Sudan: The Passion of the Present

Zimbabwe homebuilding drive light years from target

From AFP, reprinted on ReliefWeb...

The first phase of a Zimbabwean homebuilding drive following an urban demolition blitz ended Wednesday but thousands are still roughing it out in makeshift shelters or in the open.

The government's much-flaunted Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, or Live Well, is meant to provide a better life to those whose homes or shops were razed in a crackdown on illegal urban structures but its targets are far from being fulfilled.

In Hatcliffe Extension, between 10,000 and 15,000 people live in makeshift shacks crafted out of absestos, plastic sheets and stones on plots where their former homes stood until they were burnt to the ground.

Rumbidzai, a 52-year-old woman, now calls a tiny one-metre asbestos shack home and sleeps under the stars in the winter cold with her ailing husband. The promised better life is nowhere in sight, she said.

"They should have burnt us when they burnt our houses," she said. "How can people do this to their own people?"

Her former home -- like others in the area -- comprised a three-room wooden cabin with a "sofa set, beds, a kitchen unit and wardrobes" all of which were set on fire.

She particularly rues her prized possession -- an old fashioned radio set, which was also torched.

"This is what is left," she said, brandishing one wooden leg of the radio cabinet.

Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo has said that the August 31 target of building 5,000 new homes is on track and that the government will build 150,000 new houses or plots allocated by mid-October.

But on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent saw only seven brick homes under construction in Hatcliffe Extension, a slum located in Harare's posh northern quarter near the upscale suburb of Borrowdale.

Residents in Hatcliffe live in pitiful conditions making do with wells they have dug on their own and pit toilets that are each used by 10 families, comprising five members on average.

Felix Muwani, a security guard, was forcibly moved to Hatcliffe in 1991 when Britain's Queen Elizabeth II visited Harare.

President Robert Mugabe's government, then -- as it has now -- wanted to "beautify" the city -- although this time around it says the controversial demolitions campaign is also aimed at ridding cities of crime and giving people a chance to lead better lives.

"I have been moved from place to place. How can I say I am living well? I have been treated worse than an animal. I can only say I am living well when I see the houses they are building for us."

The reconstruction effort was launched on June 26, when a UN envoy arrived in Zimbabwe to report on the humanitarian crisis sparked by Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive out Filth, that left 700,000 Zimbabweans homeless and destitute when shacks, houses, market stalls and shops were razed.

A young Hatcliffe resident, who gave her name as Madge, said she was worried about the upcoming rains.

"My three-year-old son came from hospital last week after being operated on to separate two webbed fingers and he has fever now because he is cold."

"I don't want to think what will happend when the rains start," she said.

A prevalent sentiment is that even the racist regime of Ian Smith, Zimbabwe's last white prime minister, was better.

"The government introduced indigenisation (after independence in 1980) but now they are destroying it. They have taken our homes and our jobs. The other time was better," an aged woman said, declining to give her name.

The government has also asked private entrepreneurs to take part in Operation Garikai and authorized many of the displaced to start building their own homes.

But the overwhelming majority lack both the means and materials to heed the call.

Judge lets Talisman genocide case proceed despite warnings from Canada and U.S.

Eugene links to this new AP story...

A judge refused to dismiss a church's lawsuit alleging that a Canadian energy company aided genocide in its pursuit of oil in Sudan, despite efforts by the United States and Canada to stop the suit.

In the lawsuit, Talisman Energy Inc., a Calgary-based oil and gas producer, is accused of such crimes as ethnic cleansing, killings, war crimes, confiscation of property, enslavement, kidnapping and rape in Sudan.

Talisman and the Sudanese government collaborated on a plan for the security of oilfields, according to the suit, with Talisman hiring its own advisers to co-ordinate military strategy with the government. Talisman mapped out areas intended for exploration and discussed how to dispose of civilians in those areas, according to the suit.

The ruling allowing the suit to proceed came Tuesday after U.S. District Judge Denise Cote reviewed a diplomatic letter from the Canadian Embassy calling the case an "infringement in the conduct of foreign relations by the government of Canada" that would have a "chilling effect" on Canadian firms in the Sudan.

The judge said Canada had indicated that once Sudan peacefully resolved its internal disputes and Canadian trade support services resumed, Canadian companies would avoid joining Sudan's economic revitalization "out of fear of U.S. courts."

The U.S. Department of State told the court in a letter it took no position on the lawsuit's merits but shared the Canadian government's concerns.

But the judge noted in her ruling that the documents from the U.S. and Canadian governments did not suggest the civil case would hinder U.S. relations with Canada or the Sudan.

"Even giving substantial deference to the Canada letter, Talisman has not shown that dismissal of this action is appropriate," the judge wrote. "Finally, the United States and the international community retain a compelling interest in the application of the international law proscribing atrocities such as genocide and crimes against humanity."

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, was brought in 2001 by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan on behalf of current and former residents of southern Sudan.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs and for Talisman Energy, which stopped doing business in the Sudan more than two years ago, did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment Tuesday.

The judge said the U.S. Department of State indicated it might be proper to dismiss a case when another government protests that the suit interferes with its foreign policy in pursuit of goals that the United States shares.

The U.S. letter said the United States "has been working actively and directly with the government of Sudan and with the international community for several years to bring an end to the decades-old conflict in southern Sudan and to bring relief to the many thousands of victims of that conflict."

The letter also advised that the Alien Tort Claims Act, used as a basis for the lawsuit, should only apply to disputes affecting the rights of aliens within the United States for acts that take place in this country, the judge said.

The obscure 1789 law originally was enacted to prosecute pirates but has been used since 1980 by Holocaust survivors and relatives of people killed or tortured under despotic foreign regimes. More recently, it has been invoked against multinational corporations, including Chevron Corp. over alleged abuses in Nigeria and Exxon Mobil Corp. over alleged problems in Indonesia.

The judge acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court has said federal courts should give serious weight to the executive branch's view of a case's impact on foreign policy.

But she said there were few cases similar to the Talisman case and that it differed from a case in which large corporations were accused of using cheap labour in South Africa to sell products including technology and oil. That case was tossed out.

In the Talisman case, she said, the plaintiffs allege that the company "knowingly assisted Sudan in perpetrating a campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity, not that Talisman merely transacted business in and with Sudan."

She said the South African apartheid cases resulted from state executive policies encouraging investment whereas the Talisman claims involve knowing assistance in the commission of grave human-tights abuses.

She said the contents of Canada's letter suggest "a lack of understanding about the nature of the claims" in the lawsuit.

Talisman (TSX:TLM), which reported sales of $5.3 billion US in 2004, is Canada's biggest independent oil and gas exploration and production company. Its shares added 55 cents to $57.65 Wednesday morning on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Rains bring Darfur's displaced villagers home to farm

Yet another "official" UNHCR story, reprinted on AlertNet...

Despite the volatile security situation in Sudan's Darfur region, hundreds of villagers uprooted by the conflict are making short trips home to cultivate their land during the rainy season while smaller numbers have returned for good.

According to UNHCR teams in West Darfur province, some 400 internally displaced people have temporarily come back to their village of Borta about 15 km north of the provincial capital, El Geneina. Making up 64 out of the 68 families in the village, they have returned to cultivate their crops at the peak of the rainy season.

Among them is Hawa, a 25-year-old mother of four who has been living in Dorti camp on the outskirts of El Geneina for the last two years. Her husband remained in the camp as "it is too dangerous for men to come back, they would more than likely be killed by groups of armed men than us women," she explains.

Most villagers stay three days in Borta and go back to the camp where they feel safer, then come back again some days later. Only the elderly women, who are less fearful of potential attacks, will remain in the village after the rainy season.

The first thing Hawa did when she arrived back in Borta in June was to reconstruct her hut, which had been destroyed by armed men last year. She then planted okra in her fields, and sorghum and tomatoes in her garden. Within weeks, she will load her precious harvest on her donkey's back and will ride back to Dorti. She hopes to be able to do two trips a day between her village and the camp: "We cannot leave any food stock behind us, it will be stolen."

Hawa is luckier this year. In 2004, she made the same journey and also planted okra, but her crops were completely destroyed twice and there was hardly anything left to bring back to her family in the camp.

"Two men arrived in my fields and let their animals eat my crops," she recalls of last year's incidents. She qualifies them as Janjaweed, the Arab militia that has been raiding Darfur for the past two years. "One of them had a gun. I asked them why they let their cows graze on my field and they replied that this is their land."

She says they asked her for food and threatened to beat and kill her if she did anything to prevent the animals from eating the okra. She adds that this year, she feels a little safer going back to her village as the security situation seems to have improved slightly.

"These movements, although very tentative, show a significant improvement compared to last year when we seldom saw anyone venturing outside the camps to cultivate during the rainy season," says UNHCR in Darfur. "This shows that people are making attempts to go back to their lands, even though they still have strong concerns about the general security environment."

On the way to Krenick town recently, UNHCR teams passed women who were planting sorghum in their villages. Their homes were completely burned down and flattened two years ago and they found refuge in Krenick camp. Every day in June, they walked three hours from the camp to their fields in order to cultivate. Within hundreds of metres, groups of nomads had brought their camel herds to drink at the water point.

"We don't necessarily feel safe planting during the day," said Hadja, one of the displaced women. "But we need to harvest to have food for our family and we also want to ultimately go back to our land."

The conflict in Darfur has completely changed the dynamics between African tribes and Arab nomadic tribes. Nomads used to respect traditional agreements about the time of the year their herds are allowed to use the cultivated land for grazing. This agreement does not seem to exist anymore.

Before the conflict, the sheiks (local leaders) in Borta and in many villages of West Darfur would receive a letter from the government instructing the nomads to graze their herds only within specified time periods and areas. This year, the sheiks have not received such a letter and are fearful of confronting the nomads whose animals sometimes destroy the planted fields.

Despite these tensions, small numbers of displaced people have come back for good to their villages in West Darfur. Out of 600,000 displaced villagers in this area, UNHCR estimates that 20,000 have permanently returned to their homes in the past 15 months.

"These are mainly people who did not want to go to camps in Chad or in Darfur and were remaining at the Chad-Sudan border without any assistance," explains UNHCR. "These are the ones who were more eager to go back and plant."

At this point, the UN refugee agency still considers that the security situation in Darfur is not conducive to facilitate or promote the large-scale return of the 2 million displaced people – a principle UNHCR High Commissioner António Guterres stressed strongly last week during his visit to Darfur.

However, the refugee agency – whose role includes ensuring that there are no forced returns – has been assisting the families who made the voluntary and personal decision to come back to their villages of origin, so that they do not move again in search of basic facilities. UNHCR, together with its non-governmental partners, have started to implement community-based reintegration projects to assist these returning communities. The projects, which emanate directly from these communities, include the rehabilitation of schools and health structures in villages of return. Seeds and tools have also been distributed to returning families to assist them in their efforts to regain their livelihood.

By Helene Caux
In Borta, West Darfur, Sudan

Sudan and Petronas sign $1 bln deal for new refinery / Malaysia's Petronas Awarded 1st Offshore Gas Block In Sudan

Eight wire-service stories from the past few days:

(The first five are about the refinery deal; the other three are about the subsequent offshore-exploration deal.)

From Reuters ("Sudan, Petronas sign $1 bln deal for new refinery"; Monday)...

Sudan and Malaysia's Petronas [PETR.UL] on Monday signed a contract worth about $1 billion to build a new 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery in the coastal city of Port Sudan, an official from Sudan's energy ministry said.

"The agreement was signed this morning ... It was for setting up a new refinery in Port Sudan," Mohammed Ahmed Siddig, the ministry's public relations manager, told Reuters.

"The deal was a contract ... The capacity will be 100,000 barrels per day ... It was for approximately $1 billion," he added.

From AFX ("Malaysia's Petronas strengthens presence in Sudan by taking stake in refinery"; Monday)...

National oil corporation Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) said it has strengthened its presence in Sudan by entering into the downstream refining business there.

In a statement, Petronas said its unit Petronas International Corp Ltd has agreed to take up a 50 pct interest in new Port Sudan Refinery Project, thus officially expanding its entry into the downstream business in the country following its acquisition of the entire retail assets of Mobil Oil Sudan Ltd in March 2003.

The remaining 50 pct in the port refinery is held by Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Petronas said it and the ministry will jointly invest, develop and operate the export-oriented refinery.

It said the new refinery project located at Port Sudan, which is the only entry port in the country, is a high technology complex refinery with a total capacity of 100,000 barrels per day.

'It is an export refinery designed to process high acid crude that will add value to the Dar Blend from Sudan Melut Basin Blocks 3 and 7 where Petronas has a 40 pct equity interest,' it said.

It added that the production will meet the growing demand of petroleum products in Sudan and neighbouring countries under the Common Market of East and South Africa (COMESA) once it is fully operational by early 2009.

From Bernama ("Petronas Takes Up Stake In Refinery Project In Sudan"; Tuesday)...

Petronas through its wholly-owned subsidiary Petronas International Corporation Ltd, has taken up a 50 percent interest in the new Port Sudan Refinery Project.

The remaining 50 percent equity is held by the Ministry of Energy and Mining of Sudan.

Both Petronas and the ministry will jointly invest, develop and operate this export refinery.

Petronas yesterday concluded its participation in the project, thus officially expanding its entry into the downstream business in the country following its acquisition of the entire retail assets of Mobil Oil Sudan Ltd through its wholly owned subsidiary PETRONAS Marketing Sudan Ltd (PMSL) in March 2003.

The ceremony, held in Khartoum in conjunction with the sixth anniversary celebrations of Sudan's Petroleum Day, was officiated by Sudan's Minister of Energy and Mining, Dr Awad Ahmed El-Jaz and Minister of Finance and National Economy Mohammed, Hassan El-Zubair, Petronas said in a statement Tuesday.

The new refinery project, located at Port Sudan, which is the only entry port in the country, is a high technology complex refinery with a total capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, said Petronas.

It is an export refinery designed to process high acid crude that will add value to the Dar Blend from Sudan Melut Basin Blocks 3&7 where Petronas has a 40 percent equity interest, it added.

The production will meet the growing demand of petroleum products in Sudan and neighbouring countries under the Common Market of East and South Africa (COMESA) once it is fully operational by early 2009, it said.

This state of the art refinery will produce high quality petroleum products meeting Euro 4 specifications, it said.

Petronas said its entry into Sudan's refining business is testimony to its long-term commitment to the development of the petroleum industry in Sudan.

Petronas is already active in the downstream retailing and aviation through PMSL and upstream sectors of the Sudan's oil industry.

PETRONAS already has interests in Blocks 1, 2 and 4; Blocks 3 and 7; Block 5A, Block 5B and Block 8.

From the AP ("Malaysia's Petronas to jointly build oil refinery in Sudan"; Tuesday)...

Malaysia's state-owned oil-and-gas company Petronas said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with Sudan to jointly develop an oil refinery in the African nation.

The project involves building a complex refinery designed to process high-acid crude oil, with a total refining capacity of 100,000 barrels a day, the company, whose full name is Petroliam Nasional Bhd., said in a statement.

Petronas International Corp., a wholly owned unit of Petronas, has a 50 percent stake in the refinery project, while the remaining share is held by Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mining.

According to a report by the Sudan News Agency, the refinery will be built at a cost of around US$1 billion (€818 million), to be equally shared by the Sudanese government and Petronas.

Both Petronas and the ministry will jointly invest, develop and operate the refinery in Port Sudan, about 650 kilometers (400 miles northeast of Khartoum. The plant will be able to produce refined products that meet Euro IV specifications once it turns fully operational by early 2009, Petronas said.

Petronas has been active in Sudan's downstream oil retailing and upstream oil sectors. In March 2003, it acquired Mobil Oil Sudan Ltd.'s oil distribution network via its unit Petronas Marketing Sudan Ltd.

From Dow Jones ("Sudan, Petronas To Jointly Build 100,000 B/D Oil Refinery"; Tuesday)...

Malaysia's state-owned oil and natural gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (PET.YY), or Petronas, said Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with Sudan to jointly develop an oil refinery at Port Sudan.

The Port Sudan Refinery project involves building a complex refinery with a total refining capacity of 100,000 barrels a day.

It is designed to process high-acid crude oil, Petronas said in a statement.

Petronas International Corp., a wholly owned unit of Petronas, has a 50% stake in the refinery project, while the remaining share is held by Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Both Petronas and the ministry will jointly invest, develop and operate the refinery, which can produce refined products that meet Euro IV specifications once it turns fully operational by early 2009, Petronas said.

The statement didn't give details on the investment required.

According to a report by the Sudan News Agency, the refinery will be built at a cost of around US$1 billion, to be equally shared by the Sudanese government and Petronas.

Sudan's Minister of Energy and Mining Awad Ahmed El-Jaz was also quoted by the report as saying there is an agreement between the government and Petronas to expand the refinery to 150,000 b/d eventually.

Petronas has been active in the downstream oil retailing and upstream oil sectors in Sudan.

In March 2003, it acquired Mobil Oil Sudan Ltd.'s oil distribution network via its unit Petronas Marketing Sudan Ltd.

Also from Dow Jones ("Malaysia Petronas Awarded 1st Offshore Gas Block In Sudan"; Tuesday)...

Malaysia's Petronas (PET.YY) Tuesday said it has been awarded its first offshore gas exploration block in Sudan.

The deal marks the company's entry into offshore operations in Sudan, after being active in onshore exploration since 1997, Petronas said in a statement.

Block 15 covers an area of 28,655 square kilometers within the Red Sea Basin and about half of the acreage is located in deep waters of between 300 to 800 meters.

Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn. Bhd., a unit of Petronas, has a 35% stake in the block. China National Petroleum Corporation, or CNPC, holds another 35%, Sudan's national oil company, or SUDAPET, holds 15%, Express Petroleum of Nigeria holds 10%, and High Tech Group, a Sudanese company, holds the remaining 5%.

Petronas, CNPC and SUDAPET will jointly operate the block, Petronas said.

"Petronas and its partners are committed to acquire a minimum of 3,500 line kilometers of 2D seismic and 500 square kilometers of 3D seismic, and drill five wildcat wells with total minimum expenditure of $58 million in three commitment periods over 6 years," Petronas said.

Under the contract, investors will sell the discovered gas jointly with the government of Sudan and be given the opportunity to jointly invest in the potential downstream gas, power and petrochemical projects, Petronas added.

Also from Bernama ("Petronas Awarded First Offshore Block In Sudan"; Tuesday)...

Petronas has enhanced its presence in Sudan after being awarded Sudan's exploration Block 15 with the signing of the Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) for the block today.

The signing ceremony, held in Khartoum in conjunction with the sixth anniversary celebrations of Sudan's Petroleum Day, was officiated by Sudan's Minister of Energy and Mining Dr Awad Ahmed El-Jaz.

Also present was Petronas president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican.

The EPSA, which is the first EPSA in Sudan, marks Petronas' entry into the offshore operation in the country, after being active in the onshore exploration since 1997, Petronas said in a statement issued here Tuesday.

Block 15 covers an area of 28,655 square kilometers within the Red Sea Basin and about half of the acreage is located in deep waters between 300 to 800 meters.

With the award of the Block, Sudan will realise its first integrated gas project.

Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd has a 35 percent interest in the block while the remaining equity is shared between China National Petroleum Corporation (35 percent), Sudan's national oil company SUDAPET (15 percent), Express Petroleum of Nigeria (10 percent) and High Tech Group (5.0 percent), a Sudanese company.

Petronas, CNPC and SUDAPET will jointly operate the block.

Petronas and its partners are committed to acquiring a minimum of 3,500 line kilometer of 2D seismic and 500 square kilometer of 3D seismic and to drill five wildcat wells with total minimum expenditure of US$58 million in three commitment periods over six years. Block 15 is known to be gas prone.

Under this contract, the investors will sell the discovered gas jointly with the Government and be given the opportunity to jointly invest in the potential downstream gas, power and petrochemical projects.

Petronas is also active in the downstream retailing through Petronas Marketing Sudan Ltd and recently concluded its participation in the 100,000 barrels per day new Port Sudan Refinery Project.

Apart from Block 15, Petronas already has interests in onshore Blocks 1, 2 and 4; Blocks 3 and 7; Block 5A, Block 5B and Block 8.

Also from AFX ("Malaysia's Petronas wins first offshore project in Sudan"; Wednesday)...

National oil corporation Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) said it has won its first offshore oil and gas project in Sudan.

Petronas said it was awarded an area known as Block 15, covering a region of 28,655 square kilometers in the Red Sea Basin, after signing an exploration and production sharing agreement.

The move follows its purchase this week of a 50 pct stake in a refinery project in Sudan, to produce high-quality petroleum products.

Petronas Carigali Overseas, a unit of Petronas, will hold a 35 pct interest in Block 15, where half the acreage is located in deep waters.

The remaining equity is shared between the China National Petroleum Corporation, Sudan's national oil company SUDAPET, Express Petroleum of Negeria and the Sudanese High Tech Group, it said in a statement.

The agreement 'marks Petronas' entry into the offshore operation in the country, after being active in the onshore exploration since 1997,' it said.

Petronas and its partners are to drill five wildcat wells with a total minimum expenditure of 58 mln usd in three periods over six years, as well as explore for gas.

'Block 15 is known to be gas prone. With the award of the Block, Sudan will realize its first integrated gas project,' it said.

'Under this contract, the investors will sell the discovered gas jointly with the government and be given the opportunity to jointly invest in the potential downstream gas, power and petrochemical projects.'

Sudan's first post-war parliament opens / Sudanese president promises to work to end Darfur suffering

Two related wire-service stories, both reprinted on Sudan.Net:

From AFP...

Sudan's first post-war parliament held its first session Wednesday, as the country took another step towards implementing a peace agreement ending more than two decades of north-south conflict.

Much of the session was devoted to procedural issues, such as election of a speaker and his first deputy for the 450-strong National Assembly, appointed in accordance with the January 9 peace deal.

Members began the meeting by electing Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir, the former speaker of the Sudanese parliament from the ruling National Congress Party, as speaker. SPLM delegate, Atim Garang Deng, was elected first deputy speaker.

Seats in the National Assembly, the largest in the history of the country, were distributed according to power-sharing quotas in the accord that gave the NCP 52 percent of the seats.

The NCP's peace partner and former southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), got 28 percent.

Northern opposition parties received 14 percent and their counterparts in the south got six percent.

A few opposition groups, including the Umma Party of former premier Sadiq al-Mahdi and the Popular Congress Party of Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, have said they will not participate in the new parliament.

Sudanese leaders said they were still holding discussions with the National Democratic Alliance, a grouping of former-exiled opposition forces, on its participation in state institutions, including parliament.

Officials said one of the first duties of the new assembly would be to amend laws to conform to the spirit of the peace deal.

President Omar al-Beshir was scheduled to address the body later in the day.

From the AP...

Sudan's president vowed Wednesday to work to end the suffering of the people of Darfur and pushed for a peace deal modeled on January's accord that ended the 21-year southern civil war.

Omar al-Bashir's comments came the day after his vice president authorized Sudanese negotiators meeting Darfur rebel groups on Sept. 15 to conclude an agreement to try end the two-year conflict in western Sudan.

"The problem of Darfur and its repercussions remain a thorn in the country's back and a stain on the clean cloth of peace," the Sudanese president told 450 lawmakers at a session of the new parliament formed as a result of the southern peace deal.

Sudan, a nation ravaged by conflict for decades, has been basking in a period of rare optimism following the January signing of a peace deal that ended the southern war.

But the separate Darfur conflict in western Sudan has been raging since February 2003 after rebels from black African tribes took up of arms after complaining of discrimination and oppression by Sudan's Arab-dominated government.

The United States accuses al-Bashir's government of responding by unleashing Arab tribal militia in a campaign of murder, rape and arson against black African tribes from Darfur.

More than 1.9 million people were forced to flee their homes since the conflict began, while war-induced hunger and disease have killed more than 180,000 people, according to United Nations estimates.

Al-Bashir has denied claims that his government has backed the militia, known as the Janjaweed, in the violence and said Wednesday that Sudan's justice and security authorities are trying to secure areas where violence persists in Darfur and "apprehend the criminals and punish them."

He also said the southern comprehensive peace agreement, which outlined systems of power and wealth sharing and offered a referendum to southerners in six years to decide if they wanted autonomy, could serve as a model for Darfur's warring parties to follow.

"This would mean a just distribution of wealth and sharing of power (in Darfur) so that all claims of marginalization would end," said al-Bashir.

In a wide-ranging address to Sudan's parliament, al-Bashir also touched on the war in Iraq, with the Sudanese leader calling for the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces from that war-ravaged country.

"We call for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq so that the Iraqi people would spell out their views on their own future," said al-Bashir. "We also stand with Iraq and its territorial integrity and security."

Lawmakers also chose ruling National Congress party member Ahmed Ibrahim Tahir, speaker for the outgoing parliament, to hold the post again.

After Sudan peace deal, UN to start refugee return / UNHCR chief calls for pressure on Darfur foes to clinch peace deal by year-end

Two wire-service stories (updated to add the one from AFP):

From Reuters...

The United Nations announced on Wednesday it would launch one of the world's largest refugee operations later this year to help several million people who fled conflict in Sudan begin returning home.

Ending his second trip to east Africa since taking office in May, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres also urged the world not to neglect the Darfur conflict in western Sudan, which has slipped down the international agenda.

Conflicts in the west, east and south of Africa's largest nation over the last two decades have sent some 700,000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries and displaced between 4 [million and] 6 million Sudanese internally, Guterres told a news conference.

But with a January peace deal at least solving the largest and longest-running of those conflicts in the south, the UNHCR would begin a voluntary repatriation programme back to southern Sudan after the local rains, he said.

Other UNHCR officials confirmed that would be in October.

"We hope that after the rainy season we will be able to start a movement of coordinated return from Congo, from the Central African Republic, hopefully also from Kenya and Ethiopia, to southern Sudan," Guterres said.

"There are few operations in the past that have been bigger than this one," he added, citing Afghanistan as one.

Guterres said refugees would obviously not return to dangerous areas where Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels or Sudanese militia still operated.

"This is not easy, there are still some pockets of instability in southern Sudan."

WORLD MUST PUSH FOR DARFUR PEACE

Preparation for returning refugees was underway in southern Sudan including some building of schools, health centres and wells, as well as de-mining after two decades of war, he said.

In countries hosting refugees, registration of refugees was being done, then there would be an information campaign before the Sudanese were offered the chance to go home.

An estimated 20,000 had already begun trekking home spontaneously, encouraged by peace in the south, Guterres said.

Perhaps the biggest challenge, the UNHCR boss said, was to create basic infrastructure in the vast, remote and under-developed south, which is about half the size of Western Europe with a population of around 10 million.

"During centuries very little has been done in southern Sudan. We have not a problem of reconstruction. We have effectively a problem of construction," he said.

Guterres lamented that the international community had taken its eye off conflict in Darfur, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 2 million from their homes since early 2003.

A sixth round of talks between Darfur rebels and the Khartoum government is scheduled for mid-September.

Guterres said there was "political will" on both sides to resolve the conflict -- which some have called a "genocide" by Khartoum-backed Arab militia -- but little time left.

"It is essential for the international community to pressure for this political will to be translated into real peace agreements to be effective until (by) the end of this year. This is a window of opportunity we cannot neglect," he said.

"Without peace we can only face a new tragedy of proportions that cannot even be imagined."

From AFP, reprinted on ReliefWeb...

The head of the UN refugee agency called Wednesday for the world to press Khartoum and rebels to use an existing "window of opportunity" to seal a peace deal by year's end in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees chief Antonio Guterres said he believed a landmark January peace agreement ending Sudan's north-south civil war had created momentum and "political will" to resolve the ongoing crisis in Darfur.

"There is political will for an agreement in Darfur," he told reporters here [Nairobi] after visiting the region where an estimated 300,000 people have died and more than two million displaced as a result of the 30-month-old civil war.

"It is essential for the international community to put pressure for this political will to be translated into real peace agreements to be effective at the end of this year," Guterres said.

As Khartoum and Darfur's two rebel groups prepare for another round of peace talks in the Nigerian capital on September 15, he said violence continued to rage in the region the size of France.

"It is crucial to make sure that people understand that the crucial opportunity for the international community to act is now, because if this opportunity is missed, it will probably not come in the next few years," Guterres said.

"I believe that the government and the rebel movements now understand really that there is no better chance than peace (but) the mistrust is huge, so a peace agreement to be possible needs pressure in place," he said.

Fighting in Darfur broke out in February 2003 when an uprising representing the mainly black population of the region led Khartoum to unleash Arab militias known as Janjaweed, which have been accused of torture, rape and intimidation.

Last Call for Posts for Allthings2all's "Spotlight on Darfur 1"

Originally by Catez Stevens (Allthings2all), reposted by Eugene...

Just wanted to remind you that Spotlight on Darfur 1 will be up on September 1 and I'm still taking posts. If you have posted on Darfur in the last couple of weeks, or post tomorrow I can include your post. Posts don't have to be long and can be informative or opinion.

Here's the details:

What I'd like to do is start a series called "Spotlight on Darfur". This could be held around once a month and hosted by a different person each time. Instead of going into the background and history of the Darfur crisis, which was covered in The Darfur Collection, these posts can be on any aspect of the current situation. All I ask is that they do not contain expletives (a wide range of ages read these posts).

Spotlight on Darfur 1 will be hosted at Allthings2all on Thursday 1 September. Please email the following info for your post by 12.00pm EST [I'm not sure if Catez {Allthings2all} truly means "Eastern Standard Time" {EST; GMT-5}, as opposed to "Eastern Daylight Time" {EDT; GMT-4} - EJM]Wednesday 31 August:

1. The name of your blog
2. The URL of your blog
3. The title of your post
4. The URL of your post
5. A description of your post

What It Is All About

The latest official "Coalition for Darfur" post...

Last weekend, the blog Blue Girl, Red State wrote a post about a regular blog commenter who went by the name "Shameless Hussy."

Blue Girl reports that "Shameless Hussy" went to Darfur in June as a humanitarian volunteer and was traumatized by what she saw

What she dealt with daily goes beyond the pale...beyond the nightmares of most people; Children with all four limbs hacked off right above the knee or below the elbow. Twelve year olds who died in childbirth after being gang-raped by the Janjaweed. Women who gave birth to rape-babies who were then cast out by their families for shaming the family name, leaving only one avenue of survival for themselves and their children after the camps: Prostitution.

What is f**ing her up is the desperation, and the fact that she worked herself to death for over a month, and she still didn't really save anyone. Now that she's gone, it's like she was never there. Even the ones she helped keep alive, she didn't save. You try dealing with that reality.

And women are the preponderance of victims. Men do not leave the villages to go to the countryside to gather firewood and other necessary items of sustenance. Women venture out, even though every time they leave their villages, they are at horrific risk of being beaten and raped and disfigured. The reason they go instead of the men? The women are only attacked, the men are killed.

This post receive a fair amount of attention within the blogosphere (as far as posts about Darfur go) mainly due to the fact that Kevin Drum linked to it. And while getting bloggers to pay attention to Darfur, if only for a minute, is a minor miracle, it is worth asking why it takes a post about traumatized aid workers to generate any interest in genocide.

This situation in Darfur has existed for over two years and, if people were interested, they could find accounts of death, disease, rape and torture occurring there on an almost daily basis. 400,000 people have died and nearly 3 million have been displaced and yet nobody - not politicans, not the media, not bloggers - really [seems] to care.

To anyone who has been paying attention, the atrocities witnessed by "Shameless Hussy" are, sadly, well-known. If her story generates concern for the people of Darfur, then for that we should be thankful. And if people who were moved by it are really interested in Darfur, then they should start reading the analyses produced by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Eric Reeves and the International Crisis Group, supporting organizations like Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Save Darfur and STAND, reading blogs like Passion of the Present, Sudan Watch, the Coalition for Darfur, and Sleepless in Sudan, and demanding that their elected leaders do something about it.

Our thanks goes out to "Shameless Hussy" and all those who sacrifice to help those in need. But we must keep in mind that Darfur is not about them - it is about this

N.Y. and Sudan: Economic pressure can help alleviate human rights crisis ("Rochester Democrat and Chronicle" editorial)

From today's edition...

New York state invests around $14 billion in companies that do business in Sudan, a country whose government has permitted, and by many accounts supported, militias that terrorize the black population in its Darfur region.

The U.S. Congress has called the situation genocide. Yet next to nothing has been done on a federal or international level.

New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi can and should help fight these human rights abuses by using his influence with these Sudan-active companies to bring about change. If that doesn't work, the state should divest its holdings in these companies.

Louisiana, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey have already passed legislation that makes it illegal for their governments to invest in companies that do business with Sudan. Several universities, including Harvard and Stanford, have also divested.

Their actions will result in the loss of billions of dollars of investment for companies that enrich the Sudanese government. That sends a strong message.

State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson has proposed legislation [S5723] that calls for New York to take similar action. Hevesi, who is responsible for managing the state investment funds, says that divestment ought to be a last resort because it would cost New York leverage in the companies it is trying to influence.

As a first step, Hevesi should immediately start pressuring Sudan-active companies to tell the Sudanese government that human rights abuses are unacceptable. And that if changes aren't made, there will be serious financial consequences.

An estimated 2.5 million black Sudanese, who were chased from their homes by militias, now live in squalid refugee camps where they lack basic necessities and are constantly threatened with torture or death. The World Health Organization estimates that about 7,000 people die in Darfur each month. This crisis must be resolved.

International economic pressure helped force the South African government to do away with apartheid in the early '90s.

Similar pressure can help alleviate suffering in Sudan. New York should get involved.

DR Congo army rebel threatens to overthrow Kabila / Soldiers go AWOL as dissident leader issues call to arms

Three stories from the past few days:

(The Reuters and IRIN reports are from today; the BBC item is from Monday.)

From Reuters...

A renegade Tutsi general who led an uprising in Congo last year has broken months of silence and said the time had come to overthrow President Joseph Kabila.

General Laurent Nkunda rocked Congo's fragile peace process when he attacked and seized the eastern Congolese town of Bukavu in May last year, only pulling out under international pressure.

Kabila's office dismissed Nkunda's latest threats, which were made in a letter written on Aug. 25 and seen by Reuters.

"We believe that the moment has arrived to begin using all necessary means to overthrow this government and replace it with a power that is inclusive, non-conflictual and capable of restoring peace in the republic," Nkunda said in the letter.

"Congolese lives are priceless. Every man killed, every woman held hostage, raped or sold in public, and every child burned or buried alive goes to justify the offensive against Kabila's plan and the dismantlement of his clan," he added, referring to what he says are rights abuses by army soldiers.

Following a massacre of Congolese Tutsis in Burundi last year, Nkunda published a similar letter calling for military action but none was taken.

Kabila's office dismissed the rebel's latest threat. "We are not going to waste our time worrying about Nkunda," said presidential spokesman Kudura Kasongo.

Despite calls from donors and many Congolese for Nkunda's arrest, he remains at large in the North Kivu province, underlining the struggle Kinshasa faces in imposing authority over a country divided during a 1998-2003 war that sucked in six countries and killed nearly 4 million people.

Officials in the U.N. peacekeeping mission, which was widely criticised for failing to stop Nkunda seizing Bukavu, said it was monitoring the situation, especially given the risk of ethnic tension over voter registration ahead of 2006 polls.

"We are keeping an eye on things," a military source told Reuters. "He may not launch a big attack but he could try and spark a crisis so he is at the centre of attention again."

Kabila heads a transitional government that is charged with leading Congo to elections after five years of war but the polls have been delayed and critics accuse the government of dragging its feet to stay in power longer.

Congolese across the vast country are registering for elections, now rescheduled for mid-2006, but army integration has stalled and bands of armed men continue to roam the east, preying on civilians.

From IRIN...

The day after a dissident army leader in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) called for an insurrection, the 53rd Army Battalion and four companies of the 2nd Mixed Battalion in the east of the country went missing.

"We have launched an investigation into the whereabouts of the battalion and will arrest those who instigated the desertion," Adolphe Onusumba, the minister of defence, told IRIN on Tuesday.

He said the 500 men of the 53rd, commanded by Maj Innocent Kabundi, disappeared on Friday from their base in the village of Burungu, 45 km north of Goma, capital of North Kivu Province.

Gen Gabriël Amisi, who commands the 8th Military Region in North Kivu, said on Tuesday that the four companies of the 2nd Mixed Battalion, under assistant battalion commander Capt Faustin Muhima, deserted their base in the town of Kanyabayonga, 109 km north of Goma. He would not specify how many soldiers were in the four companies.

Most of the deserters are Congolese Tutsis. They are either from the former army that was overthrown in 1997 or combatants in a former eastern rebel group, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD).

Armed groups from the country's civil war are supposed to have some of their fighters integrated into the new national army, in accordance with a 2002 peace agreement. Amisi said soldiers of the 2nd Battalion who deserted their base in Kanyabayonga had been resisting integration.

"They fled because they did not want to go to the centre for integration," Amisi said.

On Thursday, a 17-page communiqué attributed to a dissident army general, Laurent Nkunda, was secretly distributed in Goma. The communiqué called for the renewal of hostilities against the government in Kinshasa. However, evidence that the troops deserted to join Nkunda’s insurgency remains circumstantial.

From the BBC...

Renegade Congolese rebel leader Gen Laurent Nkunda has threatened to re-invade eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to bring "peace" to the area.

In June last year he jeopardised DR Congo's shaky peace process when he briefly seized the town of Bukavu.

In a 17-page letter, extracts of which were published in the Congolese newspaper Le Potentiel, he accused the government of promoting ethnic hatred.

Meanwhile, the army has confirmed some of its men in the east have defected.

Correspondents in the area say an estimated 1,000 soldiers, who speak Kinyarwanda - the language spoken by the ethnic Banyamulenge whom Gen Nkunda claims to be fighting for - have gathered in Masisi, North Kivu province.

Gen Nkunda said he invaded Bukavu last year to protect the Banyamulenge from being targeted and killed by the Congolese army, but the UN dismissed his claims that he was preventing a genocide.

'Not serious'

In his letter, seen by the BBC, Gen Nkunda said the transitional administration of President Joseph Kabila was corrupt and intent on promoting instability in the east.

He said the decision to stop more than 200,000 Congolese refugees living in neighbouring countries from returning home to Kivu to participate in the elections showed President Kabila's unwillingness to foster peace.

Elections were due before the end of June under the terms of the 2002 peace deal, but MPs have backed a six-month delay.

According to the BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa, the United Nations refugee agency has said it is not logistically feasible to organise the return of the refugees before the completion of the electoral registration process.

The UN mission in DR Congo has received a copy of the letter, but could not authenticate it, our correspondent says.

Given up

Gen Nkunda belonged to the Rwandan-backed RCD rebel group which fought the Kinshasa government in a five-year civil war

Under the peace deal, former rebel groups were supposed to be integrated into the new national army.

At the time of Bukavu's capture, President Kabila accused Rwanda of being behind the attack, but this was denied by Rwanda.

His ally, Col Jules Mutebutsi, has officially been granted refugee status in Rwanda after he and his men declared in writing that they had given up his armed struggle.

The Banyamulenge are ethnic Tutsis, who have lived in DR Congo for several generations but who retain ties to Rwanda.

An estimated three million people in DR Congo were killed during the five-year civil war, which drew in several neighbouring countries.