by the expulsion of so many aid organizations leaves a huge void in assistance, impossible for any remaining agency to adequately fulfill. The basic needs of hundreds of thousands of people will now go unmet, be they medical, food, and water and sanitation. Outbreaks of meningitis in Kalma Camp and Niertiti—where an estimated 130,000 people are in urgent need of vaccination—risk going completely unanswered.
The remaining sections of MSF working in Darfur are committed to continuing to provide medical care in the areas where they are working. However, this is a far cry from addressing the extent of the needs throughout Darfur.
”The ability to provide independent humanitarian assistance in Darfur has been drastically diminished over the past year, but the actions of the Government of Sudan this week risk cutting off humanitarian assistance for displaced and local populations in large areas of Darfur,” added Dr. Fournier. “The needs of the population are falling prey to political and judicial ends, which is wholly unacceptable. We appeal to the government to immediately repeal its decision and allow for independent and impartial humanitarian assistance for the people in Darfur.”
MSF firmly reiterates that the organization is completely independent of the International Criminal Court and does not cooperate with or provide any information to it.
MSF has been working in Sudan since 1979 and in Darfur since 2003. While MSF has now been expelled from delivering critical healthcare in five areas of West and South Darfur, including Feina in Jebel Mara, Kalma, Muhajariya, Niertiti and Zalingei, MSF teams continue to provide care in West Darfur in Golo and Killin, and in North Darfur in Kebkabiya, Kaguro, Serif Umra, Shangil Tobaya and Tawila. Prior to the expulsion, more than one hundred MSF international staff and approximately 1,625 MSF national staff worked tirelessly to deliver essential medical aid to hundreds of thousands of people throughout Darfur.March 5, 2009 – Sudanese authorities in Khartoum this morning demanded the... more
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As Al Beshir faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, he spends his time inaugurating a wasteful dam built for the Westernized rich of Khartoum who don't care about the suffering of their own people in the South, nor those displaced by it.
What the people of Darfur are experiencing at the hands of the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed is nothing less than genocide. And yet, while they deal with a lack of medical assistance, (with aid organizations now being expelled in retaliation) food, water, safety, human rights, and all of the basic neccessities of life, business as usual goes on as if they are but invisible souls damned to walk the barren sand for eternity.
This is a crime beyond human comprehension, and any dam inaugurated by these murderers is only a monument to it. And the fact that the Chinese government provided financial backing for it along with France and Germany shows them as accomplices in supporting a criminal genocidal regime.
This like the Lesotho Dam project and so many others (Hasenkeyf in Turkey as well) all have the same modus operandi. Displacement of the poor and the taking of all they have in order to benefit the rich. This is not being done for environmental purposes. This is being done for profit.
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Merowe Damn Displaces Thousands
http://internationalrivers.org/en/africa/merowe-dam-sudan
Excerpt;
"The Merowe Dam is a US$1.8 billion hydropower project being built on the Nile in Sudan. The 174-kilometer-long reservoir will displace more than 50,000 people from the fertile Nile Valley to arid desert locations. The environmental and health impacts have never been properly assessed.
The Merowe Dam is being financed by China Exim Bank and funders from Arabic countries. Chinese, Sudanese, German and French companies are participating in the project. The government has not consulted the affected communities about the project, and is cracking down harshly against their protests.
Nubian activists protest plans to build Kajbar Dam on the Nile, Sudan
In spite of massive protests and serious human rights violations, the Sudanese government plans to build another barrage, the Kajbar Dam, on the Nile downstream of the Merowe Dam. The government is violently oppressing the protests of the Nubian people who would be displaced by the Kajbar Dam."
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None of this will benefit the people of Darfur. Only the criminals benefit.
As this video shows,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebUCByKYvqc
the suffering in Darfur is for oil , greed, and profit for the rich elite and the foreign investors looking to participate in economic colonialism without caring for the consequences of their actions.
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Sudan Dam Will Drown Cultural Treasures, Ruin Nile Communities
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=2714
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Dams destroy environmental sustainability, farmlands, cultural treasures, and the livelihoods of those who make these lands their home. "Environmental sustainability" is always used as the excuse to destroy pristine waterways to divert water to the rich while taking it from the poor and using it as a way to exploit the land and water for their own ends. They now do to the fertile land of the Nile what they do to the people of Darfur: Take all it gives and give nothing in return.
Shame on all who support this monument to genocide and environmental destruction.As Al Beshir faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes... more
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The International Criminal Court is accepting supporting evidence of children's drawings of the alleged crimes committed in Darfur. This sketch by Abdul Maggit depicts a typical scene of destruction.The International Criminal Court is accepting supporting evidence of children's... more
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anjoru
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Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir lashed out at the West over a warrant for his arrest which has split the world and sparked fears of insecurity and a humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Sudan reacted swiftly to the International Criminal Court decision to seek Beshir's arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity by expelling around a dozen foreign relief agencies, a move that could threaten aid to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people.
Sudan's allies, including a string of African and Arab states and China, called for the suspension of the ICC warrant, warning it could undermine efforts to end the six-year conflict in Darfur.
Khartoum has vowed it will not cooperate with The Hague-based court, which accuses Beshir of masterminding a campaign of extermination, rape and pillage in Darfur.Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir lashed out at the West over a warrant for his arrest... more
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gooma2
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Sudan's president told thousands of cheering supporters on Thursday, March 05, an international call for his arrest on war crimes charges was a colonialist ploy and announced the expulsion of 10 foreign aid agencies.Sudan's president told thousands of cheering supporters on Thursday, March 05, an... more
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Sudan's expulsion of 13 aid organizations will cause "irrevocable damage" to humanitarian operations in Darfur and is urging the government to reconsider.
Ban's spokeswoman tells reporters Thursday that the operations of the agencies "are key to maintaining a lifeline to 4.7 million Sudanese people who receive aid in Darfur."
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas says Ban is also concerned about the safety and security of the workers.
The International Criminal Court decided to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Sudan's expulsion... more
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gooma2
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For all the charity and humanitarian aid that's been poured into the Darfur region, and all of the celebrities pleading for change -- it seems nothing has changed. People are still dying, atrocities continue, and the war worsens. This sense of futility is what makes the project we're sharing with you today so interesting.
The ultra-low-budget documentary "Christmas in Darfur?" follows the challenges two amateur filmmakers (and their limited crew) face as they attempt to make a film about what it was like for aid workers to spend their holiday season in this war-torn African desert. Boing Boing Video guest correspondent Sean Bonner interviewed the film's director Jason Mojica about that experience, and we bring you that conversation today, along with clips from the finished film.
Driven by the desire to understand the gap between all the global attention to Darfur and the worsening conditions there -- and with no experience in filmmaking, or any connections in Africa -- the filmmakers' guileless approach takes them deep into the refugee camps of Chad.For all the charity and humanitarian aid that's been poured into the Darfur... more
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