KHARTOUM'S EXECUTIONERS HAVE BROKEN SILENCE TO REVEAL HOW DARFUR'S ATROCITIES HAVE BEEN PLANNED, FINANCED AND CARRIED OUT - and who is responsible

Darfur destroyed: Sudan’s perpetrators break silence

11 Feb 09 – Film: Ahead of the ICC arrest warrant for Omar al Bashir, Khartoum’s men speak out...

Shortly the International Criminal Court will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for General Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Today, in a 20-minute film released on the brink of that decision, Khartoum’s executioners have broken silence to reveal how Darfur’s atrocities were planned, financed and carried out – and who was responsible.

The film – ‘Darfur Destroyed’ – is available to view in English, French, German and Arabic.
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Darfur Destroyed: Sudan's perpetrators break silence from Aegis Trust on Vimeo.
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Since 2003, at least 300,000 civilians have died in Darfur and millions have been displaced from their homes, many of them at the hands of militia nicknamed the ‘Janjaweed’ (‘devils on horseback’). Time after time, survivors stated – and international observers confirmed – that as they murdered, raped, looted and burned village after village, the Janjaweed was backed by the Sudanese army and air force. Yet the Sudanese Government has consistently denied responsibility for atrocities in Darfur and to this day, says it has nothing to do with the Janjaweed.

However, the defectors in this film – some of them speaking publicly for the first time – tell a very different story.

Created by the Aegis Trust with the support of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (Egypt), Human Rights First (USA), the Save Darfur Coalition (USA), the Society for Threatened Peoples (Germany), and the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (Sudan and the UK), the film features interviews conducted by researchers including Phil Cox (Native Voice Films) and Frank Dutton, former deputy head of investigations at the ICTY.

Between them, a senior Army finance officer, a Janjaweed commander, a regular soldier and a Janjaweed fighter explain why and how the Sudanese Government created and launched the Janjaweed militia; how it disguised the militia, once atrocities in Darfur came to world attention; how it armed and paid the Janjaweed; how the Janjaweed worked with Sudan’s regular army and air force, and how rape has been used as a weapon against the civilian population.

The witnesses implicate Sudanese Government figures at the highest level – including Ahmed Harun (Minister for Humanitarian Affairs), Ali Osman Mohammed Taha (Second Vice President), and even Omar al-Bashir himself.

Moataz El Fegiery, Executive Director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) states: “If you don’t believe the victims, or if you mistrust the UN, then you should at least listen to the voices of the perpetrators. In their own words, they describe the Sudanese Government’s role in killing its own people.”

Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, states: “As one-time servants of the Bashir regime, the defectors in this film provide powerful evidence of the responsibility of the Sudanese Government for mass atrocities in Darfur. As they themselves have said: those responsible should be brought to account and answer at the ICC – even if they include the President himself.”

Nicolas Burniat, Pennoyer Fellow at Human Rights First noted: “For too long, the international community has allowed the government in Sudan to get away with murder in Darfur. To this very day, many countries continue to sell weapons to Khartoum, allowing the Sudanese army to keep sending fresh arms to Darfur, as shown in Aegis Trust’s film. Whether or not the ICC issues an arrest warrant against Bashir, these countries must decide between pushing Sudan to face its responsibility to cooperate with the Court or continuing to support a suspected war criminal”.

The defectors in their own words
• Popular Defence Force / Janjaweed commander: “The Sudanese Government, all time he said, no genocide there, no rape there. I am from the PDF – Janjaweed – I want to tell the World the truth.”
• Sudanese army paymaster: “As a human being, I’m not able to feel good about this. I am paying them and they’re going to kill other people.”
• Popular Defence Force / Janjaweed commander: “The President of Sudan, Omar al Bashir, sent four billion Sudanese pounds for the Popular Defence Force in Nyala to be distributed as an incentive.”
• Popular Defence Force / Janjaweed commander: “When you destroy the wells, or when you cut the trees, or when you burn the village, this means you expel the civilians from the village. This is an instruction from…It is came from Khartoum.”
• Janjaweed fighter: “Rape can happen. Rape can happen…. What would happen is, they took the girls and the women away, just out of sight, and they started to rape them.”
• Sudanese soldier: “They shout ‘Kill the slaves’ and ‘Fuck the slaves’. They take girls and rape them. They rape and torture them. They want the children to be different in colour, to be like them.”
For media enquiries about this film, email david.brown@aegistrust.org. Copies of the film and raw footage are available at broadcast quality on request.

The above text and a full transcript of the film Darfur Destroyed can be found at www.aegistrust.org

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Genocide Ends

When Enough of Us

Stand Up Against It

JOIN US
1-800-GENOCIDE
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Write President Obama
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You can also call or write to the President:

The White House
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Comments to President Obama:

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or

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The White House available 9 AM - 5 PM EST weekdays

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Call your Senators and Representative Today!

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To call the USA Secretary of State

202-647-6575

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works 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

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Sample of what to say:

* I'm calling to ask President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Rice to protect innocent civilians in Darfur in the wake of Bashir's arrest warrant. Please issue immediate warnings to Bashir and the government of Sudan specifying consequences of attacks on civilians. Please also prepare an emergency response plan to address further violence and appoint a full-time senior level envoy. Lastly, please stand firm in support of the ICC indictment and veto any delay in the prosecution of Bashir.

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IF NOT,

THEN,

YOUR SILENCE

CONTRIBUTES

TO

ANOTHER

GENOCIDE.

www.savedarfur.org

www.aegistrust.org