Two semi-related items from today that somewhat update, most recently, the previous batch of largely talks-related stories:
From the AP...
In a worrying sign of further turmoil, Sudan's government is increasing the pressure on Darfur civilians to leave many refugee camps where they had fled to avoid violence. The United Nations says [that] the government has even loaded some refugees by force onto trucks in recent days, [in order] to drag them out.
Sudanese officials insist [that] they are forcing no one to leave, but do want to encourage refugees to return to their villages, because the camps have become too big, squalid, and dangerous. The camps also make refugees unhealthily dependent on humanitarian aid, the officials say.
But this week, U.N. officials said [that] they had evidence that Sudanese government forces were chasing the refugees out of at least one camp, Otash, home to 60,000 people on the outskirts of south Darfur's capital, Nyala.
"Given that security forces were threatening the displaced with sticks and rubber hoses at Otash camp, the involuntary nature of this relocation is clear," the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, [Sir] John Holmes, said in a statement earlier this week.
He said [that] such a practice was against U.N. agreements with Sudan.
Ten armed pickup trucks rounded up the refugees, Holmes said. U.N. and aid workers were initially barred from the camp, he said, but eventually got in to see eight large commercial trucks being loaded with the belongings of women and children.
Most Darfur refugees say [that] they agree [that] the camps are bad, but say [that] they have nowhere else to go — because their home villages still are too dangerous, as Darfur's war between rebels and the government drags on.
"Do you think [that] we like living here? Do you think [that] we have a choice?" one refugee woman at Otash, Husseina Mukhtar, said a few weeks ago — at a time when government pressure to leave was already intense. As she spoke, the stench of overflowing latrines floated around the squalid camp.
It is unclear how widespread the government's practice is, but Sudanese officials have been pushing for all camps to close in Darfur, including those in the north and [the] west.
The U.N.-affiliated International Organization for Migration, which monitors refugee movements, says [that] the number of refugee returnees across Darfur is "a contentious issue."
"We've monitored about 20,000 returns, but we can't say how many there are really," said Darfur coordinator Gerard Waite in late September, citing lack of access to camps because security is so poor.
He said [that] more refugees could have left without being monitored, but that the overall camp population remained about stable, because of 170,000 new arrivals this year.
Violence erupted in Darfur in western Sudan in 2003, when rebels from Darfur's ethnic-African majority took up arms against the Arab-dominated government.
Critics accuse Sudan of retaliating by arming local Arab militias known as the janjaweed, and the government is blamed for widespread atrocities against civilians. The government denies any guilt, but a cabinet minister and a janjaweed chief have been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
More than 200,000 people have been killed in the violence, and an estimated 2.5 million civilians have fled to refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring countries. Most of Darfur's camps, housing 2.2 million people, lie close to government-controlled towns, but are teeming with rebels.
The government staunchly contends [that] it is forcing no refugees to go home.
About 209,000 refugees have already headed home in south Darfur alone, said Jamal Youssef, the secretary general of the Humanitarian Affairs Commission, a powerful Sudanese-government body that controls all humanitarian access to the camps.
"The returns began as early as 2004. We don't make anybody go back by force," Youssef said in an interview.
But some human-rights groups contend [that] the government is racing to empty camps before January, when a joint U.N. and African Union force of 26,000 peacekeepers is to deploy in Darfur, replacing the current overwhelmed AU force.
"The camps are evidence against our government, so they want this evidence to vanish before everyone can see it," said Mohamed Ali, a lawyer with the Amel center, a Sudanese rights group, which provides legal support to refugees around Nyala.
He and others cite examples of government pressure to leave the camps, including another camp called Kalma. In particular, violence and harassment by government forces have surged, Ali said. He listed 47 arbitrary arrests of community refugee leaders in Kalma camp since August, and nine recent rapes of refugee women.
Several U.N. and humanitarian workers around Nyala confirmed these trends, but asked not to be named, for fear of government retaliation. Aid workers have increasingly been targeted by violence, and the camps are now often off-limits to them.
Refugees depend entirely on humanitarian aid, and many refugees said [that] the pressure on aid workers was another way to make camp life unsustainable.
Some refugee leaders believe [that] Sudan is pushing to empty the camps in anticipation of a national census due early next year, to prepare for general legislative and presidential elections in early 2009. If the elections take place, they will be the first under President Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a military and Islamist coup in 1989.
The refugees are much more easily countable while in camps than back in their remote villages. Some believe [that] the push to empty camps is part of a plan to make sure [that] fewer refugees are counted and [that] the regime wins the election.
"Imagine how we'll vote," said Sheik Abdallah Yacoub, a refugee leader from Otash. "They want us to disappear."
The government of Sudan’s recent forced relocation of civilians in South Darfur is a serious violation of international law, and could be the prelude to new attempts to dismantle certain civilian camps, Human Rights Watch warned today [Wednesday]. Sudan’s government should cease the relocation operation, immediately confirm the whereabouts and well-being of those who have been moved, and allow the African Union Mission in Sudan, the United Nations Mission in Sudan, and humanitarian agencies access to all displaced persons, whether they reside in camps or other locations in Darfur.
Between October 25 and 30, Sudanese police and military forces entered at least two locations near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and forced hundreds of civilians, mainly women and children, into trucks at gunpoint. At least 400 families were moved from the two sites, all of them new arrivals who had fled Kalma camp following violence the previous week.
“The Sudanese government has repeatedly tried to dismantle Kalma camp and relocate its residents by force to unsafe areas, without any security guarantees or humanitarian aid,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “International policymakers should vigorously condemn this incident and make clear to Khartoum that any relocation must be underpinned by international law and fundamental human-rights guarantees.”
On October 25, Sudanese armed forces and armed police moved at least 300 families from the village of Mayok, between Kalma camp and Nyala town. On the evening of October 27, they entered Otash camp, on the outskirts of Nyala town, and forced 400 people from the camp into trucks. At least 36 people reportedly were arrested, and an unknown number of others were injured, during the operation. On October 28, the UN and humanitarian staff tried to visit Otash, but were refused access by Sudanese security forces. The police were reported to be clearing the shelters and possessions that the displaced people had left behind.
In June 2007, Sudanese officials proposed six resettlement locations for displaced persons from Kalma, but they were rejected by the population as not secure, due to the presence of militia or military. In recent weeks, authorities again pressed people to move, before the latest round of violence in Kalma on October 18-20 left at least three civilians dead, and forced these families to flee. A number of families had reconfirmed in recent days that they did not wish to move to the proposed sites.
“While there are clearly problems with security in Kalma camp, many people feel safer there than in rural areas, where they are extremely vulnerable to ongoing attacks and have no access to humanitarian assistance,” said Takirambudde. “Rather than trying to dismantle the camps and forcibly relocate people, the government should cooperate with the African Union and [the] UN [in order] to improve security in the camps.”
The recent events are the latest in a long history of Sudanese-government attempts to close Kalma camp, home to at least 90,000 people and one of the largest camps for displaced persons in Darfur. Most of the displaced people in the camps were victims of government and “Janjaweed” militia attacks, and have no confidence in Sudanese government efforts to provide security. Many of the displaced people see the relocation efforts as an attempt to exert further control over their movements and [to] cut off their access to Nyala town and to international aid workers.
In November 2004, there was international outcry when the government made its first attempt to forcibly relocate residents of Kalma to camps in Nyala town. Throughout 2005, the authorities maintained pressure [both on] the displaced people and on the humanitarian community to relocate people to an alternative site, Al-Salam. When the population refused in May 2005, the government imposed a ban on commercial activity in Kalma (including prohibiting the market and supplies of goods from Nyala town) to be lifted only if the humanitarian community began relocating people to Al-Salam. For much of 2007, the government has been again pressing displaced people to relocate from Kalma.
International humanitarian law prohibits the displacement of the civilian population, unless it is strictly for the purpose of civilian security or for reasons of military imperative. Despite government claims, it is not clear that either reason was applicable to the displacement of the population in Kalma. Governments may also seek to relocate a displaced population for the protection of public health, but again, despite government claims, there were no apparent compelling public-health reasons for the relocation.
The manner in which the government carried out the forced relocations also breached their obligations to the civilian population under international law. Under international standards, any relocation of displaced persons should be voluntary, and carried out in full consultation with the displaced. Displacement must not be carried out in a manner that violates the rights to life, dignity, liberty, and security of those affected, and they must not be forcibly resettled in any place where their life, safety, liberty, and/or health would be at risk. International humanitarian organizations should be given rapid and unimpeded access to internally displaced persons [in order] to assist in their resettlement.
Despite the fact that UN Emergency Relief Coordinator [Sir] John Holmes made a public statement confirming events, Sudan’s UN envoy, Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem Mohamed, told reporters that the UN’s accounts of the events in Otash were “irrelevant, unfortunate, and unconfirmed.”
“Sudanese officials must end their policy of denying the reality on the ground in Darfur, and start trying to rebuild the confidence of their citizens,” said Takirambudde. “The first step would be to acknowledge their own responsibility for serious crimes and [to] take serious steps to end abuses, including by cooperating with, not obstructing, the African Union and [the] UN.”
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