Africa

Burundi

IRIN 4 July 2005 Legislative elections held with only minor incidents [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © BUJUMBURA, 4 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - Burundians took a major step on Monday towards ending the post-conflict transition period by electing the 100 members of the country's national assembly with only minor incidents. There were some irregularities, the head of the UN Mission in Burundi's (ONUB) Electoral Unit, Ahmadou Seck, said on Monday at a news conference in Bujumbura, the capital. He said unlike the 3 June municipal elections, no polling stations were disrupted. The chairman of the National Independent Electoral Commission, Paul Ngarambe, reported only minor problems which, he said, would not affect the outcome of the elections. Preliminary results are expected on Tuesday. Polls opened at 6 a.m. (04:00 GMT), although some stations did not begin until around 8 a.m. (06.00 GMT). By midday, turnout was still low, Seck said, with only around 11 percent of votes cast, except in Gitega Province where voting had already reached 40 percent. Many Burundians were staying away from fear of attacks by the sole rebel group still active in the country, the Forces of National Liberation (FNL). During the 3 June municipal elections, FNL fighters disrupted voting in several areas in the province of Bujumbura Rural, where they are most active, and Bubanza. However, speaking at a news conference on Sunday, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Burundi, Carolyn MacAskie, had assured Burundians that the legislative elections would be safe. She said the FNL had pledged it would not disrupt the polls and that the UN had deployed 2,000 troops throughout the country. Voting was observed by monitors from the European Union, the Francophonie organisation of French-speaking states, ONUB, the local coalition of civic society for the monitoring of elections known as COSOME, and other civic society groups. The creation of the new national assembly is a major milestone in ending the country's 11-year civil war. The assembly will be made up of 60 percent Hutus and 40 percent Tutsis in accordance with a power-sharing deal laid out in the 2000 Arusha peace agreement. In Burundi's next elections on 29 July, Burundians will elect the Senate. Then on 19 August, the newly-elected senators, together with the newly-elected assemblymen, will choose the country's new head of state. Speaking from his native province of Kayanza on Wednesday, Burundi's current interim president, Domitien Ndayizeye, appealed to "the winner to rule for all Burundians and to the loser to respect the people's choice.":

IRIN 11 July 2005 Head of former rebel group on track to be president [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN Pierre Nkurunziza accepted on Sunday his party’s choice as presidential candidate in polls due on 19 August. BUJUMBURA, 11 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - The longtime leader of the former rebel movement that won Burundi’s recent municipal and legislative elections, Pierre Nkurunziza, accepted on Sunday his party’s choice as presidential candidate in polls due on 19 August, which some analysts say he is likely to win. "He is going to win," Elias Sentamba, a professor of political science at the National University of Burundi, told IRIN on Monday. He said Nkurunziza, who leads the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie–Forces pour la defense de la democratie CNDD-FDD, already had the support of the majority of assemblymen and senator. "Even many who are not in the CNDD-FDD could vote for them," Sentamba said. Under the terms of Burundi’s post transition constitution, the next head of state will be elected in the legislature by assemblymen and senators. The senators will, themselves, be elected on 29 July by the communal councilors. The CNDD-FDD won the municipal and legislative elections with absolute majorities, clearing the way for an almost certain Nkurunziza victory in the presidential election. "The final election is a simple formality," Nkurunziza told the congress of CNDD-FDD party members held on Sunday in the capital, Bujumbura, at which he was elected presidential candidate by all but six votes. The presidential election will officially mark the end the current post-transition period that followed Burundi’s 11 year civil war. The previous presidential election, held in 5 June 1993, was a precursor to the start of the civil war. It elected the country’s first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, who was assassinated on October 21, 1993. Nkurunziza, 41, is a Hutu from the northern province of Njonzi. He had been a lecturer at the Sports and Physical Education Department of the University of Burundi before joining the CNDD-FDD and becoming its political leader.

Côte d'Ivoire

Reuters 30 Jun 2005 Ivorian pro-govt militia says it's ready to disarmBy Loucoumane Coulibaly ABIDJAN, June 30 (Reuters) - The leader of one of the main pro-government militia groups in divided Ivory Coast said on Thursday his fighters were ready to disarm before a late August deadline set as part of a revived peace effort. Rebels holding the north of the West African country since civil war grew out of a failed coup in 2002 have said they will not lay down their weapons until pro-government militias, mostly concentrated in the cocoa-rich west, disarm. "It all depends on the CNDDR (national disarmament commission). Between now and Aug. 20, we can disarm if (their) programme permits," Denis Glofiei Maho, head of the pro-government Great West Liberation Front (FLGO), told Reuters. Although government militias took part in a ceremony last month to mark the start of disarmament, no weapons were handed over. Under the programme, fighters are supposed to move into cantonment sites after handing over their guns. Ivory Coast's president, opposition leaders and the head of the rebellion ended talks in Pretoria on Wednesday to try to revive a peace deal brokered in April by South African President Thabo Mbeki. All sides agreed that government militias -- who call themselves "self-defence groups" -- should begin to disarm immediately and finish before Aug. 20. But hours after the talks ended, the rebels renewed accusations that armed men financed by the Guinean and Ivorian governments were planning to attack the rebel zone from neighbouring Guinea to undermine the peace initiative. Rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate said parties at the summit recognised that progress on disarming militias and on voting on new laws through parliament had to be met before the rebels could start to lay down their weapons. Previous peace deals have stalled as rebels refuse to lay down their arms before their demands for revised nationality laws and a reformed independent electoral commission are met. "The most important thing is that the mediator recognised ... that we can't talk about disarmament without looking at the evolution of the other points of the agreement," he said. (Additional reporting by Peter Murphy)

VOA 7 Juyly 2005 UN Report Links Ivory Coast Massacre to Liberian Mercenaries By Joe Bavier Abidjan 07 July 2005 An internal United Nations intelligence report has linked Liberian mercenaries to a massacre that killed dozens in Ivory Coast's volatile west last month. The report has surfaced as the UN's human rights chief is in the country to combat rights violations. The report focuses on the events surrounding massacres in the western villages of Petit Duekoue and nearby Guitrozon, where more than 40 people were shot, hacked to death with machetes, or burned alive in their homes in the early hours of June 1. All the victims were from the local Guere ethnic group. Western Ivory Coast has long been the scene of violence between indigenous ethnic groups and northern migrants. At the time, government officials, blamed the massacres on traditional hunters from the north, backed by the New Forces rebels. The rebels have controlled the northern half of Ivory Coast since civil war broke out nearly three years ago. The U.N. intelligence report gives a different version of events, stating that Liberian mercenaries, hired by pro-government militia groups in Ivory Coast, carried out the killings. The report says the mercenaries were from Liberia's Krahn ethnic group, who had been originally hired to attack northern immigrants. According to the report, they were offered money and the chance to take part in Ivory Coast's disarmament process in exchange for attacking an immigrant village. But when the money was not paid up front, the report continues, a dispute broke out between the Krahn mercenaries and the largely Guere militia group that hired them. In revenge, the mercenaries attacked the Guere villages of Guitrozon and Petit Duekoue. Ivorian soldiers in and around the nearby city of Duekoue, the document says, had been told to stand down. And security forces at a checkpoint only a few hundred meters from the scene of the killings never reacted. Officials at Ivory Coast's United Nations peacekeeping mission declined to comment on the intelligence report, which was never intended for release. The U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is due to visit Guitrozon Friday, as part of a trip intended to highlight widespread human rights abuses throughout the war-divided country. The United Nations has not opened an official human rights investigation into last month's massacres, which took place in government-held territory. Instead, U.N. officials say they are helping Ivorian authorities in their inquiry.

Congo, Democratic Republic of

IRIN 30 June 2005 Seven killed in demonstrations, hundreds arrested [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © KINSHASA, 30 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - At least seven protestors were killed and hundreds more arrested in demonstrations on Thursday in various suburbs Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and in other urban areas. The protests are against a delay in national elections which were to have been held before Thursday. Last week the parliament of the transitional government extended the election timetable by at least six months. "A government made up of former belligerents [in the armed conflict in the DRC] is incapable of organising elections which it had promised to hold by 30 June 2005," said Tshibala Tshioma, a protestor and member of the opposition l’Union pour la democratie et le progres social (UDPS), the main political party which called the demonstration. The UDPS says the leaders of former armed groups who are now among President Joseph Kabila four vice-presidents have no interest in ending the transition process. "They are doing nothing but eating a lot of money while the population suffers," Tshioma said. In a broadcast on state television on Wednesday, and in anticipation of the demonstrations, Kabila appealed to the nation for calm. He reiterated his determination to end the transitional process and let the population freely choose their leaders. Voter registration for the elections began on 20 June but only in Kinshasa and donor countries are expressing concern that the process could drag on. In Kinshasa, some policemen beat up demonstrators and robbed them of their possessions. At least one person was killed and several injured when police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. In Tshikapa, a town 700 km southeast of Kinshasa in the province of Kasai Occidental, six demonstrators were killed, a witness said. "The shots started right when we began protesting," Mulumba Mposhi, a local UDPS leader in Tshikapa, said. But these shots do not scare us from our goal of chasing out this government." In Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, heavy weapons were fired during a demonstration there. The number of causalities is not yet known. In Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Kasai-Oriental, five people were killed in an exchange of gunfire between police and prisoners escaping from the local jail. "Many of the people arrested during demonstrations two days earlier were in the prison," Amigo Gonde, president of the Kinshasa-based human rights NGO l’Association africaine des droits de l’homme, said on Thursday. "They were amongst criminals who are now profiting from the political violence." So far, no government authority has confirmed that people have been killed, wounded and arrested.

Reuters 1 Jul 2005 D.R. Congo: Civilians killed as army factions clash(New York, July 1, 2005) - The Congolese army must prevent further violence among its rival factions that has caused unnecessary civilian casualties, Human Rights Watch said today. Yesterday, security forces in the eastern city of Goma fired mortars against soldiers based in a crowded neighborhood, killing two children and injuring 10 other civilians. The violence among army factions comes at a time when security forces across the country have been on high alert for weeks. Opposition parties had called for mass protests to force the Congolese transitional government to step down on June 30, the deadline originally set by the 2003 Sun City Accord. In towns around the country, security forces have responded to demonstrations with unnecessary force, killing at least four protestors. Opposition parties claim that 24 demonstrators have been killed. Yesterday in Goma, military police used indiscriminate and disproportionate force in an attempt to disarm the bodyguards of the regional military chief of staff. Military police fired mortars towards the home of the chief of staff, located in a crowded neighborhood. Two small children in a neighboring house were killed, and 10 other civilians were injured, including five children, two of whom are in critical condition. Several homes were damaged during an hour long firefight in which both parties repeatedly fired assault rifles. "Soldiers fired mortars into a crowded residential neighborhood," said Alison Des Forges, senior Africa advisor at Human Rights Watch. "The Congolese government must investigate and prosecute this indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force." In Goma, the local branch of the main opposition party canceled a march planned for yesterday, citing fears that their peaceful protest would be hijacked by forces opposed to peace. But special security measures remained in place in the city, adding to existing tension between different factions of the army. The failure to integrate dozens of former armed groups into a truly unified national army poses a major threat to Congo's transition process. In Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, the military police and the chief of staff's escort are drawn from factions that were opposed to each other during Congo's war. In December, at least 100 civilians were killed and scores of women and girls were raped in North Kivu during combat between the same factions. For months, opposition parties called for demonstrations on June 30, tapping into popular dissatisfaction with the slow pace of planning for elections and other critical tasks on the transitional government's agenda. Elsewhere in the country, opposition plans to protest moved forward, but were quickly quashed by security forces. In the Congolese capital Kinshasa, security forces killed at least two protestors yesterday; the main opposition party claimed that 10 were killed. . Police had erected barricades around the city to prevent the movement of demonstrators. An international observer witnessed police chasing and shooting at a small group of unarmed demonstrators whom they had already dispersed with tear gas. About 450 protestors were arrested. In Tshikapa, in Eastern Kasai province, opposition parties claimed up to six protestors had been killed yesterday. On June 25, mixed police and army patrols killed four protestors in Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Western Kasai province and stronghold of the main opposition party. Security forces used disproportionate force against unarmed protestors, according to United Nations observers. On Wednesday night, at least two more people were killed in Mbuji-Mayi and nine people injured. "The events around June 30 highlight the ongoing potential for violence and human rights abuses in Congo's pre-election period," said Des Forges. "The Congolese government and security forces bear the ultimate responsibility for preventing violence. The security forces must not use disproportionate force when responding to protests by unarmed civilians." The U.N. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials require that law enforcement officials, in carrying out their duty, shall as far as possible refrain from the use of force. Whenever force is unavoidable, law enforcement officials must use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Firearms should not be used against persons except in select circumstances to preserve life. The legitimate objective should be achieved with minimal damage and injury, and with respect for the preservation of human life. In some towns, demonstrations and anniversary marches occurred without violent incident. The June 30 anniversary marks two years of the Congolese transition process as well as 45 years of Congolese independence from colonial rule.

UN News Centre 6 July 2005 UN peacekeepers pursue militias in eastern DR of Congo 6 July 2005 – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said today it has deployed forces to pursue rebel militia groups in eastern South Kivu province. Guatemalan special forces, Pakistani commandos and units of the DRC Army (FARDC), with Indian air support, were taking part in a series of raids called Operation Falcon Sweep from 4 to 11 July to establish control over the Walungu Territory, south of Bukavu, the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) said. Among its aims was to "carry out effective search missions to flush out armed groups from the area," it said. When the Pakistani Quick Reaction Forces were dropped in the Kahuzi Bega National Park area, "a large number of FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), estimated at 150-plus personnel, immediately came out of the bush" and encircled the Pakistanis, but they retreated as the MONUC forces took a defensive stance and attack helicopters arrived, the mission said. "All MONUC forces returned to Kavumu Airbase safe and sound," it said. Rwandan Hutu rebels have been active in the jungles of the eastern DRC since Rwanda's 1994 genocide, in which they killed en estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Earlier this year, after secret negotiations in Rome, the FDLR leadership pledged that the group would lay down its weapons and return to Rwanda. MONUC chief William Lacy Swing designated six assembly and registration points for the estimated 13,000 to 15,000 Rwandan militiamen expected to want to take part in Rwanda's programme of disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, re-settlement and re-integration (DDRRR). MONUC had blamed some members of the FDLR for assaulting civilians in the eastern DRC and causing thousands to become internally displaced persons (IDPs).

IRIN 11 July 2005 Hutu rebels quit forest area under UN pressure [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © KINSHASA, 11 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - The deployment of United Nations troops has forced Rwandan rebels to withdraw from several areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, including a national park. A UN spokeswoman in the eastern Congolese town of Bukavu, Sylvie van den Wildenberg, said on Friday about 1,000 UN troops have been sent to remove Rwandan rebels from several areas in South Kivu Province, including the Kahuzi-Biega park. "The result is that military pressure has borne fruit," she said. MONUC, the UN’s mission in the DRC, has not given further details of how many Rwandan rebels may have left, or where they went. Van den Wildenberg said the military operation, Operation Iron Fist, was launched at the same time as MONUC’s heliborne deployment, Operation Falcon Sweep. The objective of both was to force out Rwandan rebels, accused by human rights groups of looting, raping and killing Congolese civilians. "Our message is that they can put down their weapons immediately and accept the offer to return to Rwanda in a dignified manner," she said. MONUC’s military spokesman, Col Thierry Provendier, has said operations will continue until the last rebel fighter leaves. Most of these fighters come from Rwanda’s majority Hutu ethnic group. Some fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide and are implicated in carrying it out. Others who are younger, were brought up as refugees in the Congo. Recently, one of two Rwandan Hutu groups in eastern DRC, announced it would abandon its war and return home. It has since, however, been since bogged down by internal dissent.

Reuters 11 July 2005 Rwanda rebels kill women, children by Monday 11 July 2005 6:07 PM GMT Hutu militias were blamed for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda Rwandan rebels have killed more than 30 civilians, mostly women and children, in a raid on a village in eastern Congo, burning young mothers alive in their huts in one of the worst massacres in the area for months, a medical charity has said. A Congolese government official, on Monday, quoted rebels as putting the death toll at 76 from the attack, saying it was carried out on Saturday to punish villagers for supporting UN troops seeking to expand their presence in the country's South Kivu province. About 50 people were said to be injured in the attack. The UN mission in Democratic Republic of Congo said it had sent peacekeeping forces by helicopter to verify reports of the killings in the village of Mtulumamba, which lies outside the town of Bukavu in lawless South Kivu. Freddy Mantchombe, the head of Congo section of the International Medical Corps charity, said local people told his staff that houses had been torched during the raid by rebels from neighbouring Rwanda based in eastern Congo. "Our teams were in the area yesterday and they were told by the district health authorities that 39 houses were burned down, 26 people were killed and another four are seriously injured," Mantchombe told Reuters by telephone from Bukavu. Disputed claim The attack was to discourage the locals from backing the UN forces The government official in Bukavu, who declined to be named, quoted survivors as saying Rwandan rebels had carried out the attack to discourage locals from supporting UN forces. "During the attack, the bandits told them to call on their UN saviours," he told Reuters by telephone. The main group of Rwandan rebels in Congo, the FDLR, denied responsibility for the attack, blaming it on a more recently formed faction of Rwandan rebels known as the Rastas, although many observers say the two groups maintain close links. "This is a lie. I spoke to my men on the ground and they confirmed that this attack was carried out by the Rastas," said Edmund Ngarambe, an FDLR spokesman in Bukavu. UN relief workers quoted the Congolese Red Cross as breaking down the death toll into 22 "young" women, three "older" women and one four-year-old boy. Massacres Rwandan Hutu militias, many of whom fled after conducting the 1994 genocide in their homeland, have long been active in eastern Congo, prompting Rwanda to invade its huge neighbour twice to try to neutralise them. Young mothers were said to be burned alive in their huts UN peacekeepers, long accused of doing too little to fulfil their mandate to protect civilians in eastern Congo, have stepped up operations this year, particularly after nine Bangladeshi soldiers were killed in February. The UN mission, known as MONUC, has mounted several operations to reinforce its presence in South Kivu in the past week, following a series of massacres blamed on Rwandan Hutu FDLR and Rasta rebels partly based in the province. "Military and civilian personnel in MONUC have been informed by numerous sources that there was a killing of about 30 people at Mtulumamba, 40 km west of Bukavu," said Sylvie van den Wildenberg, MONUC spokeswoman in Bukavu. "The civilian population is blaming the Rwandan Hutu rebels for this." Earlier this year, the FDLR had vowed to lay down its weapons and return to Rwanda. But none of the fighters has left and the group has been accused of collaborating with Congolese gunmen in kidnapping and extortion rackets in South Kivu.

Kenya

Nearly 4,000 illegal small arms destroyed [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN Weapons go up in flames during destruction of illegal arms in Nairobi on 29 June, 2005. NAIROBI, 1 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - Kenyan authorities on Wednesday set on fire nearly 4,000 illicit small arms recovered by police over the past two years in an ongoing effort to curb the proliferation of illegal weapons in the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes regions. "The proliferation and movement of these fire arms within and across the borders have left a trail of agony and destruction," said Kiraitu Murungi, the justice and constitutional affairs minister, who lit the fire to destroy the guns in Nairobi. Kenya is a signatory to the Nairobi Declaration on the Problem of the Proliferation of Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa, which was signed in 2000. The destruction of the weapons was in line with the Nairobi Protocol for Prevention, Control and Reduction of Small Arms and Light Weapons signed in 2004 by states that had earlier initialled the Nairobi Declaration. On 21 June, signatories to the declaration and the protocol agreed to set up a centre on small arms to combat the proliferation and use of illicit light weapons and strengthen cooperation in the region. The Regional Centre on Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa (RECSA) will be based in Nairobi. Signatories to the protocol include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania.

BBC 12 July 2005 Kenyan children killed in ambush Conflicts over water and pasture are common in this barren region As many as 100 people, mainly children and women, may have died in an early morning armed raid in north-east Kenya, according to eyewitnesses. Police confirm 19 deaths, with locals describing bodies in the streets after an ambush on children going to school. The attack in the village of Turbi - populated mainly by the Gabra community - is blamed on the rival Borana crossing the border from Ethiopia. The two groups have feuded over water and pasture in the semi-arid region. Local people spoke of some 100 dead bodies lying on the streets after the raid. James Galgalo of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Marsabit, the nearest town to Turbi told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that he believed the raiders were seeking revenge for earlier attacks. "There have been clashes all around here in the past three months between the Gabra and Borana," he said. "They are massacring people - from what we saw they used a lot of spears and knives." He said the bandits were blocking roads and police were unable to get access to help people.

Rwanda

The New Times (Kigali) OPINION4 July 2005 Did the Speaker Blow the Genocide Trumpet? By Silver H. Rugondo Kigali There are times when people "warm" or sweet-talk their way to high positions irrespective of how many heads they step on. If in doubt just read on. In the early seventies of the last century Major General Juvenal Habyarimana jumped the jinx and landed on power. In the process fifty five senior members of a government he deposed and thousands of ordinary citizens were massacred. His bloodletting instincts went on throughout the eighties and reached their climax in his meticulously prepared and executed genocide of 1994. Remember the work of raison zero- the infamous committee he chaired in preparation of genocide? Well, fate got even with him on the evening of the 6th April 1994. Humanity did not moan for the departure of one of the greatest killers on earth. That is for sure! What it regretted was that the departure opened the gates of hell for devils to come to Rwanda- "There are no devils in hell!" exclaimed the priest after witnessing the horrors of genocide in April/ May 1994, "They all came to Rwanda and they brought hell with them!" concluded the priest. Obviously the priest was convinced that the Interahamwe were devil-possessed. It was, his opinion, that no rational human beings could kill or maim fellow human being the way the Interahamwe were doing. By extension of his reasoning, no rational human beings could plan, finance or identify with their devilish acts. Obviously the priest, like the rest of humanity, did not moan the departure of such a planner. Well, there was one notable exception - a journalist by name of Alfred Mukezamfura. In one of his article, passing as a characteristic blueprint of the time, he idolized the "fallen hero". "The Hero has departed" was the heading of the article! This translation does not bring up the fond memories, unreserved appreciation and profound respect invoked or implied by its Rwandan version of "Intwali Yaratabarutse". These were the sentiments expressed in Alfred Mukezamfura's article. Obviously, the article was idolizing Juvenal Habyarimana and idealizing the coup of 1973 and all the atrocities that followed it. A critical assessment of the journalist's frame of mind in 1994 opens three schools of thought about the journalist's character. The three must be analyzed for public consumption. The first school of thought is that the sentiments expressed in the article were a true reflection of the journalist's beliefs and convictions. If that is the case then his character is known. It fits in the category of Hitler's, Pol Pot's and co. Such a character should not be involved in the process of making the laws. He should be involved in the process of facing them. The second school of thought has it that the journalist was totally indifferent to the expressed sentiments. A bit of history will show that this school of thought has no bearing on existing evidence. The evidence shows a strong and passionate support of the sentiments. The journalist of note knew that humanity has never accepted mass murderers as heroes. History records Hitler as a killer of millions of Jews, Gypsies and Soviets. He has never been regarded as a hero. Pol Pot killed millions of people. So did General Amin Dada. The fact is: none of them have ever passed as a hero! Why then did Alfred Mukezamfura, a journalist of great standing, idolize one of the greatest killers on earth? Why did the renowned journalist romanticize the criminal deeds of one of the greatest killers on earth? It can be argued that the only reason was that he supported the fundamental philosophy behind the mass killing- the philosophy of genocide! Why then did he romanticize the deeds in a mass media? Is it not for the sake of creating a role model for the public to emulate? It can be argued that as a result of his passionate appeal the public obliged and the genocide went on and on! In essence, is there any difference between such implied appeal and that of RTLM or Kangura? If there isn't, which is the case, then we are dealing with a great believer in and a great preacher of the philosophy of genocide! Such a character is not fit to contest for any public office let alone holding one. Now, ten years after the publication of his article, the journalist lands in a public office despite the fact that his article got him entangled in suspicions of the genocide philosophy. If we assume that he wrote and published the story under duress then the court of law must establish beyond reasonable doubt that indeed he was forced into the act of propagating the Genocide. It is then and only then that he would be eligible to hold a public office. Before that is done it would be honorable for him to step aside and allow the legal process - the process of justice takes its course. If on the other hand, the journalist did not believe in the sentiments expressed in his article, as the third school of thought has it, then his intellect was used to propagate the theory of genocide. So, when everyone was called upon to stand up and fight for or against genocide, the journalist sat on a fence between right and wrong and watched them fight. Now the public can see and appreciate the outcome of his "cautious" strategy. He sat on the fence with expectation of calling it a frontline. He was ready to exploit that vintage position in such a way that whoever won he would win, whoever lost he would win. The gamble paid handsomely. As a matter of fact many people used the same gamble and recorded a resounding success. There is no reason to believe that the process of sitting on the fence has stopped. Now the August House, like many other sectors of public life, has respectable Gentlemen who, while thinking about "A", write B", when they mean "C" or any other letter of the alphabet. Such characters are not firm believers in justice yet the public expects them to make just laws. We are now witnessing the fourth beginning of our country- that is the beginning after a major civil war. The first one was initiated by Ruganzu. I. Ndoli about six hundred years ago. As a result of a selfless King, a thoroughly patriotic and selfless army and strong policy of national reconciliation, the country was reborn. The policy and the philosophy behind the rebirth were recorded in one of the most beautiful national poetry we have today. As the country was rebuilt on a sound moral foundation it took long and strenuous efforts to bring it to its knees. The second and the third beginnings were that of 1959 commonly known as aided revolution and that of the 1973 Coup d'Etat. Both of them were characterized by a weak moral foundation, tribal animosities and the phrase "national reconciliation" was nowhere in their vocabulary. The fourth beginning has to make consistent efforts to acquire the characteristics of a modern stable state.

IPS 5 July 2005 Mixed verdict for Rwanda's community courts Fawzia Sheikh | Kigali, Rwanda 05 July 2005 07:14 It is not the place where you would expect to find justice in Rwanda: at the end of a bumpy dirt road leading to a shantytown of red mud-brick homes, where children sit idly on verandas. Yet, deep within this labyrinth of buildings, streets and palm trees in the south of the capital, Kigali, a rudimentary courtroom has been set up. Thin wooden poles covered by a tarpaulin enclose a stretch of grass where community trials known as gacaca are held in an effort to clear the enormous number of cases that relate to Rwanda's 1994 genocide (the approximate meaning of gacaca is "justice on the grass"). Upwards of 800 000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were murdered by Hutu extremists over the three-month period when the genocide occurred. The massacres began after a plane carrying Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and the Burundian head of state was shot down over Kigali on April 6 1994. On a recent Saturday morning, the courtroom -- in a neighbourhood called Akageri -- was packed with more than 100 Hutu and Tutsi residents. Eight men and women presided over the hearings, each of them wearing a sash inscribed with the word "inyangamugayo". This is the Kinyarwanda term for "wise men", also used to refer to people untainted by the 1994 massacres. Trials in Akageri have been a regular fixture for a month now, although the gacaca courts have been active elsewhere in Rwanda since March. But, while few would disagree that the country's conventional court system is unable to try the thousands who are accused of participating in the genocide, gacaca hearings have also come under criticism. Community courts have been condemned for failing to stem reprisals against witnesses who give evidence about those implicated in the killings -- although NGOs say this practice is not necessarily widespread. A suit-clad lawyer walking along a dirt road in Akagari notes that the Supreme Court is reviewing three cases relating to murders committed two years ago in the town of Kadvha. "They killed people because they thought they were going to testify," he says, declining to be named for fear of repercussions in this small neighbourhood, where "we know everybody". Clementine Claudine, a 25-year-old resident of Akagari, has been warned twice that her mother or father will be killed if she testifies against a Hutu. Nonetheless, she says community members continue to participate in the trials because they believe "people will eventually be punished". Police protection for genocide survivors is wanting, leaving local administrators -- or even the survivors themselves -- the task of assuring safety. At a workshop held in May on the gacaca process, a police officer claimed that intimidation was on the decline -- but refused to provide figures to support his case. "To me, it was a bit worrying as well that he kind of washed his hands of that," says a representative of an international NGO, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It doesn't really ... put a lot of confidence in people." During the past year, NGOs working in Rwanda have been accused of promoting divisions between ethnic groups. As a result, many now avoid speaking openly of their observations, for fear of inviting government reproach. Gacaca courts are also accused of focusing on Hutu misdeeds to the exclusion of atrocities allegedly committed by Tutsis. The Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) -- a rebel movement that seized control of Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide -- is accused of perpetrating abuses in the course of this campaign. "There's a clear communication among ... refugees that ... this gacaca is not going to succeed because it is trying only Hutus," says Irénée Bugingo, who works at the Kigali-based Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace -- an organisation that sent researchers to Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania last month to interview about 700 Hutus who fled Rwanda after the genocide. Under the law, gacaca tribunals deal only with cases that relate directly to genocide. The crimes of rape and murder allegedly committed by the RPF must be handled by military courts, says François Mugabo, coordinator of the gacaca programme at the Lawyers without Borders NGO in Kigali. Rwanda's Military High Court claims that all guilty RPF soldiers have already been tried for their crimes, and either executed or imprisoned -- but was not able to give figures in this regard to news agency IPS. The court does not consider the offences of RPF troops as war crimes, because of the supposedly isolated nature of these acts. The gacaca system has also come under fire for offering limited financial compensation to genocide survivors. "Up to now, there's a problem of compensation because even the law is silent on that matter," says Mugabo. "There [are] only reparations for [stolen] property -- goats, cows, houses destroyed." A social fund contributes to health and education for widows, orphans and the disabled, though it is estimated that only 30% of the needs of genocide survivors are covered by this programme. Regular courts that initially tried genocide participants, between 1997 and 2001, ordered damages to be paid to the tune of billions of Rwandan francs for each person affected by the killings. However, "Most of the people who committed these atrocities are really very poor and they don't have any means to compensate. It became meaningless. Nothing has been paid," says Mugabo. Similarly, concerns have been voiced about the lack of compensation for community members who take charge of the gacaca trials, which are held once a week in certain areas. But, while judges in the proceedings are not paid, they do receive free education for their children and medical insurance. According to the government, 1 521 cases had been heard by last month in gacaca courts -- and 1 294 people sentenced from one to 30 years' imprisonment. The number of cases pending changes each day, but the figure stood at 63 447 last March. A new law enacted last year makes it mandatory for Rwandans to participate in gacaca by sharing information about those accused of involvement in the genocide. Community courts are not responsible for trying the ringleaders of the genocide, however, or those accused of perpetrating sexual abuse in the 1994 massacres. This duty falls to regular Rwandan courts -- and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Tanzania.

AP 14 July 2005 First Lady on Emotional Visit to Rwanda By JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press Writer KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) - Overlooking this city's red, dusty hills where thousands were killed, Laura Bush on Thursday urged Rwandans not to lose hope as they try to heal the pain - ``still so fresh'' - of their country's genocide. She drew a parallel to U.S. history, saying, ``We haven't totally moved on'' from slavery 130 years after the Civil War. ``Of course there's no slavery any more,'' she told a group of Rwandan schoolgirls, one of whom had asked her how America dealt with the aftermath of its internal conflict. ``But I don't know that we've totally reconciled what it means to our history,'' the U.S. first lady said. Still, Bush sounded an optimistic tone for Rwanda, still reeling from the 100 days in 1994 when Hutu militias shot and hacked to death some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Many men were killed or fled the country. Many women contracted the virus that causes AIDS when they were raped. Many children were left orphaned. ``Rwandans have done extraordinary work recovering from that devastation,'' Bush said at the FAWE School, where girls receive U.S. scholarships for their studies. ``Now this is a country with growing opportunity, with confidence in the future.'' Bush did not speak publicly about the violence in another part of Africa, the Darfur region of Sudan. More than two years of conflict in Darfur have left tens of thousands dead and more than 2 million displaced. Arab, pro-government militias have mounted a counterinsurgency against black African rebels; many have compared the situation to Rwanda's genocide. During a brief meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Bush did discuss Darfur. Before the session, the first lady had said she wanted Kagame's advice about how the U.S. should respond in Darfur. Her spokeswoman, Susan Whitson, said afterward that Bush wanted to keep private the substance of her conversation with Kagame. Paul Rusesabagina, the lifesaving hotel manager portrayed in the movie ``Hotel Rwanda,'' set at a hotel not far from where Bush's entourage stayed, recently accused the world of failing Darfur just as it did Rwanda. Instead of bolstering its peacekeeping force, the United Nations pulled troops. The massacre ended when Tutsi rebels led by Kagame ousted the ruling government. ``Some would call the tragedy in Rwanda unspeakable, but that's precisely the problem,'' Bush said. ``Too few people around the world spoke out about what was happening here. Too few people recognized the scale of suffering.'' Her first stop in Rwanda was at a genocide memorial where it is said that the remains of 250,000 victims are buried. Joined at the museum by Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush laid a wreath at one of the memorial's mass tombs set amid tranquil gardens and fountains. Graveside, members of the entourage bowed their heads in silence to coincide with observations in Britain marking one week since deadly bus and subway bombings in London. Blair said it was especially poignant to be honoring the British dead at a site that remembers those lost in Rwanda. ``I am very moved by what I have seen, also distressed that the world looked on while it happened,'' Blair said. The group took in the museum's haunting account of the genocide. Then Bush, daughter Jenna, Rwandan first lady Jeanette Kagame and Blair - their faces strained from holding back emotion - signed the visitor's book. Bush also spent time in Kigali promoting ways the U.S. is helping Rwanda, such as assisting with the treatment of AIDS patients and helping girls get an education. Bush began her day in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where she reached out to East Africa's large Muslim community by promoting U.S. efforts to help that often-disenfranchised population educate its children. After traveling this week through South Africa and Tanzania, Bush was heading back to Washington on Friday.

Mail & Guardian (Soth Africa) 14 July 2005 www.mg.co.za US first lady seeks advice on preventing genocide Jennifer Loven | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 14 July 2005 12:38 United States First Lady Laura Bush says she is looking to Rwandan President Paul Kagame to suggest how the world can make sure that a genocide his country experienced more than a decade ago is not repeated in Sudan's Darfur region, or anywhere else. Bush was closing out a week-long trip through Africa with a visit on Thursday to Rwanda, where a 100-day slaughter in 1994 by Hutu militias killed nearly half a million minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. She was being joined there by Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I look forward to talking with both the first lady of Rwanda, as well as the president of Rwanda, about what the rest of the world can do in situations similar to this, like in Darfur," Bush said on Wednesday to reporters. On the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide last year, Kagame criticised other nations and institutions for failing to halt the killing. Instead of strengthening its peacekeeping force, the United Nations pulled troops. Both former US president Bill Clinton and the UN have since apologised. The massacre ended when Tutsi rebels led by Kagame ousted the extremist government. Bush, in several events in Kigali, was promoting US-supported efforts to help Rwanda by supporting women in political life and helping girls get an education. "The healing process, the reconciliation that Rwanda has managed to have is really amazing considering how extensive the genocide was and how violent," she said. Her first stop, however, was the Kigali Memorial Centre -- Gisozi Genocide Memorial -- where she planned to lay a wreath and sign a visitors' book. "The genocide was recent enough that everyone still remembers it and no doubt many, many people are still grieving for their family members, their loved ones that they lost," Bush said. "How difficult it must be, to live with a genocide like that in your country, to live with it in your history, is really, really hard to imagine." There were no indications that Bush planned to make a direct public link between what happened in Rwanda and the situation now in Darfur. More than two years of conflict there have left tens of thousands dead and more than two million displaced in Sudan, mostly as the result of a counterinsurgency by Arab, pro-government militias against black African rebels. Paul Rusesabagina, the lifesaving hotel manager portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda, recently accused the world of failing Darfur now just as it did Rwanda in 1994. Before travelling to Rwanda, Bush was spending the morning in Zanzibar, Tanzania's Indian Ocean archipelago. She planned to reach out to its large Muslim community at a time when there are concerns the semiautonomous area could turn toward a stricter form of Islam. Mindful of the 1998 deadly truck bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam and in Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya, Washington is keeping an eye on an area where anti-Western rhetoric increasingly has been a feature of Friday sermons. Bush was also to visit the US-funded school Al Rahma Madrasa Pre-Primary School to demonstrate the US's role in ensuring education for the community, and to a teacher-training school that is receiving 20 000 books donated through private and public money in the US. -- Sapa-AP

South Africa

DeHavilland Information Services 3 July 2005 www.dehavilland.co.uk G8 urged to end genocide against humanity 03/07/2005 Former anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela graced the Live 8 concert in South Africa on Saturday where he called for an end to the genocide of poverty. Helped onto stage by his wife Graca Michel, he was greeted by a five-minute ovation from the 8,000-strong crowd. The former South African president told the crowd in Johannesburg that defeating poverty was not just a gesture of charity but an act of justice against genocide. Failing to defeat needless poverty was a crime against humanity and one which history would judge world leaders on, he said. "It is within your power to prevent a genocide against humanity," he said. "We stand tall and await your direction." His words come ahead of the G8 meeting next week in Scotland, where leaders of the world's richest nations will discuss how to tackle poverty and climate change. Mr Mandela said the G8 had an historic chance to cancel the crippling debts of the world's most impoverished nations, scrap unfair trade barriers such as the common agricultural policy and plough more funds into aid relief for Africa. Meanwhile, United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, attending the Live 8 concert at Hyde Park in London on Saturday, urged leaders to meet the Millennium Development Goals which he said would alleviate poverty for millions of people in Africa. He said reaching the UN's goals would save many children from malaria or Aids. In a message to the Live 8 event, he praised the artists who had devoted their time and talents to such "a vital cause". In an upbeat message to music fans, Mr Annan said: "This generation - with its voice, with its votes, with its hard work - really can make poverty history."

Sydney Morning Herald 4 July 2005 Act now or it's genocide By James Button, Herald Correspondent in London July 4, 2005 Page Tools Email to a friend Printer format Birhan Woldu waves to the crowd at the Live 8 concert in London, in front of an image of her as a malnourished toddler in Ethiopia. Her life was saved, Sir Bob Geldof said, in part through donations from Live Aid viewers 20 years ago. Related Rock'n'roll will never be the same Ethiopia: From Live Aid to Live 8 London: Singing all the way to Gleneagles Philadelphia: Declaration of interdependence. Tokyo: Bjork rocks but few roll up Crowds mass for moral crusade Live 8 rocks the world Greatest music show ever Rock against poverty In a day of stars and global heroes, the one with the most credibility walked slowly to the stage and challenged human beings to "wipe poverty from the Earth". Speaking at the Live 8 concert in Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela told the 8000-strong crowd there: "History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks. I say to all those leaders: Do not look the other way, do not hesitate … It is within your power to prevent a genocide. "Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity; it is an act of justice," said the the former South African president, 86, who was cheered for nearly five minutes before he could speak. In London, as Live 8's organisers tried to ensure the Saturday spectacular meant more than just the biggest rock gig the world has seen, the event's driving force, Bob Geldof, brought the computer billionaire Bill Gates to the Hyde Park stage, introducing him to the crowd of 200,000 as "the greatest philanthropist of our age", who had given away $US5 billion. "I have learnt that success depends on knowing what works and bringing resources to the problem," Mr Gates said, sounding as if he were launching new software. "Some day all people, no matter where they are born, will be able to lead a healthy life." Mr Gates and Mr Mandela, the rich man and the one-time revolutionary, typified Live 8's ambitions: to send a message to the world's most powerful leaders four days before the Group of Eight summit in Scotland. "Eight men in a room can change the world," said a huge message at Hyde Park, urging the crowd to text the eight leaders demanding action to wipe out Africa's debt, double aid and scrap trade barriers. A million people attended the 10 free concerts in Europe, North America, South Africa and Japan, while an estimated 3 billion watched on television. Geldof, dressed all in white with a black cap, shuffled on stage to present a video of African children with the words: "Most of these children will go to bed hungry tonight, and every night." The giant screen showed a child's ravaged face, her lips parched, her eyes half closed from the 1984 famine in Ethiopia. "See this little girl," Geldof said. "She has 10 minutes to live." But she not only survived, "she's just done her agricultural exams and is here with us today", said Geldof, as he was joined on stage by a radiant, highly nervous, young woman in a white dress. "Don't let them tell you that this stuff doesn't work." In 1984 Birhan Woldu became the "face of famine" after her image was broadcast worldwide. At the time a re-hydration shot had just saved her life. The 24-year-old had never heard of Paul McCartney or U2, but she grinned sheepishly as Madonna took her hand and sang Like a Prayer. It was a moment of perfect theatre, but will it change the world? In Britain, Live 8 has triggered a huge debate about the value of debt relief, with sceptics claiming that aid risked ending up in the Swiss bank accounts of corrupt leaders if it was not accompanied by political change. Moeletsi Mbeki, an academic and brother of South Africa's President, told a British newspaper: "Throwing money at African governments is not the answer. Give the money to the people for productive investment. Africans are perfectly capable of improving their own lot." The G8 leaders have already agreed on a plan that will virtually wipe out debt for 18 African countries, and a spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said the goal of $25 billion more for aid was in sight. But critics say what matters most is removing trade barriers that will enable African farmers to sell their produce in Western markets. The G8 leaders are unlikely to consider serious trade reform - which would mean taking on powerful agricultural groups in their countries. Peter Kanans, 60, a Kenyan coffee farmer, had, "like many hardworking Africans", a "bone to pick with the G8". He said his crop this year netted him $US300 - less than his brother, a professor in the US, spends in two months on cappuccinos. "Even if they cancel the debt and give our governments aid money, ordinary Africans will not benefit," he said. But Live 8 organisers preferred to stress a message of hope, with banners announcing "This is the week poverty can be beaten". The crowd did too, with their mood summed up by one T-shirt slogan: "Bollocks to poverty".

AP 3 July 2005 Live 8 Stakes Claim As Best Concert Ever By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 3:55 p.m. ET LONDON (AP) -- Twenty years after a scruffy one-hit wonder first demonstrated his gift for lofty dreams and grandiose statements, hundreds of the world's top performers and more than 1 million fans united for 10 free concerts across the globe aimed at fighting African poverty. Bob Geldof claimed Saturday's shows would be ''the greatest concert ever,'' and it was hard to argue with him after the unprecedented gathering drew everyone from Snoop Dogg to Bill Gates, Mandela to Madonna. But the ultimate success of the Live 8 extravaganza will be judged by whether the world's most powerful leaders, gathering next week for the Group of Eight summit meeting, listen to Geldof's demands for debt forgiveness, trade concessions and $25 billion in aid for Africa. ''History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks,'' former South African president Nelson Mandela said after taking the stage in Johannesburg, where the crowd of more than 8,000 people gave him a five-minute ovation. ''I say to all those leaders: Do not look the other way, do not hesitate ... It is within your power to prevent a genocide.'' ''This is our moment. This is our time. This is our chance to stand up for what's right,'' U2 frontman Bono told a crowd of 200,000 in London's Hyde Park. ''We're not looking for charity, we're looking for justice,'' Bono said. ''We cannot fix every problem, but the ones we can, we must.'' In Philadelphia, on the Independence Day weekend, actor Will Smith called the festivities a worldwide ''declaration of interdependence.'' ''Today we hold this truth to be self-evident: We are all in this together,'' Smith said. Beamed around the world by satellite, he led the audience in snapping their fingers every three seconds, signifying the child death rate in Africa. Neil Young performed rousing renditions of ''Keep on Rockin' In The Free world'' and ''O Canada'' before 35,000 roaring fans at Canada's event in Barrie, Ontario. Paul McCartney and U2 opened the flagship show of the free 10-concert festival with a rousing performance of ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.'' A thunderous roar erupted from the crowd of about 200,000 as icons McCartney and Bono belted out the first line: ''It was 20 years ago today...'' -- a nod to Geldof's mammoth Live Aid benefit that raised millions for African famine relief in 1985. Bono, dressed in black and wearing his trademark wraparound shades, wrapped the crowd around his finger, enticing tens of thousands to sing along to the anthemic ''One'' and ''Beautiful Day.'' The crowd cheered when a flock of white doves was released overhead. Geldof appeared onstage to introduce Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Gates, whom the crowd greeted with a rock star's roar. ''We can do this, and when we do it will be the best thing that humanity has ever done,'' Gates said. The crowd joined in as REM sang ''Man on the Moon,'' then heard U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan declare: ''This is really the United Nations ... The whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor.'' Geldof's claim that 3 billion people around the world were watching Saturday seemed overblown, as did talk in Philadelphia that a million people were on hand. But Live 8 was huge nonetheless, with a mile-long crowd stretching from the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and America Online saying that more than 5 million people sampled its live video streams, which broadcast all 10 concerts in their entirety. The first concert kicked off in Japan, where Bjork and Good Charlotte joined local bands for a show that failed to generate much interest in Asia's only G-8 nation. Despite Bjork making her first live performance in two years, the crowd of 10,000 people was only half of what the hall in the Tokyo suburb of Makuhari could hold. Still, ''we believe passionately in what this is about,'' Bjork said. ''Just the acknowledgment of the problem is an important step.'' Live 8 then rolled on to Johannesburg. That show, plus one featuring African artists in southwestern England, were organized following criticism that African artists had been left out of an event aimed at their own continent. ''Africans are involved in helping Africa, which doesn't happen too often,'' Cameroonian singer Coco Mbassi said before the England show. ''We're presenting a different image of Africa.'' Near Paris, an eclectic lineup including Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Goth-rockers The Cure played to a crowd of 100,000 at the 17th-century Palace of Versailles. Faith Hill and Duran Duran joined Italian stars in Rome for a concert at the ancient Circus Maximus, which was packed with about 200,000 fans. German crowd-pleasers Die Toten Hosen kicked off Berlin's show -- which attracted about 150,000 people -- with a string of power anthems while reminding revelers that helping Africa stood above the music. ''This is no rock concert, it's a reminder about next Wednesday,'' singer Campino told the crowds, referring to the G-8 meeting. Canadian favorite Tom Cochrane started that country's concert with ''Life is a Highway'' before 35,000 roaring fans on a crisp sunny morning in Barrie, Ontario. And in Moscow, where 20 years ago residents heard little or nothing about Live Aid because of tight Soviet information controls, tens of thousands jammed a square in the shadows of the Kremlin. In London, Madonna performed ''Like a Prayer'' hand-in-hand with Birham Woldu, an Ethiopian woman who as a malnourished toddler appeared in some of the most wrenching footage of the 1984-85 famine. Her life was saved, Geldof said, partly through donations from Live Aid viewers. As night fell, Sting performed ''Every Breath You Take'' as a message to the G-8 leaders -- ''We'll be watching you,'' he sang. The Who belted out their classic ''Who Are You?'' to a backdrop of images of the G8 chiefs. And the crowd went wild for the reunion of '70s supergroup Pink Floyd -- the first time guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, keyboard player Richard Wright and bassist Roger Waters appeared onstage together since 1981. London concertgoer Tula Contostavlos, 19, said she was there to see Mariah Carey -- and to send a political message. ''Obviously some people are here for just music,'' she said, ''but they're forgetting what's important and what they're here for.'' ------ On the Net: http://www.live8live.com

Sierra Leone

IRIN 1 Jul 2005 UN troops to leave by the end of the year [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © UNMASIL Photo/ Roland Ulreich, 2004 UNAMSIL troops are set to be out of Sierra Leone by the end of 2005 DAKAR, 1 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - The UN Security Council has voted to close down the UN peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone by the end of December, with the next contingent of troops due to pull out in mid-August. About 3,400 peacekeepers remain in the West African nation, three and a half years after the official end to a brutal civil war, which shocked the world with its images of drugged-up youths hacking the arms, legs, ears and lips off civilians. The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was created in October 1999 to help restore peace to Sierra Leone. At its height, it boasted 17,000 troops and was the biggest UN peacekeeping operation in the world. The force was originally supposed to withdraw from Sierra Leone at the end of last year, but its mandate was extended because of security concerns in neighbouring Liberia and Guinea and delays in preparing the Sierra Leonean army and police to take over full responsibility for internal security. However, there have been no security incidents requiring UN support since the peacekeepers handed over primary responsibility for security to the Sierra Leone government last September. And by the end of 2005, all the blue helmets should have left. On Thursday, the 15-nation Security Council, in an unanimous vote, extended UNAMSIL's mandate for a final period of six months until 31 December. In his latest report to the Council on Sierra Leone, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that the drawdown of troops should begin in mid-August, but warned that the situation remained fragile and that much remained to be done to address the underlying causes of conflict in the country. Annan also said that UNAMSIL needed to remain on its guard during the run-up to presidential and parliament elections in neighbouring Liberia on 11 October, since that country has also recently emerged from civil war. "The last (UNAMSIL) infantry battalion and air assets should remain fully operational until the end of November, by which time the results of the elections in Liberia will be known," Annan wrote. The UN chief said although the presence of UN troops in Sierra Leone would soon no longer be necessary, UN agencies must step up their efforts to help the country recover from its devastating 1991-2001 civil war. Sierra Leone is the poorest country in the world, according to the UN Human Development Index. About 70 percent of the country's six million people still live on less than a dollar a day. The Security Council called for a "seamless transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding". UNAMSIL's drawdown comes as the United Nations is reinforcing other peacekeeping forces in the region. Last week, the Security Council voted to send an extra 850 peacekeepers to reinforce the 6,000 already on the ground in war-divided Cote d'Ivoire. It also raised the possibility of UN forces stationed in Liberia and Sierra Leone temporarily reinforcing the Cote d'Ivoire force.

Somalia

Reuters 1 Jul 2005 Print E-mail Save Somali president returns to his lawless homeland By Mohamed Ali Bile and Guled Mohamed MOGADISHU/NAIROBI, July 1 (Reuters) - President Abdullahi Yusuf returned to Somalia from Yemen on Friday, making his first visit to his lawless homeland since his government left its temporary base in neighbouring Kenya last month. Yusuf landed in the northern port of Bosasso in Puntland state, his powerbase in the lawless Horn of Africa country, on Somalia's 45th anniversary of independence, officials said. "He will stay in Bosasso for one or two days," presidential spokesman Yusuf Ismail Baribari said by telephone from Jowhar, one of the government's temporary bases in Somalia. The interim administration is the 14 attempt to re-establish government in the country since 1991, when a coalition of warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and Somalia descended into anarchy. Yusuf had been in Yemen since June 13, where he held talks with Yemeni officials and met Somalia's parliamentary speaker to try to heal a rift over where the transitional government should make its initial return. The reconciliation talks produced no agreement on where to base the government, formed in the relative safety of neighbouring Kenya last year. Yusuf, Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi and allied lawmakers have made their base in the provincial town of Jowhar, 90 km (55 miles) north of Mogadishu, arguing they cannot return to the anarchic city until it is pacified. But Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, influential warlords in the government and other members of parliament have moved into Mogadishu, which they say must be the capital under an interim constitution. A university student in Mogadishu welcomed Yusuf's return to Somalia, but said it would be better if he were in the city. "The same weapons in Mogadishu are the same weapons in Bosasso. There is nowhere in Somalia that is safe," Hassan Gele Roto said by telephone. Baribari said it had not yet been decided if the president would go to an African Union summit in Libya or begin visiting other regions of Somalia. As of Friday, Gedi was due to lead the Somali government delegation to the summit either on Saturday or Sunday, stopping in Djibouti on the way, he said. Gedi led a delegation on Friday to Isaley Airport, 28 km (17 miles) north of Mogadishu, to collect generators and office equipment donated by the Italian government.

United Nations News Service 1 Jul 2005 Pirates seize UN food relief boat off Somali coastPirates have seized a boat off the coast of Somalia carrying United Nations food relief for some 28,000 victims of last December’s Indian Ocean tsunami and are asking for $500,000 to release it, the UN World Food Programme said today. The boat, the MV Semlow, with 10 crew members and 850 tons of rice on board, was seized on Monday between Haradhere and Hobyo, nearly 300 kilometres northeast of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, as it was on its way from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Bossao in the Puntland region of Somalia. "The WFP has appealed to local authorities to help them impress upon the ‘pirates’ that the food was intended for humanitarian purposes," WFP spokeswoman Christine Berthiaume told a briefing in Geneva. The company hiring the boat indicated that the ‘pirates’ were asking for a $500,000 ransom. The boat, which was seized 60 kilometres off the coast, was now about five kilometres from shore, she added. Somalia has been rent by factional fighting for almost 15 years. In another African operation, Ms. Berthiaume said that since April 2004 WFP has only been able to distribute 50 per cent of the corn rations intended for thousands of Angolan refugees and displaced persons (IDPs). In July the agency will only be able to assist 800,000 people, compared to 1 million in June. WFP needs $17 million to feed this population through the end of the year and without new contributions it will have to make additional cuts in rations, she said.

BBC 6 July 2005 Somali march triggers war fears President Yusuf fears for his life in the Somali capital President Abdullahi Yusuf has told the BBC he is to head south through Somalia from his northern stronghold collecting troops and militia as he goes. He plans to go to the town of Jowhar, which is 90km north of the capital, Mogadishu, and is his preferred temporary base for the new government. The warlords in control of Mogadishu have threatened to attack Jowhar if the president establishes himself there. Observers say the president's announcement could trigger fighting. Since President Yusuf left his exiled home in Kenya last month he has been based in Bossaso in his home region of Puntland preparing to venture south to Jowhar. Mobilising "Without troops no government can work," the president told the BBC's Somali Service. "We are now recruiting troops in Puntland. They are also being recruited in Hayran, Bay, Bakul, Gedo and Juba regions. We will mobilise," he said. Somalia has not had a functioning government since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991 and 13 previous attempts to end the anarchy have failed. The Somali government, which was established in Kenya, has been divided since May, with the speaker of parliament operating from the capital, and the president refusing to move there while it is still under the control of his rivals. The Mogadishu warlords were named as ministers in Mr Yusuf's cabinet but soon fell out with him, siding with the speaker. Last month, President Yusuf met the speaker, Sharif Hasan Shaykh Adan, in Yemen's capital, but they failed to agree on where the government should be based. Mr Yusuf is from the north-eastern region of Puntland and has little support in Mogadishu. He has also been criticised for his links to Ethiopia, distrusted by many Somalis for meddling in the long civil war. BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says that unless foreign powers, or Somali elders, can intervene to prevent a conflict erupting, the stage is now set for a confrontation between the president and his former associates in Mogadishu.

BBC 11 July 2005 Somali peace activist shot dead Abdulkadir Yahya Ali's death has shocked Mogadishu residents A prominent Somali peace activist has been shot dead by unknown gunmen at his home in the capital, Mogadishu. Through his Centre for Research and Dialogue, Abdulkadir Yahya Ali tried to resolve Somalia's 14-year civil war. Witnesses said about five attackers handcuffed his security guards, cut off the phone lines and shot him in front of his wife. The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the killing has shocked the city's residents. Al-Qaeda Switzerland-based charity Wartorn Societies Project International, which helped set up the Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD), has downplayed any link between Mr Yahya's killing and a recent report, saying that Islamist terror groups were based in Mogadishu. Reuters news agency reports that the CRD works closely with the International Crisis Group think-tank, which over the weekend said that a group linked to al-Qaeda was working out of Mogadishu. Facts and figures about life in Somalia At-a-glance "Since 2003, Somalia has witnessed the rise of a new, ruthless independent jihadi network with links to al-Qaeda," the ICG report said. It said the group was suspected of involvement in the apparent assassination of four aid workers and 10 former police or military officers in the past two years. "In the rubble-strewn streets of the ruined capital of this state without a government... al-Qaeda operatives, jihadi extremists, Ethiopian security services and Western-backed counter-terrorism networks are engaged in a shadowy and complex contest waged by intimidation, abduction and assassination," the ICG said. 'Optimist' United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, expressed shock at Mr Yahya's death. It is not known who killed Mr Yahya "Yahya was a committed advocate for peace and reconciliation, and his optimism never faltered," Mr Gaylard said in a statement from Kenya. "This is a great loss to Mogadishu and Somalia at this particular time when people of his courage and tenacity are most needed." A government set up after more than two years of talks in Kenya is deeply divided. President Abdullahi Yusuf says that Mogadishu is too dangerous and wants the government to be based in the town of Jowhar. But the speaker of parliament, Sharif Hasan Shaykh Adan, and the warlords who control Mogadishu and who have been named as government ministers, insist that the government must be based in the capital. Last week, Mr Yusuf told the BBC that he would soon start to head south from his northern stronghold collecting troops and militia as he goes, raising fears of fighting between the two sides.

www.crisisgroup.org 11 July 2005 Counter-Terrorism in Somalia: Losing Hearts and Minds? U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in Somalia threaten to destabilise the country further and provide a popular platform for the spread of jihadism. A quiet, dirty conflict is being fought out in the ruined capital, Mogadishu, by al-Qaeda operatives, jihadi extremists, Ethiopian security services and Western-backed networks. This shadowy and complex contest waged by intimidation, abduction and assassination has seen some American successes but is producing growing unease within the broader public. Ultimately a successful strategy requires attention to more than the military aspect alone. Containing and eliminating jihadism in Somalia demands patient, sustained support for the twin processes of reconciliation and peace building, until legitimate, functional government is restored. - Crisis Group reports and briefing papers are available on our website: www.crisisgroup.org

www.crisisgroup.org 12 July 2005 CONFLICT RISK ALERT: SOMALIA Brussels, 12 July 2005: Somalia faces a serious threat of greatly expanded violence if the UN Security Council creates an exemption to the arms embargo now applied to the country. On 14 July 2005, the Council will consider such an exemption in order to permit deployment of a peace support operation by the Horn of Africa regional organisation, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). This deployment has been endorsed by the African Union (AU) -- subject to Council authorisation and lifting of the arms embargo -- and would be followed by an AU mission. In letters last week to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to the Permanent Representatives of UN Security Council members (full text below), Crisis Group President Gareth Evans urges the Council to defer consideration of the issue at this time. "Under the right circumstances and with adequate planning, the proposed mission could contribute to restoring peace and government", says Evans. "Right now, however, the exemption would be premature and counterproductive". The problem is that the interim president's appeal for foreign troops is very deeply divisive in Somalia, and has yet to receive the unambiguous approval of the Transitional Federal Institutions. An external military intervention in the Somali conflict at this stage would, in Crisis Group's judgement, undermine both the prospects for peace in the country and development of the AU's peacekeeping capacity. The success of any international deployment to Somalia hinges upon broad consensus among the Somali leadership and unambiguous approval by the Transitional Federal Government and Parliament. Neither exists. And there are neither agreed ceasefire arrangements nor a common plan for disarmament and demobilisation. The UN arms embargo on Somalia has been critical for limiting violence and its humanitarian consequences in Somalia. Lifting it for any reason at this critical time risks destabilising the transitional institutions, derailing the peace process and rekindling civil conflict.
8 July 2005 [UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Permanent Representatives of UN Security Council members] The Somali peace process is in deep crisis. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) established in October 2004 is divided into two camps. Since its return to Somalia last month, tensions on the ground have escalated sharply as both have engaged in military preparations. In a 26 June 2005 radio address, the Prime Minister indicated his camp was prepared to use force if members of the government and parliament continued to challenge his leadership; on 7 July, interim President Abdullahi Yusuf told the BBC he was mobilising forces and procuring military equipment in anticipation of a confrontation. As the Secretary-General noted in his recent report on Somalia, such differences "could assume further divisions along clan and regional lines", threatening renewed armed conflict and the collapse of the peace process. At this delicate point, the Security Council has a critical role to play. On 14 July 2005, the Council will consider an exemption to the arms embargo established by Resolution 733 (1992), so as to permit deployment of an IGAD peace support operation (IGASOM). This deployment has been endorsed by the African Union -- subject to Council authorisation and lifting of the arms embargo -- and would be succeeded by an AU mission. Under the right circumstances and with adequate planning, that mission could contribute to restoring peace and government. At this time, however, the exemption would be premature and counterproductive. The interim president's appeal for foreign troops is deeply divisive in Somalia and has yet to receive the unambiguous approval of the Transitional Federal Institutions. It is clear from the statements of some ministers and parliamentarians, as well as public demonstrations and media commentary in Somalia, that any intervention force risks being perceived as partisan. That risk is increased by the IGASOM concept of operations, which envisions Chapter VIII "peace enforcement". For peacekeepers to become embroiled in the Somali conflict would undermine both the prospects for peace in the country and development of the AU's peacekeeping capacity. As I indicated in an earlier letter to IGAD heads of state (sent 9 February 2005), the success of any international deployment to Somalia hinges upon broad consensus among the Somali leadership and unambiguous approval by the TFG and Parliament. Neither exists. Further, there are neither agreed ceasefire arrangements nor a common plan for disarmament and demobilisation. Before deployment of a peace support operation, these preparatory steps are needed: revival of political dialogue between the two wings of the government within the context of the Transitional Federal Institutions; national ceasefire arrangements, incorporating the progress to date in Mogadishu; and broad consensus within the Transitional Federal Institutions on the mandate, scope, duration and membership of any peace support operation. The UN arms embargo on Somalia has been critical for limiting violence and its humanitarian consequences in Somalia. Lifting it for any reason at this critical time risks destabilising the transitional institutions, derailing the peace process and rekindling civil conflict. I urge you, therefore, to defer consideration of an exemption until these preconditions have been fulfilled and instead encourage the African Union to put in place a political initiative that would complement its efforts on the military side. At the same time, I hope the Council will take this opportunity to encourage the Somali leadership to engage in serious dialogue to salvage the peace process and lay the political foundation for a successful international mission. Sincerely, GARETH EVANS President The International Crisis Group (Crisis Group) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation covering over 50 crisis-affected countries and territories across four continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.

Sudan

BBC 2 July 2005 Annan criticises Darfur response The US has called the crisis genocide, but the UN has not United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has criticised the developed world for being too slow to respond to the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region. "We were slow, hesitant, uncaring," Mr Annan said in a BBC interview. He said the international community had "learnt nothing from Rwanda" - a reference to the 1994 genocide there. At least 180,000 have died since 2003 in the western region of Darfur. More than two million people have been forced from their homes. Human rights groups, the US Congress and the US government say that genocide is taking place. However, a UN team sent to Sudan to investigate concluded that war crimes had been committed, but there had been no intent to commit genocide by the Sudanese government. Strongest comments The UN secretary general was heavily criticised at the time of the Rwandan genocide for failing to take heed of warnings from his staff on the ground. In the case of Darfur, Mr Annan has made a point of continuing to demand international action and his comments in an interview for the BBC's Panorama programme are the strongest yet, says the BBC's Fergal Keane. Asked by our correspondent whether the judgment on Darfur would be as damning as in the case of Rwanda, Mr Annan replied: "Quite likely". Darfur has become the first case referred by the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court. ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told the Security Council on Wednesday that his office had found evidence - including widespread rape and sexual assault - that warranted the bringing of the Darfur case to the court. He accused the Sudanese authorities of failing to take action against those responsible. Violence in Darfur has declined in recent months. Britain's Minister for International Development, Hilary Benn, believes that has much to do with the threat of prosecution by the ICC now hanging over the heads of Sudanese leaders, our correspondent says.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) 1 Jul 2005 AU Summit: Protect civilians across Darfur(New York, July 1, 2005) -- At the African Union summit next week, African leaders should put the protection of civilians in Darfur at the top of their agenda, Human Rights Watch said today. Leaders of the pan-African organization’s 53 member states will meet in Sirte, Libya on July 4-5. “The African Union deserves credit for leading the efforts to restore security to war-torn Darfur,” said Georgette Gagnon, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “More African Union forces need to be deployed across Darfur to protect civilians and help reverse ethnic cleansing.” Today, the African Union will begin its second phase of deploying troops to Darfur. Plans are well underway to increase AU forces in Darfur from some 2,700 to 7,700 by the end of September. Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Kenya are contributing the additional forces, including an estimated 4,000 troops and 1,000 civilian police. The European Union, NATO and the United Nations -- along with countries including the United States, France, Canada and Britain -- are providing the technical, financial and logistical support to deploy these AU forces. “There is no time to waste,” said Gagnon. “Violence and insecurity persists in Darfur, especially in areas where there are no African Union troops.” Human Rights Watch called on the African Union to ensure that its forces in Darfur are deployed speedily in many more villages and small towns throughout the region, which is roughly the size of France. AU troops should robustly protect civilians and proactively patrol and secure the main roads for humanitarian, commercial and civilian traffic. These forces should also do what is necessary to establish a safe and secure environment that will allow for the safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons. Once the 7,700 AU forces are deployed, the African Union, NATO, the United Nations and other donors should move as quickly as possible to the next phase of deployment, which will boost the level of AU forces to 12,300 under current plans. “The status quo in Darfur is unacceptable. The inability of two million people to return home guarantees ongoing instability and retribution,” Gagnon said. “This current situation rewards the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing and war crimes.” Human Rights Watch called on the African Union, the United Nations, NATO, the European Union and other concerned members of the international community to continue their recently established partnership to provide protection and freedom of movement in Darfur. These efforts must ensure that two million displaced Darfurians can return home and, in a region where conflict has made 3.5 million people depend on food aid, can cultivate their land in safety. Donors must continue to provide the needed logistics and financial assistance to the African Union Mission in Sudan. Human Rights Watch urged members of the African Union -- particularly Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal and Kenya -- to maintain a high level of troop and police deployment until the crisis in Darfur is over. “Countries like Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa have shown leadership in contributing to the AU mission in Darfur,” said Gagnon. “Other African countries should follow their example by sending troops, military observers and police.”

IRIN 1 July 2005 Garang urges southern militias to reconcile [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN Garang (right) and Moi at the meeting of southern Sudanese armed groups in Nairobi. NAIROBI, 1 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - The chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, appealed on Thursday to all militias operating in southern Sudan to put aside their differences and reconcile. "Maj Gen Gordon Kong and Maj Gen Paulino Matip Nhial [leaders of the government-aligned South Sudan Defence Force (SSDF)], I welcome you in the spirit of forgiveness and peace and as brothers," Garang told a conference of southern Sudanese armed groups in Nairobi, Kenya. Thursday's conference was part of an ongoing series of meetings on south-south dialogue. Garang focused on the SPLM/A's vision for stability in the region and security arrangements for the upcoming transitional government period. Under the provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A on 9 January, all armed groups and militias in the south will either be integrated into the Sudanese armed forces or into the SPLM/A. "I want to assure other armed groups who will decide to join the SPLA that they'll be treated the same way as other armed groups who joined the SPLA in the past," Garang said. "Your rightful place is in the south, you belong in the south." Sudanese civil-society organisations, church groups and 11 political parties attended the previous dialogue in April, which developed a consensus on issues ranging from security, democracy and good governance to human rights, gender equality and economic development. Chaired by former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, Thursday's conference was intended to bring together more than 20 armed groups from south Sudan who had been absent from the previous conference; some of these control oil-rich areas in the southern state of Upper Nile. Participants said disagreements among southern Sudanese leaders had, in the past, led to the creation of many splinter groups, several of them supported by the Khartoum government. Observers feared that once Sudanese government troops withdrew from their southern positions in August, militias could try to fill the gap. "I consider this a momentous occasion, key to the implementation of the peace agreement," Moi told the participants. "It is a demonstration of your honesty and your courage to be part of this historical chapter in the history of your country." "When you are involved in this fighting, you have to ask yourself: what am I fighting for," Moi added. He stressed that war should not be allowed to continue. In a statement read for him, Maj Gen Matip said: "Our presence here is to prove our political and military dedication to the CPA and the socio-cultural, political, military and security stability of our beloved country the Sudan." He noted that he was eager to maintain tranquillity in the Sudanese nation, and expressed his readiness to enter into discussions for the sake of a peaceful southern Sudan. "The SSDF demands its rightful place in the governance of southern Sudan, as well as within the general governance of the country," he said, and added that the SPLA and the SSDF should "equitably form the high command of the Southern Sudan Armed Forces". Garang said the conference was not a negotiation, but rather a dialogue to heal wounds, solve differences from the past, build trust, and "put our house in order". The CPA, he added, provided a fair framework for equitable governance, which would lead to the reconstitution and devolution of power in Sudan. Included in the CPA were provisions for pulling Sudanese government troops out of the south, self-determination, wealth-sharing and religious freedom. A transition period of six years - after which south Sudan's people would decide in a referendum whether or not to break away from the rest of Sudan - was also set out in the agreement. "It is essential to get all the militias on board, it is crucial for the implementation of the CPA," Kent Degerfelt, head of delegation of the European Commission in Sudan, told IRIN. "These are the people who actually have the guns in their hand. They should stop fighting, that's what it is all about," he added. Garang said the SPLM/A wanted peace in southern Sudan through the CPA, as well as peace in the western region of Darfur and eastern Sudan. It also wanted the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), out of the country in order to achieve sustainable peace. The LRA has fought the Ugandan government for 19 years, a brutal conflict that has displaced an estimated 1.6 million people. Some 20,000 children have been abducted for use as fighters, porters and sex slaves. "In the south, we also want to solve the differences with the other armed groups, so that there will be no fighting anywhere in the country," he said.

Xinhua News Agency Date: 03 Jul 2005 Print E-mail Save Death rate falls sharply in DarfurKHARTOUM, Jul 3, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Sudanese Minister of Health Ahmed Bilal Osman announced here Sunday that an initial survey showed a threefold decrease in death rates in the western region of Darfur. At a press conference, the minister said that death rate in Darfur was under emergency level and the health situation had apparently improved in the war-torn region. He added that the maximum death rate in Darfur has reached 0.8 out of 10,000 people per day. He added that it is a clear evidence that the relief support delivered by the Sudanese Ministry of Health and the international community has a tangible influence on the humanitarian situation in Darfur. It is also a result of the fast alert system and the proper investigation which have been adopted by the concerned sides to control the epidemics. Sudan's arid and impoverished western region of Darfur has witnessed over two years of civil war which pit two local rebel groups against Arab-led Sudanese government. Thousands of people have been killed and more than a million driven from their homes, most of them by government-backed militias. Peace talks are underway in the Nigerian capital of Abuja to end the conflict.

BBC 2 July 2005 Why 'never again' keeps happening By Fergal Keane BBC News Debt relief and the alleviation of suffering will be high priorities at the G8 summit, but it seems another crucial issue has been left off the agenda. Fergal Keane reflects on how the international community fails to learn lessons when it comes to reacting to genocide and crimes against humanity. To be honest it was a crisis to which I came late. I had been preoccupied with Rwanda. Ten years had passed since the genocide and I had travelled back to report on the anniversary. And perhaps, after the experience of Rwanda, I was also wary of becoming entangled in the horrors and complexities of another epic tragedy. Because, be assured, Darfur is an epic story. More than two million people have been uprooted. Hundreds of thousands, nobody really knows how many, have been killed. Thousands of women have been raped. And yet for all the epic quality of this tragedy, it feels like a very old script. Government denial We have been here before. A government threatened by rebellion turns on a segment of its own people. It uses militia, as well as its own military, to do the killing. I gave up having any faith in the phrase 'never again' after Rwanda There are mass graves and there is mass rape. Men and boys are taken away to be killed. Then the government denies the scale of the violence. It keeps journalists out, blocks aid workers. Many more die from hunger and disease. The world expresses concern but does too little, invariably too late. A handful of foreign troops are allowed to deploy, but they are too few and their mandate is too restrictive to allow them to intervene and fight the killers. Yes, we have been here before. Bosnia, Rwanda and those are only the ones that have happened in our own time. I gave up having any faith in the phrase "never again" after Rwanda. I now add another verbal formulation to the list of redundant phrases. It is the sentence "We must learn the lessons." It is of course invariably the precursor to the words "never again." "We must learn the lessons of the Holocaust, or of Cambodia, or of Bosnia, or of Rwanda... and make sure that things like this..." and you know how this sentence ends, ..."things like this never happen again." Refugees attacked As plastic bullets were being fired, the UN security advisers told their staff to leave. The situation was no longer safe Last November I was in a refugee camp in Darfur when it was attacked by the Sudanese police. They wanted to shift the displaced people to another camp where they would be easier to control. Many of these people had been driven from their villages by Sudanese soldiers and tribal militia. They had seen their fathers, brothers, sons murdered, their mothers, wives and sisters raped. The police beat and tear gassed them. The clubs and staves smashing into bodies already made weak by hunger. Stinging, choking gas sending infants into convulsions of coughing. The world knew about this. There were observers present from the United Nations and international aid agencies. At one point, as plastic bullets were being fired, the UN security advisers told their staff to leave. The situation was no longer safe. To their credit the UN staff stayed. But the Sudanese police regarded us all - unarmed Westerners with our notebooks and expressions of outrage - with contempt. They looked like men who knew that whatever I might report back on television, and whatever the UN workers would say to their bosses, none of it would be enough to bring the international cavalry charging over the hill to save the beaten down, terrorised people of the camp. Failure to act Since that visit, the UN Security Council has voted to forward the names of 51 Sudanese to the International Criminal Court. Many are thought to be senior figures in the military regime. The national interests of member states will usually take precedence over the suffering of people in Africa But that move came nearly two years after the violence erupted. The five permanent members of the Security Council - the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - collectively failed to act in time. Each had different reasons. The US and Britain did not want arguments over Darfur to get in the way of securing a peace deal for Sudan's other tragedy, the civil war in the south which had run for 30 years and claimed two million lives. And they were preoccupied with Iraq and in no mood for military adventures elsewhere, let alone an Arab state like Sudan. Sudan also had allies on the council, like the Chinese who resisted putting Darfur on the agenda. These are the diplomatic details but they speak to a fundamental crisis that has dogged the United Nations from its birth 60 years ago. The national interests of member states will usually take precedence over the suffering of people in Africa. I have no doubt that in a few years time there will be investigations by the United Nations and the EU and several others into why the world failed the people of Darfur. We already know why, just as we did in Rwanda. We cared, but we did not care enough. Fergal Keane is reporting on Darfur for the BBC's Panorama and From Our Own Correspondent.

BBC 5 July 2005 Sudan agrees Darfur peace outline Rebels began an insurrection in Darfur in 2003 The Sudanese government and two rebel groups have agreed on ground rules for efforts to resolve the conflict in the troubled Western region of Darfur. They signed a declaration of principles after four weeks of hard negotiations in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The principles include democracy and devolution. But African mediators warn that formidable challenges remain. About 180,000 people have been killed and more than two million made homeless since the conflict began in early 2003. The Khartoum government and Arab militias have been accused of widespread atrocities against black Africans in Darfur. A recent United Nations report stopped short of saying the authorities and their militia allies carried out a genocide, but it did say war crimes had been committed. Some formidable challenges lie ahead Salim Salim African Union mediator Talks mediated by the African Union (AU) began in August of last year with the aim of finding a political solution. Tuesday saw the completion of the fifth round of the talks, which are due to resume on 24 August. Broad commitments The discussions are part of the AU's attempt to find African solutions to Africa's problems, the BBC's Anna Borzello in Abuja says.
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES
Justice and equality for all
Democracy and regional devolution
Judicial independence
Equitable distribution of national wealth
AU chief mediator Salim Salim said the declaration would send a message for ending the conflict and the realisation of peace and stability in Darfur. "You have demonstrated your own determination that you will not let down the people of Darfur... and you will not let down our friends in the international community," he told the signatories. "Some formidable challenges lie ahead," he added. The head of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur, said the agreement marked "the beginning of the road to peace". Among the broad commitments agreed upon are the upholding of democracy, the independence of the judiciary and "justice and equality for all, regardless of ethnicity, religion and gender". The declaration also refers to "an effective devolution of powers" to regional authorities and the equitable distribution of national wealth.

crisisgroup.org 6 July 2005 INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW BRIEFING The AU's Mission in Darfur: Bridging the Gaps Bold new action is urgently required to safeguard the inhabitants of Darfur, many of whom are still dying or face indefinite displacement. If the African Union (AU), which plans only to have 7,700 troops and police on the ground by September, cannot deploy the larger, more capable force needed to protect civilians, NATO troops should help bridge the gaps. The EU and NATO already give significant financial and logistical support to the AU Mission (AMIS), but political sensitivities have kept non-African troops out of Darfur. The concept of African solutions for African problems should not trump the international responsibility to protect. More courageous thinking is needed by all sides to get an adequately sized, trained and equipped force on the ground with a strong mandate as quickly as possible: 12,000 to 15,000 within 60 days. Crisis Group reports and briefing papers are available on our website: www.crisisgroup.org

Reuters 9 July 2005 Darfur Action Key to Ending US Sanctions - Zoellick By REUTERS Filed at 5:26 p.m. ET KHARTOUM (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said a new unity government in Sudan was a step toward improving ties with Washington, but action to end the conflict in Darfur was needed for sanctions to be lifted. Zoellick attended the swearing in on Saturday of former southern rebel chief John Garang as first vice president, marking a new era after two decades of north-south civil war. But he said a southern peace deal signed in January needed to extend to a separate conflict in the western region of Darfur. ``It's an important day in terms of the formation of the government of national unity,'' Zoellick said. ``But it's equally important that we connect it to the events in Darfur and indeed to the challenges of peace and stability throughout all of Sudan.'' Zoellick said the lifting of U.S. economic sanctions, imposed on Sudan in 1997 as a ``state sponsor of terrorism,'' had been brought up by his Sudanese counterparts in discussions. But he said Washington was not ready to accept an immediate end to the sanctions, despite the end of the southern civil war. ``The intensity of the opinion in the United States about first the events of the north-south trouble that killed over two million people but now most importantly the genocide in Darfur are so strong that, while I see a path for improving relations, we need to do so step by step,'' he said. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur and more than two million forced from their homes since a rebellion broke out in early 2003. The rebels accuse the government of neglect and of arming Arab militia to loot and burn non-Arab villages, a claim which Khartoum denies. CEASEFIRE The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes in the region, but a U.N.-appointed commission stopped short of the U.S. assertion that the violence constituted genocide. Zoellick said he was happy with a 3,000-strong African Union force monitoring a shaky ceasefire in Darfur, and saw no need for Western troops to deploy there. ``The role of NATO is one of transportation and logistics (in Darfur),'' he told reporters in Khartoum. ``There's been no interest in NATO and no interest in my country of having Western forces on the ground.'' An international think tank has recommended the NATO alliance deploy up to 12,000 troops to stop violence in Darfur, to give the AU time to build additional forces. Sudan says it will only allow African forces to deploy in Darfur. NATO has said it would airlift extra African troops to the region, but has not said it would send its own forces. Frosty U.S. ties with Khartoum, which hosted Osama bin Laden from 1991 to 1996, reached a low in 1998 when Washington launched missiles at a pharmaceuticals plant it said was linked to bin Laden and making ingredients for chemical weapons. Zoellick, visiting Sudan for the third time this year, said a new coalition government, which should be agreed by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Garang within 30 days, was the next step toward normalising relations with Washington. ``I think the new government of national unity creates an opportunity for President Bashir and First Vice President Garang... to take the steps that will improve relations.'' But he warned that actions such as harassing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Darfur and the closure of newspapers would harm that process of normalisation.

BBC 12 July 2005 Sudanese unity is 'in jeopardy' Turabi used to be a close ally of President Bashir Sudan could disintegrate Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi has warned following his release from jail. He told the BBC after the inauguration of a new unity government that narrow party interests had been given precedence over Sudan's wider problems. The new constitution, brokered as part of a peace deal, shares power between northern and southern parties. The president's former ally said one of the new vice-presidents should have been from western war-torn Darfur. One-and-a-half million people died in the 21-year civil war between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south, but fighting continues in the western region of Darfur, while rebels in the east have resumed fighting in recent weeks. 'Deep crisis' Released from prison two weeks ago, where he was held in connection with involvement in a failed coup attempt, Mr Turabi said the country was in "deep crisis". Mr Garang's a soldier from a rebellion, so he's a bit more freelance and he's more educated than both of them Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi "It is very serious. It can break up. The whole country can disintegrate," he said. "The country is now in trouble and we have many neighbours. The trouble is over spilling into our nine neighbours." The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Khartoum says Mr Turabi, once a close colleague of President Omar al-Bashir and a proponent of Sharia law, has always been willing to speak his mind. Mr Turabi said his invitation to join the new administration was a sham, as 80% of the ministerial positions will be taken by the former southern rebels and the ruling National Congress Party "I know who's going to control the government, the president alone." 'Squeezed' Under the new constitution, there are two vice-presidents and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement leader John Garang was sworn in a vice-president on Saturday along with northerner Ali Osman Mohamed Taha. Sudanese greet ex-rebel leader In pictures "If they want a coalition presidency, at least have someone from the west, the east, the south and President Bashir from the north - and perhaps a lady," Mr Turabi said. Mr Garang, he said, would find himself "squeezed" between two northerners. "He's a soldier from a rebellion, so he's a bit more freelance. He tends to be more free and he's more educated than both of them," he said. His National Congress party, which he says represents northerners and southerners, would form the opposition and contest future elections. "It not that everything the government does we will be against, but we'll try to broaden freedom." Mr Turabi was critical of the president's hold over local government and the media, which he said would infringe the possibility of holding free elections. Under the peace deal, Sudan's new oil wealth will be shared between north and south, Islamic Sharia law will not be applied in the south and the south will hold a referendum on secession in six years' time. Fifty two per cent of government and parliament posts will be held by the ruling National Congress, while Mr Garang's SPLM has been given 28% of power.

washingtonpost.com 13 July 2005 Arab Genocide, Arab Silence By Joseph Britt Post Wednesday, July 13, 2005; A21 What responsibility do Arabs have to stop genocide being committed by Arabs? Genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan, inflicted on mostly Muslim African tribespeople by the nomadic Arab militias called janjaweed with the enthusiastic assistance of the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, has been going on for over two years now. In response, nations from western and central Africa have sent peacekeeping troops; various Western countries, including the United States, have pledged many millions of dollars in aid. Western diplomats led by Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick have worked feverishly to stop the massacres, rapes and forced relocations that the Sudanese government has employed as its weapons of choice. Absent from the picture have been the other Arab states. This is exceedingly strange, and not just because most of Darfur's victims are Muslims. Darfur is thousands of miles away from any of the Western countries trying to stop the genocide there; even the African nations sending peacekeepers are remote. Meanwhile, Egypt, with a huge army, a modern air force and more conta