Sudan: The Passion of the Present

Paranoia in Darfur (by Rob Crilly)

The latest post on his new blog...

(The other posts so far are also about Sudan--primarily, his latest reporting trip. - EJM)

Any journalist in Africa will tell you that it is best not setting plans in [stone] or even inking meetings into your diary. Things rarely work out quite how you expect, and a plan B is usually only the first of a series of contingency measures. The story idea that seemed so promising when viewed from an office in Nairobi soon becomes a nightmare, as punctures, rains, or missed appointments throw everything off the rails. Nowhere is that more true than in Darfur.

Journalists can expect all the usual problems and, for good measure, a particularly obstructive government. Sometimes, I have waited 10 days for a travel permit to reach Darfur, running out of money in the process; other times, I have given up after a fortnight and gone home, despite daily assurances that I would be on my way “tomorrow, Insh’Allah”.

This time, it was not the government that proved to be my biggest problem. The African Union and the aid community - often my allies in exposing what is happening in Sudan’s troubled western region - treated me as some sort of leprosy-riddled time bomb.

One charity did stick out its neck for me, helping me reach a usually inaccessible town and rebel village. But only after kicking me out of its guesthouse, for fear that being associated with me might imperil their work. Other agencies were less helpful. One off-the-record briefing enlightened me with alternate answers of “I don’t know” and “I can’t tell you that”. Other organisations simply refused requests for information.

Irritating though this might be, I guess it’s unfair to criticise the aid groups working in the world’s biggest humanitarian operation. This week two organisations - Oxfam and World Vision - have expressed concern about rising numbers of attacks on staff. World Vision has cut back its operation after two workers were shot in the head in South Darfur. Sticking their head above the parapet by helping journalists is increasingly a risky prospect.

Even more problematic for the agencies is maintaining a relationship with Khartoum. Last month, the head of Care International in Sudan was kicked out. (I hear on the grapevine that he was expelled after a sacking a national member of staff who was passing internal e-mails to Khartoum’s intelligence network.) Aid agencies that engage in advocacy work, publish reports critical of the government, or talk to journalists face a huge amount of scrutiny and the risk that they could be expelled for engaging in “political activity”, leaving thousands of people without support.

This has always been a factor during my previous visits to Darfur. But this time, it was more intense [than] ever. It seems that a reasonable level of discretion is turning into utter paranoia, and once again, Khartoum has succeeded in limiting the flow of information from Darfur.

On Sudan and Iraq (by Jonathan Diamond)

A new "Huffington Post" item...

So I'm driving my son to an after-school program yesterday, moving slowly along the freeway and listening to the news on the radio, when the newscaster started talking about "the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Now, he's a pretty perceptive seven-and-a-half year-old, and he pipes up, "There's a war in Afghanistan?"

It's a measure of how far we've come. He was just starting to speak when we were dropping bunker-busters on the Afghan mountains, and thanks to the endless repetition on the radio, "Afghanistan" was one of his first words. He, like so many adults, has had it slip from memory.

I'm not going to rehash how we botched that war, a war [that] one can make a pretty-solid case for, or how profligate we're being with both lives and money in a war [that] we were lied to about; I thumbnailed that for him yesterday.

But it is a testament to how far off course [that] this country has been driven, how deeply we've damaged our moral standing in the world, that we're stuck in this Iraqi quagmire even as we could be doing some real good in the world.

Like in Sudan.

October [sic] was supposed to be another pivotal point in the years-long effort to bring peace to the region.

An electoral bill was to have been in place, part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed by the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in 2005, and a step toward national elections in 2009.

Not only is the bill not in place, jeopardizing elections, but the government has not yet implemented troop pullbacks agreed to in the CPA, virtually assuring [that] the bloodshed in Darfur will continue and likely spread to Kordofan.

The UN has started to ratchet up efforts, but even there, the chief-of-mission position, vacant since December 2006, was just filled this month, after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came back from Sudan.

And for all President Bush's talk of genocide, talk is pretty much where we've drawn the line. Indeed, there's little hope of the U.S. doing anything of substance to bring an end to the carnage; as far as I can tell, only two of the Democratic candidates for president have anything at all about Darfur on their campaign Web sites.

Joe Biden is calling for sanctions, for NATO "to declare and police" a No-Fly Zone over Darfur, and for an international peacekeeping mission if Khartoum balks at the No-Fly Zone.

John Edwards, too, is calling for a NATO role in the form of a No-Fly Zone and logistical support for UN forces to police the region, and he sees a larger role for the US as well, including "using American airlift capabilities, logistical support, and intelligence operations ... to assist U.N. and African Union peacekeeping efforts in Darfur."

It's a great idea, but we're spread too thin - both in terms of our military power and our diminishing ability to care about what's happening in the world around us. That, and before we can insert ourselves in a humanitarian crisis in Sudan, we have to extricate ourselves in some fashion from the humanitarian crisis [that] we've created in Iraq.

Businesses pressed on Sudan ties

From the "Cape Cod Times"...

As violence continues in the African nation of Sudan, state and federal lawmakers are pushing legislation that aims to prevent American investment dollars from supporting what many are calling a genocidal regime.

The bills at both levels are designed to require or encourage the withdrawal of investments in companies doing business in Sudan, an approach known as divestment.

On [Thursday], the Massachusetts House passed a bill that requires the state's pension funds to divest from a targeted group of businesses whose involvement in Sudan is thought to be directly or indirectly contributing to the violence.

"It's the right thing to do," said Rep. Cleon Turner, D-Dennis, a co-sponsor of the bill. "It's telling people that we're not going to be silent on those issues anywhere in the world."

The conflict in Sudan began in the Darfur region in 2003, when government forces and allied militias began fighting with armed rebel groups, according to information from the United Nations.

The U.N. estimates that at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million [have been] displaced as the violence has spread.

Murders, rapes, and other such crimes have become widespread, and the situation in the country is widely seen as among the biggest humanitarian crises in the world.

The total sum to be divested if the state bill becomes law currently stands at about $54 million, representing investments in eight companies, according to Michael Travaglini, executive director of the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, the body that oversees the state's pension funds.

The retirement systems of both Barnstable and Dukes counties are members of the fund overseen by the managing board.

The legislation, which was approved by the state Senate in July, has the support of Gov. Deval Patrick, a spokeswoman for the governor confirmed.

Meanwhile, a federal bill, approved by the U.S. House in July, would require the secretary of the Treasury to compile a list of companies whose practices support the genocidal practices of Sudan's current rulers.

The proposed legislation also authorizes state and local pension funds as well as other asset managers to divest from such companies, and prohibits federal procurement contracts with any business on the list.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. No spokesperson from the committee could be reached yesterday [Friday] to comment on the status of the proposal.

Divestment has the potential to exert a positive influence on Sudan, because it puts financial pressure on the government, explained Daniel Millenson, national advocacy director for the Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project run by the Washington, D.C.-based Genocide Intervention [Network].

"Genocide isn't cheap," said Millenson. "One of the main ways [that] Sudan finances the genocide is through its oil industry."

Foreign oil companies that operate in Sudan generally have revenue-sharing arrangements that channel billions of dollars into government coffers, Millenson said.

Of this money, he said, approximately 70 percent goes toward the country's military.

"And Sudan's military expenditures include killing people in Darfur," he added.

Divestment could convince companies doing business in Sudan to change their practices in ways that would reduce the country's revenue.

"The model has already been very successful in pushing several major companies operating in Sudan to either change their behavior or leave the country entirely," Millenson said.

Not everyone is enthusiastic about divestment, however.

The Pension Reserves Investment Management Board has consistently opposed all divestment legislation, said Travaglini, on the basis that such measures could hurt the fund's investment returns.

"Once you do one divestment bill, the line forms around the block," he said. "Pretty soon, we'll have no way to invest."

PERSI creates Sudan-free option; activists want more

A local AP story (also here)...

Idaho state workers who fear [that] their retirement plans might be helping the Sudanese government commit genocide will get a Sudan-free investment option starting [on] Oct. 12.

But activists with the Idaho Sudan Divestment Task Force say [that] the Public Employment Retirement System of Idaho should divest all its funds of investments in companies that are propping up that country's military.

So far, 20 states have taken that step, but Idaho has declined.

Now, Idaho's $11.5 billion state retirement fund has about $26 million invested in companies that are on the task force's target list.

Alan Winkle, head of the fund, says [that] shifting all that money could hurt performance.

Task force members say [that] they'll try to convince the 2008 Legislature to completely divest - an effort that failed early this year.

EU's Solana confident about building Chad force

A Reuters story (also here) that somewhat updates Friday's pair...

The European Union will assemble enough troops to help protect civilians in Chad and Central African Republic from violence in neighbouring Darfur, EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said on Saturday.

"Chad is an operation that will take place, and I don't think [that] you can say [that] that we are having difficulties (assembling troops) at this time," Solana told journalists after meeting EU defence ministers at an informal two-day meeting in Portugal.

A EU official close to French Defence Minister Herve Morin told Reuters [that] the EU had gathered up to 2,500 of the 4,000 troops needed to carry out the peacekeeping mission by the end of the year.

"We have gathered between 2,000 and 2,500 EU troops, and more countries are still preparing their contributions," the official said. "France will contribute about 1,500 troops," he added.

The mission was proposed by France and [was] approved by the United Nations on Tuesday. It still needs the approval of the EU's 27 member states.

The EU official, who asked not to be named, said [that] France was confident [that] the EU would be able to assemble the troops needed to carry out the mission by the end of the year.

Portugal's Defence Minister Nuno Severiano Teixeira, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said [that] most countries were still considering how to contribute to the mission.

"All EU countries are at different stages in their decision-making process regarding their contribution to this mission, but each one of them is facing this mission very positively," Teixeira said.

Diplomats familiar with the situation said [that] Belgium, Poland, Ireland, and Sweden would send troops. Spain would give only logistical support, while Germany offered political help.

PLEA FOR PROTECTION

Humanitarian workers operating in the desolate Chad-Sudan border area have sought international protection for some 400,000 Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians in Chad, and 200,000 displaced people in the Central African Republic.

The U.N. will contribute up to 300 police, 50 military liaison officers, and civilian personnel to the mission.

The "multidimensional" force is expected to serve for one year in Chad and the northeastern Central African Republic and will be known as MINURCAT, the French acronym for U.N. Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad, according to the U.N. resolution.

Gun crackdown brings S. Sudanese capital to a halt

By Reuters' Skye Wheeler (also here)...

Thousands of soldiers supporting a police crackdown on illegal weapons brought South Sudan's capital, Juba, to a halt on Saturday, officials said.

"We have deployed something going on to 3,000 troops," said army spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol. "They are there to block the roads, but not to search houses -- that is (for) the police."

Crime has become rife in the city since it became the seat of a newly formed semi-autonomous south-Sudanese government under a north-south peace deal in January 2005.

Streets usually bustling with traffic and roadside traders were empty by 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), except for police cars and truckloads of armed soldiers.

Kuol said [that] the order for the operation was issued on Friday by the president of the State High Court.

"There are murder cases, there are rapes at night, there are a lot of problems related to illegal arms," said Kuol.

Southern Sudan's interior minister, Paul Mayom, said [that] cars and people were being allowed to move in Juba, although they would be subject to searches. Some residents said [that] they had been told to return home.

He said [that] only police, soldiers, and special-protection units for top officials would be armed.

DR Congo's President Calls For More UN Assistance

A recent VOA semi-analysis feature by Selah Hennessy...

(For more on Joseph Kabila's UN speech, see stories from Reuters and the UN News Service; for more on Paul Kagame's speech, see "New Times" and UN News Service stories. - EJM)

Congolese President Joseph Kabila has told world leaders at the United Nations general assembly that his country, the DRC, needs more U.N. help to disarm and repatriate foreign armed groups. The speech comes after weeks of unrest in the [eastern] North Kivu province, where army troops have battled with ethnic-Tutsi fighters. Thousands of U.N. peacekeepers already operate in the region.  Selah Hennessy reports from VOA's West and Central Africa bureau, in Dakar. 

President Kabila says [that] insecurity in North Kivu must be stopped, and that the Congolese people are suffering from daily conflict in the country.

He says [that] Congo needs U.N. help to disarm, voluntarily or by force, repatriate, and reintegrate foreign-armed groups.

Despite a U.N.-mediated ceasefire in early September, battles between the army and ethnic-Tutsi fighters have been waged in North Kivu, in the eastern region, since late August.

The rebel fighters, led by renegade army general Laurent Nkunda, say [that] they are fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis against attacks by ethnic Hutu rebels accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda.

Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, also spoke at the U.N. conference. He said [that] continued insecurity in the eastern DRC is hindering peace throughout the region.

He also said [that] the UN's peacekeeping force in the DRC, known as MONUC, has not done enough to rout out Hutu fighters.

Bwambale Konokele is a military commander for the dissident ethnic-Tutsi fighters.

He says [that] he would welcome an increase in U.N. forces.

But like Mr. Kagame, he says [that] so far he believes [that] the U.N. is not doing enough to counter ethnic-Hutu combatants, known as FDLR, in the region.

"They can do a good job, but the problem is with the government of Congo," he said.  "The government of Congo, it still gives them the wrong information, it does not want them to fight that group of FDLR."

Konokele accuses Congo's army of fighting alongside the Hutu rebels.

"They are mixed, mixed. FDLR and the government, they are mixed and then they attack our troops," he added.

But MONUC spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux says [that] the accusation is unfounded.

"There is no evidence that the FDLR is with the Congolese army," he said.  "As far as we know, the FDLR are in their own camps, and in their own areas, and they are certainly not part of the national army."

He says [that] MONUC is doing everything within its mandate to disarm and repatriate FDLR fighters to Rwanda.

Congo's government has repeatedly denied fighting alongside the FDLR, while accusing Rwanda's army of backing Nkunda's fighters. Rwanda's government denies the charges.

These charges and counter-charges have been exchanged ever since Rwanda's genocide, and the subsequent flood of refugees, including former fighters into eastern Congo.

Gus Selassie is an Africa analyst at the international research group Global Insight.

He says [that] it is unlikely that the U.N. will increase its forces in Congo.

"I don't think [that] there is the political will by the U.N. to add more troops, given commitments elsewhere, like Darfur," he noted.

He also says [that] the U.N. does not have the personnel to deal with FDLR forces in the east.

"You still get the feeling that the UN is preoccupied with other issues, and it does not have the personnel, the resources, and the stomach to confront the FDLR, unless the FDLR attacks civilians, villages - that kind of thing," he added.  "The UN is just doing a containing job, and not really taking them head-on."

Fighting in eastern Congo is what has led to recent wars in Congo, the last of which caused the death of at least 4 million people, according to most estimates.

DR Congo hopes hi-tech ID cards will tame unruly army

A recent feature by Reuters' Joe Bavier that had been overlooked (also here)...

[DR] Congo hopes [that] a new biometric identity-card scheme backed by the European Union can help overhaul its undisciplined armed forces, branded by campaigners as the central African state's worst rights abuser.

After decades as a tool of repression under former leader Mobutu Sese Seko and a devastating 1998-2003 war, Democratic Republic of Congo's army is bloated, unmanageable, and corrupt.

U.N. officials and activists such as Human Rights Watch accuse the military of rape, looting, and extra-judicial killings, particularly in Congo's violence-torn east, where rebels still operate near the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

The identity-card scheme, relaunched last week after running into problems earlier this year, should allow President Joseph Kabila's government to determine the exact size and whereabouts of its armed forces, a first step towards protecting civilians.

"The only sure way of reducing and eventually stopping these abuses of power is to put the soldiers in barracks, to make them lead a normal military life," Congo's top military commander, General Dieudonne Kayembe, told Reuters.

"With the improvements that will result from this biometric control, we'll be able to envisage building barracks."

Experts say [that] the faltering attempts to reform the army pose the main risk to stability after elections last year, the former Belgian colony's first democratic polls in more than four decades.

Army morale is poor. Salaries are low and are rarely paid on time, with senior officers often skimming off money or pocketing the wages of phantom soldiers. Estimates put the size of the military at between 100,000 and 160,000 soldiers.

"We are suffering," one soldier told Reuters, asking not to be identified from fear of reprisals. "We make 14,500 Congolese francs ($29 a month). You can't live on that. We have children. And we're still waiting to get paid this month."

EU ADVISERS

Brought in to help turn Congo's army around, military advisers from the European Union faced a daunting task.

"We were told to come up with a way to pay the soldiers," said General Pierre-Michel Joana, head of the EU's security-sector assistance programme (EUSEC). "But we quickly realised [that] the entire administration needed to be completely reformed."

With that in mind, Congo launched an ambitious census of its armed forces this year, with EU assistance.

Each soldier will be issued with an identity card with a microchip containing a digital fingerprint and information including rank, age, marital status, and number of children.

"We don't even have this in the French army," Joana said.

The goals are to establish the size of the army, identify soldiers, and locate them, so [that] they can be regularly paid.

Not everyone is convinced. Many question whether the army will be able to maintain the identity-card readers in working order in far-flung barracks, and whether soldiers will lose their cards. Campaigners say [that] deeper reforms are needed [in order] to overhaul one of Africa's most-brutal armed forces.

"The tradition of the army as a force of internal repression, as it was under Mobutu, has survived," said Francois Grignon, Africa director for the think-tank International Crisis Group. "When you put on a uniform, it gives you a right to do whatever you want ... You need to end this impunity."

For hundreds of soldiers waiting to hand in census forms at an air base in Congo's sprawling capital, Kinshasa, there were more-immediate concerns. "We know that with this census we will be paid better. That's why we are here," said one.

Troops forcing residents from homes in Somali capital, rights group says / Somali president rebukes aides after insurgent attacks / Somali Fighting Intensifies; Hundreds Are Arrested, Police Say / Four civilians killed in fresh Somalia violence

Links to largely related wire-service stories from today that somewhat update the stories in yesterday's batch of links:

"Troops forcing residents from homes in Somali capital, rights group says" (from the AP)

"Somali president rebukes aides after insurgent attacks" (from Reuters)

"Somali Fighting Intensifies; Hundreds Are Arrested, Police Say" (from Bloomberg)

"Four civilians killed in fresh Somalia violence" (from AFP)

Darfuri leaders press UN, AU for swift UNAMID deployment, decry reports of Darfur resettlement, aerial attacks

A recent Save Darfur press release that had been overlooked...

The Darfuri Leaders Network, a U.S.-based alliance of Darfuri diaspora leaders representing over 20 human-rights, humanitarian, and community organizations in 15 states, today [Tuesday] called on the United Nations and the African Union to deploy the UNAMID peacekeeping force as rapidly as possible [in order] to ensure peace and security in Darfur. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konaré, the DLN also pressed for inclusive peace talks in Libya next month.

Citing recent reports of violence in Darfur, the DLN urged Secretary-General Ban and Chairman Konaré to deploy the UNAMID force rapidly.

"[Reports] which estimate that the [UNAMID] force will take months to effectively operationalize concern us deeply, given the continued threats to the lives of our people living in the crowded IDP camps and those in villages without any form of protection," the letter said.

"Our leaders on the ground in Darfur informed us that Sudanese aerial bombings of villages have occurred within the last weeks. It is due to such disturbing news that we seek the full and swift deployment of UNAMID [in order] to provide protection to our people, who continue to live in fear and terror."

Members sought to underscore Khartoum's continued recalcitrance and attempts to undermine international efforts to resolve the Darfur crisis.

"Khartoum already seek[s] to minimize UNAMID's role and authorities, especially where the UN is concerned, still cynically trying to drive a wedge between Africa and the rest of the world. The AU cannot play into that, and the UN cannot allow it to occur," the DLN members wrote.

The DLN consists of 25 leaders from Darfuri civil society organizations of the diaspora located in the United States. These leaders represent 20 Darfuri-led human-rights, humanitarian, and community organization in 15 states. Representation in the network is open to any Darfuri organization in the U.S. with the exception of expressly political, Sudanese government-sponsored, or rebel organizations. The DLN also includes five at-large members, who specifically represent the opinion and perspectives of Darfuri women in the diaspora.

The Darfuri Leaders Network is an independent initiative of Darfuri leaders in the U.S. The DLN works closely with the Save Darfur Coalition and other organizations that possess a shared vision and common objectives for the people of Darfur.

The full text of the letter follows.

September 25, 2007

The Honorable Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary-General
The United Nations
New York, N.Y. 10017

His Excellency Alpha Oumar Konaré
Chairman
African Union
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Dear Mr. Secretary-General and Mr. Chairman:

As concerned leaders of civil-society organizations of the Darfuri diaspora, we write to ask that you employ the full resources of the United Nations and [the] African Union to end the murderous genocide in Darfur. We appreciate that Secretary-General Ban made Darfur his top priority upon assuming the position of Secretary General, and that both of your personal efforts helped bring about UN Security Council Resolution 1769.

While encouraged by these institutional steps forward, we have at the same time watched - with increased anguish and pain - the violence and instability in Darfur worsen in 2007. We have also seen many other resolutions on Darfur from the UN Security Council disregarded and violated, without consequence, by the Government of Sudan. As we hear about new attacks and human-rights violations from friends and family in Darfur, we call upon the instruments of the UN and [the] AU, under your leadership, to transform this period of opportunity into actions that will bring immediate security to our people and [will] offer them a chance for a just and durable peace.

Since the passage of UNSCR 1769, we have heard various reports concerning the timeline for the full deployment of UN peacekeepers. Those which estimate that the force will take months to effectively operationalize concern us deeply, given the continued threats to the lives of our people living in the crowded IDP camps and those in villages without any form of protection. The apparent raid of the Kalma camp by Sudanese-government authorities in late August 2007 revealed the precarious situation of our people, as does the fact that the same camp was closed to humanitarian-aid operations for three days this year. Meanwhile, our leaders on the ground in Darfur informed us that Sudanese aerial bombings of villages have occurred within the last weeks. It is due to such disturbing news that we seek the full and swift deployment of UNAMID [in order] to provide protection to our people, who continue to live in fear and terror.

As you seek military and financial contributions for this peacekeeping mission, we ask that you immediately identify and swiftly resolve any and all uncertainties regarding interpretations of UNSCR 1769, and bureaucratic delays to the deployment. We have seen debate over what the "predominantly African character" of UNAMID means, as well as lingering uncertainty about real UN command-and-control and [about] the interpretation of the Resolution's Chapter VII authority contained in operational paragraph 15. We want particularly to stress the imperative that UNAMID recruit, both from Africa and [from] outside, a full complement of troops and police meeting the UN's strict standards. The AU has tried to help in Darfur, but the reality is that African armed forces are not available in the needed numbers with adequate training, experience, and equipment, all shortfalls [that] the UN's non-African member states can and must fill, and be encouraged by the African Union as well as the UN, urgently. We are troubled by recent statements of Mr. Konaré and others that UNAMID can adequately be comprised only of African troops, when the hard experience of our people and the obvious facts of African military capacity, not least as expressed by many African leaders who have highlighted shortfalls, demonstrate that that cannot be true.

In all these areas, the authorities in Khartoum already seek to minimize UNAMID's role and authorities, especially where the UN is concerned, still cynically trying to drive a wedge between Africa and the rest of the world. The AU cannot play into that, and the UN cannot allow it to occur. In all such cases, we urge that clarity be achieved between the UN and [the] AU, and with the Government of Sudan and any other relevant actor, forthwith. And in all such work, there is one clear standard that should prevail: that whatever is arranged be most conducive to allowing UNAMID all the troops and police, authority, and capacity to protect the vulnerable people of Darfur, who have suffered so much for so long. This is, after all, why UNAMID is needed at all.

Above all, this means specifically keeping a close eye on the actions of the Government of Sudan, which has violated agreement after agreement since the launch of its genocidal campaign against our people. The countless ceasefire declarations, a failed peace agreement, and broken promises to diplomats and humanitarian officials over the last four years assure us that constant vigilance and pressure is needed against this government. If the Sudanese government should choose to obstruct deployment or renege on its commitments, the UN and [the] AU must be prepared to use all necessary diplomatic and economic leverage - including targeted multilateral sanctions - to punish Sudanese obstruction.

Undoubtedly you are familiar with the horrifying stories that Darfurians have shared with the international community since 2003; however, we would like to ensure that you are aware of two elements of the current realities faced by our people that [demonstrate] that the Sudanese government has not ended its attempt to destroy the lives and livelihoods of our people. The first issue is that of the resettlement of non-Sudanese into Darfuri villages. We began hearing about such a pernicious effort in the spring of 2007, and we understand [that] an internal UN paper in August of 2007 indicates that upwards of 30,000 people have already been imported from outside Sudan to be resettled in Darfuri villages. The second issue is that of the continuation of rape and other forms of gender-based violence throughout Darfur, most recently detailed in the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on August 20, 2007. This report details the abduction of 50 women and children, who were held for many months in detention, during which time the women were systematically raped, many returning home pregnant. The resettlement of our lands and the rape and sexual violation of our women leave all of us aghast of the on-going assault on our people and our way of life.

For all of these reasons, we urge you to take all necessary measures to achieve the demands that we made to the members of the UN Security Council on May 18, 2007. Now is a critical moment in deploying a force that has the mandate and [the] resources to protect our people. Further, as you begin to facilitate negotiations in Libya at the end of next month, we want to highlight our demand for a reinvigorated and inclusive peace process in Darfur that specifically addresses the legitimate concerns of refugees and internally displaced persons, which have to date been ignored, and leads to a just and sustainable peace for all people in Darfur.

Our people currently find themselves in their fifth Ramadan facing terror and despair. It is our hope that you will use your authority and the resources of your institutions to make a peaceful and prosperous Ramadan in 2008 possible for our people and all of the people of Sudan.

Sincerely,

Members of the Darfuri Leaders Network [listed in alphabetical order, by member's last name - EJM]

Mr. Mohamed Abdel Rahman
Darfur Association of Illinois

Mr. Bashir Gamous Abdelrasoul
Darfur Association of Texas

Mr. Elnour Adam
Darfur Rehabilitation Project

Mr. Motasim Adem
Darfur People's Association of New York

Ms. Niemat Ahmadi
At-Large Member

Mr. Ishag Ahmed
Fur Association of North America

Mr. Mansour Ahmed
Fur Cultural Revival

Ms. Amal Allagabo
At-Large Member

Mr. Ahmed Adam Ali
Darfur Association of Colorado

Dr. Mahmoud Braima
Darfur Association in the U.S.

Ms. Marwa Salah Eddin
At-Large Member

Mr. Anwar Elnour
Darfur Association of Iowa

Mr. Ibrahim Hamid
Darfur Alert Coalition

Ms. Fatima Haroun
At-Large Member

Mr. Bashir Ishag
Darfur People's Union

Mr. Emameldin Khamis
Darfur Association of Alabama

Mr. Adam Omar
Darfur Association of Nebraska

Ms. Suad Mansour
At-Large Member

Mr. Abdeljabar Saddik
Western Sudan Aid Relief

Mr. Elgasim Salih
Darfur Human Rights Organization

Mr. Bakheit Shata
Darfur Community Organization (Nebraska)

Mr. Mohamed Yahya
Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy