ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO TOPPLE THE REGIME IN KHARTOUM, SUDAN ~ WILL USA MEDIA REPORT STORY?

Sudan: Youth Group Call for Fresh Protests On March 21

Posted February 28, 2011

Source: allafrica.com

Khartoum — A Sudanese organization called 'Youth for Change' made a call for demonstrations in all parts of Sudan on March 21st in a new bid to bring about a mass uprising similar to the ones in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

The group's spokesperson Magdi Okasha said that their ultimate goal is to topple the regime.

This came as opposition parties launched a fierce attack on the Sudanese government and vowed to push for change by mobilizing their supporetrs to take the streets.

Leaders from the opposition parties convened at the headquarters of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) in which they saw a replay of a video showing a female activist recounting her alleged rape by agents from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

Police and NISS officers cordoned the PCP HQ as families of detainees and opposition supporters lifted banners and shouting anti-government slogans.

The leaders of the opposition parties who form the National Alliance Forces called for the release of PCP leader Hassan Al-Turabi who remains in jail since January with no formal charges being brought against him.

Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) leader Mohamed Ibrahim Nugud expressed solidarity with the PCP "despite past bitterness" in order to work on the issue of freedoms, calling for dispatching a delegation to hold meetings with the revolutionary forces in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt for coordination and exchange of ideas.

The deputy Secretary-General of the Sudan people Liberation Movement (SPLM) Yasser Arman, echoed Nugud's call and voiced rejection of the concept of politically motivated arrests and torture by the NISS.

Arman made a demand for spreading democracy to fight against corruption and tyranny, noting that the Sudanese state "is a failed and outdated one that needs update and renewal".

He further suggested establishing a new capital other Khartoum describing it as the source of the wars waged throughout the Sudan.

For his part, the chairman of the Alliance opposition Farouk Abu Issa said a commission would be formed that would work on spreading freedom and defending against torture and preventing it, stressing that crimes of torture is punishable without statute of limitations.

Sudanese youth have called for anti-government protests which were violently dispersed by security forces starting on January 30. The movement failed to take on mass appeal and dozens of activists remain detained without charge.

Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir has promised to step down at the next election in four years, after 26 years in power. His party took over in a 1989 bloodless coup.

But growing voices of dissent, even from within his ruling party, are calling for more immediate action to prevent the kind of popular uprising that toppled long-serving leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and has spread to other nations including Libya.

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Our humanity in the balance

Radio Dabanga

A STORY OF GENOCIDE ONLY MATTERS WHEN THEY ARE OVER - PROOF? WHEN THEY ARE GOING ON WE IGNORE THEM

"We", meaning news outlets, especially TV channels, and leaders of the world's governments.

That saying ~ No News is Good News ~ really doesn't mean anything in the USA "news" outlets. I say this because there are so many important stories that the USA news outlets don't include in their coverage. Genocide in Darfur is one of those stories.

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Darfur death toll mounts amid new war fears

Source: afp

UNITED NATIONS — The Darfur conflict claimed more than 2,300 lives in 2010, according to new UN figures released with Western powers expressing renewed alarm over the war.

With growing numbers of abductions and attacks on UN peacekeepers, some diplomats accuse Sudan's government of stepping up its offensive in the remote western region while international attention is focused on the self-determination vote in south Sudan.

The Sudanese military has frequently refused permission for UN peacekeepers to go to areas where trouble is reported, according to UN officials.

Three Bulgarian air crew on a helicopter carrying World Food Programme supplies were abducted last week and this week troubles flared in the west Darfur town of Nertiti after the killing of a Sudanese intelligence officer.

In December, Tanzanian soldiers at Khor Abeche in southern Darfur even decided to give out their own rations because food supplies were blocked for nearly a week and thousands of extra refugees had headed for the UN base amid renewed fighting, UN officials said.

UN rules say peacekeepers should not give their own food to refugees.

More convoys have been halted around Khor Abeche this week, according to the UN mission in Darfur, UNAMID.

At least 2,321 violent deaths were reported in Darfur in 2010, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report. At least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since the conflict erupted in 2003 when tribal fighters rose up against the Khartoum government, the UN says.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is wanted for genocide by the International Criminal Court. He is accused of ordering the campaign by government troops and their Janjaweed militia allies in Darfur.

The renewed fears over the conflict and deadlocked peace talks were highlighted at a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan on Tuesday.

Britain's ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who has taken a lead role in Security Council efforts on Darfur, said there was "deep concern" at the renewed hostilities.

Last week's abduction of the UN air crew "highlights the lack of security and its impact on humanitarian operations in Darfur," he added.

Lyall Grant called on all rebel groups to join the peace process without delay or pre-conditions.

"These are not sporadic attacks. This is a real war between Sudanese army forces and the rebel groups," said French ambassador Gerard Araud. "It is at the expense of civilians who are chased, causing deaths and tens of thousands of new displaced."

US ambassador Susan Rice called on the Sudanese government to "immediately halt aerial bombardments," adding: "We condemn in the strongest possible terms attacks on civilians."

She said reaching a ceasefire between government forces and the rebel groups "should be the immediate objective of the peace process."

The Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi Faction is the only group to have signed up to a 2006 peace accord with the government. But its fighters clashed with army troops last month.

The Sudanese government withdrew its negotiating team from Qatar, where talks with some rebels have been held, in late December but insisted it was not leaving the talks.

South Africa, a new member of the UN Security Council, called for a special international Darfur conference to find a political settlement.

However, one African diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The Khartoum government is resigned to losing southern Sudan, but it is determined to win back control of Darfur. The referendum in the south has been perfect cover for all sides to open fire again."

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USUN PRESS RELEASE #006

Jan. 18, 2011

AS DELIVERED

Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United

Nations, at a Security Council Briefing on Sudan, January 18, 2011

Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank SRSG Menkerios and President

Mkapa for their important briefings today.

This is a historic moment. And I join President Obama in congratulating the

people and leaders of Sudan for the successful completion of voting on the

referendum on independence. The people of Southern Sudan, after decades of war

and more than two million killed, have cast their votes peacefully and expressed

their will.

The promise of self determination was made to the Southern Sudanese people in

2005. Thanks to the commitment of the people of Sudan and the support of the

international community, that promise was finally fulfilled. Let us not

underestimate what this referendum means to the people of Southern Sudan. We

have all heard reports of long lines forming overnight on January 8th, and of

people standing in line for hours to vote. We have even heard of a case in

which a river ferry broke down, and voters jumped into the presumably

crocodile-infested river and swam across to reach the polling station.

As President Obama said after the polling closed, “The past week has given the

world renewed faith in the prospect of a peaceful, prosperous future for all of

the Sudanese people – a future that the American people long to see in Sudan.”

To the men and women of UNMIS: the United States commends you for your

outstanding work.

Thanks to your tireless efforts, under daunting challenges and difficult

circumstances, the people of Sudan have been able to take a huge step forward on

the path of full implementation of the CPA, which ended a 23-year civil war. To

Special Representative Menkerios, my government congratulates you. You are

performing an incredibly difficult job with grace and wisdom. We thank you. We

also welcome the work that the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, the

Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau, the Government of Sudan, and the Government of

Southern Sudan have done to ensure that this historic referendum occurred on

time, peacefully, and reflects the will of the people.

We welcome the January 16 statement from the Secretary General’s Referenda

Monitoring Panel, in which the panel said it was satisfied that the referendum

process “allowed the people of Southern Sudan to express their will freely.” A

number of other observer missions have also already released preliminary

statements. On January 17, the Carter Center called the referendum “peaceful

and credible” and “broadly consistent with international standards.” The Arab

League stated that the process was “in line with international standards.” The

European Union Observer Mission commended a “peaceful, credible voting process,

with overwhelming turnout.”

On January 16, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the

African Union called the referendum “free, fair, and credible.” We commend the

work of the hundreds of international observers and thousands of domestic

observers. The United States continues to urge all to respect the results of

the referendum.

Of course, we must all focus on the challenging – and promising – road ahead.

We urge the parties to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible to

negotiate a rapid and sustainable resolution to the question of Abyei and other

outstanding CPA issues.

The United States fully supports the efforts of AU High-Level Implementation

Panel Chair President Thabo Mbeki to facilitate these agreements. We reiterate

that any resolution regarding the future of the Abyei area must be reached with

the consent of both parties, through a political settlement or a process that

respects the rights and needs of those communities traditionally associated with

the area.

Along with the status of Abyei, there are other outstanding issues requiring

urgent attention, such border demarcation, citizenship, wealth-sharing

agreements, natural resource management, the division of the national debt,

security arrangements, currency arrangements, and international treaties and

legal obligations, which are all equally important. We also consider peaceful,

inclusive popular consultations in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan that reflect

the will of the people to be essential components of CPA implementation. We

call on the parties to bring the same spirit to these negotiations as they have

brought to the conduct of the referendum itself.

For all of the inspiring events in Sudan over the last week, the United States

laments the loss of life in the Abyei and border region and reiterates its deep

concern regarding the arrest, detention, and harassment of human rights

activists and journalists by the Government of Sudan’s security forces, which

prevented both an SPLM leader and an Umma Party leader from conducting

television interviews. In addition, four university students were arrested in

separate incidents for trying to host discussions.

We urge Council members to join us in calling on the Government of Sudan to

release those who have been imprisoned unjustly, including those jailed for

exercising such basic rights as freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and

freedom of assembly.

As President Obama has made clear, the United States wants the leaders in Sudan

to choose the path of peace and prosperity for all of the Sudanese people, and

he has extended the U.S. hand in that spirit. In order for this future to be

realized, however, Sudan, too, must work with the international community.

This includes cooperating with UNMIS and UNAMID to facilitate full freedom of

access and movement for UN peacekeepers and for humanitarian workers.

This access is especially important given the alarming reports that Sudanese

Armed Forces have burned homes and blocked civilians’ access to UNAMID in Khor

Abeche, and that the Government of Sudan violated the North/South ceasefire with

repeated aerial bombardments into the Kiir River Valley – in addition to the

all-too-frequent reports of aerial bombardment in Jebel Mara and the Government

of Sudan’s ongoing refusal to grant UNAMID patrols access to affected

populations, despite the Status of Forces Agreement.

We are deeply saddened and troubled by the news that on January 13, three

Bulgarian helicopter crew members contracted to the UN World Food Program were

kidnapped in Darfur. We convey our condolences to their families. And we urge

the Government of Sudan to do its utmost to facilitate their safe return. We

recall that 40,000 residents of Darfur were displaced from their homes in

December alone. Civilians continue to live under the threat of attack, and of

sexual and gender-based violence. It is thus in all of our interests to

continue to work to prevent genocide.

The United States again calls on the Government of Sudan to immediately halt

aerial bombardments, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms attacks on

civilians. Obtaining a ceasefire between the Government of Sudan and the armed

movements should be the immediate objective of the peace process. The political

process for a Darfur peace agreement must be reinvigorated, and all relevant

parties must come back to the negotiating table.

As we discussed during consultations on Sudan on January 6, the unity shown by

this Council has gone a long ways towards supporting the parties as they have

stayed on the path of peace. We need to continue to watch closely as the

parties continue to implement the CPA. As progress is made, we should welcome

it and offer continued encouragement. But, just as importantly, we need to be

prepared to insist upon and to support full and final implementation of the CPA

on such issues as protection of minorities and rejection of proxy militias, and

other threats to peace and security in Sudan.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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GI-NET/SDC URGES OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO STEP UP EFFORTS FOR PEACE IN DARFUR

Group sites dramatic increase in large-scale violence, threats to credible Darfur peace process

(Washington, D.C.) The Genocide Intervention Network/Save Darfur Coalition (GI-NET/SDC) today urged the United States government to reinvigorate its policy on Darfur. The call follows reports of renewed violence in Darfur, and comes amid concerns about the future of credible negotiations to reach a Darfur peace agreement.

"Thirty-two thousand Darfuri women, men and children were driven from their homes by violence during the last weeks of December as the world focused on the Southern referendum for independence,” stated Amir Osman, Senior Director for Policy and Government Relations for GI-NET/SDC. “The United States and international community must act to stop future violence and to ensure humanitarian access to care for these displaced people in Darfur while continuing high level engagement on North-South issues.”

GI-NET/SDC also expressed concern about news reports citing U.S. Special Envoy General Scott Gration indicating that he believes the Government of Sudan’s recently released strategy for Darfur is a ‘very good plan.’

“The Government of Sudan’s Darfur plan has serious flaws, including a call to hold Darfur peace negotiations in Sudan, and it would be a policy blunder if the United States endorses such a plan,” stated Osman. “Many of the civil society and rebel representatives who should be around the table in any negotiation would not feel safe traveling within Sudan, and that makes Sudan an impossible venue for such a critical negotiation.”

“The United States should instead support a high-level, internationally mediated negotiation for Darfur peace that would include the Government of Sudan, the major rebel group and civil society representatives, held in neutral location outside of Sudan,” Osman continued. The historic end the North-South war and signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 resulted from a similar process.

“We are heartened by the recent appointment of Ambassador Dane Smith, and we hope he will have an opportunity to increase U.S. engagement on Darfur at this critical time,” concluded Osman. “Given the broad concern Americans have demonstrated on this issue and the strong promises President Obama made as a candidate and since his inauguration, it would be a mistake to pursue a policy with the goal of anything less than meaningful peace, protection and justice for civilians in Darfur."

###

The Save Darfur Coalition and Genocide Intervention Network merged on November 1, 2010 to create a more powerful voice dedicated to preventing and stopping large-scale, deliberate atrocities against civilians. The organization remains committed to its work to end the crisis in Darfur and bring peace to all of Sudan as well as to end violence in other areas of mass atrocities such as Congo and Burma.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
our humanity in the balance

DYING BY LACK OF CARING FROM PEOPLE ON PLANET EARTH - THAT IS THE SITUATION FOR THE DARFURI PEOPLE

I am trying to get the Pell Center in Newport, Rhode Island to sponsor Darfuri Mohamed Yahya as a speaker. The director of the Pell Center accepted the idea, then he resigned and now I am not sure what will happen. I just learned that the Pell Center is choosing their speakers by committee. This may make it difficult. As the previous director knew of me and my work and the committee does not.

This is my attempt tonight ~

Dear Michele and Pell Center "team",

I cannot convey in typed words why I care so much about ending, preventlng genocide and our response to it - or in our case as a country and international community, our lack of response to it.

This post/article by Eric Reeves is an example of why I care so much about this as a human being who lives on this planet while a genocide has been going on since 2003 on the Darfuri people....unarmed families.

I hope you and your team will take the time to read this. This is a humanity-defining issue. It says who we are as human beings....that we allow this to go on. We aren't truly free until all are free and this young boy that died by drowning in a refugee camp certainly is more free now than he was while living "on our watch".

I certainly hope you will consider having Darfuri Mohamed Yahya come and speak at the Pell Center. I have attached his bio and included a youtube video link where he talks with VOA's Ndimyake Mwakalyelye. Mohamed speaks near the beginning and later on the video link, which I include here

And here is the link to Radio Dabanga where he works: radio dabanga

Thank you for your humanity and consideration.

Sandra Hammel

“The Death of ‘Ahmed’ of Kassab Camp,” Dissent Magazine (on-line), February 15, 2010

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?keyword=Sudan

Eric Reeves

The young boy from Kassab Camp is unnamed, unidentified except by the name of his camp. He drowned last week, and notice came only in the form of a brief announcement from Radio Dabanga, which has sources throughout Darfur:

“A boy died by drowning in Kassab Camp in North Darfur on Saturday. Several houses collapsed in the camp after heavy rains that fell on the region. A source said that dozens of displaced families are in the open after the loss of their homes.”

Without this notice from one of the world’s more obscure news sources, the boy’s anonymity would have been complete—joining the hundreds of thousands who have perished in similar anonymity over the past eight years. And perhaps I should be more concerned about the “dozens of displaced families”—potentially hundreds of civilians—exposed in North Darfur during the very height of the rainy season, facing ominously high malnutrition rates. But there are times when I find the world’s inability to look with any particularity at the human suffering and destruction in Darfur a cause for rage, for a desperate urge to make this suffering and destruction into a recognizable, an undeniable, an inescapably disturbing portrait. So I will construct an all too plausible history for this boy from Kassab Camp, and his place in Darfur’s ongoing agony.

I’ll call him Ahmed, and he is twelve years old; he has been in Kassab for the past six years. He arrived in summer 2004, at the height of the genocidal violence, having seen his village destroyed and losing most of his family. His ten-year-old sister and mother were gang-raped by the Janjaweed in front of all the village men, including his father, who was later killed. His mother survives, but has been nearly disabled by the trauma of the gang-raping and loss of her husband; his sister died a painful death from the fistula that developed following the tearing of her vagina and anus. His younger brother was killed in the attack; he is not sure whether his older brothers are alive or dead. His nights are haunted by dreams of violence he cannot understand or escape.

He has had few, perhaps no educational opportunities, and recreational resources are nonexistent; the minimal psycho-social services for his mother disappeared when Khartoum expelled thirteen humanitarian organizations in March 2009. He has been increasingly hungry as the UN World Food Program cuts rations to half the minimum kilocalorie diet; malnutrition is rising in North Darfur and food has become too expensive for him or his mother to purchase. She is unable to work, and Ahmed has been too young to compete for the few jobs available in or near the camp. Daily life before his death was defined by hunger, a lack of properly maintained latrines, inadequate shelter against this summer’s slashing rains (August and September are the two rainiest months of the season), and fear. At times he has suffered from an unbearable loneliness and sadness.

His vision of the future is no more than a version of the past six years. As part of this vision, Ahmed is all too aware of the marauding presence of the Janjaweed militia, who have made travel outside Kassab too dangerous (they have military quarters just a few kilometers away), and the protection nominally provided by the UN peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) is widely regarded as a grim joke within the camp. Continual low-level conflict among the equally deprived camp residents is a source of continual anxiety for Ahmed. A renewed military offensive begun earlier this year by Khartoum and the Janjaweed in nearby Jebel Marra has created many more displaced persons; and Kassab, already inadequate to the needs of its more than 30,000 residents, has become dangerously overcrowded. A camp leader told Radio Dabanga in early June of this year that, “People [in Kassab] suffer from food shortages and water shortages with the influx of new migrants to the camp.” Things have only grown worse in the past three months.

Ahmed also senses a growing fear that Kassab itself may be attacked at some point, as Khartoum ratchets up plans to dismantle the camps and forcibly return displaced persons to villages without security, or to as yet unconstructed “new villages.” Indeed, two years ago Nicholas Kristof posted a dispatch from a visitor to Kassab:

“As I write this, Kassab camp (North Darfur) home to 25,000 unarmed civilians and the location of Darfur Peace and Development Organization’s women’s center, is under attack by Janjaweed forces. I spent time in the camp and know many people there. What do we do? Rebel forces are too distant and under-equipped to defend Kassab. UNAMID has only a small presence there. Who will be dead tomorrow?”

“Who will be dead tomorrow?” The question, even unarticulated, has haunted Ahmed as he watches his mother’s mental health deteriorate and people he has known die from one cause or another.

In March 2007, the UN’s most senior humanitarian official, John Holmes, attempted to visit Kassab. As the BBC journalist traveling with him reported:

“The UN’s new emergency relief coordinator John Holmes has been turned away from a camp in Darfur for those fleeing the Sudanese conflict. The UN envoy was refused entry by Sudanese soldiers to Kassab camp in northern Darfur, says the BBC’s Karen Allen, who is travelling with him. In the past six months the BBC has reported on mass rapes of women and young girls at the camp.... Within hours of arriving in Darfur, Mr Holmes was stopped at a checkpoint. His convoy was sent back and television groups covering the visit had their video tapes confiscated, our correspondent says.”

Ahmed perhaps heard rumors of an important foreigner who might help Kassab, and perhaps bring protection, help for his mother, and more food and clean water. The bitter anger of the camps residents at the impotence of the African Union force (which would become the UN/African Union force [UNAMID] on January 1, 2008) would have been palpable, if largely incomprehensible.

Even more incomprehensible to Ahmed are the questions continually posed by his elders: “Where is the international community?” “Where is a real UN peacekeeping force?” “Why have we been abandoned?” Ahmed knows virtually nothing of the world that has so resolutely refused to see him or end the suffering of his people.

So the ignorance is mutual: the world that knows nothing of Ahmed or his death has created only the most tenuous presence in his own life. He can’t feel gratitude for the humanitarian assistance that alone has stood between him and death; although unable to say as much, his life barely seems worth living. When the heavy rains washed away his no doubt inadequate shelter, his last thoughts before drowning were not of the help that did not arrive, they were not even of his family. I imagine them simply as the confused, terrified culmination of six years of suffering and deprivation that he had come to believe was his lot in life.

For all the Ahmeds who remain, or who have already perished, this assessment is all too true.

[Eric Reeves is author of A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide]

_____________________________
Eric Reeves
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

ereeves@smith.edu
www.sudanreeves.org


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Email from Mohamed Yahya ~

-----Original Message-----
From: Mohamed Yahya
To: Sandra Hammel
Subject: Re: Speaking in Rhode Island

Dear Sandra,


Thank you so much again for our excellent efforts trying to connect us and make the upcoming event possible.

I'm very excited to hear about these good news. I will be honored to go and speak to your Community or the Congregation when possible. I'm sending you my bio that needed to updated by adding very few things..such as my recent nomination for the "2010 Dan David Pulitzer Prize". However, you can added the way you want. Even though I wasn't fortunate enough to compete with the top world leaders, such as the Italian president, Britain Tony Blair and other most Influential leaders and Actors..But I'm still proud to be one of the nominees..anyway..

I just wanted to let you know that I just arrived from a short trip to Boston, where I was invited to speak at one of the Universities about Darfur. I thought I passed through your area during my visit if you are from that Rhode Island...If so I really wished to meet you but the limited time given me no chance. I hope to see you next time soon...

Please keep up your good work forward and say Hi and thank you to Dr. Peter Liotta.


I will look forward to talk to you a bout anything else soon. Please let me know if there any questions.


Keep your good work forward.


Thank you.


Mohamed Yahya

BIO of Mohamed Yahya

Mohamed Adam Yahya is a refugee from the Darfur region of Sudan and is the founder and Executive Director of Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy. From 1995 to 2005, he was Chairman and spokesman of the Representatives of the Massaleit Community in Exile, which was the first human rights group to alert the international community to human rights abuses in western Sudan.

Mr. Yahya was born in a small village east of Al-Geneina, the capital of Darmassaleit (West Darfur state). Both as a child and adult, he experienced the brutal racism that permeates Sudanese society. In 1993, his village witnessed the first attacks of the Sudanese government's Arab militia raiders, known as janjaweed. Yahya's home was completely decimated and most of his relatives and neighbors were shot, raped, or burned alive in their huts. Yahya was studying at Al-Azhar University in Cairo at the time his village was destroyed. He received word that his parents were safe, but he lost 21 other family members. He subsequently began to receive firsthand reports of the terrible crimes that were being committed by the Sudanese government and its proxy force, the janjaweed.

It quickly became apparent to Yahya that Sudan's ruling regime was engaged in a campaign to rid western Sudan of its black African ethnic population. Yahya and other Sudanese students living in Cairo sought to alert the international community to the humanitarian crisis that had begun to unfold. In 1995, they formed the Representatives of the Massaleit Community in Exile (RMCE). The RMCE's founding members came from many different ethnic Sudanese backgrounds including the Massaleit, Fur, Dajo, Zagawa, Bargo, Gimir, Tama, Berty, Barno, and Meme, in addition to people from the Nuba Mountains, southern Sudan and elsewhere.

Believing that the pen is mightier than the sword, the RMCE sought to protect the people of Darfur through peaceful means, including advocacy and public education. With no financial resources, Yahya and other members of the RMCE began this work by writing reports and circulating them on foot to all the international embassies in Cairo. Their first major open letter to the international community, "The Hidden Slaughter and Ethnic Cleansing in Western Sudan,” was distributed this way in 1999. Over the next couple of years it was widely referenced by the United Nations General Assembly and Secretary-General Kofi Annan, along with organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In this way, Yahya and other members of the RMCE were the first people to awaken the world to the unfolding genocide in Darfur.

Between 1999 and 2003, working in Cairo with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Yahya and the RMCE were also able to sponsor more than 20,000 refugees from various parts of Sudan. They helped ensure that nearly 95% of the people fleeing Sudan received political asylum and resettlement in Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States.

In 2002, fearing reprisal from the Sudanese government for his humanitarian and advocacy work, Yahya sought political asylum in the United States. After his relocation to Charlottesville, Virginia, Yahya founded Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, in order to continue and expand on the work of the RM

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Reuters reports

Darfur attack survivors tell of brutal killings

September 17, 2010

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfuri men were shot dead at point blank range during a surprise Arab militia raid on a busy market this month in which at least 39 people were killed and almost 50 injured, eyewitnesses said on Friday.

The attack on civilians was reminiscent of the early years of the counter-insurgency operation in Sudan's west, which took up arms against the government in 2003, complaining that the region had been neglected by Khartoum

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has since issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for genocide and war crimes in Darfur, charges he denies.

Details of the September 2 attack on the market in the village of Tabarat have not previously come to light. The government prevented peacekeepers from visiting the site until days later.

But five survivors of the attack told Reuters that heavily armed Arab militia had targeted male victims and shot many at point blank range.

One diplomat said the militia were likely from among those armed and mobilised by the government to quell the rebels. Those militia, known as Janjaweed, were responsible for mass rape, murder and looting. Many of the tribal militia still support the government but Khartoum has lost control over some.

In Tabarat, men were rounded up by militia wearing military uniforms who rode into the market on horses and camels pretending to be buying goods before spraying the shops with gunfire. Then vehicles mounted with machine guns and carrying militia fighters appeared and rounded up some of the men, survivors said.

"They laid them down and they came up close and shot them in their heads," Abakr Abdelkarim, 45, told Reuters by telephone from the town of Tawilla, where many of the victims had sought refuge and medical help.

"(Those killed) were all men and one woman -- some men were tied with rope behind the cars and dragged until they died."

RUN FOR HIS LIFE

Adam Saleh said he had run for his life and hidden in nearby fields to watch from afar. "They were targeting men -- all of them were shot in the head and chest, only those who were running away got shot in their legs and arms."

Nour Abdallah, 45, said the attackers let most of the women run away. She could not escape and so lay face down in the dirt. "They told me not to lift my head up or I would be shot too."

Saleh and others said after the attack they had gone to the joint U.N.-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping base in Tawilla to ask peacekeepers to come to Tabarat but they had refused.

"They also refused to come and help us recover the bodies," Saleh added.

UNAMID has said both rebels and the government prevented it getting access to the area.

A UNAMID spokesman said he could not comment on the witness reports but an internal document seen by Reuters showed UNAMID had received similar witness reports of men being executed.

The only aid agency working in Tawilla, Medecins Sans Frontieres, said it could confirm 39 people died and it had treated 46 injured, many with "serious gunshot wounds".

"We saw only men," said MSF head of mission Alessandro Tuzza. He said he could not comment on how the victims were shot but that MSF was still negotiating with the government to get access to the area in North Darfur province.

The witnesses said they had buried 41 bodies in common graves but more were still in the bushes around the market.

Sudan's army denied involvement in the attack and said the local government was investigating. "The North Darfur government have formed a security committee to investigate this."

Presidential adviser Ghazi Salaheddin visited the area on Friday on a fact-finding mission.

Kidnapping and violent banditry have become frequent in Darfur where years of impunity and the ready availability of arms have fuelled a breakdown in law and order, with foreign workers targeted for abductions even in the main towns.

Bashir expelled 13 of the largest aid agencies working in Darfur after the ICC arrest warrant last year and many gaps in the humanitarian operation have yet to be filled.

"We are begging the international aid agencies to come and give us food, water. We have women and children here sitting in the sun for days with no shelter. We have nothing," said Abdelkarim.

More ~ As-Obama-offers-to-meet-Sudan-leaders-culture-of-mistrust-grips-Khartoum

WHEN WILL THE TIME BE THE RIGHT TIME FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA

TO DO SOMETHING OF SIGNIFICANCE REGARDING DARFURIS?

A letter I sent today via: www.whitehouse.gov/contact

August 5, 2010

Dear President Obama,

Happy Birthday wishes.

I am a supporter of yours and your efforts with one heartfelt exception. And that is your lack of engagement in the Darfur and Sudan issues. I don't believe General Gration has served us or the Darfuri and Sundanese people well at all. He has been a disaster in my opinion as many community leaders also feel.

Mr. President, millions of lives – and your legacy – are on the line.

One recent report is only one of many that are unforgivable to let languish:

“UNITED NATIONS, August 4 In Darfur, while the UN is giving assurances that the violence in the Kalma camp has passed, humanitarian groups have been barred from the camp, housing eighty thousand internally displaced people, for the past four days. This emerged only upon detailed questioning of top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy…”

I have written many letters to you about this humanity-defining issue. I have made several youtube videos, some addressed to you, which I am sure you have not seen, but I do out of desperation, because I don’t know how to get your attention and I must do something. Here is a link to just one of my youtube videos with inclusion of the New Hampshire primary party night where I helped your campaign for the week running up to the primary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVsvZPry_0Y

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Uploaded by ilovemylifesblog

I understand that you are have been overwhelmed with the many issues in our country and the war in Afghanistan (which I disapprove of) and they have had your attention. But it is simply not acceptable to let this issue of extreme human injustice of the Darfuris to go on and on. And furthermore, we essentially have lost any credibility because we have not made stands based on morality and justice.

Please, I implore you to put this crisis on your "to do" list. We await your leadership with much angst with good reasons. So you can imagine how it is for the tens of thousands living in the heat on the sand under a canvas.

Thank you for your attention in advance.

Most sincerely,

Sandra Hammel

Use Your Voice to Stop Genocide RI, Community leader since 2004

Genocide will only stop with "us" - our leaders have taught us this

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Dear President Obama - my first letter to the President

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Both uploaded by ilovemylifesblog

Click post title to take simple action to make a difference.

www.stopgenocidenow.org/awol

Source for below information:

www.innercitypress.com/dpko1sudan

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 4 -- In Darfur, while the UN is giving assurances that the violence in the Kalma camp has passed, humanitarian groups have been barred from the camp, housing eighty thousand internally displaced people, for the past four days. This emerged only upon detailed questioning of top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy. Video here, from Minute 47:36.

Inner City Press asked if there had not also been murders in the Zalingi camp -- Le Roy said yes -- and about the restrictions on UN peacekeepers' movements ordered by Sudanese authorities.

Le Roy said that while the Wali of South Darfur has issued such a declaration, requiring advance notice of any UNAMID mission movements, including on the roads, the UN is “discussing” this with Khartoum.

One wonders why the UN has not said more about the barring of humanitarian groups from the Kalma camp. Is it a sop to the government, or reflective of a lull before new UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos takes over in September?

Why has the US, after Friday's consultations, not asked for any Council action in the five days since? There were rumors early in the week of an Obama administration re-think of, or at least meeting on, Sudan policy. But it does not appear to have happened.

While admitting further deterioration and tensions in Darfur, the UN is still putting South Sudan developments in a positive light, noting that the National Congress Party as well as SPLM have asked the UN to monitor the referendum.

Le Roy said the UN does not usually monitor, but in this case is moving toward naming three Eminent Persons, whom it will support with 10 to 20 staff, to monitor.

Inner City Press asked who would choose the Eminent Persons -- might they included former South African president and Al Bashir supporter Thabo Mbeki? -- but Le Roy did not answer.

Regarding Abyei, he described the Dinka questioning the rights of nomads to come in and vote, but said it would be up to a Commission which does not yet exist.


UN's Le Roy in Sudan, humanitarian access not shown

Le Roy's logistics colleague Susana Malcorra recently briefed the Press, and was asked by Inner City Press what the UN would do to ensure that those Southerners in the north who are registered to vote by the NCP can, in fact, vote.

Sources tell Inner City Press that Khartoum plans to register many Southerners and then make it difficult to vote, to drive turn out below 60% and invalidate the referendum. Ms. Malcorra said that the UN would be watching Southern registrants in the North. But Le Roy on Wednesday spoke only of the South. Watch this site.

* * *

Sudan Not on August Agenda of UN Council, Russia Against Larger Investigations But Has "Clear Picture of Bizarre Incident"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 4 -- Despite increased violence in Darfur and the stalling of talks in South Sudan about the referendum, the UN Security Council in August does not have a single Sudan item on its agenda.

Inner City Press on August 3 asked this month's Council president Vitaly Churkin of Russia how had been responsible for the hostage taking of the Russian pilot in Darfur. Video here, from Minute 20:32.

Churkin said Russian now has a “clear picture of this rather bizarre episode.” But he declined twice to say if government aligned Janjaweed had been responsible. “The Sudanese authorities did what they could,” he said. Informed sources say that Janjaweed did it in order to revive or increase payments from the Sudanese government.

Following up on the July 30 Security Council meeting on the killings in the Kalma camp, Inner City Press asked Churkin about what other Council members revealed, that Russia along with China opposed France's request for an “investigation.”

While Churkin began, You are not accurate in your assertion, he then said that there is a danger of the UN turning into an investigative body, with “new panels springing up.” The reference, it seemed, was to the UN's advisory panel of experts on war crimes in Sri Lanka, which Russia has opposed.

n Nyala, Gambari and copter, Russian pilot and "bizarre episode" not shown

Like China, though, and the U.S., Russia has a special envoy to Sudan, Mr. Margelov, who was quoted blaming the pilot taking on the Janjaweed.

Calling the killings in the Kalma camp a “relatively minor incident,” Churkin said Russia had accepted a UNAMID investigation, just not a “larger investigation.” We'll see -- top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy is slated to brief the Press later today.

* * *

On Darfur Camp Violence, Nur's Role as Unclear as US Stance on Doha, Sudan Says Camp Is Under UN Control, Lobbies

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 30, updated -- Darfur camp violence was taken up by the UN Security Council on Friday afternoon. According to UN sources, members of the Liberation and Justice Movement group which is negotiating with Khartoum were targeted by members of the Abdel Wahid Nur faction, which is not.

While the United States called for the consultations, it is not clear if the US stands with the UN and its Darfur envoy Ibrahim Gambari in saying that the solution to Darfur is to be found in Doha across the table from Omar al Bashir's negotiators.

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner loudly announced that Paris based Abdel Wahid Nur would be joining the Doha process. Nearly immediately, Abdel Wahid Nur qualified this with the conditions previously listed, including safety in Darfur.

Inner City Press asked Ibrahim Gambari on July 27 about Abdel Wahid Nur's participation. Gambari said no, and characterized the conditions, including safety, as something you get at the END of negotiations, not as a precondition. One can see this as either realism or a too cavalier attitude to the protection of civilians, especially for one in charge of a peacekeeping mission with such a mandate.

More Kalma from the past, Gambari not shown

Sudan's acting Ambassador, on his way at 4 pm into the Council's suite where he would not be allowed into consultations, said that Gambari had told him at 2:30 that he would be placing some calls to get information, and would himself be giving the briefing at 4. But at that time, he was spotted by an Inner City Press source strolling the streets outside the UN, dress in white national dress.

Gambari also said on June 27 that he has gone to Paris twice to meet Abdel Wahid Nur. Three days later, he is still in New York, but not in the consultations room. Briefing was Alain Le Roy of Peacekeeping, joined at 4:40 by Lynn Pascoe of Political Affairs.

The South Sudan referendum Eminent persons monitoring group the UN is moving to set up, which Inner City Press exclusively reported earlier today, would be staffed by Pascoe's Department of Political Affairs and not the UN peacekeeping mission run by Haile Menkerios. Whether Pascoe's arrival at the Council was about this, or the Doha process implications of the attacks in the Darfur IDP camps is not yet known. Watch this site.

Update of 5:09 -- Sudan's charge d'affaires was lobbying in the hall outside the Council. “We cannot live with a paragraph about inspecting the Kalma camp... the camp is under the control of UNAMID...” Then, after fumbling with their passes, they went into the Council's suite. Coming out were the outgoing Nigerian presidency's plants and bean bag chairs with Islamic script. Coming in -- Russia's set up, for August..

Update of 5:29 p.m. -- there will be a press statement. Unclear if it will include the paragraph about inspecting or investigating in Kalma camp, which Sudan is opposing.

Update of 5:55 p.m. -- while UN TV had been told the press statement would be ready and read by now, the Council has gone into recess. Inner City Press is told by Council source that France has proposed the UN send an investigation team to Kalma camp. China and Russia have opposed it, as does Sudan. Developing.

Update of 6:13 p.m. -- Here's what happened: France “aggressively” asked for an investigation, setting of “red lights” among some other delegations. But wait - the US asked the meeting, but France made the proposal. Why? Le Roy pointed the finger at the Abdel Wahid Nur group, but France says they've spoken to him and he denies it. THAT's why France wants the investigation. You heard it here first....