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"You must hand over the place clean. Swept, rubbed, crushed. Don’t bring them back alive."
The Sudanese state governor of South Kordofan, Ahmed Harun, was just caught on film addressing soldiers before an attack against innocent people this past weekend. An army commander standing near Harun then says, "Don’t bring them back, eat them alive." As we observe Genocide Prevention Month, these words remind us of mass atrocities that all share major, tragic anniversaries this month — from the Holocaust to the tragedies in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. And while Harun is sending in troops to kill indiscriminately, Sudanese President al-Bashir continues to carry out an equally deadly assault — cutting off humanitarian aid to the region, leaving the lives of half a million people at risk. After months of continually bombing fields and preventing villagers from planting crops, Bashir’s forces created a dire food shortage in the region — predicted to reach near-famine levels this month. The rainy season starts next month — leaving the roads all but impassable and delivery of aid will become more difficult or even impossible. This isn’t the first time Harun and Bashir have done this. Both were indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur where the world didn’t react until it was too late. We cannot let history repeat itself — the need for action is now. The best way to commemorate the tragic genocides of the past is to prevent another one from occurring. Join us this critical month by lobbying congress and building greater awareness in your community of the tragedy that is unfolding in Sudan. Support the Sudan Peace, Security and Accountability Act. This bi-partisan legislation demands strong U.S. action to address the urgent and growing humanitarian needs of the Sudanese people. Here’s how you can get involved:
Sign and Deliver the Petition
Urge your congressperson to co-sponsor the Sudan Peace, Security and Accountability Act, ask your friends and family to sign and join activists across the country on April 27 to deliver petitions to your Representative. We have tens of thousands of petitions to deliver. Can you help us get these signatures to your member of congress? Sign up and we’ll help you deliver the signatures. Community Phone Drive Organize a call-in day on April 27 in support of the Sudan Peace, Security and Accountability Act. It’s easy and free with our toll-free number, 1-800-GENOCIDE. Click here to read our easy how-to guide. The staff at United to End Genocide are ready to help. Contact Gbolahan at glawal@endgenocide.org, Rebecca at rdennis@endgenocide.org or visit our website for more information. Join us in honoring Genocide Prevention Month and the pledge that nations and leaders took after the Holocaust, saying “Never Again” — stand with the people of Sudan to stop Ahmed Harun and Sudanese President al-Bashir. Sudan’s direct military attacks and use of starvation as a weapon of war against its own people must be brought to an immediate end. Sincerely,  Bama Athreya Executive Director United to End Genocide P.S. Donate to United to End Genocide. Your gift today will help us build a stronger, more powerful movement committed to protecting victims of mass atrocities and genocide. |
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ABOUT UNITED TO END GENOCIDE
We are United to End Genocide, the largest activist organization in
America dedicated to preventing and ending genocide and mass atrocities
worldwide. We are faith leaders, students, artists, investors and
genocide survivors, and all those who believe we must fulfill the
promise the world made following the Holocaust — "Never Again!"
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BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
Showing posts with label omar al bashir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label omar al bashir. Show all posts
04 April 2012
"Don't bring them back, eat them alive." from UNITED TO END GENOCIDE 4APR12
APRIL is Genocide Prevention Month and the world needs to focus on the carnage in Sudan, especially South Kordofan, Blue Nile, the Nuba Mountains and the border regions of Sudan and South Sudan. The war criminal al-bashir is unleashing his thugs to kill with bombs and bullets and through starvation. We can not stand by and let this continue. Please sign the petition and pressure the American government to pass the Sudan Peace, Security and Accountability Act. After WW II many joined Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in declaring never again tolerating genocide to happen. The world has failed "Never Again!" miserably in Cambodia, Bosnia and all of the former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and in Darfur and all of Sudan. We can not allow this to continue, please join and support this campaign.....
24 March 2012
China in a tug of war between two Sudans 23MAR12
THE government of South Sudan is already flexing it's muscles on the international stage by shutting off the oil from their fields to punish the government of Sudan for fraud and theft. It is too bad the Arab League and the Persian Gulf oil producers are too greedy to take the same action against the prc for their support of Syria's assad. South Sudan's oil embargo in defense of their political and economic independence has the prc over a barrel, so to speak (something the Gulf oil producers could do as well), and we can only hope the South Sudanese government and people come out on top with more development revenue from their oil from both the prc and Sudan.
Just a few months later, Beijing finds itself trapped in a bitter wrangle between South Sudan and its former rulers in Sudan, with both countries pressing Beijing to take their side.
The dispute has cut off a significant source of oil to fuel China’s booming economy and imperiled billions of dollars in Chinese investments. It has also threatened Beijing’s diplomatic and economic relations with both the countries and strained the boundaries of a long-standing Chinese policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of other nations.
“This new reality has left China uncomfortably stuck in the middle of a tug of war,” said Zach Vertin, a Sudan analyst with the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit think tank. “Both sides have attempted to leverage the Chinese oil interest and draw them in line with their own interests.”
The saga playing out in one of the world’s poorest regions highlights the troubles an increasingly prosperous China faces as it tries to adjust to tumultuous change: from Sudan to Libya, Syria and Burma, Beijing has resisted what it portrays as Western-style meddling. But by staying on the sidelines, China has jeopardized its interests and image as a friend of the developing world. Many Arab nations, for example, were furious when China joined Russia in blocking United Nations action on Syria.
At the center of the struggle between the two Sudans is oil, which until last summer was controlled by Khartoum but which now lies mostly within the borders of the world’s newest state, the Republic of South Sudan. China is the biggest player in the oil industry on both sides of the frontier: It holds big stakes in the main oil fields in the south and in pipelines and other infrastructure in the north.
After years of providing diplomatic cover and weapons to a regime in Khartoum ostracized by the West, China must face up to a simple fact, said Pagan Amum, the secretary general of South Sudan’s ruling party: “The master has changed. It was Khartoum. Now it is Juba.”
China’s efforts to shift gears in Sudan began in 2005, with the signing of a peace deal between Khartoum and southern rebels. The agreement ended what was Africa’s longest civil war and paved the way for South Sudan’s independence in July. But officials today say that the Chinese have not done enough to erase suspicions rooted in Beijing’s long support for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, an indicted war-crimes suspect who used Chinese-supplied arms in trying to prevent the south from seceding.
South Sudan, which depends on oil for 98 percent of its revenue, insists that it wants to remain partners with China. But South Sudanese officials warn that if Beijing does not align its interests with their country, they will seek out U.S. and Western oil companies.
In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month after a trip to South Sudan, Hollywood star George Clooney, a longtime critic of Bashir’s regime, noted that China’s massive investment in Sudan makes Beijing crucial to settling continuing violence in the region. China, he said, has invested about $20 billion, but “right now they are getting nothing from this” because of feuding between Khartoum and Juba. Clooney and several members of Congress were later arrested during a protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington.
Khartoum, which depends heavily on Chinese investment, trade and aid, is determined to keep Beijing on its side. The government dispatched a senior envoy to Beijing last month and has exerted influence over Chinese-led oil consortiums, which pump most of their oil in the south but still need the north to get it to China.
The south has refused to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties for using Sudan’s pipelines, saying that the fees were exorbitant. Sudan responded by seizing oil tankers carrying South Sudanese crude and imposed a blockade on the export of the oil. Last month, South Sudan shut down its oil production, roughly 350,000 barrels a day, after accusing Sudan of stealing $815 million worth of its oil.
South Sudan says it will pay less than $1 a barrel in fees to transport oil through the north’s pipelines. Khartoum says it wants $36 a barrel and $1 billion in back payments. The two sides are even fighting in a London court, as South Sudan seeks to recover money from the sale of the seized crude.
South Sudan said recently that it intends to build a pipeline that would head south to Kenya. It is not clear who would fund such a massive project, but, if built, the pipeline would sharply reduce Juba’s dependence on the north — and the value of China’s huge investment in existing pipelines to Sudan’s Chinese-built oil export terminal on the Red Sea.
An old alliance under threat
It was inevitable that China would get tangled in the dispute. The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, has a big stake in most of the biggest oil concessions. The oil from both Sudans represents at least 5 percent of China’s global crude imports.
This is much less than what China imports from Angola but is still important, especially as it is produced mainly by Chinese companies that are controlled by the state and, thus, in Beijing’s view, are more reliable. Angola’s oil, by contrast, is largely pumped by Western companies.
China also has great leverage over Sudan. Beijing provides massive loans to the north; oil and trade bring in billions more in foreign currency, vital to run Sudan’s economy and to buy weapons.
CNPC, whose boss in Beijing is appointed by the ruling Communist Party, declined to comment for this report. The company requested and received written questions but did not respond. In public comments, Chinese officials have sought to maintain neutrality, saying that both Sudans “can only achieve common development through peaceful co-existence.”
In Juba, officials stressed that China should make greater efforts to persuade Khartoum to accept South Sudan’s position. “We are not asking China to help us. We are asking China to help itself with its friend,” Amum said. He made clear that Juba would no longer tolerate China’s alliance with Khartoum.
“They are used to looking north,” he said. “They are now being told to turn around, southward.”
There are signs that China’s previously rock-solid support for Khartoum might be softening. In a recent interview with Qatar’s al-Raya newspaper, Bashir complained that Beijing had cancelled a loan to his government for a big agricultural development project. China pulled out, the Sudanese president said, because Khartoum was due to repay the money with oil shipments, which had been disrupted by the south’s independence.
Even so, it is unlikely, analysts said, that China would jilt Khartoum for Juba — that would probably alarm other repressive and corrupt regimes, such as those in Angola and Equatorial Guinea, where China has forged highly profitable oil relationships.
“The Chinese are not going to throw away old friends,” Vertin said. “They won’t abandon Sudan. That would be a bad precedent for them.”
Sudan also has some powerful and so far loyal friends in Beijing, though how long this lasts may depend as much on the labyrinthine internal politics of the Communist Party as events in Africa. One of Khartoum’s biggest backers in Beijing for years has been Zhou Yongkang, a member of the party’s Politburo Standing Committee responsible for security. In recent days, however, rumors — all unconfirmed — have swirled in Beijing that Zhou is in deep political trouble after the purge last week of a senior party official with whom he is thought to have been allied.
Zhou used to be the head of CNPC, the state oil company, and led its push into Sudan’s oil sector in the 1990s after American and other Western companies pulled out. He has visited Khartoum repeatedly.
China’s predicament
Amid mounting anger in Juba over China’s continuing coziness with Khartoum, South Sudan on Feb. 20 expelled Liu Yingcai, the head of Petrodar, a consortium that is majority owned by CNPC.
In a letter, the Juba government accused Liu of colluding with Khartoum to steal South Sudan’s oil and of not fully cooperating with orders to shut down oil production. Petrodar, in a statement, denied the allegations. The consortium said it had ordered staff members “not to comply with the forced lifting” of oil, which it said was done by members of Sudan’s national security forces.
Now, South Sudan has launched an investigation of Petrodar to determine the extent of its role in the oil theft. Juba is also probing the actions of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co., an oil consortium that is 40 percent owned by China and that also may have helped Khartoum steal oil. If the consortiums are found sufficiently guilty, Amum said, their contracts could be terminated.
“It will be an opportunity for others, with possibly even better technology, to come in,” Amum said. “If the Chinese are not with us, we will have another very good story, too. With the Chinese or with others, we will prosper.”
As tensions between the two Sudans grow, China’s predicament becomes more precarious. Last month, Sudan allegedly bombed an oil field at El Nar in South Sudan, nine miles from the jagged, contested border between the two countries, sending Chinese and other foreign workers maintaining the oil wells scrambling for their lives.
“They bombed this place because of the oil,” said Miakol Lual, a local tribal chief. The attack destroyed portions of the oil infrastructure.
“It’s a message to all foreigners: ‘You deal with us, not the other side,’ ” said a foreign supervisor who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media. Khartoum has denied attacking the field.
In Juba, Chinese expatriates are growing anxious. In January, rebels linked to South Sudan kidnapped 29 Chinese workers in Sudan, releasing them last month. The Chinese Embassy has ordered all its nationals to stay in at night and not discuss anything sensitive with locals.
“Everyone is worried about the situation,” said a Chinese telecommunications worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared he would get fired. “If things get worse, we have made preparations to move out of here.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/china-in-a-tug-of-war-between-two-sudans/2012/03/07/gIQAQUUrWS_print.html
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Andrew Higgins
JUBA, South Sudan — On the day South Sudan became independent last year, China opened an embassy here, eager to protect its oil interests. It quickly dispatched its foreign minister and began discussing a huge aid package for this destitute land.Just a few months later, Beijing finds itself trapped in a bitter wrangle between South Sudan and its former rulers in Sudan, with both countries pressing Beijing to take their side.
The dispute has cut off a significant source of oil to fuel China’s booming economy and imperiled billions of dollars in Chinese investments. It has also threatened Beijing’s diplomatic and economic relations with both the countries and strained the boundaries of a long-standing Chinese policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of other nations.
“This new reality has left China uncomfortably stuck in the middle of a tug of war,” said Zach Vertin, a Sudan analyst with the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit think tank. “Both sides have attempted to leverage the Chinese oil interest and draw them in line with their own interests.”
The saga playing out in one of the world’s poorest regions highlights the troubles an increasingly prosperous China faces as it tries to adjust to tumultuous change: from Sudan to Libya, Syria and Burma, Beijing has resisted what it portrays as Western-style meddling. But by staying on the sidelines, China has jeopardized its interests and image as a friend of the developing world. Many Arab nations, for example, were furious when China joined Russia in blocking United Nations action on Syria.
At the center of the struggle between the two Sudans is oil, which until last summer was controlled by Khartoum but which now lies mostly within the borders of the world’s newest state, the Republic of South Sudan. China is the biggest player in the oil industry on both sides of the frontier: It holds big stakes in the main oil fields in the south and in pipelines and other infrastructure in the north.
After years of providing diplomatic cover and weapons to a regime in Khartoum ostracized by the West, China must face up to a simple fact, said Pagan Amum, the secretary general of South Sudan’s ruling party: “The master has changed. It was Khartoum. Now it is Juba.”
China’s efforts to shift gears in Sudan began in 2005, with the signing of a peace deal between Khartoum and southern rebels. The agreement ended what was Africa’s longest civil war and paved the way for South Sudan’s independence in July. But officials today say that the Chinese have not done enough to erase suspicions rooted in Beijing’s long support for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, an indicted war-crimes suspect who used Chinese-supplied arms in trying to prevent the south from seceding.
South Sudan, which depends on oil for 98 percent of its revenue, insists that it wants to remain partners with China. But South Sudanese officials warn that if Beijing does not align its interests with their country, they will seek out U.S. and Western oil companies.
In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month after a trip to South Sudan, Hollywood star George Clooney, a longtime critic of Bashir’s regime, noted that China’s massive investment in Sudan makes Beijing crucial to settling continuing violence in the region. China, he said, has invested about $20 billion, but “right now they are getting nothing from this” because of feuding between Khartoum and Juba. Clooney and several members of Congress were later arrested during a protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington.
Khartoum, which depends heavily on Chinese investment, trade and aid, is determined to keep Beijing on its side. The government dispatched a senior envoy to Beijing last month and has exerted influence over Chinese-led oil consortiums, which pump most of their oil in the south but still need the north to get it to China.
The south has refused to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties for using Sudan’s pipelines, saying that the fees were exorbitant. Sudan responded by seizing oil tankers carrying South Sudanese crude and imposed a blockade on the export of the oil. Last month, South Sudan shut down its oil production, roughly 350,000 barrels a day, after accusing Sudan of stealing $815 million worth of its oil.
South Sudan says it will pay less than $1 a barrel in fees to transport oil through the north’s pipelines. Khartoum says it wants $36 a barrel and $1 billion in back payments. The two sides are even fighting in a London court, as South Sudan seeks to recover money from the sale of the seized crude.
South Sudan said recently that it intends to build a pipeline that would head south to Kenya. It is not clear who would fund such a massive project, but, if built, the pipeline would sharply reduce Juba’s dependence on the north — and the value of China’s huge investment in existing pipelines to Sudan’s Chinese-built oil export terminal on the Red Sea.
An old alliance under threat
It was inevitable that China would get tangled in the dispute. The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, has a big stake in most of the biggest oil concessions. The oil from both Sudans represents at least 5 percent of China’s global crude imports.
This is much less than what China imports from Angola but is still important, especially as it is produced mainly by Chinese companies that are controlled by the state and, thus, in Beijing’s view, are more reliable. Angola’s oil, by contrast, is largely pumped by Western companies.
China also has great leverage over Sudan. Beijing provides massive loans to the north; oil and trade bring in billions more in foreign currency, vital to run Sudan’s economy and to buy weapons.
CNPC, whose boss in Beijing is appointed by the ruling Communist Party, declined to comment for this report. The company requested and received written questions but did not respond. In public comments, Chinese officials have sought to maintain neutrality, saying that both Sudans “can only achieve common development through peaceful co-existence.”
In Juba, officials stressed that China should make greater efforts to persuade Khartoum to accept South Sudan’s position. “We are not asking China to help us. We are asking China to help itself with its friend,” Amum said. He made clear that Juba would no longer tolerate China’s alliance with Khartoum.
“They are used to looking north,” he said. “They are now being told to turn around, southward.”
There are signs that China’s previously rock-solid support for Khartoum might be softening. In a recent interview with Qatar’s al-Raya newspaper, Bashir complained that Beijing had cancelled a loan to his government for a big agricultural development project. China pulled out, the Sudanese president said, because Khartoum was due to repay the money with oil shipments, which had been disrupted by the south’s independence.
Even so, it is unlikely, analysts said, that China would jilt Khartoum for Juba — that would probably alarm other repressive and corrupt regimes, such as those in Angola and Equatorial Guinea, where China has forged highly profitable oil relationships.
“The Chinese are not going to throw away old friends,” Vertin said. “They won’t abandon Sudan. That would be a bad precedent for them.”
Sudan also has some powerful and so far loyal friends in Beijing, though how long this lasts may depend as much on the labyrinthine internal politics of the Communist Party as events in Africa. One of Khartoum’s biggest backers in Beijing for years has been Zhou Yongkang, a member of the party’s Politburo Standing Committee responsible for security. In recent days, however, rumors — all unconfirmed — have swirled in Beijing that Zhou is in deep political trouble after the purge last week of a senior party official with whom he is thought to have been allied.
Zhou used to be the head of CNPC, the state oil company, and led its push into Sudan’s oil sector in the 1990s after American and other Western companies pulled out. He has visited Khartoum repeatedly.
China’s predicament
Amid mounting anger in Juba over China’s continuing coziness with Khartoum, South Sudan on Feb. 20 expelled Liu Yingcai, the head of Petrodar, a consortium that is majority owned by CNPC.
In a letter, the Juba government accused Liu of colluding with Khartoum to steal South Sudan’s oil and of not fully cooperating with orders to shut down oil production. Petrodar, in a statement, denied the allegations. The consortium said it had ordered staff members “not to comply with the forced lifting” of oil, which it said was done by members of Sudan’s national security forces.
Now, South Sudan has launched an investigation of Petrodar to determine the extent of its role in the oil theft. Juba is also probing the actions of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co., an oil consortium that is 40 percent owned by China and that also may have helped Khartoum steal oil. If the consortiums are found sufficiently guilty, Amum said, their contracts could be terminated.
“It will be an opportunity for others, with possibly even better technology, to come in,” Amum said. “If the Chinese are not with us, we will have another very good story, too. With the Chinese or with others, we will prosper.”
As tensions between the two Sudans grow, China’s predicament becomes more precarious. Last month, Sudan allegedly bombed an oil field at El Nar in South Sudan, nine miles from the jagged, contested border between the two countries, sending Chinese and other foreign workers maintaining the oil wells scrambling for their lives.
“They bombed this place because of the oil,” said Miakol Lual, a local tribal chief. The attack destroyed portions of the oil infrastructure.
“It’s a message to all foreigners: ‘You deal with us, not the other side,’ ” said a foreign supervisor who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media. Khartoum has denied attacking the field.
In Juba, Chinese expatriates are growing anxious. In January, rebels linked to South Sudan kidnapped 29 Chinese workers in Sudan, releasing them last month. The Chinese Embassy has ordered all its nationals to stay in at night and not discuss anything sensitive with locals.
“Everyone is worried about the situation,” said a Chinese telecommunications worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared he would get fired. “If things get worse, we have made preparations to move out of here.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/china-in-a-tug-of-war-between-two-sudans/2012/03/07/gIQAQUUrWS_print.html
20 March 2012
George Clooney Puts 'Spotlight' on Bloodshed, Crisis in Sudan's Nuba Mountains & George Clooney on Sudan: 'It Gets in Your Bloodstream' 14MAR12 &Updated: Clooney Arrested at DC Protest (Video)16MAR12
HERE'S the climax to a week of PR bringing the plight of the people of the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan and Blue Nile in Sudan who are being bombed and starved by the president od Sudan, omar al-bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur and South Sudan. Check out the piece from PBS' News Hour and the coverage from Sojourners on the protest and arrest at the Sudanese Embassy in D.C. in 16MAR12.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/03/george-clooney-on-sudan.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyFe8l6V59A&feature=colike
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, an update on the continued fighting in the African nation of Sudan and a well-known visitor to that country.
Last summer, people in South Sudan celebrated as they became citizens of the world's newest nation. After decades of internal violence in Sudan, the South won its independence in a 2011 referendum. But the South's hard-won freedom hasn't stopped the fighting for oil-rich territory and over ethnic divisions. Sudan is a major oil supplier to China and other nations.
Shortly before the formal break, the Sudanese government took military action in the border areas of Abyei and South Kordofan. That region had been aligned with the South, but now lies north of the new border. Fighting there has continued, with growing appeals for world action.
Actor George Clooney is a longtime advocate for peace across Sudan. He visited the border region this past week.
GEORGE CLOONEY, actor: I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: At a U.S. Senate hearing today, Clooney described repeated rocket attacks, and said they amount to war crimes.
GEORGE CLOONEY: But what it does is, it creates this environment of fear. Every time you hear the sounds of those engines -- and it takes about five minutes for them to get there, and they circle. Every time you hear the sound, everyone runs and runs to the hills.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Clooney appeared at the hearing with human rights activist John Prendergast. He's a co-founder of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide advocacy group.
Prendergast spoke of new awareness of global human rights issues.
JOHN PRENDERGAST, Enough Project: And, therefore, we don't have real opponents here, except for just indifference or often ignorance. People just don't know. So the thing that I find exciting about the first 10 years of the 21st century of activism is the chance through social media and other fora to create real partnerships. between all these wonderful non-governmental organizations that are working so diligently on these issues.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I spoke with Clooney and Prendergast at a Washington studio this afternoon following the Senate hearing.
George Clooney, John Prendergast, thank you very much for talking with us.
GEORGE CLOONEY: Thank you very much.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, you've been consumed with this issue for a long time. You have been interested in Sudan for years. This is your sixth trip there.
George Clooney, why is this so important to you? There're so many parts of the planet that are in conflict, where people are suffering. And why this trip?
GEORGE CLOONEY: Sure.
Well, before we talk about this trip, initially, you know, when you're in the position I'm in, part of your job is to try and shine a late in areas. I'm not a policy-maker. My job is to try and bring attention to places that don't have it.
This -- when I started reading Nick Kristof articles in The New York Times in 2005 about what was going on, it seemed like this was a place where bringing a spotlight could actually have some effect, or at least there wasn't enough of a spotlight on it. So I got involved because of that.
And over time -- that was Darfur. And over time, it just sort of spread into working with the Sudanese people in general. It gets in your bloodstream, and you have a responsibility to them. And you have to continue to go back.
This trip in particular was important to us because there is violence, first of all, going on against civilians in the Nuba Mountains. And there's also a ticking time clock of danger, which is -- as the rainy season comes. And these people are hiding in caves because they're being bombed. They're unable to grow any crops. And they're not going to be able to get crops to them, or food to them because of the roads when it starts to rain.
And there's a very good possibility of a lot of people starving to death.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And in the video we were just showing, they're genuinely scared. I mean, the bombings are very real to them.
GEORGE CLOONEY: It's an interesting thing. People -- sometimes you'll see -- in recent news articles, you'll hear about the Nuba Mountains, and you will see all these people in these caves, and some people sort of assume this is the cave people of Nuba.
They're not. They live in villages. They are the oldest society on Earth, if you read the Bible. They've been living there a long time. And they're hiding in those caves because, every single day, Antonovs are coming by and dropping bombs on them. And if they're not killing them, they're hurting them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: John Prendergast, you hold the government of Sudan, President Bashir, responsible. Any doubt in your mind that they're behind this?
JOHN PRENDERGAST: Well, it's a pattern. It's the way they fight wars.
We have seen a war between the government in Sudan in the southern part of Sudan, the southern third of Sudan, which went on for 20 years and cost two-and-a-quarter-million lives. The way the government in Khartoum fought that war and the way they fought the war in Darfur and the way they're fighting a war now in Nuba Mountains, where we just came back from, is that -- has used the exact same tactics.
It's attack the civilian population. It's the oldest strategy in the book, drain the water to catch the fish, the fish being the rebels, the water being the people. If you clear the people off the land, either killing them or displacing them, it's much easier to take the land and win a war.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, briefly, what are you asking him to do, him and the other people around him who are behind this?
JOHN PRENDERGAST: Well, in the first instance, we'd like to see him held accountable for the crimes against humanity that he's committed. And so we'd love to see at some point someone execute the arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court has issued for him.
If that doesn't work, though, in the immediate term, to save lives now, a diplomatic process that leads to a peace -- a comprehensive peace agreement that allows for transformation in Sudan and peace in Sudan.
GEORGE CLOONEY: Or at least, at least, at the very least, a humanitarian corridors so that we can get some aid to these people before they die, because that's -- there is a bigger issue that we have to address, because we can't just keep putting Band-Aids on this. But there's a Band-Aid that's going to be needed pretty quickly.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And you, you're talking about putting the squeeze on the government, the Khartoum government, getting the Chinese involved. Why is it in their interest to help?
GEORGE CLOONEY: Well, it's easy.
China has built about a $20 billion infrastructure in oil, oil rigs, pipelines, refineries, in -- mostly in Southern Sudan, where most of the oil is. Right now, for instance, the South, who has the oil, and the North, who gets it in the refinery and then keeps most of it and keeps the money and buys bombs and bombers and equipment to actually attack the South or the -- or Abyei and other regions, the South just turned off all the oil.
Now, a lot of people think that's bad for both. But who it's really bad for is China, who gets 6 percent of their oil imported from the Sudan. Now, when they're not getting it from there, they have got to go get it somewhere else.
China has a vested interest in this being solved. For the first time, we can go to China and not try to play on humanitarian issues and not to say let's play to your better angels. Let's talk about, maybe we can all work together to try and figure out a way to influence the government of Khartoum for you economically.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And when -- and, John Prendergast, when the government of Khartoum is losing billions of dollars of revenue in oil, what's in it for them to resolve this?
JOHN PRENDERGAST: So that they can get -- turn the oil tap back on.
There's a tremendous -- this moment where both the government in Khartoum and the government in Juba, in Sudan and South Sudan, are in a very, very serious hurt. And over the next few months, as their reserves, their foreign reserves shrink and their currency depreciates, hyperinflation is going to result. And that will put both of the regimes at political risk. So they have a vested interest in getting a deal done.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, George Clooney, you've tied this to gas prices right here in this country. Would resolving something in one country in the middle of the continent of Africa really affect gas prices here?
GEORGE CLOONEY: Well, listen, here's what happened.
President Obama gave a press conference a week ago, and there was a political question about the gas prices. And he said, well, there's a lot of reasons. There's speculation and speculators. There's the questions of security in Iran or our continued dealings with Iran. And there's also the Sudan has turned off the oil.
So, yes, and here's Sen. Lugar. So it's not a political question. Sen. Lugar today brought it up and said the exact same thing.
The truth of the matter is this. If China is not getting that 6 percent of the oil, then they're going to the same places we go to get that oil. And that raises the price. So there's no question about the fact that it does raise the price.
For me, as an activist, or as an advocate, it gives me the ability -- when people say, well, what's this got to do with us, it gives me the ability to say, well, actually, now it has a lot to do with us. For the first time, we're able to say that, based on this subject.
JUDY WOODRUFF: George Clooney, John Prendergast, thank you very much for talking with us.
GEORGE CLOONEY: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And you can watch more of our interview with George Clooney and John Prendergast online.
With violence putting people in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan in peril, actor and human rights activist George Clooney said Wednesday in an interview with the NewsHour's Judy Woodruff that it was only right to bring attention to the area.
Clooney has visited Sudan multiple times over the years and met with the people there. "It gets in your bloodstream and you have a responsibility to them," he told Woodruff after testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Woodruff's interview with Clooney and John Prendergast, co-founder of advocacy group the Enough Project, airs Wednesday evening on the NewsHour.
George Clooney on Sudan: 'It Gets in Your Bloodstream' 14MAR12
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/03/george-clooney-on-sudan.html
Ethnic disputes in the Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile regions along the Sudan-South Sudan border are causing Sudanese to flee to refugee camps in South Sudan.
The fighting between Sudanese government forces and rebels is forcing thousands of people to seek shelter in the caves of the Nuba Mountains, where Clooney and Prendergast visited earlier this week.
When looking at news reports, "some people assume this is the 'cave people' of Nuba. They're not. They're hiding in those caves," Clooney said.
Prendergast said he and other activists want Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to be held accountable for his alleged war crimes and appear in front of the International Criminal Court.
More Coverage:
NewsHour special correspondent Tom Bearden reported in March 2011 on how the Satellite Sentinel project's images captured troop movements and evidence of destruction in villages along the border of Sudan and South Sudan:
We also examined what's behind the Sudan-South Sudan oil dispute.
Actor
George Clooney was arrested along with his father and several U.S.
congressmen during a protest outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington,
D.C. Friday morning.
Clooney and his father, Nick, spoke along with a delegation of faith leaders, politicians and nonprofit heads outside the embassy before being arrested for trespassing.
Clooney has been in Washington, D.C., much of the week advocating on behalf of Sudan--where he recently visited with Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast. He recorded his findings there, including the bombing of civilians in Sudan's Nuba Mountains. Clooney says Sudanese officials are blocking humanitarian aid to the region, effectively starving its people.
"Immediately, we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," Clooney said Friday. "The second thing we're here to ask ... is for the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them and stop starving them."
Clooney testified before Congress Wednesday, speaking about the tragedy and and calling for the end of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's blockade on humanitarian aid.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) introduced legislation last week that calls for ending human rights abuses and promoting democratic change in Sudan. The Sudan Peace, Security and Accountability Act of 2012 would require the administration to create a comprehensive strategy for Sudan, adress the humanitarian crisis, engage with other countries like China--which holds oil stake in Sudan, sanction governments that support Sudanese leadership, and create benchmarks for removing sanctions once the attacks end.
McGovern and Prendergast, along with congressmen Al Green (D-Texas), Jim Moran (D-Va.) and John Olver (D-Mass.); Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous and other religious and activist leaders also were arrested Friday after protesting on the Sudanese Embassy grounds.
On Thursday in an interview with CBN, Clooney lauded the work of Christian organizations in aiding the crisis in Sudan.
"They lead the work a lot of times here," he told CBN. "When we were at the Darfur rally it was ministers. It was a lot of people of faith that had been working very hard on this....So in some ways I'm trying to honor whatever part I can in the hard work that they do because I'm a big fan of all of the work that's being done," he added. "And people really put their hearts and souls in it."
Clooney also credited CBN founder Pat Robertson for speaking out against the Sudanese government, saying, "When Bono was doing his 'One' campaign, that's when I met Pat Robertson. I said to Bono, 'Who do you have from sort of the Christian world?' And he was like, 'I don't know.' And I said, 'What about Pat Robertson?'..."So I called him (Robertson) up, and I said, 'Listen, we're not going to agree on too many things, but there's no two sides to this issue, and you and I can work together on this. And he said great. And he's been terrific on this."
Sandi Villarreal is Associate Web Editor at Sojourners. Follow Sandi on Twitter @Sandi.
Nicole Higgins is an adminitrative assistant at Sojourners. Nicole was born in Jamaica but grew up in the central Florida area, and later studied psychology at Mercer University in Georgia. Most recently, she completed her master's degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, studying urban work and international development. Follow Nicole on Twitter @RareBlackBirds.
http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/03/16/updated-clooney-arrested-dc-protest-video/
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, an update on the continued fighting in the African nation of Sudan and a well-known visitor to that country.
Last summer, people in South Sudan celebrated as they became citizens of the world's newest nation. After decades of internal violence in Sudan, the South won its independence in a 2011 referendum. But the South's hard-won freedom hasn't stopped the fighting for oil-rich territory and over ethnic divisions. Sudan is a major oil supplier to China and other nations.
Shortly before the formal break, the Sudanese government took military action in the border areas of Abyei and South Kordofan. That region had been aligned with the South, but now lies north of the new border. Fighting there has continued, with growing appeals for world action.
Actor George Clooney is a longtime advocate for peace across Sudan. He visited the border region this past week.
GEORGE CLOONEY, actor: I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: At a U.S. Senate hearing today, Clooney described repeated rocket attacks, and said they amount to war crimes.
GEORGE CLOONEY: But what it does is, it creates this environment of fear. Every time you hear the sounds of those engines -- and it takes about five minutes for them to get there, and they circle. Every time you hear the sound, everyone runs and runs to the hills.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Clooney appeared at the hearing with human rights activist John Prendergast. He's a co-founder of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide advocacy group.
Prendergast spoke of new awareness of global human rights issues.
JOHN PRENDERGAST, Enough Project: And, therefore, we don't have real opponents here, except for just indifference or often ignorance. People just don't know. So the thing that I find exciting about the first 10 years of the 21st century of activism is the chance through social media and other fora to create real partnerships. between all these wonderful non-governmental organizations that are working so diligently on these issues.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I spoke with Clooney and Prendergast at a Washington studio this afternoon following the Senate hearing.
George Clooney, John Prendergast, thank you very much for talking with us.
GEORGE CLOONEY: Thank you very much.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, you've been consumed with this issue for a long time. You have been interested in Sudan for years. This is your sixth trip there.
George Clooney, why is this so important to you? There're so many parts of the planet that are in conflict, where people are suffering. And why this trip?
GEORGE CLOONEY: Sure.
Well, before we talk about this trip, initially, you know, when you're in the position I'm in, part of your job is to try and shine a late in areas. I'm not a policy-maker. My job is to try and bring attention to places that don't have it.
This -- when I started reading Nick Kristof articles in The New York Times in 2005 about what was going on, it seemed like this was a place where bringing a spotlight could actually have some effect, or at least there wasn't enough of a spotlight on it. So I got involved because of that.
And over time -- that was Darfur. And over time, it just sort of spread into working with the Sudanese people in general. It gets in your bloodstream, and you have a responsibility to them. And you have to continue to go back.
This trip in particular was important to us because there is violence, first of all, going on against civilians in the Nuba Mountains. And there's also a ticking time clock of danger, which is -- as the rainy season comes. And these people are hiding in caves because they're being bombed. They're unable to grow any crops. And they're not going to be able to get crops to them, or food to them because of the roads when it starts to rain.
And there's a very good possibility of a lot of people starving to death.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And in the video we were just showing, they're genuinely scared. I mean, the bombings are very real to them.
GEORGE CLOONEY: It's an interesting thing. People -- sometimes you'll see -- in recent news articles, you'll hear about the Nuba Mountains, and you will see all these people in these caves, and some people sort of assume this is the cave people of Nuba.
They're not. They live in villages. They are the oldest society on Earth, if you read the Bible. They've been living there a long time. And they're hiding in those caves because, every single day, Antonovs are coming by and dropping bombs on them. And if they're not killing them, they're hurting them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: John Prendergast, you hold the government of Sudan, President Bashir, responsible. Any doubt in your mind that they're behind this?
JOHN PRENDERGAST: Well, it's a pattern. It's the way they fight wars.
We have seen a war between the government in Sudan in the southern part of Sudan, the southern third of Sudan, which went on for 20 years and cost two-and-a-quarter-million lives. The way the government in Khartoum fought that war and the way they fought the war in Darfur and the way they're fighting a war now in Nuba Mountains, where we just came back from, is that -- has used the exact same tactics.
It's attack the civilian population. It's the oldest strategy in the book, drain the water to catch the fish, the fish being the rebels, the water being the people. If you clear the people off the land, either killing them or displacing them, it's much easier to take the land and win a war.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, briefly, what are you asking him to do, him and the other people around him who are behind this?
JOHN PRENDERGAST: Well, in the first instance, we'd like to see him held accountable for the crimes against humanity that he's committed. And so we'd love to see at some point someone execute the arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court has issued for him.
If that doesn't work, though, in the immediate term, to save lives now, a diplomatic process that leads to a peace -- a comprehensive peace agreement that allows for transformation in Sudan and peace in Sudan.
GEORGE CLOONEY: Or at least, at least, at the very least, a humanitarian corridors so that we can get some aid to these people before they die, because that's -- there is a bigger issue that we have to address, because we can't just keep putting Band-Aids on this. But there's a Band-Aid that's going to be needed pretty quickly.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And you, you're talking about putting the squeeze on the government, the Khartoum government, getting the Chinese involved. Why is it in their interest to help?
GEORGE CLOONEY: Well, it's easy.
China has built about a $20 billion infrastructure in oil, oil rigs, pipelines, refineries, in -- mostly in Southern Sudan, where most of the oil is. Right now, for instance, the South, who has the oil, and the North, who gets it in the refinery and then keeps most of it and keeps the money and buys bombs and bombers and equipment to actually attack the South or the -- or Abyei and other regions, the South just turned off all the oil.
Now, a lot of people think that's bad for both. But who it's really bad for is China, who gets 6 percent of their oil imported from the Sudan. Now, when they're not getting it from there, they have got to go get it somewhere else.
China has a vested interest in this being solved. For the first time, we can go to China and not try to play on humanitarian issues and not to say let's play to your better angels. Let's talk about, maybe we can all work together to try and figure out a way to influence the government of Khartoum for you economically.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And when -- and, John Prendergast, when the government of Khartoum is losing billions of dollars of revenue in oil, what's in it for them to resolve this?
JOHN PRENDERGAST: So that they can get -- turn the oil tap back on.
There's a tremendous -- this moment where both the government in Khartoum and the government in Juba, in Sudan and South Sudan, are in a very, very serious hurt. And over the next few months, as their reserves, their foreign reserves shrink and their currency depreciates, hyperinflation is going to result. And that will put both of the regimes at political risk. So they have a vested interest in getting a deal done.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, George Clooney, you've tied this to gas prices right here in this country. Would resolving something in one country in the middle of the continent of Africa really affect gas prices here?
GEORGE CLOONEY: Well, listen, here's what happened.
President Obama gave a press conference a week ago, and there was a political question about the gas prices. And he said, well, there's a lot of reasons. There's speculation and speculators. There's the questions of security in Iran or our continued dealings with Iran. And there's also the Sudan has turned off the oil.
So, yes, and here's Sen. Lugar. So it's not a political question. Sen. Lugar today brought it up and said the exact same thing.
The truth of the matter is this. If China is not getting that 6 percent of the oil, then they're going to the same places we go to get that oil. And that raises the price. So there's no question about the fact that it does raise the price.
For me, as an activist, or as an advocate, it gives me the ability -- when people say, well, what's this got to do with us, it gives me the ability to say, well, actually, now it has a lot to do with us. For the first time, we're able to say that, based on this subject.
JUDY WOODRUFF: George Clooney, John Prendergast, thank you very much for talking with us.
GEORGE CLOONEY: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And you can watch more of our interview with George Clooney and John Prendergast online.
With violence putting people in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan in peril, actor and human rights activist George Clooney said Wednesday in an interview with the NewsHour's Judy Woodruff that it was only right to bring attention to the area.
Clooney has visited Sudan multiple times over the years and met with the people there. "It gets in your bloodstream and you have a responsibility to them," he told Woodruff after testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Woodruff's interview with Clooney and John Prendergast, co-founder of advocacy group the Enough Project, airs Wednesday evening on the NewsHour.
George Clooney on Sudan: 'It Gets in Your Bloodstream' 14MAR12
Ethnic disputes in the Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile regions along the Sudan-South Sudan border are causing Sudanese to flee to refugee camps in South Sudan.The fighting between Sudanese government forces and rebels is forcing thousands of people to seek shelter in the caves of the Nuba Mountains, where Clooney and Prendergast visited earlier this week.
When looking at news reports, "some people assume this is the 'cave people' of Nuba. They're not. They're hiding in those caves," Clooney said.
Prendergast said he and other activists want Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to be held accountable for his alleged war crimes and appear in front of the International Criminal Court.
More Coverage:
NewsHour special correspondent Tom Bearden reported in March 2011 on how the Satellite Sentinel project's images captured troop movements and evidence of destruction in villages along the border of Sudan and South Sudan:
We also examined what's behind the Sudan-South Sudan oil dispute.
Updated: Clooney Arrested at DC Protest (Video)
George Clooney and father, Nick, speak at Sudan protest. (Photo by Sandi Villarreal, Sojourners)
Clooney and his father, Nick, spoke along with a delegation of faith leaders, politicians and nonprofit heads outside the embassy before being arrested for trespassing.
Clooney has been in Washington, D.C., much of the week advocating on behalf of Sudan--where he recently visited with Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast. He recorded his findings there, including the bombing of civilians in Sudan's Nuba Mountains. Clooney says Sudanese officials are blocking humanitarian aid to the region, effectively starving its people.
"Immediately, we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," Clooney said Friday. "The second thing we're here to ask ... is for the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them and stop starving them."
Clooney testified before Congress Wednesday, speaking about the tragedy and and calling for the end of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's blockade on humanitarian aid.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) introduced legislation last week that calls for ending human rights abuses and promoting democratic change in Sudan. The Sudan Peace, Security and Accountability Act of 2012 would require the administration to create a comprehensive strategy for Sudan, adress the humanitarian crisis, engage with other countries like China--which holds oil stake in Sudan, sanction governments that support Sudanese leadership, and create benchmarks for removing sanctions once the attacks end.
McGovern and Prendergast, along with congressmen Al Green (D-Texas), Jim Moran (D-Va.) and John Olver (D-Mass.); Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous and other religious and activist leaders also were arrested Friday after protesting on the Sudanese Embassy grounds.
On Thursday in an interview with CBN, Clooney lauded the work of Christian organizations in aiding the crisis in Sudan.
"They lead the work a lot of times here," he told CBN. "When we were at the Darfur rally it was ministers. It was a lot of people of faith that had been working very hard on this....So in some ways I'm trying to honor whatever part I can in the hard work that they do because I'm a big fan of all of the work that's being done," he added. "And people really put their hearts and souls in it."
Clooney also credited CBN founder Pat Robertson for speaking out against the Sudanese government, saying, "When Bono was doing his 'One' campaign, that's when I met Pat Robertson. I said to Bono, 'Who do you have from sort of the Christian world?' And he was like, 'I don't know.' And I said, 'What about Pat Robertson?'..."So I called him (Robertson) up, and I said, 'Listen, we're not going to agree on too many things, but there's no two sides to this issue, and you and I can work together on this. And he said great. And he's been terrific on this."
Sandi Villarreal is Associate Web Editor at Sojourners. Follow Sandi on Twitter @Sandi.
Nicole Higgins is an adminitrative assistant at Sojourners. Nicole was born in Jamaica but grew up in the central Florida area, and later studied psychology at Mercer University in Georgia. Most recently, she completed her master's degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, studying urban work and international development. Follow Nicole on Twitter @RareBlackBirds.
http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/03/16/updated-clooney-arrested-dc-protest-video/
09 July 2011
A new flag raised: South Sudan celebrates birth before world leaders as thousands celebrate 9JUL11
GOD BLESS these people, and I hope and pray real peace comes to the region soon, and that this new country develop a society, government and economy that respects the human rights of all it's citizens and is democratic, transparent and works for the benefit of all.
South Sudan became the world’s newest country Saturday with a raucous street party at midnight. At a packed midday ceremony, the speaker of parliament read a proclamation of independence as the flag of Sudan was lowered and the flag of South Sudan was raised, sparking wild cheers from a crowd tens of thousands strong.
“Hallelujah!” one resident yelled, as other onlookers wiped away tears.
The U.S. and Britain announced their recognition of South Sudan as a sovereign nation. President Barack Obama said the day was a reminder that “after the darkness of war, the light of a new dawn is possible.”
“A proud flag flies over Juba and the map of the world has been redrawn,” Obama said in a statement. “These symbols speak to the blood that has been spilled, the tears that have been shed, the ballots that have been cast, and the hopes that have been realized by so many millions of people.”
The noon-hour ceremony hosted by Salva Kiir, who was sworn in as South Sudan’s president, took place under a blazing hot sun. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, a deeply unpopular man in Juba, arrived to a mixture of boos and surprised murmurs.
“Wow, this is a great day for me because it’s a day that reflects the suffering that all southerners have had for almost 50 years,” said David Aleu, a 24-year-old medical student.
Thousands of South Sudan residents thronged the celebration area, and organizers soon learned they did not have enough seats for all the visiting heads of state and other VIPs. The heat was strong enough that Red Cross workers attended to many people who fainted.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and the American envoy at Saturday’s celebration, urged South Sudan residents and leaders to build a country worthy of the sacrifice of all the lives lost during the five decades of conflict.
“Independence was not a gift you were given. Independence is a prize you have won,” she said. “Yet even on this day of jubilee we remain mindful of the challenges that await us. No true friend would offer false comfort. The path ahead will be steep... but the Republic of South Sudan is being born amid great hopes.”
The black African tribes of South Sudan and the mainly Arab north battled two civil wars over more than five decades, and some 2 million died in the latest war, from 1983-2005. It culminated in a 2005 peace deal that led to Saturday’s independence declaration.
Thousands of South Sudanese poured into the ceremonial arena when gates opened. Traditional dancers drummed in the streets as residents waved tiny flags. Activists from the western Sudan region of Darfur, which has suffered heavy violence the past decades, held up a sign that said “Bashir is wanted dead or alive.” Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointedly noted in his speech that Sudan and South Sudan have not yet resolved all of their political issues. The status of the contentious border region of Abyei — where northern and southern troops are standing off — remains in flux. South Kordofan, which is a part of the north but which has many southern supporters, has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks.
“Let their differences be resolved around the negotiating table,” Ban said.
South Sudan is expected to become the 193rd country recognized by the United Nations next week and the 54th U.N. member state in Africa.
Though Saturday is a day of celebration, residents of South Sudan must soon face many challenges. Their country is oil-rich but is one of the poorest and least-developed on Earth. Unresolved problems between the south and its former foe to the north could mean new conflict along the new international border, advocates and diplomats warn.
Violence has broken out in the contested border region of Abyei in recent weeks, and fighting is ongoing in Southern Kordofan, a state that lies in Sudan — not South Sudan — but which has many residents loyal to the south. The 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) north-south border is disputed in five areas, several of which are being illegally occupied by either northern or southern troops.
Obama said that South Sudan and Sudan must recognize that they will be more secure and prosperous if they move beyond past differences peacefully. He said the 2005 peace deal — the Comprehensive Peace Agreement — must be full implemented and the status of Abyei resolved.
The young government faces the huge challenge of reforming its bloated and often predatory army, diversifying its oil-based economy, and deciding how political power will be distributed among the dozens of ethnic and military factions. It must also begin delivering basic needs such as education, health services, water and electricity to its more than 8 million citizens.
While South Sudan is now expected to control of more than 75 percent of what was Sudan’s daily oil production, it has no refineries and southern oil must flow through the north’s pipelines to reach market.
But for Saturday, at least, those problems lay on the back burner. Smiles, singing and dancing instead took precedence.
Adut Monica Joseph waited for the ceremony with her sister and uncle as world leaders arrived. She said she looked forward to a day when women in South Sudan don’t face the hardships they have in recent decades. The risk to the mother of death during child birth is extremely high in the poor and underdeveloped rural south.
“I’m very grateful to see many people from other countries,” said the 22-year-old. “I’m appreciating that they have come to celebrate with us. I hope when we have independence we shall have freedom and education for women.”
___
Associated Press writer Jason Straziuso in Kenya, Nairobi contributed to this report.
JUBA, South Sudan — South Sudan raised the flag of its new nation for the first time Saturday, as thousands of South Sudanese citizens and dozens of international dignitaries swarmed the new country capital of Juba to celebrate the country’s birth.
South Sudan became the world’s newest country Saturday with a raucous street party at midnight. At a packed midday ceremony, the speaker of parliament read a proclamation of independence as the flag of Sudan was lowered and the flag of South Sudan was raised, sparking wild cheers from a crowd tens of thousands strong.
“Hallelujah!” one resident yelled, as other onlookers wiped away tears.
The U.S. and Britain announced their recognition of South Sudan as a sovereign nation. President Barack Obama said the day was a reminder that “after the darkness of war, the light of a new dawn is possible.”
“A proud flag flies over Juba and the map of the world has been redrawn,” Obama said in a statement. “These symbols speak to the blood that has been spilled, the tears that have been shed, the ballots that have been cast, and the hopes that have been realized by so many millions of people.”
The noon-hour ceremony hosted by Salva Kiir, who was sworn in as South Sudan’s president, took place under a blazing hot sun. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, a deeply unpopular man in Juba, arrived to a mixture of boos and surprised murmurs.
“Wow, this is a great day for me because it’s a day that reflects the suffering that all southerners have had for almost 50 years,” said David Aleu, a 24-year-old medical student.
Thousands of South Sudan residents thronged the celebration area, and organizers soon learned they did not have enough seats for all the visiting heads of state and other VIPs. The heat was strong enough that Red Cross workers attended to many people who fainted.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and the American envoy at Saturday’s celebration, urged South Sudan residents and leaders to build a country worthy of the sacrifice of all the lives lost during the five decades of conflict.
“Independence was not a gift you were given. Independence is a prize you have won,” she said. “Yet even on this day of jubilee we remain mindful of the challenges that await us. No true friend would offer false comfort. The path ahead will be steep... but the Republic of South Sudan is being born amid great hopes.”
The black African tribes of South Sudan and the mainly Arab north battled two civil wars over more than five decades, and some 2 million died in the latest war, from 1983-2005. It culminated in a 2005 peace deal that led to Saturday’s independence declaration.
Thousands of South Sudanese poured into the ceremonial arena when gates opened. Traditional dancers drummed in the streets as residents waved tiny flags. Activists from the western Sudan region of Darfur, which has suffered heavy violence the past decades, held up a sign that said “Bashir is wanted dead or alive.” Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointedly noted in his speech that Sudan and South Sudan have not yet resolved all of their political issues. The status of the contentious border region of Abyei — where northern and southern troops are standing off — remains in flux. South Kordofan, which is a part of the north but which has many southern supporters, has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks.
“Let their differences be resolved around the negotiating table,” Ban said.
South Sudan is expected to become the 193rd country recognized by the United Nations next week and the 54th U.N. member state in Africa.
Though Saturday is a day of celebration, residents of South Sudan must soon face many challenges. Their country is oil-rich but is one of the poorest and least-developed on Earth. Unresolved problems between the south and its former foe to the north could mean new conflict along the new international border, advocates and diplomats warn.
Violence has broken out in the contested border region of Abyei in recent weeks, and fighting is ongoing in Southern Kordofan, a state that lies in Sudan — not South Sudan — but which has many residents loyal to the south. The 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) north-south border is disputed in five areas, several of which are being illegally occupied by either northern or southern troops.
Obama said that South Sudan and Sudan must recognize that they will be more secure and prosperous if they move beyond past differences peacefully. He said the 2005 peace deal — the Comprehensive Peace Agreement — must be full implemented and the status of Abyei resolved.
The young government faces the huge challenge of reforming its bloated and often predatory army, diversifying its oil-based economy, and deciding how political power will be distributed among the dozens of ethnic and military factions. It must also begin delivering basic needs such as education, health services, water and electricity to its more than 8 million citizens.
While South Sudan is now expected to control of more than 75 percent of what was Sudan’s daily oil production, it has no refineries and southern oil must flow through the north’s pipelines to reach market.
But for Saturday, at least, those problems lay on the back burner. Smiles, singing and dancing instead took precedence.
Adut Monica Joseph waited for the ceremony with her sister and uncle as world leaders arrived. She said she looked forward to a day when women in South Sudan don’t face the hardships they have in recent decades. The risk to the mother of death during child birth is extremely high in the poor and underdeveloped rural south.
“I’m very grateful to see many people from other countries,” said the 22-year-old. “I’m appreciating that they have come to celebrate with us. I hope when we have independence we shall have freedom and education for women.”
___
Associated Press writer Jason Straziuso in Kenya, Nairobi contributed to this report.
04 March 2011
WHAT ABOUT DARFUR??? The President on Libya: "The Violence Must Stop; Muammar Gaddafi Has Lost the Legitimacy to Lead and He Must Leave"
THE hypocrisy of the Obama administration, many members of Congress, including sens john mccain r AZ and joe liebermann I CT, as well as that of the European Union, on violence against civilians in Libya is disgusting. Yes, governments should speak out against Gaddafi's violence against his people, sanctions should be imposed, the refugees from Libya should be provided for, a no fly zone should be declared and enforced and those committing crimes against humanity should be arrested and tried at the International Court in The Hague. What is so disgusting is the outrage is not out of any concern for the welfare of the Libyan people, it is out of concern for Europe's need for Libyan oil and natural gas. Omar Bashir has been waging a campaign of genocide (he has been charged for the crime by the International Court but not arrested) against the people of Darfur for over a decade and tens of thousands have been killed by the government forces of Sudan and their allies. Millions suffer in refugee camps lacking adequate provisions and security. The world, especially the industrialized nations, allow this to continue year after year because?????..... Darfur is not economically important to the G20. If genocide in Darfur was an economic threat to the profit margins of the corporations of the G20 and especially to the military-industrial complex in the U.S. it would have been stopped years ago and Bashir would have been arrested, tried and in prison.
The United States, and the entire world, continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people. The United States is helping to lead an international effort to deter further violence, put in place unprecedented sanctions to hold the Qaddafi government accountable, and support the aspirations of the Libyan people. We are also responding quickly to the urgent humanitarian needs that are developing.
Tens of thousands of people—from many different countries—are fleeing Libya, and we commend the governments of Tunisia and Egypt for their response, even as they go through their own political transitions. I have therefore approved the use of U.S. military aircraft to help move Egyptians who have fled to the Tunisian border to get back home to Egypt. I’ve authorized USAID to charter additional civilian aircraft to help people from other countries find their way home. And we’re supporting the efforts of international organizations to evacuate people as well.
I have also directed USAID to send humanitarian assistance teams to the Libyan border, so that they can work with the United Nations, NGOs and other international partners inside Libya to address the urgent needs of the Libyan people.
Going forward, we will continue to send a clear message: the violence must stop; Muammar Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave; those who perpetrate violence against the Libyan people will be held accountable; and the aspirations of the Libyan people for freedom, democracy and dignity must be met.
The United States, and the entire world, continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people. The United States is helping to lead an international effort to deter further violence, put in place unprecedented sanctions to hold the Qaddafi government accountable, and support the aspirations of the Libyan people. We are also responding quickly to the urgent humanitarian needs that are developing.THIS from NPR 3MAR11
Tens of thousands of people—from many different countries—are fleeing Libya, and we commend the governments of Tunisia and Egypt for their response, even as they go through their own political transitions. I have therefore approved the use of U.S. military aircraft to help move Egyptians who have fled to the Tunisian border to get back home to Egypt. I’ve authorized USAID to charter additional civilian aircraft to help people from other countries find their way home. And we’re supporting the efforts of international organizations to evacuate people as well.
I have also directed USAID to send humanitarian assistance teams to the Libyan border, so that they can work with the United Nations, NGOs and other international partners inside Libya to address the urgent needs of the Libyan people.
Going forward, we will continue to send a clear message: the violence must stop; Muammar Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave; those who perpetrate violence against the Libyan people will be held accountable; and the aspirations of the Libyan people for freedom, democracy and dignity must be met.
Obama's Tough Message For Gadhafi: 'He Must Leave'
Hussein Malla/AP
Celebrating victory in the battle for Brega, a Libyan rebel fighter takes aim at a burning vehicle that was used by troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.
President Obama issued his toughest warning yet to Libya's embattled regime on Thursday.
"The violence must stop," the President said . "Moammar Gadhafi has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave."
Speaking at a Washington, D.C., news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Obama said he's approved the use of U.S. military aircraft to help transport refugees fleeing Libya and hinted that using force in support of rebels is among "a whole range of options, military and non-military" that are being discussed.
"I don't want us hamstrung," he said. "I want us to be making our decisions based on what's going to be best for the Libyan people in consultation with the international community."
Rebels Bulking Up
The president's remarks come as Libyan rebels controlling the port of Brega bolstered their defenses around a strategic oil installation a day after rebuffing a major counteroffensive by forces loyal to Gadhafi.
The ragtag force of rebels, made up of mutinous army units and partisans, fanned out in pickup trucks armed with machine guns and rocket launchers to beef up positions around Brega. They said they need to regroup, restock, rearm and dig in defensively so that the city cannot be retaken.
"The rebels have managed to push out to another village just beyond Brega, and they're holding that line for now," NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reported.
She said that while government warplanes launched a new airstrike on the town Thursday morning, there appeared to be no pro-Gadhafi forces left after an all-out push to retake the town Wednesday.
Brega is the site of the country's second-largest petroleum and natural gas facility and has been under opposition control since last week. Oil production in Libya — a key source of light, sweet crude for refining into diesel fuel — has dropped precipitously since the revolt began Feb. 15.
In the battle for Brega, the rebels captured at least three teenagers who said they were from Niger, bolstering opposition claims that Gadhafi was hiring foreign mercenaries to fight against them.
Garcia-Navarro said the captives, one of whom appeared to be as young as 13 or 14, were paraded in front of a crowd of people Thursday. "The crowd here was extremely angry when they saw them," she said. "One of them got slapped around."
The teens "said they had been put on planes and given weapons to fight the pro-democracy rebels. ... They said that they had been promised money and that everything would be fine," she said.
Gadhafi is "crazy," Faraz Lashrush, a member of Libya's national rugby team and now a rebel fighter, told NPR.
"He's using children, you know ... using young people, he's bringing people from Africa to kill his own people," he said.
In the nearby opposition-held town of Ajdabiya, rebel fighters girded against any further attempts by government forces to retake control of the area. They reinforced the western gate with a tank, four rocket launchers and four truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns after the city was targeted by government warplanes Wednesday.
In the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, three of at least a dozen fighters killed Wednesday were buried. Hundreds of mourners chanted "Down with Gadhafi" as they laid the men in the ground.
"Our message to Gadhafi is we are coming and we will make Libya free," a man in the crowd, Sami Mosur, told The Associated Press. "He is a criminal. We are coming to him from Benghazi. We are coming from everywhere. He is a killer."
International Court Vows To Investigate
The fighting at Brega halted for now the regime's first counteroffensive on the opposition-held eastern half of the country. It also underlined the deadlock that Libya appears to have fallen into more than two weeks into its upheaval.
Gadhafi's forces seem unable to bring significant strength to dislodge rebels from the territory they hold. But the opposition does not have the capability to go on the offense against the Libyan leader's strongholds in the west, including Tripoli.
The relative lull Thursday came as the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court promised to investigate Gadhafi and his inner circle, including some of his sons, for possible crimes against humanity in the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said there would be "no impunity in Libya."
Moreno-Ocampo said Gadhafi's forces are alleged to have attacked peaceful demonstrators in several towns and cities. He said the court was using the opportunity "to put them on notice: If forces under their command commit crimes, they could be criminally responsible."
Moreno-Ocampo also warned that leaders of the Libyan opposition, who have seized weapons from the country's military, could be investigated if allegations were raised against them.
"No one has the authority to attack and massacre civilians," he said.
'Tents As Far As The Eye Can See'
As Libya edged closer to a full-fledged civil war, tens of thousands of people continued to pour across the borders into neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.
U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said that more than 180,000 people have reached the two borders. More than 77,300 have crossed east into Egypt, most of them Egyptians. A similar number have fled west into Tunisia, she said, but 30,000 were stuck at the border.
At one refugee camp on the Tunisian border, as many as 15,000 people were being temporarily housed, NPR's David Greene reported.
"The tents spread out as far as the eye can see," Greene said. "It doesn't seem like a situation of desperation right now, but U.N. officials say it could easily become that if the numbers keep growing."
In Geneva, U.S. Ambassador Betty King said the United States is giving $12 million to help with evacuations, and the U.N. has pledged $5 million to kick-start emergency efforts to help people fleeing the violence.
Britain and France both began airlifts Wednesday to help Egyptians stranded on the Libyan-Tunisian border get back home. The British planes, departing from the Tunisian city of Djerba, will help evacuate up to 8,800 Egyptian migrants to Cairo, Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Seeking to control the flow of people into Italy, Rome announced Thursday that it has decided to set up a refugee camp on the Tunisian border and may send in planes to airlift Egyptians to Cairo. Since the uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East began, thousands of migrants have arrived by boat in Italy, a major trade partner and one-time colonial master of Libya.
"We have a Plan B ready to handle an influx of migrants should they arrive," Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said.
Doubts On No-Fly Zone Over Libya
Libyan opposition leaders have been pleading with foreign powers to launch air strikes against Gadhafi's forces as the U.S. and other nations debate whether to impose a no-fly zone over the country.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Thursday that foreign military intervention in Libya would be counterproductive and called instead for additional sanctions.
Speaking with reporters at a meeting of European foreign ministers in Bratislava, Slovakia, Westerwelle said Germany's view is that military intervention "would be very counterproductive." He said it's crucial that any decision to impose a no-fly zone be discussed at the United Nations.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to play down the idea of a no-fly zone Wednesday, saying it would involve more than just enforcing a quarantine of Libyan airspace.
"Let's just call a spade a spade: A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses," Gates said. He added that the operation would require more warplanes than are on a single U.S. aircraft carrier.
So far, the uprising in Libya has sent world oil prices spiking to the highest levels in more than two years, above $100 per barrel. Libyan crude production has dropped from 1.6 million barrels per day — nearly 2 percent of world consumption — to as few as 600,000 barrels per day.
With reporting from Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Brega, Libya; David Greene in Tunisia; Sylvia Poggioli in Rome; and Teri Schultz in Brussels, Belgium. Material from The Associated Press was used in this story.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134224147/rebels-deploy-around-strategic-libyan-oil-port&sc=nl&cc=nh-20110304
"The violence must stop," the President said . "Moammar Gadhafi has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave."
"I don't want us hamstrung," he said. "I want us to be making our decisions based on what's going to be best for the Libyan people in consultation with the international community."
Rebels Bulking Up
The president's remarks come as Libyan rebels controlling the port of Brega bolstered their defenses around a strategic oil installation a day after rebuffing a major counteroffensive by forces loyal to Gadhafi.
The ragtag force of rebels, made up of mutinous army units and partisans, fanned out in pickup trucks armed with machine guns and rocket launchers to beef up positions around Brega. They said they need to regroup, restock, rearm and dig in defensively so that the city cannot be retaken.
Hussein Malla/AP
New Libyan rebel recruits flashed the "V" for victory sign as they stood in formation Thursday at a training base in Benghazi.
She said that while government warplanes launched a new airstrike on the town Thursday morning, there appeared to be no pro-Gadhafi forces left after an all-out push to retake the town Wednesday.
Brega is the site of the country's second-largest petroleum and natural gas facility and has been under opposition control since last week. Oil production in Libya — a key source of light, sweet crude for refining into diesel fuel — has dropped precipitously since the revolt began Feb. 15.
In the battle for Brega, the rebels captured at least three teenagers who said they were from Niger, bolstering opposition claims that Gadhafi was hiring foreign mercenaries to fight against them.
Garcia-Navarro said the captives, one of whom appeared to be as young as 13 or 14, were paraded in front of a crowd of people Thursday. "The crowd here was extremely angry when they saw them," she said. "One of them got slapped around."
The teens "said they had been put on planes and given weapons to fight the pro-democracy rebels. ... They said that they had been promised money and that everything would be fine," she said.
Gadhafi is "crazy," Faraz Lashrush, a member of Libya's national rugby team and now a rebel fighter, told NPR.
"He's using children, you know ... using young people, he's bringing people from Africa to kill his own people," he said.
In the nearby opposition-held town of Ajdabiya, rebel fighters girded against any further attempts by government forces to retake control of the area. They reinforced the western gate with a tank, four rocket launchers and four truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns after the city was targeted by government warplanes Wednesday.
Related NPR Stories
Gadhafi's Dream To Wear Africa's Crown
The Libyan leader has had a checkered relationship with the African continent over the years. A No-Fly Zone: 'This Is Not A Simple Operation'
It would essentially be an American invasion from the sky, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says.
"Our message to Gadhafi is we are coming and we will make Libya free," a man in the crowd, Sami Mosur, told The Associated Press. "He is a criminal. We are coming to him from Benghazi. We are coming from everywhere. He is a killer."
International Court Vows To Investigate
The fighting at Brega halted for now the regime's first counteroffensive on the opposition-held eastern half of the country. It also underlined the deadlock that Libya appears to have fallen into more than two weeks into its upheaval.
Gadhafi's forces seem unable to bring significant strength to dislodge rebels from the territory they hold. But the opposition does not have the capability to go on the offense against the Libyan leader's strongholds in the west, including Tripoli.
The relative lull Thursday came as the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court promised to investigate Gadhafi and his inner circle, including some of his sons, for possible crimes against humanity in the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said there would be "no impunity in Libya."
Moreno-Ocampo said Gadhafi's forces are alleged to have attacked peaceful demonstrators in several towns and cities. He said the court was using the opportunity "to put them on notice: If forces under their command commit crimes, they could be criminally responsible."
Moreno-Ocampo also warned that leaders of the Libyan opposition, who have seized weapons from the country's military, could be investigated if allegations were raised against them.
"No one has the authority to attack and massacre civilians," he said.
'Tents As Far As The Eye Can See'
As Libya edged closer to a full-fledged civil war, tens of thousands of people continued to pour across the borders into neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.
U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said that more than 180,000 people have reached the two borders. More than 77,300 have crossed east into Egypt, most of them Egyptians. A similar number have fled west into Tunisia, she said, but 30,000 were stuck at the border.
Uprising In Libya
"The tents spread out as far as the eye can see," Greene said. "It doesn't seem like a situation of desperation right now, but U.N. officials say it could easily become that if the numbers keep growing."
In Geneva, U.S. Ambassador Betty King said the United States is giving $12 million to help with evacuations, and the U.N. has pledged $5 million to kick-start emergency efforts to help people fleeing the violence.
Britain and France both began airlifts Wednesday to help Egyptians stranded on the Libyan-Tunisian border get back home. The British planes, departing from the Tunisian city of Djerba, will help evacuate up to 8,800 Egyptian migrants to Cairo, Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Seeking to control the flow of people into Italy, Rome announced Thursday that it has decided to set up a refugee camp on the Tunisian border and may send in planes to airlift Egyptians to Cairo. Since the uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East began, thousands of migrants have arrived by boat in Italy, a major trade partner and one-time colonial master of Libya.
"We have a Plan B ready to handle an influx of migrants should they arrive," Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said.
Doubts On No-Fly Zone Over Libya
Libyan opposition leaders have been pleading with foreign powers to launch air strikes against Gadhafi's forces as the U.S. and other nations debate whether to impose a no-fly zone over the country.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Thursday that foreign military intervention in Libya would be counterproductive and called instead for additional sanctions.
Speaking with reporters at a meeting of European foreign ministers in Bratislava, Slovakia, Westerwelle said Germany's view is that military intervention "would be very counterproductive." He said it's crucial that any decision to impose a no-fly zone be discussed at the United Nations.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to play down the idea of a no-fly zone Wednesday, saying it would involve more than just enforcing a quarantine of Libyan airspace.
"Let's just call a spade a spade: A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses," Gates said. He added that the operation would require more warplanes than are on a single U.S. aircraft carrier.
So far, the uprising in Libya has sent world oil prices spiking to the highest levels in more than two years, above $100 per barrel. Libyan crude production has dropped from 1.6 million barrels per day — nearly 2 percent of world consumption — to as few as 600,000 barrels per day.
With reporting from Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Brega, Libya; David Greene in Tunisia; Sylvia Poggioli in Rome; and Teri Schultz in Brussels, Belgium. Material from The Associated Press was used in this story.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134224147/rebels-deploy-around-strategic-libyan-oil-port&sc=nl&cc=nh-20110304
Africa
Libyan Protesters Hit By Tear Gas In Tripoli
Tripoli remained firmly under regime control, but battles raged in several key cities across Libya.World
Arabs In America Express Hope, Fear In Revolution
U.S. residents of Arab descent have been tracking events and family in in the region closely.Africa
Rebels Brace For Attacks By Pro-Gadhafi Forces
Rebels have solidified their hold on a number of areas, but they are ready for more attacks.12 February 2011
SUDAN SPLITS, DARFUR BURNS from AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 11FEB11
THE world has been caught up in the revolution in Egypt, and while we celebrate the victory of the non-violent protesters in bring freedom and democracy to Egypt DARFUR HAS BEEN BURNING. The Sudanese government in Khartoum has agreed to honor the vote for independence for South Sudan, but has actually increased the violence against the people of Darfur. This from Amnesty International, please join their action to end this violence and bring those responsible to justice. Be sure to click the link to view the before and after satellite images of villages destroyed in recent violence in Darfur.
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| While the world's attention is focused on the vote for independence in South Sudan, Darfur continues to burn. Bring those responsible for committing atrocities in Darfur to justice! | |
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| Sudan has spoken – more than 99% of voters have opted for splitting the largest country in Africa in two. While the world's attention is focused on the results of the referendum on independence for South Sudan, Darfur – right next door – continues to burn. In December alone, more than 20,000 people were displaced by government attacks. In total, more than 2.5 million civilians have been forced to flee because of violence, and widespread atrocities. The people of Darfur must not be forgotten. Our Science for Human Rights team has just uncovered some astounding evidence1 that aims to ensure such a thing won't ever happen. Their analysis provides even more solid proof of the tragic and senseless human rights abuses that continue to be committed against the people living in and around Darfur. | ||||||||
| Once there stood three communities with 819 homes and other free-standing structures. Now there's just ash and remnants of a life that no longer exists. Our satellite images reveal a bird's-eye view of grave crimes – once bustling communities transformed into little more than dust. Remind the international community that it still has work to do in Darfur. Ensure that those responsible for committing crimes against humanity are brought to justice! The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for several Sudanese officials, including the president of Sudan, Omar al Bashir. However, the Sudanese government (along with its international allies) have done all they can to stall any further progress. They have in large part failed in their obligations to cooperate with the court and arrest those indicted. But there are still many members of the international community who have the power to push back. We hope these new images will etch themselves into the memories of those leaders and help re-ignite the spark that must be lit in order for justice to be fully realized in Darfur. Please send this message, along with these new images, as a painful and powerful reminder of the people of Darfur who must never be forgotten. In Solidarity, Scott Edwards Director, Science for Human Rights Amnesty International USA
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21 January 2011
What Southern Sudan means for Darfur 20JAN11
ENCOURAGING news from South Sudan, it is amazing what these people have gone through for freedom and democracy. Americans should learn a lesson from these people who have laid their lives on the line in their struggle for a democratic country the next time we have elections.....DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT! Unfortunately the people of Darfur can't share the same hopes and dreams as reported below......
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| The Save Darfur Coalition — an alliance of more than 190 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations — raises public awareness about the ongoing crisis in Darfur and mobilizes a unified response to promote peace throughout the Darfur region and all of Sudan. The coalition's member organizations represent 130 million people of all ages, races, religions and political affiliations united together to help the people of Sudan. Please join the movement at http://www.savedarfur.org. |
13 July 2010
Arrest Warrant for Genocide 12JUL10 from Save Darfur Coalition
The United States must prevent a repeat of the merciless and cruel retaliation against civilians last year. |
Please, speak out on behalf of the people of Darfur by visiting
the URL below:
http://action.savedarfur.org/
Just hours ago, the International Criminal Court issued a second warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for three counts of genocide.
Last year when the ICC issued its first warrant for Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes, Bashir cruelly retaliated against civilians in Darfur by expelling over a dozen international aid groups and forcing an emergency response by the United Nations and others to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur.
Today's decision by the ICC to issue a second warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for three counts of genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa people of Darfur is a big step towards justice and accountability for the people of Darfur.
The United States and the international community must vigilantly monitor for any threats or acts of violence or other repression against civilians, Sudanese human rights activists, aid workers or peacekeepers.
In the critical coming days, we'll pressure President Obama to ensure that Darfuris are protected and peace efforts are redoubled. We'll lean on world leaders to bring Bashir to justice, negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur and press for full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in its last stages. But we can't do it without you.
Our vigilance is even more critical as the arrest warrant comes during a spike in violence in Darfur and in the midst of a crackdown by the Government on Sudan on human rights and political freedoms following the rigged elections this past April. It is imperative that the ICC warrants are not manipulated by the Government of Sudan to disrupt or distract from the Darfur peace process or preparations for the upcoming referendum on southern secession. Urge President Obama and Secretary Clinton to lead the world to support justice for Darfur and prevent new retaliation by the Khartoum regime.
Thank you for all you do.
Sincerely,
Mark Lotwis
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