Sudan: The Passion of the Present

Zimbabwe seen in deeper hole after constitution vote

Also from Reuters...

The constitutional tightening of President Robert Mugabe's grip on power has all but dashed South African hopes of mediating an end to Zimbabwe's crisis or keeping it in the IMF, analysts said on Wednesday.

Mugabe rammed constitutional changes through his ZANU-PF dominated parliament on Tuesday giving his government powers to nationalise white-owned commercial farms, re-introduce an upper chamber Senate and restrict suspected dissidents.

"Essentially we are seeing a regression, not progress in resolving Zimbabwe's crisis," said Chris Maroleng, specialist on Zimbabwe at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.

He said it was now difficult to see how South Africa can persuade a supremacist ZANU-PF to negotiate power sharing with the opposition, a move seen by African leaders as key to ending five years of political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe also now looks less likely to accept South Africa's widely reported offer to help pay Zimbabwe's $295 million arrears to the IMF to prevent Harare's expulsion, in return for Mugabe agreeing some political concessions.

Senior Zimbabwean officials have scorned any idea of accepting conditions set by South Africa. Zimbabwe is also unlikely to agree IMF demands for fiscal reforms to mend an economy struggling with a jobless rate of over 70 percent, triple digit inflation and acute shortages, analysts say.

An IMF mission is wrapping up two weeks of talks in Harare on Wednesday, and Zimbabwe looks likely to face expulsion next month. Neither side has commented publicly on the talks.

"It is now much more difficult for the IMF mission not to recommend the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the Fund," Maroleng said. "For one thing the amendment will effectively lead to bigger government where, in the IMF's view, government spending should essentially be reduced," he added.

Other analysts said the IMF would first have to garner the necessary 85 percent vote for expulsion from IMF member states, among which are African states supportive of Mugabe.

MUGABE SITS PRETTY

South African President Thabo Mbeki has failed in two years to persuade a confident Mugabe to hold talks between ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mugabe denies opposition charges of vote rigging and calls the MDC a puppet of Britain and other Western powers he says want "regime change" in Harare. The government recently rejected mediation by an African Union appointed envoy.

The new Senate will have 66 members, six of them appointed by Mugabe, who can already appoint 20 lower house members.

The amendments on land appropriation will effectively bar white farmers from using the courts to challenge the seizure of their property under Mugabe's land reform programme, which economists say has ruined a once-thriving agricultural sector.

The government will also be able to wield new weapons against political opponents, imposing travel bans on Zimbabweans suspected of engaging in terrorist training abroad or who have called for sanctions or military action against Zimbabwe.

"The legislators have failed in their duty to protect all their constituents from the endless attacks on their basic rights and freedoms," said Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

A likely new bill could repeal a requirement for elections to be held in 90 days should the president die or be incapacitated. This would allow Mugabe to pick a successor without subjecting him or her to an electoral contest.

Some analysts said that on the positive side, the amendments could lead to further constitutional changes that would allow Mugabe, 81, and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, to become a ceremonial president.

Bandits hit vital aid convoys in Darfur - UNICEF

From Reuters...

Fighting may have died down in Sudan's crisis-torn Darfur region, but rampant banditry has taken its place and is hitting key humanitarian aid convoys, the UN said on Wednesday.

"There has been a tremendous rise in banditry. Not a single day goes by without two, three or four attacks on aid convoys," Keith McKenzie, UNICEF's representative in Darfur since 2004, told a [news] conference in London.

"You never know when you are going to be hit or where. They seem to be targeting the humanitarian community and workers. If anything, the situation there is more unstable," he added.

Fighting between Arab militias and rebels in the western region has decreased in recent months but UNICEF, the United Nations' children's fund, said there were still more than three million refugees and conditions were dire.

Some two million of these were in more than 200 camps scattered around the region the size of France. The remainder were in isolated pockets and continuing to drift towards the already overfilled camps, putting them under intense pressure. "That is where the crisis is right now," McKenzie said. "There is a tremendous need. That is where the priority lies."

He said the bandits came from both rebel and pro-government militias -- not the Sudanese Army -- and were attacking aid convoys because they were soft targets.

"It is opportunistic. They see an aid convoy, hold it up and take everything there," McKenzie said.

He said the 11,000 aid workers in Darfur were doing a superb job but warned the rising lawlessness was making some agencies consider reducing the size of their operations just when the need for their presence was growing.

Martin Bell, UNICEF's ambassador for humanitarian emergencies and a former war correspondent and politician, said the international community had lost interest in Darfur since a January peace deal ended a separate north-south civil war in Sudan after more than 20 years.

Darfur rebels took up arms in 2003 accusing the government of discrimination and neglect. They say Khartoum responded by backing Arab militias to drive non-Arabs from their villages.

Bell praised the African Union ceasefire monitoring force -- which he said needed more people as well as far more logistic and communications support -- and urged the world to refocus on the crisis around new peace talks scheduled for Sept. 15.

"The prospect of half the population living in camps for the foreseeable future is simply not acceptable," he told the news conference. "It will be tantamount to an African Gaza Strip."

Photo album: Darfur's rainy season in pictures

Norwegian Church Aid has a new set of pictures on both its site and AlertNet.  The version on its site features larger pictures, spread across several pages (one photo per page); the version on AlertNet features smaller pictures, all on one page.

VOM's New "Persecution Blogosphere Program"

While it doesn't deal specifically with Sudan (or even Africa), this may very well be of interest to many regular visitors to TPOTP:  The Voice of the Martyrs has just launched its "Persecution Blogosphere Program".  Here's the introduction to the post concerning the launch...

Today [Monday] we are so excited to announce to you that we are launching the Voice of the Martyrs Blogosphere Program. This is the only program using the blogosphere that focuses on the persecuted church because we know that bloggers are some of the best voices for the persecuted church.

We also realize that if you are reading this blog that you either are a blogger yourself or you read blogs.  So we wanted to give you the opportunity to partner with us in ministry to the persecuted church.

The purpose of the blogosphere program is to encourage you to disseminate information about Voice of the Martyrs on your own blog.

Visit the full post for more details and the sign-up form.

P.S.:  Somewhat along those lines, both Compass Direct and Forum 18 have recently added RSS feeds.

Donor funds dry up for food crisis in Niger - WFP

From Reuters...

Donor funds appear to have dried up for Niger just as the United Nations food agency is stepping up its operation to head off starvation among more than 2.5 million people there, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Only $28 million has been received towards a $57.6 million appeal by the World Food Programme (WFP) for the West African country, where drought and locusts ruined last year's harvest.

"We are quite worried. For two weeks we had almost no new donations," WFP spokesman Simon Pluess told a briefing.

"We are less than 50 percent funded and we really need urgent donations now if we want to be able to respond properly to this present crisis."

Canada tops the WFP's list of donors with $3.2 million, followed by Britain and the United States. Notably absent from the list of European donors is France, the former colonial power in Niger.

Last year's drought hit other West African states including Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, but Niger is the country worst affected.

The United Nations started a large-scale distribution of emergency rations to hungry families in Niger this month.

"At this stage, distributions are really focused on targeting the most stricken villages first, although it is intended that all 2.68 million people who need food assistance will receive food," Pluess said.

The Rome-based agency is also providing food to 230,000 people through rations given to mothers who bring malnourished children to child nutrition centres.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week visited some of the worst affected areas to draw more attention to the crisis.

The medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) (Doctors Without Borders) has said the United Nations should have begun emergency food distribution to avert the crisis much earlier.

The WFP, whose initial appeal of $6 million for Niger this year was increased to $16 million and then finally to $57.6 million, says a lack of funds early on led to more costly emergency operations.

Rights activists in Zimbabwe condemn constitutional changes / IMF negotiations continue / UN and govt to rework text of $30m flash appeal

Three IRIN stories from today concerning Zimbabwe:

"Rights activists condemn constitutional changes"...

Zimbabwean human rights activists condemned sweeping constitutional amendments approved by parliament on Tuesday, arguing the government has undermined basic freedoms.

Describing the proposed changes to the constitution as the "worst piece of legislation yet", Joseph James, president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, said lawyers "across political and ideological lines" had, for the first time, taken a stance against the new legislation.

"It is worse than the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), as the current legislation attacks the very basis of our constitution," he commented, in reference to two controversial laws that limit freedoms of association and expression.

The law society is considering taking its protest to either the African Commission on Human Rights or the Supreme Court in Zimbabwe, which also functions as the Constitutional Court.

James pointed out that the 22-clause Constitutional Amendment Bill abolishes freehold property titles; removes the landowner's right to appeal expropriation; usurps the authority of the courts, and will restrict the movement of Zimbabweans.

The bill also seeks to reconstitute parliament as a bicameral legislature, consisting of a 60-seat senate and a House of Assembly. The new senate will not have the authority to initiate legislation, but can review legislation proposed by the assembly.

Forty-five of the 60 members will be elected to the house in elections to be held in October. Each province will elect two senators - the remaining 15 will be nominated with the final approval of the president, which critics have alleged will be used to reward loyalists.

Soon after a controversial landslide election victory in March, Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party announced its plans to use its two-thirds parliamentary majority to change the constitution.

National political commissar Elliot Manyika told IRIN that the House of Senate was necessary for strengthening constitutional democracy and widening the process of parliamentary decision-making, based on national consensus. The senate was abolished in 1987.

James insisted the amendments were an "undisguised frontal assault" on the rights of Zimbabweans, which "fully merit censure".

The amendments "seek to demolish and attack the fundamental principle of constitutionalism, ensured by the separation of powers, checks and balances, independent constitutional review by an independent judiciary, and protection of individual rights".

"As officers of the Court, with a duty to the law and the pursuit of these principles, we cannot sit back and fail to act whilst fundamental rights accruing to people by virtue of their existence and dignity as human beings are being attacked," he observed.

Earlier on Tuesday while introducing the bill in parliament, news agencies reported that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the amendments would bring to full circle Zimbabwe's war against British colonial rule which culminated in independence in 1980.

"This amendment will conclude the third chimurenga (war of liberation in the Shona language) and the process of decolonisation," he said.

The government's fast-track land reform programme, launched in 2000, targeted the colonial legacy of land ownership, in which a small group of largely white commercial farmers owned vast tracts of the country's most fertile land. But it was accompanied by violence and intimidation.

Several farmers had successfully challenged the expropriation of their farms in administrative courts, where over 5,000 land acquisition cases dating back to 2000 were reportedly still waiting to be heard.

The changes to the property clause now allows government to seize land without being challenged in court; moreover any court decision taken against expropriation during the implementation of the land reforms will be overturned in favour of the state.

Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) director Munyaradzi Bidi described the amendments as an "evil piece of legislation, which completes the cycle of repression", and said the changes to the property clause would have "far-reaching consequences in a country dependent on agriculture".

Amendments to the constitution's freedom of movement clauses now allows the authorities to confiscate passports of those deemed a threat to national security. Chinamasa told IRIN earlier this month that there was no need for law-abiding citizens to worry about the proposed changes.

Zimbabwe's constitution has reportedly been amended 16 times since independence in 1980. The last attempt at constitutional reform was in 2000, when the government's recommendations were rejected in a referendum.

"IMF negotiations continue"...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to continue negotiations with the Zimbabwean government on economic reforms to get the country back on track.

IMF spokeswoman Gita Bhatt told IRIN on Tuesday that the Fund's mission to Zimbabwe had been extended, and that "the team is likely to stay on until Friday in order to finish a report to management ahead of the board meeting on 9 September".

Zimbabwe was suspended from the IMF and faces expulsion for non-payment of arrears when the executive board meets.

Bhatt said the staff mission currently in Harare would "update information on recent economic developments, as well as on policy initiatives that the authorities plan to implement in the period ahead".

Zimbabwe has been in continuous arrears to the Fund since February 2001, and about US $295 million was outstanding at 22 August.

The IMF's executive board extended a lifeline on 16 February this year, when it postponed its deliberations on Zimbabwe's "compulsory withdrawal" from the Fund for six months.

However, to unlock potential foreign aid the country had to strengthen its cooperation with the IMF - something that had yet to happen, said Zimbabwean economist John Robertson.

"The IMF is clearly looking to persuade the country to adopt policies that will allow Zimbabwe to pay its arrears - it has got to recover the ability to earn foreign currency. The IMF cannot lend to any country that shows the lack of ability to repay the money," Robertson pointed out.

"The policies that have got us into the difficulties we now face; policies that have destroyed our ability to earn foreign currency - such as the [fast-track] land redistribution programme that wiped out the tobacco and beef export industries - are the things the IMF want to see us fix before they lend us any more money," he explained.

After a staff team visited Zimbabwe in June, the IMF noted that "the magnitude of the economic problems confronting Zimbabwe calls for a comprehensive policy package that should include decisive action to lower the fiscal deficit, a tightening of monetary policy, and steps to establish a unified, market-determined exchange rate. The package should also include structural reforms, such as the removal of administrative controls, to ease shortages and restore private-sector confidence".

Although the Fund stipulated that "a rebuilding of relations with the international community" was a critical part of the effort to reverse the economic decline, Robertson noted that the government appeared to be moving towards a more "isolationist policy", which could see its international relations deteriorate.

"UN and govt to rework text of $30m flash appeal"...

The United Nations and Zimbabwean authorities went back to the drawing board on Tuesday after President Robert Mugabe's government raised serious objections to a draft emergency appeal to provide immediate aid to 300,000 people.

The UN flash appeal would cover those hardest hit by the government's controversial urban cleanup campaign, but last week Mugabe refused to endorse the US $30 million request after raising questions about the text.

Harare insists that the number of people affected by its controversial demolition campaign has been inflated, and has downplayed the impact of the operation on the livelihoods of those who had supported themselves and others by means of informal trade.

UN officials met with their Zimbabwean counterparts on Monday and agreed to set up a joint committee to draft a new emergency appeal.

"We made substantial progress during our meeting with the government of Zimbabwe yesterday [Monday], and hope that by the end of the week we will have a reworked text. Essentially, the Zimbabwean government has said that the current challenges it faces cannot be compared to the crisis in Niger or in other part of the continent," the UN Resident Coordinator, Dr Agostinho Zacarias, told IRIN.

"The government also wants the new text to acknowledge that it has taken action to assist those who have been affected, and that both sides need to take a closer look at the number of people affected by the operation," he noted.

While the UN estimates that a total of 2.4 million people, or 18 percent of the population, were affected by the evictions and the crackdown on the informal economy that began on 18 May, Zimbabwe's UN Ambassador, Boniface Chidyausiku, claimed that only about 2,000 people were affected, according to an Associated Press report on [Friday].

"We have, firstly, to agree on a humanitarian plan. Once that is done, we have decided to jointly assess just how many people were affected by the campaign, but that will be done while we continue to help those in need. Additionally, a joint committee has been established between the government and the UN to consult regarding the technical and administrative support needed for the humanitarian effort," Zacarias explained.

NGOs working in Zimbabwe, who have faced government criticism for their apparent exaggeration of the impact of Operation Murambatsvina ('Drive Out Filth'), said they had expected the UN to take a "stronger position" on the issue.

"Although it is important to recognise the political dimensions in this case, there was an expectation that the UN would have taken a more proactive role in engaging the government. There is a need to look beyond relief delivery and towards long-term structural factors," David Mwaniki, humanitarian programme manager for Action Aid in Zimbabwe, told IRIN.

"The UN should move away from its current fire-fighting posture and focus its energy on advocacy and trying to influence government policy, especially since the humanitarian imperative should always take precedence."

Mwaniki pointed out that tackling Zimbabwe's macroeconomic challenges was key to ensuring that the rights of those displaced by the operation were safeguarded.

Action Aid has been highly critical of Operation Murambatsvina, and has questioned the capacity of the government to address the needs of the many thousands affected by the campaign.

In a report released in July, the international development NGO said although it was difficult to quantify the damage caused by the cleanup operation in monetary terms, major losses across a broad front, ranging from shelter to schooling, were likely.

The NGO argued that greater detail on the impact of the operation was required for relief assistance to be effective, and also raised concerns that current assistance was biased towards those with access to relief in holding camps or sheltering in churches, leaving the most vulnerable members of the affected population to fend for themselves.

The U.N.'s Chance to Act on Genocide (by Roméo Dallaire)

Save Darfur also links to this "New York Times" letter to the editor...

To the Editor:

Re "Bolton Pushes U.N. on Change as U.S. Objects to Draft Plan" (news article, Aug. 25):

After the horror of the Rwandan genocide, in which some 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in just 100 days, the world vowed "never again." Because the United Nations Security Council members demonstrated inexcusable apathy and wasted time debating semantics on whether or not genocide was taking place, I and my small United Nations peacekeeping contingent were forced to watch the slaughter up close with no mandate to intervene.

Eleven years later, little has changed. Yet in just two weeks, governments of the world have the chance at the United Nations world summit meeting in New York to make "never again" a reality by agreeing to accept their responsibility to protect civilians in the face of mass murder. They would agree to act in situations where the national government was unwilling or unable to do so.

If implemented, this historic measure could put an end to politicking, posturing and inaction and save millions of lives. The agreement would mean that all states share the "responsibility to take collective action in a timely and decisive manner" to protect civilians from large-scale killings, including ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity.

This would be a historic shift, but negotiations at the United Nations are on a knife's edge, and the United States has still not committed itself to backing it fully.

Having seen what the failure to protect means on the ground, I urge the United States to seize the opportunity to show global leadership and help drive this agreement that could save the lives of millions.

Roméo Dallaire

Quebec, Aug. 29, 2005

The writer, a retired lieutenant general, was commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda.

Facing Evil: Genocide in Darfur (by David Morse)

Save Darfur links to this very long feature from the September issue of "Friends Journal".  There's way too much text to post it here, but it is a good read (and has a nice listing of resources at the end/bottom).

(David Morse is indeed the same person who is responsible a few recent opinion items here--most recently, "War of the Future: How oil drives the genocide in Darfur".)

Museveni Plans LRA End

From Kampala's "New Vision", reprinted on allAfrica...

President Yoweri Museveni is in talks with Sudanese President Omar Bashir for a joint UPDF, Sudanese Army and SPLA military offensive against Joseph Kony, who has now fled across the red line to the north of Juba.

Museveni has also ordered all security organisations to keep all arms in the armouries, following the spate of murders in Kampala city.

"There've been murders in Kampala, Robinah Kiyingi, the man killed in Kira and others. I want all the guns to be stored in the armouries instead of security officers' houses, except those in war areas and Karamoja. The guns have to be in the armoury and should only be moved according to established procedure," Museveni said yesterday.

The President was passing out over 200 soldiers, some of them former rebels, at the Jinja Military Academy.

The former rebels passed out at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

According to Army Commander Aronda Nyakairima, promotions would come shortly.

Meanwhile, the commissioned soldiers will get a 14-day leave as the Promotions Committee works on their new ranks and deployment.

Museveni said the army had defeated Kony and destroyed his group. He said since January when Kony declined to come out of the bush, the UPDF had killed 550 rebels and captured more than 300 guns.

"Now he is remaining with very few people, may be 100, and has now fled to north of Juba on Nisitu-Torit road. We are not allowed to operate there. Last Friday, I talked to President Bashir. I want to pursue Kony there. Bashir said the Sudanese army in Juba can operate against Kony there.

However, I proposed that we work together with the Sudanese army and the SPLA to hunt him. If Kony wants to come out, let him come to an assembly area," he said.

Former LRA rebel commanders Brig. Kenneth Banya, Brig. Sam Kolo and Col. Onen Kamdul and former UNRF's Maj. Gen. Ali Bamuze, attended the passout.

Banya, Kolo and Kamdul said they were happy to see their former fighters absorbed in the UPDF.

"This inclusion of our officers is excellent. There are still some but they will also be trained," Banya said.

Sudanese government, AU mediators hope for peace in next round of Darfur talks

From the AP, reprinted on Sudan Tribune...

The Sudanese government has authorized its delegation to the next round of Darfur peace talks to conclude an agreement with the rebels, the vice president said Tuesday.

Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha spoke after meetings with the chief African Union mediator in the peace negotiations, Salim Ahmed Salim.

The AU mediates the Darfur talks and maintains some 5,000 peacekeepers in Darfur.

Salim, who also met with President Omar al-Bashir and First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit, said he received assurances from them that progress would be made in the sixth round of talks, due to begin Sept. 15 in Abuja, Nigeria.

"The African Union will do its best to see to the success of the coming round of peace talks," Salim said.

Taha, who handles the Darfur file, said the government would enter the talks with the hope that this round would be the final one.

"We do really appreciate efforts exerted by the African Union and the efforts exerted by Dr. Salim in particular for finding a just settlement to this question," Taha said.

Salim stressed that the unrest in Darfur must be resolved not only for peace but also from a humanitarian standpoint.

More than 1.9 million people were forced to flee their homes since the conflict began in February 2003. War-induced hunger and disease have killed more than 180,000 people, according to U.N. estimates.

Salim, who in Khartoum early Tuesday, met with several senior government officials and is due to meet with the EU, Western and African diplomats. He travels Wednesday to Darfur and also plans to visit Chad and Libya, which he said were vital to the AU efforts for reaching a solution to the Darfur question.

He said the AU wants to see an integration of regional and international efforts with its own on trying to reach a solution for Darfur problem.

Salim said peace in Darfur is vital not only to the region but to the whole region and African in general.

In the last round of talks, in early July, the two main rebel groups signed a "declaration of principles" with the Sudanese government, agreeing to broad commitments, including respecting Sudan’s unity and upholding democracy.

The talks were to resume on Aug. 24 but one group, the Sudan Liberation Army, asked for a postponement.