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Sudan: UN reports on Darfur; Sudanese cooperation with Ugandan ICC case; EU Statement on Darfur

24 Oct 2005

Please find below excerpts from recent articles on Sudan including, most recently, a Reuters article from Sunday, (October 23, 2005) reporting that UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Sudan Sima Samar had declared the special court in Darfur had tackled too few cases, focusing only on random looting incidents. She noted too that a culture of impunity exists for those who raped women, especially in Darfur and that the government's excuses for inaction were unacceptable.

In addition, this digest - arranged in reverse chronology - includes: (1) coverage of a recent appeal from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for increased pressure on Sudan in light of increased violence in September 2005; (2) an article from the New Vision newspaper in Uganda reporting on Sudanese Vice-President Salva Kiir's apparent willingness to hand over Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army head Joseph Kony for whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant despite his claim that he has no idea where Kony is; (3) two articles commenting on UN Special Adviser on Genocide Juan Mendez's recent report on Darfur to the UN as well as his hopes to brief the council personally which were evidently blocked by US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton along with Russia, China, and Algeria; (4)an article on Juan Mendez report to the UN noting Mendez insistence that "cooperation with the ICC is not a matter of choice for any State"; (5) Reuters report noting that despite Sudan's allowing Ugandan troops permission to track Lord's Resistance Army soldiers into Sudan, beliefs from some, including Reverend Paul Yugusuk, head of the Anglican Church in south Sudan's remote Lomega archdeaconry, that Kony is being protected by the Sudanese; and (6) an UN News report noting individual Security Council members condemnations of the recent upsurge of violence in Darfur.

The final item below is the EU's Statement on Darfur from 11 October 2005.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential or pending situations before the Court. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Regards,
CICC Secretariat

1. Sudan not trying Darfur war crimes: UN official October 23, 2005

Reuters/South African Broadcasting Corporation

http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/north_africa/0,2172,114870,00.html

Sudan arbitrarily arrests and tortures civilians and has failed to try those responsible for crimes committed during a two and a half year revolt in its Darfur region, said Sima Samar, a United Nations (UN) special reporter for human rights in Sudan.

Samar said there was a culture of impunity for those who raped women, especially in Darfur, and that the government's excuses for inaction were not acceptable. Samar said emergency laws in force in Darfur were also being applied in the capital Khartoum.

The government admits there are problems with its security forces but says it investigates all rights violations. Sudanese officials were not immediately available to comment on Samar's accusations.
[.]

Samar said a special national court for war crimes in Darfur had tackled too few cases and had not dealt with crimes committed during the conflict, focusing rather on random looting incidents.

The government says the national court will be a substitute for the International Criminal Court (ICC) which is investigating alleged war crimes in Darfur. But investigators have yet to be granted permission to visit Sudan.


2. ANNAN URGES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO APPLY IMMEDIATE PRESSURE FOR PEACE IN DARFUR October 20 2005 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/HMYT-6HCS2G?OpenDocument

The resurgence of violence in Sudan's Darfur region and the Government's continued unwillingness or inability to restrain armed tribal militias, may threaten the peace talks, and the international community needs to apply renewed pressure for a successful outcome, the United Nations Secretary-General says in a report.

"The month of September witnessed an alarming deterioration in the security situation in all three Darfur states," and the violence has sent displaced persons fleeing from camps, stymied humanitarian agencies trying to provide relief, and produced fear among people whose families have been killed or attacked, says Mr. Annan.

A growing divide within the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SMLA) is a potential obstacle at the negotiation table for continued peace talks in the Nigerian capitol of Abuja, Mr. Kofi Annan says to the Security Council in his <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2005/650">monthly update. Increasing reports of gross human rights violations, and the worsening violence against civilians could further threaten the country's steps towards peace, he adds.[.]

Thirty-five internally displaced persons (IDPs) were killed, 10 were wounded, and 4,000 IDPs and villagers were forced to flee during an attack by bandits on 28 September. Rapes and attacks on women have increased in Western and Southern Darfur, and at least a third of the victims are estimated to be girls under the age of 18, he says.[.]

"Armed international personnel were not immune to the violence either," he adds, with three soldiers from the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) wounded in September after being shot at by unknown assailants.

[...] He also calls on world leaders to apply pressure on the warring factions in Darfur, in particular on the SMLA, "to steer the current round of talks in Abuja towards a positive outcome. This is a crucial moment for Darfur and no time must be lost.".


3. I Can't Locate Kony, Says Sudan Vice-President New Vision (Kampala) October 11, 2005

http://allafrica.com/stories/200510110393.html

Sudan's vice-President has said he had no idea where Ugandan rebel chief Joseph Kony was, but assured the International Criminal Court (ICC) he would hand him over for trial if he was found on Sudanese soil. [.] "Believe me I don't know where Joseph Kony is and if I find him I will hand him over to the ICC," First Vice-President and former southern Sudanese rebel Salva Kiir said on Saturday..


4. Juan Mendez' Briefing to the UN Security Council Washington Post By Colum Lynch "Militia Violence Escalating in Darfur, U.N. Envoy says"
October 10, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/10/AR2005101001317.html

Juan Mendez, special adviser to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, said Khartoum has not abided by a long-standing Security Council order to establish a "plan to disarm" the Sudanese-backed Arab militiamen, who stand accused of driving more than 2 million tribal Africans from their homes since 2003.

"I found the situation much more dangerous and worrisome than I expected it to be," said Mendez, who just completed his second visit to the region in the past year. "Until last week, there have never been concerted, massive attacks of an indiscriminate nature against civilians" in camps in Darfur. [.]

Mendez's news conference came shortly after he presented a report on his findings to the U.N. Security Council. Mendez had hoped to brief the council personally but was prevented from doing so by the United States and Sudan's three closest allies on the council, Russia, China, and Algeria.

Another senior U.S. official said that [UN Ambassador to the UN] John Bolton, a fierce opponent of the International Criminal Court, was not trying to block a discussion of the tribunal.

France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, said he "strongly regrets" that Mendez was "not authorized" to speak to the council despite a personal appeal on Friday from Annan: "The majority of delegations wished to hear what Mendez had to say, but four delegations were opposed."


5. US Ambassador Objects to Sudan Briefing Reuters, Irwin Arieff and Evelyn Leopold, "US Blocks UN Briefing on Atrocities in Sudan," - October 10, 2005 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10297935.htm

[US Ambassador to the UN] John Bolton said he had objected to the briefing to make the point the council should be "talking more about the steps it can take to do something about the deteriorating security situation" in Darfur. He gave no new proposals.

Mendez, who visited Darfur for a week in late September, later briefed reporters on his findings. He said Sudanese officials were taking only cosmetic steps to prevent systematic human rights abuses there that might amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.

He also accused Khartoum of refusing to cooperate with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, a tribunal strongly opposed by the Bush administration on grounds it might pursue frivolous prosecution of U.S. soldiers or officials working abroad.

"We cannot let the government of Sudan get away with that," Mendez told a news conference. "I haven't seen any indication of the international community telling Sudan, 'You don't have a choice, you have to cooperate with the ICC.'"


6. UN News
October 10, 2005
"Situation in Darfur is Worsening, UN Genocide Expert Warns" - http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16164&Cr=Sudan&Cr1=

[...] the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide said, "we have to insist that cooperation with the ICC is not a matter of choice for any State."

He pointed out that Sudan said it does not need the ICC and would instead use its own court, but chided the Khartoum government for dealing ineffectively with the problem.

"We observed the first decisions and trials of the special court that they have created and we're very disappointed they deal with cases that are completely marginal to the problem, that have nothing to do with what happened at the peak of the conflict in 2003-2004, and that there is no clear rationale for crimes that seem to be common crimes have been brought to the Special Court."


7. Sudan gives Uganda free rein to chase LRA Reuters by Daniel Wallis 10 October 2005 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10726515.htm

Sudan will temporarily allow Ugandan troops to chase internationally wanted leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) anywhere across the border where they may be hiding, Uganda's military said on Monday.

Khartoum's move came after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony and four of his henchmen, ramping up international pressure on one of Africa's most brutal insurgency movements. It also coincided with reports of a new LRA atrocity -- 16 people killed in south Sudan, according to a religious leader. [...]

On Friday, Khartoum agreed to scrap the Red Line for a month and said its troops would join Ugandan soldiers and former Sudanese rebels to crush the LRA wherever they were, according to an agreement shown to Reuters by the Ugandan army. "The area of operation shall extend to all LRA hideouts," the text said. [...]

Uganda's government says Kony is camped in the bush outside the Sudanese government-controlled garrison town of Liria , about 60 km (37 miles) north of the Red Line. Near Liria on Friday, the LRA shot dead 10 women and six men as they went to the fields, said Reverend Paul Yugusuk, head of the Anglican Church in south Sudan's remote Lomega archdeaconry.

[...]Yugusuk said Sudanese government troops stationed in Liria had not responded to Friday's massacre. "It seems Kony is being protected by them," he added. [..]

Analysts say support from elements in the Sudanese military has helped Kony evade attempts to catch him. Sudan denies that...


8. Security Council condemns upsurge of violence in Darfur UN News 10 October 2005 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16166&Cr=Sudan&Cr1=

Members of the Security Council today condemned rising violence in Darfur, Sudan, and called for the perpetrators of attacks to be brought to justice.
"We have jointly condemned and expressed concern in the face of the recent upsurge in violence" in Darfur, the Council president for October, Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc of Romania, told reporters following a closed-door briefing by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Hédi Annabi, on the political, humanitarian and security situation in the troubled region.

Ambassador Motoc cited in particular to attacks perpetrated against civilians and the killing of three peacekeepers and two contractors serving with the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) as well as the abduction of other AMIS staff. "That was unacceptable in itself and all the more so in the context of and against the background of peace talks going on in Abuja on a political solution to the conflict in Darfur," he said.[...]


9. COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels
11 October 2005
13176/05 (Presse 262) P 110/05, 13176/05 (Presse 262) 2

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=PRES/05/262&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Statement by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on Darfur

The European Union (EU) condemns the killing of three AMIS staff and two PAE (Pacific Architects and Engineers) civilian contractors in Darfur on 8 October. The EU Troika, who were visiting Sudan at the time, raised this with the Sudanese Government in strong terms. These are the first deaths in action suffered by AMIS and serve to highlight the seriousness of the deterioration in security on the ground. The EU sends its condolences to the African Union, the Nigerian Government, PAE, and the families of the victims.
The EU also expresses its grave concern at the abduction, on 9 October, of 18, later 41, AMIS personnel, and calls for all those who have been abducted to be released immediately.
Such targeting of AMIS personnel is completely unacceptable. AMIS soldiers are working tirelessly and under very difficult circumstances to restore security in Darfur. All sides to the conflict must cooperate with the African Union mission.

The EU awaits the final verdict of the AU investigation. Those who are responsible for these terrible acts must be brought to justice. To this end, the EU calls for the names of those who are found to be responsible for these atrocities to be passed to the UN Sanctions Committee, so that targeted sanctions can be imposed in accordance with UNSCR 1591; and to the International Criminal Court, for further investigation in accordance with UNSCR 1593.

For their part, it is vital that the Government of the Sudan takes the necessary steps to facilitate the deployment of equipment necessary to enhance the effectiveness of AMIS. During the EU-Sudan Ministerial Troika held on 8 October, the EU delegation made clear that it expected the GoS to take steps to enable the deployment of all of the 105 Armoured Personnel Carriers necessary for the protection of AMIS personnel and the civilian population in Darfur.


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