Sudan: The Passion of the Present

"Zapiro" on Darfur

His cartoon from Thursday on the site of South Africa's "Mail & Guardian"...

(Click on the thumbnail version here for the original, full-size image.)

Germany bickers over helping Darfur / Europe careful on Darfur

Two related, recent UPI items:

(See also the weekend's "German official urges troops for Darfur".)

"Germany bickers over helping Darfur"...

The German government is bickering over whether to send troops to the troubled Darfur region in western Sudan.

Germany's Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung in a TV interview urged for an increase of German assistance to the East African country, but has since come under heavy fire from coalition party officials.

Jung had said Germany should take part in a possible United Nations-led peacekeeping mission in Darfur, where some 200,000 people have been killed since early 2003.

"If there is an overall operation, then we will not refuse a request to take part," he said Tuesday.

Sudan would have to request such a mission, however, and the U.N. would have to agree on its rules of engagement.

Germany has 37 soldiers in Sudan as logistical aides and military observers; the two mandates allow for up to 275 soldiers to be deployed there.

Several politicians from Jung's center-right Christian Democratic Union and its government coalition partner, the Social Democratic Union, harshly criticized what they felt is yet another snap judgment made by Jung.

They said Jung shouldn't talk about expanding the mission, a move only the country's parliament can decide over.

The defense minister in the past has aggravated German Chancellor Angela Merkel for speaking too quickly to the press without consulting with party colleagues.

Merkel has not yet commented on the issue.

"Europe careful on Darfur" (also reprinted on Sudan Tribune)...

A recent spat over German participation in a possible stability mission in Sudan's Darfur region underlined how unwilling Europe's governments are when it comes to sending soldiers into yet another crisis region.

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said Tuesday German soldiers should take part in a possible United Nations-led peacekeeping mission in Darfur, where some 200,000 people have been killed since early 2003 as a result of fighting between rebels, government troops and the Janjaweed, a government sponsored militia.

"If there is an overall operation, then we will not refuse a request to take part," he said.

Jung has since come under heavy fire -- even officials inside his center-right Christian Democratic Union (also the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel) have criticized what they felt is a snap judgment made by the minister.

"Offering our participation for a mission of which we don't know any specifics is not coherent with the rules we have given ourselves," Andreas Schockenhoff, a senior conservative, told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

On the one hand, her anger is understandable; the United Nations have agreed to a mission that builds on the African Union's mandate in the country, but just how its rules of engagement should look and how many soldiers would be dispatched can only be determined once the Sudanese government requests the U.N. force, which it still hasn't.

On the other hand, the anger reflects a growing unwillingness in Europe to send soldiers into potentially danger-ridden crisis zones.

"Most of the European governments aren't really ready or willing to commit its soldiers to yet another conflict, especially as fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq intensifies," Cord Jakobeit, a Sudan expert at the University of Hamburg, told United Press International in a telephone interview. "If German troops would blunder into casualty-heavy fighting in Sudan, pressure at home would rise very quickly to bring those troops back home."

The German public is not used to reports of casualties -- the country in the past decades has focused largely on peace-keeping missions. In Afghanistan, its nearly 3,000 soldiers operate in the relatively peaceful north.

France should have an interest in a stable Sudan, as some 1,200 French troops are stationed in Chad and 300 in the Central African Republic, two nations that share borders with Darfur and where rebels have recently stepped up the fighting.

In the United Kingdom, any new conflict is approached with considerable caution, given the fact that British troops are taking heavy fire in the southern provinces of Afghanistan and in the Sunni triangle in Iraq.

"And of course there is uneasiness because Sudan does not really want U.N. troops to come," Jakobeit said.

Sudan has rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of more than 22,000 U.N. troops to stop the violence in Darfur, which U.S. President George W. Bush has called genocide and the United Nations called the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

Khartoum has argued that it sees a U.N. force as another invasion by the West similar to that in Iraq, but the real reasons are different, observers say.

The Janjaweed, the militia the government has sponsored and armed, are accused of having committed some of the worst atrocities against civilians.

"The Sudanese government has no interest in U.N. officials coming in, pointing fingers, and restraining the groups the government supports," Jakobeit said.

Khartoum instead prefers a beefed up African Union peace keeping mission and has signaled it was willing to allow U.N. forces to take part in such a mission.

The exact look of such a hybrid mission has yet to be determined; African Union and U.N. officials were said to meet Thursday with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.

The 7,000 soldiers of the current African Union mandate tasked with restoring stability in Darfur are overstretched and ill-equipped, observers say. That mandate runs out at the end of the year. But what if the three parties don't come to an agreement?

Jakobeit said no Western government would risk a solo attempt to save lives in Darfur, given the lessons learned from the war in Iraq.

"No government wants to lose its face by going it alone, and Iraq has proven that a quick pull-out isn't so easy," he said.

Sudan accepts non-military UN support in Darfur / Sudan's Al-Bashir "storms out of" African Union meeting on Darfur / Annan stresses that continued peacekeeping presence is essential

Three apparently newer (or, at least, more recently posted) stories that are largely related to Thursday's batch:

From AFP, reprinted on Sudan.Net...

Sudan agreed on Thursday to accept non-military support from the United Nations for the African Union peacekeeping force in its war-torn Darfur region, a top AU official said after talks in Nigeria.

"The PSC welcomed Sudan's acceptance of the use of UN systems and command and control structures," AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) head Said Djinnit told reporters after a meeting on Darfur on the sidelines of an African-South American summit.

A source close to the talks told AFP that "systems and command and control structures" referred essentially to UN logistical support and to the question of who gets the final say over the appointment of the force commander.

Djinnit said the meeting, which was attended by Sudanese President Omar al Beshir, had agreed to extend the mandate of the currently under-resourced AU force in Darfur for a further six months.

But although Sudan reportedly accepted UN "command and control structures" for that force, it stopped short of agreeing to let the UN contribute troops, let alone take over command.

Speaking before the meeting, Beshir reaffirmed his long-standing refusal to let UN troops into his country.

"Any decision to deploy international forces in Darfur ... will add to the complexity of the situation and will have a negative impact which will certainly lead to more deterioration of the situation," he said in a statement.

This "would negatively affect all the countries of the region", he added.

He called instead for the meeting to boost the AU mission with the "logistical, technical, human and financial support of the UN".

Djinnit said Thursday's meeting had nevertheless agreed the AU and UN would, henceforth, both be involved in key decisions on the force.

The force commander would be jointly appointed by the head of the AU Commission and the UN secretary general, he said. The AU and [the] UN would also be jointly responsible for appointing a "special representative" for Darfur.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said after talks on Darfur on November 16 that Sudan had agreed "in principle" to the deployment of a "hybrid" UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Thursday's decision was the first indication of what Khartoum might be prepared to accept in practical terms.

Sudan continues vehemently to refuse any military role for the UN in Darfur, arguing it would be a violation of its sovereignty and could worsen the situation there.

Khartoum is especially opposed to a UN Security Council resolution that authorised, with out its approval, a 20,000-strong peacekeeping force for Darfur.

Djinnit said the AU-led force would continue to be made up "essentially of African troops".

He said the meeting had also recognised there "might be a need for UN support troops" in the region but did not indicate whether al Beshir had accepted this point.

Ethnic violence has killed hundreds of thousands and left millions homeless in Darfur since early 2003.

Despite the signing of a peace deal in May with one of the rebel groups, violence has continued unabated in Darfur.

The AU peacekeeping force has been criticised for not having the means to stop the killing, described by the UN as one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

From DPA...

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir stormed out of an African Union meeting in Nigeria on Thursday that aimed to find a solution to the crisis in his country's Darfur region.

Nigerian officials, however, refuted that he left in anger and said hope for a solution remained.

Trouble began when the meeting, headed by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, insisted that al-Bashir accept an invitation by the AU to the United Nations to send troops to the Darfur region.

The region had been embroiled in a conflict between Khartoum and two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement and Army over autonomy for the region.

Before al-Bashir left, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo also left the meeting in anger over al-Bashir's unwillingness to compromise.

But despite the apparent breakdown, Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister Joy Ogwu told Deutsche Press-Agentur dpa that al-Bashir 'did not storm our of the meeting.'

'There is hope,' Ogwu said. 'The meeting was peaceful.'

'The Sudanese leader is not a member of the peace and security council of the African Union. He left the meeting after addressing us. That is the procedure,' Ogwu said.

The minister also said the meeting received a brief from Jan Pronk, special representative of the UN secretary general on Darfur, who also left after his address.

Around 200,000 people have been killed in the region. According to UN figures, 4 million people now need emergency aid and 2 million people are internally displaced because of the conflict.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when rebels attacked government positions complaining that the remote region remained undeveloped due to neglect by the central government.

Sudan is charged with arming Arab militias to crush the rebellion using a savage campaign of rape and murder - charges it denies.

From the UN News Service...

The world cannot afford to compromise on ensuring there is a continued peacekeeping presence in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur that is as effective as possible, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told an African Union (AU) summit today [Thursday].

In a message to a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, Mr. Annan said the situation inside Darfur – where more than 200,000 are estimated to have been killed since fighting erupted in 2003 – remains so dire that no other option is palatable.

“The magnitude of this crisis requires a force with a robust mandate and a sound concept of operations,” he said in a message delivered on his behalf by the Under-Secretary-General of Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno.

About 220,000 people have been forced to flee their homes during the past six months, despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in May, Mr. Annan said. Already an estimated 2 million people have become internally displaced or had to cross the border into neighbouring Chad because of fighting between Government forces, allied militias and rebel groups.

The Abuja summit is slated to discuss for a hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, the last phase in a three-step process to assist and strengthen the current AU operation.

At a meeting in Addis Ababa earlier this month between the UN, the AU, Sudan, and representatives of Security Council members and other countries, participants agreed to the hybrid force.

It is expected to have about 17,000 troops and 3,000 police officers, compared to the current AU force (known as AMIS) of 7,000.

Mr. Annan said he was hoping that the Abuja summit will produce decisions that can lead to the rapid implementation of the details of the agreement struck in Addis Ababa.

In New York, Mr. Annan’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters that the Secretary-General received a letter today from Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir specifying his Government’s response to several issues relating to the proposed hybrid force, and was waiting for it to be translated.

Meanwhile, in Geneva the President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, announced today that the Council will devote a special session to the situation in Darfur immediately after the current regular session ends, probably around 11 or 12 December.

The special meeting on Darfur was requested by 29 of its 47 members – at least one third of members are needed for such a request to be approved.

At least 100 killed in south Sudan clashes: official / UN begins medical assistance and other help to victims of fighting in southern Sudan

Two apparently newer stories that are related to, most recently, Thursday's batch:

From AFP, reprinted on Sudan.Net...

At least 100 people were killed when rival Sudanese military forces clashed this week in the oil-rich Upper Nile region, officials said Thursday.

Three days of fighting that ended late Tuesday claimed at least 100 rival soldiers and civilians, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) said.

"The fighting was heavy, more than 100 people from both sides and also civilians died," Elias Waya Nyipuocs, a top SPLM/A commander told AFP.

"We have not exactly confirmed the number of people injured, but a high-powered team has gone there to verify reports," added Nyipuocs, who is the chairman of the technical panel of the Khartoum-SPLM/A Joint Defence Board.

An SPLM commander on the ground, Major General Pieng Deng, said there were casualities, but refused to give the exact figures.

United Nations officials said calm had been restored in the regional town of Malakal, some 700 km (435 miles) south of Khartoum, where SPLM troops fought pro-government militia backed by Sudanese Armed Forces.

The clashes erupted when militiamen loyal to local warlord Major General Gabriel Tanginya, and to his deputy Thomas Mabior, killed an SPLA policeman.

After being hunted down by SPLA forces,the gunmen sought refuge in a governnment garrison, and wider fighting broke out after the regular army refused to hand over Tanginya's men, Nyipuocs explained.

A UN spokesman in Khartoum, Radhia Achouri, said the conflict was a "flagrant violation of the peace treaty" that was signed in January 2005, supposed to end more than two decades of war between Khartoum and the SPLM/A.

The war killed at least 1.5 million people and displaced four million others.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned" about the heavy fighting.

He urged the government of national unity and the semi-autonomous government of southern Sudan "to make all possible efforts to contain the situation" and expressed "hope that any differences in the area will be resolved peacefully."

Following the signing of the 2005 north-south peace deal, a national unity government was formed. The SPLA retained control of south Sudan but integrated some joint units in Khartoum.

Not included in the peace deal however was the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), a southern movement backed by Khartoum and to which Gabriel Tanginya belongs.

Its members were required by the peace agreement to align with either the Sudan armed forces or the SPLA but the militia is not entirely disbanded and has been a source of instability in some regions.

The militiamen, who control parts of the oil-rich Upper Nile, refused to join the SPLM/A after the peace deal and have been a source of constant instability in the region.

From the UN News Service...

The United Nations has started delivering medical assistance to more than 300 civilians who were injured, some badly, during heavy fighting earlier this week in the southern Sudanese provincial capital of Malakal.

The UN is also preparing to offer food, water and shelter to those residents who fled the town to escape the fighting between Sudanese armed forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which media reports say has left many people dead.

The security situation inside Malakal has largely returned to normal, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported, after the intervention of a joint delegation of senior officials from the Mission, the Sudanese armed forces and the SPLA. UNMIS peacekeepers have been deployed in the town.

But the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said tensions among armed groups in Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state, [remain] high and sporadic gunfire and looting of shops and homes is continuing.

UN staff and officials from humanitarian agencies have begun assessing civilian casualties and infrastructure damage, as well as the availability of food, clean water and medical supplies in the days ahead. David Gressly, the Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, will also lead an OCHA delegation to Malakal tomorrow [Friday] for an assessment visit.

“Now that the fighting has subsided, we have begun to provide immediate life-saving medical support to the civilian victims of the violence and also assess what else needs to be done,” Mr. Gressly said.

Yesterday [Wednesday], in a statement released by his spokesman, Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the clashes a serious violation of the security arrangements of last year’s comprehensive peace agreement that ended a 21-year civil war in southern Sudan.

He appealed to the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan, which were both established in the wake of the power-sharing agreement, “to make all possible efforts to contain the situation.”

An emergency meeting yesterday of the ceasefire joint monitoring committee – which comprises representatives of UNMIS, the SPLA and the Sudanese armed forces – condemned the violence, demanded an immediate ceasefire by both sides and called for the redeployment of troops to their respective positions before the clashes.

The committee also decided that a joint investigation will take place to determine who was responsible for breaching the peace agreement and then bring them to account.

Some civilian UN staff have been temporarily relocated from Malakal to other locations in southern Sudan.

GEM clubs help more girls get to school in Southern Sudan

A new, "official" UNICEF feature...

Like children everywhere, students in Southern Sudan spend most of their mornings studying textbooks, reciting lessons and trying to keep still. But for two days recently, 55 students and teachers came together to raise education awareness through an exuberant display of song and dance.

The event was part of a strategy pioneered by the Girls’ Education Movement (GEM), a grassroots initiative that promotes equality in education through child participation. Launched in Uganda in 2001, GEM now has active chapters across sub-Saharan Africa – each one using different tactics to ensure that all children have the support they need to stay in school.

In Southern Sudan, only 1 in 100 girls is estimated to have completed a primary education. In the wake of 21 years of civil conflict here, GEM is driving efforts by UNICEF and the new Government of Southern Sudan to rebuild the education system.

Exercises build confidence

Through UNICEF-supported workshops, a core group of students and teachers is trained in creative techniques to identify barriers to education and help bring children back to the classroom. The teams then form GEM clubs in schools and local communities, creating a wide network of young people who are empowered to act as their own best advocates.

During the workshop in Juba, held in August, students staged dramatic performances, practiced their public-speaking skills and engaged in heated debates about the role of women in society. They also attracted the attention of the entire neighbourhood with a spontaneous dance outdoors, accompanied by original songs on the subject of girls’ education.

Exercises like these help build children’s confidence and encourage them to speak out about the importance of education for both girls and boys. Young people in GEM clubs around Southern Sudan have already led community marches and been invited to meet with prominent politicians, inspiring their peers in Juba to aim for similar heights.

“GEM will give me courage,” says Jahim Buli Vincent, a student at Juba Day Secondary School and a participant in the recent training. “We need to make sure that everyone hears about the importance of educating girls, no matter who they are.”

‘Social mapping’

The workshops also teach specific methods to help identify at-risk and out-of-school children – a major undertaking in a country where basic infrastructure has been ravaged by decades of war and the average citizen has only a single year of education.

Through a technique called ‘social mapping,’ participants create detailed diagrams that help adults see school environments through a child’s eyes. Safe roads, reliable food supplies and separate latrines for girls encourage students to stay in school, while neglected buildings and insufficient learning materials keep them away.

Using the enrolment figures carefully inscribed on each map, students and teachers work to identify gender gaps and develop practical solutions. Girls who face intimidating comments on the way to school are paired with boys who volunteer to walk with them. Student construction committees are formed to dig latrines at schools with inadequate sanitation facilities. Contributions are collected on behalf of children who cannot afford the price of a school uniform.

Slowly but surely, the efforts are paying off. Unofficial reports show enrolment numbers rising in areas where GEM is active.

“When we speak about the importance of educating girls, we are talking to everyone – mothers, fathers, teachers and children,” says Awadia Zeinab Suleiman, another student at Juba Day Secondary School. “We are thinking of what each one of us can do to help. In fact, it is like we are speaking to the whole world.”

Running scared in Central African Republic

A new, "official" WFP feature, reprinted on AlertNet...

Fear and violence hold the people of the fertile Central African Republic hostage to hunger. Marcus Prior travels down a road of charred remains and looks at the great irony: how hunger and plenty can exist side by side.

It needed only the sound of our approaching vehicles. The two boys pushing a handcart piled high with produce panicked, sending it into a spin as they threw themselves into the bush.

An upturned bowl of manioc sprinkled its burnt white contents onto the black tarmac. We swerved and passed.

A deep and instinctual fear is gripping vast swathes of the Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world. Terror is being spread through the barrel of a gun.

Volatile

At the heart of a volatile region, the actions of the military, rebel groups, bandits and thugs are pushing more and more innocent people into a living hell.

And in the midst of the chaos, the few aid groups present in the area – including WFP – are struggling to reach the victims.

The two boys and their handcart stocked with food were a telling image – of fear, but also of plenty.

The Central African Republic is a fertile land. Rain falls and rivers flow.

Peace a dull memory

In peacetime, not one of its nearly four million people should go hungry.

But in the densely populated northwest peace is a dull memory.

Aid agencies estimate that at least 150,000 people have been displaced by fighting over the past year and are now living in the bush, surviving off dwindling food stocks and the wild fruit and berries that grow around them.

Children are falling ill. Schools are closed. Fields are being left untended.

Wherever we went in the northwest, people fled for their lives at the sound of our approaching convoy.

Few signs of life

Bicycles and pushcarts were abandoned on the road, pots were left steaming on open fires, pigs and goats the only remaining signs of life.

“All we want is peace,” the headman of a village several kilometres south of Paoua told us.

Most people fled too fast for us to meet them, but this time we had stopped and waited and slowly, nervously some young men emerged and approached us. We followed them at least one kilometre into the thick forest to find a small settlement of impromptu shelters.

Incomprehension and uncertainty

“Our only politics is farming,” the headman said. “We don’t understand why soldiers come and fire on us. We’ve twice tried to go back to the village but both times we have been forced back into the bush by armed men.”

The village used to number over 800 people. Now only four of the oldest and most infirm remain. The rest have fled even further into bush than the small group we met.

In a sense, this village was lucky. Unlike many others we passed, it had not been burnt to the ground.

Charred remains

Charred remains along the roadside bore a haunting resemblance to the chilling scenes of devastation not too far away in Darfur – there it was desert, here deep forest.

In the two days before our arrival there had been a several violent engagements along the road we were travelling.

In another village people said their granaries had been deliberately targeted and razed to the ground by attackers, leaving them with barely a grain to survive through to the next harvest, which will not come until September 2007.

A few kilometres further on we came across another group of people who again turned to run before they spotted the UN flags flying from the cars.

Danger

They were mourning the death of a 30-year-old woman – her body lay amongst them, wrapped in linen, her young son at her side.

She had died of natural causes, but the villagers complained that it had been too dangerous to take her to the nearest hospital.

They were too scared to move. She died when she might have lived.

Paoua itself feels like a town under siege. So badly has the situation deteriorated that aid agencies there have been forced to stop work by the local military authorities, who say the area beyond the town limits is too dangerous.

Frustration

Fifty-three tons of WFP food, to be distributed by Italian NGO COOPI, currently lies in a local warehouse, far from the mouths of those who need it most.

“I could not be more frustrated for our operations nor more concerned for the people we know are suffering so badly at this time,” said WFP Country Director in Central Africa, Jean-Charles Dei.

“Anyone who has travelled into the area knows the truth – we are dealing with a humanitarian crisis which will only get worse if we cannot intervene now. And acting later will cost the international community far, far more,” he said.

WFP urgently requires a further US$11 million to continue its operations in Central Africa over the next seven months.

At least 36 Zimbabwe rights activists still detained / 30 WOZA activists still in detention; babies released / Save Zimbabwe Campaign's Effectiveness and Viability In Question

Six stories from the past day that update Wednesday's batch:

From DPA...

At least 36 Zimbabwean rights activists remained in custody Thursday after they were arrested for staging a protest march in the second city of Bulawayo, a rights groups said. Six of those held overnight Wednesday were mothers with babies, said Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) in a statement.

Riot police on Wednesday used batons to break up a crowd of around 200 WOZA demonstrators who had marched to government offices in central Bulawayo to mark International Women Human Rights Defenders Day.

At least 25 people had to receive medical treatment for injuries received from police batons and from being trampled underfoot by people trying to escape a beating, the statement said.

One woman had her leg broken in the stampede, WOZA said.

Initially more than 60 people were arrested, but some people were later released.

The singing and placard-waving demonstrators had also intended to launch a People's Charter that calls for social justice in the crisis-riddled southern African country.

In its statement, WOZA said 41 people who were freed Wednesday were ordered by police to pick up fliers and placards left outside the government offices.

As they bent down to pick up the papers, police assaulted them on the buttocks and backs with baton sticks and booted feet, the group said.

Bystanders and passers-by that were seen reading the flyers were also assaulted.

WOZA claims women are bearing the brunt of the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, where inflation has spiralled beyond 1,000 per cent and there are shortages of basics like fuel, foreign currency and some foodstuffs.

The group has called on its supporters to bang empty pots and pans outside their homes for two minutes every evening to mark the 16 days of activism against gender violence being held in Zimbabwe until December 10.

Two months ago, trade union officials were arrested and beaten by police in the capital Harare as they tried to launch street protests against poor wages and shortages of anti-AIDS drugs.

Last month the New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned what it said was the intensified use of torture and arbitrary arrest to suppress dissent in Zimbabwe.

From SW Radio Africa...

(See also the photos on the source page.)

WOZA spokesperson Annie Sibanda said the women, including 4 members of [...] Men of Zimbabwe Arise and a Presbyterian priest, are expected to appear in court on Friday. 36 WOZA activists who were arrested in Bulawayo have been charged under two sections of the notorious Criminal Law and Codification and Reform Act, although 6 of the women who were arrested with their babies were released on Thursday afternoon. They are accused of causing ‘a breach of the peace and interfering with the ordinary comforts of the public.’

Members of the pressure group were arrested after riot police violently broke up their gathering Wednesday. It’s reported that some of the arrested, including the leaders, Jennie Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, were beaten. Sibanda told us that some of those in detention need medical attention but the police are blocking this. The [victims'] lawyer, Advocate Perpetua Dube, was allegedly threatened with arrest, for “interfering with the course of justice” whilst trying to attend to her clients. The activists are being held in a courtyard cage at Bulawayo Central police station.

In an extraordinary twist Advocate Dube was yesterday [Wednesday] able to secure the release of a baby who had been separated from [its] mother. The mother had not been arrested but the child had.

Meanwhile the 18-month-old baby who was hurt yesterday sustained a broken leg. The WOZA spokesperson said the baby was sitting on her mother’s lap when police started to beat people, “They caused a stampede scenario where people were trying to escape from being beaten and somebody actually stepped on the baby’s leg in the chaos that was caused.”

Another elderly woman also had a broken leg while several other people had minor injuries.

The vicious attack by the police comes in the middle of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign, embarked on by WOZA this past Saturday. Sibanda said although some areas have started banging pots and honking their car horns, the group is urging more Zimbabweans to join in a noise protest for two minutes at 8pm every evening during this period. She said this is to commemorate 16 days of activism against gender violence and human rights abuses.

Police continue to refuse to comment.

From zimbabwejournalists.com...

Six mothers and their babies have been released from Bulawayo Central Police Station, where WOZA members were being held following protests to mark International Women Human Rights [Defenders] Day. Some of those released have sustained serious injuries from police beatings.

Baton-wielding police arrested the protesting women during the demonstration and 30 members, including coordinator Jenni Williams, remain in custody while some have had to seek medical treatment after alleged assaults by police officers.

The assaults have resulted in women across the country voicing their concerns against the government-sponsored gender violence targeted at women risking their lives to protest against policies of the Zanu PF government.

“It only shows you that the government, through the much-publicised Bill against gender violence, is not serious at all about saving women from violence in the home,” said Sarah Mukwacha yesterday [Wednesday].

“If the government can give directives to the police to beat up children and women who are just asserting their rights then what more the violent man in the house. Oppah Muchinguri should start by changing the men around her first before trying to change the whole country because regardless of how noble the Bill is, we shall continue to ask questions of her and vice President Joice Mujuru and their counterparts in the MDC. Where are they now when women are being battered by the State?”

Her sentiments on gender violence were echoed by many on the streets of Bulawayo today [Thursday].

The activists have been charged under two separate sections of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act: Chapter 46 section 2 (v) - ‘employing any means whatsoever which are likely materially to interfere with the ordinary comfort, convenience, peace or quiet of the public, or does any act which is likely create a nuisance or obstruction’ and Chapter 37; ‘participating in a public gathering with the intent to cause public disorder, breach of peace or bigotry’.

If found guilty, the members could be fined or imprisoned for a period not exceeding six months or both. It is hoped that they will appear in court tomorrow [Friday] but a WOZA spokesperson said it was unclear at this stage when that will take place.

“It has also emerged that another group of 10 young female members were taken to the starting point of the demonstration yesterday after being arrested and were assaulted whilst being made to pick up flyers,” the group’s spokesperson said. “There were then released. This brings the number to 51 of members that were arrested, assaulted and then released.”

Those that were beaten yesterday continued to receive medical treatment today for injuries caused by beatings. A woman whose leg was broken was treated by an orthopaedic surgeon and it is likely that her ankle is permanently damaged, says WOZA.  “It also appears that the baby injured yesterday has broken her leg. Another woman needed urgent treatment after collapsing outside the police station yesterday – she had been kicked in the chest by a booted police officer whilst lying on the ground,” the WOZA spokesperson said.

She said Advocate Dube, who is representing the women and had been threatened with arrest earlier today, managed to visit her clients in the cells this afternoon and reported that morale remained high despite the grave situation they are in.

Efforts to get a comment from the police were fruitless as their telephones either went unanswered or one could hardly get through their. [The original drops everthing after "their". - EJM]

By Peta Thornycroft, for VOA...

A women's group in Zimbabwe says many of its members were beaten by police in Bulawayo during a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about violence against women. [As] Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA from Harare, other groups have reported police force [sic] during demonstrations in recent months. 

Annie Sibanda, speaking on behalf of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, said hundreds of women were holding a peaceful rally in the central city of Bulawayo on Wednesday to raise awareness about violence against women.

The demonstration was timed to coincide with a U.N.-sponsored campaign encouraging 16 days of activism to campaign for an end to domestic violence against women.

Sibanda said, when the women began reading out a charter they had drafted on social justice, riot police charged, and began beating women and babies indiscriminately, even after the women sat down in the street. Sibanda said several women were trampled on in the chaos.

She said 36 women, including six mothers with babies, spent the night in prison, and about 25 were treated for their injuries. She said at least one woman has a broken leg from the beating.

Police in Bulawayo said they could not confirm any details of events involving the women's group, until documents have been processed.

Meanwhile, 15 Zimbabwe trade unionists have, for the first time, filed a legal case against the government, seeking about $5 million in damages for injuries they say they suffered when they were attacked by police in Harare two months ago.

The unionists were about to begin a small march to protest poverty when they say riot police attacked them. In statements in court when they were released on bail, the unionists said 14 of them were brutally tortured in custody by uniformed policemen.

Earlier this month, a group of activists from the National Constitutional Assembly, a local non-governmental organization campaigning for a new constitution were also brutally beaten in Harare. Film clips of the violence against them show the beatings took place in front of many onlookers in central Harare.

Zimbabwe is suffering from an unprecedented economic decline, and the ruling ZANU-PF party is mired in internal squabbles about who will succeed President Robert Mugabe, if he retires when his present term expires in 2008.

Less than two percent of those arrested under Zimbabwe's security laws for holding illegal demonstrations were prosecuted in court during the last year.

From VOA's "Studio 7 for Zimbabwe"...

Police in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, lodged charges Thursday against 30 members of the activist group Women of Zimbabwe Arise and its men’s counterpart who were placed under arrest on Wednesday during a protest in the country's second city.

The activists are charged with “interfering with peace or quiet of the public” under the country's Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, legal sources said. They could face fines or imprisonment for up to six months under the terms of the law.

A lawyer representing the activists, Perpetua Dube, said she had managed to secure the release of six WOZA members, all of them women with babies. But Dube said 34 others remained in custody as of late Thursday.

The activists were arrested during a peaceful demonstration to launch the "people's charter" the group had drafted. WOZA spokeswoman Annie Sibanda said the group will continue trying to hand it to authorities, including parliamentarians, despite their alleged rough handling by police when they tried to distribute the charter.

WOZA said a group about 40 activists were taken to a drill hall in Bulawayo Central Police Station where they said they were beaten and harassed by police before they were finally released. Sibanda said about 25 activists were seeking medical care.

In a related development, the U.S.-based Peace and Justice Network of Zimbabweans in exile condemned what it described as brutality by the Zimbabwean police.

The group issued a statement saying that the attack on “defenseless women, men and children” showed lawlessness and arrogance by the Harare government and upon the authorities to investigate the alleged violence and bring its perpetrators to justice.

Also from VOA's "Studio 7 for Zimbabwe"...

The less-than-impressive results of protests called in the past two weeks by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of civic organizations and opposition parties, have raised doubts as to the effectiveness of the ad hoc opposition organization.

The Christian Alliance at the center of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign has established itself as a significant player within the broad Zimbabwe opposition movement. But it is unclear if the Save Zimbabwe vehicle it launched will have as much staying power.

Nationwide protests called for Wednesday in which Zimbabweans unhappy about the country's chronic shortages of food, fuel and other goods and commodities, and the effective one-party rule of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF formation, were urged to beep car horns, bang pots and otherwise make noise at lunchtime.

As on the preceding Wednesday, the public response was underwhelming. The initial explanation after the fizzled Nov. 22 protest was that the word had not gotten out. But civil society sources said this week that differences of opinion over the strategy had emerged within the organizational membership of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign.

Civil society sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say some organizations are under pressure from their sponsors, while others fear state reprisals.

There was never any prohibition on coalition members pursuing their own strategies - but the Save Zimbabwe Campaign does not appear to be concentrating forces.

Members including the National Constitutional Assembly, the Zimbabwe National Students Union and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions have staged separate protests. The Movement for Democratic Change faction headed by Morgan Tsvangirai has yet to make good on its March pledge to organize mass civil disobedience.

Political analyst Farai Muguwu, national coordinator of the Civil Alliance for Democracy and Governance told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the leadership of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign needs to take a more forceful stance to promote cohesion and increase the effectiveness of the approach.

Roundup of Recent Non-Sudan Items

Links to various items from, in almost all cases, the past day (updated to add a couple more):

(See also, most recently, the previous batch.)

"AIDS treatment still a pipe-dream - report" (IRIN PlusNews)

"IFJ launches five language media guides for reporting HIV and AIDS" (press release)

"Immigrant Women Face Growing Threat" (IPS; concerning HIV/AIDS in France)

"Increase surveillance to combat illegal migration - EU" (Reuters)

"EU unveils new immigration plans" (BBC; related)

"UNHCR welcomes asylum safeguards in EU Mediterranean proposals" ("official" UNHCR story; related)

"Illegal immigrants try to reach Italy by jet ski" (DPA)

"Immigrants saved after trying to reach Italy" (AFP; related)

"African Students Share Mixed Feelings on Clandestine Migration" (by VOA's Nico Colombant)

"UN Seeks More Money for Humanitarian Aid" (by VOA's Peter Heinlein)

"U.N. investigated 319 peacekeepers on sex abuse" (by Reuters' Evelyn Leopold)

"African, South American Leaders Meet at Abuja Summit" (by VOA's Gilbert da Costa)

"New Life for Discarded Cell Phones" (by VOA's Cole Mallard)

"'Blood Diamond' has a point, but who will listen?" (Reuters)

"Suicide attack kills 8 near Somali government seat" (by Reuters' Sahal Abdulle and Hassan Yare)

"Apparent Suicide Attack Kills Several Outside Somali Government Base" (VOA; related)

"Car bomb blast rocks Somali town" (BBC; related)

"'At least ten killed' as bombs rock Somali government base" (DPA; related)

"3 Suicide Bombers Kill 8 in Somalia" (by the AP's Salad Duhul; related)

"Islamists blow up Ethiopian truck in Somalia - residents" (by Reuters' Hassan Yare)

"Islamists 'ambush' Ethiopia truck" (BBC; related)

"Ethiopian troops ambushed" (AP; related)

"Somali Islamists claim car-bomb attack" (AFP; related)

"Ethiopia MPs vote to 'stave off' Islamist threat" (Reuters)

"Ethiopia Parliament Authorizes Action Against Somali Islamists" (by VOA's Alisha Ryu; related)

"Somalia's Islamists pose clear and present danger - Ethiopia" (DPA; related)

"Ethiopia authorises action against Somali Islamists" (AFP; related)

"Ethiopian parliament okays military action vs. Islamists" (AP, reprinted on Sudan Tribune; related)

"Tensions in the Horn of Africa" (related Reuters sidebar)

"Eight state media journalists still held in police-run 'Agip' centre in Asmara" (RSF press release)

"Ethiopia and Starbucks talks fail" (BBC)

"East African flood toll grows; 25 dead in Rwanda" (Reuters)

"Toll rises from East Africa flood" (BBC; related)

"Battered by floods" (IRIN; related)

"Water-Borne Disease Concern in Somali Flood Areas" (by VOA's Joe De Capua; related)

"Dire situation in Somalia as flooding spreads disease" (DPA; related)

"WFP helicopters start delivering aid to flood victims in southeast Ethiopia" (press release; related)

"WFP Airlifts Aid to Flood Area in Southeastern Ethiopia" (by VOA's Cathy Majtenyi; related)

"15 killed in Rwandan floods" (SAPA; related)

"ActionAid responds as floods bring devastation to the Horn of Africa" (ActionAid item; related)

"Somalia and Kenya emergency" (Save the Children UK item; related)

"Complacency could spell disaster for a million children in Horn of Africa" (Save the Children UK press release; semi-related)

"Ugandan airline makes inaugural flight" (by Katy Pownall, for SAPA/AP)

"Aids programme revolutionises care in Kenya" (by Chris Tomlinson, for SAPA/AP)

"Activists upset as UK introduces TB screening for visa applicants" (IRIN PlusNews; concerning Kenya)

"Kenyan Doctors, Activists Call for Greater Fight Against Tuberculosis" (by VOA's Cathy Majtenyi)

"'Children Have Received a Raw Deal'" (by IPS's Joyce Mulama; also concerning Kenya)

"New research: twice as many women as men test positive for HIV in Kenya" (Merlin press release)

"'Islamists' killed in clashes with army" (SAPA/AP; concerning Algeria)

"Morocco jails German for trying to convert Muslims" (Reuters)

"The High Cost of Not Having Free ARVs" (IPS; concerning Burkina Faso)

"Ivorian youths protest as Gbagbo tries to muzzle PM" (by Reuters' Ange Aboa and Loucoumane Coulibaly)

"Anti-Gbagbo demonstrations erupt" (IRIN; related)

"Liberia's Truth Commission Denies Reports of Suspension" (by VOA's Kari Barber)

"Nigeria arms Liberia's newly trained cops" (SAPA/AFP)

"Senegal's good practice: How music is key to turning tide in war on Aids" (UK's "Independent")

"Cameroon police kill two students in riot - witness" (Reuters)

"New Elections Commission Debate" (by VOA's James Butty; also concerning Cameroon)

"AIDS Campaign Leads Some Ghanaians To Change Their Behavior" (by VOA's Joana Mantey)

"Regional Float Educates West African Transport Workers" (also by Joana Mantey; semi-related)

"Block on Nigerian VP's ambitions" (BBC)

"Nigeria may indict VP for graft" (AFP; related)

"Lagos Court Dismisses Graft Charges Against Atiku" (by VOA's Peter Clottey; related)

"Nigerian leader to be a student" (BBC)

"Obasanjo goes back to school" (AFP; related)

"Mandate of EU troops in DR Congo ends on Thursday" (DPA)

"EU force ready to quit DRC" (AFP; related)

"DR Congo - Is it a miracle?" (by the BBC's Mark Doyle)

"DR Congo AIDS Victims Often Ignorant of Status" (by VOA's Nico Colombant)

"Prosecutor questions journalists on sources in aborted coup case" (JED press release, reprinted by IFEX; concerning Burundi)

"Burundi: Democracy and Peace at Risk" (Crisis Group press release)

"Freedom of expression under attack once more" (AI press release; also concerning Burundi)

"Madagascar Prepares for Presidential Elections Sunday" (by VOA's Scott Bobb)

"Mozambique to observe minute of silence" (SAPA/AP)

"Mozambican Children Carrying the Burden of HIV and Stigma" (IPS)

"Mozambique: A deadly silence" (UK's "Independent")

"Angola set to join Opec oil group" (BBC)

"Angola wants to join Opec" (SAPA/AFP; related)

"Namibia high court rejects German extradition bid" (Reuters)

"Orphans bear the brunt of WFP cash shortfall" (IRIN PlusNews; also concerning Namibia)

"Urgent appeal for Namibian orphans" (I-Net Bridge; related)

"UN may cut food aid in Namibia" (AFP; related)

"Namibian children pay the price of WFP funding crisis" (press release; related)

"Botswana 'snake rock' may show Stone Age religion" (Reuters)

"Swaziland's Main Opposition PUDEMO Denies Allegations" (by VOA's Peter Clottey)

"Swazi 'Aids cure' scam uncovered" (BBC "Newsnight")

"Zimbabwe's bad practice: 3,500 dead each week as meltdown looms" (UK's "Independent")

"Paris Arbitration Court To Hear Dutch Land Claims Against Harare" (VOA's "Studio 7 for Zimbabwe")

"Zimbabwe Finance Minister Sees 2007 Growth Upturn, Inflation Drop" (also VOA's "Studio 7 for Zimbabwe")

"Cautiously upbeat forecast for Zim economy" (by Godfrey Marawanyika, for SAPA/AFP; related)

"Zimbabwe reveals budget deficit of 43% of GDP" ("Financial Times"; related)

"Water Woes Continue In Zimbabwe, Pending US$2 Billion Overhaul" (VOA's "Studio 7 for Zimbabwe")

"Lesotho to go to the polls" (SAPA/AFP)

"Opposition cries foul as Lesotho sets February vote" (Reuters; related)

"SA same-sex marriage law signed" (BBC)

"Cheers, boos as South Africa legalises gay marriage" (by Reuters' Andrew Quinn; related)

"Zackie's story: The man who took on Mbeki - and won" (UK's "Independent")

"S. Africa's Aspen to make drug vs. deadly TB strain" (Reuters)

U.S. says outcome of southern Sudan fighting points to need for U.N. Darfur peacekeepers / US "very concerned" about fighting in southern Sudan

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

From the AP (also reprinted on Sudan Tribune)...

The United States is concerned about fighting between former southern Sudanese rebels and government soldiers, but is pleased that U.N. peacekeepers have put down the violence, the State Department said Thursday.

The performance of the U.N. force illustrated again the importance of expanding with troops from the United Nations the undermanned, lightly armed African Union force in the western Sudan region of Darfur, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

Hundreds of thousands have died in Darfur over the last four years in attacks by government-armed militiamen and harsh conditions of camps for the displaced.

"Certainly we're very concerned about reports of fighting," Casey said.

"What is positive is that the United Nations mission in Sudan, or UNMIS, forces have stepped in to quell the violence. They've deployed armored personnel carriers and a number of other forces, and this is having a quieting effect on the situation."

More than two dozen people were killed in fighting this week at Malakal, soldiers and members of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army. The rebel SPLA fought a 20-year civil war before joining in a cease-fire that guarantees political and economic autonomy and possibly eventual independence for southern Sudan.

Casey indicated the fighting was unlikely to have broader implications.

"Our understanding at this point is that this was an isolated incident related to a number of localized issues and is being successfully dealt with, as I said, by UNMIS on the ground," he said.

He said, however, that Malakal illustrates "why we believe it's imperative to see an expanded force in Darfur. The actions that UNMIS is taking to be able to ensure preservation of the cease-fire (in southern Sudan) is something that is to be welcomed and I think is welcomed by the Sudanese government as well as by those in southern Sudan."

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has characterized any U.N. force in Darfur as neocolonization of Sudan by the West. He says the United Nations should merely pay for and rearm the 7,000-strong African Union force.

U.N. experts estimate an effective force should have at least 20,000 peacekeepers, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced tentative agreement on such a force after negotiations Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, early this month.

"Obviously, one of the things for us that's a priority is to continue to work with the broader international community to ensure that efforts are made to convince the Sudanese government to accept the Addis Ababa agreement," Casey said Thursday.

From AFP, reprinted on Sudan.Net...

The United States voiced concern Thursday about clashes between rival southern Sudanese military forces earlier this week, saying the unrest shows the need for a more robust African Union force in the country.

"We're very concerned about reports of fighting between the southern Sudan defense force, which is an adjunct of the Sudanese armed forces, and elements of the SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army)," Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said at a news briefing.

"What is positive is that the United Nations mission in Sudan, or UNMIS, forces have stepped in to quell the violence," he said.

"They've deployed armored personnel carriers and a number of other forces. And this is having a quieting effect on the situation."

The US government will continue to monitor the situation closely, he said.

Casey said the clashes, the worst violations of a two-year-old peace deal that ended 21 years of civil war, were "an example, too, of why we believe it's imperative to see an expanded force in Darfur."

Washington supports the proposed creation of a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur, the sprawling western region of Sudan racked since 2003 by a civil war that has claimed at least 200,000 lives, victims of fighting or famine, and displaced more than 2.5 million people.

President George W. Bush's special envoy to Darfur, Andrew Natsios, intends to go back to the troubled region before the end of the year, Casey said.

"I think he may be traveling sometime during the next month," he said.

Chad accuses Sudan, Saudi Arabian groups of destabilization

From AFP, reprinted on ReliefWeb...

Chad, in a letter to the UN Security Council, accused Sudan and groups in Saudi Arabia of playing a role in the Chadian rebels' recent attempts to overthrow the N'Djamena government.

Dated Wednesday but made public Thursday, the letter said Chad was "again the victim of a major operation of destabilization from neighbouring Sudan."

It said Sudan "has just committed yet another aggression against our country by sending mercenaries and others to attack the positions of our security forces at Abeche and Biltine, in the eastern part of Chad."

Chad said the new operation "also bears the mark of Saudi Arabia, or at least of certain influential circles close to the royal family which are helping to recruit and equip the young mercenaries linked to the mysterious Al-Qaeda on behalf of the Chadian rebellion."

The Chadian rebels, in turn, are "being used by the Sudanese government to overthrow the democratically elected institutions of Chad," the letter added.

The African government "strongly" urged the Security Council "to condemn the Sudanese government's acts of aggression and destabilization."

It also asked for the "effective implementation of the Tripoli Agreement of 8 February, 2006, and of the commitments made at the Tripoli summit of 21 November 2006" by which Chad and Sudan promised to refrain from hostilities.

Rebel movements in eastern Chad have vowed to pursue their campaigns to oust the government of President Idriss Deby Itno by a war of attrition.

N'Djamena accuses Sudan of supporting the rebels from the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur, racked by civil war was since 2003.

Sudan denies the accusations.

Itno announced Thursday his country would accept the deployment of an international force on its border with Sudan to protect people and assure stability in the region.

With the unrest in Chad threatening to further destabilise a region already unsettled by the conflict in Sudan and fighting in neighbouring Central African Republic, the French military on Tuesday said it had reinforced a 1,200-strong contingent in Chad with 100 additional troops and materiel.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday traveled to Chad for talks with Itno, who said he would not hesitate to turn to France for help if needed.