Darfur, where a civil war has raged since February 2003, is a vast partially desert region, bordering Chad and Libya in north-eastern Africa. 
It has a population of six million and was formerly a sultanate until 1917 when it was incorporated into Sudan, then ruled by Britain. The region takes its name from one of the principal African tribes, the Fur people. 
The civil war and its consequences have led to the deaths of between 180,000 and 300,000 people, while the United Nations estimates that 2.4 million have been forced from their homes with a further 200,000 refugees fleeing to Chad. 
The rebellion in Darfur is being fought mainly by the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). 
The rebel groups are demanding more autonomy and economic development for the black African-populated region which they see as "marginalised" by Arab Khartoum and have demanded a more equitable distribution of the nation's resources, especially oil. 
The rebel forces are fighting Sudanese government troops, supported by Arab militias who are accused of serial atrocities in the region, including massacres, rapes and the destruction of homes. 
On March 31 2005, the UN approved a resolution which allowed those responsible for such atrocities to be tried by the International Court of Justice, after long debates linked to the United States' opposition to this court. 
The Darfur conflict has no basis in religion with its entirely Muslim and Arabic speaking population of Arab and African tribes, unlike the 21-year civil war of southern Sudan with its majority animist and Christian population. 
The population comprises both peasant farmers and nomadic peoples spread over three Sudanese states, West, North and South Darfur, which cover a total of 500,000 sq km (200,000 square miles). 
The region is mainly one of high plateaus with volcanic summits culminating in the 3,071 metres (10,134 feet) of the highest peak in the Jebel Marra mountains. 
There is considerable mineral wealth in the region including oil, uranium and copper while cattle raising is one of the main sources of income. 
The region has been, for a number of years an area of conflict between the nomadic and agricultural tribes with raids by armed groups. However there was no armed political movement in the region until February 2003, when a Darfur Liberation Front emerged, splitting into the SLM and JEM. 
The JEM is said to have up to 7,000 men while the armed branch of the SLM has 16,000 fighters. The rebels claim to control all the rural areas while the Sudanese army remains confined, they say, to the main cities in the region. 
In February 2004 the SLM joined the ranks of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition which groups part of the northern opposition to Khartoum and the southern rebels.

Rebels attack Bedouin village in Darfur

Armed rebels attacked a Bedouin village in Sudan's western Darfur region, wounding three people, the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported Wednesday. 
More than 80 rebels also killed 50 camels and looted 12,000 more in the attack on the village of Amo near Kutum town in the north Darfur state, the report said. 
Minister of State in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry Najeeb el- Kheir was quoted as saying that the repeated ceasefire violations by the Darfur rebels would hinder the progressing atmosphere toward the next round of peace talks due in Abuja, Nigeria, in June. 
Sudan's impoverished Darfur has been gripped by violence since February 2003, when local farmers took up arms against the government accusing it of neglecting the arid region. 
Thousands of people have died from clashes, hunger and diseases and more than one million displaced. 
The African Union (AU) brokered a ceasefire in April 2004, but violations on both sides were often reported. 
Three rounds of peace talks were held between Darfur rebels and the government, but yielded no major breakthroughs. 
The African Union has invited international partners to attend a meeting on Thursday to discuss how to respond to AU's April 28 appeal for additional financial, logistic and material support to strengthen and increase the African Union Mission (AMIS) from its current forces level of 3,200 to more than 7,700.

Donors, $ 200 millions for African mission, for Darfur

International donors have agreed to give over $200 million to the African Union to finance the mission, already operational, in Sudan’s western region of Darfour where a humanitarian crisis has unfolded after clashes and violence erupting in February 2003. Canada and the USA have made among the most generous pledges with $134 and $50 million respectively, while the EU’s aid amount will be announced in the next few hours. The AU has sent 2400 troops to the region, which should grow to 7700 by September with the task of enforcing the ceasefire signed last year between the government and rebel armies (SLA-M and JEM) which has been breached several times. The NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and the Foreign Affairs representative for the EU were also attending. UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said that Darfour is witnessing a “fight against time”. “If violence will prevent the population to plant the seeds for the next season, we will find ourselves facing an epic humanitarian effort to sustain millions of people”. Annan then asked the donor counties to finance the expansion of the AU mission without delay because such a mission might be able to provide greater security for the civilian population against violence. The president of the AU Commission Alpha Oumar Konaré, spoke in different terms saying that the mission in Darfour is a critical test to determine the effectiveness of the coupling between international aid and African capacity to resolve conflicts. He said “If Sudan should collapse, then the entire continent will collapse and suffer seeing as there are 9 countries that share borders and frontiers with Sudan”.

Donors conference in Addis Ababa with NATO, EU and UN

An international Donors’ Conference for Sudan opens today in African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). On the agenda are logistic and humanitarian aid to confront the crisis in Darfur, the west Sudanese region torn by over two yeas of internal conflict that has resulted in thousands of victims and based on UN estimates 1.5-million displaced, including 200,000 refugees in nearby Chad. On Tuesday the NATO already confirmed logistic support to the African Union (AU) peace mission in Darfur and the measures will be presented to the assembly convened in Addis Ababa by the Secretary General of the 26 nations of the Atlantic Alliance, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Conference will also be attended by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana, as well as representatives of the AU. Sudan has so far accepted outside aid, but under the condition that the soldiers deployed in the territory are African. The AU has already deployed 2,400 men in Darfur, due to increase to 7,700 by September, with the duty of monitoring respect of the cease-fire signed between the government troops ant two main rebel groups, but violated on various occasions by both sides.

Koffi Annan to visit Darfur and South

The conflict in Darfur and peace in South Sudan will be the central themes of the visit to Sudan of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Sudanese contrasts – a nation in which a two-decade conflict was followed by the outbreak of another – and the role of the international community in reconstruction and in the handling of the serious humanitarian and political crises will be the issues addressed starting on Friday, until June 1 in the African nation. Based on the agenda, in Khartoum Annan will meet with top officials of the Sudanese government, the African Union and UN. “The Secretary-General is returning to Darfur to see firsthand one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and the progress being made in meeting the people's needs on the ground”, indicates the official UN statement issued last night. Annan’s visit is not only on a humanitarian level, but comes just ahead of a crucial and extremely delicate phase, which could mark a positive turn in the Darfur crisis. The resumption of negotiations between the government and rebels, set for June 1 and on a positive note given that both sides agree to dialogue – in fact accompanies the deployment of thousands of soldiers of the African Union, sent in reinforcement of the around 2,000 observers already present on the ground, in a move to guarantee a truce that has so far remained on paper. After Darfur, the UN Secretary General will then depart for Rumbek, provisional capital of South Sudan, where he is due to meet with John Garang, leader of the separatists of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) and main protagonist of the two-decade war with Khartoum. Annan will arrive in Sudan after attending the Donors Conference on Thursday in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) aimed at bolstering the AU peace force in Darfur.

Garang announces plans to build roads in south Sudan

Speaking on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) John Garang announced that when the government of the south is set up, it intends to develop the basic infrastructure in the south, starting with roads. 
According to the independent Al-Ayam, the plan includes the construction of 12 asphalt roads linking the southern towns in Upper Nile, Equatoria and Bahr al-Ghazal and with Darfur through Nyala and Babanusah, with southern Kordufan through Kadugli, with White Nile through Renk, and with southern Blue Nile through Al-Damazin. 
The roads would also link the towns to Uganda through Nimule, Kenya though Lokichokkio and the Congo through Lasu. 
In addition, a railway line would be constructed from Juba to Mombasa Port through Kenya and Uganda. The SPLM is also negotiating with the government of the DRC to construct a railway line linking Juba to Kisangani town. 
The plans also consist of rehabilitating the river link between southern and northern Sudan and the building of a dam at the Fula cataracts to the south of Juba to generate electricity.

Police deployed after clashes in refugee camp 

Renewed tension broke out this morning in the area of the refugee camp of Soba Aradi, around 30km south of Khartoum, last week theatre to clashes that resulted in at least 18 dead (up to 30 according to local sources), including some police officers. A large number of police and security agents this morning surrounded the area, impeding the refugees from leaving the zone, as referred by eyewitnesses quoted by the international press. A lawyer, Mohamed Ahmed Abdel Gader Arbab, spokesperson for the residents of the Soba Aradi camp, said that the armed forces have sealed off the entire area. The camp hosts some 10,000 people displaced by the war in South Sudan, which lasted 22 years and caused at least 4-million Sudanese to seek refuge in the north. For years the displaced from the south have been living in slums surrounding the capital, Khartoum, in terrible humanitarian conditions. In Soba Aradi some families have been settled in the camp for 14 years. In the past days the police attempted to forcedly transfer the displaced, whom reacted engaging in violent clashes with the officers. The United Nations condemned the violence, underlining disagreement with the Sudanese authorities to not have consulted with the displaced in regard to their eventual transferral to other structures. On the Sudan Tribune, the London-based Organisation against Torture criticised the government policy, calling for the respect of the rights of the displaced and an independent inquiry into the causes of the May 18 clashes. Also expressing serious concern over the choice of the Sudanese authorities to transfer the displaced to remote desert areas.

AU asks NATO for help in Darfur

The African Union, AU, has asked NATO to supply 6 combat helicopters, 100 or so armed troop carriers, night vision equipment, as well as ambulances, trucks and passenger aircraft. NATO has accepted the request to provide logistical support to the African observation mission deployed in Darfour, the Sudanese region involved in a civil war as of February 2003. NATO’s involvement in Darfour, although limited to supply of materiel and logistics, represents the first African operation for NATO, as well as the only way for the AU to effectively increase its contigent in Sudan. The African observation mission, should increase form the current 2,000 to almost 12,000 unoits by September. Meanwhile, the Sudanese press has announced that AU experts are already working to draw a map of the forces deployed in the field by the government and by the two fighting movements that oppose it. The team of experts, which has been in Darfour since last week, is led by the president of the joint commission to verify the ceasefire, general Mahamet Ali. The mission intends to establish the effective military forces on the ground and confront them with those known at the time of the signing (April of 2004) of the first truce between government and rebels, an accord that in reality has never been respected by either one of the two sides.

Interview with Sudanese humanitarian affairs minister

Peace is generally returning to Sudan and people who are still fighting should lay down their weapons, the Sudanese minister for humanitarian affairs, Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid, said on Wednesday. 
In an interview with IRIN in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the minister also talked about the situation in the troubled Darfur region and the challenges ahead of the return of displaced persons (IDPs) to the south. 
The minister was in Nairobi to attend a two-day meeting between the Sudanese government, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the UN to discuss coordination efforts ahead of the return of IDPs and refugees to southern Sudan, following the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement between Khartoum and the SPLM/A on 9 January. 
Below are excerpts: 
  What is your assessment of the situation in Darfur? 
The security situation in Darfur is better now. And it's not our own evaluation - it's also the evaluation of the UN and the international community. The movement of assistance and people is better, as we introduced the so-called "fast-track system" for humanitarian assistance. It is for the whole Sudan, to ease the movement of humanitarian efforts. We also made progress in social reconciliation, and last week's tribal reconciliation meeting in North Darfur was very successful. It was agreed that all fighting would be stopped. 
All political parties have committed to the ceasefire and reconciliation efforts are underway to bring them to the negotiating table. We are now waiting for the African Union (AU) to announce the date for the resumption of the Abuja peace talks. It is time for peace now. 
We think that things are better in every respect. More than 70 international organisations are now working in Darfur with more than 700 cars and more than 10,000 staff. 
  How do you reconcile your assessment with the latest Darfur report by the UN in which the UN Secretary-General expresses his concern about the increase in incidents of banditry and attacks on humanitarian aid workers? 
I don't think there is a serious problem of relief-targeting. Most of the attacks on humanitarian workers are from the rebels, and it was once stated during our joint meeting with the UN that rebels are responsible for the attacks. This is why the tribal leaders asked the rebels not to attack, not only the convoys, but all the movements. It is not the tribal militias who are attacking. There is a lot of pressure on the rebels to go for peace now, and not for fighting. 
  And what do you think of the role played by the AU in Darfur? 
The African Union is doing a god job in Darfur and we want to reach the number we have agreed upon [of AU troops] to have peace in Darfur. As Somalia showed us, we think that the Africans are better in tackling the problems in Darfur, but they need logistical support [from the international community]. 
  What is your assessment of the situation of the IDPs and refugees who have already returned to southern Sudan? 
In our meeting we have discussed the issue of spontaneous return. It is not assisted return. We agreed on giving some assistance - of course we cannot provide them with the whole standard - and one of the most important [forms of] assistance is information. We are going to provide them with information. Now we have the staff in the places of departure who will record the situation and who will give information to them about the rules, the situation in the place of return, when they know the place of return. 
We have other staff at the entry points and we are also investigating the routes of return to make sure the routes are safe. We have some services in what we call the transit camps, like Kosti [on the Nile in northern Sudan, south of Khartoum], with some facilities like water and sanitation so they can stay there for two to three days before they leave. 
We hope that most of them will wait until we arrange for the assisted returns, which will be after the rainy season [October 2005]. We also have coordination with the local authorities so that they know that the people are coming to these places. We also inform those who distribute food in the areas of return to consider those who are coming to the area so that they can get the assistance that the others in the area are getting - especially WFP [UN World Food Programme], which is providing the food in these areas. 
  For the IDPs and returnees that have not yet returned, what do you see as the top three priorities that have to be put in place before they return and what is the government of Sudan doing in order to put these things in place? 
We are trying to have cross-line missions, and we are trying to clear mines, rehabilitate the roads and the railway system to deliver assistance directly from our side to the people in need in the south. 
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement prepared the way for the return of IDPs and refugees. Tripartite commissions, consisting of the government of Sudan, the hosting country - such as Kenya, Uganda and the DRC - and representatives from UNHCR [the UN Refugee Agency] are drawing up the plans for voluntary repatriation. The timing of the voluntary returns depends on the availability of funds and the preparations in receiving areas. 
We recently finished our survey of all the IDPs in the north. We are expecting the analysis of this data by the end of this month so that we can use this information about their willingness to return - whether they have children in school, what are their jobs, what is their place of return. Many questions will assist us in helping them. 
We have another survey in government-controlled areas in the south, and another one in the SPLM-controlled areas. And the second survey we are going to conduct over the coming months will be in areas of return so that we will have a full picture of whether the places of return have the facilities to accept these people and provide for their needs. 
All these surveys together will give us a clear picture. We think that most of the IDPs are willing to return, but not all of them at the same time. Once we have the details of the surveys we can make preparations with the government, UN agencies and with other organisations. 
We think it is the standard that any displaced person needs to be transported, receive food assistance, security, protection, services in the area of return and some source of livelihood so that they can depend on themselves. For the area of return we are going to take an "area approach". The refugees, the IDPs and the residents who are there will all have the same facilities and services. 
  Environmental groups published a report about two weeks ago about the Merowe dam on the River Nile in northern Sudan. They said it was an important project in terms of electricity generation but expressed concern about the 50,000 people that had to be relocated. The report found that many of the free services and the compensation that had been promised to those affected had not been forthcoming. What is your reaction to these allegations? 
I think this is one of the best-organised projects with the best-organised response for those that have been affected. The number is not so big, but it is [in] phases. I have been there to see their places, they have proper houses, they have proper facilities, they have farms, everything. And even it is better than the old villages. They have been compensated generously. 
Phase two is those that have been affected by the construction and phase three is those who are very far from it. All the problems now are with those who are very far from the dam and they will be affected later on, in 2007. They think that they have to get the same things as those that are in the direct site of the dam. They think that even the Comprehensive Peace Agreement may affect them, that a new government will come and solve things for them. 
I think this is one of the most important projects in Sudan, because it will produce double the amount of electricity that is being produced now in the whole of Sudan and it is one of the main programmes for poverty alleviation. One of our problems is that farmers cannot produce marketable or economical, feasible products because the costs of gasoline and spare parts in the rural areas are very high. The dam will create a tremendous amount of jobs by creating industry, because power is most important for industry. 
It will change the whole situation in the area. I was there and they are now constructing an airport, a bridge, roads, everything, the whole area is moving now. About [US $] 2 billion will be spent in that area. It will bring it alive and change the area dramatically. 
  And the affected people that are complaining about the lack of compensation and the lack of free services that they had been promised? 
In the programme, they are there. They [free services and compensation] will come, but they will come later, they will come in phases. Some groups in the opposition want to use it as a political issue.

Sudanese officials call for restraint following Soba violence

Sudanese and UN officials have called for calm after 30 people were killed when Sudanese security forces tried on Wednesday to forcibly relocate internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Soba Eradi camp, 30 km south of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. 
In a statement, Jan Pronk, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Sudan, said he was "deeply concerned by reports of death in the Soba IDP area." 
The special representative called on the government of Sudan and all concerned parties to handle the situation with restraint, respect for basic human rights and according to the law to prevent further escalation of violence and loss of life. 
"Reports have indicated that several people, both civilian and police, have been killed in the incident. The loss of life is tragic and deplorable," Pronk said. 
On Thursday, Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir extended his condolences to the Khartoum police over officers who were killed when IDPs attacked the Azhari police station on Wednesday. 
He expressed his regret over the incident, during which 14 policemen and more than 20 IDPs reportedly were killed, stressing that the incident would "not affect the professional performance of the police." 
Sources said the unrest began when trucks loaded with armed men rolled into Soba Eradi, an IDP camp housing 26,000 people, at 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Wednesday morning. 
The IDPs, who refused to be moved, gathered at a local bus station to protest, but at about 9:40 a.m. (06.40 GMT) the police officers opened fire on them, sources told IRIN. 
The situation escalated as IDPs confiscated weapons from security forces, the sources added. Hundreds of IDPs fled the area, and unknown assailants set fire to the local police station and IDP shelters. 
Meanwhile, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, the state minister at the Ministry of Interior, said in a statement that cases had been filed against a number of those accused in the incident. 
He stressed that such incidents would not prevent the police from carrying out their duties in accordance with the law. 
The police officers killed during the incidents were buried at Al-Safa quarter graveyard on Thursday in a funeral ceremony led by Khartoum State Governor Abd-al-Halim al-Muta'afi and Interior Minister Abd-al-Rahim Muhammad Husayn. 
According to a May 2005 report of the health and nutrition situation in IDP settlements in Khartoum State - published by the Khartoum State Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and the UNICEF - an estimated 325,000 IDPs are living in four official camps. Around 1.5 million are scattered in various squatter and peripheral areas. 
The Sudanese government claims the demolitions, which have been taking place since the 1980s, are part of a larger re-planning programme that is meant to provide plots for residents and bring them vital services such as electricity and water. 
Earlier, on 28 December 2004, Sudanese authorities demolished the Shikan IDP settlement north of Khartoum, displacing an estimated 1,700 families, or about 11,390 individuals. 
Around 15 percent of the resident IDP population at Shikan was permitted to stay. The remaining 85 percent were removed to El Fateh, which translates as "the open area", a desert area 38 km north of Omdurman, a city just north of Khartoum. 
During the demolitions, security forces arrived without advance warning and loaded IDPs onto their trucks without allowing them to bring any personal belongings. Most arrived in El Fateh with only the clothes they were wearing. 
The levelling of Shikan resulted in the destruction of all IDP property and infrastructure. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the authorities had made no prior preparations to ensure that Al Fateh was fit for human habitation. There was limited access to water and food, no health or education services and no electricity or sanitation system.

Sudanese women should have major involvement in the peace process that restored hope in the southern regions of the nation following over twenty years of civil war. This was the call launched by the African activists for women’s rights gathered at a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, dedicated to the situation of women in context of war and post-conflict. “Sixty-five percent of the people in the south are women”, Ancil Adrian-Paul, gender and peace-building programme manager for the advocacy organisation International Alert, told the IRIN news agency. “A major problem with this peace agreement is that it is an agreement negotiated without the participation of other political parties or civil-society organisations in which more women are represented”, added Sonia Asis Malik, lecturer at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman and member of the Babik Budri Scientific Association. Ms. Malik also underlined that the power-sharing formula used for the creation of the transitional government and the various commissions to implement the agreement, such as the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), only applied to political parties and not to civil society organisations, marginalising the voice of women in these processes. “At first, there where no women in the CRC”, she added. “Only after the gender symposium at the Oslo donor conference [in April] put pressure on the parties, were women admitted. There are now six or seven women on the commission, but only one is a lawyer”, she further criticised. The activists also emphasised that women and children were among the main victims of the war and its direct consequences, such as famine and disease. “When two elephants are fighting, the grass suffers”, stated Mary Cirillo Bang of the New Sudan Women's Federation to IRIN news. “Women and children are the grass”.

NATO gets ready to provide logistical help to AU in Darfur

The Atlantic Council has asked Nato military authorities to offer an “immediate evaluation” and the development of "specific proposals" after the president of the African Union’s request, yesterday, for logistical and organizational support for the peace mission in Darfour, the Sudanese region at the centre of a civil war and a serious humanitarian crisis according to a source speaking to the Italian news agency ANSA. The source says this represents the first ‘political step’ toward the launch pf a European logistical support mission to African peacekeepers, 2,400 of whom, have been in Darfour for months. They are expected to grow up to 7,700 by September. The NATO intervention does not provide for, however, the assistance of troops, an option rejected also by the seven heads of state meeting in Tripoli, Libya, to discuss the Darfour situation. It seems as if a definitive decision from NATO would not be adopted until just before the end of the month.

Improving Sudanese-Eritrean ties bode well for peace in Sudan

A gathering of African leaders in the Libyan capital this week saw a thaw in the strained ties between Sudan and Eritrea that may pave the way for peace in Sudan's troubled western and eastern regions. 
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and Isaias Afeworki of Eritrea met on the fringes of the seven-way African summit in Tripoli Monday -- their first face-to-face encounter in many years. 
The two are bitter enemies that have long accused each other of providing sanctuary and support to opposition groups. 
Although Kharthoum and Asmara were quick to downplay the significance of the meeting, Egypt and Libya, under whose aegis it was held, said it bodes well for the prospects of comprehensive peace in Sudan. 
Eritrean presidential cabinet director Yemane Gebremeskel said in Asmara that the meeting was "part of a normal routine." 
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail simply described it as "an important beginning" that should help "remove obstacles that impede the launching of relations." 
He pointed to Beshir's demands that "Asmara refrains from harbouring armed Sudanese opposition and stops offering assistance that that opposition." 
But Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad insisted that the meeting would improve the chances of a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, as well as that in its eastern province. 
"Eritrea has an important role to play," he said. 
The meeting helped "achieve some calm and breakthrough in contacts between Sudan and Eritrea," added Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit. 
"It will have a positive impact on efforts to find a solution to the Darfur conflict," agreed Ali al-Tiriki, the senior Libyan official responsible for African affairs. 
Recognising Eritrea's influence on Sudanese opposition groups, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi had invited Afeworki, for the first time, to attend the mini-African summit on Darfur that closed with a pledge to resume negotiations between rebels and Khartoum. 
Eritrea has good relations with all the major opposition movements in Sudan, many of them armed groups that have openly pledged from Asmara to overthrow the government in Khartoum. 
They include the two main rebel groups in the war-torn western region of Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) that have delegations in Asmara and rebels of the Eastern Front. 
The Eastern Front, made up of the Beja Congress and the Free Lions Movement, are based in Asmara. 
Eritrea also hosts the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a grouping of northern, eastern and western Sudan opposition forces, which currently represents the strongest political and military challenge to Khartoum. 
Sudan and Eritrea broke off diplomatic relations in 1994 after the regime in Khartoum accused Asmara of aiding the NDA, which also includes the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). 
Khartoum and the SPLM signed a peace agreement last January that ended more than two decades of conflict between south and north. The SPLM has however retained its NDA membership. 
Eritrea also turned over the Sudanese embassy in Asmara to the NDA, allowing it to use the premise as its headquarters. The move caused Sudanese-Eritrean ties to hit an all-time low. 
The two countries restored diplomatic ties in 1997, but tensions continued, particular after the Eastern front escalated military activities against Sudanese government forces, and SLM and JEM leaders settled in Asmara. 
In March, the UN special envoy for Sudan Jan Pronk, paid a visit to Asmara for talks with the Eritrean leader on the role he could play to help reach a comprehensive peace in Sudan. 
Afeworki said at the time that Eritrea would "continue to work diligently with all concerned parties to bring about a comprehensive solution to the Sudanese crises."

Eighteen killed as police, displaced clash in Sudan

About 18 people were killed and dozens wounded when Sudanese police clashed with refugees from southern Sudan in a camp near Khartoum on Wednesday, witnesses said. 
"The troops, army and police, came in this morning and they shot at the civilians," said Majak Machar, a resident of the camp in Soba Aradi, about 30 km (19 miles) south of Khartoum. 
"They wanted to take the people to another area and the people fought them because they didn't want to go." 
Slums and camps surrounding the sprawling capital are home to more than 2 million people from all over Sudan. Most of them are southerners who fled two decades of civil war. 
Machar, who was about 500 metres (600 yards) from the fighting, said police had killed seven or eight civilians and wounded dozens with live fire. They were also firing tear gas. 
"The civilians then attacked the police and have killed at least two of them," he said. "They beat them with sticks," he said, adding that the fighting was continuing. 
An interior ministry spokesman told Reuters at least 11 police had been killed. 
One eyewitness said residents of Soba Aradi had burned down the local police station and killed the officer in charge, who was from the south of Sudan. 
"The people said we will not go, we will die here in Soba Aradi," said Father Darwing, a local community leader. "They have been living there for 14 years," he said, adding that only police had been involved, not members of the army. 
Witnesses said the displaced people had taken guns from the police and returned fire. 
The governor of Khartoum declined immediate comment but was to hold a news conference later on Wednesday. 
The United Nations said it had sent representatives to the area to try to calm the situation. 
A U.N. official at the scene said hundreds of people were fleeing the area of the fighting. 
The slum areas around Khartoum have little or no running water or electricity and aid agencies have found it difficult to fund improvements. 
Khartoum authorities say they want to demolish the slums to relocate residents to permanent, planned housing plots. 
But the United Nations has criticised the policy, saying the relocations have not been not carried out in consultation with the people being moved, and that were being taken to desert areas, long distances from the capital, where there are no services. 
The governor of Khartoum insists the relocations are done with the consent of the people and their leaders

Police and refugees clash in Camp South Khartoum

There are at least 18 victims and tens of wounded in clashes between the police in Sudan and refugees in a camp located 30 km. from the capital Khartoum. "Security forces, army and police, arrived this morning and have opened fire against civilians," said Majak Machar to Reuters, who happened to be in the near the Soba Aradi camp, where the incidents took place. According to witnesses, the refugees objected to a transfer to another site. Around Khartoum there are about 2 million refugees largely coming from the south of the country, where in recent months, if only on paper, an over 20 year conflict ended and that forced over 4 million Sudanese to move away. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said there are at least 11 dead among the police officers. It seems as if refugees involved in the clashes had been living for 14 years in the Soba Aradi camp and that is the reason for their opposition to the move. The peace accords signed in January ending the Khartoum – Rebel war also provide for the return of refugees.

Darfur: rebel and government talks to resume at end of month

Negotiations between the Sudanese government and rebel movements active in Darfur will resume in the next days in a move to end the crisis underway since February 2003 in the vast west Sudanese region along the border with Chad. The announcement was made by Sudan government officials in occasion of the summit underway since yesterday in Tripoli (Libya) to establish the necessary modalities for a resumption of the negotiations suspended since last December. “The negotiations will resume at the end of May”, announced Sudan President Omas el Beshir and his Foreign Minister, Moustapha Osman Ismail. According to the spokesman for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, also attending the summit, the talks between the Sudanese rebels and government will resume June 1. The Presidents of Chad, Egypt, Nigeria, Gabon, Sudan and representatives of the African Union and Arab League will conclude the summit on Darfur today, without the participation of delegates of the two rebel movements active in the region (SLA-M and JEM). Both movements have however in the past days welcomed the resumption of talks and pledged to not pose conditions or break the cease-fire reached in April of last year. A truce broken by both sides of the Darfur conflict.

Oil: 2 million barrels a day by 2008

Sudan aims to produce 500,000 barrels of oil per day by next August and at least 2-million a day by 2008. These estimates, by experts considered highly probable, were issued by Khartoum’s Foreign Minister Moustapha Osman Ismail during a recent visit to Brazil, where he attended the first Arab-Latin American nations summit. “Preliminary studies clearly show that Sudan is situated on an actual a lake of oil”, reiterated Ismail to his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim, based on a report published by the internet site of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. Current exportations are at 350,000 barrels a day and Dow Jones experts say that the estimate of 500,000 barrels by August will not only be reached, but easily exceeded. In his intervention, the Sudanese Foreign Minister then invited the Petrobras Brazilian national oil company to invest in Sudan. In the past days Brasilia announced the allocation of at least $6-billion for the construction of infrastructures, particularly in South Sudan, theatre to twenty years of conflict that officially ended only last January with the signing of a definitive peace accord between the government of Khartoum and separatists of the SPLA-M. Numerous international oil companies (from the Chinese to the American, along with the French, British, Indonesian etc.) have for years shown great interest in the energetic resources of Sudan.

Darfur: two WFP drivers killed, abducted military observers free

The World Food Programme (WFP) condemned the assassination of two drivers of the UN organisation, killed in two distinct attacks on May 8 along the road from Ed-Daen to Nyala, in south Darfur: “The driver was shot and killed and the assistant, although wounded in one leg, managed to drive the vehicle back to Ed-Daen”, says the WFP statement issued yesterday, indicating that another three humanitarian convoys were shot at in the same zone, but without victims. “Such attacks only make drivers extremely reluctant to transport food aid in Darfur and are making it very difficult to deliver enough food before the rains”, underlined Ramiro Lo pesa da Silva, WFP’s Country Director in Sudan. The African Union (AU) has in the meantime informed of the release of its 17 military observers apparently abducted in the past days by one of the rebel movements active in the western Sudanese region. The AU specifies that the patrol was intercepted on May 10 by men of the SLA-M (Sudan Liberation Army-Movement) and released the same day, but only returned to base 24 hours later. According to the SLA-M, the observers penetrated into a territory controlled by the rebels “without previous communication”; while the AU responded that it is not called to notify any of the parts in conflict in regard to such missions in Darfur, aimed at verifying respect of the cease-fire signed between the government and rebels in April 2003.

Over 75 reportedly killed in inter-clan violence in southern Sudan

At least 75 people have been reported killed and thousands more displaced in southern Sudan's Lakes State since inter-clan violence, sparked by cattle rustling and disputes over pasture and water, erupted on 24 April, aid workers said on Wednesday. 
"About 4,000 people, mostly women and children, fled when their villages in Yirol and Awirial counties were attacked," Rene McGuffin, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN. "It was reported by local villagers that at least 75 people were killed." 
"On 24 April, we assisted the wounded in whatever way we could and evacuated six wounded people to our facilities in Yirol town -- east of Rumbek, the provisional capital of southern Sudan--" Paul Conneally, communications coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sudan, told IRIN. 
On the same day, unidentified men looted 23 mt of food from WFP facilities in the town of Bunagok, southeast of Yirol, as the organization prepared to start distributing it. 
"WFP is very concerned about the growing unrest in Yirol County over the past two weeks and the increased cases of insecurity and displacement as a result of inter-clan fighting," McGuffin added. 
The hostilities started as households in the region began to experience food shortfalls as stocks from the previous harvest started to run out and the June-August hunger season approached. 
The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) said in its April food security update for southern Sudan that the influx of returnees, most of whom arrived with nothing, had increased competition for locally available food sources. The report also stated that this year's hunger season "may be much worse for many households than in the past five years". 
Households in Lakes State had reportedly started rationing available sorghum and had increased their reliance on wild fruits for food, according to FEWS Net, which also reported grain shortages in the main market centres. 
As a result of the heightened inter-clan tensions over grazing and water and cattle-raid disputes, the report added, livestock were forced to stay in areas with less pasture, resulting in reduced milk production. 
"In the villages of Apang and Anyang, people lost their cattle, their seeds and many of their possessions during the fighting," McGuffin said. "Many had already prepared their fields for cultivation." 
A number of people took refuge in the town of Padak, across the Nile from Yirol. An international assessment team that visited the town on Sunday found about 2,000 women and children with no shelter and very few possessions, and provided them with emergency food rations. 
The WFP spokesperson said an interagency food-security assessment carried out in April found that the hunger gap was starting earlier than normal this year, as poor rains in 2004 had led to reduced harvests. The gap was expected to last until August or September, depending on when the new harvest became available. 
"Incidences of insecurity and displacement add to the challenges faced by relief agencies," McGuffin noted. The start of the seasonal rains in the southernmost part of Sudan had complicated arrangements for food distribution, she added. 
Lack of funding was another impediment, McGuffin said. WFP had only received 25 per cent of the estimated US 302m dollars required to feed an average of 3.2 million people a month in the south, east and transitional areas of Sudan in 2005. 
The war between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Sudanese government erupted in 1983 when rebels in the south took up arms against authorities based in the north and demanded greater autonomy. 
The fighting has killed at least two million people, uprooted four million others and forced another 550,000 to flee to neighbouring countries. 
On 9 January the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Nairobi, Kenya, ending 21 years of civil war, but progress in the implementation of the agreement has been slow.

Unrest in refugee in refugee camps in Chad, UN agency pulls out personnel

The UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) referred to have withdrawn its personnel from four refugee camps in Chad hosting civilians that have fled over the past two years from the violence in the western Sudanese Darfur region. In a statement, the UNHCR explained that the decision, involving the camps of Iridimi, Touloum, Mile and Kounongou, was taken due to the unrest of the past days in these structures, resulting in the injury of at least 7 UN aid workers. The most violent unrest took place in the Iridimi camp, where a crowd of refugees armed with sticks and stones targeted the UNHCR personnel that were attempting to conduct a sort of census of the people lined up for food. Based on international press reports, 4 people were killed and another four injured in the unrest, which escalated after the intervention of Chadian police. Humanitarian sources contacted by MISNA underline that the episode in reality involved some groups of Chadians, pretending to be Sudanese refugees to obtain food aid. The food is then often sold at the markets in surrounding cities. This was in fact the reason of the UNHCR decision to census and check the people being consigned aid.

The armed wing of the opposition Beja Congress (BC) has announced that it would be participating in negotiations between the Sudanese government and the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as observers. 
According to Al-Khartoum newspaper, the BC also stressed the importance of holding a special forum with the government to discuss the problems in the east. 
The BC representative in charge of information, Idris Nur, said that the BC delegation, which he is leading, would leave Asmara later today for Cairo to attend the talks. 
He said this affirms the good relation between the armed wing of the BC and the NDA and the presence in Cairo proves that the party is part of the NDA. 
Nur welcomed the initiative to hold an all inclusive Beja-Beja conference which was proposed by the Beja Congress for Reform and Development, which is led by Uthman Bawnin. 
He also pointed out that the BC leader Mubarak al-Fadl had held meetings in Asmara with different faction leaders with the aim of setting up a broader front for the opposition. 
He also criticized some parties, which he did not name, for their actions in Al-Qadarif eastern Sudan and the impact this had on changing the situation in eastern Sudan. He denied that his party had anything to do with it. 
Material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service.

Security Council values assistance for African Union effort in Sudan

The UN Security Council emphasized on Thursday the importance of increased, coordinated international assistance for the African Union effort in Darfur, Sudan, and the readiness of the United Nations to continue playing a key role. 
In a statement read out at the Council's second meeting by Ellen Margrethe Loj (Denmark), its President for May, the Council applauded the African Union's vital leadership role in Darfur and the work of the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) on the ground. 
The Council also voiced support for the decision by that regional body's Peace and Security Council to expand its mission to 7,731 personnel by the end of September 2005. 
Recalling its request in resolution 1590 (2005) for close and continuous coordination between the UN Mission in the Sudan and AMIS, especially with regard to the Abuja peace process, the Council looked forward to continuing contacts in order to facilitate assistance as requested by the African Union. 
It welcomed the findings of the African Union-led joint assessment mission from March 10 to 22, and the second joint assessment mission from May 1 to 4, which included representatives from the African Union, the United Nations and other partners. 
At a meeting earlier Thursday, the Council heard a briefing in which Hedi Annabi, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, stressed that short-term stability in Darfur would require considerable strengthening of AMIS.

11 African Union peacekeepers abducted in Darfur

A patrol of military observers of the African Union (AU) on a mission in Darfur, the West Sudan region theatre to a military and humanitarian crisis since February 2003, was apparently abducted by a rebel movement active in the area. As reported by Sudan’s official SUNA news agency, the 11 peacekeepers, whose nationalities have not been disclosed, were abducted while patrolling the Um Saouna area in the location of Oum-Kadada, in North Darfur, one of three States that make up the region. According to local authorities, the abduction, which took place on Tuesday night, is attributable to elements of the SLA-M (Sudan Liberation Army-Movement), the main anti-government armed group of Darfur. It seems that among those captured is also a representative of the other rebel group active in the region, the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement). Based on indiscretions, the captors have demanded to meet with an AU functionary to negotiate the release of the hostages. The AU has sent over 2,000 peacekeepers to Darfur with the main duty of monitoring respect of the cease-fire signed between the government and rebels in April of last year. Last month the AU approved the expansion to nearly 8,000 soldiers of the contingent of its mission in Darfur.

African Union and Chad relaunch mediation with some political decisions

A mini summit held last night in Abuja (Nigeria) between Chadian President Idriss Deby, his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo and the president of the African Union Commission Alpha Oumar Konaré, dedicated to the Darfur crisis (West Sudan), concluded with a decision to establish a liaison office and to send a mission in the near future to check positions on the ground of all the parties of the conflict. “The three constituent elements of the mediation have decided to harmonise and co-ordinate their action”, stated to AFP a Chadian government spokesman, in a move to find a solution to the crisis underway in Darfur since February 2003, causing an unprecedented humanitarian emergency, defined by the UN as the worst in the planet. The liaison office will be based in the Chadian capital N'djamena and will collect information, review developments on the ground and make consequent dispositions. Chad is the African nation most affected by the crisis underway in neighbouring Darfur, given that based on UN estimates its eastern sector is hosting tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees, that however belong to Chadian ethnic groups or tribes. In regard to the monitoring mission to be sent in Darfur, its creation was decided already months ago and is considered an indispensable condition to organise a new round of negotiations between the rebel movements active in the region and the central government of Khartoum. The mission should provide an accurate picture of the forces on the ground and areas they control.

Darfur: after Libyan mediation, rebels agree to negotiate 

The two main active combat movements in the ongoing war in the Western region of Darfour said they are ready to abide by the ceasefire agreement signed with the government last April, which has thus far remained a ‘paper only’ agreement. The two movements also said they are ready to resume peace talks initiated by the African Union. The announcement, after weeks of silence, was made at the end of a meeting of the two groups with the Libyan leader Col. Mu’ammar al-Gheddafi in Tripoli. “We announce before al-Gheddafi that we are completely committed to respecting the truce and are ready to resume dialogue without any pre-condition,” said before a crowd of 200 participants Khalil Ibrahim, one of the main exponents of the Movement for Justice and Equality (JEM), who also spoke in the name of the other group, the Sudanese Liberation Army Movement (SLA-M). The talks between Khartoum and the Darfour combatants that started in Abuja (Nigeria) according to the desire of the African Union last year, ended abruptly in December and have not resumed since then. Meanwhile, while international attention on the Darfour conflict diminishes, in the last few months the states that make up the Darfour region bordering Chad continue to witness violence and combat.

Darfur WHO reports new meningitis cases in displaced camps

New meningitis cases were reported in at least three displaced camps in the west Sudanese region of Darfur, where an armed crisis underway since February 2003 has displaced, based on UN estimates, over 1.5-million people. The WHO (World Health Organisation) said to have found new cases of infection in the camps of Ruyad, Adamata and Abu Seroj, all in West Darfur, one of the 3 States that make up the region. The cases were found in different areas and at different times, so it cannot be officially considered an “outbreak”, according to experts contacted by Irin News, like instead that of last month in West Darfur which killed at least 8 people. In that case, the rapid spread of the meningitis was contained, if not extinguished, thanks to a large-scale vaccination campaign launched between March and April and that mainly involved the Saraf Omra camp, where since the start of the year 118 cases were registered. According to WHO, the overcrowding of the camps and continuing mass movements of people are among the motives that facilitate the transmission of the “Neisseria meningitides”.

Summit on Darfur to be held in Sharm el Sheikh

The launching of a ‘political process’ in Darfur and the trial of those responsible of committing crimes since February 2003 in the west Sudanese region at the International Criminal Court in the Hague (ICC) will be the central issues of a 5-way African summit set for May 15 and 16 in Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt. The meeting should be attended by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his counterparts from Chad, Idriss Deby, Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, Sudan, Omar el-Bashir, and Libyan Colonel Muhammar Gheddafi. The summit was initially set for April 20, but was postponed over previous commitments of some of the participants. According to Egyptian officials, the summit will evaluate instruments to contain the current humanitarian and political crisis in Darfur and make use of the Naivasha accords, a Kenyan location where on January 9 peace was signed between the government of Khartoum and SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) after over 22 years of war, which resulted in more than 2.5-million victims and some 4-million displaced and refugees. In the past months many attempts were made at pushing for a resumption of dialogue, begun last year in Abuja (Nigeria) and suspended since December, between the parts of the Darfur crisis.

South Sudan: thousands flee LRA attacks

Thousands of people in southern Sudan are fleeing their villages, especially those near the Ugandan border, because of attacks and incursions by the Ugandan rebels of the Lord’s resistance Army (LRA). The UN mission in South Sudan (Unamis) says many refugees are seeking shelter in UN run camps and say the rebels are administering a great deal of violence. So far only the figures of one refugee camp near the shore of the Nile are available. It is a camp run by UNHCR, which suggests up to 4,000 refugees have come there since the beginning of the year. UN Peacekeeping troops (which will be able to rely on 10,000 units once their full deployment is reached) said that the LRA activities interfere with the task of the peacekeepers suggesting that the Sudanese government is cooperating to avoid further violence. The main task of the UN mission in Sudan is that of guaranteeing and supporting the peace achieved between the Sudanese government and the indepence fighters in the South ending a more than 20 year conflict.

Government willing to revive peace talks over Darfour

The government of Khartoum is ready to revive peace negotiations over Darfour as early as possible said Sudanese Vice-president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha. Taha made the announcement during a ministers conference dedicated to the crisis in the region, during which reports from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, defense, Interior and Humanitarian Affairs were consulted judging the current situation as being satisfactory in terms of humanitarian aid. Taha said that the government had welcomed the African Union’s decision to increase the numbers of the observation and security mission in Darfour. At the end of the meeting in the ‘Republican Palace’, the minister of Foreign Affairs, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said that Taha will go on a diplomatic mission in the next few days in various capitals to ask support for the resumption of peace talks. None of the destinations were identified. The progress made during the talks sponsored by the AU, including the ceasefire signed by the rebels and the government in April 2004, have yet to be applied, however.

Parliament rejects war crimes resolution in Darfur

The Parliament of Sudan has reject resolution 1593 of the UN Security Council asking fro those responsible for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfour region to appear before the International Crinal Court (ICC) in the Hague. The representatives reiterated their view that those suspected of such crimes must be tried by a Sudanese court, as the government of Khartoum already demanded in April while dscribing Res. 1593 as a n. definendola violation of national sovereignty. A few days ago, the Council of Peace and Security of the African Union decided to double the numbers of its observation and security mission in the western Sudanese region, which by September will grow from the 3,320 expected troops to a total of 7,731 including about 1,500 police officers. Currently there are only about 2,000 soldiers on the ground.

An American aid worker was shot in the face on Tuesday in South Darfur, a state in western Sudan, when unidentified gunmen ambushed her convoy, the US State Department said. The clearly marked humanitarian vehicle was attacked between the towns of Nyala and Kass.
"I was deeply saddened to learn that a member of the United States Agency for International Development's [USAID] Disaster Assistance Response Team was shot and wounded in Darfur," Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, said in a statement read by spokesman Adam Ereli. "The thoughts and prayers of all of us at the Department of State and USAID are with her and her family as she continues to receive treatment."
Jan Pronk, the UN special envoy to Sudan condemned the attack. In a statement, Pronk said such incidents were unlikely to stop unless a robust protection force of at least 8,000 troops was deployed in Darfur to protect both the civilian population and humanitarian workers. The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep regret over the incident, and "strongly condemned the unjustifiable attack on the relief convoys and workers of humanitarian aid in Darfur." [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46269]

With the UN Security Council deadlocked over key issues in Sudan, the United States announced it would put forward three separate UN resolutions to tackle the Darfur crisis. 
After weeks of stalemate on potential war crimes trials and sanctions, the United States is proposing different resolutions on both issues as well as a third to immediately approve a UN peacekeeping force in Sudan. 
"We were unable to come to agreement on an omnibus resolution, so in our view the only way to proceed ... was to split up the three," US deputy UN ambassador Anne Patterson told reporters. 
"There are still differences that we need to resolve," Patterson said. 
Council members agree on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's request to send more than 10,000 peacekeepers to monitor a north-south peace accord signed in January that ended 21 years of civil war. 
But there are fears that the separate crisis in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region, where a rebel uprising which started two years ago has led to an estimated 180,000 dead, could derail the north-south peace. 
Despite those concerns, the council has been at loggerheads over where to hold any trials for suspected war crimes that have been committed in Darfur as well as whether to impose sanctions on individuals. 
Most council members favour referring war crimes suspects to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, the world's first permanent tribunal for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. 
Yet the administration of US President George W. Bush opposes the ICC over fears that US citizens could be the target of lawsuits politically motivated by opposition to US policies. 
Council members Algeria, China and Russia have meanwhile come out against US-proposed sanctions -- a travel ban and assets freeze -- on individuals suspected of jeopardising the peace and committing human rights abuses. 
The stand-off has highlighted the issue of political horse-trading at the United Nations -- especially since Jan Egeland, the UN's top humanitarian official, estimated that 10,000 people are dying in Darfur each month. 
Rights groups in particular have criticised the United States over its stance on the ICC, claiming that its position is effectively blocking attempts to bring the guilty in Darfur to justice. 
But Algeria and China have also said they have reservations about an ICC referral. 
"We're very much behind accountability. It's obviously a central part of our strategy in Sudan," Patterson said, calling the draft resolution on war crimes a "placeholder" measure. 
She said that resolution would put forward the option of ICC referral, a US proposal for a special war crimes court based in Tanzania, and a Nigerian suggestion for an African Union-backed court. 
"The resolution makes no judgement as to which would be preferable but simply enables discussions to continue until a decision is reached," Patterson said. But the non-ICC measures have been mostly rejected by council members. 
Council diplomats on Tuesday still held out the possibility of counter-proposing an omnibus resolution to address all three issues this week. 
The council has already passed two one-week extensions to the mandate of the current UN mission in Sudan, which is on the ground to help prepare the arrival of the UN peacekeeping force. The latest mandate expires on Thursday.

The red banners fluttering from a new bridge frame in central Khartoum trumpet the friendship between China and the much-ostracised Sudanese government. 

Most of the workers on the bridge building site are Sudanese, but amid the dust a few Chinese men in hard hats can be found supervising operations. 
Behind the construction site are the Chinese living quarters, oriental lanterns hanging around the gate - and more Chinese flags. 
Inside, Miao Qang and Liang Bin play computer games, joke about the heat and smoke "Stone Forest" Chinese cigarettes, two members of a growing Chinese population in Sudan, estimated to be about 5,000. 
Since the mid-1990s, China has become a key trading partner for Sudan, investing about $4bn (£2bn) in the impoverished nation, from bridge building projects to power plant construction and, most significantly, oil production. 
Crucially for Khartoum, the investment came when western nations would not touch conflict-ridden Sudan with a "barge-pole", according to one diplomat. 
For most of the 16 years since President Omar Hassan al-Bashir seized power, his government has been treated as a pariah, a stigma that hampered the Islamic regime's dream of tapping into its oil resources. 
Khartoum initially looked to western companies - the reserves were first explored by Chevron in the 1970s. But the government's reputation for sponsoring terrorism and human rights abuses put off most companies. 
Their reticence was amplified by the fact that many oilfields are in southern Sudan, a region devastated by a 21-year civil war that ended only in January. US trade sanctions ensured no American companies invested in Sudan. 
It was only when the government looked east, particularly to China, that the response was positive. "This was very important because it saved us in some strategic matters and it brought more income to the country," says Gutbi al-Mahdi, a presidential adviser. "For us it is very important to get oil, because an embargo on oil imports would put the country on the verge of collapse." 
China has not just helped out economically in the eyes of the Sudanese. For the last nine months, as a crisis in Darfur region was thrust into the spotlight amid accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing, the threat of sanctions has hung over Khartoum. 
With the United Nations Security Council divided on what action to take, China has been key among those opposing harsher action against Sudan. "If it were not for China's involvement with us, all these punishments proposed by the American delegation would be passed," Mr Mahdi says. But diplomats in Khartoum question how far China would stick its neck out for Sudan, arguing that its role in Africa's largest nation is driven more by economics than politics. 
"It can put a brake on the Security Council, but China also has a special interest with the US and if the US were to put Sudan on the China/US agenda, things could change," one diplomat says. 
The impact of Chinese investment has been dramatic for Sudan. Campaigners such as Human Rights Watch, have called on Chinese oil companies to suspend their operations until human rights improve. 
Sudan first began pumping oil in 1999, joining the ranks of oil exporters, and currently produces about 310,000 barrels a day, a figure it hopes to rise to 500,000 this year. The development occurred despite accusations that Khartoum was conducting a scorched-earth policy to clear oilfields and that oil revenue was enabling the government to buy arms to prosecute the southern war. 
Rebels attacked a 1,506-km pipeline to Port Sudan built by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) four times during construction. But the work went on. 
"It was an opportunity for them [China]. They were not facing the usual competition and the Chinese government doesn't have NGOs, human rights groups lobbying them," a western diplomat says. "It's a marriage of convenience." 
CNPC has stakes in six oil blocks, including the two currently producing. China imports about 6m metric tonnes of Sudanese crude oil, which is less than 10 per cent of total of the country's needs, according to the Chinese embassy. 
But following the peace deal that ended the southern war and expectations of increased exploration, China hopes the figure will rise, the embassy says. 
Estimates suggest Sudan has oil reserves of up to 3bn barrels, with proven reserves of about 631m barrels, and it is now China's third or fourth largest trading partner in Africa, behind South Africa and Egypt.

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
At least 11,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been forced to move following the demolition of the Shikan settlement, 18 km north of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, a UN spokesperson said on Tuesday. They were now living rough in El Fateh, a desert area north of the capital, she added. 
"From 28 December, the Sudanese authorities began demolishing Shikan, an area the size of 16 football fields, as part of a re-zoning policy in Khartoum state," Kirsten Zaat, advocacy officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Khartoum, told IRIN. 
"Security forces arrived without advance warning and started to load IDPs onto trucks," she said. "People [IDPs] were not allowed to bring any personal belongings, and most arrived in El Fateh with only the clothes they were wearing." 
Abd El Wahab M. Osman, Minister of Physical Planning and Utilities of Khartoum State was not available for comment but another government official, who declined to be named, said the destruction was part of a larger re-planning programme that was meant to provide plots for residents and bring them vital services such as electricity and water. 
More than 13,000 IDPs, displaced by the 21-year-old war that ended in southern Sudan in January, had found shelter in Shikan, a squatter area established in the 1980s. Nuba, Majanin, Arab, Shilluk, Dinka, Masalit, Felata and Khofra were among the ethnic groups in Shikan. 
Around 15 percent of the resident IDP population of Shikan was permitted to stay. The remaining 85 percent were moved to El Fateh, a desert area 38 km north of Omdurman, a city just north of Khartoum. 
"At least 300,000 people are living in the El Fateh squatter area, although the area is in a constant state of flux," Zaat said. "The entire community is made up of IDPs who have been previously moved from other IDP camps and squatter areas around Khartoum." 
The demolition of Shikan resulted in the destruction of all IDP property and infrastructure, and included the demolition of a community centre, Zaat said. It was run by a local women's association and constituted the only source of primary health care in the area. 
Zaat said Sudanese authorities had made no prior preparations to ensure the desert area of El Fateh was fit for human habitation. There was limited access to water and food, no health or education services, and no electrical grid or sanitation system. 
The demolition of IDP settlements around Khartoum, which started in the 1980s, had also forced people to return to southern Sudan. However, support mechanisms along return routes have been largely absent, while host communities in south Sudan - who live in some of the poorest conditions in the world - lacked the means to sustain large numbers of returning IDPs. 
Relying on income from casual labour had compounded the problems of the IDPs in El Fatah, Zaat added. Since their removal from Shikan, they had been unable to work because the cost of transport to Khartoum was higher than their potential daily wage. 
"When re-planning programmes are implemented, the authorities should take all measures to minimise the adverse effects of displacement," said the OCHA officer. "At [a] minimum, IDPs have to be given advance notification of planned demolitions - and basic services should be put in place in the areas of destination before the IDPs are moved." 
According to OCHA, the total number of IDPs in official camps and squatter areas around Khartoum in March 2005 was just over two million. Many of these came from southern Sudan, where the 21-year old conflict displaced an estimated four million people within Sudan and claimed the lives of two million others. 
The conflict erupted in 1983 when southern-based rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. On 9 January, the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government signed a comprehensive peace agreement in Nairobi, Kenya that officially ended the war. 

He Luli, vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress(NPC), met here Monday with Salva Kiir Mayardit, vice chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. 
He is visiting China at the invitation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding.

One of the most far-reaching U.N. reforms proposed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan would create a new Human Rights Council at the top rung of the world body to replace the much criticized Human Rights Commission. 
The 53-member commission, which is currently meeting in Geneva, has been attacked by Western governments and human rights campaigners for allowing the worst-offending countries to use their membership to protect one another from condemnation or to criticize others. 
In his sweeping report Sunday to the 191 U.N. member states on U.N. reform, Annan joined the criticism saying this practice has undermined the commission's work and created "a credibility deficit ... which casts a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole." 
"If the United Nations is to meet the expectations of men and women everywhere -- and indeed, if the organization is to take the cause of human rights as seriously as those of security and development -- then member states should agree to replace the Commission on Human Rights with a smaller standing Human Rights Council," Annan said. 
Under U.N. rules, members of the Human Rights Commission have been picked by regional groups. Current member states that have been criticized for abuses include Sudan, China, Cuba, Nepal, Russia and Zimbabwe. A number of countries with poor human rights records have been on the commission over the years. Libya has even held the chair. 
Annan proposed that members of the Human Rights Council be elected directly by the General Assembly, by a two-thirds majority, and that "those elected to the council should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards." 
"The creation of the council would accord human rights a more authoritative position, corresponding to the primacy of human rights in the Charter of the United Nations," Annan said. 
The secretary-general said member states should decide whether the council should be a principal organ of the United Nations, like the Security Council and the General Assembly, or a subsidiary body of the General Assembly. 
Mark Malloch Brown, who is Annan's chief of staff, explained that making the Human Rights Council a new U.N. organ requires a change in the U.N. Charter while making it a subsidiary body of the General Assembly does not. 
"The whole idea is that this council will be on a par" with the other U.N. organs, Malloch Brown said. "Clearly charter change, which would put them unambiguously on an equal footing, would be the best, but realistically one may have to go through a slightly less direct, more technical solution." 
The report also called for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour to play a more active role and urged countries to match their commitment to human rights with resources to strengthen her office. 
"Human rights must be incorporated into decision-making and discussion throughout the work of the organization," it said. 
Joanna Weschler, U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch, welcomed Annan's "bold solutions" and his inclusion of human rights throughout the report. 
As for the proposed Human Rights Council, she said, "We think it's an extremely good and courageous idea on the part of the secretary-general." 
At last week's opening of the Human Rights Commission's six-week session in Geneva, Arbour said the agency was undertaking reform and should concentrate on preventing abuses rather than debating whether countries need help to improve their record or should be shamed into behaving better. 
The reforms she mentioned didn't include getting rid of the commission, but Malloch Brown said such a step was needed. 
"I think everybody's recognized ... that it's time for reform or the risk of losing public support for that commission," Malloch Brown said. "We believe the environment there is quite open to change." 
How is the United Nations going to get all the dictatorships and human rights abusers in the world to support a new Human Rights Council? 
"Well many of them have always argued that they actually believe in a strong, open human rights system," Malloch Brown said. "Let's challenge that." 
The Human Rights Council is likely to get strong U.S. support. 
Paula Dobriansky, U.S. undersecretary of state for global affairs, told the commission Thursday that without major reform, "we are allowing this body to be tarnished and turning our backs on those still fighting for the freedoms we possess."

Considered the property of their families, girls struggle against cultural mores to stay in school. 

He watched the girl as she passed by each day, an enigma. It never occurred to him that she might be going to school, a rarity in southern Sudan. He decided he had to have her. 
So John Benykor paid 20 cows to her family to wed her. Thus began Martha Yar's lonely struggle for the right to be educated, get a job and live her own life. 
Here in war-torn southern Sudan, women are the property of their fathers, brothers or husbands. Few go to school, and the only equation most ever learn is how many cattle they are worth when they are sold as brides. 
But by 19, Yar had worked her way through most of primary school, and dreamed of college. She begged her older brother, her guardian, not to sell her, but he had his own eye on a bride, and he needed cows to buy the woman. He beat his sister and threatened to kill her unless she consented to the marriage. 
Yar ran away three times. Finally, Benykor, an uneducated former rebel soldier, kidnapped her. "I cried. I was kicking," she said. "I was angry and screaming." 
After 21 years of civil war, Sudan's Muslim-dominated government in the north recently signed a peace deal with the rebels in the largely animist and Christian south. They now must transform themselves from an armed movement into a largely autonomous government. 
Although many people hope that peace will mean more public services and economic opportunities, even advocates see little prospect of rapid change for women, whose plight is due as much to the culture of the region as to the ravages of war. 
With early marriages the norm, only 1% of women in southern Sudan finish primary school, and 88% are illiterate. More than one in nine die in pregnancy or childbirth, according to UNICEF. 
If raped, they must marry their attackers. If they commit adultery, they are jailed. They have no right to divorce. If widowed, they are assets to be inherited by male relatives, like a house or a herd of animals. They have no ethnic identity of their own, but take their husband's. 
Akur Ajuoi, child law reform officer at UNICEF in the town of Rumbek, runs a program to try to convince tribal chiefs of the benefits of letting girls finish school. She said the only advantage they saw was that fathers could charge more cows to marry their daughters. But other than that most chiefs see no intrinsic value in sending girls to school because they still oppose letting girls get a higher education, allowing women to take jobs outside the home, or changing their status as men's property. 
"They seem to be very resistant," Ajuoi said. "Women are not allowed to go out of the households or into public life. They have no public role." 
Rose Baaco, program manager for a community improvement program run by the rebels' social policy arm, believes addressing women's rights is not a high priority for the new government. It is preoccupied, she said, with building roads and offices and filling government positions. 
"When the [southern] government was setting its priorities, we didn't hear anything about women and children," Baaco said. 
When Yar, now 21, was introduced to her prospective husband, 15 years her senior, she was horrified, and determined to finish her schooling. Even when he promised to let her finish school after they got married, she refused his proposal. 
"As a girl I could pursue my education and do many things. But as a wife I'd be restricted and have to do what my husband said," she said in an interview. "I really wanted to go to university and study theology and English." 
Yar turned to the school headmaster and teachers to beg their support. She ran away. She became notorious in Rumbek for the vehemence of her protest, which was unheard of. Then came the shock of the kidnapping, in December 2002. 
After paying Yar's brother the 20 cows, Benykor gathered neighbors, relatives and friends and arrived at Yar's home after dark. She was in bed wearing only underpants. They grabbed her and dragged her out. 
Yar was locked in Benykor's house for a week. "They put guards there for seven days to stop me running away," she said. 
Several schoolteachers tried to convince her that Benykor was serious about letting her go back to class. Seeing no way out, she gave up and accepted him. 
After they married, her husband beat her every day, telling her he was determined to break her stubborn spirit. She felt nothing but hatred, and contempt for his lack of education. 
Refusing to give in, two weeks later she was back at school, taking her exams. 
At Rumbek girls' primary school there are only five girls in the top class, Grade 8, and few have ever made it to secondary school. One Grade 8 student, Victoria Akon, 18, who wants to become a doctor, said the biggest topic of conversation among her peers was how to avoid marriage and stay at school. 
"Most of my classmates were forced by their parents into early marriage. They say they were given no choice, 'but please don't be like us,' " Akon said. "Girls of southern Sudan want to be educated and they want to be like other girls in the world, sharing and governing the country." 
Martha Yar now has a 16-month-old daughter, Sara. At first Yar wanted to take the baby to school on her back, but her husband forbade it. After she spent seven months at home with the infant, her husband found a 5-year-old niece to look after her child. 
By June 2004, Yar was back in Grade 7, struggling to satisfy her husband, deflect his family's criticisms and quench her own thirst for knowledge. 
Her husband wants more children, but she doesn't, fearing it will further undermine her chances of education. She longs for a divorce, but knows her family would never agree: That would mean they would have to return the 20 cows they received. 
Some women, in a desperate bid for divorce, commit adultery in the hopes that will free them from marriage. Many of them end up jailed. 
Adomic William, 20, ran off with a man her parents did not approve of, and got pregnant. Once pregnant, she could not be married off to a young man, but to give birth out of wedlock would bring shame to the family. Her parents married her off to an elderly man with three wives. 
After giving birth to a son, she ran back to her lover. Her family cursed her, refusing ever to visit. When her son died of a fever at age 3, her lover abandoned her, leaving her helpless. 
William said she committed adultery after her lover left to end her marriage with the elderly man. Like most southern Sudanese women, she had no money, and was jailed for not paying the fine of seven cows. After serving her six-month jail term, she says her only hope is to beg her parents to let her come home. 
"I loved a man and my parents told me to stop that love, and I didn't accept it. Then my son died, and now I'm left with no son, no husband and no love. It's all my own fault," she said, sitting on a mat in a bare dirt yard in Rumbek prison with about two dozen other women, most convicted of adultery. 
Matters such as divorce, rape, adultery, theft and child custody are decided in tribal courts ruled by uneducated chiefs. Ajuoi, the UNICEF officer, says women are disadvantaged in these courts, but judges argue that rapid reform to improve women's rights would so outrage the men it would be counterproductive. 
"It is something we cannot do away with immediately because our society is somewhat traditional. Girls are seen as a source of wealth, and people sell their daughters to get wealth," said Deputy Chief Justice Bullen Panchol of the Court of Appeal in South Sudan. 
"The traditions that we have must go through a period of injustice in a way, and that process must be allowed to evolve. If we rationalize everything according to international norms, people would be scared," he added. "They would resist and they would continue to do these things illegally." 
Three months ago, Yar's husband stopped her schooling entirely and told her he would take her to his home village, where there would be just housework. 
"I'm still angry with him, because he broke his promise to let me go to school. He says, 'If I let you get an education, then maybe you'll look down on me because I'm not educated, and you'll want to leave me.' I say, 'Now that you're keeping me in the house, you are not educated and I am not educated. How does it help?' 
"Before he married me, I was in school, I was not being beaten and I had my own life. Now I have lost all those things and I feel terribly bitter. There is no way I will get my freedom." 
She says Benykor does not hit her during the day when neighbors might see, but waits until night. She no longer screams, because she knows no one will help. 
"He says, 'Until you stop being stubborn, I'll keep on beating you,' " Yar said. She has no hope that her family will do anything. 
"My family have equated my life to 20 cows," she said. "But I insist, my life is not equal to 20 cows."

Our helicopter touched down in a cloud of camel-brown sand, dust and plastic debris. As the cloud gradually settled into new layers on the bone-dry desert landscape, we could make out the faces of terrified villagers. "Welcome to Sudan," I murmured to myself, grabbing my pen and waterproof notebook. 
A former Marine, I had arrived in Sudan's Darfur region in September 2004 as one of three U.S. military observers for the African Union, armed only with a pen, pad and camera. The mandate for the A.U. force allowed merely for the reporting of violations of a cease-fire that had been declared last April and the protection of observers. The observers sometimes joked morbidly that our mission was to search endlessly for the cease-fire we constantly failed to find. I soon realized that this was no joke. 
The conflict had begun nearly 1 1/2 years earlier and had escalated into a full-scale government-sponsored military operation that, with the support of Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, was aimed at annihilating the African tribes in the region. And while the cease-fire was supposed to have put a stop to that, on an almost daily basis we would be called to investigate reports of attacks on civilians. We would find men, women and children tortured and killed, and villages burned to the ground. 
The first photograph I took in Darfur was of a tiny child, Mihad Hamid. She was only a year old when I found her. Her mother had attempted to escape an onslaught from helicopter gunships and Janjaweed marauders that had descended upon her village of Alliet in October 2004. Carrying her daughter in a cloth wrapped around her waist, as is common in Sudan, Mihad's terrified mother had run from her attackers. But a bullet had rung out through the dry air, slicing through Mihad's flesh and puncturing her lungs. When I discovered the child, she was nestled in her mother's lap, wheezing in a valiant effort to breathe. With watery eyes, her mother lifted Mihad for me to examine. 
Most Sudanese villagers assume that a khawadja -- a foreigner -- must be a doctor. And my frantic efforts to signal to her to lay her struggling daughter back down only convinced her that I had medical advice to dispense. It broke my heart to be able to offer her only a prayer and a glance of compassion, as I captured this casualty with my camera and notepad. I pledged, with the linguistic help of our team's Chadian mediator, that we would alert the aid organizations poised to respond. 
"This is what they do," the mediator -- a neutral party to the conflict -- screamed at me. "This is what happens here! Now you know! Now you see!" I was unaware at that time that when the aid workers arrived the next day, amid continued fighting, they would never be able to locate Mihad. 
Mihad now represents to me the countless victims of this vicious war, a war that we documented but given our restricted mandate were unable to stop. Every day we surveyed evidence of killings: men castrated and left to bleed to death, huts set on fire with people locked inside, children with their faces smashed in, men with their ears cut off and eyes plucked out, and the corpses of people who had been executed with gunshots to the head. We spoke with thousands of witnesses -- women who had been gang-raped and families that had lost fathers, people who plainly and soberly gave us their accounts of the slaughter. 
Often we were the witnesses. Just two days after I had taken Mihad's photo, we returned to Alliet. While talking to a government commander on the outskirts of the town, we heard a buzz that sounded like a high-voltage power line. Upon entering the village, we saw that the noise was coming from flies swarming over dead animals and people. We counted about 20 dead, many burned, and then flew back to our camp to write our report. But the smell of charred flesh was hard to wash away. 
The conflict in Darfur is not a battle between uniformed combatants, and it knows no rules of war. Women and children bear the greatest burden. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are filled with families that have lost their fathers. Every day, women are sent outside the IDP camps to seek firewood and water, despite the constant risk of rape at the hands of the Janjaweed. Should men be available to venture out of the camps, they risk castration and murder. So families decide that rape is the lesser evil. It is a crime that families even have to make such a choice. Often women are sexually assaulted within the supposed safety of the IDP camps. Nowhere is really safe. If and when the refugees are finally able to return home and rebuild, many women may have to support themselves alone; rape victims are frequently ostracized, and others face unwanted pregnancies and an even greater burden of care. 
The Janjaweed militias do not act alone. I have seen clear evidence that the atrocities committed in Darfur are the direct result of the Sudanese government's military collaboration with the militias. Attacks are well coordinated by Sudanese government officials and Arab militias, who attack villages together. Before these attacks occur, the cell phone systems are shut down by the government so that villagers cannot warn each other. Whenever we lost our phone service, we would scramble to identify the impending threat. We knew that somewhere, another reign of terror was about to begin. 
Helicopter gunships belonging to the government routinely support the Arab militias on the ground. The gunships fire anti-personnel rockets that contain flashettes, or small nails, each with stabilizing fins on the back so the point hits the target first. Each gunship contains four rocket pods, each rocket pod contains about 20 rockets and each rocket contains about 500 of these flashettes. Flashette wounds look like shotgun wounds. I saw one small child's back that looked as if it had been shredded by a cheese grater. We got him to a hospital, but we did not expect him to live. 
On many of the occasions we tried to investigate these attacks, we would find that fuel for our helicopters was mysteriously unavailable. We would receive unconvincing explanations from the Sudanese government's fuel company -- from "we are out of fuel" to "our fuel pumps are broken." At the same time, government helicopters continued to strafe villages unimpeded. 
Those villagers who were able to escape flocked to existing IDP camps, where they would scrounge for sticks and plastic bags to construct shelter from the sun and wind. In even these desperate situations, however, the Sudanese government would not give up its murderous mission. First it would announce the need to relocate an IDP camp and assess the population of displaced people, often grossly underestimating the numbers. Then after international aid organizations had built a new, smaller camp, the government would forcibly relocate the population, leaving hundreds to thousands without shelter. It would bulldoze or drive over the old camps with trucks, often in the middle of the night in order to escape notice. It would then gather up and burn the remaining debris. 
The worst thing I saw came last December, when Labado, a village of 20,000 people, was burned to the ground. We rushed there after a rebel group contacted us, and we arrived while the attack was still in progress. At the edge of the village, I found a Sudanese general who explained why he was doing nothing to stop the looting and burning. He said his job was to protect civilians and keep the road open to commercial traffic and denied that his men were participating in the attack. Then a group of uniformed men drove by in a Toyota Land Cruiser. The general said they were just going to get water, but they stopped about 75 yards away, jumped out, looted a hut and burned it. The attacks continued for a week. We have no idea how many people died there but tribal leaders later said close to 100 were missing. 
Since I left Darfur last month, I have tried, in press conferences, newspaper interviews and congressional testimony, to publicize conditions there in the hope that the international community will intervene more vigorously instead of watching the atrocities run their course. That way we won't look back years from now and ask why we didn't stop another genocide. 
I believe this conflict can be resolved through international pressure and international support of the African Union. Weapons sanctions and a no-fly zone throughout Darfur are critical. I have seen that the mere presence of A.U. forces can discourage attacks and, with more support, they could stop the conflict. 
In December, the Sudanese general at Labado had told us that his mission was to continue clearing the route all the way to Khartoum, hundreds of miles away. The next town in line was Muhajeryia, roughly twice the size of Labado. The African Union placed 35 soldiers into Muhajeryia, not to protect the village, but to protect the civilian contractors who were establishing a base camp. Yet this small force alone was able to deter the government of Sudan, with a force of a few thousand soldiers and Janjaweed militiamen, from attacking. Shortly after that, the A.U. was able to deploy 70 more soldiers from the protection force and 10 military observers to the scorched village of Labado. Within one week, approximately 3,000 people returned to rebuild. In addition, the A.U. negotiated the withdrawal of Sudanese government troops from the area. 
To secure and protect all villages in Darfur, the African Union needs several things: an expanded mandate that would allow it to protect civilians and ensure secure routes for humanitarian aid, advanced logistics and communication support, and an increase in the size of the protection force by tens of thousands. 
The attention paid to Darfur in Congress and at the United Nations hasn't been enough. For the first time, we might be able to stop genocide in the making. We must not fail the men, women and children of Darfur. 
During my time in Darfur, as I listened to the victims, I was astounded at their composure. Their unwavering faith provides some rationale to what seems to me an inexplicable horror. By handing over their lives to God, somehow each day is a gift, despite the massacres. "We're going to die," they acknowledge with fear, "but we hope to survive . . . Inshallah [God willing]." Unfortunately, they just don't have a choice. 
We do. 
Author's e-mail: steidlebs@globalgrassrootsnetwork.org 
Brian Steidle, who served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, recently spent six months working for a State Department contractor as a cease-fire monitor with the African Union force in Sudan's Darfur region. His sister, Gretchen Steidle Wallace, assisted in the writing of this piece.

Sudan has accused humanitarian agencies operating in the war-torn region of Darfur of using only a fraction of funds from donors on the crisis and retaining much of it for their own activities, the independent al-Sahafa daily reported Sunday. 
The paper quoted the governor of South Darfur state, Al-Hajj Atta al-Mannan, as saying that just over 10 percent of the total amount of financial assistance donated for the crisis in Darfur had reached the needy. 
He claimed that the majority of the money was used to fund activities not related directly to the plight of the people of Darfur. 
"The share of the people of Darfur from this fund was only 12 percent while the remainder was spent on administrative operations and workers of the international organisations in Darfur," Mannan charged. 
The charges are the latest by Khartoum against international humanitarian organisations in the Darfur region, where the United Nations says some 180,000 people have died in the past 18 months, mainly from disease and malnutrition. 
Earlier this year, Sudanese authorities arrested five aid officials employed by the Kirkens Noedhjelp (Norwegian Church Aid) humanitarian organization and accused them of filming a documentary inside rebel camps to back up allegations of genocide and rape in the west Sudanese province. 
In October, Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir launched an attack on aid agencies in the region, calling them enemies. 
"Organizations operating in Darfur are the real enemies," the president was quoted as saying. 
And earlier in May, Sudanese Interior Minister Abdul Rahim Hussein accused a number of aid organizations of supporting ethnic minority rebels in the region. 
He claimed that they "used humanitarian operations as a cover for carrying out a hidden agenda and proved to have supported the rebellion in the past period." 
Beshir and other officials in Khartoum have repeatedly accused international humanitarian organizations of proselytising in Sudan and charged that the West was fueling the conflict in a bid to plunder the country's resources. 
An estimated 9,000 aid workers operate in Darfur, which has been torn by civil war and one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world for the past two years. 
The UN fed a record 1.6 million people in the region in February in spite of increased attacks, according to the World Food Programme.

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
An 8,000-strong African Union (AU) peacekeeping force with an enhanced mandate would be needed to protect the nearly two million displaced people in the western Sudanese region of Darfur and bring stability to the volatile area, a UN spokesperson said on Friday.
"Jan Pronk [the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for the Sudan] felt that, for the AU [African Union] to strengthen its role in Darfur, it would need to expand its capacity to 8,000 troops and adopt a mandate with a stronger focus on protection," Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), told IRIN.
"When you look at their [the AU] experience on the ground, whenever they were there, such as in Labado [a town in South Darfur which suffered some of the worst fighting in recent months], the situation stabilised," Achouri added. 
An AU-led assessment team, consisting of senior AU, UN, EU (European Union) and US officials, arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday, having completed a week-long assessment of peacekeeping requirements in Darfur. The team was expected to finalise its joint report over the next few days. 
"The assessment team looked with satisfaction at the situation in local communities in which the AU was present," Nourreddine Mezni, spokesman of the AU in Khartoum told IRIN on Friday, adding that the AU presence had encouraged local communities and internally displaced persons to resume their normal life activities. 
A preliminary observation by the assessment team, Mezni noted, was that, given the current AU troop strength of 2,193 soldiers, the mission was doing the utmost within the possibilities of their limited resources.
"The assessment mission is looking at ways to enhance the performance of AMIS [African Union Mission in Darfur] and it is understood that proposals to increase the size of its force are part of that discussion," Mezni added.
Pronk was in Luxembourg to meet with the EU ministers to request technical, financial and logistical support for the AU forces in Darfur, and EU troop commitments for the proposed UN peace support mission for southern Sudan.
"If the AU would agree to expand their number of troops in Darfur, additional support is needed, as it would pose a considerable burden on the African countries that are providing the troops," Achouri added. 
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council on Thursday extended the mandate of UNAMIS by a week, after having done the same on 10 March, while its members discussed the establishment of the peace mission for southern Sudan. A draft resolution, prepared by the US, seeks to authorise the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force of over 10,000 soldiers for southern Sudan, impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for atrocities in Darfur and specify where to try the perpetrators.

The humanitarian crisis situation in Darfur (Sudan) is getting tragically worse daily, with 189,000 dead and almost 2 million displaced persons, consequence of the acts of violence by the Janjawid militia and the government forces. 
The absence of any agreement, that UNO deplored, between the Europeans and the United States is hindering the indispensable intervention of the international community. The UN-created Commission of enquiry on human rights violations in the Sudan has condemned crimes against humanity: indiscriminate attacking, murdering, torturing, forcibly displacing,, raping and plundering of civilians S acts that are being systematically committed, according to the Commission. This body recommends referring to the International Criminal Court which should, indeed, proceed to try people responsible for such acts. The European Union demands that 51 already identified people be thus charged. But Khartoum protects them and Washington, which does not recognise the ICC is opposed to this. 
We forcefully call for the following most urgent measures be taken: 
  strengthening the African Security Force, which must be given the means to carry out its task 
   increasing the humanitarian aid to the level needed. In fact, $400 million are lacking to cover the most urgent needs 
   trying those responsible for the crimes and violence by the International Criminal Court. 
  launching the political settlement of the crisis by negotiation under the aegis of the African Union, with the support and involvement of the United Nations Organisation. 
The French Communist Party and the Sudanese Communist Party, in the spirit of their traditional relations of solidarity, have met to take stock of the situation and to recall here the urgent measures that they consider must be taken. They have decided to remain in close contact so as to be able to take the whatever actions may be needed. In this spirit, the French Communist party will shorty be meeting with the leaders of the two opposition movements in Darfur.

(IRIN, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 18, 2005) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is one of 17 commissioners who last week released a report by British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission for Africa. In an interview with IRIN in Addis Ababa on Friday, Meles explained his views on the report, and its role in fostering greater development in Africa. Here are excerpts from that interview: 
[IRIN] The report was launched in Africa Hall [in Addis Ababa], where the founding fathers launched the organization of African Unity in 1963. What do you think they would say if they saw the state of Africa today, more than 40 years later? 
[Meles] I think they would say that things have not gone as well as they should. But I hope they would recognize that over the past few years, and with the coming of the Commission for Africa report, Africa has been making significant efforts in moving forward. 
[IRIN] What are you most pleased about with the recommendations made by the Commission for Africa? 
[Meles] It is really the fundamentals of that report, based on the need for inclusive and fair globalization. That is the fundamental point based on the recognition that Africa should be in the driving seat. For me it is a new paradigm, no matter what happens in terms of the specifics. If the report is endorsed by the G8, that in itself would be an historic achievement. 
[IRIN] You say the report has been infused with African spirit. Fine words, but what do you really mean by that? 
[Meles] Well, as I said in my speech, it is about Africa. It is about globalization. It recognizes that in the end, Africa has to stand up for itself, and has to do what it has to do. And it is about the rest of the world recognizing that it is in their interests, and that they are closely linked to Africa doing much better than it has done before. 
[IRIN] What do the Commission for Africa's recommendations mean for Ethiopia? 
[Meles] It means legitimacy in terms of our rights, and it sets [an] agenda of development cooperation which is much more productive, in my view, than has been the case over the past 30 or 40 years. It creates the right framework for pro-poor growth in this country, as well as on the continent. 
[IRIN] Do you think you can set an example by settling, once and for all, the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea? 
[Meles] We will try. We have tried in the past, but as I have said, it takes two to tango. 
[IRIN] What is required on that then? 
[Meles] A willingness on the part of our fellows in Eritrea to talk. The outcome of the talks is open, but in the final analysis, the dispute will have to be resolved through dialogue. Talking with each other. That is not available to us right now. 
[IRIN] But obviously you accept that peace and security are core themes of the commission's work? 
[Meles] Nothing good will happen to Africa unless we address the security and governance issues, and that means, in specific terms, in the case of Ethiopia, we have to rule out the possibility of conflict between ourselves and Eritrea for good. We have to recognize that this problem can be, and should only be, resolved by peaceful means through dialogue. 
[IRIN] There has been concern about Ethiopia moving troops to the border and the potential problems this might lead to. What is your view on this? 
[Meles] The bottom line is we will not initiate a conflict with Eritrea or anybody else. We have had enough. We believe the problem between ourselves and Eritrea can be resolved through dialogue. And so everything we do is calculated to reinforce this message; including the troop movement. The troop movement is designed to send a message to our brothers that the option of violence is not an attractive option to any side. In the end, we have got to sit around the table. There is no way round it. 
[IRIN] The measure of success for the Commission for Africa is to see the implementation of the recommendations, to see real action. What specifically will you be looking for? 
[Meles] The first thing, and for me the most important thing, is that the report should be addressed. I am confident that Africa will address the report, and I very much hope that the G8 will address the report. Once we have the paradigm in place, then we would expect our G8 partners to move expeditiously on improving the quantity and quality of aid, debt cancellation and the [World Trade organization] Doha round of trade negotiations that provide real and non-reciprocal access for African goods. 
[IRIN] What sort of Africa do you see without the implementation of this report? 
[Meles] Well, clearly either we have to move forward aggressively, or we are going to move backwards, and we have examples of both. Moving backward means going in the direction of, let us say, Somalia, Liberia and so on. Moving forward means moving forward in the direction of, let us say, Botswana. Despite the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Botswana has done very well in terms of governance and economic development, and there are many other African countries that can be cited. So either we move in the direction of Botswana and company, or we move in the direction of Somalia and company. 
[IRIN] You have been in power now 14 years. In that time, I am sure, you have had a lot of promises from various countries that have not been fulfilled. Why do you think these promises [by the Commission for Africa] will be fulfilled? 
[Meles] First, I am not banking on specific promises per se, I am banking on the paradigm as a whole. Secondly, despite some disappointments, we have seen some countries moving in the direction of implementing their programmes. For example, I can cite, in the case of Ethiopia - Sweden, Ireland and the UK who have improved both the quantity, but more importantly the quality of their assistance to us. 
[IRIN] And realistically where do you think Africa will be in five years time? 
[Meles] It may not be the case that Africa, or every African country, will have done well by then, but I think there will be enough countries in Africa that are moving more aggressively to achieving the [UN] Millennium Development Goals. 
[IRIN] Is this a landmark document, a blueprint, something that people will look back on and say "that was a turning point for Africa"? 
[Meles] That is exactly the case for me, and I would have thought so for every other African.

PetroChina nears world No.4 spot, but Sudan a worry

By Charlie Zhu and Wendy Lim 
(REUTERS, Singapore-Hong Kong, March 18 2005) - PetroChina could overtake France's Total as the world number four corporate oil producer by buying all its state parent's overseas assets, but investors face new political risk if Sudan fields join its portfolio. 
PetroChina, which has few assets abroad and whose crude output is flagging in ageing oil fields, has long been expected to spend billions of dollars to buy the assets to brighten its growth prospect and boost output by up to 15 percent in one hit. 
The likely acquisition was flagged officially at the company's results presentation on Thursday and is expected to take place this year. 
Those overseas reserves not already moved into PetroChina's portfolio by parent China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) are worth about $6.2 billion, according to Deutsche Bank. 
Buying all of them would make China's dominant oil and gas producer, already the world's sixth largest listed oil firm by market value, into a player with large-scale hydrocarbon assets around the world, and daily oil and gas output close to 3 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). 
Total, now the world number four among stock market-listed companies by output behind Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch/Shell and BP, produced 2.6 million boe in the last quarter of 2004. 
PetroChina Chief Financial Officer Wang Guoliang said on Friday the firm was considering various proposals to purchase overseas assets from its parent company CNPC. 
"It's extremely difficult to have oil production growth. We hope to gain as much growth as possible from these overseas assets," Wang said on the sidelines of an investors' conference in Hong Kong. 
Crude oil output at PetroChina, 90 percent owned by CNPC, was flat at 778 million barrels in 2004. 
Assuming it would buy all of CNPC's overseas assets in countries including Sudan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Venezuela, it would boost PetroChina's oil and gas output and reserves by 10-15 percent, according to DBS Vickers analyst Gideon Lo. 
Wang gave no details on the acquisition plan, although PetroChina officials have said they may form a joint venture with CNPC to own the overseas assets. 
SUDAN WORRY 
The key issue concerning cash-rich PetroChina is whether it should buy the assets in Sudan, which analysts say accounted for more than half of CNPC's total overseas equity oil production of 12.88 million tonnes in 2003 and where output is growing fast. 
A two-year old armed rebellion in Sudan has left 5.5 million people in need of food aid there, according to the United Nations, and the United States has been pushing for U.N. sanctions against its oil industry. U.N. Security Council members vowed on Thursday to adopt a resolution within the next week aimed at securing peace in Sudan. 
PetroChina, which has shares traded in both Hong Kong and New York, is in dilemma at the moment, analysts say. 
"Whether they will inject Sudan remains a big unknown at this stage," said Lo of DBS Vickers. "If they decide to strip out Sudan from the portfolio, it may reduce the overall attractiveness of the deal. But if they do not, it will increase its risk profile." 
Before it took PetroChina public in 2000, CNPC had planned to include all of its overseas assets in the subsidiary. But it dropped the plan later due to worries that inclusion of assets like the Sundanese fields would hurt U.S. investors' interest in its stock offer if it did so. 
Now, with oil prices reaching record highs and fuelling strong buying interests in oil stocks globally, analysts say the time may be right now for PetroChina - which counts U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett among its investors - to consider taking on the overseas assets. 
Investors might support the plan because PetroChina's earnings and share prices would be hit hard if oil prices fall sharply in the absence of output growth, they say. 
"It's the right direction to buy assets from their parent... They need mergers and acquisitions to sustain profit growth," said Alan Shum, portfolio manager at China Insurance Group Assets Management Ltd., which has shares in PetroChina. 
But a Merrill Lynch research report said on Thursday such an acquisition would be "a double-edged sword" because of uncertainties over "acquisition price and sovereign risks". 
PetroChina, which made a net profit of $12.4 billion last year, or nearly a half of what Exxon Mobil Corp. earned, would have no problem financing such an acquisition. 
It had 11.3 billion yuan ($1.37 billion) in cash at the end of 2004 and a modest gearing ratio of around 13 percent. It is also planning a massive Chinese-currency A-share offer in Shanghai, possibly this year.

Nothing in place yet for returnees 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
(IRIN, Malakal, 18 March 2005) - A small group of around 2,000 people, displaced by a war that had lasted over two decades, arrived by river barge in the central Sudanese town of Malakal in March 2004. 
They were on their way home to the Juba region in southern Sudan. While in Malakal, these internally displaced persons (IDPs) stayed on the barge under very bad sanitary conditions and received little in terms of support. When they resumed their journey four months later, three of them had died. 
"This was a relatively small group that returned while the war had not officially ended, but it made it very clear that more had to be done before larger groups would start returning home," Urbano Tito Tipo, Malakal field coordinator of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN. 
Now that the comprehensive peace agreement has been signed between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), millions of people are expected to return to their communities in southern Sudan. 
Ter Tongyik Majok, field director in Malakal for the international NGO, ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency), told IRIN that a survey they conducted among IDPs in Kosti [south of Khartoum] in June-July 2004, had found that 95 percent of those surveyed were planning to return to the region. 
According to OCHA, 400,000 IDPs had already returned, largely spontaneously, to their places of origin in south Sudan by the end of 2004. However, the absence of protection mechanisms and life-sustaining services along most return routes was a major concern. 
Malakal 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government in the south erupted in 1983 when the rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. The fighting has killed at least two million people, uprooted four million more and forced some 600,000 to flee to neighbouring countries. 
Malakal is an important transit point for returning IDPs and refugees. They are expected to come up the Nile from Khartoum and Kosti, down the Sobat River from Ethiopia, while there is also a large local IDP population as a result of fighting in the Greater Upper Nile region, 25,000 of whom were in Malakal town itself. 
"Although Malakal will be a focal-transit point for returning IDPs, no specific mechanisms have been put in place yet," Tipo said. "The authorities should be preparing for this, but they do not have the capacity to draw up such a plan and implement it." 
The largest number of IDPs is expected to come from the shantytowns around Khartoum, where an estimated one million people live. 
According to the Khartoum State Rapid Needs Assessment, undertaken by a number of relief agencies in January 2005, only 39 percent of Khartoum IDP households had a source of income, 30 percent of the IDPs had no access to latrines, 57 percent of the IDPs did not use clinics because they were too expensive, while the crude mortality rate in some settlements was close to the emergency threshold of one per 10,000 per day. 
Since at least 665,000 IDPs around Khartoum had had their homes demolished as part of the government's rezoning programme, it was not surprising that the majority were planning to return to the south. 
Planning for Return 
At major departure points, such as the settlements around Khartoum and IDP and refugee camps, relief agencies were focusing on health and immunisation, the provision of information on the situation at return destinations and the identification of vulnerable groups of returnees. 
Along the major return routes, agencies will provide food, water, primary health services, protection and emergency transportation, while at major final destination areas, the focus will be on the provision of basic services. 
"Many IDPs have been away for such a long time - sometimes for decades - that they got used to the availability of clean water, electricity, education and health services," Theodore Collins, head of WFP's office in Malakal, told IRIN. 
"Without providing at least some of these services in the areas of return, there will only be a relatively small group that will be willing to return - especially with the additional security threats of renewed fighting and landmines," he added. 
Without the requisite infrastructure and services to sustain surges in IDP numbers, relief agencies fear that unplanned returns might also place significant pressure on the limited resources of host communities, who are recovering from decades of conflict. 
In southern Sudan, according to a UNICEF Baseline report published in June 2004, 21.5 percent of children under the age of five are suffering from global acute malnutrition - the highest in the world. The primary school completion rate is two percent - the lowest in the world. Meanwhile, the life expectancy at birth is 42 years and the average number of medical doctors per 100,000 people is one. 
"We try to empower the host communities by providing them with tools, seeds and fishing equipment so that they are ready to absorb the returning IDPs into their community," Adeng Anwour, team leader of the Malakal office of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), told IRIN. 
"We also teach people how to provide for their own food security, in particular, those who are returning home and may not have had to do this in a long time," he added. 
Funding Return 
Wendy Chamberlin, acting high commissioner of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), stressed during a recent press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, that the international community had "a window of opportunity" to put infrastructure in place so that people could begin returning home - and then stay home - after the rainy season ended in September. 
"The UNHCR does not encourage people to return without assistance or without information about the situation in their return-destination," she added. "UNHCR is first trying to prepare the ground in South Sudan by implementing community-based programmes in the field of water, health, education and landmine clearance." 
Extreme lack of infrastructure and basic services in southern Sudan after decades of conflict meant that major investment was needed to rehabilitate communities before such returns could begin, but donations have so far fallen short of the UN's needs' assessments. 
"I was shocked to find that the south has only received, in hand, five percent of what it needs to implement the [2005] Work Plan for Sudan," UN emergency coordinator, Jan Egeland, told UN Agencies and NGOs in Rumbek, during a three-day tour around the country in February. 
"There is a disturbing discrepancy between what the world promised it would do once a peace agreement was signed and what it has delivered," he added. 
"Of the $500 million that has been requested for recovery and development assistance in the south in 2005, only $25 million has been received and a further $25 million has been promised," Dawn Elizabeth Blalock, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, told IRIN. 
Looking Forward 
Protection is another area of major concern. People will be moving across a vast country, through areas controlled by militias. They will arrive in areas in the south with extremely limited infrastructure, the danger of landmines, and a limited police capability in the years to come to enforce the rule of law. 
"It is our role as the SPLM/A to participate in the activity of helping with the return of IDPs," Anthony Edward Nwyawelo, chairman of the SPLM/A office in Malakal, told IRIN, "but a little support from the international community during the first phase is very welcome." 
In addition, the large influx of returnees will require the settlement of a myriad of issues, from access to land, to competition over scarce resources and the resolution of grievances built up during decades of war. 
"Security is dominating people's concern, especially with the recent escalation of militia fighting in Upper Nile," Galuak Liphoth, Deputy Secretary for Security Affairs of the SPLM/A in Malakal told IRIN. 
"Let the ordinary people feel that the situation is safe by taking the arms from militias, by making sure the GoS [government of Sudan] is no longer a threat to them, and by taking care of landmines; that is the priority," he added. "Health and education will come later." 
The expectation is that the majority of the returnees will arrive after September 2005, when the rainy season is over and the end of the pre-interim period will have created more stability and clarity regarding the new governance and security arrangements under the transitional government. 
However, by then, the harvest season will have ended as well. 
"Anybody, arriving from June 2005 onwards will need food support until August-October 2006 [when the new harvest comes in]," Tipo added. 

Measles campaign planned for southern Sudan 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
 (IRIN, Nairobi, 18 March 2005) - Relief agencies are preparing for a comprehensive immunisation campaign against measles in southern Sudan in order to save children from the killer disease, a spokesperson told IRIN. 
"Measles is the number one killer among preventable diseases in south Sudan" Ben Parker, communication officer for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Nairobi, Kenya, said on Thursday. 
Martin Opoka, southern Sudan early warning coordinator for the World Health Organization (WHO), said 21 outbreaks of measles had been recorded across the region in 2004. 
The town of Yambio, on the border with the DR Congo, had witnessed one of the worst outbreaks, during which over 500 children were hospitalised. 
UNICEF and WHO were planning the campaign across the whole Equatoria region during the second half of 2005, followed by a campaign in Bahr el Ghazal and greater Upper Nile in 2006. The whole campaign would target about 4.4 million children under 15 years. 
"Unless you reach an immunisation coverage of 90 percent or more, you will continue to have outbreaks all over the country," Brigitte Toure, UNICEF Health coordinator for south Sudan, said. 
According to UNICEF, routine immunisation data in southern Sudan had showed that measles coverage for children under the age of five stood at seven percent in 2001, 11 percent in 2002 and 16 percent in 2003. 
The agency said measles surveillance in the region had improved during the past three years, with outbreak reports showing cases of the disease on the rise. Some 364 cases were reported in 2002, against 649 in 2003 and 1,092 cases during the first half of 2004. 
"For the time being we are focusing our campaign on the SPLM/A-held areas, but by the time the campaign happens, we hope to be able to access areas that are currently controlled by the government as well," Parker said. "The peace allows us to think bigger and be more ambitious and do things we could not do before because of insecurity and instability." 
An additional aim of the measles campaign, and the ongoing polio-campaign, was to create the local capacity, through training and the supply of materials, for ongoing immunisation. 
"We hope that this effort will develop into a routine immunisation capacity, for a number of preventable diseases," Toure said. "Thousands of lives will potentially be saved by this campaign." 
The target group, children between six months and 15 years of age, represents about 49 percent of southern Sudan's 7.5 million people. 
In northern Sudan and Darfur, the Sudanese government, in collaboration with UN agencies and NGOs, had carried out measles immunisation campaigns. In the north, despite costly immunisation, measles caused one-third of all deaths in children under three years of age, according to the Egyptian International Development Research Centre. 
The UN Advance Mission in Sudan reported on Wednesday that 37 cases of measles had been reported from West Darfur and eight cases from South Darfur. A supplementary measles immunisation campaign, targeting children from six months to 14 years of age had begun in Kass (South Darfur) and in Kanderni (West Darfur), two locations that had reported the majority of cases. 

One million fled Darfur homes in 2004 - report

(REUTERS, Geneva, March 18 2005) - A third of the three million people worldwide forced to flee their homes by violence and war in 2004 are in Sudan's conflict-scarred Darfur region, a U.N.-backed report said on Friday. 
More than 25 million people worldwide, around half of them in Africa, are internally displaced people (IDP) or refugees within their own country, living in dire conditions and lacking clean water and food. 
The report, requested by the United Nations to monitor one of the world's largest neglected groups, found that numbers of IDPs remained high. 
"8,000 people were forced to abandon their homes every day last year ... It is perhaps the area where we fail the most," U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland, told a news conference. 
Despite three million people able to return to their homes, mostly in Angola and Liberia, the overall numbers are unchanged, said Elisabeth Rasmusson, head of the Geneva-based IDP project. 
"The problem is that the total of 25 million remains the same for the third year in a row, because even if people returned, there was new massive displacement," she told a briefing. 
Sudan is followed by northern Uganda, where 600,000 people abandoned their homes. 
The IDPs' living conditions are worsened by "too little or no assistance at all" due to insecurity, lack of funds, poor coordination among aid agencies or hostile authorities, said the group's Global IDP Project report. 
Some 290,000 people were uprooted in Colombia and 200,000 in Iraq -- mainly people fleeing counter-insurgency operations by U.S. forces, according to the report. 
IDPs are separate from the about 11 million refugees and asylum-seekers who crossed borders to flee civil war and persecution.

UN: No more delay on Darfur - HRW

(H.R.W, New York, March 18, 2005) -- United Nations Security Council members that support protecting civilians in Darfur should urgently co-sponsor a resolution referring Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said today. Today the Security Council extended by one week the mandate of the temporary international force in Sudan because it has been unable to agree on a package of measures to address the Darfur crisis and establish a peacekeeping force for Sudan more generally. 
These measures must include ICC referral, more rigorous targeted sanctions, a no fly zone, and a substantially increased African Union presence on the ground in Darfur, Human Rights Watch urged. 
"It's been two months since the U.N. Commission of Inquiry issued its alarming findings about Darfur," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "This delay is allowing devastating human rights abuse to continue on the ground." 
In the meantime, more delay is likely to lead to a more fragmented situation in Darfur, including the splintering of armed groups on all sides, increasing lack of control by leadership over rebel forces on the ground, and the proliferation of irregular armed forces, Human Rights Watch said. The situation is likely to become more and more difficult to resolve, creating worse human rights conditions. 
As the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, stated this week to the U.N. Commission of Human Rights, "The abandonment - even the postponement - of the process of justice is an affront to those who obey the law and a betrayal of those who rely on the law for their protection; it is a call for the use of force in revenge and, therefore, a bankruptcy of peace." 
"There is an urgent need for states that support justice for the people of Darfur to co-sponsor a resolution referring the situation to the ICC," said Dicker. "Inaction in the face of atrocities in Darfur sends a terrible message about the ability of the Security Council to respond to massive human rights violations." 
The ICC remains the only course of action with the speed and staying power to ensure that those most responsible for serious crimes in Darfur are held accountable, Human Rights Watch said. The recent proposal by the Nigerian government to establish an "African panel for criminal justice and reconciliation" could potentially serve as a complementary effort to ICC prosecutions to ensure justice for human rights violations in Darfur. However, this proposal is no substitute for what will be a limited number of prosecutions of those most responsible by the ICC.

Nigeria proposes Africa-run tribunal to try Sudan war crimes suspects

By Nick Wadhams

(United Nations and Associated Press, March 17, 2005) -- Nigeria proposed setting up an African-run tribunal to prosecute human rights violators and war crimes suspects from Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region, a possible bid to break an impasse in the U.N. Security Council, according to a document released Wednesday. 
The Nigerian proposal, made on behalf of the African Union which it currently heads, comes as the Security Council is wrestling over a new resolution for a 10,000-strong peacekeeping force to help monitor a peace agreement ending a 21-year civil war between the government and rebels in southern Sudan. 
While the U.S.-sponsored resolution is meant to help Sudan recover from the civil war, it is also aimed at fostering peace in Darfur, where the United Nations now estimates that about 180,000 people have died of fighting, disease or malnutrition since October 2003. But a key sticking point has been how to bring war crimes suspects to justice. 
Diplomats say a dozen of the 15 council members back a U.N. panel's call to refer suspects to the International Criminal Court. The United States, however, vehemently opposes the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal and wants suspects to be tried by a new tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. 
The Nigerian letter, dated Tuesday, said the various proposals fall short because they don't provide "the desired healing and reconciliation for the parties involved" and "may not be ideal in handling the delicate political crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan." 
The letter was addressed to the European Union, whose 25 members are parties to the International Criminal Court. It said Sudan's government supports the proposal. 
U.N. diplomats said they were still discussing the proposal and had no immediate response. The Nigerians did not say who would pay for their proposed tribunal. 
Meanwhile Wednesday, U.S. Mission spokesman Richard Grenell said the United States will again propose extending the U.N. political mission in Sudan for a week while members wrestle over the resolution. 
The weeklong extension would follow a similar one passed last week to try to bridge the remaining differences. 
"Negotiations are close but we will need another week before we can move forward on the Sudan resolution," Grenell said. "We will circulate a resolution to extend the current mandate by one week." 
The latest U.S. draft resolution circulated last week would establish a broader U.N. mission and authorize a 10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force to monitor a peace accord ending the 21-year civil war. 
The U.S. proposal calls for a travel ban and asset freeze on those who impede the peace process, threaten stability in Darfur, violate international humanitarian or human rights law, or are responsible for military overflights. 
The United States dropped an earlier proposal to extend an arms embargo -- already in force in Darfur for both black African rebel groups and the Arab militia known as Janjaweed -- to include Sudan's government. China, Russia and Algeria were opposed, according to U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity. 
Sanctions have been a sticking point, but some diplomats said Tuesday that the issue had been largely resolved. 
The U.N.-appointed panel concluded that crimes against humanity -- but not genocide -- probably occurred in Darfur where 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes. 
A U.S. draft resolution from last week has the note "to be developed" next to the proposal on bringing to justice those responsible for "crimes and atrocities." 
The United Nations now estimates that about 180,000 people have died in Darfur as a result of violence, disease or malnutrition since October 2003 _ 2 1/2 times the previous estimate.

IDPs in Darfur to increase; prosecution of perpetrators discussed 

(IRIN, Nairobi, 17 March 2005) - Unless a political settlement is soon reached on the conflict-ridden western Sudanese region of Darfur, and humanitarian agencies are given full freedom to operate, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) could reach three million by the end of the year, a senior UN official said on Wednesday. 
In May 2004, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs planned an operation to assist an estimated one million IDPs, Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, told journalists in Geneva. 
However, that number was now fast approaching two million, and unless an agreement was reached soon and humanitarian agencies were given full access, it could reach three million by the end of 2005, Egeland warned. 
He added that during his recent visit to Sudan, he had been shocked to find that there had been a substantial shortfall in funding for humanitarian relief in the crucial months following the historic southern peace agreement, signed on 9 January by the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army. 
"We need money and we need it now," Egeland said, noting that only US $25 million, representing 5 percent of the $500 million needed this year, had been received. 
Sudan's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, also appealed to the international community to step up its efforts in Darfur. 
"The government calls on the donor countries to accelerate their efforts to fulfill their commitment to provide humanitarian aid to the affected citizens in Darfur," he said in a press release on Thursday. 
On Wednesday, Nigeria proposed that perpetrators of gross human rights abuses in Darfur stand trial in a new African panel. This would be an alternative to trying them in the International Criminal Court, as recommended in the UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry's report, presented to the Security Council on 16 February. 
In its report, the commission excluded the possibility of either establishing an ad hoc international tribunal, or expanding the mandate of an existing tribunal, saying these would likely prove unduly time-consuming and expensive. Twelve of the 15 Security Council members supported the commission's recommendation. 
However, the United States proposed an ad hoc war crimes tribunal, claiming it could begin operating quickly because it would share infrastructure with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwandan in Arusha, Tanzania. 
Nigeria, which holds the African Union presidency, submitted its proposal ahead of the UN Security Council's vote on a resolution on Sudan, which is expected later this week. 
The draft resolution, prepared by the US, seeks to authorise the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force of over 10,000 soldiers in southern Sudan. It also proposes to impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for the atrocities in Darfur, and to specify where perpetrators should be tried. 
Nigeria's memorandum, addressed to the European Union, advocated an "African panel for criminal justice and reconciliation", while claiming that the proposal was supported by the government of Sudan. 
The war in Darfur has pitted Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called the marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Over 2.4 million people continue to be affected by the conflict, 1.85 million of whom are internally displaced or have been forced to flee to neighbouring Chad

UN Security Council fails to agree on Darfur prosecutions

(United Nations, A.F.P. March 17 2005) -- The UN Security Council failed Thursday to take action on Sudan as the United States and other members continued to disagree on where to prosecute criminals from the conflict in the western Darfur region. 
While a majority of council members want to refer suspects to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, the United States, which opposes the world tribunal, proposes that perpetrators of crimes be tried in a special tribunal based in Tanzania. 
An independent commission has found that crimes against humanity were likely committed in Darfur. 
The council instead voted to prolong by one week the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), which was to expire Thursday. 
The mission was created last year to set the conditions for the deployment of a force to support a peace agreement that in January ended a separate 21-year conflict in Sudan pitting the government in the north against rebels in the south. 
The creation of the 10,000-strong force is backed by the full council, but it has yet to be approved because it is part of a US-drafted resolution that deals with Darfur and the north-south peace deal. The draft has not moved due to debate over the criminal court. 
More than 180,000 people have died in the Darfur region over the past 18 months while 1.8 million have been displaced, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said Wednesday. 
After black African rebels in Darfur rose up against Sudan's Arab-led government, Khartoum turned to proxy militias -- the Janjaweed -- to put down the rebellion, and those militias have been blamed for a scorched-earth campaign of murder, rape and pillage. 
In Geneva, a group of UN experts called Thursday for concrete action by the Security Council to end the conflict in Darfur, where it said extra-judicial executions, rape, torture, abductions and forced displacement are daily occurrences. 
They called for the Darfur case to be referred to ICC. 
On Wednesday, Nigeria, which is not part of the Security Council, circulated here on behalf of the African Union a document calling for the creation of an African Panel for Criminal Justice and Reconciliation to prosecute Darfur criminals. 
"Justice has to go hand in hand with reconciliation," said Algerian ambassador Abdallah Baali. 
But his colleagues from nations that have ratified the ICC said they backed the use of the world court. 
"I don't think it's going to happen," British ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said. "We're not trying to be divisive at all, but we are all committed to a destination, the ICC, which is what the EU foreign ministers said yesterday too." 
His French counterpart, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, also warned: "Time is running out, we need to adopt this resolution."

China opposes economic sanctions against Sudan's Darfur crisis

(Xinhua, Beijng, Mar 17, 2005) -- China opposes the use of economic sanctions in resolving the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said here Thursday. 
The United Nations Security Council has been holding negotiations on Darfur issue and relevant resolutions concerning the crisis. 
"China expects the Security Council to send peacekeeping troops to Darfur as soon as possible, and help fulfill the peace resolutions achieved by hard efforts," said Liu at a regular news briefing. 
"China believes those who violated human rights and international humanitarianism should be punished, and hopes the international community will take active efforts to improve the situation in Darfur. 
"China also believes sanctions are not an effective way to resolve problems and China has been opposing economic sanctions or pressures imposed on relevant countries, including on the Darfur issue," he said. 
Violence flared up in Sudan's western Darfur region in February 2003. During the two-year clash, thousands of people have been killed and over one million driven to neighboring Chad or internally displaced.

(United Nations, March 17, 2005 Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council remains deadlocked over a US-draft resolution which would authorize the deployment of a 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan. 
As a result, the 15-nation council voted on Thursday for another one-week technical extension of the mandate of an advance political UN mission in Sudan, which has been there since June 2004 to prepare for the planned peacekeeping operation. 
Council members have so far failed to smooth their differences over whether to refer human rights violations and war crimes committed in Darfur, a conflict-wracked region in west Sudan, to the International Criminal Court (ICC). 
France, Britain and other council members from Europe have demanded the US-proposed resolution allow the ICC to prosecute alleged perpetrators of crimes in Darfur. But the United States, astrong opponent of The Hague-based court, wants all suspects to betried by a new tribunal. 
The council is also divided over whether to expand a Darfur-wide arms embargo to include Khartoum, which currently only targets rebels and their rival, local militias allied with the government. 
Nigeria, which holds the rotating presidency of the African Union, presented a memorandum to the European Union (EU) mission at the UN, proposing for the establishment of an African tribunal to deal with the situation in Darfur. 
The proposal to set up an "African Panel for Criminal Justice and Reconciliation" emphasizes justice and reconciliation as its main elements and "enjoys the support of the government of Sudan,"the memorandum said. 
It is not immediately known whether the proposal could break the impasse. 
Southern Sudan had been plagued by a 21-year-old civil war, thelongest-running in Africa, between the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army. The war was formally ended after apeace deal was signed in Kenya in January. 
The peacekeeping operation under discussion is aimed at helpingthe two sides implement the landmark peace agreement and setting amodel for the solution of the Darfur conflict.

Anatomy of a Genocide: interview with Brian Steidle

A State Department contractor witnessed firsthand the razing of a Sudanese village. TAP talks to Brian Steidle, a former Marine who tried to stop the carnage. 

By Mark Leon Goldberg, 
(The American Prospect March 17, 2005) -- Brian Steidle understands the anatomy of a genocide. As one of three American State Department contractors on the African Union's (AU) monitoring team in Sudan, the 28-year-old former Marine captain witnessed the systematic destruction of villages in south Darfur in late 2004. He's now working with Gretchen Steidle Wallace (his sister), who runs a nongovernmental organization (NGO) called Global Grassroots Network to raise awareness about the government of Sudan's complicity in the Darfur genocide. On March 15, between meetings with Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and an appearance on Wolf Blitzer Reports, Captain Steidle sat down with American Prospect writing fellow Mark Leon Goldberg at a coffee shop in Arlington, Virginia. 
Can you describe what happens when a village is attacked? Are there common elements of a modus operandi? 
The majority of the time, a fighter plane comes in and circles around a village to conduct reconnaissance. Then the helicopter gunships move in, hovering above the village and shooting at anything that moves. Anybody who tries to get away is attacked by the gunship. After that, the Janjaweed [the Arab militia in Sudan] and government forces move in together. Sometimes they're both in trucks; other times, they arrive with a combination of horses, camels, and motor vehicles. Some of the time, they do joint burnings. I've seen the remains of people who were locked inside their homes as it was burned to the ground. The government of Sudan will often leave the village to the Janjaweed as part of their payment; they get to keep all the loot they steal from the village. 
Is this what happened in the village of Labado in December 2004? 
My team got a call informing us that the village of Labado, population of about 20,000 people, was under attack. When we arrived, we saw a government of Sudan helicopter gunship going back and forth over the village, firing on it. On the ground, the village was burning; it was under attack by a combination of government forces and about 2,000 Janjaweed militia. 
Where were you? 
I was in a helicopter. 
That must have been frustrating. 
It was very frustrating. We were also trying to figure out if we were going to make it back, because they knew we were there. I mean, I was hanging out the side [of the helicopter] taking photographs. I asked our pilot -- all our pilots were Russian -- I asked him, "What will you do if the gunship comes up behind you?" He said, "Pray." That's not really what I wanted to hear. 
And what happened after the attack? 
The village of about 20,000 had been destroyed, its people either killed or, for the majority, displaced to the nearby village of Muhajeryia. I talked to the Sudanese brigadier general on the ground. He told me his mission was to clear the road from Labado all the way to Khartoum, which is about 100 kilometers away. If he encountered any resistance he was going to fight back and take the villages out. Those were his orders, he told me, and they came directly from Khartoum. 
A brigadier general from the government of Sudan told you that he had orders from Khartoum to clear the road? Did this bypass his official military chain of command, perhaps indicating a parallel command structure that ordered him to "clear the road?" 
This was part of an informal chain of command that answered directly to Khartoum. The brigadier general was brought from an area of the south where many acts of genocide had already occurred. When he told me his order was to clear the road, I said I would go to his superior, the 16th Division commander who was stationed in Nyala. He said he didn't get his orders from the division commander; rather, the order to clear the road came directly from Khartoum. 
He had no problem telling you this? 
No remorse whatsoever. He told me, "This is my mission. I am a military man. I'm going to follow my orders and continue on this attack." I knew that this meant an attack on Muhajeryia, the next village down and a rebel stronghold of about 45,000 people (including those who fled Labado). It was only one of three areas that the rebels still held in south Darfur. They had massed several thousand troops there. The rebels were not going to pull back anymore. We knew it was going to be a very ugly fight. With an attack on Muhajeryia imminent, we had to do something. So, under the auspices protecting a civilian contracting group in Muhajeryia, we put 35 AU troops in the village. 
So really, you were just fishing for an excuse to deploy the AU troops to the village? 
Exactly. The AU troops don't have a specific mandate to defend civilians or stop a village from attack. But they can be deployed to protect civilian contractors, NGOs, or our 10-man monitoring team. We were hoping that the mere presence of the 35 troops would deter an attack -- and it worked. Neither the Janjaweed nor the Sudanese government advanced. Rather, after about a week, the government forces simply consolidated their position in Labado. Then, about a week after that, we decided to put 70 soldiers from the AU force in Labado itself -- ostensibly to protect my 10-man monitoring team there. 
Within two weeks, about 3,000 people returned to the village to rebuild, and we were able to negotiate a withdrawal of the government troops from Labado. Now, the State Department tells me that 10,000 villagers have returned. 
It's stunning that with fewer than 100 lightly armed African Union troops you were able to both repel an attack and negotiate a withdrawal. 
They were not going to attack our position because they knew that the eyes of the world are on the African Union troops. They could have easily walked over the AU and killed everybody, but they didn't because they knew we were watching. If you read on the front page of The Washington Post that 70 AU troops were killed by the government of Sudan, it will cause a big ruckus. They knew that. So they didn't attack. 
Do you think that this kind of successful strategy is a formula that can be repeated throughout Darfur to prevent further attacks on civilians? 
This success story of the African Union can be replicated throughout Darfur, but only if they see their numbers increase. Right now there are fewer than 4,000 troops there. To repeat this kind of success all over Darfur, they need 25,000 to 50,000 troops. 
For the last few weeks, we've been waiting for a [United Nations] Security Council resolution on Darfur, but there seem to be a few sticking points holding this up. On the American side, we are reluctant to refer the war crimes to the International Criminal Court [ICC], as the [European Union] would like. On the Chinese, Russian, and, to a lesser extent, French side, they seem reluctant to go along with as tough a sanctions regime as the [United States] would like. 
My hope is that those issues can be put aside. Whether the UN wants to call it a genocide or not, or whether the crimes will be referred to the ICC or another tribunal can be put aside. The most important thing in my eyes is that what's going on is wrong, and it needs to stop. When it stops, and when people are safe and secure, then let's talk about where these people are going to be tried and talk about whether or not its genocide. Most people in Washington agree with that. 
In the short term then, what can help? 
There are a few things that would do some immediate good. First, we need to enforce a no-fly zone over Darfur. Once Khartoum gets a couple of its gunships shot down, I don't think they will fly again. Those gunships are pretty valuable to them. Second, we need to impose weapons sanctions against Sudan; targeted economic sanctions are more politically tricky to impose, but weapons sanctions are definitely necessary. Most importantly, we need to increase our support for the African Union mission in Darfur on all levels. We need to multiply the existing AU mission there manifold and support a more robust force of 25,000 to 50,000. Further, the international community needs to expand their mandate to allow them to protect civilians and open up roads between the villages for humanitarian access. That's not in their mandate right now. 
Mark Leon Goldberg is a Prospect writing fellow.

Government urges political solution to Darfur crisis 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
(IRIN, Nairobi, 16 March 2005) - The Sudanese government has reiterated its call for a political solution to the crisis in the western region of Darfur, adding that the recently signed peace agreement in the south had provided a framework for settling the Darfur conflict peacefully. 
"In spite of exceptional and unfavourable circumstance resulting from civil unrest in southern and western Sudan, the Sudanese people have managed to lay a solid foundation for a durable and lasting peace in the entire country," Ali Yassin, Sudanese minister of justice, told the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on Monday. 
Yassin, the official Sudan News Agency reported, said a new federal system of government would provide "a real solution" to the conflict in Darfur and ensure that states had their own constitutions, their own elected state governors and their own elected legislative assemblies. 
"As far as the crisis in Darfur is concerned, we believe that the African Union [AU], United Nations and other sub-regional organisations share our belief that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement provides a framework for settling the crisis in Darfur," he added. 
The Sudanese government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 9 January 2005 signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Nairobi, Kenya, to end 21 years of conflict in the south and lay the basis for a democratic, inclusive and representative government in Sudan. 
The agreement recognised the demands for autonomy for southern Sudan and other states in the country and provided for the protection of fundamental human rights, such as the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. 
"These rights are guaranteed for all and will be entrenched in the national interim constitution that is to be drafted to replace the present national constitution," Yassin added. 
He said the Sudanese government had acknowledged the need for the devolution of power, the recognition of cultural and social diversity, and the equitable distribution of national wealth as a means to achieve sustainable and balanced development for the whole country. 
With regard to the humanitarian situation in Darfur, Yassin reiterated the government's full commitment to implementation of the humanitarian and ceasefire protocols signed by Khartoum in 2004 with the two Darfur rebel movements - the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A). 
On 10 March, the two rebel groups said they would not resume talks with the Khartoum government unless "war criminals" in the region are prosecuted. In a statement issued from the Eritrean capital, Asmara, they said justice was a precondition for peace in Darfur. 
They also demanded the removal of African Union (AU) peace monitors from Darfur, saying they were no longer "impartial". According to the rebels, the UN, the European Union and Eritrea should conduct monitoring activities. 
"The two movements view the issue of trial of the perpetrators as the foremost priority in resolving the conflict in Darfur, especially after they have been named," the rebels said. "The two [have] resolved to resume the negotiations only after the apprehension and trial of the criminals in an international court or tribunal." 
Yassin said the government, had also agreed to a further increase in AU monitors and protection forces, currently numbering 1,942, to strengthen cease-fire monitoring and enhance tranquillity in the camps for internally displaced persons and to facilitate the voluntary return of the displaced to their homes. 
He called on the international community to strengthen the role of the AU in Darfur by providing financial, logistical and technical assistance to shoulder its responsibilities and fulfil its mandate. 
"The root causes of the conflict in Darfur can be traced back to the competition between different groups of people over scarce natural and economic resources, such as water, postures, arable and residential land in a society that - is characterised by tribal and linguistic diversity, in addition to tribal ties with neighbouring countries," Yassin said. 
"The remoteness of the region, the meagre resources and lack of international aid, coupled with the attacks by the rebels on police stations, had weakened the presence of law and security enforcement authorities in Darfur," he added. 
"The war in the south has contributed to the spread of a culture of violence and incited some individuals and groups to believe that achieving their political objectives would be easier by taking up arms against the state," he added. 
Talks between JEM and the SLM/A, and the government have taken place intermittently in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, since August. President Olusegun Obasanjo, as chairman of the AU, has personally played a leading role as a mediator. 
However, the talks have made little progress and the latest round ended in stalemate in December. Diplomats said the SLM/A had appeared willing to resume talks with Khartoum, but the JEM had questioned the AU's continued role as a mediator, accusing its officials of a pro-Khartoum bias. 
Recently, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, Jan Pronk, visited Asmara for talks with government and Darfur rebel representatives in yet another bid to kick-start the Abuja negotiations. 
Yassin also condemned attacks by armed groups on humanitarian actors in Darfur. 
"Systematic attacks by rebel movements in Darfur have often resulted in suspensions of international humanitarian work," he told the commission. "This, in turn, has often prevented food and medicine from reaching hundreds of thousand of people in need." 
On Tuesday, the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS) reported a sharp rise in armed attacks across Darfur. 
"Since the second week of March, a large number of incidents have been reported on the roads outside El Geneina," Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for UNAMIS, told IRIN. 
Incidents reported include armed robbery, the harassment of aid workers, the ambushing of vehicles at gunpoint and the looting of their contents, she added.  In his Darfur report to the UN Security Council on Friday, Annan warned that greater pressure had been placed on humanitarian operations as a result of the increasing harassment of NGOs since the end of 2004. 
"Commercial trucks carrying humanitarian assistance, including those marked as agency or humanitarian affiliated, continue to be attacked by armed groups on major routes, severely limiting access to populations and causing major delays in the critical, timely delivery of essential items - particularly food," Annan said. 
According to relief agencies, over 2.4 million people have been affected by the conflict in Darfur between Sudanese government troops - and militias allegedly allied to the government - and rebels fighting to end what they have called the marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Almost 80 percent of those affected have either been internally displaced or forced to flee to neighbouring Chad. 

Sudan – Eritrea : Darfur rebel groups threaten not to resume peace talks 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
(IRIN, Asmara, 15 March 2005) - The two main rebel groups in the conflict-affected western Sudanese region of Darfur have said they will not resume talks with the Khartoum government unless "war criminals" in the region are prosecuted. 
In a statement issued from the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Thursday, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) said that justice was a precondition for peace in Darfur. 
They also demanded the removal of African Union (AU) peace monitors from Darfur, saying they were no longer "impartial". According to the rebels, the UN, the European Union and Eritrea should conduct monitoring activities. 
"The two movements view the issue of trial of the perpetrators as the foremost priority in resolving the conflict in Darfur, especially after they have been named," the rebels said. "The two [have] resolved to resume the negotiations only after the apprehension and trial of the criminals in an international court or tribunal." 
However, the Sudanese state minister for foreign affairs, Najib Al-Khair Abdul-Wahab, described the demand by the JEM as "a maneuver and attempt to weaken the African role". 
The minister, in a statement issued through the official Sudanese News Agency, said, "the responsibility for the solution of Darfur problems will be the task of Africa, adding that any attempt to weaken that role is regarded as a violation of the African consensus". 
Talks between the two groups and the government have taken place intermittently in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, since August. President Olusegun Obasanjo, as chairman of the AU, has personally played a leading role as a mediator. 
However, the talks have made little progress and the latest round ended in stalemate in December. Diplomats said the SLM/A had appeared willing to resume talks with Khartoum, but the JEM had questioned the AU's continued role as a mediator, accusing its officials of a pro-Khartoum bias. 
Recently, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, Jan Pronk, visited Asmara for talks with government and Darfur rebel representatives in yet another bid to kick-start the Abuja negotiations. 
The UN has described the Darfur situation as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It estimates that 2.4 million people in the region are dependant on aid for survival. 
A recent UN report on atrocities in Darfur concluded that while horrific war crimes had taken place, which merited referral to the International Court of Justice, they did not amount to genocide. 
In their statement, the two rebel groups appealed to "outside mediators" to take over from the AU, saying the pan-African body had lost all credibility in the region and was no longer seen as impartial. 
"This is a human right," Khalil Ibrahim, JEM president, told reporters in Asmara after issuing the statement. "Is it wrong that we say this mediator [the AU] is not going to bring peace in Sudan - please find us another mediator?" 
Obasanjo, in a statement issued by his spokesman in Abuja on 8 March, said the AU was still seeking an acceptable means of bringing Darfur violators to justice and had not taken a final decision on the issue. 
"President Obasanjo wishes to state that no consensus has been reached in the AU with the government of Sudan on the matter and there has been no agreement with the United Nations Security Council on it," the statement said. 
"Although President Obasanjo had consultations on the issue of Darfur with President Mohammed El-Bashir and First Vice President el-Hajj Uthman Mohammed Taha [of Sudan] in Abuja recently, nothing has so far been agreed and the AU's search for an acceptable arrangement to bring the culprits to justice goes on," it added. "When a position is adopted, it would be harmonised with the views of the UN Security Council." 
The AU currently has a monitoring force numbering about 1,942 troops out of an original target of 4,000. The UN, in a report released on Friday, hailed the success of the AU contingent in the area around Labado in South Darfur. 
Prior to the AU deployment, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in the report, the area had suffered some of the worst fighting in recent months. However, the AU troops' presence had had a calming effect, which led to the return of some internally displaced persons. 
"A fully staffed and effective AMIS [African Union Mission in the Sudan] will increase the chances that serious clashes can be prevented or minimised," Annan said, calling on the international community to strengthen the AU force in Darfur. 

Government, rebels hindering progress in Darfur - Annan 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
(IRIN, Nairobi, 14 March ) - Despite a recent decrease in the level of violence, the security situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur remains fragile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report released on Friday. 
"Neither side has suggested that it is ready for serious, good-faith talks that will be required to revive a process that has clearly stalled," Annan stated in a report to the UN Security Council. 
He called for concerted political pressure to be brought to bear on the Sudanese government, militias and rebel groups involved in clashes in Darfur in order to create the conditions for such talks. 
"One thing is clear: the government has not stopped these [Janjawid] groups from attacking civilians," he added, noting that the government's failure to hold the Janjawid to account had also undermined the peace process, as well as blighting the lives of thousands of Sudanese. 
Rebel movements had also failed to seize the political opportunities created by the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 9 January in Nairobi, Kenya, which was aimed at ending the decades-old conflict in the south, the report noted. 
While divisions within rebel groups had diminished their capacity to engage in political negotiations, the situation on the ground was no better: "Their forces have refused to reveal their positions to the African Union Ceasefire Commission, have continued to harass relief workers and have fired on African Union [AU] and WFP [World Food Programme] helicopters", claimed the secretary-general. 
Annan supported the decision of the Joint Commission - composed of the Sudanese government, the two main rebel movements in Darfur, Chadian mediators and the international community - to deploy a team to map the positions occupied by the various armed groups in Darfur, and to prepare a plan to separate the forces. 
Physical disengagement of government and rebel troops would create enough stability to negotiate a comprehensive agreement, it was hoped. This would also diminish the opportunities for militia attacks on civilians. 
The report noted the success of a small AU contingent in the area around Labado in South Darfur. Prior to the AU deployment the area had suffered some of the worst fighting in recent months, but the union's troops had had a calming effect, which had led to the return of several internally displaced persons. 
"A fully staffed and effective AMIS [African Union Mission in the Sudan] will increase the chances that serious clashes can be prevented or minimised," Annan said, and called on the international community to strengthen the 1,942-strong AU force in Darfur. 
According to relief agencies, over 2.4 million people have been affected by the conflict in Darfur between Sudanese government troops - and militias allegedly allied to the government - and rebels fighting to end what they have called the marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Almost 80 percent of those affected have either been internally displaced or forced to flee to neighbouring Chad. 

End the death, suffering and destruction in Darfur-ICG

(I.C.G., Brussels, March 13 2005) -- The International Crisis Group urges the United Nations Security Council and the UN Secretary General to act forcefully and without delay to prevent further death, suffering, and destruction in Darfur. 
In a letter (full text below) to the UN Secretary General, Foreign Ministers and Permanent Representatives of the Security Council member states, and Foreign Ministers of the member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Crisis Group calls for determined international action to protect those still acutely at risk in Darfur. 
Since the crisis began two years ago, the Security Council has passed three resolutions demanding an end to the conflict. Yet, over 200,000 people have died, on the best available evidence, and thousands more continue to die each month from violence, malnutrition and disease. The emerging risk of famine in parts of Darfur, especially in places beyond the reach of relief agencies, will further compound the humanitarian crisis. 
In the letter Crisis Group calls for the Security Council to: 
  put in place a coordinated set of measures to curtail the violence and to send a clear message to both the Sudanese government and rebels that the international community will no longer tolerate empty promises and broken agreements. 
  urgently demonstrate that it will hold the parties in Sudan accountable to their commitments to prevent both more bloodshed in Darfur and undermining the recently signed North-South peace agreement. 
  support stronger action in three key areas: (*) tougher sanctions, including a country-wide arms embargo; (*) a more robust African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to protect civilians and relief deliveries; (*) and an effectively enforced no-fly zone over Darfur. 
  refer the situation of Darfur to the International Criminal Court, the best body to uphold justice most promptly and effectively. 
The UN Security Council must act immediately to halt the mounting atrocities and death toll in Darfur. 
[To the Secretary General, Foreign Ministers and Permanent Representatives of the Security Council member states, and Foreign Ministers of the member states of IGAD] 
As the Security Council continues to debate Sudan, I am writing to urge you to act forcefully and without delay to prevent further death, suffering, and destruction in Darfur. Since the crisis began two years ago, the Security Council has passed three resolutions demanding an end to the conflict. Yet, over 200,000 people have died, on the best available evidence, and thousands more continue to die each month from violence, malnutrition and disease. The emerging risk of famine in parts of Darfur, especially in places beyond the reach of relief agencies, will further compound the humanitarian crisis. 
It is time to acknowledge that the nuanced approach of the international community -- including the Security Council -- has failed. It will take a coordinated set of measures to curtail the violence and to send a clear message to both the Sudanese government and rebels that the international community will no longer tolerate empty promises and broken agreements. Failure to demonstrate urgently that the Security Council will hold the parties in Sudan accountable to their commitments will not only lead to more bloodshed in Darfur, but will also eventually undermine the recently signed North-South peace agreement. 
The mandate of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) was developed in the summer of 2004, when it was expected that the parties would abide by their commitments. AMIS's weak monitoring mandate is now obviously inadequate to the ongoing crisis, especially as parties to the Darfur conflict, and in particular the Government of Sudan, continue to obstruct aid to civilians. The Security Council must urge the African Union to expand its role in Darfur in the crucial areas of protection for civilians and humanitarian convoys. The United Nations and member states must be prepared to provide strong support to the AU as it performs that protective role, in the ways described below. And the Security Council must also act to ensure accountability for atrocity crimes through the best available mechanism, the International Criminal Court. 
Protecting Civilians 
Thus far, the Government of Sudan has blatantly refused to take action against its allied militias despite committing to do so on six separate occasions since April 2004 and as demanded repeatedly by the Security Council. The rebels have also violated the ceasefire, including by attacks on humanitarian convoys and civilians. The cost of non-compliance has been minimal for all parties, particularly the Government. Until it faces strong repercussions, the Government will not undertake the difficult process of disarming and neutralising the Janjaweed militia, which it continues to arm and supply, and of arresting those responsible for atrocity crimes. 
Stopping the violence in Darfur and protecting civilians must be the primary goal of international action. The current African Union assessment mission to Darfur, conducted with broad international participation, will review AMIS and its capabilities. The Security Council must support stronger action in three key areas: tougher sanctions, including a country-wide arms embargo; a more robust AMIS to protect civilians and relief deliveries; and an effectively enforced no-fly zone over Darfur. 
Sanctions. A package of targeted measures against those perpetrating the violence can lead to great improvement on the ground in Darfur. The draft resolution before the Security Council proposes a set of appropriate sanctions against culpable individuals. However, it does not extend the arms embargo across the entire country, thereby failing to acknowledge that the Government of Sudan has had a heavy hand in arming and unleashing the deadly Janjaweed militias. Only a country-wide, closely monitored arms embargo will further the goal of ending the repeated violations of the existing arms embargo established by UNSC Resolution 1556. 
UN support for an expanded AMIS role. To implement an enhanced mandate, AMIS must expand both its troop and police components. AMIS has been able to deploy less than two thirds of its authorised 3,320 troops to Darfur as African nations have been unconscionably slow in providing troops and the international community has equally failed to provide the AU with adequate logistical and related support. It is now clear that a much larger and better supported force is needed to stem the violence in Darfur. The Security Council should act on the recent call by Under Secretary General Jan Egeland and urge an increase of the AMIS deployment, to at least 10,000. 
The terms of the resolution adopted should: 
  urge the AU force to explicitly protect civilians and relief deliveries; 
   under Chapter VII, authorise the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to provide support to such an expanded AMIS; 
   call on member states (African and non-African) to contribute troops, police, and other support, including through provision of greater command and control, operational and logistic capabilities, to a strengthened AU mission, and on NATO to begin planning to assist the mission; and 
   authorise the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to deploy an additional 100 Human Rights monitors in Darfur. 
No-Fly Zone. In light of Khartoum's continued use of aerial bombardment against civilian targets in Darfur, in patent violation of its commitments under the 9 November Abuja Protocols, the current draft resolution rightly demands that the Government of Sudan "cease conducting offensive military flights in and over the Darfur region." While military options to enforce this demand may not presently be feasible, other options are. The Council should: 
  endorse an AU-monitored no-fly zone over Darfur; 
   request the AU to notify it immediately upon determination of a serious violation; 
   call on member states to provide such technical and other assistance as the AU may require to carry out effectively this monitoring and notification responsibility; and 
   identify specific targeted sanctions that the Council will apply immediately upon receipt from the AU of a report of serious non-compliance by a party to the conflict. 
Accountability for Atrocity Crimes 
As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour pointed out in her 16 February 2005 presentation to the Security Council, "there is no hope for sustainable peace in Darfur without immediate access to justice." Crisis Group strongly endorses the recommendation of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur that the Security Council refer the situation of Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC). 
Unquestionably, the ICC is the body best positioned to uphold justice most promptly and effectively. Suggested alternatives -- such as the ICTR or a similar body established under the auspices of the African Union -- would be more time-consuming, more costly, less effective in bringing to justice those responsible, and crucially, because any impact they might have would be much delayed, be less likely to persuade the parties to the conflict of the need to comply immediately with all UN resolutions and their commitments under the Abuja Protocols. 
Immediate robust measures to protect civilians and establish a credible mechanism for justice and accountability are the essential components to stopping the violence in Darfur. If divisions within the Security Council and potential veto threats again water down the final text of the resolution, the situation in Darfur will only worsen. And the hard-won peace agreement for the rest of the country will be put in jeopardy as well. 
I urge you to live up to the Security Council's responsibility and use your power to take the necessary strong action to protect those still acutely at risk in Darfur. 
Yours sincerely, 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
(IRIN? Nairobi, 11 March 2005) - Recent movements of armed militias around the eastern Sudanese town of Akobo in Jonglei State have led to increased tension in the area, humanitarian sources told IRIN. 
"Some 700 militia were heading to Akobo from Nasir [near the Ethiopian border], during the first week of March," one source said on Wednesday. "The troops came very close, up to an hour's walking distance, and camped there for a day or so," he added. 
Another source within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) however, said the militias, which were grouped under the umbrella of the South Sudan Defence Force, were pulling back from the area. 
On 17 February, fighting broke out when armed militias attacked Akobo. They were reportedly under the command of Taban Juoc, who was recently promoted to the rank of Brigadier by the Sudanese government. 
"The unprovoked attacks on SPLM/A positions in the town of Akobo by renegade Commander Taban Juoc are a direct violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ," Samson Kwaje, spokesman for the SPLM/A said in a 4 March statement. 
"Given the fact that Juoc is a brigadier in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), he should of necessity observe all provisions of the CPA," Kwaje added. 
Juoc denied involvement in the attack on Akobo in an interview with the Sudan Radio Service on 25 February, adding that he was the legitimate commissioner of Akobo appointed by the government of Sudan. 
"I did not go to Akobo," Juoc said on the radio. "I'm with the Sudan government and I am already integrated as [a] Brigadier in the SAF." 
The SPLM/A retook Akobo on 20 February and its Commander Dou Yaak said the armed group that briefly occupied Akobo had killed three SPLM/A soldiers. He also said the armed men had destroyed part of the hospital and the church, and burnt down approximately 2,000 tukuls (grass huts). 
Meanwhile the UN Security Council has extended the mandate of the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), headed by the special representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, by a week to allow more discussion on a draft resolution on Sudan. 
However, in an open letter to Council members, nine major advocacy and humanitarian groups called for a bold resolution. "Security Council members have the responsibility and authority to protect international peace and security," they said. "This requires bold and effective measures." 
They added: "We urge the Council to pass a strong resolution - one that ensures accountability through a referral to the International Criminal Court and provides enforceable mechanisms to protect the people of Darfur." 
The letter was signed, among others, by the former Australian foreign minister, Gareth Evans, the head of the International Crisis Group, Aryeh Neier, President of the Open Society Institute, and Ken Roth, head of Human Rights Watch. 
UNAMIS was established in June 2004 to prepare for a future UN peace-support operation following the signing in Kenya on 9 January of a comprehensive peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A. 

Shilluk IDPs yet to return home 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
(IRIN, Malakal, 11 March ) - Dressed colourfully, a group of women met on the banks of the River Nile, near the government-controlled garrison town of Malakal in the southern Sudanese state of Upper Nile. 
The women, all from Shilluk, sat near the local church and school, waiting for food hand-outs. Numbering more than 200, they were all internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had fled violence in their home towns and villages. 
Relief workers said there were at least 25,000 IDPs in Malakal. 
"It has been hard to live here," said Nyrapi Ojwok. "You need money for everything." The Shilluk woman explained that she had run away from her home village of Doaydowy, south of Malakal, after it was attacked by militias in March 2004, and had been living with relatives in Malakal ever since. 
Eventually, relief workers began to hand out food. "We are distributing one month's rations to groups of 32 individuals," Rose Cizario, field monitor for the World Food Programme in Malakal, told IRIN. 
Every group, she added, would receive eight 50 kg bags of sorghum, seven gallons of oil, 50 kg of mixed beans and soybeans, and 50 kg of lentils. 
"I am here with my husband and seven children, and we are staying with my sister," said Nyabenye Adung. She left her village of Pakang when fighting broke out in March 2004. 
Urbano Tito Tipo, field coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, commented on the Shilluk's location: "[They] have very strong social bonds, and will not allow their guests to be moved into schools or tented camps where they are registered as IDPs" he explained. 
"The IDPs now depend on their host relatives in Malakal, who themselves do not have enough food," Tipo added. "It is leading to the depletion of their food reserves." 
Government officials said by living with relatives, the IDPs had complicated the food distribution. "It is hard to determine who is an IDP and who is not, within Malakal, as most of them merged into the community," explained Joseph Mac, field officer for the government's Humanitarian Aid Commission in Upper Nile. 
History of Shilluk violence 
When Lam Akol, a Shilluk leader, and a number of other commanders split away from the mainstream SPLM/A in 1991, violent clashes erupted between the two groups and spread across the entire greater Upper Nile region. 
Relative stability returned to the Shilluk Kingdom, following the signing of the Fashoda Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and Akol's Sudan People's Liberation Movement-United (SPLM-United) in 1997. However violence in the kingdom started again in August 2003, when Akol, defected back to the mainstream Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) of John Garang. 
Under the Fashoda Agreement, the government now considered the kingdom part of the north and was unwilling to let it pass into SPLM/A hands. 
While the fighting had started between Shilluk militias loyal and opposed to Akol's defection, it escalated when Nuer militias, aligned with the government, got involved at the beginning of 2004 and launched an offensive against Shilluk villages on the west banks of the Nile and Bahr el Ghazal rivers. 
According to reports by the US-sponsored Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT), this fighting culminated in the systematic destruction of numerous villages, as well as widespread looting of cattle, killing of civilians and the displacement of thousands. 
In an official reaction to the CPMT reports dated 15 April 2004, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the "magnitude of the casualties" on the "behaviour of the followers of the rebel Lam Akol", adding that "they were without uniform and deliberately used the civilians and their villages as human shields." 
UN agencies registered 25,410 displaced Shilluk in Malakal, 16,500 in the town of Tonga, and more than 10,000 in other areas close to Malakal, between March and July 2004. 
Planning for return 
Although international relief agencies had been distributing food to IDPs in Malakal since April 2004, they had failed to gain access to the Shilluk Kingdom itself, large parts of which remained under SPLM/A control. 
According to Eujidio Arkangelo, a relief worker in Malakal, people living in areas within the transitional zone [between north and south Sudan] had not received any aid because hostilities had prevented it from getting through. 
"Most people could not cultivate their lands last year as many of them had sought shelter in Malakal town," Adeng Anwour, team leader of the Malakal office of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) told IRIN on 25 February. "People lost most of their equipment - FAO is trying to provide them with new tools and seed supplies." 
After distributing materials to help people sustain themselves in the short term, relief agencies were planning to start rebuilding the health and educational infrastructures that were destroyed in the war. 
Aid workers have also urged the government to supplement their efforts. "On our own, we cannot do anything," Mary Thunus, resident project officer for the UN's Children's Fund, told IRIN. 
"We can build schools and supply school materials, but if they are not being used, and the government does not pay the teachers, nothing changes," she added. "We need a counterpart - in this case the government - to make these projects sustainable." 
However, observers said there was little incentive for the government to invest in long-term planning and service provision in this region. Under a peace agreement signed on 9 January 2005 by the government and the SPLM/A, this area of Upper Nile will become part of SPLM/A-controlled south Sudan in the near future. 
Fragile situation 
Ojwok said she hoped to go home soon, but only when she could find some support to rebuild her home. "It is still not safe," she said, "and my house has been burned to the ground." 
While aid agencies were discussing how to support the return of the IDPs, reports of troop movements across the Nile from Malakal, on 25 February, led to a renewed influx of Shilluk IDPs into the garrison town. Some of them had only recently attempted to return to their villages. 
However, the Shilluk King dismissed the rumours and issued a statement on the radio, calling on the IDPs to return to their villages. He sent four barges to facilitate the river crossing. 
"We have told our people to go back to their land to cultivate their crops," Edward Amum, the Shilluk paramount chief, told IRIN on 25 February. 
Tipo confirmed that some IDPs were starting to return to their homes, but noted they remained cautious. "What they really need is the confidence that the security situation does not deteriorate again," he said. 

Billions needed for initial recovery and development 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
(IRIN, Nairobi, 10 March 2005) - Some US $7.8 billion is required to fund an initial post-war recovery and development plan for Sudan, an assessment report prepared by the government, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the World Bank and the UN said. 
The emergency reconstruction report, entitled: "Framework for Sustained Peace, Development and Poverty Eradication in Sudan", was officially launched at a news conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday. 
A statement released ahead of the launch said Sudanese government and SPLM/A teams had reached a consensus on major development challenges facing their country following 21 years of civil war in the south. 
The war, which pitted the government against the SPLM/A, officially ended with the signing of a peace agreement between the two sides in Nairobi on 9 January. 
"The process started a year ago when the peace was not yet signed, but today, the report has been endorsed and we are working as a team," Yahia Hossein Babiker, the chairman of the Joint Assessment Mission (JAM), whose membership includes the government, UN agencies, the SPLM/A and the World Bank, told reporters during the launch of the report. 
The newly formed Joint National Transition Team (JNTT), made up of an equal number of representatives from the government and the SPLM/A, is due to present the report to the first Sudan post-war, international donors' pledging conference, on 11-12 April in Oslo, Norway. 
"There are many challenges that are awaiting us," Nhial Deng Nhial, the SPLM/A's co-chair of the JAM said. "Both sides should engage more closely to accelerate the implementation of the peace agreement and we hope that the Framework document, as well as the formation of the JNTT, will contribute to that acceleration." 
The total needs until 2007 were estimated at $7.8 billion  - $4.3 billion for the north and US $3.5 billion for the south - although the per capita expenditure in the south would be considerably higher. 
The Framework document identified a comprehensive set of needs essential for the consolidation of peace and the facilitation of broad-based human and economic development, including the creation of new institutions, basic health and educational services, productive activities, capacity building and infrastructure development. 
The international community would be asked to contribute $2.66 billion of the total funds required. 
"Sudan itself will contribute considerably more than the international community towards the pro-poor recovery programme," the press statement noted. "Precise commitments in this respect are made through the budgets of the forthcoming national government and government of South Sudan." 
Prior to the Oslo donor conference, the World Bank is expected to set up two multi-donor trust funds, one for the north and one for the south, through which donations could be made. 
"Financial controls and anti-corruption measures are key, as acknowledged by the country's leadership, and have to be addressed from the outset," Ishac Diwan, World Bank country director for Ethiopia and Sudan, told IRIN on Wednesday. 
"With an international financial support operation of this size, it is essential that the funds are handled in an open and transparent manner," he added. 
"This is not just a run-of-the-mill appeal document. It is a statement of intent and a political commitment on our part to be fully engaged in the reconstruction of our country," Taj el Sir Mahjoub, the government's JAM Team leader said in the statement. 
The Framework document identified two phases. The first, from July 2005 until the end of 2007, focuses on immediate and detailed needs, particularly for the expected massive return of displaced people from inside and outside the country. 
During the second phase, from 2008 to mid-2011, major infrastructure programmes will be undertaken, and more long-term needs will be addressed. 
"With technical assistance combined with new oil wealth, we expect to catch up rapidly. Our emphasis is on combating poverty and many years of exclusion. The next era will be one of hard work, but also a great deal of enthusiasm," Kosti Manibe, the SPLM's JAM team leader said, noting that southern Sudan lacked good roads, and had only rudimentary health and education facilities. 
The plan did not include funds required to meet the costs of peacekeeping, demobilisation, debt reduction or the massive humanitarian requirements for the strife-torn western region of Darfur as outlined in the UN 2005 Work Plan for Sudan, Ishac Diwan noted. 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government in the south erupted in 1983 when the rebel group took up arms to demand greater autonomy and resources from the northern-based authorities. An estimated two million people have died as a result of the conflict. Some four million others were displaced and another 600,000 fled to neighbouring countries. 

World remains paralysed over what to do next in Darfur: ICG

(ICG, Nairobi, Bruxxels, 10 March 2005) -- The UN Security Council must overcome its divisions over Darfur and act immediately to halt the mounting atrocities and death toll there. 
Darfur: The Failure to Protect, the latest report from the International Crisis Group (ICG), examines the deteriorating humanitarian, security and political situation in western Sudan, where atrocity crimes are continuing, people are still dying in large numbers from malnutrition and disease, and famine is feared. Three Security Council resolutions have failed to stem the violence; the fourth, now being debated, must be strong enough to make a difference. 
"The world remains paralysed over what to do next in Darfur", says Suliman Baldo, Crisis Group's Africa Program Director. "The international response has been rhetorically strong, but it will take a lot more than tough words to stop the killing". 
The key to stabilising the situation is to persuade the government to fulfil its numerous commitments to disarm and neutralise the Janjaweed militia, but it will not do this as long as it believes the cost of inaction is minimal. Altering this calculus requires: 
  a Security Council resolution that imposes targeted punitive measures, such as freezing overseas assets of companies the ruling party controls, a travel ban on key officials, and an expanded arms embargo, and authorises investigation, prosecution and adjudication of atrocity crimes documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry by the International Criminal Court (ICC); 
  a Security Council authorised no-fly zone over Darfur rigorously monitored by the African Union force, with Council commitment to strong action on violation; and 
  a decision to expand the inadequate African Union force in Darfur (less than 2,000 there) to at least 10,000 and strengthen its mandate to protect civilians. 
The U.S. government's general objections to the ICC should not stand in the way, not least because the Court in this instance would be exercising jurisdiction in the manner Washington has always said would be appropriate, via a political decision taken by the Security Council. 
Civilian protection needs to become the central focus of the international forces being deployed to Darfur. The African Union mission, which has less than 2,000 troops and police in country, should be greatly expanded -- to at least 10,000 -- and explicitly empowered to do this. 
"The Security Council must focus on protection and accountability. A larger, properly mandated AU-led civilian protection force combined with punitive measures aimed at the perpetrators of the crimes would end the crisis quickly. As always, it is boils down to political will", says John Prendergast, Special Adviser to Crisis Group's President. 
  To read the full report online please go at 
http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=3314&l=1
 

Sudan needs some US$7.8 billion (A€5.89 billion) over the next 2 1/2 years for emergency reconstruction now that a 21-year civil war in the south has ended, government officials and former rebels said in a joint appeal Wednesday. 
The money will finance a recovery and development program for southern and northern Sudan. The plan, however, does not cover the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan, where a campaign of violence by pro-government militia fighting rebels has forced an estimated 2 million people to flee their homes. 
Darfur needs another US$2 billion (A€1.5 billion) a year for operations to secure the region and meet its humanitarian needs, said Ishac Diwan, the World Bank country director for Sudan and Ethiopia. 
Sudan's government and southern rebels signed a peace agreement on Jan. 9 to end Africa's longest-running civil war. The treaty sets out power- and wealth-sharing rules. After six years, the deal says, the south will hold a referendum on whether to remain part of Africa's largest country. 
Government and rebel officials agreed that Sudan will provide US$5.14 billion (A€3.88 billion), or 65.9 percent of the money needed to rebuild the country from July 2005 to 2007, Sudanese officials and former rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army said in a joint statement. 
Sudan is seeking US$2.66 billion (A€2.01 billion), or 34 percent of the funds, from the international community. The plan will be presented at the first postwar international donors' pledging conference on April 11-12 in Oslo, Norway, officials said. 
The plan, however, does not cover money needed to disarm and demobilize combatants and debt relief, which would free up massive resources for development projects, Diwan said. 
The north-south war pitted Islamic-dominated Khartoum against rebels seeking greater autonomy and a greater share of the country's wealth for the Christian and animist south. The conflict is blamed for more than 2 million deaths, primarily from war-induced famine and disease. 
The emergency reconstruction plan for Sudan will not cover Darfur because the government and rebels in the region have not reached a political settlement to that conflict, Diwan said.

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
Poor cereal harvests and a substantial increase in the prices of basic food commodities, particularly sorghum, have led to fears of a potential food crisis in different parts of Sudan this year, UN officials said. 
"The conditions of poor households in much of Sudan may be worse than was initially assessed in November when WFP prepared its emergency operations, targeting a total of on average 5.5 million people in 2005," Peter Smerdon, senior spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN on Wednesday. 
An analysis of the 2004 rainfall and vegetation, using rainfall estimates and satellite and ground measurements, which was released on Tuesday in Geneva, concluded that, overall, 2004 was characterised by inadequate rainfall in most parts of the country, with the exception of southwestern Sudan. 
"According to our analysis, Gedaref [in eastern Sudan] - the major sorghum producing region for Sudan - registered crop failure or very poor yields," Smerdon said. 
"The seasonal rainfall was 50-70 percent of the 2003 amount in greater Darfur [in western Sudan], in North Kordofan [in central Sudan] it was just less than 50 percent of the 2004 amount, and in Gezira, western parts of Gedaref and Kassala [in eastern Sudan], it was nearly 60 percent of the 2003 amount," Smerdon added. 
The analysis found that the lack of rainfall in North Darfur had led to extensive crop failure, while both of the northernmost regions of West and South Darfur had also experienced poor or failed crops. 
In drought-prone and chronically food-insecure areas, malnutrition rates are traditionally high, the report noted. Even a slight disturbance, such as increased food prices could have a ripple effect that might push large numbers of people over the edge and put their lives at risk, according to the report. 
The shortage of cereals has driven prices to new highs, the report observed. The price of sorghum nearly doubled between January 2004 and January 2005. 
With the hunger season in April and May approaching, WFP was particularly concerned because many of the seriously affected areas were already in drought-prone, food-insecure and chronically malnourished regions. 
"The reality is that as of this week, the 2005 operation for south and east Sudan, totalling [US] $301 million, is less than 10 percent funded," Smerdon said. 
"Ideally, warehouses would now have stocks we could tap, asking donors to replenish for later," he added. "But those warehouses are empty." 
The funding situation for Darfur, projected at $438 million in 2005, was not quite as bleak. The cereal needs for 2005 were 90 percent covered, Smerdon estimated, but pledges for other food items, required to provide a balanced diet, were severely inadequate. 
"Without the full-food ration, the health of those in need is being put at risk," he warned. 
WFP urged donors to contribute funds to the operations immediately to allow for the purchase and delivery of assistance ahead of the hunger season. 
Although the analysis of the rainfall and vegetation growth did not depict a deteriorating situation in the southeastern region of Bahr el Ghazal, anecdotal reports indicated a potentially strained food security situation there compounded by significant returns of internally displaced persons from the north. 
Following the rainfall and vegetation analysis, humanitarian agencies were planning additional field missions to the affected areas to confirm the number of people in need and provide an overview of coping mechanisms being used to determine how much food aid was required in 2005. 

Japan might help efforts to bring peace to Sudan. Japan was asked by Jean-Marie Guéhenno, head of peace operations for the United Nations, to participate in the Sudanese peace effort. Japan’s constitution prohibits sending soldiers, even peacekeepers abroad; however, Tokyo has supplied logistical help. Guéhenno asked Japan to supply engineers, medical doctors and civil experts, which would join a 10,000 men strong peacekeeping mission to be sent to Sudan. “I proposed a holistic program – said Guéhenno – encouraging the Japanese government to make its contribution”. The debate between Japanese politicians, however, might encounter a challenging aspect of the intervention in Sudan. The potential UN presence of the UN in Southern Sudan should supply support to the African Union as well, which is ready to send thousands of soldiers to stop the conflict in Darfour, itself plagued by a deep humanitarian crisis

Dressed in full traditional attire, Shilluk Kingdom's paramount chief, Edward Amum, sat in front of his house in Malakal and wryly listened to the sounds of drums and an occasional trumpet that wafted through the dry air. 
It was 25 February. Malakal, a town in southern Sudan's Upper Nile State, was in party mode as residents turned out for belated celebrations to commemorate the 9 January signing in Nairobi, Kenya, of the comprehensive peace accord between the government of Sudan and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
"We are both very far and very near [to peace]," Amum told IRIN, as he contemplated the prospects for peace after the Nairobi accord. A traditional chief of an area across the river from Malakal, he fled the fighting that erupted there in early 2004 and has since lived in the town. 
His son, Pagan Amum, is the Secretary-General of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - a coalition of Sudanese political opposition parties - and a senior figure in the SPLM/A. 
Despite Amum's scepticism, reports of the signing of the Nairobi accord were received with joy and relief in Malakal - a town situated on the banks of the River Nile between government and SPLM/A-controlled areas. 
A military stronghold for the government, Malakal is inhabited mainly by people of Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk ethinicity. Local residents said no immediate impact of the peace agreement was as yet visible. It was not possible to get comment from the governor. 
On the other hand, daily rumours of fighting nearby had continued to make people uneasy. To make matters worse, a 6:00 p.m. [15.00 GMT] curfew was in place. 
"The Nairobi peace agreement is a good thing, but the problem is, we do not trust it as the trust between the UDF [United Democratic Front, whose predecessor, the UDSF, was a party to the 1997 Khartoum Agreement] and the government has been broken," Bol Loth Jok, chairman of the UDF in Greater Upper Nile, told IRIN on 23 February. 
"It looks good on paper and everybody in Upper Nile celebrated the peace agreement, but we hope it will be implemented," he added. 
After the 1997 Khartoum Agreement between the Sudanese government and the South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF) and a number of political groups in Upper Nile, many people expected a referendum on southern independence to follow, but it never materialised. Many in the region remain suspicious about Khartoum's intensions. 
"If they [the government] get a chance to get out of it, they will," Peter Kun, Malakal chairman of the Union of Sudan African Parties (USAP), also a party to the 1997 Khartoum agreement, told IRIN, saying the government had signed the agreement under international pressure. 
William Adieng, representative of the Shilluk Kingdom, speaking in his personal capacity, felt that the peace agreement had a better chance to survive than previous ones because "many minds have been put to it and it is internationally supported". 
He added: "Our people have been longing for this peace for a very long time and support the parties to the agreement. The makers of peace are the children of God." 
Militia problems 
Upper Nile is potentially the main oil-producing region in Sudan. The region, however, is largely secured not by the regular army, but by southern militias, predominantly Nuer, whose allegiance to Khartoum has been a source of much instability in Upper Nile, compared with other regions in southern Sudan. 
A Sudanese government official said they were worried about the militias. 
"It is easy to arm local groups," Peter Pal, deputy-commissioner of the government's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) in Malakal, told IRIN on 28 February. "They were armed by both the government and the SPLM/A, but now they form a real security problem in the region." 
Another source, a local political analyst added: "A big impediment to the consolidation of peace was the presence of many government-aligned local militias who did not get paid and had to live off the local population to sustain themselves, bringing considerable misery in their wake." 
The majority of the militias in Upper Nile consist of men from the Nuer. The groups have had historic rivalries with the largest ethnic group in southern Sudan, the Dinka, and among themselves. The rivalries have, over the years of conflict, been exploited politically. 
"The government is ruining our peace agreement through our own people by letting them fight against themselves," Amum said. "People are being pushed and paid to ruin the peace - it is not a tribal problem." 
The political analyst added: "The government often labels the militia fights as a tribal war, portraying it as something that has long historic roots and is inevitable. Sometimes this is true, but at other times the government, through its militias, directs the fighting itself." 
The picture is further complicated by the fact that in certain regions many civilians were armed to operate as community vigilantes. They are not affiliated to any of the parties and are answerable only to their traditional elders and chiefs. 
Ongoing Hostilities 
Throughout the month of February, fighting continued between rival Nuer-tribes in Doma, a town close to Nasir, east of Malakal. It was during the dry season that the Lou Nuer often drove their cattle to the Sobat River and come into conflict with Jikany Nuer, who claim the Sobat as their own. 
"Although this conflict is not related to the wider north-south conflict, it is a source of instability in the region and the widespread availability of firearms has exacerbated the scope of these seasonal clashes," a humanitarian source told IRIN in Malakal. 
On 17 February, for example, fighting broke out when militias attacked Akobo, a town close to Nasir and the Ethiopian border. According to sources, the militias were reportedly under the command of Taban Jouc, who was recently promoted to the rank of brigadier by the government. 
"Taban is the commissioner of Akobo, but he lives in Nasir and is like a minister without portfolio," the source said. "He lacks local support and the town has been controlled by the SPLM/A for a considerable time." The SPLM/A retook Akobo on 20 February. On 22 February, fighting again erupted when government-allied militias in Akoka, a town north of Malakal, defected to the SPLM/A but refused to give up the town, which the government considers its territory. This triggered off an offensive by SSDF militia that remained loyal to Khartoum. 
Unfounded reports too have complicated the situation. On 23 February, reports of militia movements in SPLM/A-controlled areas across the Nile from Malakal triggered a fresh influx of IDPs [internally displaced persons] from the Shilluk Kingdom. Many of the IDPs had just returned to their villages after a series of raids in the first months of 2004 prompted them to seek refuge in Malakal. It turned out that the reports were untrue. 
Disarmament Challenge 
The UN has proposed deploying peacekeepers in the Sudan, but the challenge of disarming the southern militias remains daunting. While the Machakos Protocol of the peace agreement recognises only government and SPLM/A forces, the militias would have to be disarmed or absorbed by either of the two armies. 
"The groups in Upper Nile have not been disarmed yet and it is important that the UN comes down as soon as possible to control the situation," Galuak Liphoth, deputy secretary for security affairs of the SPLM/A in Malakal, told IRIN. 
The government, on its part, has started to integrate militia fighters into their own ranks and as many as 300 SSDF militia commanders were recently promoted to high-ranking officers in the Sudanese army.
"They are now wearing military uniforms and receive a government salary, reducing the incentive for raids against the civilian population," a source said. 
However, it is neither likely that the government would completely absorb the SSDF militias into its regular army, or that the militia would be willing to go up north during the transitional period. This is when control over this part of Upper Nile will be transferred to the SPLM/A leaving the SSDF in a state of limbo during the transitional period. 
"They are southerners and most likely to remain in the south," a source said. "If they retain their allegiance to the government, they will form a real problem for SPLM/A authority in the south." 
The low-ranking militia fighters, who did most of the fighting, were not being integrated into the government military, however. As many militia soldiers were fighting against their will, the political analyst expected the promotions of militia leaders into the government army to lead to the disintegration of the majority of the local militias. 
"Many of them were conscripted against their will at a young age - they were grabbed from their houses by force," he observed. "The common fine a boys' family would have to pay when he would run away was 10 cows." 
The SPLM/A, who opened an office in Malakal on 17 February, had a more skeptical view and feared that the promotions would jeopardise the peace. 
"The problem is not the leaders, the problem is the arms," Anthony Edward Nwyawelo, chairman of the SPLM/A office in Malakal, told IRIN on 23 February. 
"If you take away the leaders, the ordinary soldiers will remain a threat to the peace," he added. "They will pick their own leaders from amongst themselves and the fighting will continue." 
The 9 January Comprehensive Peace Agreement provides for a six-month pre-interim period, during which, a new constitution would be drafted and a transitional government set up. After a transitional period of six years, a referendum on southern independence is scheduled to follow. 
"The pre-interim period is a real challenge for all of us," Nwyawelo said. "What is done during these six months will reflect what is going to be effected during the next 6 years of the transitional period." 
"The security protocol [of the peace agreement] groups the armies into two sides; each side has to control its militias," Steven Mummiedo, deputy secretary-general of the SPLM/A in Malakal told IRIN on 23 February. "What we are seeing now in Upper Nile is that certain groups are trying to book their positions ahead of the consolidation of the peace on the ground." 
Loth Jok, the UDF chairman, said he expected the fighting would continue during the pre-interim period, but would stop with the arrival of UN-peacekeepers. 
"The government fears the international community and does not want to be blamed for disrupting the peace agreement by continuing to support the militias," he said. 
Amum was more sceptical regarding the threat the militias posed to the peace. 
"The UN peacekeeping forces are very, very important," he said. "It is the only way to save the situation and to show people that something very important is happening on the ground. Without their presence the situation will deteriorate." 
Pal, the government's HAC deputy-commissioner, did not share Amum's view, however. "The fighting started when there was no peace," he said. "It is important that the militias are disarmed so that the robbing will stop, but the militias will not affect the peace." 
A Long Way to Go 
During the first three years of the transitional period, the SPLM/A is accorded 28 percent of the seats in the transitional central government, while other southern parties will receive only six percent. 
Observers worry that such imbalance could easily lead to resentment in parts of the south where the SPLM/A is viewed as being Dinka-dominated, such as large parts of Upper Nile where the Nuer are the dominant group. 
"The SPLM/A is looked at as heroes in Upper Nile and they have a lot of Nuer fighters among them, while the SSDF is often resented," a local analyst said. "Contrary to general opinion, during the first elections, scheduled in about three years, the SPLM/A might actually win against their political challengers in Nuer areas." 
Peter Kun, the chairman of the USAP in Malakal, however felt the biggest challenge was the formation of a new society in southern Sudan. 
"After decades of war, people are not aware of human rights and they do not know what good governance and democracy entail," he said. "They have many grievances as many crimes went unpunished and overcoming the urge for revenge is an important aspect of implementing the peace." 

The incidence of rape and sexual violence against women and girls, often perpetrated by armed men, continues to be high in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, according to the medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF). 
In a report released on Monday, the eve of International Women's Day, MSF reported that between October 2004 and mid-February 2005, doctors in several locations in North and South Darfur had treated almost 500 women and girls who had been raped. 
"These women come to us for treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases, physical injuries and psychological trauma," Paul Foreman, MSF Head of mission in Khartoum, told IRIN on Tuesday. "The problem is massive." 
The report, entitled, "The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur", said: "MSF believes that these numbers reflect only a fraction of the total number of victims because many women are reluctant to report the crime or seek treatment." 
It called on local government and other health care providers in Darfur to ensure full and appropriate treatment for victims of sexual violence. 
MSF quoted rape survivors as saying most attacks occurred when women left the relative safety of their villages and internally displaced persons' camps to search for firewood and water. 
Eighty-one percent of those treated by the NGO claimed members of militia groups or the military assaulted them. 
Almost a third (28 percent) of the rape survivors who sought treatment from MSF reported that they had been raped more than once, either by single and multiple assailants, the report said. 
In Darfur, as in other conflicts, MSF said, rape had been a deliberate and regular tool of war, used to destabilise and threaten a part of the civilian population. It said that survivors of rape in Darfur, rather than being given appropriate medical and psychosocial care, often faced rejection and stigma. 
In some cases, the report added, victims of rape had been imprisoned while perpetrators of the crime went unpunished. 
"Despite its devastating consequences, rape in Darfur and in other conflicts has not yet received the attention that the scale of the crime or the gravity of its impact call for," Kenny Gluck, MSF director of operations, said from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 
"This has to change," he added. "It is time to end this vicious crime, which is a clear breach of international humanitarian law. Perpetrators should be prosecuted, not tolerated." 
Speaking in Khartoum on Monday, Jan Egeland, UN emergency relief coordinator, added his voice to the condemnation of continued sexual violence in the war-ravaged region of Darfur. 
"The government officials said the Sudan had not known this outrageous crime against women before," Egeland told a news conference. "They conceded that it has recently become a rampant phenomenon in the society, where hundreds of cases have been documented." 
Foreman said MSF had released the damning report despite a request by the Sudanese government that it refrain from doing so. 
Jan Pronk, special envoy of the UN Secretary-General to Sudan, upon receiving a copy of the report, said in a statement: "I am concerned about the findings of the report. These findings are consistent with the reports from UN human rights observers and UN humanitarian agencies in Darfur." 
He added: "I will give a very high priority to this issue and will continue to work with UN agencies and other partners, including MSF, in addressing this evil, this phenomenon of rape. This report is an opportunity for the government of Sudan to reaffirm its commitment to end impunity with regard to these severe cases of rape and sexual abuse." 
There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese government. 
The conflict in Darfur dates back to February 2003 and pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and up to 1.85 million internally displaced or forced to flee to neighbouring Chad. 

Women in Sudan’s Darfour region, the setting of a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people in two years, continue to be the victims of abuse by militias and the army. A report issued by ‘Medicines Sans Frontieres’ (MSF) on March 8, Women’s Day. The document says that from October 2004 to mid-February 2005, almost 500 women were treated by MSF medics following sexual abuses in many areas of southern and western Darfour, where popular self defense groups (SLA/M and JEM) have led an armed uprising against the government of Khartoum accusing it of having mismanaged the region and supported militias of Arab marauders (Janjaweed). However, MSF says that the data in its possession is not exhaustive given that many women prefer not to denounce what is done to them, while many others don’t even ask to be treated. The majority of survivors has related that aggressions take place when they leave the relative safety of villages and refugee camps to carry out indispensable activities for the survival of families such as looking for firewood or water. Moreover, 81% said that they had been assailed by militias or soldiers, who used weapons to violate them. MSF conclude that in Darfour, rape is an instrument of war, it occurs continuously and deliberately, unfortunately women and children are those, who suffer from it; rather than receiving adequate medical and psycho-social cures, they often have to face marginalization and stigmatization.

About 500 women in Darfur have been treated for rape in recent months and most said their attackers were militiamen or soldiers, according to an aid agency report obtained by Reuters on Monday. 
But the real number of rape victims is likely to be even higher as many are afraid to report the crime for fear of stigmatisation and mistreatment, said the study prepared by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). 
U.N. aid chief Jan Egeland said he fully supported the report and that the criminals must be brought to justice, adding the government could not continue to allow impunity. 
"The problem is acute -- it's wide ranging. Sudan never had this kind of systematic rape before," said Egeland, the U.N. Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. 
"Now Sudan has the same problem that we see in many other African and other conflicts and the Sudanese government has to face up to this," he told reporters in Khartoum. 
The government in the predominantly Muslim country has accused media and aid groups of exaggerating the extent of rape during a more than two-year-old rebellion in the arid region. 
The MSF study said more than 80 percent of the victims reported that their attackers were militiamen or soldiers. It did not specify whether the militiamen included rebel factions. 
BEATEN AND RAPED 
In anonymous accounts, it described how three women in West Darfur state were beaten and raped by five men last October. 
"After they abused us, they told us that now we would have Arab babies; and if they would find any Fur women, they would rape them again to change the colour of their children," the women said in the report. 
The Fur is one of three non-Arab tribes who form the majority of the almost 2 million people displaced in Darfur, where rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglecting the westerm region and favouring Arab tribes. 
Darfur rebels say Arab militias the government armed to help put down their uprising have conducted a campaign of village-burning and rape. The government denies links with the militia, known as Janjaweed. 
The MSF head of mission in Sudan, Paul Foreman, said the government had asked the agency not to publish the report, which will be released on Tuesday for international women's day. 
"They have expressed their strong desire that we don't publish it, and I politely declined," he told Reuters. 
The report said that in one of the three Darfur states between October and mid-February, MSF clinics treated 297 rape victims between the ages of 12 and 45. 
Given the victims' sense of shame and the threat of imprisonment for illegal pregnancy in Sudan, where Islamic sharia law is enforced, the MSF "strongly believes that the numbers recorded are only a partial representation of the real number of victims". 
Women are held captive for days and raped by multiple attackers, and many are beaten, the report said. Some are ostracised from their communities and others have been arrested. 
Egeland said he did not expect MSF would be threatened with expulsion, as aid groups Oxfam and Save the Children UK were for reports the authorities disagreed with last year. 
"MSF is doing most of the medical work in Darfur and we are totally reliant on their continued access to Darfur," he said.
  The MSF-Holland report is available at http://www.artsenzondergrenzen.nl/usermedia/files/Report%20Sexual%20Violence%20march%202005.pdf

The small child lay motionless on a hospital bed in Malakal, a garrison town in central Sudan. Severely malnourished, the child had a high fever and a number of other unidentified medical complications. 
Medical staff said the child was suffering from Kala Azar - a severe parasitic infection transmitted by the female sand fly, which mainly lives in Acacia and Balamites woodland. Left untreated, it is fatal in 95 percent of the cases. 
"Most Kala Azar patients arrive in the hospital unable to walk and have other co-infections, such as TB or malaria, because the disease destroys the body's immune system," George Mbaluto, a nurse working for the medical charity MSF-Holland which runs the hospital, told IRIN. 
"They are usually severely malnourished and are often carried here by relatives," he added. 
The temperature in the intensive care unit was 48 degrees Celsius, as the heat of the dry season simmered over Malakal. It was so hot that before taking the child's temperature, the nurse had to dip her thermometer in a bowl of cold water to cool it down. 
According to the medical personnel at the hospital, the Kala Azar season in Upper Nile coincides with the dry season. It lasts from September-October until January-February. During this season there is also an increase in dust-induced pneumonia, as well as bloody diarrhoea. 
"The water-level of the River Nile is very low around this time of the year and people drink directly from the river, while they also use it to bathe and wash their clothes," Samuel Nyitwel, the supervisor of the hospital's in-patient department, told IRIN. 
Widespread in Few Countries 
According to the World Health Organization, there are 500,000 new cases of Kala Azar per year in 88 countries around the world. However, 90 percent of all the cases occur in only five countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Nepal and Sudan. 
In Sudan, it is found in a belt that runs from Unity State, through Upper Nile, Blue Nile, Sennar, and Gedaref, up to Kassala in eastern Sudan. It is also found in some parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Eritrea. 
Mbaluto said new Kala Azar patients usually had to spend 30-45 days in the intensive care unit to stabilise the disease and treat complications. On average, Kala Azar patients remain in the hospital for one to three months before they are discharged. 
Most patients who receive treatment recover, but some die. Recently, a small girl died of co-infections in the hospital. Mbaluto said she had Kala Azar, TB and meningitis. 
Peter Garmaac Chol, a 37 year-old blind man from a village near the town of Ayod, showed up at the hospital in January suffering from Kala Azar. He travelled on his own for over two days, making his way to the hospital despite his lack of sight. 
Chol, who was 1.91 mt tall, but weighed only 53 kg, was discharged on 21 February, but he was still too weak to make the entire journey back to his village by himself. 
"We are trying to track down his relatives so that they can pick him up, but so far we have been unsuccessful," Mbaluto said. 
Other Diseases Widespread 
Diseases such as TB, malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and severe malnutrition, have also taken a heavy toll on the population of Upper Nile. During the last week of February, the Malakal hospital had 170 TB patients on treatment. 
"TB is endemic all year round and, as the first phase of the disease is highly infectious, new patients have to be isolated for up to 2 months," Moussa Hamadan, a national TB doctor, told IRIN. 
To complete the treatment, patients have to stay on combined TB drugs treatment for six to nine months. Those who live far away stay in the hospital during the entire time. Patients from nearby villages only stay in quarantine during the initial phase, then come to the hospital to get their medication every day. 
MSF is training medical staff from the Sudanese Ministry of Health to eventually take over the Kala Azar and TB programmes. However, it costs almost US $1000 to treat a TB patient, which is a substantial financial constraint for the ministry. 
Food Shortages Make Matters Worse 
Disease is rampant in Upper Nile, but lack of adequate food exacerbates matters. The region experienced very late rainfall during the last planting season and as a result, there was widespread crop failure. 
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there was "strong evidence that there may be a region-wide food security crisis that will push the existing, highly food insecure population into an even more precarious situation", later. 
Around Malakal, the displacement of thousands of people from the nearby Shilluk Kingdom by attacks from government-allied militias in 2004 created further needs. An estimated 25,000 displaced Shilluk were still in Malakal town in February, while thousands of others had sought refuge in nearby towns. 
A report by the US-sponsored Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) said residents who had remained in the villages had yet to recover from the devastating effects of the fighting. 
The region, the CPMT added, was facing severe food shortages as the planting season had been disrupted by the armed conflict. 
Adeng Anwour, team leader in Malakal for the Food and Agricultural Organization, told IRIN on 25 February that the price of sorghum on the local markets had gone up. While the supply had lowered, the demand had gone up because of the displaced people. 
"A 90-kg bag of sorghum is 10,000 Sudanese dinars [$40], but it was 6,000-7,000 Sudanese dinars [$24-$28] at the same time last year," he said. "It might go up to 15,000 Sudanese dinars [$60] in May, June and July." 
He added: "During average years, there is a food gap between May, when households' food stocks are running out, and July, when the early maize harvest comes in. This year people are already running out of food in February." 
Ger Tervoort, MSF project coordinator, told IRIN: "We are seeing a high number of severely malnourished patients, particularly among the children admitted to the paediatric hospital and among Kala Azar admissions, and we expect the admission rate to go up. 
"The number of new admissions in our Therapeutic Feeding Centre was stable at around 40 during December and January, but, since last week, the number has started to go up," he said on 24 February. 
Patients With Families 
The hospital, at times, has to cope with the relatives of the patients as well. 
A Nuer man called Simon had arrived in the hospital from Galla Hill village, close to Nasir on the Ethiopian border, more than 200 km from Malakal. Severely malnourished, he was diagnosed with Kala Azar. 
However, Simon did not come alone. Outside the intensive care unit were his wife and his three children, sitting in the shade. 
"Having whole families here can be a real strain on our resources, but as they are a long way from home, we cannot deny them food," Mbaluto said. 
He added that there was also a medical reason for feeding the patient's caretakers. 
"In the past, we had cases where a patient's recovery got slowed down as he shared the hospital's food rations with his relatives." 
According to nurse Liane Behrens, however, the large number of people that were staying in and around the hospital for a prolonged period of time was an opportunity, rather than a constraint. 
"TB and Kala Azar patients and their care-takers, who stay here for months, are an ideal target for our health education programme," she told IRIN. "We try to avoid the social stigma that is associated with TB patients and teach them about HIV/AIDS, as well as preventive measures, such as the use of mosquito nets, the importance of washing hands and covering food." 
Future Needs Great 
The Upper Nile region only recently opened up to international organisations, following the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement between the Sudan government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
The agreement, signed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 9 January, officially ended 21 years of conflict between the government in Khartoum and the SLPM/A, which said it was fighting to emancipate the southerners. 
The region has very few clinics. Apart from the hospital in Malakal, MSF has opened three basic health care units along the Sobat River, which runs west from the Ethiopian border and reaches the Nile near Malakal. 
"We continue to try to improve the access to treatment and expand our mobile medical service in order to reach those most at risk," Tervoort said. "Already, we are seeing more cases of Kala Azar in the outreach centres in Ulang and Nasir [along the Sobat River] than we are seeing in the whole Kala Azar referral centre in Malakal."  He added: "Our greatest problem, as well as for the Ministry of Health, is to find trained staff - nurses, general medical technicians, and doctors. University access for southerners had been extremely restricted, resulting in a very limited number of available doctors." 
A report by the UN Children's Fund, published in June 2004, estimated that there was only one doctor per 100,000 people in southern Sudan. 

Jan Egeland, Undersecretary of the United nations and head of international aid, has asked the Darfour rebels to suspend armed assaults and help their own people by reaching a peace agreement, as promoted by the African Union in Abuja, Nigeria, as soon as possible. “If you continue to attack commercial convoys and police stations and if you do not release humanitarian workers you have kidnapped, you will lose international sympathy and trust,” said Egeland addressing the leaders of the two armed rebel groups in Darfour, who raised arms in early 2003 to reclaim resources and defend themselves from the Arab marauders so called ‘Janjaweed’. In December, three Sudanese humanitarian aid workers from the International Adventist Agency for Development were kidnapped in the area of Labado, in southern Darfour, which was controlled by the rebels at the time, even if the latter have denied any involvement. According to the UN head of humanitarian assistance, every violation of the ceasefire signed last year – either by the rebels or the Janjaweed – adds obstacles to the delivery of aid in the Darfour. The UN has estimated that in the region there are about 1.5 million homeless and 200,000 refugees in nearby Chad. Egeland was scheduled to meet the Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman taha in Khartoum today and other ministers, to discuss negotiations on Darfour, which are currently underway in Abuja and discuss the humanitarian situation in Southern Sudan. In January, an understanding between the secessionist forces of Southern Sudan and Sudanese authorities to end a 21 year long conflict, without, however, reaching any agreement over Darfour.

“Even today, new refugees have arrived at the camp near Nyala. In two years, the flow has not stopped,” said father Ssemakula, one of the combonian missionaries, who manage the mission in Nyala, capital of South Darfour, and has witnessed the crisis and war that has ravaged this semi-arid and remote area since its beginning, even before the UN defined it as one of the gravest crises on the planet. The historical tensions over control of the land and the grazing grounds between the local permanent farmers and nomadic shepherds (the first being ‘afro’, the second being ‘Arab’, and this is to synthesize a far more complex situation) decidedly exploded in February of 2003, when two groups for popular self defense (SLA and JEM) formally took up arms against the government in Khartoum accusing it of neglecting the region and of supporting militias of Arab marauders (Janjaweed), who have been causing turmoil in the area trying to seize land and grazing areas. The crisis has caused an unknown number of victims ranging from estimates in the tens of thousands according to the UN, to 5,000 according to the Sudanese government. It has also created 1.5 million refugees, of which 200,000 are in neighboring Chad. “The internal movement of population in the three states of Darfour has never actually ended. After the great waves of the first months – explains father Ssemakula to MISNA – the flow hgas continued unwavering during all these months. In recent weeks, for example, growing insecurity in rural areas of South Darfour has led many people to head for the main 4 or 5 refugee camps that are located near the capital of Nyala, where security is greater.” Some facilities for refugees located a dozen or so kilometers from Nyala have been destroyed, attacked, or simply isolated leading those, who lived within them to search for less dangerous camps. Father Ssemakula added, “the Nyala campos are crowded and despite the aid of international organizations it often seems as if we are facing an inhuman task. As missionaries and as Church, we are working to support this people. We buy food, water, and other basic goods, while we also use the little we have gathered from donations to build schools in which to offer a minimum of education to the children, who have been living in such precarious conditions for two years now.” "perhaps too many of us believed that the crisis would have been resolved rapidly, now we fear that as happened in Southern Sudan (theatre of a 20 year civil conflict ending just as the crisis in Darfour was beginning) these children have been forced to live in the refugee camps.” Recent UN reports and MISNA sources have confirmed that renewed attacks have been taking place between the end of February and the beginning of March. At least 12 people were killed during an armed incursion that took place last February 23, in the village of Thur, about 20 kilometers south of Nyala. A few days ago, even the village of Aduana (still in Southern Darfour) was targeted by unidentified armed groups, who killed two people as they left with booty of farm animals and as many wounded according to African Union observers. The UN network for information in Africa, IRIN, has also reported of heavy combat between the SLA rebels and the SlA in the north. The clashes, which remain unconfirmed, are said to have occurred about 50km from El Fasher (capital of Northern Darfour). “The African Union is aware of these indications and investigations are already under way,” said the AU Spokesperson Nourredin Mezni to MISNA. In these very days, the AU has been trying to bring together government and rebels at the table, such that resume the peace negotiations that were advanced in the last month and abandoned since December, after the reciprocal violations of ceasefire interrupted dialogue to leave room for the louder voice of guns and bombs

The head of southern Sudan's former rebels hopes to help solve the crisis in Darfur once he joins the government in July as part of a peace agreement that put an end to Africa's longest-running civil war. 
John Garang, who will become vice president under the deal that the southern rebels signed with the Khartoum government in January, said negotiations was the only way to end the separate conflict in the western region of the country. 
"At the end of the day, humanitarian assistance (and) protection of the civilian population will not be enough -- you need a political solution," he told Reuters on Saturday after speaking at an international conference in Brussels. 
"When the SPLM (Sudanese People's Liberation Movement) becomes part of the government... I believe there is every reason to be optimistic that there will be a solution to Darfur," he said. 
"You cannot make peace in the south and make war in Darfur," he said. "It is untenable." 
Garang is chairman of the SPLM, the political arm of the rebel army SPLA that fought the government in a 21-year old civil war in Sudan's south. The conflict claimed more than 2 million lives and forced more than 4 million from their homes. 
In Sudan, SPLA chief commander Salva Kiir Mayardit told Reuters late on Friday that militia fighters allied to the Khartoum government had attacked positions held by the former rebels, warning it could undermine the peace agreement. 
Garang did not mention the attacks and his spokesman later said he could not comment as they had been traveling and had not been able to contact their people in Sudan. 
Ex Rebels to Khartoum 
Garang said he was sending about 70 SPLM representatives to open an office in Khartoum in preparation for their joining the government in July. 
"What we are doing now will create the necessary momentum ... to assure that we are serious about implementing the agreement," he said. 
In the western region of Darfur, rebels took up arms two years ago, accusing the government of neglecting the arid region and favouring Arab over non-Arab tribes. The conflict has driven around two million from their homes. 
Darfur rebels say Arab militias the government armed to help put down their uprising have conducted a campaign of village-burning and rape in the region. The government denies links with the militia, known as Janjaweed. 
A senior U.S. official said on Wednesday that Sudan's government and Darfur rebels have a "reasonable chance" of securing an effective ceasefire at African Union-sponsored talks due to start this month. 
But Garang voiced doubt about the current government's sincerity. "The government of Khartoum is complicit in the events in Darfur," he said. "You cannot turn around and ask the same government to solve the problem." 
Garang called in February for the creation of a neutral force of up to 30,000 troops from the government, the SPLM and other countries to stop the fighting in Darfur. 
He said the proposal was under discussion but that the Khartoum government was "not comfortable" with it. 
International aid agency Oxfam has said only half of the 3,320 personnel promised by the African Union have arrived in Darfur and their efforts have been hindered by shortages of funding and a lack of logistical support. 
"The African Union is doing a good job (but) it is inadequate," Garang said.

John Garang, leader of Sudan's main southern rebel group, called Saturday for the recently signed Sudan north-south peace deal to be applied to the conflict in Darfur, saying minority rights had to be protected there as well. 
Garang and Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, both attending an international conference on federalism in Brussels, said they were working to implement their peace treaty which ends the 21-year civil war in the African country. 
"We are serious about implementing the agreement," Garang told reporters after meeting Taha in the margins of the three-day conference, which ended Saturday. 
The conference concluded that the benefits of systems offering regional representative government could help solve conflicts, such as those in Sudan, Iraq or Cyprus, or guarantee minority rights. 
"It can largely contribute to solving these problems," said Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, pointing to examples in Macedonia and Ethiopia. 
Garang said his Sudan People's Liberation Army was sending a 70-person delegation to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum in the first phase of implementing the north-south peace accord, signed by Garang and Taha on Jan. 9. 
He also reiterated calls for the end of fighting in other parts of Sudan, including Darfur, where a two-year rebellion has left tens of thousands dead and nearly two million displaced. 
"Darfur needs a solution," Garang said. "The peace agreement can be adapted and applied in Darfur and in eastern Sudan." He noted that the north-south deal addressed the concerns of the 500 different ethnic groups of Sudan. 
Taha, who also addressed the conference, agreed, saying the peace accord "provides a solid basis for solving other conflicts in Darfur." 
Delegates from 25 countries, including Canada, attended the conference. The next meeting will be held in India in either 2007 or 2008.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan put new pressure on the Security Council on Friday to confront continued violence in Sudan , despite major differences on how to go about it. 
For several weeks, the council has been crafting a resolution that would send more than 10,000 peacekeepers to Sudan to monitor an accord reached to end the civil war between the government and southern rebels in the African nation. But they disagree on how best to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable and whether to implement sanctions -including an arms embargo. 
On Thursday, Annan asked to meet with members of the Security Council early next week to talk about moving forward. The U.N. hopes to use a resolution addressing the civil war to help ease continuing violence in the western Darfur region, described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. 
Asked if Annan had called the meeting because he was getting frustrated with council foot-dragging, his spokesman, Fred Eckhard, made clear the secretary-general wants quicker action. 
"I think all would agree that not enough is being done to bring the security situation in Sudan under control," Eckhard said Friday. 
"I think he wants to discuss with them what practical options are available to them to act more decisively to deal with the continuing killing and rape that's going on in Sudan , particularly in Darfur," Eckhard said. 
Several council members have also said they want a resolution soon, but there are major issues of contention. Many council members want to refer suspects to the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court. 
But the U.S., an opponent of that body, wants them tried in a new tribunal in Tanzania, an idea which council diplomats say has little support. Others want no international justice at all. 
Meanwhile, China, Algeria and Russia oppose sanctions. Some diplomats say their opposition is the key reason for delay. 
The two-year-old conflict in Darfur has forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes and left more than 70,000 dead, mainly from disease and hunger. 
Sudan 's government is accused of responding to a rebellion there by backing the Janjaweed -camel and horse-riding Arab militiamen -in a campaign of wide-scale abuses against Sudanese of African origin. The government denies backing the Janjaweed.

Assaults in Sudan are used deliberately to fragment community, aid worker says 
Fatima was 15 when she was gang-raped in front of her mother. Seven months later, the heavily pregnant schoolgirl was arrested by the Sudanese police and charged with fornication. They threatened to whip her if she didn't pay a fine. 
"They asked me who was the father of my baby," she said, twisting a piece of paper between her fingers. "I told them I didn't know. There were seven men on horses. Three of them raped me and four of them beat my mother. We had gone to get onions from our farm." 
After she had spent three days in prison with no food and nothing to sleep on but the bare earth, Fatima's father collected money from relatives. Last week, he finally paid 12,000 ($60) of the 20,000 dinars that the police demanded. "The police said he must pay the rest by the time my baby is delivered or I will be whipped." 
Since 2003, when local African tribes took up arms against perceived neglect and discrimination by the central government, thousands of women have been raped. Many of the victims have been branded to ensure that they never escape the stigma. 
Most of the women simply identify their attackers as janjaweed, a generic term for the nomadic, Arabic-speaking gunmen who often work in concert with the Sudanese armed forces. 
The nomads have a history of conflict with the African tribes over land rights but the government's twin gifts of impunity and automatic weapons escalated traditional tensions into all-out war. 
Médecins sans frontières (Doctors without Borders) has treated nearly 400 Darfur women for rape in the past six months, although they say the stigma of being victims prevents many from reporting the crime. 
"Rape is being used as a deliberate way to fragment the family and community," said one local aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Many of these women are raped by soldiers and police as well [as the janjaweed]." 
In Bendisi, a town in the west, hundreds of women like Fatima have been jailed after they became pregnant by their attackers. The police typically demand fines ranging from 15,000 to 25,000 dinars. Often, they rape the women again while they are held in prison, under the pretext of interrogating them. 
"The police told me that I could pay 15,000 dinars or I could be raped 40 times," said one 18-year-old, huddled in a corner. "They will take my money now but they never heard my cry when the janjaweed came for me." 
Other women confirmed that the police had had sex with them while in prison, promising shorter sentences or smaller fines. 
During the day, the prisoners are often forced to work as domestic labour, carrying water, cooking or cleaning for their jailers. The women are charged with having extramarital sex, despite the fact that under Islamic law, a woman who is raped is not considered guilty of a crime. 
Some of the women, their houses destroyed and their family dead, have no one to help them. Sixteen-year-old Hawa, gang-raped by three men while collecting firewood, cradles her two-month old son Hamoudi in a ragged green blanket. Her own shawl has several holes in it. She is sleeping rough after her grandmother threw her out because she became pregnant. 
"The police held me for 10 days in a cell. They didn't give me any food and there was nowhere to sleep," she whispered, tucking the blanket around the face of her sleeping son. 
"I told them I have no money. They whipped me on my chest and my back. I was bleeding a lot." She was eight months pregnant, and terrified. 
Even after her punishment, Hawa's troubles are not over. The police are still demanding 20,000 dinars. Four times a week, with her son strapped to her back, she and a group of other women in the same predicament walk several kilometres over a mountain to find gravel. 
They load heavy buckets filled with stones onto their heads and return to make cement to sell in the marketplace. So far, Hawa has made 2,000 dinars in two months. 
Every time she leaves the confines of the town she is vulnerable again. Many of these women have been raped several times: once when their village was attacked and later when they venture out of the town to gather water or firewood. 
"The janjaweed came to my village in August, 2003," said 25-year-old Nadifa. "During the fight, four men came to my tukel [hut]. They said you can choose, we can kill you or we will rape you. Then four of them tied my hands and legs so I was spread-eagled between two beds. They raped me and left me tied up for the whole day. They kept coming back. At the end of the day they let me go and burnt my house." 
Still traumatized by the attack in August of 2003, Nadifa joined the other 1.85 million people displaced by the conflict. She fled to nearby Bendisi for security, but last July, she was raped again as she gathered firewood on the outskirts of town. 
After she became pregnant, the police arrested her and kept her in a cell for two days. Her neighbours, themselves displaced and impoverished, scraped together 15,000 dinars to release her but the police have kept her name on a list. They promised to visit her again once her baby has been born. 
At least some officials in the Sudanese government are aware of what is going on. When a judge visited from Garsila, a nearby town where similar cases have been reported, he merely cautioned the officers to stop recording women's names lest the list should be used as evidence against them. Yet the arrests, the fines and the whippings continue. 
"Who will want to marry me now?" asked Fatima, her young eyes filling with tears. "Maybe an old man, more than 50. I am destroyed. I have lost my chance in life."

With the dry season approaching, the western Sudanese region of Darfur could face such serious water shortages that food would not easily be available for people living there, relief agencies warned. 
"Virtually no suitable conditions for crop growth were registered over most of North Darfur [last year]," Peter Smerdon, spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) told IRIN on Friday, quoting the preliminary findings of an indepth analysis of rainfall and vegetation in 2004, undertaken by WFP across Sudan. 
"Water is increasingly in short supply for both people and livestock - an essential component of the economy in Darfur," the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported in its Sudan Bulletin of 28 February. 
According to the ICRC, the natural water catchments in the region had been ruined in the fighting and by lack of maintenance. The drought exacerbated the situation. 
Oxfam reported that an estimated 85,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Abu Shouk camp, in North Darfur, had been receiving only 7.8 litres of water per person, per day - about half of what is considered a standard amount. 
Some of the IDPs in the camp are due to be relocated to a new site at Bisharia. Oxfam said this would alleviate some of the strain on water resources in Abu Shouk. 
The agencies said they were concerned that the failure of the two previous harvests, low rainfall last year and the depletion of coping mechanisms due to the conflict, could lead to food shortages in many areas across Darfur. 
WFP was planning a more detailed assessment of areas most likely to be affected to establish the full extent of the food shortages, Smerdon said. 
The ICRC also noted that continuing violence in different areas of Darfur had forced civilians to keep moving away from rural areas, where coping mechanisms were overstretched. This influx of people into towns and IDP camps had also swelled the populations of urban areas. 
It described the situation as "urgent" and stressed that - as the IDP camps were fairly well served by the humanitarian community, at least for the moment - it was important to provide assistance in rural areas. 
Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, arrived in Khartoum on Thursday to start a visit to southern Sudan and Darfur. 
While in Darfur, Egeland is expected to visit groups of IDPs, as well as other affected communities and look at the progress made in providing assistance to the camp populations. 
He would also assess the impact of the inadequate rain received in the region and hold discussions with concerned authorities about the improvement of security for civilians and aid workers in conflict areas, the UN said in a statement

The West maintains an "immoral and horrendous" attitude toward Africa, said the president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, yesterday speaking during an interview aired by German State Television ZDF. "People do not pay enough attention to Africa. The world continues to turn its head away from the big crises faced by the continent," he added. "We are only worried when a Westerner has been killed. When the people of Congo or Sudan are doing the dying, their lives seem not to count at all". "If people are killed in the West or in the Middle East, then we count the victims. If this happens in Africa, we don’t. I find all of this immoral and horrendous," concluded Wolfensohn. The Australian Wolfensohn will leave his post as president of the World Bank after 10 years of service. It is customary for the president of the World Bank to be chosen by the United States, and there are many rumors in Washington that Paul Wolfowitz, US Deputy Secretary of Defense and a chief architect of the war on Iraq, is the top choice to replace Wolfensohn.

The UN Security Council will not allow perpetrators of atrocities against civilians in the western Sudanese region of Darfur to go unpunished, according to the Council's president. 
The Council will address the situation in some "internationally recognised way", Joel W. Adechi, permanent representative of Benin and Council president for February, told reporters on Wednesday. 
Adechi was responding to the recently released report of a UN-appointed commission of inquiry into whether or not genocide occurred in Darfur. The commission concluded on Monday that violence in Darfur did not amount to genocide, but that mass killings of civilians had occurred in the strife-torn area. 
"The crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned," the five-member commission said. "There may have been genocidal acts in Darfur and some individuals may be found guilty of genocidal intent." 
The commission identified suspected perpetrators of atrocities, including government officials, rebels, and "foreign army officers acting in their personal capacity", in an annex to the report, opening the door for their prosecution as war criminals. 
While welcoming the work of the commission, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Tuesday that the US stood by its own conclusion, reached in September 2004, that genocide had occurred in Darfur. 
"We think that the continued accumulation of facts on the ground, the facts that are reported here in the commission's report, support that view, that conclusion that we reached and continue to hold," Boucher said in a statement. 
The UN commission recommended that the Council refer its dossier on the crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but Boucher said the US believed that the best way to address the crimes, detailed in the report, was to establish an ad-hoc UN and African Union tribunal. 
"We think it's important for the Security Council to consider the various options, and we believe that having accountability for these crimes in a tribunal that is based in Arusha, Tanzania, is the best way to ensure accountability," he added. 
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Britain preferred the new Hague-based ICC, but stressed that the key issue was consensus in the Security Council. 
Regarding the African position on the ICC and sanctions, Adechi said the issue had not yet been discussed, but the Council would discuss the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission. 
"I think my own position on the ICC is quite well-known to you. It's a Court I support," Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, told reporters on Wednesday. "The Commission recommends a referral to the ICC," Annan noted, adding that he hoped the Council would "come to an understanding and take the essential action to prosecute those responsible". 
"They must be prosecuted, whichever way the Council decides to go," Annan said. 
Adechi announced that in February, the Council would hold at least two meetings, and possibly a third, on Sudan. The meetings would focus on both the situation in Darfur - where violent clashes have been reported this week - and the proposal for the establishment of a UN peace-support mission in southern Sudan following the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement on 9 January. 
"It is too early to say what type of resolution can be expected," Adechi said, noting that all Council members looked at the Sudan in a comprehensive way, and that it was impossible to consider a peacekeeping force for the north-south agreement without taking into account the humanitarian situation in Darfur. 
The war in Darfur pits the Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called the state's marginalisation of and discrimination against the region's inhabitants. 
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur and as many as 1.85 million people are internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring Chad. The UN has described the Darfur conflict as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland is to visit Khartoum this week on a mission that includes field visits to southern Sudan and the western region of Darfur, UN officials said. 
"Egeland will use the trip to highlight the dire funding situation for relief operations, both in Darfur and South Sudan," Dawn Elizabeth Blalock, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, told IRIN on Wednesday. 
In Darfur, Egeland is expected to visit groups of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other affected communities, and look at progress made in providing assistance to the camp populations. 
He will also assess the impact of the irregular rainfall that the region has received over past years and discuss with authorities how to improve the security of civilians and aid workers affected by the conflict, Blalock said. 
"Ongoing security concerns and a looming drought throughout Sudan threaten to undermine the recent improvements in the humanitarian situation, and the ability of the UN and its partners to respond to the needs of the people of Darfur," a statement from the UN office in Sudan said. 
In southern Sudan, Egeland will meet members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and various relief agencies in Rumbek, the provisional capital of southern Sudan. He is also scheduled to visit Malualkon in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, an area to which thousands of IDPs have returned since 2004. 
Following the 9 January signing of the comprehensive peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A, hundreds of thousands of people, who were displaced during the decades of war, are expected to return to their communities in southern Sudan, although few of the resources that are required to support them are in place. 
The conflict in the south has displaced an estimated four million people within Sudan with about two million killed. It erupted in 1983 when rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. 
The peace agreement was reached after more than two years of talks brokered by the regional Inter-governmental Authority on Development and hosted by Kenya. 
In Darfur, which has been described by the UN as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, about 2.3 million people are reliant on aid to survive - more than a third of Darfur's total population. Approximately 1.85 million people have been displaced from their homes, of whom, 200,000 have fled into Chad 

The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, has appealed to donors to contribute to rehabilitation and reintegration projects in the conflict-ravaged south to forestall a potential humanitarian crisis as millions of refugees and internally displaced persons prepare to return home. 
Wendy Chamberlain, UNHCR's acting high commissioner asked for "funding to prevent suffering - to prevent a crisis when refugees go back" when she addressed a news briefing about her recent tour of the region in Geneva on Friday. 
The signing in January of a peace accord between the government of Sudan and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army brought an end to more than two decades of conflict in the region, opening the door for millions of southern Sudanese to return home. 
Relief agencies have expressed concerns that hasty repatriations could create a humanitarian crisis as the region lacks the infrastructure to cope with large numbers of returnees. 
"UNHCR is there working collaboratively with other agencies to put into place the infrastructure that would make it a welcoming environment in which the refugees could anchor," Chamberlain said. "But right now, if they all moved en masse, that infrastructure is not there." 
The commissioner advised the 550,000 refugees living in Sudan's neighbouring countries that they should wait until the infrastructure was ready before returning to their homes. 
UNHCR's budget for 2005 for southern Sudan is approximately US $62 million, but so far, the programme has received no funds. Chamberlain said certain donors, such as the US and the Netherlands, had indicated that they would contribute, but that much more was still needed. 
"The crisis isn't there yet, which makes it harder to galvanise donations, but it is just as important," she added. 
Earlier this month Chamberlain visited southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, where she was able to survey the devastation and enormous rehabilitation needs facing the region. She said the refugees main concerns about returning home were food, land, water, health services and education. 
For the refugees in Kenya's Kakuma camp, "education was perhaps the largest concern". UNHCR has several education programmes in the camp. 
"There has not been a significant number of returnees from the Kenyan camps to Sudan," Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for UNHCR in Kenya told IRIN on Tuesday. "In fact, there are still refugees coming into the camps from Sudan." 
Nyabera said preparations had already begun for repatriation from Kenya, with an emergency UNHCR team being deployed to southern Sudan last week to assess conditions and identify the most urgent rehabilitation and reintegration needs. 
"We are training 500 teachers in Kakuma to go home and help their communities and are also involved in mine awareness training, considering the serious landmine problem facing the region," he added. 
However, he emphasised that the main priority of UNHCR was not to rush the process, but to ensure that the repatriations were organised and dignified. 
"Right now we are creating awareness among the refugees about the situation in the south, so that they can make informed decisions about returning home," Nyabera said. 
"We do not have a schedule for repatriation, but are hoping to have started by the last quarter of 2005," he added. Kenya hosts an estimated 68,000 refugees from southern Sudan. 
Chamberlain recently announced that UNHCR would begin work with the German development agency, GTZ, to rebuild roads between southern Sudan and northern Uganda, which hosts 187,000 Sudanese refugees. 
The agency plans to start an information campaign for the refugees in Uganda in June, including "go-and-see" visits by refugee groups to southern Sudan. 
The 21-year war in Sudan's south virtually destroyed the region, killing an estimated two million people and displacing another 4.5 million. It is hoped that the recent peace deal will bring calm, enabling crucial development to begin

At least 16 people have been killed by unidentified gunmen in South Darfur state amidst reports of continuing violence in western Sudan, UN officials told IRIN in the capital, Khartoum. 
"A number of IDPs [internally displaced persons] reported that in an attack in Thur, 20 km north of the town of Kas in South Darfur, approximately 16 people were killed on 23 February," Leon Willems, spokesperson for the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), said on Wednesday. 
Those killed, Willems added, were apparently attacked while on their way to tend to their land in nearby place called Salakoyo. 
"The AU is aware of these reports and investigations are ongoing," Nourreddine Mezni, a spokesperson for the African Union (AU) in Khartoum, told IRIN. 
Reports of more armed clashes and other ceasefire violations in Darfur had continued to be received even as the AU was attempting to bring the warring parties back to the negotiation table, the officials said. 
During the weekend of 26 and 27 February, a number of incidents were reported, including an attack by tribal militias on a village called Aduana, in South Darfur. 
The monitoring team of the AU, which investigated the report, established that two villagers were killed and two others injured. The attackers fled after looting livestock. 
In North Darfur, armed clashes were reported between militias and rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) forces on 26 February, in an area located 50 km west of the capital, El Fasher. Unconfirmed reports indicated that the groups attacked two SLM/A soldiers, one of whom was reportedly killed and one injured. 
The AU spokesperson said a delegation from the pan-African organisation's mediation team had been in consultation with the Sudanese parties on the best way to resume talks and achieve a political solution to the Darfur conflict. 
The delegation, led by Ambassador Sam Ibok, held a series of meetings with government officials in February in Khartoum, followed by similar consultations with leaders of the two main rebel groups in Darfur, the SLM/A and the Justice and Equality Movement. 
"The objective of this round of consultations is to find a solution to rapidly resume the Abuja peace talks and to consolidate a durable ceasefire," Mezni said. 
At the end of the consultations, a draft framework protocol on the resolution of the Darfur conflict would be prepared in light of the positions expressed by the parties. 
On Sunday, the Sudanese ambassador to Ethiopia and representative at the AU, Abu-Zaid Al-Hassan, said his government was committed to maintaining its coordination with relevant parties to make the AU mission in Darfur a success. 
The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and up to 1.85 million internally displaced or forced to flee to neighbouring Chad.

The cost of Sudan's post-war reconstruction and development was estimated at $12 billion Tuesady by local and international experts. 
A report issued by the Sudanese government, former southern rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement and the United Nations said immediate needs would cost $5 billion and $7 billion is needed for infrastructure projects. 
The report will be presented at a meeting of donor nations scheduled to take place in Oslo next month

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will repatriate about 6,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda during the second half of 2005 after a sensitization campaign in the camps. 
Roberta Russo, external relations official of UNHCR Kampala Office, told Xinhua by telephone on Tuesday that there are some refugees who are willing to go back home but have expressed concern over the lack of infrastructure like schools, roads, health facilities in southern Sudan. 
She also said that some refugees expressed concern over the occupation of their land by internally displaced persons in southern Sudan. The refugees noted that this is likely to cause discontent when they go back home. 
Russo noted that the UN agency is going to carry out sensitization campaigns in the refugee camps and organize visits for some refugees to southern Sudan so that they can tell their colleagues about the situation there. 
Uganda hosts about 200,000 Sudanese refugees. 
Local reports said there are about 40,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda's central district of Kayunga, who have vowed not to go back home despite the recently signed peace pact between the Sudanese People's Liberation Army and the Khartoum government. 
According to these refugees, they can not go back home because they have lived in Uganda for the last 30 years and can not locate their land in southern Sudan.

Start-Up is challenging alliance of big energy firms led by Total 
A tiny start-up firm has challenged an alliance of major oil companies over the right to seek oil in a large area of southern Sudan , with opposing Sudanese factions each supporting a different side. 
The standoff underscores the continuing uncertainty oil companies are likely to face as they jockey to take advantage of a fragile peace agreement intended to end two decades of violence in the north African country. While the known oil reserves in Sudan are relatively small in global terms, they are still important to the various factions in the country and to oil companies that hope to find more deposits. 
White Nile Ltd., a company started by former U.K. cricket star Phil Edmonds and Africa mining investor Andrew Groves, triggered the flap Feb. 16 by announcing a preliminary agreement with the future government of South Sudan , to seek oil in a portion of a 110,000-square-kilometer tract in southern Sudan . 
France's Total SA, in an alliance with units of Texas-based Marathon Oil Corp. and Kuwait Petroleum Corp., promptly cried foul, claiming it had a newly amended 1980 agreement giving it the right to develop the entire tract. 
Each side has its backers and detractors. The Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, which is expected to lead a new south Sudan government when a peace treaty in the war-torn country takes effect in May, confirms a deal with White Nile and says Total lost its rights when it abandoned the tract in the mid-1980s. But the oil minister for the Khartoum-based Sudanese government, which will cede extensive autonomy to the government in the south under the peace treaty, says all oil deals have to go through its government. 
The dispute could put pressure on the peace agreement, signed earlier this year, which aims to end a 21-year civil war between the Muslim Arab north and the largely Christian and animist African south. The conflict has left an estimated two million people dead and has economically devastated the area. The disagreement raises the prospect of further disputes over contracts, which could "undermine the entire peace process," says Josh Mandel, an Middle East analyst for U.K.-based consultancy Control Risks Group. 
The peace agreement ushers in a six-year interim cease-fire period, with the north and south sharing oil revenue while a regional government in the south wields considerable autonomy, in anticipation of a referendum on southern independence. The SPLM, the main southern rebel group that fought the Sudanese government, is set to take a majority of the seats reserved for the southerners in a national assembly in Khartoum, as well as lead the government in Rumbek. 
Sudan 's oil reserves, most of which lie in the south, became a flash point during the conflict between north and south. Though Sudan 's total known reserves may jump once the area is open to exploration, it is still a relatively small player with proven reserves of about 700 million barrels, according to industry data published by BP PLC. 
Key to the dispute between White Nile and the Total alliance is a section of the comprehensive peace agreement saying oil contracts in existence at its signing on Jan. 9 would not be renegotiated. 
Both White Nile and Total insist their rights predate the signing of the peace accords. SPLM says it signed a preliminary deal with White Nile last August for a concession area under the SPLM's control. "After that, Total went to Khartoum to get the same deal," SPLM spokesman Samson Kwaje says in an interview. 
When it disclosed the preliminary agreement on Feb. 16, White Nile said it had a 60% stake in a 67,500-square-kilometer tract, called Block Ba, which covers more than half of Total's claimed total Block B acreage. 
Officials representing Total and the Sudanese government say the French oil company and its partners agreed in December to revive Total's 1980 production-sharing pact with the government in Khartoum for Block B. "Our legal situation is clear," says Total spokesman Jean-François Lassalle. After leaving the country in 1984 because of the outbreak of violence, Total paid small annual fees to the Khartoum government to uphold its rights to Block B, Mr. Lassalle adds. 
When White Nile announced its preliminary agreement with the future government of South Sudan , its shares jumped 13 times to 137 pence (€1.98) on London's Alternative Investment Market, a part of the London Stock Exchange designed for small start-ups that has no minimum-capitalization mandates and does not require that companies document their track record. Trading was suspended a week later at 138 pence. 
  -Benoit Faucon, David Gauthier-Villars and Jackie Range of Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this article

Armed with a mandate to stop the widespread atrocities in the violence-prone western region of Darfur in Sudan, a militarily weak African Union (AU) monitoring force is finding itself weighed down by a shortage of troops, funds, logistical support and communications equipment. 
To date, only about half of the 3,320 promised personnel -- all of them from Africa -- have arrived in Darfur, whose massive humanitarian crisis was described by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week as "little short of hell on earth." 
"The expanded AU force was promised in October (last year)," Adrian McIntyre of the international relief agency Oxfam, told IPS. "Every day they're not deployed means another day that hundreds of thousands of civilians in Darfur remain vulnerable to violent attacks." 
Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, says the AU is woefully under-resourced. "It is as if the international community is setting up the AU to fail," she said. 
Liberia, a country of three million people, has the largest U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world, amounting to about 15,000 troops. 
Meanwhile, the African Union has barely over 1,000 for a region the size of France. "This is unconscionable," Woods told IPS. 
Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, AU's special representative in the Sudan, told the Security Council last month that every effort is being made to accelerate the current programme of full deployment of the total strength of 3,320 troops by the middle of April. 
But he said he was expecting "continuing indispensable material and financial support from our partners" -- especially the United States, the European Union, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany, among others. 
But the assistance apparently has been slow in coming -- or not coming at all. 
When he was in Europe last month, Annan told members of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) that the AU is desperately in need of assistance. "Please, help," Annan was quoted as saying. 
"It wasn't to take over from the African Union; it was to support the African Union (in Darfur)," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters. 
The AU force includes troops from several African countries in the region, including Nigeria and Rwanda, with additional troops from South Africa and Chad to join later. 
In a statement released Monday, Oxfam said that "the world has failed to provide sufficient support needed to protect civilians in Darfur...Atrocities have been committed on massive scale and more suffering is being inflicted on a daily basis." 
At least 300,000 people are reported to have died in Darfur, with over two million displaced, since early 2003. 
"We've seen that an AU presence helps to reduce threats of violence in the limited areas where they are deployed," said Caroline Nursey, Oxfam's regional director for the Horn of Africa. 
"But the current AU mission needs more resources and personnel to do the job properly. A fully expanded AU mission in Darfur, including additional troops, cease-fire monitors and civilian police, must be deployed at once," she added. 
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a spokesman for an international relief agency told IPS that it's not necessarily true that African countries are reluctant to send troops ("although many troops would probably prefer to join a U.N. peackeeping force since salaries are better"). 
The biggest problem seems to be logistical capacity and a lack of experienced personnel, he said. Some individual countries might be willing to send troops but lack the ability, and perhaps the funding, to recruit, train and deploy the right kind of people fast enough. 
"And it's not just troops that are needed: better management, planning and use of information to get the AU mission up to snuff. We're told that there simply isn't the administrative capacity in Addis Ababa (the headquarters of the AU) -- not to mention at the field level -- to manage a mission of the size/scope requires," he added. 
The AU also needs to overcome its pride and be willing to ask for help. The slogan "African solutions for African problems" is great, in principle, but only if the solutions available stand a chance of addressing the scale of the problem, he said. 
Asked what's needed, Woods said, first and foremost, financial support to the AU. She pointed out that the EU and the United States have given some minimal funding, yet funds promised to date fall far short of what is needed. 
The administration of President George W. Bush had an excellent opportunity to help bring justice to Darfur by allotting funds for the African Union in the supplemental budget put forward last month, she said. 
Yet the bulk of U.S. funds are being directed to southern Sudan; reimbursing accounts of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); reimbursing Title II food aid; and contributing to a proposed Sudan War Crimes tribunal by the United States, which vehemently opposes referring atrocities in Darfur to the Hague-based International Criminal Court. 
The limited funds allocated for support to African Union peacekeeping have been carved up with significant portions remaining in the United States through the use of private military contractors like Pacific Architects and Engineers, Woods said. 
These contractors not only drain scarce resources but also, in the case of Darfur as elsewhere, have been over-priced, inefficient and late to deliver contract items. 
The AU needs logistical support for a region that has few paved roads; aerial operations to prevent the unending government bombardments; transport and logistics to accommodate a full force; as well as satellite and other technical support to protect civilians. 
"The international community seems unwilling to deliver these key resources," Woods said. She also said that the AU mission must eventually be handed to a U.N. force that is able to establish a more permanent presence in Darfur, as it soon will in southern Sudan. 
Last week, Annan told the Security Council that the proposed 10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Sudan, which will monitor a peace agreement that followed a 21-year-old civil war, will cost about one billion dollars in the first year of operation. 
But this force will not be involved in any peacekeeping mission in Darfur in western Sudan. 
Meanwhile, in a report released last month, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said that that eyewitnesses in south Darfur asserted that government-backed Janjaweed militias attacked villages and singled out young women and girls for rape. 
Male relatives who protested were beaten, stripped naked, tied to trees and forced to watch the rape of the women and girls. In some cases, HRW said, the men were then branded with a hot knife as a mark of their humiliation. 
These reports of rapes, torture and mutilation by government-backed militias underscore how the Security Council must take urgent action to protect civilians and punish the perpetrators, HRW said. 
But the 15-member Security Council has been dragging its feet over tough new sanctions both on the Sudanese government and the militias primarily because some of the veto-wielding members are keen on protecting their political, economic and military interests. 
Woods said the international community has chosen instead to placate the Sudanese government, threatening sanctions month after month, yet not backing these threats with any action. 
Last year, a move to impose sanctions on Sudan generated reservations from at least four members of the Security Council: China, Russia, Pakistan and Algeria. 
Both China and Russia have strong economic and military interests in Sudan. Sudan, which produces about 250,000 barrels of oil per day, has contracted to sell some of it to China. Both China and Russia are also major arms suppliers to Sudan. 
The frontline fighter planes in the Sudanese air force include Russian MiG-23s and Chinese Shenyang MiG-17s. Sudan also has Chinese-made Silkworm missiles and battle tanks, along with Russian-made armored combat vehicles.

The signing of a comprehensive Sudan peace agreement in Nairobi on 9 January brings to an end the final negotiation phase, extended over nearly three years, of the 'Peace Process' begun a dozen years ago. It sets in motion a six month 'pre-interim period' to be followed by a six year 'interim period' during which the provisions of the agreement are to be implemented. Only on the conclusion of that will we know with any certainty whether peace has come to Sudan. 
The agreement includes protocols on state and religion, self-determination, power sharing, wealth sharing, security, a ceasefire agreement, the status of the border areas of Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, and a separate set of modalities for implementation, which alone runs to over a hundred pages. 
To assess whether an agreement of such complexity can bring a lasting peace to Sudan one must first examine the extent that it addresses the causes of the war, and then gauge the extent that either side is willing or able to implement it. 
Western Journalists repeatedly state that the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Amy (SPLM/A) is fighting for 'greater autonomy for the Christian and animist South'. This is wrong. The SPLM has always repudiated the idea that there a 'Southern problem' that needs a special attention, and have claimed instead that the South's own grievances are part of a wider national problem of sectarian, racial and regional imbalance. 
The official goal of the SPLM has always been, and still remains, a 'New Sudan'. This ostensibly means a Sudan freed from the dominance of Islamic sectarian politics, and where underdeveloped regions have a greater say in their own administration, greater control over their own resources, and a greater share in the nation's governance. Independence for the South has been presented as a secondary option, a fallback position for the South alone, in the event that Northern intransigence makes the 'New Sudan' unobtainable. 
The SPLM's position has been vindicated, in part, by events. The war is not confined to the South, but has spread to other 'marginalized' areas with Muslim populations. This not only includes the 'African' regions of Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, but the fully 'Northern' Muslim region of the Eastern Sudan, where the SPLA has long had a military presence. 
The fighting in Darfur is part of the same trend. Whatever ideology still divides them, the anonymous authors of The Black Book and the spokespersons for the Sudan Liberation Movement/ Army and the Justice and Equality Movement have all articulated Darfur's grievances in terms very similar to the SPLM' s original position: their common enemy is seen as the clique from the central Nile Valley who have dominated Sudan's governments and controlled its economy since independence. 
It is a restructured Sudan, not secession, that is presented as a solution for the grievances of Darfur, the East, Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains, and the South is seen as a key player and guarantor in such a restructuring. 
The National Islamic Front (NIF) seized control in a coup in 1989 to prevent such a restructuring being negotiated between the SPLM and the government of Sadiq al-Mahdi (Southern secession was not even on the agenda at that time). 
Since then they have imposed their version of an Islamic state, ruthlessly suppressing the Muslim opposition and generating a series of rebellions throughout the Muslim North. It is partly for this reason that they cannot afford to make any concessions on the Islamic state: to do so would be to give an opening to their Muslim opponents. 
When the current peace process was revitalised by the Bush administration in 2002, Khartoum managed to persuade the president's envoy, former Senator Reverend Jack Danforth, that they represented the will of the Muslim majority in the North. 
ln consequence, the solution that both Danforth and the State Department favoured, and which set the agenda for the renewed peace talks, was the preservation of the Islamic state in the North and regional autonomy for the South, protected by US-style constitutional guarantees for minority rights. 
The SPLM's 'New Sudan' was not an option even to be discussed. Secession thus became the only realistic alternative. The Machakos Protocol of July 2002, which is the basis on which all subsequent protocols have been negotiated, thus enshrined a unitary Sudan as an Islamic state with a separate Southern regional administration, but with the Southern option to secede after a fixed period. 
Negotiations since 2002 have focused on how the SPLM and the South can function within such a state over the next six years. Ostensibly this is to create the conditions by which Southerners will be persuaded to voluntarily remain part of a united Sudan. 
Conversely, the provisions must also set up a viable Southern state which will have a chance of surviving on its own should Southerners choose secession. Thus the SPLA is not to be disbanded (as the old Anyanya was), but both it and the national army are to be reduced, and both are to contribute to a national force which will be stationed in parts of the current war zone. 
The SPLM is to take over the administration of the entire South, including those are as currently under government control. The South is also to have a certain amount of economic autonomy. 
The revenues from the Southern oil fields are to be divided equally between the Southern and National governments, but the Southern government has no power to renegotiate any of the oil leases the National government has granted prior to the date of the final peace agreement. 
Southerners are also to have a share in the national government. Not only does SPLM chairman John Garang become vice-president of the Sudan (as well as president of the South), but Southerners have been offered a quota of 30 per cent of appointments in the central government. 
Separate provisions have been made for the regional states of the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, both of whom have contributed substantially to the SPLA, but neither of whom desire to be incorporated into an autonomous or independent Southern state. 
Each is to have its own autonomous regional government, but the SPLM/A in both regions will have to share not only the civil administration, but the security forces with the government and its current allies. 
An agreement this complex will need goodwill to implement, not only for the immediate cease fire and six month 'pre-interim' period, but throughout the following six years and especially during the final referendum in the South. So far there are worrying indications that such goodwill is not forthcoming. 
The government's behaviour in Darfur has shown that it is unwilling to apply either the letter or spirit of cease-fire agreements. This is not surprising considering its numerous, documented violations of the agreements to cease offensive operations in the South or avoid attacking civilians. 
The devastation of the Shilluk Kingdom in 2004 (see Parliamentary Brief, August 2004) was just the most recent example of such violations. The failure of the US and the UK not only to impose some sanctions on Khartoum for these violations, but to even make public protests, is one reason why Khartoum, quite rightly, decided that it could get away with similar violations in Darfur with impunity. 
Just as worrying as this past behaviour are reports that the government is also trying to establish new militias in the border areas (Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains and Abyei) to resist the implementation of the peace agreement on the ground. 
The last minute absorption of the government's Southern militias into the national army is also an indication that Khartoum is going to try to maintain its own allies within terri tories to be handed over to the SPLM administration. Any sustained effort by Khartoum either to circumvent or to undermine the provisions of the agreement will mean that, once again, secession of the South will become the only alternative. 
In the South, opinion in the SPLM is already divided over whether to try to make the agreement for a united Sudan work or to go all out for secession. 
If the latter opinion prevails then it is unlikely that Garang and the SPLM can make effective use of their role in the central government to bring an end to the Darfur fighting or insist on negotiations with Sudan's internal Muslim opposition, thus diluting the NIF's Islamic state. 
The South's erstwhile allies in Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains (and even, possibly, in the Dinka enclave of Abyei) could be abandoned in favour of a narrowly constructed Southern nationalism. 
Such short-term thinking would be counterproductive, because whether the South remains part of Sudan or becomes independent, it will need allies in the North, and especially along its borders. This requires a recognition of common goals, as well as common grievances. 
(Douglas H. Johnson is author of The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars' (James Cuney, 2003) and editor of the Sudan volume of the British Documents on the End of Empire series).

Man's inhumanity to man was documented anew Monday by the U.S. State Department as it surveyed human rights abuses last year in scores of countries and found systematic torture in Syria, serious abuses in China and the killing of civilians by government-backed militia in Sudan's troubled Darfur province. 
Egypt, a close ally of the United States in Mideast peacemaking, was condemned for security forces torturing prisoners and for mass arrests. Iran's "poor human rights record worsened," the State Department report said. 
North Korea, which President Bush has denounced as part of an "axis of evil," is one of the world's most repressive and brutal regimes, the report said. An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people are believed to be in detention camps in remote areas, and defectors report many have died from torture, starvation and disease. 
Syria's human rights record is poor, the report said. Syrians do not have a right to change their government and "continuing serious abuses included the use of torture in detention, which at times resulted in death," unfair trials and arbitrary arrests. 
But there were several bright spots. Terrorism fell off in post-Taliban Afghanistan, respect for human rights in Ukraine rose with the staging of free elections, and what the report said were prospects for peace in Iraq "help create momentum for the improvement of human rights practices." 
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's promise last weekend to hold multi-candidate elections came too late to be reflected in the report, which accused government-controlled security forces of numerous, serious human rights abuses. 
Egyptians did not have the meaningful ability to change their government, the report said, noting Mubarak was serving a fourth six-year term as a result of national referenda in which he was not opposed. 
China, described as an authoritarian state, denies its citizens freedom to oppose the Chinese Communist Party's political system, the report said. The government used war on terror as a pretext for cracking down on peaceful Uighur separatists and does not permit outsiders to monitor the human rights situation in the country, the report to Congress added.

Germany will send 50 military observers as part of the UN mission in southern Sudan once a mandate is decided by the UN Security Council, the defence ministry said on Monday. 
"We are planning to send 50 soldiers, but it has to be planned with our European allies and it will also depend on what the UN mandate is," a ministry spokesman told AFP. 
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recently recommended deploying more than 10,000 peacekeepers in southern Sudan to help enforce a peace agreement struck in January to end more than two decades of civil war between the north and south of the country. 
The contingent will include 750 military observers, 160 officers, small peacekeeping units totaling 5,070 personnel, a protection force of 4,150 soldiers. An additional force of 755 police officers is proposed.

Riots over several days at Gezira University Sudan in a dispute over student elections forced the authorities on Monday to order its indefinite closure, the vice chancellor said in a statement. 
Vice Chancellor Ismail Hassan Hussein said the Deans Council, "in view of regretful incidents" during the past few days, decided to close down all the Gezira University's faculties as of Monday. 
The faculties are located in different towns in central Sudan's Gezira State, with headquarters in Wad Medani, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of the capital Khartoum. 
In one incident, students set ablaze education faculty buildings in Hassahisa and forced teachers to evacuate buildings, the official said. 
Other students detained the dean and lecturers at the economics faculty in Hilaliah, while at another campus students staged a sit-in and prevented their colleagues from entering lecture halls. 
The students' union has been barred for nine years but the university planned to restart it. 
"Some circles exploited groups of the students for serving their goals and schemes by inciting riots and subversion", the vice chancellor said, implicitly accusing opposition parties of being behind the incidents. 
He said students believed to be affiliated to opposition parties objected to the date for elections which they said coincided with the examinations.

Sudan's government and the militia it supports persist in committing atrocities in the Darfur region despite repeated promises to end brutal abuses and killings, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. 
Tens of thousands of people have been killed over the past two years, many as a result of disease and hunger, and more than 1.8 million displaced from Darfur in fighting which the United States has called genocide. 
"Despite the government's repeated commitments to refrain from further violence in Darfur, the atrocities continued," said the State Department's annual report of human rights abuses worldwide. 
"In Darfur, government and government-supported militia (Janjaweed) committed serious abuses during the year, including razing hundreds of villages of African tribes," said the report. 
The Janjaweed, often in concert with regular government forces, typically conducted attacks under cover of military aerial support, it said. 
Last year, then Secretary of State Colin Powell concluded genocide was being committed against the people of Darfur and that Sudan's government and the Janjaweed militia bore responsibility. 
The United States wants the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions against Sudan but China and Russia have opposed such penalties, particularly on oil. 
The report said government forces in Darfur "routinely killed, injured, and displaced civilians, and destroyed clinics and dwellings intentionally during offensive operations." 
Women in Darfur were particularly vulnerable and the State Department said there were many reports of women who were raped if they left their camps to gather food or wood. 
The Sudanese government had been slow to acknowledge the severity of this problem, although it eventually appointed a commission to investigate rape allegations. "The commission was neither active nor effective in stopping assaults against women," the report said. 
The State Department said negotiations related to the north-south conflict in Sudan provided some hope for peace and improvement of human rights practices in other areas of the country. 
"By year's end, the State Department saw significant movement on the preliminary accords between the Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement Army after 21 years of low intensity conflict," said the report. 
Other human rights complaints included prison conditions, which remained harsh and life-threatening, and the continued obstruction of humanitarian groups, particularly in Darfur.

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 
Sudanese vice president, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, reaffirmed Khartoum's commitment on Friday to the withdrawal of government forces from the troubled western region of Darfur. 
Speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Taha said his government had already started to pull back its forces as part of an African Union-backed ceasefire agreement, whereby Khartoum agreed to withdraw troops to lines occupied before it launched a major offensive on 8 December. 
"We have started," the vice president told journalists after two hours of talks with AU commission chairman, Alpha Oumar Konare. 
The move paves the way for the resumption of peace talks between the government and rebels, according to the AU.  "The withdrawal will help facilitate the peace talks to resume," the AU spokesman, Assane Ba, told IRIN. 
Taha said a date for the talks between rebels and the government would be announced after the Cairo mini summit on 5 March. 
The talks are aimed at ending a conflict that started in February 2003, when rebels began attacking government targets, claiming that the region was being neglected by Khartoum. 
Senior AU officials told IRIN the Sudanese delegation also pledged to show restraint in Darfur, following a recent UN report that said the government, and militias allied to it, had killed, tortured and raped civilians. 
The officials also pointed out that the security situation in Darfur had improved after months of violations of the peace agreement, which is monitored by the AU. 
The AU reported earlier this month that the security situation in North and South Darfur had deteriorated progressively over the past four months, with unacceptable consequences for the safety of civilians. 
"While all sides to the conflict in Darfur were responsible for the situation, the worst perpetrators were the Janjawid-armed militia[s]," Bab a Gana Kingibe, the special representative of the chairperson of the AU commission in Sudan, said in a statement. 
The governor of North Darfur, Osman Kedir, said the Sudanese government had removed all its Antonov planes from Darfur and would not use them in the area. It had previously been accused of using them to bomb villages. 
The UN has described the Darfur situation as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It estimates that 2.3 million people in the region are reliant on aid to survive - more than a third of Darfur's total population. Approximately 1.85 million people have been displaced from their homes, of whom, 200,000 have fled into Chad. 
Tens of thousands of villagers have also been killed or have died of famine and disease since the conflict began two years ago when rebels in Darfur took up arms against the government in February 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglect and oppression. 
The Sudanese government tried to quash the rebellion with the help of an Arab militia force, known as the Janjawid. The militias are blamed by human-rights watchdog organisations for most of the atrocities in the region. 
Meanwhile, Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, pledged his continued support for a solution to the crisis in Darfur. His comments came after meeting Taha, state-run television reported. 

Sudanese vice president, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, reaffirmed Khartoum's commitment on Friday to the withdrawal of government forces from the troubled western region of Darfur. 
Speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Taha said his government had already started to pull back its forces as part of an African Union-backed ceasefire agreement, whereby Khartoum agreed to withdraw troops to lines occupied before it launched a major offensive on 8 December. 
"We have started," the vice president told journalists after two hours of talks with AU commission chairman, Alpha Oumar Konare. 
The move paves the way for the resumption of peace talks between the government and rebels, according to the AU. 
"The withdrawal will help facilitate the peace talks to resume," the AU spokesman, Assane Ba, told IRIN. 
Taha said a date for the talks between rebels and the government would be announced after the Cairo mini summit on 5 March. 
The talks are aimed at ending a conflict that started in February 2003, when rebels began attacking government targets, claiming that the region was being neglected by Khartoum. 
Senior AU officials told IRIN the Sudanese delegation also pledged to show restraint in Darfur, following a recent UN report that said the government, and militias allied to it, had killed, tortured and raped civilians. 
The officials also pointed out that the security situation in Darfur had improved after months of violations of the peace agreement, which is monitored by the AU. 
The AU reported earlier this month that the security situation in North and South Darfur had deteriorated progressively over the past four months, with unacceptable consequences for the safety of civilians. 
"While all sides to the conflict in Darfur were responsible for the situation, the worst perpetrators were the Janjawid-armed militia[s]," Baba Gana Kingibe, the special representative of the chairperson of the AU commission in Sudan, said in a statement. 
The governor of North Darfur, Osman Kedir, said the Sudanese government had removed all its Antonov planes from Darfur and would not use them in the area. It had previously been accused of using them to bomb villages. 
The UN has described the Darfur situation as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It estimates that 2.3 million people in the region are reliant on aid to survive - more than a third of Darfur's total population. Approximately 1.85 million people have been displaced from their homes, of whom, 200,000 have fled into Chad. 
Tens of thousands of villagers have also been killed or have died of famine and disease since the conflict began two years ago when rebels in Darfur took up arms against the government in February 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglect and oppression. 
The Sudanese government tried to quash the rebellion with the help of an Arab militia force, known as the Janjawid. The militias are blamed by human-rights watchdog organisations for most of the atrocities in the region. 
Meanwhile, Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, pledged his continued support for a solution to the crisis in Darfur. His comments came after meeting Taha, state-run television reported.

There are renewed mediation attempts to restart the dialogue between the parties involved in the Darfour crisis, the region of western Sudan that has witnessed two years of clashes and violence causing a grave humanitarian crisis. African Union (AU) sources told MISNA that a team of mediators went to Khartoum over the weekend to meet representatives of the Sudanese government including the ministers of Agriculture and of Foreign Affairs. The meetings touched on themes of "security", though the main item on the agenda was the possibility of resuming the Abuja negotiations ‘as soon as possible’, which were suspended last December and have yet to yield any concrete results. The AU mediation team left Khartoum last night heading for Nairobi and Asmara (Eritrea) where it will hold similar meetings with leaders of the two active rebel groups active in Darfour: The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Movement for Justice and Equality (JEM). Meanwhile the Egyptian news agency, MENA, has revealed that a second mini-summit (dafter the one held in Ndjamena in February) on Darfour among presidents of five African countries: Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria, Chad and Libya. The Darfour crisis started in February 2003, when popular self defense groups formally raised arms against the Khartoum government, which they accused of having neglected the region and of supporting Arab marauding militias (Janjaweed) that have been devastating the area for years in an attempt to grab land and grazing grounds. The crisis has so far caused an unknown number of victims, which the UN estimates to be in the tens of thousands while the Sudanese government insists the number is ‘only’ 5,000. There are also 1.5 million refugees including 200,000 located in the neighboring Chad.

White Nile Ltd. (WTN.LN), the startup firm that says it has an oil concession in an area of southern Sudan previously earmarked for Total SA (TOT), could hamper the delicate peace agreement signed in January that ended two decades of bloody north-south civil war in the impoverished African state. 
Diplomats, analysts and lawyers say the oil-development agreement between the speculative London energy firm and the former rebel group, the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, could at best force the Sudanese government of the north into further negotiations with the SPLM. At worst, the agreement could unravel. 
"White Nile's deal goes against the letter and spirit of the peace agreement," said Abdulrahman Elkhalifa, a Khartoum University legal professor who helped the government draft the peace agreement. 
The peace agreement signed in January could open the way for drilling in the troubled South Sudan where White Nile's claim for part of an oil-rich block of land is in dispute. Should the peace deal unravel, companies would be hard-pressed to do further exploration. 
White Nile, a company founded by former England cricketer Phil Edmonds and mining entrepreneur Andrew Groves, which is listed on London's AIM, signed a preliminary agreement with the SPLM for more than half of Block B, an 110-square kilometer concession that Total operated in until it departed in the 1980s due to the violent civil war. 
The company's shares rose dramatically last week after White Nile announced the agreement for that stake. White Nile requested London's junior stock market suspend its shares Wednesday after the price surged from 10p to 137p in a feverish run on news of the deal. The shares closed at 138.5 pence. 
A spokesman for White Nile said it has legitimate permit to develop the oil-rich Block. 
"White Nile is 100% behind the government of South Sudan , the SPLM," said spokesman Hugo de Salis. "It is the rights of the people of South Sudan to decide to grant a permit for their own natural resources in their own territory." 
Total, along with partners Marathon (MRO) and Kuwait Petroleum Corp.'s (KPT.YY) foreign upstream arm, revived its long-dormant 1980 production-sharing contract with Khartoum in late December, before the comprehensive peace agreement was signed Jan. 9. 
" Legally, our situation is very clear," a Total spokesman said. "We have valid permit." 
The contractual spat threatens the implementation of the peace agreement, which in May ushers in a six-year interim ceasefire period, with the north and south sharing oil revenues while a regional government in the south wields considerable autonomy, in anticipation of a referendum on southern independence. 
Sudan's civil war, which has erupted multiple times over the past 50 years, pitted the Muslim Arab north against the animist and Christian black African south, killing an estimated 2 million during continuous violence since 1983. 
Sudan's oil reserves, most of which lie in the south, became a key flash-point during the conflict. January's peace agreement ended the war, but it has been marred by violence in the Sudanese province of Darfur, where Arab militias have committed atrocities against civilian populations in the midst of a battle against rebel groups. 
The lack of trust between the north and south as they relate to White Nile raises the prospect of further disagreements over contracts, said Middle East analyst Josh Mandel of Control Risks Group, a security and political risk consultancy. 
"That could threaten to undermine the entire peace process," said Mandel, who recently returned from Sudan , which he monitors regularly. 
Diplomats say this oil contract will be one of many issues that the government of South Sudan , due to be formed around May, and Khartoum will have to hammer out over the coming months. 
"The peace agreement is only a framework that isn't prescriptive enough to deal with this kind of detail," said a diplomat who helped negotiate the original agreement. "In the end, it will take more discussion between the SPLM and the government." 
The case will probably end up in court, the diplomat said. A lawyer based in Khartoum said the case may be heard by one of the country's two constitutional courts: the existing one in Khartoum, or another court being set up in the south. 
The dispute could also be settled in an international court. 
Robert Volterra, a lawyer with Latham and Watkins, and a specialist in international disputes, said it would not be the first time a change of governing authority had led to an international dispute. He points to the independence of East Timor in 2002, which prompted the new government to contest previous oil contracts granted by Australia after it disputed its water boundaries with its neighbor. 
If a dispute occurs between a company and a state, the "party responsible is Sudan as a state," not the South Sudan "subcomponent," Volterra said. The central government will have to "show (if the White Nile agreement was) a rogue act" he added. Volterra defends energy companies in dispute with the Argentine state, and has contested contracts awarded by provincial governments. 
This sort of dispute, if it arises, would be handled by an ad hoc court at Paris' International Chamber of Commerce or by the International Center for Settlements of Investment Disputes, which is part of the World Bank. 
In any respect, the lawyer said, the contract could be blocked or the money flows taken into an escrow account, depending on the provisory agreement reached between the parties. 
The historic peace agreement says existing oil contracts - that is, deals signed before Jan. 9 - aren't subject to renegotiation. SPLM officials do get access to existing contracts and people whose rights are deemed to have been violated will receive compensation. 
That would appear to favor Total, which so far has just done research in the Block, but has never taken oil out of it. 
But SPLM Finance Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk doesn't believe the clause exonerates the French oil major. The SPLM asserts that their agreement with White Nile preceeded the French deal as it was updated only in December as the peace talks were taking place. 
"This oil is in the south - the north has no right to sign a concession without consulting the south," he said. "Who has the right to go into your home and make changes without consulting you?" 
Juuk, who handles oil policy for the south's regional government-in-waiting, argues that Total lost its rights when it abandoned the south in 1985. "Since 1985, they haven't done anything in Sudan ," said the former fighter. 
He also says the SPLM signed with White Nile before Total revived its agreement with Khartoum. "We signed earlier than that deal (with Total)," he said. 
The sovereignty issue is an open question, an analyst in Nairobi said. 
The peace agreement implementation timetable identifies May 1 as the date for the formation of the government of South Sudan . But the SPLM had already acquired some administrative rights before the agreement, including signing a tripartite agreement with the UN and Khartoum for humanitarian relief efforts in the south. 
A lawyer in Khartoum also said international law and the Khartoum agreement recognizes the SPLM, including contracts it has signed. 
A different lawyer, Elkhalifa, says this is a specious argument, backing Sudan Energy Minister Awad al-Jaz's claims that all deals go through the ministry, rather than the government of South Sudan , which should be formed by May. 
"Does the SPLM have jurisdiction to sign for Sudan ," asked Elkhalifa. "They don't." 
An SPLM official in Nairobi, Kenya, said lawyers for the putative South Sudan government are in the south's interim capital of Rumbek and couldn't be reached. 
Sudan 's existing oil contracts agreements are binding, said Elkhalifa. 
"The agreement is clear that oil is a federal issue - for the south to give a contract for oil exploration is against the agreement." 
Elkhalifa says international observers to the peace agreement, such as the U.S. and U.K., explicitly backed and encouraged the peace agreements clauses that protect existing contracts. 
To deal with signing future oil contracts, the peace agreement calls for the formation of a national petroleum commission that is equally balanced between the governments of north and south Sudan , with additional representatives from the area affected by each contract. 
But the commission won't hear cases involving existing contracts, says Elkhalifa. Even if it did, as the diplomat suggests, the commission has to achieve consensus on all decisions. 
Practicalities, rather than legalities, form White Nile's most persuasive argument. 
Block B, which straddles several southern states and extends to the Ethiopian border, falls almost exclusively within land under the control of the SPLM's armed forces. 
Any oil company operating there would have to enjoy the protection of the southern government, which is forming institutions in Rumbek, located on the western tip of the concession. 
"It's true that the SPLM controls access to these areas, but this doesn't in itself resolve the legal issue," said CRG's Mandel.

London-listed oil company White Nile Ltd. (WNL.LN) will soon issue critical details of its controversial joint venture with the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, a source said. 
"We are hoping Friday next week", for the information, said the person, adding that the 11-page announcement would contain details of the joint venture and geological reports. It will also include statements from the company's founders: former cricket player Phil Edmonds and mining entrepreneur Andrew Groves and outline the "general risks" associated with the project. 
Last week the company said in a statement it would provide an update on the agreement this week. The SPLM is set to form the interim government of southern Sudan later this year. 
In a statement last Friday, the oil exploration firm said it "had concluded an agreement with the government of South Sudan to acquire a 60% interest in the 67,500 square kilometer Block Ba." 
A White Nile spokesman declined comment. 
The block was previously held by France's Total SA (TOT), which disputes the legality of the deal. 
Previously a spokesman for White Nile had said that the company hadn't released the full details of the agreement because it was "awaiting clearance regarding the structure of the deal with the London Stock Exchange." 
A person familiar with the matter at the LSE said that the complexity of the deal was such that it "requires information similar to another IPO prospectus." 
Diplomats, analysts and lawyers say the oil-development agreement between the speculative London energy firm and the former rebel group, the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, could at best force the Sudanese government of the north into further negotiations with the SPLM. At worst, the delicate peace agreement between the parties could unravel. 
Under the peace agreement, a six-year interim ceasefire period will begin in Maywith the north and south sharing oil revenues. while a regional government in the south wields considerable autonomy in anticipation of a referendum on southern independence.

The new party formed from the fusion of the two main armed rebel groups of eastern Sudan will be called ‘The Eastern Front’; the formation of the party was announced in Asmara, capital of Eritrea, by the president of the ‘Beja Congress’ Mr. Mussa Mohammed Ahmed, and by the ‘Free Lions’, Mabrouk Mubarak Selim. Both advocated a “just distribution” of national resources in favor of the population, which lives in the Eastern areas of Sudan. During a press conference, the leaders of the new ‘Front’ declared themselves ready to make an accord similar to the one, which brought peace between the government and the Southern Sudanese rebels after a 22-year long war. That agreement provides for a distribution of power and resources between the executive in Khartoum and the secessionist movement in Southern Sudan. Similar claims against the central government have been advanced for decades by various eastern groups, as well as the southern ones, which have denounced government authorities’ neglect of their communities. From 2003, analogous accusations of ‘exclusion’ and abandonment have been advanced by Darfour rebel groups in the western part of the country, where there is an ongoing grave humanitarian crisis due to clashes with government forces. According to the Sudanese press agency SUNA, the government in Khartoum has declared that it would be willing to negotiate with the eastern rebels, and especially with the Beja Congress, which emerged in the 1950’s in eastern Sudan to advance the interests of the almost two million strong ethnic Beja community; the ‘Free Lions’, the other group now fused into the new coalition, represents the Rashaida tribe. Both raised arms against the government in 1994.

Hunger is widespread in Darfur, Sudan, and massive difficulties obstruct aid efforts 
After enduring bombing, displacement, robbery and rape, the people of Darfur are being stalked by a new enemy: famine. 
Hunger is widespread in Darfur, and despite the shaky ceasefire, there are massive difficulties dispensing humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million who depend upon it. 
Last Friday, Jan Egeland, the United Nations emergency relief co-ordinator, warned that up to four million people were at risk if the security situation did not improve enough to deliver food supplies. 
"We did prevent the massive famine that many predicted, but I think now it's time to say we may perhaps not be able to do so in the coming months if the situation keeps on deteriorating," he said. 
"Too often the world sends us the Band-Aid, and the world believes that we keep people alive, and then they don't have to take a political and security action." 
He warned that the death toll could surpass that of the Indian Ocean tsunamis, which killed 170,000 people at the end of December. 
If conditions deteriorate further, the victims will be children like 16-month-old Mohammed in Muhajeria. The staff at the local feeding centre have bandaged his hands as a precaution, but he is far too weak to pull the feeding tube from his nose. His eyes are closed to ward off the flies and the skin on his stomach is wrinkled like an old man's. It is a classic sign of chronic dehydration. 
His mother, Sawat Ise, has three other children who are also ill, but they are too old to be admitted to this program. She has an eye infection, a common byproduct of sleeping in the open. Ms. Ise is one of the 1.85 million people displaced since 2003, when local tribes in Darfur took up arms against perceived discrimination and neglect by the central government. 
The Sudanese armed forces, often working in concert with Arabic-speaking militias, retaliated by attacking local villages. 
The militias, or janjaweed, have a history of conflict with the African tribes over land rights but the government's twin gifts of impunity and automatic weapons escalated traditional tensions into all-out war. 
"They [the janjaweed] came early in the morning and burnt our houses," said Ms. Ise, who walked 25 kilometres to safety carrying two children. 
"We left all our food and cattle and ran away into the bush. My husband carried two of our children over his shoulders and I also had two. Some of my neighbours were killed. I have nothing. My whole life was burnt." 
Around her, the other mothers nod silently as they recognize parts of their own stories. 
Despite her problems, Ms. Ise is one of the lucky ones. Halim Osman, who has walked three hours to get here, sees her son refused entry into the feeding program. 
Exposing a small breast, she pushes him forward and pleads: "I have nothing to feed him. Please, my son is sick, he is hungry." 
But he is not hungry enough, and she has to leave. 
"We only admit children who are 80 per cent or less than their normal body weight," explained Elin Jones, the local team leader. 
It used to be worse. When nearby Labados was attacked by thousands of janjaweed and government soldiers in mid-December, it was feared that Muhajeria would be the next target. The Médecins sans frontières (Doctors Without Borders) team that runs the feeding centre had to evacuate the town and slash the number of children admitted into the program by more than half. 
"We couldn't get any food stocks in because of the security situation. We had to, otherwise we would not have enough for the sickest ones," recalled Ms. Jones, a curly-haired Welsh woman with chipped blue toenails and a nose ring. "You have to make hard decisions." 
For some of her patients, the attack on Labados and the resulting evacuation of Muhajeria was the third time they had been displaced. 
Although they have trickled back, the area is still unstable. Janjaweed raids on villages in south Darfur are common. On the road between Muhajeria and the regional capital, Nyala, robberies occur almost daily. The instability prevents food from reaching the town and pushes up prices on the scarce products that are available. 
"The government blocks the roads that people use for trade," complained Omar Abido, the traditional ruler of Muhajeria. 
"Sugar used to be 1,000 dinars a bag. Now it is 1,500. Benzine used to be 30,000 dinars a barrel. Now it is 70,000. The government diverts all [commercial] lorries that are supposed to come through here. There have been no trucks from Khartoum for three months." 
Although life in Muhajeria is hard, it is not impossible. In the nearby mountains of eastern Jebel Mara, janjaweed attacks have prevented even the aid agencies from delivering food. The proximity of rebel camps to traditional nomadic paths, used by the janjaweed, make the area notoriously unstable. 
The last two convoys that ventured into the area were ordered out at gunpoint. Yesterday in the local capital, Nyala, a U.S. non-governmental organization was loading 14 trucks with grain in another desperate attempt to deliver food to the displaced villagers whose food stocks had been burnt. 
For parts of Darfur, Mr. Egeland's warning may come too late.

Nine months after the Anglican Church headquarters in Khartoum was sold out from under church officials and confiscated at gun point, the Arab company now claiming ownership of the headquarters and guesthouse has started making major renovations to the building. 
A court-ordered injunction last June had forbidden Al-Ghazal Residence Enterprises from tampering with the property until its disputed ownership was resolved by the courts. Owned by a wealthy Sudanese Arab, the construction firm is a subsidiary of United Al Azra Company. 
But representatives of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) passing by the premises in late November saw a flurry of activity on the premises, with trucks bringing in loads of sand, bricks and other building materials. 
"When I went there on December 9," ECS interim provincial secretary Rev. Enock Tombe told Compass, "I saw they were removing floor tiles and replacing them with new ones, changing the plumbing, putting metal frames around the windows and doors, and even extending the perimeter wall." 
The church's attorney promptly filed objections against the renovations before the Khartoum Public Court of Judge El-Amin Mohammed Musa. Eventually, on February 6, the construction company's lawyer responded with a written response to the court. 
Company's Lawyer Denies Wrongdoing Despite Evidence 
While acknowledging the court injunction not to alter the property until the court ruled on ownership, the lawyer's document obtained by Compass flatly denied that his clients were doing any maintenance work on the premises. 
But when Compass visited the site on February 5, this correspondent saw and photographed a dozen or more workers visible in the courtyard, busily pushing wheelbarrows, shoveling piles of sand, and moving in and out of the building. 
At a subsequent hearing on February 16, Judge El-Amin transferred the long-pending case to the jurisdiction of Judge Wahhabi Ibrahim, declaring that because this was a sensitive case which required "urgent action," his own heavy caseload forced him to request another judge to handle it. 
When the church plaintiffs met the new judge last week, he set March 15 for the next hearing, to give himself time to study the court file before hearing witnesses. 
But meanwhile, the judge ordered a local civil engineer to examine the site and submit a report to the court on its physical status. According to the written report of Dr. Saad Fadul, dated February 19 and obtained by Compass today, the engineer found "extensive repairs both inside and outside the building" in progress, which he stated amounted to, in effect, "a complete renovation of the building." 
Church Surprised by Fraudulent Property Sale 
Ownership of the building has been in dispute since May 20 of last year, when without warning armed security police forcibly evicted the church's staff, forcing them to remove the entire contents of the building down to the carpets on the floor. 
Police officers produced a court eviction order, declaring the building had been sold two months earlier to Ashraf Said Ahmed Hussein, owner of United Al Azra Company. 
The transaction had been engineered by Gabriel Roric, a former government minister and defrocked Episcopalian bishop who represented himself to the court as the ECS archbishop responsible for the premises. 
Although Roric had been named in the ownership papers as trustee over the property when it was purchased in 1993, he was dismissed from the Bishopric of Rumbek two years ago. 
As a Christian bishop serving Khartoum's Islamist government for more than 10 years, Roric proved an ongoing embarrassment to the church, which had requested him to resign his political position, return to his diocese in southern Sudan and hand over the guesthouse's title deed to the diocese. He not only refused, but has since tried to form a rival Episcopal Church of Sudan under his own leadership. 
The paper trail Roric left in wresting the guesthouse property from the church reveals a host of legal loopholes he failed to plug, however. Although the land office endorsed the property sale, there was no proper sales purchase document, and the signature on the new title deed allegedly representing the church was that of a Muslim. 
Archbishop Intervenes 
When initial news of the eviction went out internationally, Sudanese government officials downplayed the situation as an "internal church problem" misrepresented by ECS leaders. 
But last month during a visit to Sudan by former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey, the thorny issue was raised directly with top Khartoum government officials. 
Noting that this was his fourth trip to Sudan, Lord Carey mentioned in a face-to-face meeting with Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Taha that on his two previous visits, he had been lodged in the now disputed guesthouse. 
After congratulating the vice president for signing Sudan's historic peace agreement in early January to end 21 years of civil war between the north and south, Lord Carey asked Taha to intervene in the stalled church confiscation case. 
On the same occasion, ECS Archbishop Joseph Marona presented the vice president with a letter reviewing the church's dilemma in recovering its stolen property.
Copies of three documents were attached to Archbishop Marona's January 18 letter, all indicating that members of the Khartoum government had been involved in the illegal sale of the guesthouse. In one, Roric actually announced his plans to reorganize the ECS under his own leadership on letterhead stationery of the ruling National Congress Party, with copies sent to a variety of government ministries. 
This evidence alone, Marona declared, "can raise the valid question as to what extent the ruling party and indeed the Sudan government is involved in the process of destabilizing the ECS." 
Part of the worldwide Anglican communion, the ECS is the largest Christian church in Sudan with about five million members.

The President of Rwanda Paul Kagame has offered to help Sudan resolve the Darfour crisis. Kagame made the offer during a state visit to Khartoum, where he met the head of state Omar el-Bashir. ‘Radio Omdurman’, the Sudanese state radio, announced the news. Currently, about 300 Rwandan soldiers are already participating in the observation mission proposed by the African Union AU in Darfour, where the insurrection of armed rebels against government forces has been causing a grave humanitarian crisis in the last two years. According to the same source, Kagame will be visiting el-Facher, capital of Northern Darfour. According to the United Nations, the conflict has caused thousands of dead (over 50,000 some suggest) and more than 1.5 million evacuees, joined by another 200,000 refugees, who are in neighboring Chad. The Rwandan minister for Cooperation Protais Mitali has announced that the Kigali delegation will sign accords with Sudan in matters of agriculture, energy, irrigation and commerce during the visit.

The 1929 water treaty between the British government and Egypt does not prevent Kenya from using the waters of the Nile. 
A study commissioned by a German NGO says Egypt no longer has powers to dictate to other countries over the use of the waters. 
"The River Nile water treaties are no longer binding and operational as only post-colonial agreements can be said to be valid," says Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung Foundation in a paper on the Nile water and its effects on East African countries. 
The study was commissioned following prolonged debate over the obsolete treaty and is likely to spark off another debate among the ten riparian states that share the water of the longest river in the world. 
Egypt, which is the biggest beneficiary of the river, maintains that the treaty forbidding other countries from using the water for irrigation and power generation is still valid and binding. River Nile provides 95 per cent of Egypt's water needs for power generation, irrigation and domestic use. 
The agreement entered on May 7, 1929, between the UK and Egyptian governments, said no irrigation or power works or measures are to be constructed or taken on the River Nile and its tributaries. 
The agreement also forbids countries from using waters of Lake Victoria that is the source of White Nile and that has affected Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. 
"Save for the previous agreement of the Egyptian government, no irrigation or power works are to be constructed or taken from the River Nile or on the lakes from which it flows, so far as all these are in the Sudan or in countries under British administration," said the treaty. 
However, the NGO working in conjunction with the Law and Policy Research Foundation, a Kenyan research body says since most countries are now independent, the UK can no longer be seen to represent interests of former colonies. 
The bodies argue that only the 1952 treaty entered between Sudan and Egypt can be negotiated because both countries were independent. The treaty, which does not involve the other riparian countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo, was initiated by Sudan. 
Sources say Sudan wanted to use the waters to expand land under irrigation but found the 1929, agreement very restrictive. 
Even under the 1929 treaty, Egypt recognised and respected the position taken by Sudan over the use of the waters while totally ignoring other countries from where the river originated. 
Egypt threatened war should they engage in activities that would reduce considerably the amount of water flowing into the country. 
"We depend upon the Nile 100 per cent in our life, so if anyone, at any moment, thinks of depriving us of our life we shall never hesitate to go to war," said the late Anwar Sadat, the former Egyptian president. 
Speaking in 1978, Sadat said Egypt, a desert country, relied on the Nile for its agricultural economy besides producing cheap electricity that drives the Egyptian industries. 
However, with increasing need to use the water for irrigation from both River Nile and Lake Victoria among other states, the treaty is now a subject of heated debate within the region and beyond. 
Already Ethiopia is planning to construct a new facility on the Blue Nile to supply irrigation water for 1.5 million settlers in the Western province of Welga. 
Probably the East African countries should blame themselves for the prolonged problem that has denied them a chance to use the waters on the scale of Sudan and Egypt.

A delegation from the separatist Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) is due here next week to take part in the drafting of a constitution for the six-year transition that was agreed with Khartoum last month to end two decades of fighting in the south. 
An adviser at the State House in Khartoum, Bodria Suleiman told journalists here late Monday that a national drafting committee, which includes SPLM/A representatives would begin work on the interim constitution next week. 
The authorities in Khartoum are, however, encountering difficulties getting other political forces, notably the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to contribute to the drafting process. 
"We are not going to get involved in a scheme exclusively agreed upon by Khartoum and the SPLM/A," said NDA deputy leader Abdurahman Mohammed Saeed, adding nonetheless that the exiled opposition alliance remains committed to an agreement it recently signed with Khartoum in Cairo, Egypt. 
Earlier Monday, local media reports affirmed that Max Plank Institute in Berlin, Germany had proposed guidelines for the constitutional draft, which it elaborated in consultation with the authorities in Khartoum and the (SPLM/A). 
Khartoum and the separatists sealed a comprehensive peace agreement last 9 January in Nairobi, Kenya ending more than two decades of war between the largely Islamic north and mainly Christian and animist south. 
Under the agreement, a transitional administration would be in place for a period of six years, at the end of which a referendum would be held on the question of independence for southern Sudan. 
Both parties agreed that the country's constitution would be revised to reflect Sudan's socio-cultural and religious diversities during the transition.

Bishops ask for individual and collective peace efforts

Sudanese bishops have exhorted all responsible citizens to ensure that the peace efforts succeed in a letter issued after the agreement between the Khartoum government and the Sudanese Popular Liberation Army (SPLA). “True peace is more than the mere absence of war; our prayers as well as individual an collective efforts are needed now”. The bishops refer to the conflict that started in 1983 and that has cost two million lives, mostly from hunger and disease. “The peace we are trying to build is an order and a harmony in the community such that individuals and communities may develop fully and freely. This peace building operation has social, economic, political, cultural and religious aspects. We ask that everyone contribute as responsible citizens to build peace according to the capacities and the talents given to us by God”. In a country divided between a north with an Arab majority and a South that remains prevalently animist and Christian, the bishops encourage “the respect of religious practices and beliefs of everyone” asking Catholics “to work with other religious groups in common initiatives that benefit all of our people”. They add that we must “life with our faith proudly and without fear”. Finally, they ask that Catholics take an active role in the reconstruction process of reconstruction of society taking “the responsibility to help and protect and promote others’ fundamental rights thinking particularly about the sick, the elderly and all the weakest groups”. The accord signed in Kenya after a grueling negotiation that started in October 2002 under strong pressure of the international community, provides for Northern Usdan to retain the Sharia (Islamic Law), while the south will have right to a period of six years of autonomy with its own government and army, at the end of which there will be a referendum for independence. The pact also provides for the division of oil sales receipts to be shared 50% for each side, the formation of a new army and the SPLA rebels’ participation in the Khartoum executive

Two British Humanitarian workers, who were captured last Saturday in Darfour, were released after being held for 24 hours. The Sudanese press agency, SUNA, said that the director of the ‘Kids for Kids’ organization, Patricia Parker, and her son, Alester Parker, have been since Sunday night in El Fasher capital of the northern state of Darfour. Mother and son had been kidnapped by as yet unidentified armed men, last Saturday in Azgarfa, about 50km north of El Fasher. Khartoum has accused the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) for the kidnapping, one of the two active rebel movements in Darfour. The Darfour crisis started in February of 2003 – when two popular self defense movements formally took up arms against the Khartoum government accusing it of having neglected the region and of supporting marauding Arab militias, ‘Janjaweed’, who have been devastating the rea for years in the attempt to seize land and grazing grounds. The crisis has so far caused an unknown number of victims (some tens of thousands according to the UN and ‘only’ 5,000 according to Khartoum) and about 1 and a half million evacuees, including 200,000 of these in neighboring Chad.

Millions of people are at risk of starvation unless the international community acts quickly on the situation in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, Jan Egeland, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, said. 
"Some are predicting four million, some are predicting - that [more] people [are] in desperate need of life-saving assistance as we approach the hunger gap in mid-year," Egeland told a news conference in New York on Friday. 
"We did prevent the massive famine that many predicted, but I think now its time to say we may perhaps not be able to do so in the coming months if the situation keeps on deteriorating," UN News reported him as saying. 
Continued violence in Darfur, he added, was seriously hampering aid efforts in the region. "Aid workers have been killed, our helicopters have been shot at, our trucks are being looted there, we are paralysed," Egeland noted. "We could have provided daily bread for more than two million people. We are, at best, giving to 1.5 million. This cannot continue." 
He commended the humanitarian community - the UN, NGOs, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - for their role in providing relief to the vulnerable of Darfur. He noted that there were about 9,000 aid workers on the ground, with close to 1,000 being international. 
"Our staff on the ground is really working round the clock and are burning themselves out faster than anywhere else that I've seen in recent memory," he said. 
Noting that the UN had received just half of the US $650 million pledged for the region, Egeland called for a tsunami-style increase in relief to Darfur, a reference to the massive international mobilisation of aid for those affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami last December. 
However, he warned, relief aid alone was insufficient. The international community had to take further action to end the ongoing massacres, he added.  He called for a four- to five-fold increase in the African Union monitoring force in Darfur, for robust mediation and for more pressure to be brought to bear on government, rebels, ethnic and local leaders who "take those positions that lead to [the] massive killing of women and children". 
Urging members of the UN Security Council to set aside their differences on Darfur for the sake of resolving the conflict, Egeland said: "Too often the world sends us - the band-aid - and the world believes that we keep people alive and then they don't have to take a political [or] security action." 
The conflict in Darfur, which broke out in 2003, pits the Sudanese government and militias, allegedly allied to it, against rebels opposed to what they call the marginalisation and discrimination of the region by the government. The hostilities have seen up to 70,000 killed and up to 1.9 million people displaced from their homes. 

Thousands of displaced Sudanese have returned to the south following the signing in January of a comprehensive peace agreement, but the region totally lacks basic infrastructure, a UN official said. 
"An estimated 600,000 Sudanese have already returned home spontaneously," Wendy Chamberlin, UNHCR deputy high commissioner, told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Friday. 
"Over 200,000 were non-registered refugees from Uganda, the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo] and Kenya and perhaps as many as 400,000 were IDPs [internally displaced persons] who returned on their own," she said. 
Thousands more, she added, were expected within the next few months. 
The returnees were, however, arriving in an area lacking basic infrastructure - from roads, schools, clinics and buildings for the local civil authorities, to protection for the returnees. 
"UNHCR does not encourage people to return without assistance or without information about the situation in their return destination," Chamberlin said. "UNHCR is trying to prepare the ground by implementing community-based programmes in the fields of water, health, education and landmine clearance." 
She added: "UNHCR is in a race against time to get adequate conditions in place for the Sudanese refugees and IDPs who are anticipated to return within the next few months." 
However, the agency said it needed more support. Of the nearly US $30 million it requested for operations in southern Sudan in 2004, only about $6 million was received. To create conditions conducive for the current returnees, UNHCR needs more than $40 million, but had only received $4-5 million so far, Chamberlin said. 
"The international community has a window of opportunity [since the January peace agreement] to put infrastructure in place so that people could begin returning home," she told reporters. 
The agreement was signed on 9 January in Nairobi between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), ending 21 years of war that devastated southern Sudan. It raised the hopes of hundreds of thousands of displaced Sudanese that they would be returning home soon. 
Chamberlin, who was in Kenya as part of a weeklong mission that included Sudan and Uganda, said she aimed to focus attention on the impending repatriation of some 560,000 Sudanese refugees. 
Demonstrating the complexities of facilitating the return of large groups of people after decades of war, Chamberlin said she had met young girls in refugee camps in Uganda and Kenya who were concerned about the lack of protection from early marriage when they would return. 
"The issue has been raised with other UN and NGO partners, and UNICEF [UN Children's Fund] is currently working with the SPLM/A on child protection legislation," she said. 
In southern Sudan, she visited the towns of Rumbek and Yei where she saw some of the enormous rehabilitation needed to rebuild this strife-torn region. Chamberlin said another urgent need she had identified in the region was landmine clearance. The roads themselves were in poor condition as well. 
The conflict in the south has also displaced an estimated four million more people within Sudan and killed an estimated two million. 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government erupted in 1983 when the rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. The peace agreement was reached after more than two years of talks brokered by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development and hosted by Kenya. 

Refugee Return and Reintegration. How Good Is Home?
In the hearts and minds of uprooted people, the power and mystique of the word 'home' inspire the greatest efforts to return. However, there are times when the reality of home and the initial euphoria of going back sour and turn to frustration as families struggle to reintegrate into societies ravaged by war and social dislocation.
They might even have to retrace their steps. An aid worker managing a reception centre in Angola - Martin Catongo - told IRIN, "Some of the returnees may have to go back to Zambia because they won't be supplied with food and they won't have enough to eat. There is a risk that they will become refugees again - not because of war, but because of hunger".
In most cases returnees do not have the choice of becoming refugees again, and for economic and political reasons have to survive and rebuild their lives in their homeland - whatever its condition.
IRIN's new Web Special on Return and Reintegration outlines the difficulties facing millions of uprooted people worldwide as they return home.
Uprooted Millions
In most cases people flee because of conflict and severe social disruption. Those who survive the violence and upheaval have been ripped from their homes and forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. Most refugees find asylum in a country as poor as the one they left, whose communities struggle to absorb the burden that destitute incoming populations place on them. Once in their country of asylum, most refugees are entirely dependent on external assistance.
For those uprooted from their homes but who do not cross their national borders - internally displaced persons (IDPs) - assistance is more ambiguous. IDPs fall between the cracks of international law and are not protected and assisted under the original mandate of the office for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council estimated in 2004 that there are currently over 25 million internally displaced people in the world - more than double the number of refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Tsunami victims have also recently been displaced but despite their number they do not alter the overall ration of refugees to IDPs.
Dennis McNamara, head of the UN's Internal Displacement Division (IDD), told IRIN they thought the real number was higher. "Globally, we estimate approximately 25 million IDPs have been created from conflict and violence, and probably another 25 to 30 million through natural disasters, including the current tsunami."
The numbers of refugees and IDPs repeatedly being created by political violence and armed conflict, and the extent to which they remain dependent on assistance before and after returning home, are of grave humanitarian concern.
According to the UNHCR, the average duration of a major refugee situation increased from nine years in 1993 to 17 years in 2003. The agency describes the consequences of these protracted refugee situations as "wasted lives, squandered resources and future problems, in terms of potential security risks".
The sheer number of refugees and IDPs in the global sea of uprooted people is as sobering as the movements and dispersal of these populations are complex. Collecting data on refugees and IDPs is as statistically difficult as it is political. Unresolved discussions concerning the actual definition of IDPs mean different agencies arrive at different totals, while the definition of refugees is clearer. Currently, UNHCR has identified approximately 9.7 million refugees, according to its published reports of September 2004.
A new era of return?
With refugee statistics indicating widespread repatriation and a reduction in the global refugee population for two consecutive years, international organisations are applauding a turning of the tide and a new era of return. Around the world, and particularly in Africa, millions of refugees and internally displaced people are going home; but they return to very uncertain futures.
When discussing refugee return in Burundi, the Chief of Staff in the Ministry of Reinsertion and Reinstallation of the Displaced told IRIN "repatriation is a process every Burundian supports, which is to say that refugees who return are warmly greeted". Even if this is the case in Burundi, it is not true for other countries, where returnees, already hampered by a serious lack of resources and options, face enormous difficulties in obtaining land and access to services. Acceptance by local communities is often complicated by prejudice and jealousy.
In March 2004 a United Nations-sponsored international conference in Geneva met to discuss how to provide a sustainable and durable homecoming for the millions of refugees returning in what was heralded as an "unprecedented number" of new repatriation situations, created by the cessation of conflict in different parts of Africa. Elsewhere, especially in Afghanistan, favourable conditions for return have allowed 3.5 million refugees in that country alone to go home since 2001.
According to the UNHCR's categories of people 'of concern' - and therefore eligible for assistance - the number of uprooted persons fell by 17 percent to 17.1 million in 2003. This is the lowest figure in a decade, and reflects not only increased international efforts to find solutions for uprooted people, but also an end to some of the world's longest conflicts.
The downward trend continued in 2004. With the signing of a peace agreement for south Sudan and the continued flow of returnees in Angola and Afghanistan, refugee-focused agencies are predicting that the numbers for 2005 could be equally good.
UNHCR is still negotiating the assistance of IDPs. As long as they remain within their country's borders they are not refugees, and therefore not officially afforded the same protection or assistance that refugees are entitled to. Nevertheless, UNHCR said it had assisted approximately 4.4 million of the estimated of 25 million IDPs worldwide during 2004. This January Ruud Lubbers, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told IRIN, "I won't say that UNHCR, with fewer refugees, should simply take care of IDP questions … we are assisting about five million IDPs now. I imagine we could do more, gradually, in terms of IDPs ..."
Although more than 550 refugee-focused non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other partner agencies assist UNHCR in fulfilling its mandate, it remains the guardian of the refugee convention (1951), and the driving force in developing international refugee law and operational policy.
Those working to assist refugees have been wrestling for over a decade with the question of where the responsibilities of the UNHCR and its partners stop in relation to ensuring a safe, dignified return for refugees. How good is home to return to when conditions there may be neither safe nor dignified, and how responsible are those facilitating and encouraging repatriation for improving those conditions?
Many displacement analysts welcome the recent trend in refugee figures, but their optimism is tempered by the still high overall numbers of uprooted people. Ken Bacon, director of Refugees International, feels that many of the changes are occurring as much by chance than specific design. He argues that political changes in Afghanistan would "not have happened without [the attacks on the US of] 9/11". In the case of Angola, Bacon thinks it was "almost accidental" that the leader of UNITA, the Angolan rebel group, was killed and in the subsequent implosion of the rebel movement, peace was secured. He pointed out to IRIN that "there is no magic formula or tool kit. The international community haven't given the European Union, the US or the UN a blueprint on how to make sure people - refugees and IDPs - return."
Almost all refugees flee from the "flames of war", as Lubbers recently described the chaos that creates refugees. In most cases, their flight takes them to countries of asylum as poor as the one they left, where they immediately become dependent on international assistance in the bleak environments of refugee camps. When the political and security situation eventually allows them to return home, they normally encounter ruined property and infrastructure, with a severe lack of health, sanitation and education services. Without livestock, tools or seeds, and reduced employment options, they immediately fall into a cycle of debilitating poverty. Their governments, already hard pressed to meet many of the basic needs of their populations, have limited ability and often little interest in giving hundreds of thousand of returnees special treatment.
Whether from northern Sri Lanka, western Afghanistan, southern Sudan, eastern Angola or northern Liberia, returning refugees list the same deprivations and frustrations. However difficult camp life was in their country of asylum, they were not prepared for the conditions they faced on return: destitution and landlessness and, all too frequently, physical insecurity from a hostile local community, continued internal conflicts and increased lawlessness. In many areas there is also a high threat of uncleared landmines.
Returnees often go back to find the very conditions that spawned conflict in the first place, and observers are increasingly seeing the need for reintegration and rehabilitation in returnee areas as crucial interventions for building peace and preventing further conflict.
According to Bacon of Refugees International, the need to assist returnees is both urgent and practical. "Not only is it humanitarian but it's cost-efficient when you think of the destruction and endless crises and costs that arise from conflict." He cites World Bank studies that have shown that it is far cheaper to help refugees rebuild their lives than to abandon them in a situation that may well result in instability and renewed conflict.
The assistance impasse
For years those involved in assisting refugees to return have recognised that their responsibility has to go beyond facilitating their journey home. Refugee agencies continually advocate for the support of returnees and are engaged in numerous short- and medium-term programmes to support returnee families as they reintegrate. But the support of returnees, and the rationale and expectations that accompany it, reach an inevitable impasse in terms of what they are able to realistically achieve. A reality gap can be created quickly as rhetoric is easier than hard result on the ground.
In most countries, what the returnees need is exactly what the rest of the population lacks. There is generally a widespread need for the rehabilitation and recovery of a war-shattered economy, an eviscerated infrastructure and core community services - nothing less than development and prosperity.
This is the vision of all humanitarian and development work, and the elusive objective of governments and aid agencies. By calling for maximum support to returning refugees, the UNHCR and other agencies are effectively requesting a commitment to transformation that is huge is scope and beyond the responsibility of refugee agencies alone.
Wider co-operation for wider ambitions
Parts of West Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) illustrate starkly the difficulties of maintaining stable post-conflict situations, with displaced and demobilised people returning home to devastation and an absence of hope for reconstruction and recovery.
The driving forces behind international initiatives to find durable and sustainable solutions for uprooted persons are not only the humanitarian imperative but also the risk of a cycle of displacement after return. The UNHCR has taken a lead in developing comprehensive plans of action (known as CPAs) for specific refugee situations, to ensure that the sociopolitical and economic aspects of each situation are examined as solutions are sought.
The programme profiles and budgets of UNHCR, and numerous international non-government agencies, illustrate that experts recognise the crucial importance of investing in local areas if stability is to be given a chance. The '4 Rs' programme (Repatriation, Reintegration, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction) developed by UNHCR seeks to ensure durable solutions by tying its work closely to that of other major international agencies (World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, UN country teams and others), allowing an integrated strategy.
This relatively new collaborative approach is underway in Sierra Leone, Eritrea and northwest Somalia, and will soon be operational in Angola and Liberia. It remains to be seen whether this will solve the long-term needs of millions of refugees and IDPs as they try to rebuild their lives.
Windows of opportunity may be opening for some of the millions of uprooted, displaced people, affording them the chance to return home. Many of those fortunate enough to be considering return will be soon asking, 'How good is home?' as they struggle to survive and prosper.
This web special has gathered reports from around the world, to illustrate the challenges facing both returnees and those trying to help them. The interviews and feature articles highlight the endeavours of individuals in countries such as Pakistan, Liberia, Angola and Lebanon, the DRC, Iraq and many other nations, where the choices are limited, conditions are bleak, and the process of returning home does not always have a happy ending.
It also seeks to emphasise the importance of clearly defining the needs of IDPs, and recognise their long-neglected status in terms of legal protection and assistance.

In 1994, the world watched while over 800,000 people died within a span of 100 days in Rwanda. 
This tragedy is a poignant example of genocide, but it was not labeled as such until after the killing stopped. 
Today the world is again watching as innocent people are slaughtered in Darfur, located in western Sudan. This increasingly severe situation is the first in history to be labeled as genocide while it is occurring. 
Dr. Chioma Ugochukwu, assistant professor of journalism at USC Upstate, arranged the second-annual diversity workshop to address these issues. This event, co-sponsored by the Center for Women's Studies and Programs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for International Studies, Student Life, and the Honors Program, was funded by the diversity incentive grant Ugochukwu was awarded by the Office of Student and Diversity Affairs. Her motive for applying for this grant was to bring groups to campus that are all striving for one thing-peace. 
On the surface this event doesn't seem directly related to women's issues, but Claire Wofford, director of Women's Studies, maintains that this assumption is incorrect. "The Center for Women's Studies and Programs is committed to diversity," she explained. "We are really about all people who suffer from discrimination or inequality. In particular, rape of women is often used as a tool in genocide, so when you raise awareness of genocide, you raise awareness of rape. What could be more important for us to do?" 
The guest speaker featured at this workshop was John Prendergast, who is currently the special advisor to the President of International Crisis Group. He was an adviser in the State Department during the Clinton Administration, and he has also been the director of African Affairs in the National Security Council. 
Prendergast was chosen to speak at this event because he is so "strong with human rights and peace efforts, and [he] was perfect considering all the work he was doing in Africa," Ugochukwu said. "He goes to Africa frequently, so he has a first hand knowledge of what he's talking about." In addition, he is described as an expert who has presented information to public officials on this topic. 
The workshop began with brief footage of an episode of "60 Minutes" featuring Prendergast. The chaotic and disturbing scenes featured in this video clip captivated the entire room, even those students only there for extra credit. For those who knew little to nothing about the troubles in Sudan, the footage and Prendergast's lecture revealed just enough to spark interests and touch hearts. 
Tensions between the Arabs and the Africans, created over the competition for scarce natural resources in Darfur, have existed since the 1970s and have been escalating since then. The Washington Post reported that in Feb. 2003, rebel groups of African Muslims, tired of inequalities between Africans and the ruling Arab elite, who are also Muslim, struck out against the government. In response the government armed local militias known as "Janjaweed," which literally means "evil on horseback," to attack mainly three ethnic groups: the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa. 
"The Janjaweed is sort of like a grotesque mixture of the mafia and the KKK, supported by the government," Prendergast said. They destroy villages, kill and maim men, ransack food supplies and try to block international aid. In addition, they are also known for carrying out systematic rape campaigns against the African women. 
One aspect of the "60 Minutes" video that twisted viewers' stomachs came in the form of personal accounts of the atrocities being committed regularly by the Janjaweed. 
Zara Abdul Karim, who survived the killings, told "60 Minutes" that she had lost eight members of her family which included her husband, two children, two sisters and three brothers. If this was not enough, the Janjaweed raped her and tortured her extensively. 
The information in Prendergast's lecture may have seemed like something from a movie, but his gruesome descriptions and gut-wrenching statistics were nothing but raw facts. 
According to the Washington Post, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that at least 50,000 people have died due to the conflict between the government-backed Arab militias and the Africans in western Sudan. Thus far, 405 villages have been destroyed, and more than 100 have been extensively damaged. 
During his lecture, Prendergast said that "two million Darfurians have been rendered homeless by brutal ethnic cleansing campaigns." The Washington Post also reported that a State Department report issued on Sept. 9, 2004 says that at least 200,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Chad. If this situation persists, the U. S. Agency for International Development estimated that by the end of 2004 over 300,000 people would die of disease and malnutrition. 
"One of the three specific things that can be done in Darfur is to provide civilian protection," Prendergast said. The militias wait outside the refugee camps for women to come and collect firewood. Once these women leave the camps to do so, it is confirmed that they will be raped, and sometimes there is no guarantee that they will ever return. 
Accountability is another thing that should be enforced, according to Prendergast. "Twenty-three months have gone by, and not one punitive measure has been imposed on the government of Sudan," he said. Finally, political will needs to be generated to focus on establishing comprehensive peace. 
If the international community got involved, there is a real possibility that these atrocities would end. Osama bin Laden lived in Sudan for six months, for example. After the UN intervened, the Sudanese drove him out. Just a little action from the UN could finish the militia. 
Upon bringing his gripping discussion of facts, figures, and personal encounters to an end, Prendergast informed the audience of how they, normal Spartanburg natives, could help make an impact. His number one suggestion was for audience members to contact their local Congressional representatives to encourage, inform, and pressure them into taking action. As Prendergast stressed throughout his lecture, "Genocide and massive crimes against humanity can't just be ignored." 
Prendergast outlined several reasons why more isn't being done to address the genocide in Sudan. He says that the international community, specifically the UN Security Council, makes matters more complicated than they are in order to delay the decision-making process. In addition, groups like the Janjaweed are given endless warnings that never result in punishment. Over time, the message becomes clear that the threats are empty. He also said that the international community can always be relied upon to provide band-aids during the aftermath of the atrocities rather than taking steps to stop the killing as it occurs. 
The international community is also deeply divided about the situation in Sudan. For example, four out of five permanent members of the UN Security Council are supplying arms and guns to these countries. 
Prendergast had advice on what groups of college students could do. Their first priority should again be letter-writing and influencing others to contact officials with their concerns as well. Another idea he presented was for students to request a campus viewing of "Hotel Rwanda," a drama based on a true story about a man who invites over 1,000 refugees to live in his hotel during a period in which nearly one million people were killed in Rwanda. Also, fund-raising is always helpful and spreading awareness is vital. 
Like Prendergast, Ugochukwu believes that it is important for everyone to be aware of these types of situations. "From a humanitarian point of view, we need to worry," she said. "Women are being raped and children are being displaced every day over there." She went on to say, "We need to be concerned. If not for them, how about for our own safety? We know Osama bin Ladin had been there-there were al-Qaeda camps in Sudan, and people need to worry about the effects of having frustrated people in such an environment." 
Ugochukwu said that the workshop achieved the goal of making the Upstate campus more aware of the troubles abroad. "That is why I did this-to get people engaged, and as John said, to have enough people to shame their politicians so that they care, and I think we achieved that by looking at people's comments and their attendance, and hopefully people will start talking. When people elsewhere are safe, that is when we are safe." 
Ugochukwu believes that this topic needed to be discussed on campus because "it was an issue that was being ignored by the international community because Africa is not of strategic interest. I honestly think if this were happening in any other place it would be on the radar, not under it . . . Policy makers are affected by public opinions and the more awareness that there is out there, perhaps the more pressure there will be for change and real action." 
Dr. Regis Robe, director of the Center for International Studies and Language Services, agrees that this issue hasn't received enough attention. "Wonderful speech," he said. "We need to have more of it. The national media never talks about such problems. That's why these speakers are so good to have on campus." 
Ugochukwu was pleased with attendance at the workshop and the feedback it generated. "One of my senior seminar students actually changed her topic because she considered it too trivial compared to the problems in Darfur." 
Like Ugochukwu, Wofford, the director of Women's Studies, believes that this workshop educated students in an important topic, and she feels that is vital. "A lot of people were affected by that talk," she said. "Awareness is the first step to action." 
If the reactions of students are any indication, people really are more aware. Most students attended the workshop for extra credit or to fulfill class requirements, but they were genuinely glad to have attended afterward. 
Student Camille Arboleda was excited when she heard Prendergast was coming to campus. "I watched 'Hotel Rwanda' and got interested," she said. "I started researching and came across SaveDarfur.org." She encountered Prendergast's name during this research and knew she had to attend the workshop. According to Arboleda, this workshop made her more aware of what is happening and gave other students the opportunity to become more informed. "I didn't even know about it until I watched 'Hotel Rwanda,' and most people don't know at all," she said. "If you want to know about it you have to look carefully or watch BBC." 
Freshman Zachary Snow had only heard little pieces of information before the event, but left with a better understanding and a desire to help. "I might write a letter or e-mail to one of the organizations or Congressmen," he said. "I want to do something to help." 
  - Nicole Jamison also contributed to this article. 

At dawn every morning, a number of women leave Mayo-Madela internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in search of odd jobs within the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Those who clean houses earn 150 Sudanese dinars a day (US $0.50). 
The majority of the women are Dinka IDPs from the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state, some living in the camp for the past 20 years. 
"The situation has become much harder, especially for the most vulnerable groups, resulting in an increased willingness of many to return [to their homes]," Ann Kristin Brunborg, programme coordinator of the sustainable returns team at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Khartoum, told IRIN on 13 December. "They just can't stand it anymore." 
Karak Mayik Nyok, executive director of a local NGO, the Friendship Agency for Community Training (FACT), said the wish to return to the Nuba Mountains area had increased with the end of the rainy season and a decrease in fighting in the south.   Many IDPs were affected by recent demolitions of their homes. Quite a number have already decided to return to their southern roots. Every other week, a bus carrying returnees roars down from Khartoum headed for the Nuba Mountains. 
According to OCHA, an estimated 360,000 IDPs had returned to the southern areas during 2004, the majority coming from the Khartoum area. They have returned to places such as Kosti, Bentiu, Juba and Malakal. 
Still, it has not been very safe for those who ventured to take the trip. 
Sources in Khartoum said in March 2003, a group of 15 families from Mayo tried to return to the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) controlled area of Unku. Upon arrival in Pariang, 100 km away, they learned Unku was too unsafe. 
 IDP camps around Khartoum 
Mayo is one of the major IDP camps around Khartoum - the others are El Salaam and Wad El Bashir, near Omdurman in the north. In the camp, one-story, mud-brick structures stretch in every direction, as far as the eye can see. 
"The camps house hundreds of thousands of people, primarily displaced from war-torn southern Sudan, but also from Darfur and refugees from Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda," Maghoub Mostafa, protection officer for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, told IRIN on 16 November in Khartoum. 
Between 100,000 and 200,000 people are estimated to live in Mayo camp, including 14,000 households with an average of six persons per family, according to figures provided by the Mayo Public Committee, which registers IDPs in the camp. 
To the north of Khartoum, El Salaam - or "Peace" - camp houses approximately 120,000 residents, while Wad El Bashir camp hosts 75,000. 
There are nearly 900,000 IDPs living in four IDP-designated camps and 15 squatter areas around Khartoum. OCHA estimated that the total number of Khartoum IDPs could be 1.8 million, some of who were integrated into host communities. 
 Demolitions 
Since mid-2003, however, the authorities have bulldozed thousands of mud-brick houses in the camps in El Salaam and Wad El Bashir.   A government official, who declined to be named, said the demolitions were part of a larger replanning programme that is meant to provide plots for residents and bring them vital services such as electricity and water.  Out of the 12 blocks in El Salaam camp, each containing about 2,270 houses, nine blocks were destroyed, according to representatives of five community-based organisations (CBOs) in the camp.   Some 25,000 families had applied for the new government-allocated plots that are expected to replace the area cleared by the demolitions.  From these families, 11,000 could afford a plot and had the necessary documents, such as a birth certificate and a medical assessment of age, to make the purchase. However, 6,000 could not afford the costs of constructing a new home.    "Mayo-Mandela was built on private farmland," Karak Nyok said. "However, the lease is about to expire and many people in the camp fear that their mud houses will soon be destroyed." 
Between 2,000 and 2,400 homes were flattened so far, he added. 
"The whole process of replanning, demolitions and the re-allocation of new plots has been very open to mismanagement, resulting in many IDPs not getting a plot," Brunborg said. "The demolitions have been badly communicated - the procedures were not very clear or transparent and the prices of the plots continued to change."   According to a humanitarian source in Khartoum, the average price for a plot in El Salaam was 106,916 Sudanese dinars ($414), in Wad El Beshir 189,182 dinars ($732), and in Mayo 279,456 dinars ($1,081).    Services deteriorating    The medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), operated a clinic and a therapeutic feeding centre in Mayo-Mandela for about 10 years, but pulled out recently, as have many other international relief organisations.  According to local CBO officials in El Salaam, most international NGOs left the camp by 2002.  Guisma Mohamed Ragano, of Aluifag - the first women's organisation in El Salaam camp - told IRIN that health services had suffered as a result of the withdrawal of international aid organisations.   "Medical services are scarce now and have to be paid for," Ragano said. "In the afternoon, no emergency services are available as the remaining doctors work half-days. There is one nurse who helps with the delivery of the babies of approximately 12,000 families."   Within the camp, there used to be 7,000 latrines - 1 per every 3 families. Now, most of them have been destroyed, leaving most people without access to latrines, CBO officials said.  Umer Anech Mangoui, medical assistant in a supplementary feeding centre in El Beshir camp, told IRIN that following the demolitions of the latrines, sanitation was the biggest health problem in the camp. Malaria was also a big problem.   Recent demolitions of houses had also affected service delivery in the camps. CBO workers said nine school buildings had been destroyed.  Karibuu Duar, of the local CBO Sawa Sava, told IRIN that water provisions had also suffered from the demolitions.   "We had 65 certified water points where people would get their water - now six of the 12 blocks in El Salaam are left without water provision and only get water through the expensive donkey service," Duar said.  In Mayo-Mandela, international NGOs installed 60 water pumps, but 20 of them have broken down since and are in need of repair. Here too, inhabitants increasingly rely on the donkey-water services, which charge between 200-500 dinars ($0.75-$2) per water tank.   According to OCHA, a critical health situation was developing in the IDP camps around Khartoum.    "The latrines and the water infrastructure were heavily affected by the demolitions, resulting in an increased prevalence of diarrhea and malaria," Brunborg said.   Insecurity has also increased with thieves entering the camps from outside and some armed men allegedly terrorising the IDPs. An armed man was reportedly killed in Mayo in May 2004, in response to one such incident.    In order to support the IDPs and generate some income, FACT was trying to teach women skills, such as spinning wool, knitting and dyeing fabrics. The women, however, said they faced a problem of marketing their products.   Returning home   According to FACT, the 50 women who took part in its skills-training activities wanted to go back to southern Sudan, even while they knew that most schools and hospitals were destroyed in more than 20 years of war. 
"If the peace would return today, we would go home today," the leader of the knitting-group told IRIN on 18 November. 
Many, however, had other worries. 
"The most important reason why people don't return yet is landmines," Joyce Modi said. "They need to be cleared so that people can cultivate their lands." 

Yesterday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, asked the UN Security Council that the International Criminal Court (ICC) try those accused of crimes committed in the Darfour region as soon as possible. Arbour spoke before the 15 members of the principal UN executive body stressing that without justice there is no chance for the establishment of a serious and lasting peace in Sudan. A report issued by a special inquiry commission lead by the Italian jurist Antonio Cassese already noted the desirability of giving the ICC jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report was issued after a delicate on site investigation, which also includes the names of fifty people accused of serious human rights violations. However, the ICC proposal runs counter to the wishes of the Sudanese government, which has on numerous occasions, indicated that it would not accept proceedings outside its national borders. The United States is also reluctant, as it might object to giving the ICC even a minimum of recognition, even unofficially. Washington has reiterated that the crimes committed in the vast and remote Sudanese region, characterized by two years of violence and turmoil, be tried by a special court (as in the cases of former Yugoslavia and Rwanda) to be established in Arusha, Tanzania. This proposal has yet to find any consensus at UN headquarters. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also spoke alongside Arbour before the Security Council and reiterated the urgent need to cease the violence in Darfour. “The United Nations cannot take humanity to paradise, but they can and must act to save it from hell,” said Annan stressing how the UN Commission Report “shows, beyond any doubt, that in the last two years Darfour has become as close to hell, as one can imagine on earth,” therefore it’s imperative that the Council “stop the violence and help the most vulnerable”.

Thousands of young Sudanese girls are reluctant to return home to southern Sudan from refugee camps around Africa after last month's landmark north-south peace deal for fear they will be sold into marriage, a senior UN official said Friday. 
Adolescent girls in at least two camps have told interviewers from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that they will not return unless they are given legal protection against being married off, the official said. 
"Everybody talks about the lost boys of Sudan, what about the lost girls?" said Wendy Chamberlin, the UN's deputy high commissioner for refugees, after visiting the Rhino camp in Uganda and the Kakuma camp in Kenya. 
The well-known phrase "lost boys" refers to the thousands young Sudanese men who fled the country to avoid forced conscription into rebel and militia forces, many of died in the bush before reaching refugee camps. 
Chamberlin, a former US ambassador to Pakistan and Laos, said she had been surprised by the intensity of fear displayed by the girls in her conversations with them during her visits earlier in the week. 
"Something that struck me, almost like a slap across the face, was the number of times that young girls raised the issue of (whether) they be protected if they went home," she told reporters here. 
"They want assurances before they go back that there will be some legal protections so that they will not be married off early against their will," Chamberlin said. "It is a major obstacle for these young girls." 
The January 9 peace deal between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) ended Africa's longest running civil war and has created high hopes that more than 560,000 registered refugees from southern Sudan will soon be able to return home from UN camps in seven neighboring African nations. 
Chamberlin said UNHCR was working to begin large-scale voluntary repatriations once this year's rainy season ends in September but stressed that much groundwork had to be laid first. 
"No one is in a rush at this moment to return," she said. 
Refugees in the camps in Kenya and Uganda expressed deep concerns about the state of the infrastructure in southern Sudan, health and education facilities, santitation, food security and access to potable water, Chamberlin said. 
But, she said she was most moved by the concerns of the girls, which she and UNHCR Kenya country director George Okoth-Obbo maintained were born out by statistics collected at the Kakuma camp in northern Kenya. 
Unlike in other UNHCR camps, in Kakuma there is a disproportionately high number of young male refugees (26,933) between the ages of five and 25 compared to young females (13,791), according to UN statistics compiled late last month. 
The figures for children of both sexes under the age of four are consistant are with normal human birth rates of about 51 percent female and 49 percent male as are the numbers for the population over the age of 26. 
According to Chamberlin and Okoth-Obbo, the discrepancy among adolescents bears out refugee testimony that young girls from the camp are being sold into marriage back in Sudan to take advantage of high bridal prices there. 
"They are being married off at high rates across the border to husbands in Sudan," Chamberlin told AFP. 
"These are young girl refugees raising this to me as one of their concerns in returning home," Chamberlin said. "We have to take seriously these very compelling pleas to us." 
She said UNHCR and other agencies preparing the return of Sudanese refugees were raising the matter of legal protection for young girls with the former SPLA/M, which will run southern Sudan as a semi-autonomous region of the country for six years.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, on Wednesday recommended that the UN Security Council refer reports of human rights violations in the western Sudanese region of Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a statement from the UN in New York said. 
"The Commission held the view that referral to the ICC was the only credible way of bringing alleged perpetrators to justice and advised against other measures," Arbour said as she presented the findings of the UN appointed Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, to the Council. 
She said crimes such as murder, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and forced displacement had been perpetrated on a widespread and systematic basis. 
"What is most urgently needed are concrete measures to bring the current violence to an end and restore security and dignity to the people of Darfur," Arbour noted. 
"The Commission, in my view, eloquently and powerfully argues that referral to the ICC is the best means by which to halt ongoing violations and prevent future ones," she added. 
The United States, which opposes the first permanent global criminal tribunal, had proposed an ad hoc war crimes tribunal be set up, arguing that it could begin operating quickly by sharing infrastructure with the Rwanda tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. 
The UN Commission, however, argued against the possibility of either establishing an ad hoc international tribunal or expanding the mandate of an existing tribunal, saying it was likely to prove time-consuming and expensive. 
The Commission's report noted that despite the magnitude of the crisis, the Sudanese government informed it of very few cases of individuals who had been prosecuted or even disciplined in the context of the situation in Darfur. This led the Commission to observe that measures taken so far had been grossly inadequate and ineffective. 
The report concluded the Sudanese government and various militias carried out mass killings and probably war crimes in Darfur, but said this did not amount to genocide because the crucial element of "genocidal intent" appeared to be missing. 
"Nothing in the Commission's report precludes the possibility of individuals being convicted of acts of genocide in relation to the events in Darfur," Arbour said. "Personal criminal responsibility is not determined by government policy." 
The Commission reviewed steps taken by the Sudanese Government and judicial authorities to address crimes and concluded that they were both unwilling and unable to act, adding that many victims had little confidence in the impartiality of the justice system and feared reprisals if they resorted to it. 
It stressed there were other immediate actions to be taken, including granting full and unimpeded access by the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN human rights monitors to all those detained by the Sudanese authorities in relation to the situation in Darfur. 
The protection of witnesses and victims of human rights violations was also urgently needed. 
UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, told the Council that the report of the Commission of Inquiry was one of the most important documents in the recent history of the UN. 
"It makes chilling reading," UN News quoted Annan as saying. "And it is a call to urgent action. The international community, led by the Council, must immediately find a way to halt the killing and protect the vulnerable." 
The report demonstrated that the last two years had been little short of hell-on-earth for our fellow human beings in Darfur, Annan noted, adding that despite the attention the Council had paid to that crisis, that hell had continued. 
The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and up to 1.85 million internally displaced or forced to flee to neighbouring Chad. 

Darfur : Sudanese president says no to non-African troops

“We ask the international community not to send neutral forces" in Darfour, the western Sudanese region, which has witnessed a civil war between rebels and the central government in Khartoum. President Omar Hassan el Beshir offered the statement speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a mini summit with the heads of state of Chad, Nigeria and the leaders of the African Union (AU) that was convened yesterday in Ndjamena in an attempt to re-launch the prospect of a mediation effort established by the AU along the lines of the peace talks held in Abuja, which were halted last December. The talks are to be revived before the end of the month. "We want the rebels to return to the negotiating table with serious intentions" said Beshir, who stressed that the two rebel groups (SLA and JEM) have thus far demonstrated a lack of determination in finding a negotiated solution to the crisis relying too much in the possibility of an international military intervention. The heads of state, who met in Ndjamena yesterday expressed a similar view asking the international community to "abstain form any action" that “could compromise the ongoing African mediation process". Both invitations have been delivered only days after the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking in Germany where he was on an official visit, asked the European Union and NATO do play a greater role in resolving the humanitarian crisis in Darfour. Moreover, a the draft of a new international initiative on the Darfour crisis has already been presented before the UN Security Council expected to be subjected to a vote within the next two weeks from today. The document, presented by the United States, suggests that the 10,000 blue helmets already heading to southern Sudan (where a twenty-year conflict has just ended) might also be deployed in Darfour. The US based document also provides for sanctions against Khartoum as well as an extension of the embargo on arms sales, which has already been imposed on parties involved in the Darfour crisis

Displaced families in the western Sudanese region of Darfur are likely to be affected by the large shortfall in donations of non-cereal food items received so far, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said. 
The shortfall was also hindering efforts to preposition food stocks before the rainy season, the agency warned. 
"WFP appealed for US $438 million to feed 2.8 million people in Darfur in 2005, but has so far received $240 million in donations," Peter Smerdon, senior spokesperson of WFP, told IRIN on Wednesday. 
"Having received over 50 percent of our 2005 appeal by mid-February might sound good, but the problem is the donations WFP received were mainly for cereals, resulting in a large shortfall for other food items, such as beans, sugar and salt," Smerdon explained. 
Food contributions from abroad would take up to four months to reach Port Sudan and another two months to reach Darfur, he estimated. 
"We urgently require non-cereal contributions by March so that we can preposition food supplies in Darfur, before the start of the rainy season renders large areas inaccessible by land in July," he said. 
The rains were also expected to increase the prevalence of waterborne diseases, such as malaria, as well as global acute malnutrition rates across Darfur. 
Without rapid assistance, a recent improvement in the food situation of about two million people driven from their homes by violence in the region could be reversed, the agency said. 
Smerdon said a recent survey by the aid agency Save the Children-US in West Darfur had found malnutrition rates of around 6.6 percent among the displaced population, down from 22 percent during a similar WFP survey last September. 
Similarly, food surveys in Kalma Camp in South Darfur by the medical relief agency Medicines Sans Frontiers-Holland, recorded a drop in malnutrition rates from 23 percent in September to 10 percent in January. 
Despite these improvements food assistance remained crucial as displaced families relied almost entirely on food aid. 
Due to increased insecurity, the long Eid Islamic holiday and competing demands on Port Sudan by the commercial sector, the number of people reached by food aid in Darfur dropped from 1.4 million in December to 1.2 million in January. 
Meanwhile, the British Red Cross Society warned that one of the greatest current needs in Darfur was water. 
"The needs are huge," Paul Conneally, communications coordinator of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Darfur, said in a statement. 
"Communities, which used to have a population of up to 10,000 people, now have between 80,000 and 90,000 people living there," Conneally said. "The strain on the resources is immense, particularly on water." 
The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and up to 1.85 million internally displaced or forced to flee to neighbouring Chad. 

The mini summit that took place yesterday in Ndjamena between the presidents of Chad, Sudan and the African Union to discuss the Darfour crisis emphasized the need for all warring parties to respect the commitments made as part of the truce. The summit also raised the possibility of the deployment of a peace force with the auspices of the African Union, which the participants have agreed to study. Having described the current situation in Darfour as “extremely worrisome”, the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting attended by President Idriss Deby of Chad, President Omar el Beshir, President Ousegun Obasanjo of Nigeria – he is also the sitting president of the African Union UA - and Alpha Oumar Konaré, president of the UA Commission deplores the "incessant violations of the ceasefire", which was signed last April by the government and the two rebel groups. The statement also “invites the parties to respect the accords signed in recent months”. Moreover, the note asks that the leadership of the Joint Commission for the verification of the ceasefire in Darfour "to send a monitoring troop on the ground to signal the various positions of the forces at play in view of the preparation of a plan that separates the belligerents through the adoption of buffer zones". The heads of state have also asked that the parties honor the ceasefire in a “total and definitive” way. The UA peace mission proposal in Darfour is intended to guarantee greater respect for Sudanese sovereignty through the implemenatation of an all-African solution to the crisis. For this reason, the final part of the document invites the international community to “abstain from any action that might jeopardize the current African mediation process", hinting at suggestions of "the imposition of sanctions and the deployment of non-African troops". President Idriss Deby of Chad also asked the UA to send reinforcements to the observers already in Darfour and offered a contingent of his own army for this purpose

An estimated 200,000 households in the impoverished central Sudanese region of Kordofan are to benefit from a new programme by the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Farhana Haque-Rahman, IFAD's chief of media relations, said in a press statement on Monday. 
The loan agreement was signed by Lennart Bage, president of IFAD, and Magzoub El Khalifa, the Sudanese federal minister of agriculture, at IFAD headquarters in Rome. 
IFAD, the statement said, would provide more than half the financing for the Western Sudan Resources Management Programme, with a loan of about US $25.5 million. 
According to Haque-Rahman, resource management, which was a source of conflict in the past, is the central element of the eight-year programme. Various activities will be undertaken to regulate land and water use, thus helping to reinforce stability in the region. 
A land-use plan, drawn up in consultation with local pastoralists and farming communities, as well as regional authorities, would be incorporated in forthcoming land-tenure legislation. 
The new programme was designed to support the comprehensive peace agreement signed on 9 January by the Sudanese government and the Southern People's Liberation Army/Movement, particularly concerning provisions for wealth- and power-sharing with regard to land tenure reform and decentralisation. 
Focused on 17 stock routes and six markets in the area, the release said the project would directly benefit some 44,000 settled, and 7,000 pastoralist households. A new scheme would build on the progress made by projects already underway, both of them partly financed by IFAD, in north and south Kordofan. 
With a poverty rate of 50-70 percent, Kordofan, which borders the war-torn region of Darfur, is one of the poorest parts of Sudan. Until five years ago, its southern area was embroiled in conflict

A memorandum of agreement between the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Sudanese government could soon see more than 750 prisoners held by the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), freed. 
"The ICRC has maintained an active dialogue on these issues with both parties over the past weeks," Lorena Brander, ICRC media relations delegate in Sudan told IRIN on Tuesday. 
"It is a hopeful sign that the government has decided to sign the memorandum, which sets out the rules and principles governing the release and transfer of persons detained in the course of the armed conflict in southern Sudan," she said. 
"The ICRC has visited and registered more than 750 prisoners who are held by the SPLM/A," Brander said. "The government has stated they are not holding any prisoners in relation to the conflict. If it would be the case that the government was holding prisoners too, the ICRC might be asked to facilitate their release as well," she added. 
The parties requested the ICRC to facilitate the release of detainees after a permanent ceasefire between the government and the SPLM/A was signed on 9 January in Nairobi, Kenya. 
The SPLM/A signed the memorandum on Monday, clearing the way for the practical details to be worked out between the government of Sudan, the SPLM/A and the ICRC. 
Under the memorandum, the ICRC is to provide humanitarian assistance, including the reestablishment of family links, and ensure appropriate logistical support for transferring the released persons to their former places of residence. 
"Only prisoners who want to go back will be transferred," Brander added. "Nobody will be forced to return to their place of origin against their will." 
She said although the SPLM/A has expressed its willingness to release the prisoners in the near future, the ICRC had received no direct notice. "It is not for the ICRC to determine the timetable of the prisoners' release," she noted. 
The ICRC has requested the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A to grant all necessary authorisations and assistance for organising transportation of the released detainees, and to allow it access to all those concerned with the release and transfer process. 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government erupted in southern Sudan in 1983, when rebels took up arms against the authorities, based in the north, to demand greater autonomy. The fighting has killed at least two million people, uprooted four million more, and forced some 600,000 to flee to neighbouring countries. 

The presidents of Sudan, Chad and the African Union meet in Ndjamena, Chad, today to discuss the modalities to guarantee observance of the truce – which was signed last April but never really put into effect – between the sides involved in the two year long war in Darfour, the western Sudanese region that has witnessed violence and turmoil causing a very serious humanitarian crisis. At the same time, in Kampala (Uganda) a 'surprise meeting' is taking place with the participation of representatives from the main sudanese opposition party. Sirajuddin Hamid Yousuf, Sudan ambassador in Kampala says:"after the peace agreement, this kind of initiative contribute to the birth of a political civil society“. In Ndjamena, the president of Chad Idriss Deby, along with his Sudanese and Nigerian counterparts Omar al-Beshir and Olusegun Obasanjo (who is also the current president of the African Union UA) respectively along with Alpha Oumar Konaré, president of the UA Commission, are expected to "launch the necessary conditions to re-establish peace talks to be held in Abuja". Until now, the talks have not been able to bring any concrete results. As well as the summit, the Chadian capital will also host a meeting betweent the members of the Joint Commission for the verification of the ceasefire including the UA mediators, and representatives form the Sudanese government and the rebel groups that fought against the government. Actually, one of the two rebel groups – the Movement for Justice and Equality (JEM) – has hinted that it may boycott the meeting; the Sudanese press agency (SUNA) has released a statement from the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Najeeb el-Kheir, according to whom the Abuja negotiations sponsored by the UA should resume before the end of February. Meanwhile, UN sources stress that the situation on the ground continues to be very serious and that several violence episodes have occurred since the beginning of February in all three states that make up the vast region bordering with Chad. In southern Darfour 2 civilians were killed last Friday during an attack by the Janjaweed against a village where there was also a theft of 1500 of livestock. Four people died east of Nyala, capital of southern Darfour, and a market was destroyed in ’tribal’ conflicts (as the UA defined them in a note), while in northern Darfour members of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), the other rebel movement, repeatedly attacked Sudanese government forces east of El Fasher. The Darfour crisis began in February of 2003 – when two self-defense groups formally took up arms against the Khartoum government, who was accused neglecting the region and of supporting Arab plunderer militias (Janjaweed), who have been disrupting the area as they attempt to grab land and grazing grounds. La Darfour crisis has until now provoked an unknown number of victims (some tens of thousands according to the UN, but ‘only’ 5,000 according to the Sudanese government) and about 1.5 million evacuees including 200,000 refugees in bordering Chad.

The proposal to try suspected perpetrators of crimes against humanity in the western Sudanese region of Darfur in a new ad hoc tribunal in Tanzania, rather than referring them to the International Criminal Court (ICC) could delay justice, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. 
"The US proposal to create a new tribunal for Darfur is a mirage of a solution," Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at HRW, said in a statement released on Wednesday. "A new ad hoc court would lack the speed and staying power to get the job done." 
The report of the UN Commission of Inquiry for Darfur recently recommended that the UN Security Council refer the situation in Darfur to the ICC to hold those most responsible to account. 
The US, which opposes the global criminal tribunal, has proposed an ad hoc war crimes tribunal be set up instead, claiming it could begin operating by sharing infrastructure with the Rwanda tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. "To complete its existing docket on schedule, the Rwanda tribunal will have to use every resource it has," Dicker said. "The US plan to graft a new tribunal on the Rwanda court's facilities is like squeezing three more passengers into an already overstuffed car." 
"We think it's important for the Security Council to consider the various options and we believe that having accountability for these crimes in a tribunal that is based Tanzania, is the best way to ensure accountability," US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher said in a 1 February statement. 
HRW warned that an ad hoc tribunal, as a temporary court, would by definition be time-limited. This would make it easier for fugitives or an uncooperative Sudanese government to run out the court's clock. 
HRW dismissed the portrayal of the ICC as a "European" tribunal, claiming that African governments played an active role in establishing the court and half of the African Union members had already ratified the ICC treaty. 
Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights, will on 16 February present the report of the UN Commission of Inquiry for Darfur to the Council, following which, the Council is expected to decide on an appropriate venue for the prosecution of those responsible for human rights violations in Darfur. The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur and as many as 1.85 million people are internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring Chad. 

The UN has launched an appeal for the collection of the funds necessary to repatriate millions of Sudanese refugees, who have fled the war in Southern Sudan during the last 20 years. After a peace accord was signed, the refugees will have to return to their land. The UN deputy high commissioner for refugees, Wendy Chamberlain, stressed that of the 30 million dollars requested from international donors, only 3.6 have been received thus far: a little more that 10% of the necessary amount. "In recent months, all the attention has been directed toward the Tsunami that struck South-East Asia last December 26 – said Chamberlain – but in Africa there’s a need for an equally large generosity effort…we have to ensure that they are aware". If humanitarian efforts are slow in coming, business is booming. Today, a Kenyan airline has inaugurated a bi-weekly flight between Nairobi and Rumbek, the provisional capital of Souther Sudan. The peace accord signed on January 9, Khartoum and the secessionists of the South have ended a twenty year war and they have reached an agreement over the management (political, economic and military) of the respective competencies. The complex southern Sudanese conflict that has been waged since 1983 – with strong ties to international interest in the exploitation of rich petroleum deposits existing in the contested areas – has caused an unknown number of victims especially from hunger and disease. Current estimates suggest a number higher than two million, while there are twice the number of refugees and homeless.

Sudanese opposition parties, under their umbrella organisation, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Monday began a five-day meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to discuss political developments after the recent peace accord signed by Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
"Top executive members of the NDA are discussing how they can prepare their parties for participation in the political arrangement in Sudan after the signing of the peace agreement ... and how to prepare the people for democracy," Mutaz el Fahal, an executive member of NDA, told IRIN. 
He said 30 top NDA officials were attending the conference which started on Monday. It is funded by the US-based International Republican Institute, and aimed at strengthening and developing the opposition parties. 
"They are being trained about organisational skills, about democracy and about party development and strengthening," Mark Schlachter, spokesman for the US embassy in Uganda, told IRIN. 
Members of the NDA include the Democratic Unionist Party, the Sudanese Communist party, Darfur's Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, and the SPLM/A, Sudan's largest rebel force. 
Noting that his embassy had neither been informed of nor invited to the meeting, Sirajuddin Hamid Yousuf, Sudan's Ambassador to Uganda, nevertheless commended its organisers. 
"We welcome these type of arrangements because they will create a vibrant political society in Sudan after the peace accord," he said. 
A preliminary peace agreement signed on 16 January in Cairo, Egypt, determined that the ruling National Congress Party would have a 52 percent stake in the government, while the SPLM/A would have 28 percent. Southern Sudanese who were not SPLM/A supporters would get six percent, the NDA would have a 14 percent share and also participate in the country's constitutional review. 
The Cairo agreement was expected to consolidate the comprehensive peace accord signed between the government and the SPLM/A on 9 January. It supports the southern peace agreement, backs the drafting of a new constitution and calls for the formation of a neutral, professional army. 
The NDA was established in 1989 following a coup in which Sudanese president Omar el-Bashir overthrew Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister, Sadiq el-Mahdi. It was seen as a rival to the Al-Umma party of Sadek al-Mahdi - Sudan's legal opposition - and the outlawed Popular Congress of jailed Islamist Hassan al-Turabi. 
During the past 16 years, armed NDA members fought alongside the SPLM/A in the southern civil war, which left 2 million people dead, and launched sabotage attacks and other low-level violence in Sudan's north and east in opposition to el-Bashir's regime. 

The UN Security Council alone will determine where individuals accused of crimes in Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur are to be tried, a UN spokesperson said Saturday. 
"The designation of the court which will examine the cases of 51 persons mentioned in the report as having committed crimes in Darfur is the responsibility of the Security Council," said Radhia Achouri. 
A UN commission last month found government forces and allied militias responsible for the killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape, and forced displacement in Darfur. 
It named dozens of individuals it said ought to be held to account. 
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for the accused to be tried before the International Criminal Court, while the United States wants a dedicated war crimes tribunal for Sudan set up in Tanzania. 
Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Taha on Tuesday rejected any overseas trials, saying it would only fan the ethnic violence in Darfur. 
"There are no grounds to warrant taking suspects outside the country," Taha told reporters, after addressing a special session of the Security Council on Sudan in New York. 
"It will push things to degenerate rather than help people reconcile." 
Tens of thousands have died and 1.6 million been displaced, since the government unleashed Arab militias against an uprising launched by ethnic minority rebels nearly two years ago. 
The militias carried out a scorched earth campaign against the rebels that the United States says amounted to genocide.

The UN Security Council has started working on a resolution to establish a peacekeeping operation in Sudan to support the peace process, the Council's President, Ambassador Joel Adechi, of Benin, said. 
The Council expressed "its readiness to establish, under Chapter VI [of the UN Charter], a full fledged peacekeeping operation in order to support the implementation of the 9 January North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement", Adechi said in a statement following a meeting of the Council on Sudan on Tuesday. 
The Council discussed the implementation of the Sudanese peace agreement and a number of issues related to the western Sudanese region of Darfur in the presence of Sudanese vice president, Ali Osman Taha, and John Garang, leader of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
"The Council is fully committed to taking appropriate measures which could encourage and enable the international community to do its part in supporting and consolidating the peace process," Adechi added. 
It expects a donors' conference, to be held in Oslo in April, to help mobilise resources for reconstruction and development assistance in an effort to promote national reconciliation. 
Council members, Adechi noted, remained gravely concerned by the dire situation prevailing in Darfur and called upon the parties to do their best to bring the conflict to an end quickly through a sustainable political settlement. 
"African Union [AU] monitors and a number of humanitarian agencies encountered seven villages that had been totally burnt and three others abandoned as a result of violence in the past week," Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), said in a 9 February statement. 
The Council endorsed the role the AU was playing in Darfur through its military protection and observer mission and called on all parties to cooperate fully with the AU to ensure its freedom of movement and safety in the entire region. 
Meanwhile, Wendy Chamberlin, deputy high commissioner of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), will leave on Saturday for a week-long trip to southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, where she will look at UNHCR's initial efforts to lay the groundwork for the anticipated return of refugees to southern Sudan. 
"UNHCR is trying to prepare the ground in south Sudan by implementing community-based programmes in the fields of water, health and education," Mohammed Dualeh, operations manager for UNHCR in South Sudan, told IRIN on Thursday. 
"By and large, Sudanese refugees are willing to return, but they are wary of the social situation in their home towns, which is why we are making these areas more conducive to return," he added. 
Lack of infrastructure and basic services in southern Sudan after decades of conflict meant that major investment was needed to rehabilitate communities before such returns could begin, he said. 
UNHCR was preparing for anticipated returns by registering Sudanese in neighbouring countries who want to go home, pre-positioning the necessary supplies, and running landmine and HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. It has opened three offices in the south - in Rumbek, Juba and Yei, and will open two more soon, in Yambio and Kajo Keji, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, respectively. 
"We are expecting substantial population movements by the second half of 2005, in particular from the DRC, CAR [Central African Republic], Uganda and Kenya," Dualeh said. 
Some 223,000 refugees from southern Sudan are in Uganda, 60,000 in Kenya, 88,000 in Ethiopia, 69,000 in the DRC, an estimated 36,000 in the CAR and 30,000 in Egypt. The conflict in the south has also displaced an estimated 4 million more people within Sudan. 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government in the south erupted in 1983 when the rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. The fighting has killed at least two million people, uprooted four million more and forced some 600,000 to flee to neighbouring countries. 
In Darfur, tens of thousands of people have been killed and about 1.85 million displaced from their homes. The UN has described the Darfur conflict as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

Sudan is at risk of an outbreak of the highly contagious disease meningitis and additional funds are required to purchase vaccines and antibiotics, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned. 
Meningitis cases had been reported in the eastern Sudanese states of Gadaref and Blue Nile, bordering Ethiopia. Between 22 January and 2 February 2005, a total of 169 cases, including 23 deaths, were reported from both states, WHO said. 
Localised vaccination campaigns were ongoing since 1 February, targeting 70 percent of the population in affected villages in both states. 
"The Sudanese government has responded quickly and sent in vaccination teams straight away and the number of reported cases has been falling since last week," Dick Thompson, spokesman of the communicable diseases section of the WHO in Geneva, told IRIN on Friday. 
Meningitis is an infection of the meninges, the thin lining that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord, and is caused by germs that are often found in airborne dust. "Risks for meningitis outbreaks in Sudan, including the three Darfur states, are rather high," the WHO warned in a health statement on Sudan. 
"Although, besides the outbreak in Gadaref and Blue Nile, no meningitis cases have been reported anywhere else in Sudan so far, it is only the beginning of the meningitis season," Thompson said. "The important thing is to identify the disease early and start vaccination campaigns rapidly." 
The WHO is supporting the Sudanese Ministry of Health to raise supplementary funds to purchase the meningococcal-meningitis vaccine and antibiotics to establish a buffer stock in the event of widespread meningitis outbreak in Sudan. 
Overcrowded housing situations and large population displacements due to crisis, pilgrimages and regional markets facilitate the transmission of Neisseria meningitides, the most important meningitis-causing bacteria which has the potential to cause epidemics, according to WHO. Continuous population movements at borders between Sudan and Chad, where an outbreak of meningitis is ongoing, had increased the risk of the expansion of the disease into western Sudan. 
According to WHO, health workers had completed a 12-day drive to vaccinate 72,000 people against meningitis following an outbreak of the disease in three overcrowded camps in eastern Chad, harbouring Sudanese refugees from Darfur, which left one person dead. 
The first known meningitis outbreak in Sudan was reported back in 1950-51 affecting 72,162 people. The second was in 1988-89 with 38,805 cases and 2,770 deaths. The most recent occurred in 1999 where about 33,216 cases and 2,306 deaths were reported.

Minister of state for foreign affairs, Al-Tijani Salih Fudail, has pointed out that the findings of the fact-finding committee, which was set up by the government, are nearly the same as the findings of the international fact-finding committee, and that the government has begun implementing the recommendations of the national committee, including court proceedings against individuals accused of war crimes. 
It is of the greatest importance here, he added, that the international community should agree to these arrangements because trying people indicted outside Sudan would only complicate the Darfur problem instead of resolving it. 
The minister of state who is acting for the foreign minister asked the international community to give Sudan the opportunity to resolve the Darfur problem within the competencies given to the Sudanese first vice-president who said that he had already started doing some thing about it. 
Material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service.

The U.N. welcomes the news that Sudan is to withdraw its air force bombers from the western region of Darfur, where they have allegedly been used against villages sympathetic to rebels, U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said Wednesday. 
"We have not been officially notified of the decision, however, it is a very important decision and we are following it up to see if this decision is being translated into concrete action," Achouri told a press briefing. 
Earlier this week, Sudanese newspapers quoted the interior minister, Lt. Gen. Abdel-Rahim Hussein, as saying the government was going to withdraw its Russian-made Antonovs from Darfur. 
The U.N. has long called on the government to refrain from using planes in the Darfur conflict. 
Rebels and humanitarian organizations working in Darfur have often accused the state of using Antonovs to bomb villagers. The government has usually denied the accusations. But on Jan. 26, the African Union confirmed such an airstrike in South Darfur, calling it a major violation of the cease-fire that its forces monitor. 
Days later, Achouri said the casualty toll from the aerial bombardment near the town of Shangil Tobaya was almost 100 killed and wounded, according to African Union monitors. The government denied the airstrike. 
Darfur has been torn by conflict since early 2003, when rebels of ethnic African tribes took up arms, complaining of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. A pro-government Arab militia then launched a counter-insurgency campaign in which thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes. 
An estimated 2 million people have been displaced in the conflict.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday it was vital that the European Union back a plan to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) try those allegedly involved in crimes committed in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur. 
HRW spokeswoman Geraldine Mattioli said she wanted the EU to use a meeting in Luxembourg to be attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday to "bring up the question of justice" in Darfur. 
For the past two years Darfur has been devastated by a conflict between the Sudanese government and rebels in which tens of thousands of people have been killed and over 1.5 million displaced. 
A UN report has accused Sudanese government forces and Arab militias of conducting indiscriminate attacks there. The report spoke of crimes against humanity but stopped short of accusing the Sudanese government of genocide. 
A majority of UN Security Council members want the ICC to handle cases resulting from the conflict. However the United States, which is lukewarm about the court, wants a special UN and African Union court set up in the Tanzanian capital Arusha. 
"The United States proposal does not stem from a genuine conviction that this court for Sudan would be preferable to ensure that justice for Darfur (victims) is done," said Mattioli. 
"Rather it is further proof of their ideological opposition to the ICC," she said. 
"We believe it is still possible to change the American administration's mind on this issue, but firmness by all political partners, including the EU, will be the key to achieving this," she said. 
In a separate statement HRW said that the US proposal would delay the overall process and would be more expensive than using the ICC. 
Last week the European Union called for an immediate end to what it called the "impunity" in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region. 
However, it stepped back from pressing the case for the ICC. "No one wanted an extra problem" between Europeans and Americans on the subject of Darfur, one diplomat said.

Civil war drove Christine Pompeo from her village in Sudan's deepest south to a crowded apartment in the Arab world's biggest city. 
Now a peace treaty has been struck to end the 21-year war that displaced 4 million, but Pompeo and many others are hesitant about returning. 
"There are no jobs in the south, we can't work on our farms and so many people are suffering. We have no money here but life is safe," Pompeo says, brushing a tear away during a Cairo church celebration of the Jan. 9 peace treaty signing. "I am worried for my future." 
Pompeo, 30, from a village near the southern city of Juba, is among an estimated 500,000 displaced Sudanese recognized by the United Nations as refugees living in countries bordering Sudan. 
They account for a portion of the overall number of Sudanese who left the country during the war, which pitted southern rebels from Christian and animist backgrounds against soldiers of Sudan's Islamic-oriented government, which is based in the Arab-influenced north. 
Unofficial estimates put the number of people who left Sudan during the civil crisis at between 2 million to 4 million. Inside Sudan alone, another 4 million people were displaced, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 
The U.N.'s refugee agency, which has long tried to assist Sudanese displaced from the country by the war, is now laying the groundwork for hundreds of thousands of refugees to return. 
This weekend, the UNHCR's deputy high commissioner, Wendy Chamberlin, will start a weeklong trip to southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya to inspect her agency's efforts to prepare for the return of southern refugees. 
A voluntary repatriation program is a key component of an estimated -- and so far unfunded -- US$92 million program to attract refugees back to the south. The returnees would help rebuild a region where cities and infrastructure lie decimated and little development has taken place during two decades of fighting, which left more than 2 million people dead either from violence or war-related famine. 
The first batches of southern Sudanese are expected to start returning after June as part of the voluntary repatriation program. UNHCR says it desperately needs more international donations to prepare for their return. 
In 2004, the agency requested nearly US$30 million (A€23.51 million) in funding for southern Sudan but received just US$6 million (A€4.7 million). For 2005, the agency says it needs US$62 million (A€48.58 million), but so far no contributions have come in. 
Without such help, UNHCR officials acknowledge that many refugees _ including thousands who had pinned hopes on migrating to another country like the United States or Australia _ will be hard pressed to return to a home offering little immediate hope. 
"Southern Sudan in its present condition is so poor and lacks so much infrastructure. Not all the refugees will be rushing to return," says Javier Lopez, the UNHCR's acting deputy representative for operations in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. "Refugees returning don't know what they are going to find because they've been living outside for so long. They will probably find nothing and feel their lives in places like Cairo are much better." 
Of the 500,000 recognized Sudanese refugees, almost half are living in teeming refugee camps in Uganda. Another 88,000 are in Ethiopia; 69,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; 60,000 in Kenya; 36,000 in the Central African Republic and 30,000 in Egypt. 
U.N. officials say several thousand Sudanese who had been living in camps in Uganda and Kenya have started returning on foot to their villages since the Jan. 9 peace treaty signing. In some cases, bombs or looting have destroyed the homes they left behind. In others, refugees are returning to find their land being used by strangers who remained. 
The UNHCR's Cairo-based assistant regional representative, Damtew Dessalegne, says while many refugees returning to southern Sudan after years of exile will be greeted by unemployment, war-destroyed homes or strangers living on their land, their involvement is crucial in their region's rebuilding. 
"Many have the knowledge and the skills necessary to rebuild their communities," he said. 
One southern refugee living in Cairo, Boutros Akot Monot, believes most of his countrymen will heed the call to return. 
"There are many problems in southern Sudan but people are hoping to return to improve it," 30-year-old Monot said. "There is nothing like our own country."

Sudanese authorities have rejected the UN’s special inquiry mission’s request that those suspected of having committed war crimes in the Western region of Darfour – afflicted by a two year long conflict in which government forces are also involved - be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Khartoum government has proposed, instead, that an appropriate national court to try war crimes be instituted: “There are insufficient warrants to take suspected people abroad,” said the Sudanese Vice-President Osmal Ali Taha in New York, where a special session on Darfour was held at the UN Security Council. Taha – reported today’s edition of the ‘New York Times’ – has reiterated that the Sudanese judicial system “is sufficiently competent and capable to guarantee justice”. The 177 report made by the UN suggests the very opposite: Khartoum magistrates are considered to be unable to judge those suspected of war crimes in Darfour, about fifty people according to the report, among which are also some government officials. The independent inquiry commission – headed by the Italian jurist Antonio Cassese – has established that in Darfour “crimes against humanity with an ethnic dimension” were committed, adding that “the crucial element of genocide

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said that Islam will continue to be the main source of legislation in Sudan even after the peace deal with the mainly animist and Christian southern rebels. 
He made the comments while addressing a crowd in al-Suqi in central Sudan, the official Sudan News Agency reported. 
Khartoum and the rebel Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed a peace deal on January 9 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, ending more than two decades of civil war between south and north. 
Religion and implementation of sharia or Islamic law in the country featured strongly during the war, with the SPLM saying it wanted a united, but also secular Sudan. 
Under the agreement, the south shall be exempted from sharia, which shall be enforced in the north during a six-year interim period preceding a referendum on independence for the south. 
Both sides have agreed to draft an interim constitution for the country that will reflect its cultural, social and religious diversities. 
The president, however, insisted that sharia shall remain the main source of legislation throughout this period and that it "will be enshrined in a permanent constitution." 
He said his "National Congress party deserves the support of the people in the coming stage because it managed to put forward a programme that brought about peace and entrenched Islamic sharia." 
He claimed that Sudan's former leaders paid only lip service to sharia and compared his government to the Mahdist revolution, which Beshir said "raised the banner of Islam and implemented its code in public life." 
The Mahdist revolution led by Mohamed Ahmed al-Mahdi spearheaded Sudan's struggle for independence from British rule. Followers of the Mahdi, the Ansars, regarded him a political as well as spiritual leader.

The security situation in the western Sudanese states of North and South Darfur has deteriorated progressively over the past four months, with unacceptable consequences for the peace and tranquility of the civilian populations, according to the African Union (AU). 
"While all sides to the conflict in Darfur were responsible for the situation, the worst perpetrators were the Janjawid/armed militia," Baba Gana Kingibe, the special representative of the chairperson of the AU commission in Sudan, said in a statement on Saturday. 
AU monitors and humanitarian agencies last week found seven South Darfur villages burned to the ground and three others abandoned, while at least six abductions and the looting of food aid from an NGO were reported. 
Kingibe noted, however, that calm had been restored in the region over the past week, particularly during a two-day visit by Sudan's first vice president, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha on Friday and Saturday. 
Taha's trip was intended to enable him to assess the situation on the ground first hand. 
Kingibe particularly welcomed Taha's assurances to the AU ceasefire observer mission, during his visit to Darfur, that he would personally ensure that matters would improve, and that efforts to find a lasting solution to the crisis would be accelerated. 
The Au statement followed the recent release of the report of a UN-backed commission that said that while genocide did not occur in Darfur, government-supported militias were still perpetrating rape, mass killings and destruction in Darfur. 
The commission recommended that the UN Security council referred its dossier on the crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court so that the perpetrators named in a secret annex to the report, including Sudan government officials, might be prosecuted for war crimes. 
Khartoum, however, is opposed to any overseas trials of its nationals. 
"What is being reported about the trial of some individuals or officials in courts outside the Sudan is something we will not accept as a government," Sudan's state-run news agency, SUNA, quoted Taha as saying at a rally in North Darfur's capital, Al Fasher. 
Meanwhile, the governor of North Darfur, Osman Kedir, on Saturday reportedly announced that the Sudanese government had removed all its Antonov planes from Darfur, and would not use them in the area. It had previously been accused of using them to bomb villages. 
"They have been withdrawn, all of them, and they will not return," Kedir was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. 
"Jan Pronk [special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan] has recently asked the Sudanese government to stop using their Antonov planes in Darfur altogether," George Somerwill, deputy spokesperson for the UN's Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), told IRIN on Monday. 
"The withdrawal of their planes could have been prompted by this request, although UNAMIS has not received any official confirmation of this withdrawal," he added. 
Pronk told the UN Security Council on Friday that he feared last month's peace agreement, ending over two decades of conflict in southern Sudan, would prove short-lived without an end to the conflict in Darfur. 
"Failure to find solutions to the conflicts in Darfur and elsewhere in the Sudan will mean that any peace support operation limited to south Sudan will be affected by the consequences of such conflicts," he warned. 
Taha and John Garang, the leader of the Southern Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), are scheduled to address the Security Council in New York on 8 February. The Council will discuss the role and scope of a UN peace support mission in Sudan, following the signing of a comprehensive peace accord between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A on 9 January in Nairobi, Kenya. 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government in the south erupted in 1983 when southern rebels took up arms against northern authorities in Khartoum, demanding greater autonomy. Relief agencies say the fighting has left at least two million dead, four million internally displaced, and up to 600,000 exiled in neighbouring countries. 
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur since the conflict began in 2003, while as many as 1.85 million have been displaced from their homes. The UN has described the Darfur conflict as one of the world' s worst humanitarian crises.[ENDS] 

Sudan’s vice president Osman Ali Taha and the leader of SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army), John Garang, will be the special guests at a public debate on the peace process in Sudan at the United Nations headquarters in New York this morning. On 9 January, the two men signed a peace pact effectively ending 20 years of civil war in South Sudan. The UN’s special representative for the African country, Jan Pronk, will also take part in the discussion; he will raise issues that risk becoming a source of contention between the sides, beginning with the matter of military command. The conflict-ridded remote western region of Darfur also features on the agenda; UN chief Kofi Annan is due to present a report claiming that government forces and Arab militias known as Janjaweed are still committing atrocities against the civilian population in the region. “The militias continue to attack civilians claiming that they do not come under the peace accord signed in Nairobi at the end of 2004. And the government does noting to obstruct them,” reads the document.

Health workers have completed a 12-day drive to vaccinate 72,000 people against meningitis following an outbreak of the highly contagious disease in three overcrowded refugee camps in eastern Chad, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday. 
"We have completed the vaccination of nearly 72,000 people in the Treguine, Bredjing, Farchana camps and the population within a five km radius of the camps, which represents a 89 percent coverage rate," Doctor Camilo Kuan, the head of WHO emergency operations in eastern Chad, told IRIN by telephone. 
Treguine, Bredjing and Farchana are located near the border town of Adre. Together, they host a third of the 213,000  refugees from Sudan's troubled Darfur region who have sought sanctuary on Chadian soil. 
Kuan said 19 suspected cases of meningitis had been reported in the three camps during January, of which six had been confirmed. Only one person had died from the disease, which causes an inflamation of the brain, he added. 
The vaccination drive began on 26 January and was conducted by Medecins sans Fontieres (MSF) France, MSF Holland and the International Federation of the Red Cross. 
Meningitis is caused by viruses and bacteria that are often found in airborne dust. The disease is prevalent in West Africa during the dry season which runs from October through to May, but the high concentration of people in the overcrowded refugee camps and water shortages in the arid waste of eastern Chad made for a particularly dangerous situation. 
A major meningitis outbreak occurred in Chad in 1998. Several hundred people died of the disease on that occasion. Further outbreaks occurred in 2000 and 2001. 
Officials from the UN refugee agency UNHCR said the number of Sudanese refugees registered in Chad had increased steadily to 213,000 in recent weeks. 
This was mainly due to displaced Sudanese moving from towns and villages in eastern Chad into the 11 official refugee camps because their food supply from the local community was drying up, the officials told IRIN. 
There was only a small trickle of new arrivals from Darfur itself, they added. 

The southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army [SPLM/A] has opened offices in Juba barely a month after signing a comprehensive peace accord with Khartoum to end 21 years of conflict. 
The southern Sudanese flag flew high as jubilant crowds held banners that read: 'Welcome, Welcome new Sudan', 'Bye-Bye Old Sudan' and 'Our long awaited child "peace" is born, handle him with care'. 
The southern town of Juba had, until now, been under Sudanese government control. Sources said, however, that the SPLM/A had maintained a clandestine presence in the town for many years. 
"It used to be very dangerous, everything had to be done with the utmost caution," Archangelo Storrs, newly appointed Finance Minister for Equatoria, said. 
As a token of reconciliation, Philip Koti, Vice Chairman of the Equatoria sector of SPLM/A, invited political and military leaders of the ruling National Congress Party into the Juba SPLM/A headquarters. 
"Don't fear, the time of fear is over, now is the time for action," he said. 
Hostilities between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A officially ended on the 9 January with the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement. 
The "New Sudan" is based upon a power-sharing protocol in which Khartoum will form a government of national unity with a decentralised system of administration, allowing the SPLM to set up a semi-autonomous administration in the south. 
This power-sharing status will remain in place for a six-year interim period, after which a referendum will allow the people of southern Sudan to decide whether they wish to remain as a united country or become a separate independent nation. 
Storrs noted that many challenges lay ahead for the joint leadership, including the pressing economic need to allow access for travel from Juba to the neighbouring town of Yei. 
"The problem is there are still many un-marked landmines," he said. "People are now resorting to bush roads in order to come to Juba." 
While the town of Rumbek will initially be the main political headquarters in the south, John Garang, the leader of SPLM/A, has previously stated that Juba would eventually become the new capital of South Sudan. 

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended the deployment of a peace support operation in Sudan, consisting of 10,130 troops and 755 civilian police. The recommendation was made in a report to the Security Council. 
Warning that complex, long-term tasks lay ahead, Annan said "assisting the Sudanese parties in overcoming their differences during peace implementation will require time and patience, as well as considerable resources and perseverance". 
His report to the Council was released on Thursday. It followed the signing on 9 January of a comprehensive peace agreement to end the 21-year civil war between the Sudanese government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
The peace support mission was requested by the Sudanese parties to assist them with the numerous challenges they face, ranging from the establishment and transformation of political and civil institutions to the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration of large numbers of combatants. 
Introducing the report to the Security Council on 4 February, Jan Pronk, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, warned that failure to resolve the conflicts in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan would adversely affect any peace support operation limited to South Sudan. 
Conflict's causes still have to be addressed - Pronk
Underscoring the risk of a return of violence in South Sudan if the causes of the conflict were not addressed, Pronk said it would not be enough to monitor the ceasefire and help avoid breaches of the peace agreement. 
"To support the peace process and render peace sustainable, it will also be necessary to help eliminate possible reasons for the parties to the agreement to return to violence and to remove the incentive for others in the Sudan to use force in seeking a solution to their problems." 
Infrastructure reconstruction, recovery of productive capacity, rehabilitation of social structures, reconciliation between former opponents, poverty reduction and the reassurance that the population's basic needs would be met from now on were all part of a comprehensive approach, Pronk explained. 
Annan's report noted that "in a country the size of Western Europe [with] poor communications, few hardened roads or runways and an inoperable railway system," the challenges of operating a mission would be formidable. 
The May to November rainy season and the presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance would further complicate UN operations, while there was a considerable risk that criminal elements "may seek to target the United Nations for theft or other destabilizing activity," Annan added. 
The peace agreement envisages a government of national unity based in the capital, Khartoum, with a decentralised system of administration. The SPLM/A is to set up a separate semi-autonomous administration in the south and hold a referendum after a six-year transition period to determine whether the region will remain part of Sudan. 
UN mission to support peace, resettlement and reconstruction
During the transitional period, the UN mission would help the parties with the repatriation of displaced populations and the clearing of landmines. It would also support post-conflict reconstruction and provide development assistance, especially in the least developed, war-affected areas in the south, whose social infrastructure and livelihood conditions "are ranked among the lowest in the world". 
Annan noted that substantial aid was required to resettle refugees and internally displaced populations. Between 500,000 and 1.2 million displaced people expected to return to their homes this year alone, the report said. 
It was anticipated that the mandate of the peace support operation would last about seven years, followed by a phase-out period during which the mission would support the implementation of the results of the referendum. 
The United Nations had appealed to at least 100 nations for contributions, but had received very few responses, the report noted. So far there were enough commitments to meet only the first phase of the planned deployment. 
The report identified a number of challenges that the process faces, including disaffected armed groups or militias unwilling to join either of the two parties. Other challenges include internal divisions within the south and the possibility that tensions that had been suppressed in the name of unity against the government could resurface. 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government erupted in 1983 when the rebels took up arms to demand greater autonomy for the south. The fighting has killed at least two million people, uprooted four million more, and forced some 600,000 to flee to neighbouring countries. 
The conflict in Darfur, described by the UN as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, erupted in 2003. It has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted as many as 1.85 million, most of whom are internally displaced while others have fled to neighbouring Chad. 

The Sudanese government will not allow citizens suspected of war crimes in Darfur to be tried outside the country, vice President Ali Ohman Mohammed Taha said during a rally in El Fasher, capital of the state of North Sudan, yesterday. The national press agency quoted Sudan’s number two, who is on an official visit to the crisis-ridden region, as saying that “Sudan is endowed with excellent judicial structures and for this reason the government will never accept judgement from outside”. Last week the commission of inquiry set up by the United Nations to look into violence in the remote western region and establish whether genocide is underway, presented the Security Council with a sealed envelope containing the names of 51 people – rebels, Arab militias (known as Janjaweed) and high-ranking officials and army officers – calling for them to appear before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for their direct and documented involvement in the “serious violations of international law and human rights” in Darfur. This week, Taha is due to travel to New York together with John Garang, the veteran leader of the separatist rebellion in South Sudan) to attend the Security Council meeting on the Darfur crisis. Meanwhile, last weekend Khartoum announced that it would suspend the use of Antonov (Russian-made military cargo planes that have been altered and turned into bombers), which many - including the African Union and the UN – say are still being used in air strikes against civilian villages in Darfur. “They have all been withdrawn. We will no longer use the Antonov for any task” interior minister Abdel Rahim Hussein told international reporters. The crisis in Darfur broke out in February 2003 when two popular self-defence groups rose up against the government of Khartoum, accusing it of neglecting the region and of backing the Janjaweed in their campaign of violence in the area. Since then tens of thousands of people have died according to UN estimates (5.000 according to the Sudanese government), while approximately 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes

Six African heads of state will meet in the Egyptian capital Cairo on 17 January to try and break the deadlock in peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels in the western Darfur region, Nigerian officials said on Thursday. 
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo announced at last week's African Union (AU) summit in Abuja that talks between Khartoum and the two main rebel movements in Darfur would resume in Abuja in mid-February. 
It appeared on Friday that the Cairo summit would likely precede a resumption of the AU-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital, but this was not made clear. 
The peace talks have taken place intermittently in Abuja since August and Obasanjo, as chairman of the AU, has personally played a leading role as a mediator. 
However, the talks have made little progress and the latest round ended in stalemate in December. 
Obasanjo's official spokeswoman, Remi Oyo, said the Cairo summit would be hosted by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. The other heads of state present would be Obasanjo, Muammar Gadaffi of Libya, Omar Bongo of Gabon, Idris Deby of Chad and Omar Hassan Al Bashir of Sudan. 
All are members of the AU advisory committee on Darfur, she noted. 
However, diplomats said they doubted whether both the main rebel movements in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) would all be represented at the summit. 
"Since the talks [fell apart] in December the parties have grown even further apart, and even more effort is required to bring them together again," one western diplomat told IRIN. 
He noted that while the SLA appeared willing to resume talks with Khartoum, the JEM was questioning the AU's continued role as a mediator, accusing its officials of a pro-Khartoum bias. 
The United Nations has described the Darfur situation as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It estimates that 2.3 million people in the region are reliant on aid to survive - more than a third of Darfur's total population. 
The United Nations reckons that up to 1.85 million people have been displaced from their homes, of whom  200,000 have fled into Chad. Tens of thousands of villagers have been killed or have died of famine and disease since the conflict began two years ago. 
Rebels in Darfur took up arms against the government in February 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglect and oppression. 
The Sudanese government tried to put down the rebellion with the help of an Arab militia force, known as the Janjawid. The United States and others have charged Arab-dominated government of carrying out acts of genocide of against black villagers in Darfur. 
However, a recent UN report on atrocities in Darfur concluded that while horrific war crimes had taken place, which merited referal to the International Court of Justice, they did not amount to genocide. 

The UN Security Council will not allow perpetrators of atrocities against civilians in the western Sudanese region of Darfur to go unpunished, according to the Council's president. 
The Council will address the situation in some "internationally recognised way", Joel W. Adechi, permanent representative of Benin and Council president for February, told reporters on Wednesday. 
Adechi was responding to the recently released report of a UN-appointed commission of inquiry into whether or not genocide occurred in Darfur. The commission concluded on Monday that violence in Darfur did not amount to genocide, but that mass killings of civilians had occurred in the strife-torn area. 
"The crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned," the five-member commission said. "There may have been genocidal acts in Darfur and some individuals may be found guilty of genocidal intent." 
The commission identified suspected perpetrators of atrocities, including government officials, rebels, and "foreign army officers acting in their personal capacity", in an annex to the report, opening the door for their prosecution as war criminals. 
While welcoming the work of the commission, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Tuesday that the US stood by its own conclusion, reached in September 2004, that genocide had occurred in Darfur. 
"We think that the continued accumulation of facts on the ground, the facts that are reported here in the commission's report, support that view, that conclusion that we reached and continue to hold," Boucher said in a statement. 
The UN commission recommended that the Council refer its dossier on the crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but Boucher said the US believed that the best way to address the crimes, detailed in the report, was to establish an ad-hoc UN and African Union tribunal. 
"We think it's important for the Security Council to consider the various options, and we believe that having accountability for these crimes in a tribunal that is based in Arusha, Tanzania, is the best way to ensure accountability," he added. 
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Britain preferred the new Hague-based ICC, but stressed that the key issue was consensus in the Security Council. 
Regarding the African position on the ICC and sanctions, Adechi said the issue had not yet been discussed, but the Council would discuss the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission. 
"I think my own position on the ICC is quite well-known to you. It's a Court I support," Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, told reporters on Wednesday. "The Commission recommends a referral to the ICC," Annan noted, adding that he hoped the Council would "come to an understanding and take the essential action to prosecute those responsible". 
"They must be prosecuted, whichever way the Council decides to go," Annan said. 
Adechi announced that in February, the Council would hold at least two meetings, and possibly a third, on Sudan. The meetings would focus on both the situation in Darfur - where violent clashes have been reported this week - and the proposal for the establishment of a UN peace-support mission in southern Sudan following the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement on 9 January. 
"It is too early to say what type of resolution can be expected," Adechi said, noting that all Council members looked at the Sudan in a comprehensive way, and that it was impossible to consider a peacekeeping force for the north-south agreement without taking into account the humanitarian situation in Darfur. 
The war in Darfur pits the Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called the state's marginalisation of and discrimination against the region's inhabitants. 
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur and as many as 1.85 million people are internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring Chad. The UN has described the Darfur conflict as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

The UN special envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, has described as serious the situation in the remote western region of Darfur, the scene of a two-year rebellion and associated humanitarian crisis of vast proportions. “Crimes against civilians are continuing and relief personnel are terrorised and often they are the object of arbitrary arrest,” said Pronk following a visit to the three States (South, North and West) that make up Darfur. “I saw with my own eyes houses that had been burned down and completely destroyed in over 12 villages that had been attacked recently,” he said, adding that he would discuss the recent upturn in violence with both the rebels and government officials “in order that these acts against innocent victims might cease”. Pronk called on the Khartoum government for a change of attitude towards relief workers, and particularly towards Sudanese staff working for international non-governmental organisations: “I do not believe it is a government set piece but some sectors of the army and the local security forces terrorise aid workers and occasionally make arbitrary arrests”. The UN envoy said the other actors in the crisis and in the Darfur conflict do even worse things to relief personnel, “given that 4 or 5 aid workers have already been killed and others have been kidnapped”. The crisis erupted in February 2003 after two local rebel groups (SLA-M and JEM) rose up formally against the government of Khartoum, accusing it of neglecting the region and of backing the nomadic Arab Janjaweed militias. So far violence, hunger and disease have claimed an estimated 70.000 lives according to UN sources, while a further 1.8 million people have been displaced from their homes.

Sudan's national assembly on Tuesday unanimously ratified the comprehensive peace agreement which was signed by the government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in Nairobi, Kenya, on 9 January. 
The Nairobi agreement formally ended the 21-year civil war in the south between government forces and the SPLM/A. 
Ismail Al-Haj Musa, chairman of the assembly's law and justice committee, presented the committee's findings on the comprehensive peace agreement to the parliament, describing the agreement as "paving the way for a just partnership in resources and power and giving solution for the issue of the relation between religion and state". 
The committee noted that peace was a strategic goal of the state intended to bring about comprehensive development and progress all over Sudan, and stressed that the "implementation of peace is a common responsibility of the government, the SPLM/A, and all the national and political forces." 
It said the agreement had paved the way for the realisation of democratic transformation and the expansion of the scope of participation, facilitating the return of a large number of opposition leaders to the Sudanese capital. 
The Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, in a statement on Wednesday, called the agreement a "framework for unity which is based on free will, democratic rule, justice, equality and mutual respect, besides guaranteeing the right of self-determination for the citizens of south Sudan." 
Vice president, Moses Machar, Secretary General of the National Congress, Ibrahim Ahmed Omer, former vice president Abel Alier and other SPLM/A officials, federal ministers, representatives of the Sufi sects and Sudanese political parties attended the ratification ceremony in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. 
Ratification will clear the way for the drafting of a new constitution and the formation of a new national government. After six years, a referendum among the southern states will determine whether the south will become fully independent or remain part of a unified Sudan. 
Under the power-sharing agreement between the government and the SPLM/A, 52 percent of the government will be from the ruling National Congress Party and 28 percent from the SPLM/A, with other northern parties taking 14 and other southerners six. 
The agreement also stipulates that the SPLM/A leader, John Garang, is to become first vice president and head an autonomous administration for the south during the six-year transitional period. 
The National Liberation Council, the SPLM/A legislative body, unanimously endorsed the southern peace agreement at a meeting held in Rumbek, the provisional capital of southern Sudan, on 24 January. 
The war between the government and the SPLM/A erupted in 1983 when rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. At least 2 million people have been killed and four million displaced. Another 600,000 fled to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.

The secretary general of the ‘Beja Congress’, Abd Allah Mussa Abd Allah was arrested in Port Sudan eastern Sudan) on Monday evening, the party’s president, Ahmad Muhammad Mokhtar, has told the Qatar-based Arabic satellite news channel ‘al Jazeera’. Mussa Abd Allah had just been briefing journalists on Saturday’s violence during an anti-government demonstration in the city on the Red Sea coast, when 18 demonstrators (23 according to Beja sources and 14 according to the government) were shot dead, apparently by security forces. ‘Al Jazeera’ reports that two of the injured subsequently died, taking the number of victims to 20. In an article published today, the French newspaper ‘Liberation’ defines Beja Congress members as “rebels” of east Sudan and claims that they area based in Eritrea and represent a total of four million people belonging to four main tribes (Hadendoua, Al-AmrAr, Beni Ameur and Halanga). The same source believes that after South Sudan and later Darfur, this could be the third rebellion against the central government aimed at securing greater powers.

Gunmen in the western Sudanese state of Darfur on Monday opened fire on two African Union (AU) teams investigating reported cease-fire violations, AU officials said. 
Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission in Sudan, condemned the shooting in a statement on Tuesday. 
The first incident occurred in the town of Jayjay, south of the capital, Nyala, where AU monitors were investigating an alleged attack on a village. The second occurred near Shangil Tobai, where another team was looking into reports that aerial bombings had taken place. 
No casualties resulting from either incident were reported. 
Kingibe said that "the military observers were undertaking their legitimate duty" of investigating allegations of violations of the N'Djamena Ceasefire Agreement when they came under fire. "The AU does not wish to be drawn into a situation where its monitors and protectors will be obliged to defend themselves by the use of force," he added. 
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned attacks on the monitors in a separate statement on Tuesday, saying this "could jeopardise the fulfilment of the AU mission in Darfur." 
On 1 December 2004 another member of the AU observer team was shot at, and on the 19th an AU helicopter was fired upon. The AU warned that if its team continued to be targeted, this would constitute a serious threat to the ceasefire monitoring process. 
Annan urged the Sudanese government and rebel forces in Darfur "to respect the neutrality of AU monitors, observers and police, as well as all international humanitarian workers, and to guarantee that they operate in the region under conditions of safety and security." 
The N'Djamena Ceasefire Agreement to halt fighting in Darfur and allow humanitarian organisations' access, was signed by the Sudanese government and the two main rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), on 8 April 2004 in the Chadian capital. 
However, the Janjawid militias, who are blamed for most of the atrocities, were neither signatories to the agreement, nor specifically referred to in the text, and the agreement has repeatedly been violated by all parties since its inception. 
In a report published on Monday, a UN commission of inquiry found that government forces and militias had conducted indiscriminate attacks throughout Darfur, including the killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement, but concluded that these did not amount to genocide. 
The commission blamed the government for joining in the attacks, and for complicity with the Janjawid militia, but also said the rebels were responsible for some of the serious crimes committed against the people of Darfur. 
The war in Darfur pits the Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called the marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. 
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur, with up to 1.85 million internally displaced or forced to seek refuge in neighbouring Chad. The UN has described the Darfur conflict as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

Sudan-Uganda:  Refugees reluctant to repatriate to southern Sudan 
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] 

Thousands of Sudanese refugees living in camps in northern Uganda are reluctant to consider repatriation for a variety of reasons, including the lack of facilities in southern Sudan, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, told IRIN on Tuesday. 
The agency reported that the refugees felt the landmark peace agreement signed in December 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya, was not inclusive of all Sudanese groups. 
"When the agreement was signed, the initial reaction was that of joy among the refugees. But eventually they started raising some concerns that they were not catered for in the agreement," Roberta Russo, the UNHCR spokeswoman in Kampala, said. "They are eager to go back, but they are considering their political situation and position in southern Sudan." 
UNHCR was trying to establish the refugees' view on the agreement between the Khartoum government and the southern rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). "We wanted to find out what their intentions were after the signing of the agreement," Russo said. 
The landmark peace deal between the Sudanese government and the SPLA set the stage for an eight-year process to halt the 20-year civil war - Africa's longest - between Arabs in the north and the Christians and animists in the south, which has claimed over a million lives. 
Russo said many refugees raised the lack of the infrastructure in southern Sudan as a major concern, especially health facilities and schools for their children. "They told us that there were no facilities in the region, and they were not yet sure about their security," she commented. "Some have made some fact-finding missions to southern Sudan - they cross over to go and check how the situation is and return to the settlements." 
An estimated 200,000 registered Sudanese refugees are housed in southwestern and western Uganda. However, UNHCR says an estimated 40,000 others who are not registered with the agency have been living in Ugandan border towns, while others are in the capital, Kampala. 
Russo noted that many of the refugees were people of different ethnic backgrounds - neither SPLA sympathisers nor Dinkas, the ethnic community from which the SPLA gets its core support. 
"Generally, they have some concerns," she said. "They are concerned that they are marginalized within the political opposition and the SPLA. They are thinking about their part in the peace dialogue; they are also thinking about the situation on the ground, like the infrastructure, their interaction with the opposition and the security situation there." 
The refugees were also fearful that many fields in southern Sudan were still infested with landmines and a programme to de-mine the region would reassure them. 
In Uganda, according to UNHCR, the refugees were well settled and lived in better material and security conditions than others elsewhere in Africa, and this was also why they were reluctant to leave and face the unknown conditions of southern Sudan. 
However, all is not rosy for the Sudanese refugees in Uganda: they have been attacked several times by Ugandan rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), who at one time claimed their settlements were being used by the SPLA as recruitment grounds. 
In early 2004 the LRA launched 31 raids on UNHCR refugee settlements, displacing some 32,000 Sudanese refugees from the southern Zoka Forest Belt in northwestern Adjumani District. 
The worst LRA attack was in August 2002, on Achol-pii refugee camp in Pader District, when the rebels killed more than 60 people, and the more than 24,000 Sudanese refugees there dispersed into the bush, fearing relocation to a camp further inland. 
During this attack, the LRA took four aid workers from the International Rescue Committee hostage, but later released them. 

A UN-appointed commission of inquiry concluded on Monday that violence in Sudan's western region of Darfur did not amount to genocide, but that mass killings of civilians had occurred in the strife-torn area. 
"The crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned," the five-member commission said. "There may have been genocidal acts in Darfur and some individuals may be found guilty of genocidal intent." 
It said, "The conclusion that no genocidal policy has been pursued and implemented in Darfur by the government authorities, directly or through the militias under their control, should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated in the region." 
In its 176-page report, transmitted to the president of the UN Security Council in New York on Monday, the commission said the central government of Sudan did not have the intent of carrying out genocide in Darfur. Intent to carry out extermination of a group of people is considered a key factor in establishing a case of genocide. 
The 1948 convention on genocide, to which Sudan is a party, obliges signatories to stop and punish the perpetrators of genocide. It defines genocide as the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". 
"Generally speaking, the policy of attacking, killing and forcibly displacing members of some tribes does not evince a specific intent to annihilate, in whole or in part, a group distinguished on racial, ethnic or religious grounds," the commission added. 
"Rather, it would seem that those who planned and organised attacks on villages pursued the intent to drive the victims from their homes, primarily for purposes of counter-insurgency warfare." 
The commission found that government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks throughout Darfur, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement. 
It blamed the government for joining in the attacks and for complicity with the Janjawid militia, who are blamed for most of the atrocities. It also said rebels were responsible for some of the serious crimes committed against the people of Darfur. 
"There is no doubt that serious crimes have been committed, serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross violations of human rights have taken place and this cannot be allowed to stand," Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, said at a 30 January news conference at the African Union Summit in Abuja, Nigeria. 
"An action will have to be taken regardless of what name one gives to it," Annan said, adding that he believed "sanctions should still be on the table." 
The commission identified suspected perpetrators of atrocities in a sealed annex to the report. They included government officials, rebels and "foreign army officers acting in their personal capacity." 
The commission recommended referring the cases to the International Criminal Court, the first permanent global criminal tribunal, but left other options open. The United States, which opposes the court, has proposed a war crimes tribunal in Tanzania to prosecute atrocities committed in Darfur. 
The U.S. State Department concluded in September 2004 that genocide had occurred in Darfur. The conclusion was based on interviews with about 1,800 Sudanese refugees in neighbouring Chad, establishing a pattern of targeted violence coordinated by the Sudanese government and state-backed militias. 
Annan set up the commission in October 2004. Its mandate was to "investigate reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Darfur by all parties, to determine also whether or not acts of genocide have occurred, and to identify the perpetrators of such violations with a view to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable." 
An Italian judge and professor, Antonio Cassese, chaired the commission. Other members were Mohammad Fayek (Egypt), Hina Jilani (Pakistan), Dumisa Ntsebeza (South Africa) and Therese Striggner-Scott (Ghana). 
The war in Darfur pits the Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they see as the state's marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants.  Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Darfur and as many as 1.85 million people are internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring Chad. The UN has described the Darfur conflict as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

Sudan’s parliament has unanimously ratified the peace pact signed with the separatist rebels of SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) on 9 January, thereby ending the 20-year conflict between North and South Sudan. Following three days of debate the 300-member assembly decided to approve the document without requesting any amendment or change. Last week, the SPLA assembly ratified the same document during a special meeting in Rumbek, the provisional capital of South Sudan. Under the terms of the agreement, neither the Khartoum parliament nor the southern assembly could amend the text signed by the government and SPLA leaders after long and difficult negotiations; they could only debate the document and make possible recommendation. The peace deal contemplates a six and a half year transition period followed by a referendum for the south on possible future independence. The accord also foresees the application of Islamic law only in the north, an agreement on the distribution of oil revenues and an agreement on the deployment of military forces (which will not be unified, or will be unified only partially) in the various parts of the country. The conflict in south Sudan exploded in 1983, when SPLA took up arms against the Islamic government, demanding greater autonomy. Over and above their religious and cultural differences, however, the warring parties have always been at odds over the significant oil fields in the area. It is estimated that two million people died during Africa’s longest-running conflict – mostly from hunger and disease – while a further four million civilians have been displaced from their homes. It seems that many refugees are now preparing to return home. Despite pressure to the contrary, the peace pact for south Sudan makes no mention of the other conflict in Sudan, in the remote western region of Darfur, which has been the scene of intense fighting and violence and of a major humanitarian crisis since February 2003.

Scores of people were reported killed and others wounded after police shot at protestors of the Beja ethnic group during two days of riots in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Beja representatives said. 
The head of the Beja Congress movement in Khartoum, Amina Dhirar, told reporters at a news conference on Sunday that at least 25 demonstrators were killed and about 100 others were wounded in Port Sudan, 684 km northeast of the capital, Khartoum. 
After the riots that took place on Friday and Saturday, the Associated Press reported Red Sea State Governor Gen Hatim al-Wasilah as saying the police had acted to stop widespread looting and vandalism. He estimated 14 people had died and 16 were wounded. 
Dhirar said the security forces were heavy-handed in their action. She demanded immediate talks between the government and her party's leaders exiled in neighbouring Eritrea. 
IRIN could not reach any Sudanese government official in Sudan for comment on the police action. 
However, the Sudan Embassy in Nairobi said a government delegation, headed by the political secretary of the National Congress and the minister of agriculture and forestry, Magzoub Al-Khalifa, arrived in Port Sudan on Saturday to review the situation. 
While saying dialogue was needed to deal with any demands, Al-Khalifa said in a statement on Tuesday that "the [southern Sudanese] peace agreement reached in Naivasha [Kenya] constitutes a framework for solving any grievances for all states of the Sudan". 
The Khartoum newspaper, Alwan, reported on Tuesday that at least 100 people had been released from detention, after security forces restored calm to the city. 
Demonstrations had spread to the towns of Kassala and Sinkat, in eastern Sudan. The Beja were protesting their exclusion from recent peace agreements signed between Khartoum and southern rebels. 
The government of Sudan reached a preliminary political settlement with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an association of opposition groups, including the Beja Congress, on 16 January in Cairo, Egypt. The deal supports the peace accord signed on 9 January with the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), backs the drafting of a new constitution, and calls for the formation of a non-partisan and professional army. 
Although the agreement was hailed as an important step towards nationwide peace and the disarmament of the NDA's militias, the Beja Congress, an exiled group representing numerous eastern Sudan ethnic groups, boycotted the Cairo talks. 
During the past 16 years, NDA members have fought alongside the SPLM/A in the southern civil war, which left two million people dead, and launched sabotage attacks and other low-level violence in Sudan's north and east in opposition to President Umar El-Bashir's government. 
The Beja Congress accuses the government of neglecting remote regions of the country. The congress views the agreement between the government and the SPLM/A as a model for its own region, in demanding greater autonomy. 
Originally a nomadic people, many Beja now live in extensive shantytowns on the outskirts of Port Sudan. They moved to the port to work as labourers after famine killed their cattle and mechanised farming took over their lands in the 1980s. 
Beja leaders claim to represent some four million people in the Red Sea and Kassala states, along the Eritrean border. 

“The crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing”: these exact words, released by United Nations sources a few hours ago, are contained in a 177-page report due to appear before the Security Council today, but which have confirmed beyond all doubt rumours of the absence of explicit charges of genocide, namely the specific intent to annihilate, in whole or in part, a group distinguished on racial, ethnic, national or religious grounds, made by the US Congress in July 2004. The document, which has also been sent to Khartoum – but without an important ‘sealed file’ – states in particular: “Rather, it would seem that those responsible for planning and organising attacks on villages intended forcibly displacing the victims from their homes essentially with the aim of anti-subversive war activities”. Last August, Henry Coudray, Apostolic Prefect of Mongo (Chad), wrote in the Jesuits’ monthly magazine ‘Popoli’: “Ethnic cleansing? Genocide? These terms must not be used lightly. Genocide, according to international law, must be demonstrated through the clear identification of intent to annihilate an ethnic, racial or religious group. Can such an intent be identified in Darfur? (…) The systematic destruction of villages in North Darfur (but now it is necessary to say throughout West Darfur) and in particular of the wells and herds of animals, is organised in such a way that the wounds inflicted might scare the population due to their permanent and invalidating nature. This suggests a desire to give a message: “Leave this place. We don’t want to see you again.’” A few days later MISNA reported the words of Pieter Feith, special envoy of the high representative for foreign policy in Brussels, Javier Solana: “We are not facing a genocide,” he said in a news conference at the end of a mission to Darfur. “However, it is evident that massacres are being carried out gradually and in silence, while villages have been burned on a vast scale.” In September, in connection with a controversial interview by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, MISNA added: “In regard to the term ‘genocide’, it is evident that Annan takes into consideration what many attempt to ignore: the tremendous crime that gained juridical relevance particularly after the ‘Shoah’ in World War II – and recently, after the Rwandan tragedy of 1994 – is defined by and has its legal base – which may be disputable and open to revision, but cannot be ignored - in one of the first UN Conventions (1948), ratified by over 130 nations. Outside this context, the use of the term can only have political weight of pressure and propaganda, but it cannot give cause for international legal measures.” 
The report that is now before the Security Council – originating in resolution 1564 of last autumn – undoubtedly represents the most serious and thorough attempt to investigate responsibility in the complex case of Darfur. It has been drawn up by an independent commission led by the Italian Antonio Cassese, lecturer in international law at Florence’s ‘Cesare Alfieri’ university and president of the international criminal court for the former Yugoslavia, former president of an international group against torture and the first person to hold the international research post Blaise Pascal. The commission also included Mohammad Fayek (Egypt), Hina Jilani (Pakistan), Dumisa Ntsebeza (South Africa) and Therese Striggner-Scott (Ghana). The document states that the absence of specific genocide charges “is not in any way to be seen as detracting from the gravity of the crimes committed”, and strongly recommends recourse to the International Criminal Court for possible proceedings against those responsible for atrocities and violence, whose names – not published for reasons of merit and procedure – are contained in a sealed file accompanying the document and represent the precise base for future criminal proceedings. It is estimated that tens of thousands of people (70.000 according to the most recent estimates) have died in the region – particularly from hunger and disease – since February 2003, when two local rebel groups rose up against the central government, accusing it of neglecting Darfur because it is inhabited mainly by black Africans and of backing the nomadic Arab Janjaweed militias. Furthermore, approximately 1.8 million people have been made homeless. The US government formulated charges of genocide on the basis of this scenario and launched a campaign more against the government of Sudan than against the ‘Janjaweed’, which have long been renowned for their attacks on the local population belong to different ethnic groups (Fur, Masalit, Jebel, Aranga and Zaghawa). Khartoum was accused of supporting and giving free reign to the rebels. The report seems destined to rekindle the old dispute between those wanting to push the “genocide” thesis – albeit without a basis in law – rather than having recourse to the international court in The Hague - as seems clearly possible on the basis of the secret list of possible suspects – which Washington refuses to recognise in fear that sooner or later one of its citizens might get caught in the mesh of ‘super partes’ international jurisdiction as set out in the Rome Statute adopted by 120 countries on 17 July 1998, and which came into force on 1 July 2002. (Translation of an article by Pietro Mariano Benni)

The conflict in Sudan's Darfur region took centre-stage at the twice yearly African Union summit. President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who was re-elected AU chairman for a further year, said AU-sponsored peace talks between the Sudanese government and the two main rebel movements in Darfur would resume in the Nigerian capital Abuja in mid-February. 
The two-day summit attracted 40 heads of state from the AU's 53 member countries and ended on Monday night, several hours later than planned. 
Peace talks between Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the two main rebel movements in Darfur, have been taking place in Abuja since August, but the last round ended in deadlock in December. 
Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail announced at the AU summit that further peace talks had been scheduled in the Nigerian capital in mid-February. This was subsequently confirmed by Obasanjo, who, as AU chairman, is the chief mediator. 
Leaders of the SLA and JEM indicated to the French News Agency AFP that they would attend the talks. 
They are being convened as fighting on the ground continues to intensify. 
Obasanjo opened the AU summit on Sunday with a round condemnation of a bombing raid by the Sudanese air force last week that killed more than 100 people in Darfur, in violation of a ceasefire agreement. 
"We can't but condemn such carnage no matter what excuse may be raised to try to justify it," Obasanjo said. 
UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, who attended the Abuja meeting, said the UN Security Council was likely to impose sanctions on Sudan in the light of human rights abuses documented in a new UN report on the Darfur conflict. 
"Serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross violations of human rights have taken place," Annan told reporters. 
"This cannot be allowed to stand and action will have to be taken," he added. 
The UN report, released on Monday, recommended that unnamed government officials and militia leaders be referred to the International Criminal Court for widespread and systematic abuses, which may constitute crimes against humanity but which do not amount to genocide. 
The United States said last year genocide had occurred in Darfur, but Annan refused to be drawn on the subject. 
Rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Sudanese government two years ago, alleging it had neglected the arid western region. They accuse Khartoum of using the Janjawid, an Arab militia, to wage a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arabs in Darfur. 
According to the United Nations, more than 1.8 million people have been displaced from their homes by the conflict, including 200,000 who have fled across the border into Chad. 
The AU summit made little progress towards resolving other conflicts in Africa, despite expectations that it might take a new stand on Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo said on his return to Abidjan on Monday night that he had held meetings with Obasanjo, Annan and South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was appointed as AU mediator in November, to try and relaunch peace talks with rebel forces occupying the north of the country. 
Gbagbo told Notre Voie, the newspaper of his Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party that these discussions had produced "nothing new." 
However, he noted that Mbeki was due to send a fresh mission to the rebel capital Bouake in central Cote d'Ivoire on Tuesday for further discussions aimed at getting the rebel New Forces movement to return to a broad-based government of national reconciliation and start the long-delayed process of disarmament. 
The rebels have boycotted the government since Gbagbo's air force launched bombing raids on the north in early November to prepare for a ground offensive against the rebels. This was called off after French peacekeepers knocked out his small fleet of jet bombers and helicopter gunships on the ground. 
Mbeki is struggling to persuade both sides to implement a two-year-old peace agreement in time for general elections to take place in October this year. 
But time is running out, prompting Albert Tevoedjre, the outgoing UN special envoy to Cote d'Ivoire, to remark at the weekend that even if the two sides could not agree on who was eligible to run in the presidential election, the country might still be able to hold a parliamentary poll in eight months time. 
The AU summit also discussed ways of securing a permanent seat on the UN Security Council for Africa, but the heads of state failed to reach agreement on a formula for allocating this. 
Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are all vying for permanent seats on the council. 
Africa has the highest number of UN peacekeeping missions of any continent, yet it is one of the least represented regions on the UN Security Council. 
Proposals for improving food security in Africa and reducing the continent's death toll from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis had been billed as key issues for discussion at the summit, but they eventually took a back seat. 
The Abuja summit agreed that the next meeting of AU heads of state should take place in the Libyan capital Tripoli in July. That would be followed by another summit in Khartoum in January 2006. OCHA) Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

The leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, said on Friday that his movement was ready to help end a rebellion in neighbouring Uganda. 
Noting that southern Sudan's people would not enjoy peace if rebellion continued in northern Uganda, Garang said during a lecture he delivered in Kampala that the SPLM/A would not allow the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) - a Ugandan rebel group - to operate from Sudanese soil. 
The LRA has long used southern Sudan as a launching pad for cross-border raids into northern Uganda. Sudan's government had been accused by Uganda' s of backing the rebel group, while Khartoum had accused Kampala of supporting the SPLM/A. 
"We will not be putting down our arms," Garang said with reference to countering LRA actions. "We are going to defend our country and we don't want any foreign armed groups within our territory." Garang added: "We are expressing our unreserved willingness to help [.] We are determined to achieve peace in northern Uganda, so that all our people can put their lives together again and engage in development. 
Uganda's 18-year-old war has taken a heavy toll on the inhabitants of the north of the country. Many have been subjected to atrocities, including abductions, rape, forced labour and forcible recruitment, while an unknown number have been killed. About 1.6 million people have been displaced. 
Under a peace agreement signed on 9 January between the SPLM/A and the Khartoum government, Southern Sudan will enjoy a large measure of autonomy within the state of Sudan. This includes having a regional government that will administer the internal affairs of the south. 
"We will do everything as a government in Sudan to see that peace is achieved in northern Uganda," Garang said. "The government of southern Sudan will not give guns to [LRA leader Joseph] Kony to come and kill people in northern Uganda. The complication in the past was that the government of Sudan was supporting the LRA. We, as part of the central government, will not be supporting any foreign armed groups anywhere in southern Sudan." 
Efforts to end the Ugandan war through peaceful means have been limping along as mediators continue to engage both sides on a possible ceasefire agreement. 
"The two sides are still studying every bit of the agreement and this has delayed the announcement of the date when the agreement will be signed," chief mediator Betty Bigombe, a former Ugandan government minister, told IRIN by phone from northern Uganda. "But the process is still on course." 
This was confirmed by Uganda's interior minister, Ruhaka Rugunda, who heads the government's delegation to the talks. "Agreement has been reached on many of the issues," said Rugunda. "What remains are the polishing of certain areas and other things like logistics before the signing. Otherwise the process is definitely still on course." 
At a public rally on 26 January in the northern district of Gulu, Garang and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said there were good days ahead for northern Uganda's people. 
Garang said there was a project to build a rail line from Pakwach in northwestern Uganda to Juba, via the towns of Kaya and Yei, to facilitate trade and transportation. 
He also said a paved road would be built between Gulu and Juba. 

Seventeen people died and at least 64 more were injured in clashes between police and ethnic ‘Beja’ demonstrators in Port Sudan (eastern Sudan) on Saturday, the local press has said. However, independent sources say that the number of dead and injured is actually much higher. Following the demonstration, special police forces reportedly carried out a vast operation in some areas of the city inhabited mainly by the Beja community; the local population accused police of conducting violent house-to-house searches and of throwing grenades at some homes. This information has not been confirmed by independent sources. However, it gives the measure of the tension that exists in the east of the country where – as in the South and more recently in Darfur (western Sudan) - the local populations accuse Khartoum of neglect. Meanwhile, armed groups linked to Beja political movements have reportedly attacked government positions. The clashes broke out on Saturday after a crowd of demonstrators threw stones at police, who responded by opening fire; shops were then looted and cars set alight. The unrest came as no surprise: on Wednesday, the Beja community had presented a document to the ‘wali’, or local governor, containing a series of requests and asking for a reply within 72 hours. On Friday, police broke up a protest by peaceful means, but when on Saturday several hundred demonstrators attempted to march on the offices of the governor they were allegedly surrounded by a special police corps which - according to a Beja spokesman – responded to the stone throwing by shooting ‘at shoulder height’. “It had been smouldering for a long time, since these people claim to be heavily discriminated against by the ‘Arabs’, as the population from Khartoum and central Sudan – who control the local economy - are defined,” said a MISNA source from Port Sudan. The ‘Beja’ – approximately 1.8 million Hamitic nomads originating in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) – are divided into five main tribes, and they have been living in these Red Sea areas for thousands of years; they describe themselves as Bedawyet and, besides Arabic, they also speak To-Bedawiye, a Cushitic language; the men typically wear a waistcoat over their Jalabah (traditional dress), and they are Muslim. “The Beja say that they cannot find work due to their ethnic identity or that they can only find employment in the toughest, most precarious and most poorly paid sectors. They also feel excluded from politics and from the city administration,” explains the MISNA source.

Various international bodies have expressed concern about the bombing of the village of Rahad Kabolong in the western Sudanese state of North Darfur. 
According to African Union monitors, government aircraft bombed the village on 26 January, reportedly killing some 100 civilians, among them many women and children. 
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said in a press statement released on 28 January that he was "deeply disturbed" by the attack. He described it as "the latest in a series of grave ceasefire violations that have resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, the displacement of thousands of people and severe access restrictions for relief workers". 
Annan called on the Sudanese government and the rebel movements in Darfur to comply fully and immediately with their commitments under an existing ceasefire agreement and all relevant Security Council resolutions. 
Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman of Javier Solana, European Union (EU) high representative for Common, Foreign and Security Policy, said in a 28 January statement that Solana was "shocked [by] this ruthless attack on civilians, apparently carried out by the Sudanese Air Force". 
The attack took place one day after a visit by Vice-President Ali Osman al-Taha to Brussels, where he had reassured Solana that his government was determined to pursue a peaceful resolution of the conflict and, in particular, to respect humanitarian and security protocols signed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. 
Taha had been in Brussels to witness the signing of a "country strategy paper" for Sudan, drawn up by the European Commission (EC) in consultation with the government of Sudan and Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army. The paper states that the EC can to start to release European development funds to Sudan, which had been frozen since 1990. 
Upon signing the strategy paper, the EC agreed to provide ?50 million (US $64.7 million) in immediate financial aid. The release of the full amount of ?400 million ($50.8 million), it said, would depend on progress in the implementation of the southern peace agreement, as well as the restoration of peace in Darfur. 
Solana condemned the attack in the strongest terms and reiterated "that the evolution of EU-Sudan relations will depend on the actual delivery of the commitments made by the Government of Sudan, not only on its public statements". 
In addition, Solana called upon all belligerents in Darfur to avoid any provocation that could lead to further violence and displacement, and hamper the delivery of humanitarian aid. 
The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. 
The conflict has displaced an estimated 1.45 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad. The UN has described it as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

The European Commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, the Belgian Louis Michel, has protested with the Sudanese government over the recent air strikes in North Darfur, in which at least 100 civilians were killed. “This is precisely the kind of cruel attack that vice president Ali Osman al-Taha pledged to avoid,” said Michel, adding that he hoped the “Sudanese government would now co-operate with the African Union to establish exactly what happened, making it public, in such a way as to punish those responsible for an act that goes against all efforts for peace”. The African Union – which has almost 1.400 troops in Darfur with the task of protecting personnel and monitoring the ceasefire agreement signed by Khartoum and the rebels last April - made a similar protest from its headquarters in the Ethiopia capital Addis Ababa two days ago. Brussels is keeping a close eye on Sudan particularly now that the European Commission has signed an agreement with Sudan allocating approximately 400 million euro to the African country in 2005-2007, thereby effectively renewing development cooperation with Khartoum after 15 years. The agreement came just two weeks after the government and the southern separatist movement SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) signed a peace pact ending the civil war in the South after more than 20 years.

The high level of insecurity in the western Sudanese region of Darfur is seriously hampering the ability of international humanitarian organisations to deliver aid to many internally displaced persons (IDPs), the UN emergency relief coordinator said this week. 
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, told the Security Council during a briefing on the humanitarian challenges in Africa that despite an arms embargo imposed by the Council in July, all parties to the conflict in Darfur remained heavily armed, limiting the UN's ability to reach people in need. 
"In December, WFP [World Food Programme] managed to reach 1.5 million people, a significant achievement, but still 500,000 less than the target for December," Egeland told the Council. 
"In January, they have reached about 900,000 so far, only about 50 percent of their target," he noted, adding that access problems were resulting in significant shortfalls in other critical sectors as well. 
George Somerwill, deputy spokesperson for the UN Advance Mission in Sudan, told IRIN on Thursday that more than one hundred civilians had been killed or injured and thousands displaced as a result of a series of attacks on villages across Darfur. 
Due to the reported attacks, some parts of Darfur have been identified as "no-go" areas for UN agencies. 
Egeland said that, over the last two months, continuing violence had forced tens of thousands of IDPs to flee their villages. "The situation is considered worse in South Darfur and West Darfur states," he added. 
While acknowledging the Council's help in galvanising the attention and funding for the crisis in Darfur, Egeland urged the international community not to neglect the political and humanitarian impact on countries and communities that are hosting refugee populations, such as eastern Chad. 
"We know from bitter experience what the potential consequences are, so we need to provide much greater assistance to those host countries," he said. 
The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias allegedly allied to the government, against rebels fighting to end what they have called the marginalisation of and discrimination against the region's inhabitants by the state. 
The conflict has displaced an estimated 1.45 million people within Sudan and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad. The UN has described Darfur as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 

At least 100 people died in an air strike in Darfur on Wednesday evening, an African Union (AU) spokesman has said. Speaking to journalists in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where the pan-African institution is headquartered, Adam Thiam described the attack as “the most serious in recent months” but said it was not the only one: “This is more than one very serious violation of the cease-fire because it is not an isolated act," he said, adding that the same number of people had died in two other serious attacks against villages – one attributable to the Janjaweed militia and the other to SLA (Sudan Liberation Army) rebels – since 16 January. The AU spokesman refrained from naming those responsible for the air strike “not far from El Fasher”, capital of North Darfur, however adding that so far such attacks had only come from the government side. The AU has 1.400 troops in the remote Darfur region in western Sudan on the border with Chad – the scene of violence and fighting and of an associated humanitarian crisis since February 2003 – with the task of protecting staff deployed on the ground and of monitoring the ceasefire agreement signed by the government and rebels last April, but which has essentially remained dead letter.

Over 100 people may have been killed and 9.000 more forced to abandon their homes in fresh fighting in the Sudanese region of Darfur, United Nations spokesman George Somerwill said yesterday. The same source reported having received confirmation that “the village of Hamada has been almost completely destroyed and 105 civilians may have been killed, mostly women and children”. However, Somerwill added that he does not know how these people were killed, which sides were involved or if air strikes were carried out. The UN spokesman said that 8.000 Sudanese have fled to Menawashi and a further 1.250 to Mershing, a nearby town in the State of South Darfur. The news of the fighting emerged after the UN sent a reconnaissance mission to the Hamada area. The crisis in Darfur exploded in February 2003 after two popular self-defence groups formally took up arms against the Islamic government of Khartoum, accusing it of neglecting the region (inhabited mostly by black Africans) and of backing the Arab Janjaweed militias, who are thought to be the main perpetrators of the violence in the region. Since then a large but unknown number of people have died (tens of thousands according to the UN, 5.000 according to the Sudanese government) and approximately 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes – 200.000 have taken refuge in neighbouring Chad – giving rise to what the UN has described as “the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet”.

Scores of civilians have reportedly been killed and thousands displaced in a series of attacks on villages across the western Sudanese region of Darfur, according to the UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS). 
A UN assessment team that travelled to Hamada, Juruf and Gemeiza villages in South Darfur state found that renewed hostilities last week had claimed many lives and displaced more than 9,000 people. 
"It has been confirmed that the village of Hamada was nearly totally destroyed and that up to 105 civilians may have been killed, with the majority of victims being women and children," UNAMIS Deputy Spokesperson George Somerwill told IRIN on Thursday. 
Aid workers and rebels claimed government planes bombed the area on 19 January, but Somerwill was unable to confirm which groups had been involved in the fighting or how the victims were killed. He said an estimated 8,000 people had fled the fighting to nearby Menawashi and 1,250 to Mershing, both in South Darfur state. 
In another deadly incident, between 24 and 36 people were reportedly killed and 26 others injured, when a group of rebels attacked the village of Malam, about 100 km north of the South Darfur capital, Nyala, on 21 January, Somerwill said. 
He also reported that on 21 January a large group of armed tribesmen attacked the village of Seleia in West Darfur state, killing at least 20 people, abducting two women and stealing cattle. 
Following the recent fighting, aid workers reported to UNAMIS that new internally displaced persons (IDPs) continued to arrive in camps in South Darfur, particularly near Kalma. 
A considerable influx of IDPs into North Darfur state had also been reported, apparently in response to fighting in the nearby eastern Jebel Marra region. 
Meanwhile, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA) said in a press statement released on Tuesday that three of its Sudanese workers had been kidnapped at gunpoint on 16 December in rebel-held Labado, South Darfur, where they were trying to drill wells. 
All attempts to locate the three staff members had failed so far. 
The special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, Jan Pronk, strongly condemned the targeting of humanitarian personnel and the attacks on aid workers in a 27 January press release. 
The UN envoy called for the "immediate release of the humanitarian workers" and urged "all parties to abide by the principles of international humanitarian law, in particular to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers". 
The government occupied Labado during a December campaign and has so far refused to withdraw to its previous lines unless the African Union (AU) takes up positions there to prevent rebels from retaking the area. 
Darfur peace talks are due to restart in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, in the first week of February, but there is some doubt as to whether one of the two main rebel groups will attend. The previous round collapsed in December with rebels blaming the military operations in South Darfur. 
An AU monitoring mission in Sudan has expressed concern over the fragmentation of Darfur's two main rebel groups. There are now four known armed factions in Darfur, as well as many unidentified groups of armed bandits. 
The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias allegedly allied to the government against rebels fighting to end what they have called the marginalisation of and discrimination against the region's inhabitants by the state. 
The conflict has displaced an estimated 1.45 million people within Sudan and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad. The UN has described Darfur as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 
The result of a UN investigation into whether genocide has been committed in Darfur has been submitted to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and will be released next week. 

The European Commission and the Sudanese government have reached a strategic agreement under which Brussels has allocated approximately 400 million euro to the African country for the three-year period 2005-2007, thereby restoring development co-operation with Khartoum after 15 years. The accord comes just two weeks after the government and SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) signed a peace pact to end over 20 years of war in South Sudan on 9 January. The document, signed by the European commissioner for aid and development, Louis Michel, and Sudan’s international co-operation minister, Yusuf Takana, at the Commission headquarters in Brussels, contemplates the use of European funds to purchase food aid and for development programmes throughout the country. Furthermore, there are plans to allocate a further 50 million euro in aid, to be shared equally between North and South. The conflict in south Sudan exploded in 1983, when SPLA took up arms, demanding greater autonomy for the South (Christian and animist) from the Islamic government. Over and above their religious and cultural differences, however, the warring parties have always been at odds over the significant oil fields in the area. Over two million people are estimated to have died during Africa’s longest-running conflict – mostly from hunger and disease – while a further four million civilians have been displaced from their homes. It seems that many refugees are now preparing to return home. Despite pressure to the contrary, the peace pact for south Sudan makes no mention of the other conflict in Sudan, in the remote western region of Darfur, which has been the scene of intense fighting and violence and of a major humanitarian crisis since February 2003.

Following the signing of a comprehensive peace accord between the government of Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 9 January, the European Commission (EC) has agreed to start releasing European development funds to Sudan, which had been frozen since 1990. 
A "country strategy paper" for Sudan, drawn up by the EC in consultation with the GoS and SPLM/A, was signed on Tuesday in Brussels by Sudanese Minister for International Cooperation Yusuf Sulayman Takanah and European Commissioner for Development Louis Michel. 
The signing of the strategy paper, which determines priorities for development cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Sudan, paves the way for the resumption of EU-Sudanese development cooperation. 
"Although the EU provided ?500 million (US $648,650,000) in humanitarian assistance since 1992, official EC [European Commission] development assistance to Sudan was halted since 1990, as a result of the government's human rights record," Dex Agourides, EC liaison officer for Sudan in Nairobi, told IRIN on Wednesday. 
Under the 2002 Cotonou Partnership Agreement with the African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries, the EU reserved approximately ?400 million in development assistance for a 2002-2007 programme for Sudan. 
"This commitment was made as a sign of political support for the peace process, but this envelope didn't open until now," Agourides explained. "Now that the country strategy paper has been signed, this money will become available." 
"The bulk of this money, equally divided between north and south Sudan, will go towards food security and education, while there will also be funds available for good governance, internally displaced persons and institutional support," he added. 
Upon signing the strategy paper, the EC agreed to provide ?50 million (just under US $64.7 million) in immediate financial aid. The release of the full amount of ?400 million (just over US$ 50.8 million), it said, would depend on progress in the implementation of the southern peace agreement, as well as the restoration of peace in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. 
The international community will convene a donors' conference in Oslo, Norway, tentatively scheduled for 11-12 April, to pledge extended support to Sudan. 
Donor countries will base their support on an evaluation of northern and southern Sudan's reconstruction needs, currently prepared by the Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) of the UN and the World Bank. 
The World Bank plans to manage foreign donations for Sudan through two multi-donor trust funds - one for the north and one for the south. 
While January's peace agreement ended a war in southern Sudan that left more than two million people dead and displaced nearly four million others since it began in 1983, it does not cover the conflict in Darfur, which pits rebel groups against the GoS and allied militias. 
The agreement includes provisions on power-sharing, some autonomy for the south and more equitable distribution of economic resources, including oil. 

The National Liberation Council, the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army's (SPLM/A) legislative body, on Monday unanimously ratified the southern peace agreement ending the 21-year civil war in the south. 
Members of the 224-seat Council convened in Rumbek, the provisional capital of southern Sudan, to discuss the requirements of the agreement, signed on 9 January by the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A in Nairobi, Kenya. 
"It didn't take the members of the National Liberation Council much time in order for them to ratify the agreement," Yassir Arman, spokesperson of the SPLM/A, told IRIN on Tuesday. 
"As some delegates were part of the negotiating team, the Council was already intimately aware of the details of the peace agreement," he added. 
Delegates were particularly concerned about the large number of Muslim countries that had offered to contribute forces to a future peacekeeping mission, fearing a northern bias during the implementation of the peace agreement in the south. 
Although the peace deal ends the application of Islamic Sharia law in the southern region, it was criticised for its perceived failure to lift Sharia from the Khartoum region. 
Members also asked questions about the division of wealth between the north and south, and the structure of a new government, but proposed no amendments to the accord. 
"That the peace agreement was widely and gratefully received by the population of Sudan, whom the Council is representing, was a clear indication that the peace deal was going to be ratified," Arman noted. 
Under the power-sharing agreement between the government of Sudan and the SPLM/A, 52 percent of the government will be from the ruling National Congress Party and 28 percent from the SPLM/A, with other northern parties taking 14 percent and other southerners six percent. 
The government, too, had started preparations for the implementation of the provisions of the comprehensive peace agreement. 
According to the official Sudan News Agency, foreign relations minister, Mustafa Uthman Isma'il announced on Monday that offshoot committees to the Peace Higher Committee, which is headed by President Umar al-Bashir, were established to study the various aspects of the agreement. 
For the peace agreement to enter into force, Sudan's national parliament has to endorse the agreement as well. The National Assembly is expected to start deliberations in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Saturday. 
Ratification will clear the way for the drafting of a new constitution and formation of a new national government. After six years, a referendum among the southern states will determine whether the south will become fully independent or remain part of a unified Sudan. 
The war between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government in the south erupted in 1983 when rebels took up arms against authorities based in the north to demand greater autonomy. The fighting has killed at least two million people, uprooted four million more and forced some 600,000 to flee to neighbouring countries. 

Members of SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) have unanimously endorsed the peace pact signed with the government of Khartoum on 9 January to end Africa’s longest-running civil war. The chairman of the law commission of the National Liberation Council, SPLA’s legislative body, congratulated the assembly based in Rumbek (the provisional capital of South Sudan) on endorsing the treaty without changing the original text. In reality, under the agreement neither the parliament of Khartoum nor the southern assembly have the faculty to amend the document signed by the government and the separatist rebels following a long and difficult (as well as costly) negotiation process. The two assemblies are only allowed to debate the accord. It is now over to Khartoum to ratify the accord, which could be put to the vote next week once parliament has debated the document on Sunday or Monday. The peace deal contemplates a six and a half year transition period followed by a referendum for the south on possible future independence. The accord also foresees the application of Islamic law only in the north, an agreement on the distribution of oil revenues and an agreement on the deployment of military forces (which will not be unified, or will be unified only partially) in the various parts of the country. The conflict in south Sudan exploded in 1983, when SPLA took up arms against the Islamic government, demanding greater autonomy. Over and above their religious and cultural differences, however, the warring parties have always been at odds over the significant oil fields in the area. It is estimated that two million people died during Africa’s longest-running conflict – mostly from hunger and disease – while a further four million civilians have been displaced from their homes. It seems that many refugees are now preparing to return home. Despite pressure to the contrary, the peace pact for south Sudan makes no mention of the other conflict in Sudan, in the remote western region of Darfur, which has been the scene of intense fighting and violence and of a major humanitarian crisis since February 2003.

Eight villages in the western Sudanese region of Darfur were reportedly burned to the ground on Friday in a fresh outbreak of violence, sources said. An unspecified number of people were killed, the sources added. 
"The police have reported the attacks and the African Union monitoring team is investigating what exactly happened," a humanitarian worker in the region, told IRIN on Monday. 
Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan said the incident had not yet been formally reported to the mission. "We have heard about the attacks, but are trying to get confirmation," she said. 
The official Sudan News Agency reported that the attacks were carried out by Darfur rebels and took place near Malam, about 100 km north of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State. 
"The rebels have carried out a heinous attack on the areas of Malam, burning down eight villages and killing and injuring a number of civilians and looting properties," the agency quoted a government statement as saying. 
Other international media reported that the two main rebel groups, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), had denied any involvement in the incidents. 
The violence came a day after the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, said fighting between government troops and rebels in Darfur had decreased over the past month, but that Arab militias were still attacking villagers. 
"The violence is still perpetrated by pro-government militias and other armed groups that are very difficult to control; they attack villages, abduct people and increasingly use rape as a tool of war," Pronk told reporters. 
"But between the government and the rebel movements, there is more adherence to the ceasefire than a month ago - and that is a step forward," he added. 
The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias, allegedly allied to the government, against the JEM and SLW/A, which are fighting to end what they call the marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. 
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for international prosecutions to deter continuing violence in Darfur. 
In a report documenting crimes in the region, HRW accused the Sudanese government and its allied militias of committing atrocities. 
"Regardless of whether there has been genocide, the scale and severity of the ongoing atrocities in Darfur demand an urgent international response," Peter Takirambudde, HRW's Africa Director, said. 
"Given Sudan's continuing failure to prosecute the perpetrators, the [UN] Security Council needs to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court," he added. 
The conflict has displaced more than 1.45 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad since it began in 2003. The UN has described the Darfur problem as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 
The HRW report titled: "Targeting the Fur: Mass Killings in Darfur", is
available at: http://embargo.hrw.org/backgrounder/english/darfur0105/

Following the recent signing of a comprehensive peace accord between the government of Sudan and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the international community has begun preparing the ground for the implementation of the agreement. 
The UN Secretary-General's special representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, on Tuesday and Wednesday met with senior officials of the SPLM/A in Rumbek, the provisional capital of southern Sudan, to discuss the continuing preparations for the deployment of a peace support mission to the region. 
"We are going to propose 9,000 troops, plus military observers, to be spread throughout south Sudan," George Somerwill, deputy spokesperson for the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), quoted Pronk as saying in Rumbek. 
Pronk said he hoped the international peacekeepers would start arriving in March, once the UN Security Council had approved the mission. 
The task of the international force of almost 10,000 would be to monitor a ceasefire, but it is as yet unclear what their exact mandate would be or which countries would contribute the troops. 
"Before UNAMIS can move forward, it needs a clear mandate from the Security Council first," Somerwill told IRIN on Wednesday. "The Security Council is expected to make a decision the first week of February." 
Pronk was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss current and future cooperation between the UN and the African Union (AU) once the full peace support mission has been deployed. 
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, William Patey, Britain's ambassador to Sudan, and the Sudanese minister for external relations, Mustafa Uthman Isma'il, discussed Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha's upcoming visit to Brussels on 25 January and his talks with the EC on the resumption of development cooperation with Sudan. 
"Although humanitarian assistance continued, Sudan has not received any official EC development assistance since 1991 as a result of the government's human rights record," Dex Agourides, European Commission (EC) liason officer for Sudan, told IRIN. 
"Under the 2002 Cotonou Partnership Agreement with the ACP [African, Caribbean and the Pacific] countries, the European Union (EU) reserved approximately US $519 million in development assistance for a 2002-2007, Sudanese five-year program," Agourides added. "Now that a peace agreement has been signed, this money might be released for the focal areas of food security and education." 
Also, as the UN's Joint Assessment Mission and the World Bank prepared an evaluation of the reconstruction needs of northern and southern Sudan for a meeting of donor countries in Oslo, Norway, in April, the bank announced it would reopen its office in Khartoum after a 10-year absence. 
The World Bank country director, Ishac Diwan, said on Monday that the assessment would precede a World Bank plan to manage foreign donations for Sudan from two multi-donor trust funds - one for the north and one for the south, according to Reuters news agency. 
He added that donors would only cautiously support Sudan until the government tried to resolve the Darfur crisis, which has displaced tens of thousands of people and threatened widespread starvation. 
The AU has agreed to deploy up to 4,000 troops with a limited mandate to the western Sudanese province of Darfur, but so far, only a little more than a thousand have arrived. 
The Sudanese minister for international cooperation, Yusuf Sulayman Takana, on Tuesday met with the Dutch minister of development cooperation, Agnes Van Ardenne, in Khartoum to discuss the development programmes to be carried out by his ministry over the coming period. 
During their meeting, the Netherlands' minister announced her intention to extend about $129 million to the Sudan donors fund following the Oslo Donors Conference. 
"However, for the full amount to be released, Van Ardenne noted that the situation in Darfur had to improve considerably as well," Esther Van Damme, press officer for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told IRIN on Thursday. 
In November 2004, the UN appealed to donors for US $1.5 billion for an urgent programme to support humanitarian, protection, recovery and development activities in the conflict-ravaged country during 2005. 
The work plan, presenting 304 projects to be implemented by 49 agencies and NGOs across Sudan, has been developed in consultation with the GoS and the rebel SPLM/A leadership, and draws on the priorities they identified to address the urgent needs in Sudan for the period 2004-2005. 
The activities cover a multitude of sectors, including food aid, health, mine action, support for the protection, return and re-integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, rehabilitation of transport infrastructure, sanitation, disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration of former combatants. 
It is expected that during 2005, between 640,000 and 1.2 million IDPs and refugees will return to their areas of origin, mainly to southern Sudan, where there are already 1.5 million IDPs and conflict affected people. The UN needs over $550 million for immediate recovery, development and humanitarian programmes in the southern part of the country. 
"This amount is crucial to save numerous lives and to re-establish services in areas where these people used to live, in some cases as far back as 20 years ago," Dennis Johnson, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for southern Sudan, said during the launch of the appeal. "We need to create an environment that can sustain the return of hundreds of thousands of people to south Sudan." 
The funding allocations of $1.5 billion include over $600 million for life saving and sustaining activities in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where there are currently 2.2-million conflict affected persons, including 1.6-million IDPs. 
The peace agreement, signed by the SPLM/A and the government on 9 January, officially ends the 21-year civil war in the south that left over 1.5 million people dead and displaced nearly four million. The deal includes provisions on power-sharing, some autonomy for the south and more equitable distribution of economic resources, including oil.[ENDS] 

A tenuous agreement to end Africa's longest-running civil war has brought joy and hope to southern Sudan, along with international pledges to help develop the devastated region. But U.N. officials warn all that could be derailed if the conflict in the country's western Darfur region persists. 
"Peace is indivisible," Jan Pronk, the United Nation's chief envoy in Sudan, said Wednesday. "This is one country." 
The southern Christian and animist African tribes who took up arms against the Arab Muslim-dominated north for greater autonomy and a share of the country's wealth need to see a peace dividend. But donors and investors won't put money into the south if there is still violence in Darfur. 
Friction between the Khartoum-based government and southern rebels over the handling of the Darfur crisis could also undermine a power-sharing administration that is supposed to take charge in six months under the peace deal reached earlier this month, U.N. officials said. 
Southern Sudan, a region the size of Texas, has been ravaged for 21 years by fighting between the government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army. More than 2 million people have been killed - mainly through war-induced famine and disease - and 4 million have fled their homes. 
Hospitals, roads and schools have been destroyed, homes and farms torched. Fertile farmland lies unattended after combatants sowed an estimated 5 million land mines. 
John Kelayo, 26, took off a frayed baseball cap and pointed to a huge tree in this dusty town of thatch huts where rebels have made their headquarters. 
"This is the Episcopal Church of Southern Sudan," he said. "Everything has been destroyed here, and we have nothing to even build a simple place of worship." 
The deprivation is visible in the tall, emaciated women and men toiling under the tropical sun to repair a dirt road in exchange for U.N. food handouts. More than 90 percent of people in the region survive on far less than $1 a day. 
"We need to build a new southern Sudan," said Elija Makol, head of the rebels' relief efforts. "We are not talking about reconstruction, because there has never been much construction in the first place. We first need basic facilities like roads, schools, health services and resettling millions who fled their homes." 
Norway has agreed to host an international donor's meeting later this year, but says it first wants to see progress resolving the crisis in Darfur. The United States, which has promised hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, is also pressing for progress there. 
Other countries have been more explicit. 
"There is no way that we are going to release our taxpayers' money to a government that is killing its own people," said Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Agnes van Ardenne, who arrived in Sudan on Tuesday following talks in Khartoum where she urged a resolution of the Darfur crisis. The Netherlands has pledged $100 million in aid to Sudan but has threatened to withhold it if the violence doesn't end. 
The Darfur conflict also endangers the difficult reconciliation process between north and south. Although the Jan. 9 peace accord gives rebels 30 percent of seats in a transitional national government and autonomy in the south, residents here still instinctively refer to their northern compatriots as "the enemy." 
That hostility predates the outbreak of civil war in 1983. Arab Muslims in the north, possibly as early as the 5th century, dubbed the vast southern and western regions "Dar al-Harib," or "Place of War," as they unleashed successive raids for slaves, ivory and ostrich feathers. They called northern Sudan "Dar es Salaam," or "Place of Peace." 
Regional estrangement deepened under British-Egyptian rule between 1899 and 1956, when southern Sudan was closed off from the north in a bid to halt the spread of Islam and encourage Christianity. Britain left Egypt to manage northern Sudan. 
This isolated the south from regional trade at a time of rapid development in the north. When the country was reunited in the years leading to independence in 1956, northerners dominated the economy and government in Khartoum. Fighting first broke out between north and south that same year and has continued for all but 10 years since. 
The Sudan People's Liberation Army - and independent observers - now accuse the government of arming Arab militiamen, known as the Janjaweed, who have committed wide-scale abuses against Darfur's African population. The government in turn accuses the SPLA of backing two African rebel groups who took up arms in February 2003 for more power and resources in the arid and desolate region. 
Some 70,000 of the nearly 2 million displaced in that conflict have died from disease and famine since March. Many more were killed in the fighting, though no firm figures exist. 
All sides in the southern conflict have pledged to work toward peace in Darfur. But as long as violence persists there, "combatants will go around attempting to destabilize other places to gain grounds in their own areas," Pronk said on Wednesday. 
"The resolution of Darfur is critical," he said

A Week after the historic signing of the Sudan Peace accord in Nairobi, manufacturers in Kenya have started making concrete plans to exploit the vast Sudan market, while their Ugandan counterparts are also positioning themselves to exploit the business potential in the country. 
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) says a technical working group has already been set up and the Kenya Bureau of Standards will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the Sudan Revenue Authority (SRA) and the Southern Sudan Manufacturers Organisation (SSMO) on mutual standards. 
KAM plans to invite officials of SRA and SSMO to visit Kenya to see the country's manufacturing standards. 
However, constraints such as poor infrastructure in southern Sudan, legalisation of commercial documents, compliance to the rules of origin and standards specifications, availability of market information including potential buyers and distribution outlets, language, conformity to packaging requirements and the acquisition of entry visas by both Kenyan exporters and Sudan importers could limit the immediate realisation of Kenya's full export potential to Sudan. 
Kenya, Uganda and Sudan are both members of the Comesa trading bloc and a peaceful Sudan will see more Kenyan and Ugandan manufacturers seeking market opportunities in their northern neighbour. 
Similarly, improved infrastructure will also see Sudanese entrepreneurs exploring trading opportunities with both countries. 
Currently, Kenya exports a limited number and volume of goods to Khartoum, which include car batteries, tyres and cement, and with the new-found peace, it is expected that the volume and variety of exports, mainly to Southern Sudan will increase gradually. 
Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has registered a sluggish economic performance over the past decade despite her being richly endowed with natural resources, which include oil, small reserves of iron ore, copper, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver and gold. 
Despite years of war, the country has developed an impressive oil and sugar export business that have made the country a force to reckon with in the region. 
Analysts say that interest in Sudan's oil is one reason behind the proposal to build a 1,182 km railway line between Juba in Southern Sudan and the port of Mombasa. 
The construction work is projected to start in July this year at an initial cost of Euros 3.2 billion ($4.16 billion). 
Once constructed, the railway line will be the main import-export route for Southern Sudan and can be used by the Sudan government to ship up to 70,000 barrels of oil a day and other goods to Kenya. 
Without a railway line and an oil pipeline link to Kenya, it would be uneconomical for Kenya to import oil from Sudan. 
An export manager of a Kenya based multinational said: "For an area like Southern Sudan that has been ravaged by war for more than two decades, I am confident that with the newly signed peace pact, there is bound to be a great demand for industrial goods and building materials once people start resettling. 
I can tell you most manufacturers in the region have eyes set on the Sudanese market." 
He said Kenyan manufacturers of steel, cement, household and industrial goods will be the immediate beneficiaries of the new market as Southern Sudan begins its reconstruction. 
The south lacks basic infrastructure like roads, manufacturing plants, schools and health services as the region was discriminated against by the Islamic government in Khartoum. 
Soon after returning to Sudan from Nairobi last week, President Hassan Omar el Bashir, speaking at Juba, the main city in Southern Sudan, pledged to develop the infrastructure in the region, which his government had neglected during the 21 years of war. 
President Bashir said, "The war budget will now be directed towards improving education, health and water services in the region. 
" He said the new coalition government would focus on building roads linking southern towns with each other as well as with neighbouring Kenya and Uganda. 
A road link between Kenya and Sudan will greatly boost the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries. 
However, despite the interest and investment enthusiasm that the peace pact has elicited in the manufacturing circles, a market analyst with Old Mutual Asset Managers (EA), Abdi Hassan, says the real challenge lies in its sustainability. 
"With donors coming in to fund the reconstruction process in Sudan, Kenyan investors have shown a lot of interest in Southern Sudan. However, they don't know if it will be sustainable," Mr Hassan said. 
He said Kenya, which has been the centre of relief operations to Southern Sudan, was likely to witness a shift from relief-oriented to actual growth-oriented business. 
But apart from opening up investment opportunities, peace in Sudan will also boost security in the region. 
While Ugandan manufacturers also seek to exploit the new markets, it is the prospect of an end to the 18-year old rebel war in the north of the country that has captured the imagination of the people. 
Speaking at the signing ceremony, President Yoweri Museveni said peace in Sudan would go a long way in ending the Kony rebellion.

The food security situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur and certain parts of southern Sudan remains a matter of concern, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) has warned. 
While calling the situation in North and West Darfur "extremely food insecure", FEWS Net in their Greater Horn of Africa Food Security Bulletin for January 2005, said conflicts and civil insecurity were likely to continue to imperil the food security of populations in the region. 
Peter Smerdon, senior spokesperson of the World Food Programme (WFP), confirmed to IRIN on Wednesday that "hostilities continue to hamper WFP food distribution in Darfur," while the need for food assistance remained great. 
In spite of the continuing insecurity and the resulting logistical delays, however, WFP food distributions reached the highest level so far. In December, 23,600 mt of food were distributed to 1.5 million people in Darfur, he said. 
An ICRC assessment team, which had evaluated the food security situation in 20 rural villages in September, reported that agriculture had collapsed and a combination of insecurity and drought had destroyed traditional coping mechanisms of communities in Darfur. In many cases, farmers' seeds and tools had been looted and their cattle stolen. 
A comprehensive nutrition and food security assessment, released by WFP on 26 October, estimated that almost 22 percent of children under the age of five were malnourished, and close to half of all families did not have enough food. 
Meanwhile, in southern Sudan, hope for stability has increased following the peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The FEWS Net report anticipated that this would allow more people to settle and manage their livelihoods without disruption. 
However, as the 2004 crop harvest in most of southern Sudan was worse than the 2003 harvest, households were rapidly depleting their food stocks and increased food insecurity was expected in February. 
The FEWS NET report also expected that the successful peace agreement would increase population movements, especially the return of previously displaced people. Since the returnees would not have been able to produce their own food, they would need relief assistance. 
For households in southern Sudan, the level of food insecurity could be compounded by a shortage of supplementary sources of food, particularly fish and wild lily, if the water levels from Lake Victoria and stream catchments, currently below normal, do not improve. 
However, the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, based in New York, has forecast a 75 percent probability for an increased likelihood of normal to above normal rainfall in East Africa that could extend into the normally dry months of January and February. 
As a result, water levels on Lake Victoria are expected to rise and flooding waters could benefit areas in southern Sudan, increasing the availability of fish and water lily in the Nile basin areas of southern Sudan.

First Vice-president of the Republic, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, affirmed that implementation of the Peace Agreement is going according to timetables agreed upon. 
In press conference held at the Council of Ministers Wednesday, Taha pointed out that coordination was made between the government and SPLM for exchange of information and unification of stances of the two sides towards the joint task, in respect of setting up the national committee for conducting the draft of the provisional constitution. 
He expressed pleasure over political forces' support to the peace agreement, calling for enforcing the positive position to become a national accord for finding a vivid political situation in the coming period, appreciating the outcome of negotiations held with the National Democratic Alliance in Cairo. 
On Darfur file, Taha declared stability of the humanitarian situation in Dafur, referring, in this regard, to concerted efforts being exerted to provided people inside camps with the necessary needs, affirming that the government will make its utmost effort to protect civilians. 
'Coordination in efforts between the government and the African Union (AU) troops will be made in overall Darfur and that the fighting has been narrowed to a level that will positively affect the security situation in the region,' Taha told reports. 
He reiterated the government commitment to ceasefire as is stipulated in the security protocol signed by the two sides. 
The First Vice-president praised the role being played by Libya to address Darfur problem, Nigeria and Chad, announcing that he will pay visits, incoming days, to each of Libya , Nigeria and the Republic of Chad to meet the heads of state of these countries as part of efforts to coordinating the various files of Darfur problem.

Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Agnes van Ardenne Thursday inaugurated the first western liaison office in post-war southern Sudan to in Rumbek, the region's provisional capital. 
The brief ceremony saw the raising of the Dutch and British flags in front of the office building located near the town's airstrip that will represent the interests of the two countries. 
"We do have an embassy in Khartoum, but Khartoum is too far away and here in Rumbek it should be done," van Ardenne told reporters. 
"The liaison office here will be strongly linked to our embassy in Khartoum and the British embassy in Khartoum," she added, saying the aim of having an office in the south was to ease contacts with the region's new leaders. 
Van Ardenne was the most senior western official to visit the war-ravaged town after Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed a peace deal ending Africa's longest conflict. 
Many nongovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies have already moved their offices from bases in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to Rumbek. 
Last year the Dutch government donated 60 million euros (78 million dollars) for humanitarian aid in the war-torn western region of Darfur and southern Sudan and a further 3.5 million euros for the SPLM's capacity-building project and began training southern diplomats. 
"We will continue with that (humanitarian assistance)," the minister said. 
She has also pledged 100 million euros for development and reconstruction in Darfur and the south, but insisted those funds will not be released unless the government resolves the conflict in Darfur. 
"We can only spend that amount of money if Darfur will be stable," she said. "If the situation doesn't stabilize, I do not think that the donor community can come up with a huge amount of money for the reconstruction of Sudan," van Ardenne stressed. 
Tens of thousands of people have died in nearly two years of conflict in the region between ethnic minority rebels and the Sudanese government and an estimated 1.6 million displaced from their homes. 
Van Ardenne was scheduled to meet with SPLM leader and incoming first vice president John Garang later in the day near the Sudanese-Kenyan border. 
She said she would use the opportunity to urge Garang to use his influence on the rebel groups in Darfur to encourage them to lay down their arms and pursue a peaceful settlement to the conflict. 
"I will ask him to take his influence to convince the rebel groups to stop fighting and to try to find a peaceful solution to the conflict with the government," she promised. 
"I know he is very influential on both rebel groups," the minister added. 
The conflict in southern Sudan saw at least 1.5 million people lose their lives and another four million displaced over 21 years.

Head of the government's delegation to talks with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Nafi Ali Nafi said that agreement was reached that the joint committee on arrangements concerning the arms holders in the NDA would begin its work on the first of next February to finalize its task prior to its final adoption on 12 February by the final signing of the agreement. 
Nafi said in a press conference at Khartoum Airport following the return of the delegation from Cairo Monday 17 January that the ceremony of the final signing of the agreement between the government and the NDA would be attended by First Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, who will sign on behalf of the government, while NDA chairman Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani will sign for the NDA. 
Nafi hailed the role played by the Egyptian government and people in making the talks a success. He expressed hope that the Nairobi and Cairo agreements would be a great incentive for all opposition abroad to return home.

Sudanese Islamists are being released from jail, including Islamist Hassan al-Turabi's son and other of Turabi's opposition party members, party officials said 
"The news is coming in now that some of our people are being freed, among them is his (Turabi's) son, Siddiq al-Turabi," the deputy leader of Turabi's Popular Congress party, Hassan Abdallah Ahmed, told Reuters. He added there was no news on Turabi himself, but they expected he may be released soon. 
Turabi, a former ally of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, was jailed last September after the government accused his party of attempting a coup and of involvement in a two-year-old rebellion in the country's remote western Darfur region. 
Human rights activists in Khartoum have said they expected him to be released after the signing of a peace deal to end more than two decades of civil war in the south, which was signed last week. The constitutional court had ruled Turabi was being held under emergency law, which is to be lifted throughout most of Sudan under the terms of the southern peace deal. 
Turabi's party was suspended following accusations of similar coup attempts back in April last year. Since his split with Bashir's government, Turabi has spent much of his time in jail or under house arrest.

The African Union has criticized the U.N. proposal to send a peace support mission to southern Sudan following the signing of the comprehensive north-south peace agreement. 
African Union Peace and Security Director Geofrey Mugumya told VOA there is no reason why the United Nations should send a 9,000-strong mission to southern Sudan to monitor the north-south peace agreement signed January 9 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. 
"Maybe they can have a contingency plan in case of any flaring-up of problems," said Mr. Mugumya. "But, to me at this point in time, I do not see any need for peacekeeping where people have agreed mutually to cease hostilities." 
U.N. Special Envoy for Sudan Jan Pronk met with officials of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement in the southern Sudanese town of Rumbek to discuss the mission's deployment and plans for reconstructing the south. 
He told reporters Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council is expected to finalize details and approve the deployment of 9,000 protection forces and military observers by the middle of next month. 
VOA was unable to reach Mr. Pronk's office for comment. 
Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement spokesman Samson Kwaje told VOA the presence of a U.N. peace mission has already been provided for in the comprehensive peace deal. 
"In principle, it is agreed that there will be some international U.N. force in the Sudan," he said. "It is mostly for disengagement of forces." 
Mr. Kwaje said the mission would act as a barrier between armies from the north and the south, and would also protect other monitors such as human rights groups. 
The African Union already has a presence in Sudan, primarily through its troops in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan. 
Mr. Mugumya says, if the United Nations is going to proceed with its peace mission, it should do so with the collaboration of the African Union. 
"If we could work with Jan Pronk, we could have a common approach on what we want to achieve in Sudan in general, rather than U.N. having its own objectives and Darfur having its own objectives," added Mr. Mugumya. "So this is what I want: harmonizing and common approach." 
Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement spokesman Mr. Kwaje said the African Union has failed to keep peace in Darfur. He said the advantage of having the United Nations is that it can draw upon forces from all over the world, which can rapidly be deployed.

The agreement signed by the Sudanese government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday will further consolidate the peace accord signed with the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 9 January, sources said. 
The NDA, which is based in Eritrea, signed the tentative agreement with the government in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. It supports the southern peace agreement, backs the drafting of a new constitution and calls for the formation of a neutral, professional army. 
"This is a positive development," George Somerwill, deputy spokesperson of the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), told IRIN on Tuesday. "At this time of great change for the people of Sudan, we welcome any move that contributes to the consolidation of the peace in the country." 
NDA spokesman Khatem Es-Sir also lauded the accord, and was quoted as saying by AFP press agency that it "brings a practical solution to the question of democratic change". 
The deal represents a framework for a comprehensive political solution between the two sides. It aims to lift the state of emergency, which has been in place since 1989, and to re-integrate the NDA into Sudan's political life. 
The two sides also intend to set up a commission to re-integrate 3,000 armed fighters on the eastern Sudanese border with Eritrea, back into the regular Sudanese forces. 
Under the power-sharing agreement between the government and the SPLM/A, 52 percent of the government will be from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and 28 percent from the SPLM/A, with other northern parties taking 14 percent and other southerners 6 percent. 
The Cairo agreement provides for the setting up of a committee on political representation that will discuss the proportion of posts the NDA will hold in the legislative and executive bodies during a transitional period. 
Apart from the SPLM/A, the other main group in the NDA is the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), one of the big traditional parties in the Arab north. 
Other NDA members include the Sudanese Communist Party, the Baath Party, the Beja Congress from the east of Sudan, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) from the western Sudanese region of Darfur and an alliance of southern parties independent of the SPLM/A. 
The agreement puts an end to 15 years of friction between the Khartoum government and the opposition group headed by DUP chairman Mohamed Osman al-Marghani, a key figure in modern Sudanese history and hereditary spiritual guide - since 1968 - of the Khatmiyyah, the religious order upon which DUP is based. 
Al-Marghani is now expected to return to Khartoum after years in exile. 
The NDA was established in 1989 following a coup in which Sudanese president Omar el-Bashir overthrew Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister, Sadiq el-Mahdi. 
The NDA is seen as a rival to the Al-Umma party of Sadek al-Mahdi - Sudan's legal opposition - and the outlawed Popular Congress of jailed Islamist Hassan al-Turabi. 
During the past 16 years, armed NDA members have fought alongside the SPLM/A in the southern civil war, which left 2 million people dead, and launched sabotage attacks and other low-level violence in Sudan's north and east in opposition to el-Bashir's regime. 
Talks between the NDA and the Sudanese government have taken place in Cairo for months, in parallel with separate negotiations in Kenya with the southern SPLM/A and in Abuja with two Darfur rebel groups. 
Sunday's reconciliation agreement will lead to the disarmament of the NDA's armed militias and bring Sudan a step closer to a nation-wide peace. Ethnic Beja rebels from the eastern Sudan, however, boycotted the Cairo talks. 
A final agreement is expected to be signed on 12 February in Cairo.