For the people of Jebel Marra, the self congratulatory backslapping and treaty signing in Doha seem to be a world away from the reality of their existence as they starve on the mountain slopes of Darfur. Forced from their villages as a result of a military campaign launched by the Government of Sudan, the idea of peace seems a distant prospect to say the least. Over the last 6 weeks, the displacement of over 250,000 people who are now forced to live in caves or to run from village to village in search of safety also seems far away from the concerns of the International Community, UNAMID, Save Darfur, human rights organizations or indeed anyone who might be expected to help. Instead, innocent people have been left to fend for themselves: their hopes for the future reduced to ashes alongside their villages which the Sudanese government recently burnt.

The big question here is why? Why is blatant genocide being ignored? Why, for example, can the likes of Jerry Fowler of Save Darfur tour the region telling anyone who will listen that: “Organized fighting is not widespread … Nor is there systematic violence against civilians”. Why, given his “vast” experience on Darfur, is he not able to spot the fact that a quarter of a million people are at this very moment sitting on the side of a mountain not far from him, while he tours around shaking hands? Why, one might ask, with his propensity for “saving” locals, is he not able to see beyond the end of his nose and take some action?

As if the myopia of Save Darfur is not bad enough, then there are the political sideshows which aim to distract attention from the government’s recent activities in Jebel Marra. First there is the carnival of the incompetent in Doha. Susan Rice’s remarks that Doha is a “mere truce between two Islamists factions” are completely correct. Yet given her clarity, why is the US State Department supporting a “peace process” with individuals like Tigani Seisi when he has never been anything more than a puppet of Sadiq Al-Mahdi and the Umma Party? Why should a man who is held in such distaste by the people of Darfur be championed as their leader when his spell as Governor of the region was nothing short of a disaster?

Finally, why is there a systematic attempt to downplay the government of Sudan’s campaign of genocide in Jebel Marra by linking it to fights between opposing rebel factions? This persistent reporting of rebel group infighting when a quarter of a million people face annihilation by the government is bizarre to say the least. The ability to downplay the crisis faced by such a large amount of people demonstrates the effectiveness of the Sudanese government media machine. It also shows how one of the most despicable campaigns that the government has launched to systematically destroy and purge the heartland of Darfur while the world looks the other way, has been successfully disguised by amplifying a lesser story.

If genocide is about intent, then it is hard to find clearer evidence of a systematic attempt to annihilate a group of people in a given geographical area than in Jebel Marra today. In the eastern and southeastern areas of the Jebel Marra — in towns such as Kidinyeer, Leibei, Faina, Dirbat, and Jawa — there is a clear attempt to encircle the area with the express intention of preventing people from being able to enter or leave. Once the population is locked into the area, the real work of genocide can proceed apace. Water sources are buried leaving locals without any way to access clean drinking water. Grain stores are burnt, cutting the supply of food to nothing. Grinding mills are taken away to ensure that no flour can be made. The government forces which invaded the region have also looted houses, markets and removed all the livestock. Even the humanitarian organizations that were operating have been forced to withdraw from the area as a result of their offices being looted. Food is now in scarce supply; potable water absent and the scene is set for carnage on a massive scale.

If slow starvation and thirst is not enough, then consider the cases of four women from Kidyneer. Unable to escape fast enough from government forces, they have been captured and turned into sex slaves. For Hawwa Mohamed Ali Hassaballa 58, Haram Abulgasim Hassaballa 56, Bahria Mohamed Saleh 54, Khadija Abdulrasul Abulgasim 32 their life today is one of brutality. Raped on a continual basis and held with government militias, they probably wonder whether they will even survive. Contrast this with all participants in Doha with their fancy suits, per-diems and disingenuous hand-shaking. Has Sudan’s political strata been reduced to a parade of the greedy and corrupt, while innocent women – mothers, daughter and wives – are brutalized and receive no protection from those who are supposed to help them?

Whichever way one views the situation, one thing is clear: all that counts today is the strength of one’s political connections and how much one can talk. All that counts are the sham peace talks, expensive airline tickets and the empty rhetoric of the international community.  Those without such connections are simply forgotten. For those without power, human rights conventions mean nothing; hard-fought conventions to stop genocide buy them no time. Today the people of Jebel Marra wait hoping that tomorrow will bring a better day. They wait hoping that someone will come to their rescue and stop the humanitarian blockade of their region. Unfortunately however with the current apathy of those in power, it may be some time before their plight is noticed. Let us hope that it will not be too late. 
Dr. Anne Bartlett is a Professor at the University of San Francisco. She may be reached at albartlett@usfca.edu

Susan Rice (UN)

Sudan dismisses US Rice’s remarks on arms embargo violation

March 6, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government discounted statements made by US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice saying that she is isolated in her positions within the UN Security Council (UNSC).

On Thursday Rice said there is a continuous pattern of weapons flowing to Darfur, acts of sexual and gender-based violence committed with impunity, military over-flights and offensive actions.

She further said that “this behavior does not suggest a new willingness on the part of Sudan to fully engage in the peace process”.

“The blatant disregard of the will of the council is undermining stability rather than fostering it, which was the aim of the (sanctions) regime in the first place,” Rice said.

A UN panel of experts established by the UNSC to monitor these violations has submitted several reports but China’s defense of its ally Sudan has stalled any attempt to take any action in response.

The spokesman of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, Muawiya Osman Khalid, said that Rice is at odds with “objective parties at the US administration itself that are concerned with supporting the ongoing process Darfur and solving the root causes of the issue”.

He added that the “personal hostility of Rice to Sudan prevented her to recognize that the issue of arms in Darfur cannot be solved through sanctions committees, but through a comprehensive peace agreement that can be reached by the ongoing peace process in Doha”.

Khalid accused Rice of forcing Sudan into the UNSC agenda “so that she can bash Sudan” adding that her “deceptive statements” confirms her continuous hostility to Sudan government.

“Rice is a short-sighted personality whose artificial concern with Darfur did not motivate her to appreciate the so far adopted peace steps or the framework agreement signed with the Justice and Equality Movement that was welcomed by the whole world”.

Last week the Inner City Press UN based reporter in New York said that the US envoy told her P-5 peers at the UN Security Council (UNSC) in a private meeting that the Doha accord between Khartoum and JEM is a “mere truce between two Islamists factions”.

The Sudanese diplomat said that Rice also did not know that the recent fighting in Jebel Marra between Sudanese army and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) of Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur is an inter-rebel dispute and that Khartoum has nothing to do with it.

He called on Rice to focus her efforts in convincing this rebel faction to join the current peace negotiations in Doha.

Sudan’s army denied any fighting is going on in Jebel Marra, a stronghold of Abdel-Wahid but a UN source told Reuters on Monday that between 140 and 400 civilians were feared to have been killed and thousands displaced.

(ST)

(Khartum/Fidesdienst) – „Nachrichten über neue Kämpfe in Darfur sind für mich keine Überraschung. Es war leider vorhersehbar, dass Gruppen, die von dem in Doha unterzeichneten Rahmenabkommen ausgeschlossen sind, auf diese Weise auf sich aufmerksam machen“, so Vittorio Scelzo, der im Auftrag der Gemeinschaft von St. Egidio die Verhandlungen in Doha (Katar) beobachtet, zum Fidesdienst. Am 23. Februar unterzeichneten Amin Hassan Omar (im Auftrag der sudanesischen Regierung) und Ahmend Tugud (im Auftrag des „Justice and Equality Movement, JEM) in Doha ein Waffenstillstandsabkommen (vgl. Fidesdienst vom 24. Februar 2010). Wie die Vereinten Nationen berichten starben in den Tagen nach der Unterzeichnung mindestens 140 Menschen in Darfur bei Auseinandersetzungen zwischen der sudanesischen Armee und der Sudan Liberation Army-Abdelwahid.

„Die Vereinbarungen von Doha haben die Karten neu gemischt“, so Scelzo weiter, „wer davon bisher ausgeschlossen wurde hat zwei Möglichkeiten, wenn er versuchen will, sich an den Verhandlungstisch zu setzen und gleichzeitig die eigene Position zu verbessern. Entweder kann man sich zusammenschließen und die eigene politische Position stärken oder auf der anderen Seite die militärischen Operationen in Darfur intensivieren und die eigene Präsenz dort sichtbar machen.“
Am 23. Februar, dem Tag der Unterzeichnung der Vereinbarungen von Doha, schlossen sich zehn weitere Rebellengruppen in einer gemeinsamen Organisation, der „Liberation and Justice Movement“ (LJM) zusammen, die sich bereit erklärt, ein Waffenstillstandabkommen mit Khartum zu unterzeichnen, was wiederum zu heftiger Kritik seitens der JEM führte, die drohte, den Verhandlungstisch zu verlassen.

Nach Ansicht des Experten der Gemeinschaft von Sant’Egidio werden die jüngsten Ereignis in Darfur den Fortgang der Verhandlungen für ein definitives Friedensabkommen zwischen der sudanesischen Regierung und den Rebellen der JEM nicht beeinträchtigen: „Die Verhandlungen gehen weiter und ich habe nicht den Eindruck, dass es Anlass zur Sorge gibt. Die meisten Gruppen, die sich den Vereinbarungen nicht angeschlossen haben, sind klein und haben abgesehen von der SLA („Sudan Liberation Army“) keinen großen militärischen Einfluss“.

Recommendations

1. Ensure that human resource imbalances in selected priority programmatic areas  are addressed in an effective and comprehensive manner
2. Develop effective prioritization system with special focus on areas related to mother and child health; as a start priority areas identified in this meeting including
a. Enhancing, supporting, and expanding midwifery and nursing training program in Darfur. Institutionalization of the midwives in the local health system
b.  Support the integration of mental health programs at PHC services
3. Institute an effective health delivery system which suits population in post conflict situation in partnership with communities and other stakeholders addressing  social health determinants and basic development needs as a pre-requisite to health in three selected districts as a  field demonstration  in Darfur
4. Introduction of the concept of health as a human right in general , health and medical education curricula
5. Establish Partnership between MoH, DAN, BFOS ,AHFAD university and the health cluster which is lead by WHO and other NGOs to support the above recommendations and possibility of inclusion of these recommendations in their strategic plans
6. Advocate for increased share for health sector from national budgetary allocation to reach Aboja recommendation in 2005 (15%) with special emphasis on Darfur
7. Call on all those concerned to pay immediate attention to the health problems arising from draught

The above could be achieved through:
1. The development of a clear implementation and follow up mechanism 
2. Adopt an integrated stratified approach towards addressing  priority issues and ensure that this process is inclusive of all health partners
3. the Sudanese in diaspora to work together to support the availability of  adequate resources to support the implementation of the above recommendations

* JEM rebels say talks with new group undermine deal

* JEM says peace talks now on hold

* New insurgent group says JEM does not speak for all

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Mar 3 (Reuters) - Darfur’s strongest rebel group threatened on Wednesday to walk out of new peace talks with Sudan’s government if Khartoum pushed on with plans to sign agreements with other insurgents.

The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the movements that started the Darfur revolt in 2003, signed a ceasefire with Khartoum in Qatar last week promising to come to a final peace deal by March 15.

JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim told Reuters that Khartoum’s plans to sign a similar deal with a rebel umbrella group, the Liberation and Justice Movement, would undermine what he saw as JEM’s position as the sole negotiator for Darfur’s rebels.

Darfur’s once highly coordinated rebel movements have fragmented into a mass of often tiny splinter groups, fractured by ethnic divisions and in-fighting between rival commanders.

The disunity has bedevilled successive efforts to resolve the seven-year conflict.

“If the mediation wants multiple agreements … JEM will be compelled to go out of the mediation and of the host country and to go away,” said Ibrahim, speaking by satellite phone.

“To save the peace talks and peace process it is important to unify all movements as one resistance group and to continue negotiations and stop this process of parallel agreements.”

Ibrahim said his talks with Khartoum were already on hold. “We have stopped negotiations until we can get assurances there will be no other parallel agreements.”

Other JEM officials told Reuters this week a second deal would give undue prominence to the Liberation and Justice Movement, which they said was made up of 10 small organisations with little or no military presence on the ground.

The hold-up meant meeting the March 15 deadline was increasingly unlikely, they added.

Sudanese state media last week reported arrangements were under way for Khartoum to sign a similar “framework” agreement with the umbrella group, which includes former JEM commanders.

Joint U.N./African Union mediators, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the preparations.

Sayed Sharif, a member of the Liberation and Justice Movement, which was formed last week in Doha, told Reuters JEM did not have the right to speak for other insurgents.

“Most groups in Darfur do not want to be involved with JEM. JEM’s agreement with the government is all about JEM’s demands, nothing for the people of Darfur. We are talking to the mediation and the government. We may sign a deal next week.”

JEM leader Ibrahim also condemned reports of recent Sudanese army attacks on positions held by the separate insurgent Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in Darfur’s central Jabel Marra area.

“The ceasefire we signed in Doha was a ceasefire for all of Darfur. JEM will not accept or allow the government to attack this group … We will protect them,” he said.

Sudan’s army denies any fighting is going on in Jabel Marra, but a U.N. source told Reuters on Monday that between 140 and 400 civilians were feared to have been killed.

The United Nations says around 2.7 million people have been driven from their homes since conflict flared in 2003 when JEM and the SLA took up arms against the state, complaining of neglect. (Editing by Kevin Liffey)

محمد آدم الحسن - هولندا

إن معرفة مفاهيم مثل الدبلوماسية الوقائية ودبلوماسية الأزمة ، وصنع السلام ، وفرض السلام ، وحفظ السلام ، وإعادة الأعمار في مرحلة مابعد الصراع ، توحي بنوع التدخل الذي تم استخدامه أو كان من الممكن أن يكون مفيداً في مرحلة معينة من الماضي أو توحي في حالة الصراع المستمر بنوع التدخل الذي قد يكون مفيداً الآن.

في رواندا كانت القضية الرئيسية قبل الإبادة الجماعية هي تنفيذ الحكومة بقيادة الهوتو لاتفاقات أروشا. وكانت الاتفاقات الموقعة في اروشا بتنزانيا عام 1993 ستسمح بعودة لاجئ التوتسي وستقود الي ترتيب لتقاسم السلطة بين الحكومة والجبهة الوطنية الرواندية بقيادة التوتسي. واتهم الرئيس ومتشددوا الهوتو بإعاقة تنفيذ اتفاق أكدوا انه كان سيعطي نصيباً غير متكافئ من السلطة الي الجبهة الوطنية الرواندية.

أشير الي النقطة السابقة للتعلم من المحاولات السابقة للتدخل.

وكنت أود أن تكون نقطة البداية لمفاوضات سلام دارفور بالدوحة (مراعاة عدم انتكاس جهود التسوية) لتشكل ولو الحد الأدنى من سلسلة الأسئلة التي كان يجب طرحها علي المبعوث الأمريكي إسكوت غرايشن الذي بدء مهمته خلفا للمبعوث السابق يان الياسون ولم يذهب بعيدا غير ترتيب سلم أولوياته والتي كانت كالأتي : التأكد من تطبيق اتفاق السلام الشامل CPA ، وقيام الانتخابات في موعدها والاستفتاء علي حق تقرير المصير. ، ثم دارفور.

وكانت خطة غرا يشن حل أزمة دارفور ترتكز علي ثلاثة محاور.

تحديد أطراف الصراع الرئيسية والثانوية ، ومن له تأثير علي الأحداث.

المحاولات السابقة للتوصل الي تسوية ولماذا فشلت.

البحث في الأسباب الجذرية مثل دوافع الصراع وما الذي يحركه.

ورغم الانتقادات الكثيرة والتي ما تزال توجه له إلا أن غرايشن هو من سيضحك أخيراً

طرح قرايش خارطة الطريق في أديس ابابا وحاول ان يجمع حولها كل الأطراف المشتركة في الصراع وكان يري كغيره ان التشرذم علي مستوي القيادات السياسية والعسكرية لدارفور يعتبر من اكبر العقبات التي تقف في طريق التسوية السلمية.

وعندما حاول أن يتمحص الأسباب الجذرية وخلفيات الصراع لدارفور ونشوب الحروبات المتكررة فيها إختار من مئات الاسباب اوهنها ، واختار أقصر الدوافع القائمة معتبراً أن الفصائل الدارفورية المنقسمة ما هي إلا واجهات لقبائل وبالتالي يجب تمثيل الممثل ، والإتيان بغير الممثل وهو المنطق والفرضية التي أحيت التجاني سيسي من بعد رميم.

بني اسكوت غرايشن جدله علي هذا الأساس وكان غير مقتنع من داخله ان لدارفور قضية تستحق من الأساس كل هذه الزوبعة.

المهم حاول أن يوجد لكل قبيلة في دارفور موطئ قدم في مرحلة السلام السياسي المتفاوض عليه حتي ولو كان ذلك تحت مظلة منظمات المجتمع المدني. وتحرك قطار التفاوض ورأينا السابق واللاحق أن هذا يمكن أن يعمق الانقسام في المستقبل القريب.

ونحن هاهنا قاعدون ولنري !!

إلتزامات خارطة الطريق لو تم الإيفاء بها لما كان الحبل متروك لمركب الإعلام الترويجي ولكان الحال أفضل مما كان عليه الآن فعلي سبيل المثال المؤتمر الأربعيني للفصائل المسلحة الذي كان من الفترض أنعقاده في دارفور لتكملة إجراءات التوحد وهو بمثابة مؤتمر سياسي عسكري لم يقم لأسباب لوجستيه وأخري غير معروفة.

تمت (كروتة بقية الفصائل) وتنويمها الي أن وجدت نفسها في الدوحة ومفروض عليها تتوحد – لتتفاوض في فترة شهر.

عندما ذهبت كل الفصائل للدوحة كمنبر واحد وشامل لتحقيق السلام من خلال التفاوض ، تفاجأت بغرايشن من خلفها أعد طبخة تجمع بين العدل والمساواة والحكومة في انجمينا ، وعلي الوساطة أن تتبني الإتفاق المطبوخ من جانب وأن تجعل منه الوجبة الرئيسية للمفاوضات وعلي الفصائل أن تأكل مما طبخ وتتفاوض علي بنود الإتفاق من جانب آخر.

وهاهي في شراك الابتزاز للقبول بالأمر الواقع.

وعلي فكرة الابتزاز عمل مشروع في التفاوض كورقة ضغط . إنها لخدعة غرايشن وشركه الذي سيجعله يضحك أخيراً وكثيرا.

zolyhoy@yahoo.com

Khalil Ibrahim the leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rejected today the idea of separate talks between the government and another rebel group formed yesterday, threatening to withdraw from Doha.  
Khalil Ibrahim, JEM leader, walks after a framework agreement in Doha February 23, 2010. (Reuters) Sudanese officials announced yesterday following the signing of framework agreement between the Government of Sudan and JEM they would hold separate negotiations with the Liberation Movement for Justice (LMJ), formed from ten rebel factions who had rejected to merge with Justice and equality Movement.

“The two groups JEM and LMJ would not accept unity; so there will be separate negotiation with them only unless they agree to unite at any stage of talks and this may be determined by mediation. The negotiations may end by one document or two documents. But we are seeking to reach one document accepted by all the parties,” Ghazi said today morning following his arrival to Khartoum from Doha.

“We do not accept having more than one venue for peace talks, in one issue, and with one mediation. This is unacceptable,” said Khalil Ibrahim in an interview with Radio Dabanga to be aired on Thursday.

The rebel leader added he proposed to the 10 factions and still wants to merge with them in one movement before to negotiate with the government. “We want a unity with no winners or losers,” he stressed.

The members of the rebel LMJ declined last week JEM’s offer for merger saying they prefer only to have separate delegations coordinating with each other during the talks.

He said these groups have no political or military grounds. He also accused them of doing “business with the cause of Darfur people”.

Khalil further spoke about Tijani El-Sissi who is designated by the new rebel group as top negotiator, saying he had never been involved in the armed struggle for Darfur people since 2003 and now he is imposed to negotiate on their behalf.

El-Sissi is a former governor of Darfur, from the largest ethnic group in the region, Fur tribe. He was also member in the Umma Party of Sadig Al-Mahdi. He was approached since last year by the Libyan government to head the rebel factions they gathered in Tripoli.

(ST)

But many are still skeptical.

Just look at the Darfur Peace Agreement of May 2006, they say, or the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement later that year, or the unilateral cease-fire that the Sudanese government declared in Sirte, Libya, in 2007. None of these gestures, all heralded as potential “game changers” at the time, changed much.

Darfur, the enormous western region of Sudan, is still home to roving militias, burned-down villages and nearly three million displaced people. If anything has reduced the conflict’s intensity, it seems, it is the fragmentation among rebels and sheer fatigue, not the previous peace deals.

“It’s all about the follow-through with these agreements,” said Nick Donovan, head of policy, research and campaigns for Aegis Trust, an anti-genocide group.

In perhaps the most important case, the Sudanese government has largely followed through, under intense international pressure, in the landmark agreement it signed with southern rebels in 2005 to end a civil war that was far more devastating than the conflict in Darfur. But the ultimate test of that agreement is still to come, when the southerners are scheduled to vote on independence next year, possibly cutting Sudan in two.

Sudan is edging into a very uncertain period right now, and one of the factors fueling suspicion of this latest peace deal — which calls for a temporary cease-fire and the release of prisoners, and paves the way for more Darfurian rebels to get government posts — is the timing. In less than two months, Sudan is supposed to hold its first free elections in decades, and President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has reasons to be concerned.

His country has been racked by rebellions in recent years in the south, east and west. The oil money that has buoyed Sudan’s economy, and bought off many enemies, may plummet if the south splits off. And Mr. Bashir holds the dubious distinction of being the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, connected to the bloodshed in Darfur.

“The government cannot win without Darfur,” said Ibrahim Mirghani, a dean at Al Zaiem Al Azhari University in Sudan. “It’s a big constituency, and now they get what they were looking for — voters!”

The government is not shy about acknowledging the potential gains at the polls. Referring to Mr. Bashir’s National Congress Party, Ghazi Salahuddin, a top adviser to Mr. Bashir, said, “If this agreement improves N.C.P. prospects for elections, it would be well deserved.”

But, he added, “what made the difference this time was the qualitative change in Sudan-Chad relations, which allowed Chad to play a constructive role in prevailing on” the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, the powerful rebel group.

The group has been given sanctuary in neighboring Chad for years. It was Chad’s recent thawing with Sudan, also a result of focused international attention, including Washington’s, that nudged the rebels toward the negotiating table. In a sense, they had no choice.

“JEM was looking at a very different military and logistical situation in eastern Chad and West Darfur,” said Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College who has followed Darfur closely.

Referring to other rebels, he added, “The real question is what the other S.L.A. factions do, and that won’t become clear for several days or weeks.”

The Justice and Equality Movement is the toughest, most ambitious and most unified of Darfur’s increasingly disorganized rebel groups, so it would be a major breakthrough if the movement laid down its arms. In 2008, hundreds, if not thousands, of Justice and Equality Movement fighters thundered across the desert in a phalanx of heavily armed pickup trucks and blasted their way to within a few miles of the presidential palace in Khartoum before the Sudanese military defeated them.

But the group, guided by an Islamist ideology, is not the most popular rebel force. That title probably goes to the Sudan Liberation Army. Its father figure, Abdel Wahid al-Nur, in exile in France, dismissed the peace deal on Tuesday as “ceremonial.”

Most of the political groups in Sudan, like the former southern rebels who are now ostensibly part of the government (though they said they were not consulted about the recent peace deal), do not trust the Justice and Equality Movement.

Part of that distrust stems from the history of the group’s leader, Khalil Ibrahim, during Sudan’s north-south civil war. According to several academics, Mr. Ibrahim led a government-sponsored militia in the 1990s that burned southern villages, killed civilians and enslaved children, a harbinger of the brutal counterinsurgency tactics that would be unleashed in Darfur in 2003.

On Tuesday, when the peace treaty was signed in Doha, Qatar, Mr. Ibrahim and Mr. Bashir shook hands and embraced.

“As far as we are concerned, JEM and N.C.P. have the same philosophy,” said John Duku, a representative of the southern Sudan semiautonomous government. “They are both fundamentalists.” Mr. Duku called the peace treaty “more of a reunion, between friends,” and said the only real difference between the rebels and the government was “who can pursue the Islamic agenda better.”

He was also concerned that the Justice and Equality Movement might succeed in persuading Mr. Bashir to delay the national elections, a development that could, in turn, delay the referendum on southern independence.

 
 The deal with Jem also means President Bashir will get a tremendous boost in his campaign for April’s presidential election

Profile: Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir
The attack failed, but it did show the daring and ambition of Khalil Ibrahim’s rebel movement.
Now this framework agreement, which includes a ceasefire, will be a tremendous relief for President Omar al-Bashir and his government.
If the ceasefire is respected - and it is a big if - a major military threat will have been neutralised.
This is particularly important in the run-up to next year’s referendum on possible southern independence, following a separate civil war which ended in 2005.
Aid agencies and human rights groups have warned of a possible return to north-south conflict.
Whether or not this happens, minimising the threat in Darfur will give the north a much stronger hand.
The deal with Jem also means Mr Bashir will get a tremendous boost in his campaign for April’s presidential election.
Compensation
Jem has much to gain too.
The framework agreement, which sets out the topics for the forthcoming more detailed talks, includes a provision for power-sharing.

 SEARCH FOR PEACE
May 2006: Khartoum makes peace with main Darfur rebel faction, Sudan Liberation Movement; Jem rejects the deal
May 2008: Unprecedented assault by Jem on Khartoum
Jul 2008: ICC calls for arrest of President Bashir
Nov 2008: President Bashir announces ceasefire
Nov 2008: ICC calls for arrest of three rebel commanders
Feb 2009: Army says it has captured key town of Muhajiriya
Feb 2009: Khartoum and Jem sign a deal to talk
Feb 2010: Khartoum and Jem sign a ceasefire as part of a framework agreement
Darfur: Everyone’s favourite war
Jem would participate in “every level of government (executive, legislative…)”, according to article 3 of the provisional agreement, which the BBC has seen.
The rebel movement should turn into a political party once it signs a final deal.
There are also articles on wealth-sharing, compensation and the safe return of displaced people and refugees.
Millions still live in rough camps, usually situated on the outskirts of big towns.
Small, temporary housing has pushed up haphazardly, like pimples on an adolescent’s face.
Those fleeing the Darfur fighting have seen a temporary life made permanent: there are schools, commerce, the semblance of a life, however difficult.
But this provisional deal will certainly not solve all of their - and Darfur’s - problems.
Camp politics
Firstly agreements have not been respected in the past.

 
Q&A: Sudan’s Darfur conflict
Who are Sudan’s Darfur rebels?
Some commentators are already suggesting Jem is the most likely of the rebel groups to return to the fold.
Its leadership is made up of Islamists - like President Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) - who have elements of a common political vision with those in power in Khartoum, however much else divides them.
Secondly - and crucially - this deal is with only one of the many Darfur rebel groups.
The Abuja accord of 2006 failed because only the Sudan Liberation Army’s Minni Minawi, of the major faction leaders, signed up to it.
Several of the small groups may jump on the bandwagon.
But the SLA-Abdul Wahid faction, which possibly has the most support, in the camps for the displaced at least, has refused to enter into talks with the government.

  Whether it ultimately succeeds or fails, it will undoubtedly have changed the dynamic in Darfur
 
If the Jem fighters are integrated into the Sudanese armed forces, the military position of SLA-Abdul Wahid could worsen considerably.
Equally, the new prominence of Jem could push other rebel groups to violence, to win their place in the sun.
Thirdly, some of the insecurity in Darfur now is not down to rebel groups.
Some of those responsible for car-jackings and kidnappings are simply armed gangs; it is sometimes alleged some of these have links to the government.
Finally, the Arab militias that fought on the side of Mr Bashir will need to be included in any truly comprehensive accord.

Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, whose country sponsored talks leading to the deal, said Qatar would contribute $1 billion to a fund to reconstruct Sudan.

Khartoum will offer Darfur’s most powerful rebel group government posts as part of a future peace deal to end fighting in western Sudan, according to documents setting out the terms of negotiations seen by Reuters.

The documents were the first concrete sign that Khartoum is prepared to share power with its bitter foe in Darfur — a development that could alienate existing allies there and complicate preparations for April elections.

Rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement played down the chances of reaching a final peace pact by March 15, as outlined in the framework deal for peace talks signed in Doha, capital of Qatar, the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas exporter.

“We are working to meet the March 15 deadline, but that itself is not a requirement,” said chief JEM negotiator Ahmed Tugud, one of those who later signed the agreement.

“We are trying to move forward, at least. It has been a long time since we’ve had a direct dialogue (with the government). We believe it is the right time to start,” he told Reuters.

Another rebel official said the deadline was unrealistic, and rebels reported fresh violence in Darfur two days after an initial version of the framework peace deal was inked in Chad.

The initial framework included a cease-fire, plans to integrate the JEM into Sudan’s army and a promise to reach a final peace deal by March 15. Tuesday’s event was billed as the “official signing.”

According to a French-language copy of the framework accord, the JEM and Khartoum agreed to “the participation of the Justice and Equality Movement at all levels of government … in a manner to be agreed subsequently between the two parties.”

It is a year since Khartoum and the JEM met in Doha to agree to confidence-building measures designed to pave the way for the framework agreement and then full peace talks.

That process stalled after the JEM accused Khartoum of attacking its positions days after the cease-fire and of failing to carry out agreed measures, including freeing JEM captives.

REPORTS OF FIGHTING

JEM rebels, widely thought to control the biggest military insurgent force in Darfur, said Tuesday they had been attacked by government forces Monday in violation of the truce but would press on with signing the peace framework.

Sudan’s army denied being involved in clashes with the JEM, which carried out an unprecedented attack on Khartoum in 2008, and the rebel report was not confirmed by independent sources.

Khartoum has accused rebels of fabricating attacks in the past, but the timing of the JEM report could cast a shadow over ceremonies to ratify the cease-fire in Doha.

“Our comrades and garrison east of Jabel Moun (near West Darfur’s border with Chad) were attacked by government forces and militias, backed up by Antonovs (aircraft) and helicopters … we defeated them,” said JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam.

A Sudan army spokesman said: “The Sudanese army is not involved in any clashes with JEM … (It) is committed to the agreement between the Sudanese army and JEM.”

Saturday Bashir cancelled death sentences handed out to more than 100 men accused of taking part in the JEM attack on Khartoum and promised to free 30 percent of them “immediately.”

Authorities at Khartoum’s Kober prison told Reuters on Monday they were still waiting for orders to free inmates.

The JEM’s Tugud said his group would push for a delay in elections, and both the JEM and other rebels say elections would be a farce if held amid conflict.

Khartoum has so far insisted on the April date for the poll, set up as part of a peace deal that ended Sudan’s separate north-south civil war in 2005.

Other rebels, chief among them the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, rejected the framework.

The United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died since the JEM and the SLA began a revolt in Darfur in 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the region. Khartoum rejects that figure.

(Writing by Cynthia Johnston and Firouz Sedarat, editing by Tim Pearce)

Sudan is to offer JEM government positions as part of a peace deal to be signed in Doha later on Tuesday.

Here are some facts on the rebel movement:

* ORIGINS:

– JEM first announced its existence in August 2001. It also announced an alliance with the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A). However its origins go back to cells first formed from members of the National Islamic Front in 1993.

* VIOLENCE IN DARFUR:

– JEM was among mostly non-Arab rebels that took up arms against the Sudanese government in 2003, complaining that their region was being marginalised.

– Khartoum mobilised its army and mostly-Arab militias to crush the revolt. Washington and some activists have said genocide took place during the counter-insurgency, an accusation Khartoum has denied.

– In May 2007 the U.S tightened its sanctions against Sudan including, JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim. The Treasury Department blamed JEM for continuing the violence and said Ibrahim was personally responsible for rebel activity aimed at further destabilizing the region.

– JEM did not attend peace talks in Libya in late 2007, objecting to the presence of rebel groups they said had no constituency and no place at the table.

– In March 2008, JEM demanded one-on-one peace talks with Sudan, saying it was the only viable insurgent force left in Darfur. New weapons, which Sudan said came from directly from Chad’s government, turned the JEM into the largest military threat to the Khartoum government on the ground.

– In May 2008 JEM made a lightning advance from the western Darfur region to attack Khartoum. Around 200 people were killed in the unsuccessful attack. The next day Sudan accused Chad of backing the rebels — Chadian President Idriss Deby is from the same Zaghawa tribe as JEM leader Ibrahim — and cut diplomatic relations. Chad denied involvement.

* TALK OF PEACE:

–Sudan and JEM started talks in Qatar in Feb. 2009 agreeing on confidence-building measures. JEM wanted the government to agree to a prisoner swap and an end to the bombardment of what it said were civilian areas in Darfur. It also demanded that Khartoum pledge not to impede humanitarian aid and refrain from harassing displaced people.

– However one month later JEM decided to end peace talks with the government until it let back aid groups into Darfur. Bashir had expelled the groups after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes. Talks between JEM and Sudan adjourned in June 2009 without agreement, with both sides blaming each other for the impasse.

– Last weekend Sudan agreed a ceasefire with JEM as part of an agreement to “heal” the war in Darfur, Bashir said.

– JEM said the framework agreement reached in the Chadian capital N’Djamena was not a final peace deal but set out the terms for negotiations.

– Bashir said he would cancel death sentences handed out to JEM prisoners and free 30 percent of them immediately. More than 100 men were sentenced to death by hanging after being found guilty of taking part in the 2008 attack on Khartoum.

Attacks hours before the deal

Despite the agreement, the JEM reported that the government army had attacked positions of the JEM in Kirgi Kargi. The JEM-army spokesman, Suleiman Sandal, told Radio Dabanga that the JEM had repulsed the attacks and the JEM had detained several army officers and their vehicles. The armed forces did not comment. The JEM says it will negotiate for post poning the elections in Darfur. Yesterday the Sudanese presidency reached an agreement to postpone the local elections in the South Kordofan state due to irregularities with the voters registration. But the government spokesman rejected the suggestion to postpone also elections in Darfur. Most of the millions of displaced Darfurians and the refugees are not registered for the elections and will not be able to vote.

The framework agreement between the government and JEM provides for a temporary cease fire and the release of the brother of the JEM leader amongst others who were detained after the attack of the JEM on Omdurman in 2008. President Bashir said yesterday he would cancel death sentences handed out to JEM prisoners. The framework should lead to detailed political negotiations by March 15 covering  issues concerning wealth sharing, compensationof losses inflicted and political representation. The negotiations on behalf of the government are led by Amin Hassan Omar, one of the confidentes of President Omar al Bashir.

www.sudanjem.com
info@sudanjem.com

Meeting of the Arab League in Darfur
A Statement, JEM

We have learnt in the media that the Arab League is intending to convene a meeting in Alfashir, Darfur on February 2010 to highlight its assistance in the current crisis in the region.
-    JEM welcomes all regional inputs in the search for peace and stability in Darfur provided that engagement is coordinated with people of Darfur as well as with those who have carried arms to defend the interests of the region.
-    Engagement of the Arab League has been notably devoid of any contact with Darfur people.   As the result, intervention of the League has come to lack any vision of comprehensive plans for rehabilitation of the region; a vision that that takes into account priorities set by the concerned people.
-    The timing of the convention is suspect as it coincides with launching of Al-Bashir’s campaign for the coming elections.  Once more, the League demonstrates its blatant intervention in Sudan’s internal affairs and utter disregard for the victimised people of Darfur.
-    The League’s support for a regime that rates among the most corrupt systems in the world can only lead to further injustice and oppression of the same people the Arab League is pretending to help.
-    The amenities constructed by the Arab League in Darfur have nothing to do with the beleaguered people of Darfur as the League claims.  They are there to enhance the oppressive powers of the ruling party which determines location, use and ownership of these new premises.

Ahmed Husain Adam
Spokesperson for JEM
Doha, February 13th 2010.

Clearance of Jabal Moon Area of Government bandits
A Military Statement, JEM

Over the past weeks bandits belonging the government have used Jabal Moon, North Darfur, as a base for looting properties and terrorising innocent civilians is the area. JEM is pleased to announce that its forces have flushed out these bandits out of their caves and the area is now in total control of JEM gallant forces.

Long live our struggle for justice and equality

Major General Ali Alwafi
Military Spokesperson for JEM
February 13th, 2010

With more sadness and resentment the Darfur Democratic Forum received the news of arrest and of killing of student Mohamed Moussa Abdullah Bhr Elldeen (25 years), University of Khartoum, class three, who died after being tortured by the Sudanese security service, the institution that is playing the role of the qualifiers and displacement of opponents of the National Congress Party, a student Mohammed Mussa, member of United People’s Front (UPF) which is headed by Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur was arrested on Wednesday, 10/2/2010, in front of the Faculty of Education, University of Khartoum, at 5:30 pm by a vehicle belong to the security service, and was found dead on Thursday, 11/2/2010, firing inside a school in the Nile City, and after a communication from the school police moved in and carried the body to the morgue of Omdurman.

The students campus/ interior where the student Mohamed has Mussa been living in had been burned on January 9, 2010 (Al Waleed students campus, University of Khartoum, Room No. 4, Salon Darfur). The body found in full of the deceased in the head and many injuries in the body, his parents refused to receive the body and the police refused to give them the medical report.

It is noteworthy that there are many such instances in which the peoples of Darfur subjecting , that can be described that the majority of the motives attributed to racial factors in addition to the activities of the victim. In last July Darfurian young man in his twenties had died in the hands of police in Al Droushab police office after has been tortured without reason, and when activists tried to move the issue/case and to see the medical report the police has refused to give the medical report and also prevented the activists and the death family from photographing the deceased body.

The Darfur Democratic Forum strongly condemns the conducting of arbitrary arrests by Sudanese authorities against Darfurian activists and all political and human rights activists in Sudan, that would drag them to the situation will not able to pay its price sooner or later, and states that these arrests are a blatant violation of human rights and all international conventions, especially Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that no one shall be arrested or detained arbitrarily, and no one shall be deprived of his liberty except on grounds provided by law and in accordance with the procedure established therein.

The Darfur Democratic Forum calls for the Sudanese authorities to do quickly to make and clarify the circumstances of the arrest and the death of the student Mohamed Moussa and punish the perpetrators of the crime and all criminals who are shedding the blood of the people of Darfur, whether in the Territory or elsewhere in the region of the Sudan. The DDF calls for the Sudanese authorities for the necessarily of to activate and respect the international, regional conventions and their obligations.

The Hague/Doha - International Criminal Court (ICC) judges were on Wednesday ordered to review their original decision to exclude charges of genocide against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for his alleged role in the conflict in Darfur. The ruling by the Appeals Chamber of the court followed an appeal lodged by ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo against the court’s decision last year not to include three counts of genocide in its indictment against al-Bashir.

On March 4, 2009, the ICC indicted al-Bashir, 66, on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes over the conflict between his government and rebels in the region in western Sudan.

At the time, the court rejected the prosecution’s bid to include three charges of genocide, citing lack of evidence.

The Appeals Chamber on Wednesday however ruled that the pre-trial chamber had applied “higher standards of proof than required” by the ICC statute, amounting to “an error of law.”

It was now up to the pre-trial chamber to correct this error and reconsider bringing genocide charges, the Appeals Court said.

The prosecution has implicated the Sudanese leader of murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, rape and pillaging in Darfur, where he is accused of masterminding a counter-insurgency against ethnic groups that oppose his government.

The ICC issued an international arrest warrant for al-Bashir in March last year. The Sudanese leader, who is the first acting head of state to be indicted by the ICC, has ignored the warrant and made numerous trips abroad, mostly to African states that are unlikely to act on the warrant.

On Wednesday, he made an unannounced visit to Qatar, where he was expected to discuss the Darfur conflict.

Qatari diplomats, speaking to the German Press Agency

http://www.Dar Furmedicalconference2010.yolasite.com
Dates:  (Monday-Wednesday) March 1-2 & 3rd, 2010
The venue:
Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS)
Russell Square
London, WC1H 0XG
“Towards Improving Quality of Life of the
People of Dar Fur, Sudan”

Conference Final Programme

Day One:
Monday March 1st, 2010

09:00- 10:00
Registration

10:00-10:30
Session 1:
Opening Ceremony

Chairperson

Prof. Mohamed Baraka
10:00-10:10
Welcome, BFOS
Prof. Mohamed Baraka
10:10-10:15
DAN
Dr. Omer Suleiman
10:15-10:25
10:25-10:30

SDU(President)
The Conference President:
Dr. Nassif Mansour
Prof. Gasim Badri
The President of Ahfad University for Women, Sudan.

10:30:11:00

Coffee Break

11:00-13:00
Session 2:

Chairperson:
Prof. Hamid Rushwan, UK

Co-Chairperson:
Prof. Mustafa Khogali, Sudan

11:00-11:25
Abstract  1
Health Services for Population in, and, after Crisis.
Omer Sulieman DAN, Sudan
11:25-11:45
Abstract  2
Bridging the Healthcare Gap in Dar Fur: the Role of Community Aid Organizations
Badreldin Shutta Mahmoud;
Fatima Elgali, DRA, Sudan
11:45-12:10

Abstract  3

Sustainable development at grass root level transforms village life in Dar Fur
Patricia Parker, MBE,  Kids for Kids, UK
12:10-12:30
Abstract 4
Reproductive & Sexual Health in Dar Fur
Prof. Hamid Rushwan, UK
12:30-13:00

Discussion

13:00-14:00

Lunch
12

14:00-15:15
Session 3

Chairperson
Dr. Omer Suleiman, Sudan

Co-Chairperson
Patricia Parker, MBE, UK

14:00-14:15
Abstract  5

Towards Better Health Service and Healthier Future for Dar Fur
Prof. ElBagir Ali ElFaki, UMST, Sudan
14:15-14:25
Abstract 6
Establishment of an Adequate Health and Nutritional Policy in South Sudan
Ostrowski Zygmunt; Jose Maric-Christine, France
14:25-14:40
Abstract 7
Health Impact of ERWs on Dar Furian Civil Population.
Dr. Hussein ElObeid, Sudan

14:40-14:55
Abstract 8
Experiences of Gaddafi International Charity and Development  Foundation in Dar Fur” A realistic hope and lesson learned”
Emad Abdalla, AbbasElkarib, ElBagir Faki, Sudan
14:55-15:15

Discussion

15:15-15:45

Tea  Break

15:45-17:00
Session 4

Panel Discussion
How to avail resources to support implementation of conference recommendations

Chairperson
Prof. Hamid Rushwan, UK

Panellists
1.Dr. Mansour Khalid, Sudan (tbc)*
2.Ms Iman Shingiti WHO/EMRO
3.Prof. Ali Khogali, UK
4.Dr. Mohamed D Omer (UNICEF)
5.Dr. John Kelly (UNFPA)
6.Ms Sara Ashraf, (Save the Children)

17:00

Close

Day Two:
Tuesday March 2nd, 2010

09:30-10:45
Session 5

Chairperson
Dr. Hassan Elgadal, UK

Co-Chairperson
Dr. Kamil Sidahmed, UK

09:30-09:45
Abstract 9
Mental Health Morbidities among War Displaced Children in Dar Fur
Dr. Abdalla AbdelRahman  Uof K, Sudan
09:45-10:00
Abstract 10
The Impact of Internal Displacement on Mental Health in Alginain Camps, Dar Fur
Dr. Ibtisam A. Ali, International University of Africa, Sudan
10:00-10:15
Abstract 11
Determinants of Psychological Distress among Internally Displaced Women, West Dar Fur.
Dr. Mohamed D. Omer, UNICEF
10:15-10:45

Discussion

10:45-11-15

Coffee Break

11:15-13:15
Session 6

Chairperson
Dr. Farouk Fadl, UK

Co-Chairperson
Dr. Salah Mohamed Omer, UK

11:15-11:30
Abstract 12
Health Situation in Dar Fur as perceived by Dar Furian Youth:  A field Survey.
Safia Alsanosi, Sara Abdel Hadi & Iman Isa.
Ahfad University of Women Students, Sudan
11:30-11:50
Abstract 13
Obstetric Fistula Prevention and Treatment Services in Dar Fur
Prof. Adam S. Mohamadein
Dr. John Kelly, Sudan
11:50-12:05
Abstract 14
Development of Anaesthetic Services in Dar Fur
Dr. Soheil M. G. Ahmed, Dublin, Ireland
12:05-12:20
Abstract 15
Equity and Sustainability of Oriented Cataract Care Model, West Dar Fur, Sudan
Prof. Hafeez-ur Rahm
I. H. Butt
S. Anwar
U. Raza
A. S. Abdullah, Pakistan
12:20-12:35
Abstract 16
Blood Pressure in IDPS in Alginaina Camp, Dar Fur
Dr. Ibtisam A. Ali, Sudan
Dr. Mohamed E. Ahmed, Sudan
12:35-12:50
Abstract 17
Knowledge & attitude of mothers in internally displaced   populations in camps towards the diarrhoea and the use of oral rehydration solutions
Dr. Razzaz Dahab ElJack, Sudan
12:50-13:05
Abstract 18
Dar Fur Hospitals Accreditation
Prof. Babikir A. Mohamed and Prof A/Gafar Ali Adam, Sudan Med. Specialization Board, Sudan
13:05-13:30

Discussion

13:30-14:40

Lunch

14:40-17:00
Session 7

14:40-16:55
Panel Discussion
Health as entry point for peace in Dar Fur

Chairperson:
Prof. Mustafa Khogali, AUW/Sudan

15:40-16:10
Panellists:
Dr. Mansour Khalid, Sudan
Dr. Omer Suleiman, Sudan
Dr. Farouk Fadl, UK
Dr. Ahmed Osman Sirraj, UK
Coffee Break
16:10-16:55

16:55-17:00
Continue: Panel Discussion
Health as entry point for peace in Dar Fur

Closing remarks from
Dr. Omer Suleiman
President, DAN, Sudan
17:00

Close

Day Three
Wednesday March 3rd, 2010

Room T 102,  21-22 Russell Square (Maximum 20 people)

This is for a selected group from the conference participants and committees.

10:00-11:00

11:00-11:30

11:30-13:00
Workshop for task force to develop plan to implement the recommendations of the conference (London Declaration)

Coffee Break

Workshop continues

Participants will be:
1.Prof Gasim Badri
2.Mohamed Baraka
3.Prof Mustafa Khogali
4.Dr. Omer Sulieman
5.Dr. Mansour Khalid (tbc)*
6.Patricia Parker, MBE
7.Prof  Ali Khogali
8.Dr. Farouk Fadl
9.Prof Adam Mohamadein (UNFPA)
10.Dr John Kelly (UNFPA)
11.Director, WHO, Sudan (tbc)*
12.Ms. Iman Shankitti (WHO/EMRO)
13.Collin Robertson (Christian aid) (tbc)*
14.Dr. Mohamed D. Omer (UNICEF)
15.Emad Abdulla (GF)
16.Prof Elbagir Elfaki (GF)
17. Representative of dfid.gov. (tbc)*
18.Peter Moszynski (BMJ representative)
19.To be named from conference
20.To be selected from conference

Proposed prog. of day 3:
Selection of a chairperson to the session
Presentation of report emphasizing recommendations.

Taking each recommendation at a time, participants will discuss:

What activities are needed to fulfil it, indicators, risks, who will perform these activities, how & when.

What resources are needed and, source of these resources.

*(tbc)  to be confirmed

This announcement comes after intense consultations held by the mediation to manage direct talks between the parties.

“We are ready to consult here in Doha with the other factions in order to have one delegation and to continue talks on the ground with them in order to establish one movement before concluding a peace agreement with the government”, said Ahmed Hussein Adam, the JEM spokesperson speaking from Doha.

He added that JEM has already integrated more than 22 factions in the past.

Ahmed said they have no objection to sit at the negotiating table with the government, restating JEM’s commitment to a political solution but he added they want to first determine the parties who should participate in the negotiations.

During a meeting with the same rebel factions held in Tripoli, Libya, last year JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim made a similar proposal but the other rebels declined the offer.

Initially JEM had asked for the resumption of peace talks alongside only one other rebel party, the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdel Wahid Al-Nur (SLA-AW), which had been involved in the Abuja peace talks in 2006. At the time, JEM and SLA-AW refused to sign a peace agreement accepted then by Minni Minnawi, another SLA leader.

The head of the government negotiating team state minister Amin Hassan Omer said in press statements after a meeting with the mediation they are willing to hold talks with any group ready to negotiate. He further said JEM rebels have no right to determine who will participate and who will not stressing that only the mediation can decide on the issue.

However the Sudanese official said they informed the mediation that the talks should not be extended beyond the third week of March due to the electoral process scheduled to take place in the country for April 11.

“There will be no one who wants to continue because it would make no sense to hold a deal with the Government of National Unity that no one knows will return after the elections or in the same form and structure, or whether another government will replace it,” the state minister said.

“We do not believe that the negotiations need two months or even a month because the outstanding issues are limited and known to everyone and if parties show the political will the solution does not need a week or two,” he added.

The Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, following the consultations with the government and JEM delegations said they have to complete the consultations with the other rebel groups before deciding whether or not to hold direct talks between the two parties as the participation of the groups formed at Addis Ababa and Tripoli paralyzes the process.

He also stressed that the mediation team understands the complexity of the problem and is ready to work patiently to reach a solution for the problem.

“As I said before, the mediation knows from the outset that the issue is not easy and requires time and patience. We know that the Darfur problem is one of the most intractable problems of this century, but we also know that they are stakeholders and are keen to solve their problem and we are helping and doing everything we can. So, these meetings aim to reach common ground [before launching the talks],” Al-Mahmoud said.

Meanwhile, the SLM of Ahmed Abdel Sahfi left Doha today saying in a statement to Sudan Tribune they proposed to hold a meeting for all the leaders of the rebel groups to achieve unity. The rebel group further said they requested to postpone the talks.

“The Delegation reiterated its call for postponement of negotiations in order to enable the resistance factions to complete the unity process,” said Ahmed Fadel Abdallah, the spokesperson of SLM-Abdel Shafi.

Also, the United Resistance Front of Bahar Idriss Abu Garda said its delegation will arrive on Monday to Doha for consultations with the mediation in order “to reach a formula to unify the visions of revolutionary forces in Darfur, and then discuss ways of a just solution to the Darfur issue.”

The mediation said in a press release it put out today that preparations are going on to hold local meetings in Darfur in order to expand the representation of civil society, which began in Doha in November last year in order to complete its structures and enable the Darfurian communities to participate in the peace process.

The mediation had postponed a meeting for Darfur civil society to allow the participation of more displaced people and refugees in eastern Chad.

(ST)

January 22, 2010: South Sudan sources reported that 15 people were killed in another series of tribal battles. In one incident in Jonglei state members of the Dinka Rut tribe attacked the Nuer Thiang.

January 21, 2010: Government police fought with demonstrators in the city of Port Sudan. The demonstrators were protesting alleged harassment by the government and misuse of government equipment (vehicles) by local National Congress Party (NCP) candidates in an upcoming election. Some of the protestors were identified as former NCP members. The government said nine people were injured in the fight with police. Police arrested 31 protestors but later released them. The NCP controls the national government.

A senior African Union (AU) spokesman said the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment of President Omar al-Bashir (for war crimes in Darfur) is politically counter-productive if there is going to be peace in Darfur. The AU has said this before, or at least complained that the ICC targets African states. This new statement, however, comes just three months before national elections in Sudan. Bashir and his allies in the NCP call the indictment imperialist interference in Sudanese domestic politics.

January 20, 2010: The Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) condemned the government death sentences of JEM members who participated in the 2008 “cross country” attack on Khartoum. The JEM called the death sentences an impediment to peace negotiations. That’s true, but the JEM and the national government have conducted prisoner exchange negotiations. In fact, the government and the JEM have supposedly agreed to a “goodwill” prisoner exchange that will include some of the JEM fighters who were captured in the Khartoum raid.

January 15, 2010: GOSS leader Salva Kiir announced that he will run for the post of vice-president in the April national elections. Kiir currently holds that position. There had been some speculation that he would run for president and challenge current president Omar al-Bashir. Kiir’s Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) will back Yassir Arman for president. Arman is a Muslim from northern Sudan.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has also nominated its spokesperson Hatem Al-Sir ending speculations on endorsing Bashir as some reports have mentioned. This month the official Egyptian Middle East News Agency (MENA) had quoted DUP sources as saying that the party leader Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani intends to endorse president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir for presidency.

The Umma party Secretary General Sideeg Ismail met today with the National Elections Committee (NEC) chief Abel Alier and told Sudan’s official news agency, SUNA, that he wanted to review the progress of its work and ensure fair and free elections.

Ismail said he is confident of the integrity of the NEC saying the Umma Party hopes to see this continue throughout the elections.

In a related development the former head of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Kamil Idris, said in a press conference that he will also run independently for president in the elections.

Idris, who stepped down from WIPO following investigations into falsifying his date of birth — making himself seem nine years older when he joined the agency 25 years ago — said he wants to improve the image of Sudan and reverse the deteriorating situation in the country in all aspects whether political or economic.

The DUP nominee said that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) is the biggest threat to the country’s unity and thus his agenda is to get rid of it and work on democratic transformation, unity, Darfur peace, fighting corruption and improving living conditions.

(ST)

According to eyewitnesses, shortly after 10 am (Sudan local time) a man by the name of Adel Mohamed Fath Al-Rahman Mahjoub moved from the his seat positioned in the second row to the podium and threw his shoes at Bashir who was flanked by the minister for presidential affairs in the cabinet Kosta Manibi and the secretary general of the national council for strategic planning Taj Al-Sir Al-Amin.

The shoe missed Bashir and hit the podium but the assailant was immediately wrestled to the ground by Sudanese security and bodyguards and taken outside the Friendship Hall in Khartoum.

The embarrassing incident took place at the inauguration of the first session of the 2010 National Council for Strategic Planning causing a brief chaos and bewilderment among the attendees before the Sudanese head of state resumed his speech.

Shoe hurling at an individual is a grave insult and a sign of contempt in Arab culture and for Bashir who is running for reelection in April, this unpleasant scene runs contrary to an image portrayed made by Sudanese officials and state media of a president that enjoys overwhelming support among the people.

Bashir is a target of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued almost a year ago accusing him of masterminding mass killings in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur. Observers say that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) sees the upcoming elections as a means to legitimize the rule of Bashir who came to power through a coup in 1989.

Ironically in December 2008, Bashir in a defying speech said he “will not surrender even a single cat from Sudan because we can make a shoe out of its skin”. The remark was taken to be a subtle reference to the incident of shoes tossed by Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi at President Bush which had occurred a few days earlier.

The security agents at the hall moved swiftly to confiscate all recording equipments and cameras from journalists and TV crews and thoroughly searched them in a bid to prevent the pictures from making it to the public. The London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted journalists who were present as saying that Sudanese officials asked them not to mention what happened.

The pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV based in Qatar which afforded extensive coverage to Bush shoe story in Iraq at the time, was hours late in reporting what happened to Bashir despite having its reporter present at the hall.

It is also unlikely that the Sudanese man will get the same attention as Al-Zaidi who was hailed as a hero in the Arab world.

Reuters, which was the first to report the story quoted the presidential spokesman Emad Sid Ahmed denied the shoe incident, saying: “The man just wanted to give the president a note… but was intercepted by the security”.

However, later Sudan official news agency contradicted Ahmed’s assertions saying that a shoe was indeed thrown at Bashir.

“The abovementioned citizen prepared a handwritten memorandum of grievance and tried to hand it over to the President of the Republic..….but the presidential guards barred him as they deemed he has failed to chose the right place and the right time, a matter that drove him out of his temper and he started to hurl his shoe at those present” SUNA reported.

The state run media identified the man as someone who has a history of psychological disturbance and treatment for mental illness.

“Information obtained by the Sudan News Agency shows that the abovementioned citizen suffers from psychosis which causes psychological disturbances and that he has been receiving medical treatment with Dr Abdul Sami Mohamed Hassan, and that the last time he visited the clinic was on January the 18th and according to the psychiatrist, the patient has recently failed to take his medication regularly a matter that resulted in the instability of his psychological condition”

“The Sudan News Agency has learned that the said citizen is suffering from a complex of social injustice by people, though he has no political or social affiliation and a number of his relatives are actually occupying government positions”.

The agency mentioned that Mahjoub was born in El-Obeyed town in 1965, and his original home area is Merowe. He has received all his schooling up to the secondary level in El-Obeyed town. He is single and works in trade.

It was not clear given his status how the man made it to the front rows at the conference. Witnesses said that he acted calmly upon his arrest.

In Paris the Libyan-French lawyer Hadi Shalluf who was one of the lone and fiercest critics of Al-Zaidi and even appeared on Arab TV defending his stance told Sudan Tribune that his position remains the same regardless of the target.

“As a matter of principle I am against hurling shoes from a legal perspective and also as an uncivilized act whether it is Bush or Bashir. The international law recognizes that heads of state should be treated with respect in accordance with the position they hold” Shalluf said.

“This is a contemptible act and against the law. Hand swirling cannot be a substitute to civil expression of opinions under any circumstances” he added.

However, Shalluf lashed out at the Arab world saying they are unlikely to react in the same manner to this incident as they did with the case of Al-Zaidi. “Surely the Arab people applauded Al-Zaidi for throwing his shoes at Bush. Will they do the same in the case of Bashir or remain silent and submissive? I suspect the latter” he said.

The editor in chief of the pro-government Al-Wifaq newspaper Ishak Fadl Allah said in his editorial on Tuesday edition suggested that Mahjoub was sane and not acting on his own behalf.

“Granted that popular outrage, which will evolve in response to the insult, would make the man - and the parties behind him- eat their shoes in shame”

(ST)

“Violations of civil and political rights by Sudanese security forces throughout the country are seriously undermining prospects for free, fair, and credible elections in April 2010,” HRW said in a report.

“The Khartoum government is still using its security forces to harass and abuse those who speak out against the ruling National Congress Party,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for the New York-based rights watchdog.

“That is no environment for holding free, fair, and transparent elections,” she was quoted as saying in the report.

HRW also criticised the authorities in southern Sudan, where it said “soldiers and police arbitrarily arrested, detained, and mistreated members of political parties opposed to the southern ruling Sudan People?s Liberation Movement (SPLM)”, a former rebel group.

The mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 9, 2005 to end a 22-year civil war that was fuelled by religious, political and economic differences and cost two million lives.

The CPA provides for a presidential and parliamentary election in April — the first polls in Sudan in 24 years — as well as a referendum on independence for the oil-rich south in 2011.

The SPLM and the ruling National Congress Party of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir were party to the CPA agreement.

“With less than three months to elections and with campaigning season starting in February, a robust international observer presence is needed now,” Gagnon said.

“Careful monitoring is even more pressing considering that Bashir is wanted for war crimes,” she added.

The International Criminal Court issued in March 2009 a warrant for Beshir’s arrest on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed in the western region of Darfur.

The Carter Centre set up by former US president Jimmy Carter is the only group of international monitors allowed so far to monitor the vote in Sudan.

HRW said “international donors and stakeholders should urgently deploy observers in time to effectively monitor pre-elections conditions” and also called on the UN mission in Sudan to “increase its presence and patrolling in volatile areas.”

“There will be consultations between mediators and the Sudanese government on the one hand, and mediators and the Justice and Equality Movement on the other, in which other (rebel) groups could be involved,” he said.

A source in the Sudanese government delegation confirmed to AFP that there would be “no direct negotiations on Sunday with rebel groups but only consultations with the mediators.”

A source in the UN-AU mediation meanwhile told AFP: “There is no real cancellation. We are working with the government and with the armed movements to get them working together towards an effective dialogue.”

“This is still ongoing…. and we will hope to find an appropriate format by which they can make progress,” the source said.

The Sudanese delegation, which is headed by Ghazi Salaheddin, the government’s pointman on Darfur, met with Bassole on Saturday.

Darfur rebels had two rounds of talks with Sudanese government officials in Qatar in February and May of 2009.

In February, the JEM signed an agreement with the Khartoum government on confidence-building measures intended to pave the way for further talks. But other factions have refused to join the mooted talks in Doha and the JEM says there is no point in taking part if there is no unity among the rebels.

Rebels and government officials were also due to meet in November but the talks failed to take place.

Bassole said earlier this month that talks to settle the festering conflict in the Darfur region would resume in Doha before the end of the month, with January 24 set as a date for direct talks.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million fled their homes since the ethnic minority rebels first rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.

Sudan’s government says 10,000 people have been killed

Fahmy said that Cairo is still considering whether or not to heed to the request in light of a decision it took last year not to sign any new gas export contracts until 2010 in order to meet rising local demand.

The Cairo based Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper quoted the Chairman of the General Petroleum Corporation Abdel-Aleem Taha as saying that the Sudanese side raised the issue during bilateral talks.

He added that Egypt is seeking to persuade the Sudanese side to obtain concession areas for oil “for the benefit of public and private companies after the oil boom and achievements by Sudan in terms of research and exploration during the past five years”.

Currently, Chinese companies dominate the oil exploration arena in Sudan.

Egypt is a significant natural gas exporter and currently exports 200-250 million cfd of natural gas to Jordan, its main export market, according to Egypt’s state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

The country’s proven natural gas reserves rose to around 77.2 trillion cubic feet in the 2008/09 fiscal year.

(ST)

 
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On the New Trials of JEM Members in Khartoum
A Statement from JEM

JEM deplores Khartoum’s death penalty imposed on two of its members and three year jail sentence levied on a third defendant.   In the same strongest terms, JEM denounces the re-arrest of many of its members who were acquitted and set free by Khartoum Kangaroo courts in previous sittings.
- The recent trials are in blatant breach of the Geneva Convention as well Sudan’s Constitution.
- The timing of the sentences with the current Doha Peace talks is a clear indication of politicisation of Sudan’s judicial system and a vindication for invoking international justice to deal with the lawlessness of the Al-Bashir’s dictatorship.
- The trials are in clear breach of the Good-Will agreement that Khartoum signed with JEM and a message to all that GoS is proceeding with its cherished military solution of Darfur crisis.
- The re-arrest of the JEMN members who were found “not guilty” before is a clear indication that Sudan’s judicial system is a mere arm of Sudan’s National Security system and incapable of justice delivery the country.

Ahmed Husain Adam
Spokesperson for JEM
21/01/2010

So far 105 JEM members have been ordered hanged for their role in the raid amid criticism by local lawyers and international rights group over the fairness of the trials.

“The Movement condemns in the strongest terms sentencing to death two Sudanese citizens based on pure political vindictiveness, and by courts that are unconstitutional and violate all the provisions of the law” a statement signed by JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein reads.

“The timing of sentences with scheduled talks confirmed that the convictions are political and has nothing to do with the path of justice, and that Sudanese courts under the Khartoum regime are far from independent,”

JEM has a delegation currently in Doha, Qatar as attempts are underway by the mediation to resume talks between the rebel group and the Sudanese government which has stalled with both sides trading accusation on lack of seriousness.

The statement by JEM also blasted what it claimed to be re-arresting those acquitted by the court and placing them “in a separate section of the same prison”.

“[This] is the clearest evidence that this regime’s contempt of the judiciary even if [the latter] works according to its wishes”.

In yesterday’s ruling, five men were cleared of all charges and released. Two other men were convicted of helping a JEM leader escape from Khartoum after the raid. One was jailed for three years, and the judge ordered the other to be released as he was aged over 70.

The death sentences have not been carried out against any JEM convicts as they have not been endorsed by the Sudanese president which appears unlikely in the present time.

(ST)

He is also expected to travel to Addis Ababa at the end of this month to meet with AU Commission leadership and attend the upcoming AU summit.

Asked by Sudan Tribune to comment on UNAMID expectations from the new JSR, Mezni welcomed on behalf of the Mission’s leadership and the entire staff, Professor Gambari who “will bring along a rich international experience and a great knowledge of the African affairs, which certainly help him to consolidate UNAMID achievements on the beginning of its third year of operations,” he said.

He added that the new envoy will continue to play a constructive role in the overall search of an enduring stability and a lasting peace in Darfur.

Gambari was Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Iraq Compact and Other Issues from 2007 to 2009. On 22 May 2007, the Secretary-General also entrusted him with the Good Offices mandate on Myanmar.

The Nigerian diplomat worked as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, from 2005 to 2007; and UN Special Adviser on Africa (1999-2005), and Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission to Angola (2002-2003).

Mezni paid tribute to former JSR Rodolphe Adada who laid a solid foundation of the first ever AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur and to the Acting JSR Henry Anyidoho who ensured, with the support of UNAMID leadership and the Mission’s staff, a smooth interim period since last September.

(ST)

October 26, 2009: Moments following Obama’s spectacular electoral victory speech, I phoned JEM commanders in Darfur to relay to them fresh news of the US Election results.  A commander at the other end of the phone responded: “We followed the great news as well and our troops are all celebrating at this very moment; the IDPs and the Refugees too were up the whole night listening to their transistor radios”.

Obama’s victory unleashed a powerful spirit of hope and optimism in Darfur as indeed across the world.  “Obama” became the preferred and most common name among newborns in Darfur IDP and Refugee camps, a choice that had previously been reserved for  “Khalil” (JEM), “Abdelwahid” (SLM) and “Ocampo” (ICC).  Sadly speaking, the Obama euphoria in Darfur and the ecstatic hope that came with it were short lived.  The fad of Obama’s name simply dissipated.  No prize for guessing as to why that happened.  The answer is simple.  It is Gration. 

Numerous commentators have expressed worry that Envoy Gration has totally lost direction and fallen foul to manipulation by the GoS.  The President of JEM too declared that the Envoy is working without any specific strategy and has turned himself into a public relations officer for the Khartoum government.  I for one argue that Envoy Gration does have a strategy and a clear one as well.  It is called Cookies and Honey strategy:
“We have got think about giving out cookies . Kids, countries – they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagements… You catch more bears with honey than with vinegar”, he declared.

Overlooking the insulting, patronising and racist overtones of the statement, it does show how the Envoy plans to engage the Government of Sudan and that is a strategy nonetheless.  Gration’s problem is that he genuinely believes in a path that almost everybody else recognises as flawed.  Ever since his appointment to the job, Gration has been dispensing his cookies but is yet to get anything in return.

The problem with Gration’s strategy is that it stands at odds with what made Obama popular across Sudan, from the south to Darfur.  Declarations made by US President Obama and his senior staff show just that.  During his presidential election campaign, President Elect Obama promised that if he became a president, he would take:
 “immediate steps to end genocide in Darfur by increasing pressure on the Sudanese and pressuring the Sudanese government to halt the killing and stop impeding deployment of a robust international force”.

The gist of Obama’s message was also echoed by others among his top staff.  Thus Secretary of State Clinton called publicly for a policy of a no fly zone in Darfur while Ambassador Susan Rice referred to the use of bombing to stop the Khartoum killings in Darfur.  These statements are far away from the ‘cookies and honey’ stance of Envoy Gration. 

There can be no doubt that the ‘cookies and honey’ have endeared Gration to the Khartoum government.  Not without some level of naivety, Gration often prides himself in having access to the Khartoum government and lauds his personal friendship with Al-bashir’s Envoy to Darfur Ghazi Salahuddin.  Big deal!  In some ways, Gration’s work has paid off.  In one of his government stage-managed visits to Darfur, Gration was:
“..,greeted like a rock star by hundreds of cheering Bashir supporters in a conference hall plastered with posters of Bashir and Obama, poorly photo-shopped together”.

Al-bashir and his supporters have the right to delight in meeting their new-found hero and friend Gration.  Why not, for the Envoy has laboured hard to embellish the image of Khartoum and absolve it of its crimes.  In this regard, Gration declared that genocide in Darfur has ended, that sanctions against Khartoum are baseless and that the IDPs should prepare for return to their villages by the end of this year.  Mesmerised by his friendly reception in Khartoum, Gration proceeds to commission supposedly likeminded governments that are on the good side of GoS.  Thus he points out that he has travelled to Cairo and Beijing to meet leaders who share common concerns with the USA and work together towards shared objectives.  Needless to say, China has consistently armed Al-bashir and defended him at every opportunity.  As for Cairo, the Darfur war is “artificial” and a figment of western imagination.  These are Gration’s partners for peace in Darfur, but the worst is yet to come.  Evoking a logic of placing sheep under the care of a hyena, and in an incredible insensitivity to International NGOs and the people they feed, alike, Gration declares:
“We want the government to take an active role to make it easier for NGOs to bring the humanitarian assistance the people so desperately need. We want the government to take responsibility for the security situation, the security forces, the police forces, for improving the situation.”

And the government obliged in its usual fashion.  Within a week or so of the statement, reports informed us that the Janjaweed, government paramilitary and army destroyed 80 villages in an SLM-held area, looted 4,000 livestock and raped around 40 women.  So much for Gration’s ‘cookies and honey’ strategy. 

While Khartoum continued celebrating Gration, the very stakeholders he was appointed to help were receiving him with outrage and anger.  The IDPs, the rebels and people of the south have all deplored his cookies strategy in no uncertain terms.  In his recent visit to a camp in Darfur, an IDP conveyed this in a rather eccentric way.  He patched one of his eyes for the meeting and faced Gration saying: “I am wearing this [patch] on my eye because I cannot look at you, Scott Gration, with both eyes after what you have said”.  The host was referring to the testimony on Darfur given by Gration before the US Senate Committee of Foreign Relations.  In what Professor Reeves calls “outright mendacity”, Gration denied his testimony and reduced the encounter to a mere misunderstanding, presumably of an ignorant and a poorly educated IDP.

As for established Darfur Movements, Gration shares Khartoum’s vision that they are no more than “criminal gangs and have not unified for peace talks”. Having lost touch with the leadership of genuine Darfur Movements that have an active presence on the ground, Gration resorts to the creation of alternative movements capable of showing more cooperation and compliance.  With a helping hand from Gaddafi of Libya and Mubarak of Egypt, Gration designs his own DIY movements:
“.. we’re looking for a leader the Darfuri people want, somebody they can unify behind, who can be an articulate spokesperson for their issues, so that when they get into the negotiation session with the government of Khartoum..”

Gration’s urge for the creation of fresh movements metamorphoses into obsession and the gamble pays off.  Luckily, there is no shortage of takers with the new movements indulging in fission and fusion and coming and going as fast as the hotel bills are paid.  There is now a host of groups, popularly known as “Gration’s movements” but a leader with the desired specification is yet to emerge.  The problem of Gration’s movements lies in the origin of the very groups that he wishes to turn into a unified political organisation.  Following his call for unity, they flocked to him from every corner of the globe; some came straight from Khartoum, some popped out of the internet and others got reincarnated after prolonged death and decomposition.  Ironically, Gration wanted fewer movements, but he got more.  The end result is a state of utter confusion; neither Gration, nor any one of us can now track down the number of Darfur movements around for they multiply by the week and it doesn’t help that they have run short of new names.
Gration’s desperation to decontaminate the image of the Khartoum government leads him into an unholy association with the McFarlane group.  McFarlane himself was convicted for criminal dealings in the notorious Iran-Contra Affair but was later pardoned by former US President George H. W. Bush, 1992.  However, through MacFarlane, Envoy Gration also connects himself with Mohamed Babiker, a known Sudanese intelligence personnel in Addis Ababa. 

Gration’s innuendo about his links with DynCorp International also raises some embarrassing questions and exposes the shallowness of the esteemed Envoy.  As if there is no clean company in the USA, DynCorp International also came across US criminal investigation spotlights.  The company was accused of overbilling the US government to the tune of $50 million in its delivery of services to US troops in Kuwait; not a patriotic stance for a firm which is entrusted with serving American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as well.

Gration’s use of DynCorp could have passed without any remark from us, had it not been for another aspect central to the cookies strategy of the Envoy.  Through DynCorp, Gration uses a long-standing Sudanese intelligence interlocutor to undertake reservations, air ticketing and payment of per diem to delegates of Gration’s movements.  I am referring here to Mr. Mutaz Alfahal who played a similar role in the 1990s in the negotiations between the National Democratic Alliance and the SPLM led by the late Dr. Garang.  His Sudan intelligence connection was exposed when some irregularities were discovered in the US finance to the talks.  What is farcical is not that Gration shoulders Khartoum’s bill for spying on his movements.  Oh no, the Khartoum government is much smarter than that.  In effect, the US taxpayer is paying Khartoum’s bill for spying on the activities of the US Envoy as well.  How more callous can the US Envoy be? 

Sudan government has certainly been smart; I am prepared to grant them that credit.  At the same time, I must state that one should question their wisdom to pay for expensive public relation costs for McFarlane and others, while they have Gration, ready to offer the same services for free. 

While we debate the Envoy’s dismal performance in Darfur, we should not lose sight of his main portfolio in South Sudan, namely his duty to keep the CPA alive and help speed up its implementation. Here too the ‘cookies and honey’ strategy flipped.  It is true that the gates of Washington remain, as have always been, closed against the Darfurians, of course unless they come through the Khartoum government. But South of Sudan is much more fortunate and has the ability to engage Washington almost at any time and at the highest level.  In this regard, Kiir Mayardit, President of South Sudan has communicated to US President Obama that Khartoum deserves no cookies at all.  As he put it, “the status quo in the centre has remained the same”, Khartoum “continues fermenting violence in the south” and that extra pressure and not its relaxation as Gration suggests is the answer.

Let us end this essay by going back to Gratin’s flare for unifying Darfur movements and spare him the accusation of creating them in the first place.  My preposition is simple.  If Gration has a talent for rallying people around a cause, I suppose there is plenty of work for him in Washington.  President Obama needs to overcome the obstinate problem of rallying US citizens or unifying them to use Gration’s catch phrase around many issues; chief among them are the commendable universal health coverage, withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, energy consumption and bailing out strategic firms including big banks.  Let Gration go and test his wonderful gift in Washington.  As for us in Darfur, we understand that the Washington Logic has made it difficult for President Obama to pursue all his election campaign promises regarding Darfur. His strategy for Darfur unveiled a few days ago is commendable although many early promises went missing.  We understand new events might have rendered some promises unrealistic.  However President Obama can do us one little favour that doesn’t cost much.  He can simply take our Darfur file off Gration’s hands.

Abdullahi Osman EL-Tom is head of Bureau for Training and Strategic Planning of JEM. He can be contacted at: Abdullahi.eltom@nuim.ie