My Open Letter to the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch

Under the title "Sudan/United Nations: Do Not Meet With Officials Wanted for War Crimes", Kenneth Roth - the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch - published a letter to the UN Secretary General.

He questioned the sanity of UN officials attending the inauguration of Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, who is indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's western Darfur region.

I have mixed feelings about this stand, and decided to write an open letter to Mr. Kenneth Roth myself. Here are both letters:

Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
May 24, 2010
Dear Secretary-General:

I was dismayed to learn of your spokesperson's recent announcement that UN representatives Haile Menkerios and Ibrahim Gambari plan to attend the May 27 presidential inauguration of Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum. I urge you to reconsider this decision because it is both wrong and contrary to United Nations (UN) guidelines on this very issue.

UN guidelines limit UN interaction with individuals indicted by international criminal courts such as President al-Bashir to "what is strictly required for carrying out UN mandated activities." Attendance at the inauguration cannot be justified as "strictly required." To the contrary, the UN guidelines state that "[t]he presence of UN representatives in any ceremonial or similar occasion with [persons indicted by international criminal courts] should be avoided." In addition, I understand that further UN guidance specifically concerning President al-Bashir bearing your initials states that "interactions of a ceremonial nature with President Al-Bashir should be avoided, including courtesy calls, receptions, photo opportunities, attendance at national day celebrations and so on."

These guidelines are right. Disregarding them will significantly damage the UN's credibility. Attending the inauguration of an individual subject to an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for serious atrocity crimes would send a terrible message to victims of such crimes in Darfur and around the world that their suffering is not reason enough to dispense with ceremonial support for their alleged abuser. Attendance also risks signaling that the United Nations is not committed to the ICC's success-a signal that would be particularly unfortunate to send in the week before the first review conference of the ICC's Rome Statute, which takes place in neighboring Kampala, Uganda from May 31 to June 11, 2010. The review conference will be a moment of significant attention to the court's work and an important time to showcase dedication to the cause of international justice. Any short-sighted breach of the UN's own principles will be doing neither the court nor you any favors.

For all of these reasons, I hope you will reconsider the plans for UN officials at any level to attend the al-Bashir inauguration. Should you wish to discuss this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,

Kenneth Roth
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch

My answer reads:

Letter to Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
May 27th 2010

Dear Mr. Roth,

While I applaud the tenacity in which your organisation pursues injustice and attempts to protect the weak and oppressed, I call upon you for a better balance in your actions, rather than pushing for issues "that suit The West".

You are correctly insisting the UN should be consequent in its actions towards Mr.al-Bashir. However, so should your organisation.

As an example: Back in 2003, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf and Tommy Franks were indicted in a Belgian court for crimes against humanity, under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Under the pressure of the US, the Belgian law was changed. Apart from my amazement on the hypocrisy of the Belgian politicians, I would still like to point out that your organisation was one of the six human rights groups calling the loss of the universal jurisdiction component "a step backwards in the global fight against the worst atrocities."

Now I wonder, if you stood that firmly on the principle of universal jurisprudence, and indeed supported the indictment of the Bush gang, did you also write a letter to the UN Secretary General insisting on avoiding any official contact with the Bush administration?

I understand both cases are unsimilar. Bush was unfortunately not indicted by the ICC - even though he should have been. However, I call upon you, to stand by your universal principles. Bashing Mr.al-Bashir is singing a tune very popular in the West. Bashing Bush would not have been. Or was that goal too high? Too ambitious? Too costly for your organisation's supporters? Funders?

For all of these reasons, I hope you will admit the error at that time of the Bush administration. I encourage your organisation to pursue objective measures, and not only those suiting The West, or to those popular by demand, and easy hits in Western media.

Should you wish to discuss this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Peter Casier
World Citizen

Let's see what he says.

Picture courtesy AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

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Jihad on horseback

Two years ago, Al Arabiya producer Nabil Kassem was asked to put together a documentary film on Darfur.

What he witnessed there, and recorded in this film, were scenes of unspeakable brutality and untold suffering.

The movie never made it to the airwaves. That is why we publish it on our blog.



If you are interested in Darfur, check out Darfur Now!

More on The Road about Darfur, Sudan and genocide

Video courtesy europenews.dk

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Worrying events...

There is always something going on, somewhere in the world, that keeps us, aidworkers, busy. Here is what is on our mind these days:

• 8,000 Somalis are displaced in one day of fighting around Mogadishu (Full)
• A rebellion seems to be on the raise in Nigeria (Full) and Niger (Full)
• Relief agencies still don't have full access to the displaced civilians after the Tamil was defeated in Sri Lanka. (Full)
• Southern Sudan seems to fall back into violence (Full)
• ...while in Darfur, the war is flaring up again (Full)
• Pakistan's offensive in the Swat valley displaced 2.3 million people, with aid agencies scrambling to cope. (Full)
  

Items discovered via International Aid Workers Today and AidNews.

Picture courtesy Reuters

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What if a genocide indictment would lead to another genocide?

The Sudanese president Al-Bashir got indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's western Darfur region. By now, everyone knows.

The international community, and the aid organisations working inside Sudan were weary of upcoming indictment since months.

Now the Sword of Damocles has fallen, they are dealing with the consequences: Sudan accused aid agencies of passing on information to the ICC and first expelled 10 NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations), followed by another three.

The impact goes beyond the expelled Darfur-based aid agencies themselves and their relief programmes. Many of these NGOs are implementing partners of other -often larger organisations-, who themselves were not expelled.

Concretely, this means that for non-expelled organisations, providing aid relief in Darfur will become even more challenging than it already was, with the security problems and logistical problems. More challenging, if not impossible for what is the largest humanitarian operation in the world.

So no wonder the aidworkers' blogosphere has been abuzz today on the ICC indictment and its consequences for the humanitarian relief efforts in Darfur. Check what Michael, Harry, Thirsty Palmetto, Paul, Scott, Peter and Rob have to say. (and check AidBlogs for more).

Add to that, what Rob Crilly, a reporter currently in Darfur, wrote on his blog a few days ago:

Today I met families who fled the fighting in Muhajiriya (..) One of them was Mariam Ahmed Abu. (..) She had survived six years of war but left when she realised she no longer had any children left to care for her. (..)

She hadn't heard of the ICC until I asked her about it and I'm starting to think that taking Bashir to the Hague will be more of a victory for activists far away from Sudan than for the people stuck in this miserable war.

All of that combined makes me think in how far the ICC indictment by itself will not cause a new genocide. Not one executed by AK47s and bombs dropped from helicopters, but a hidden genocide caused simply by blocking aid to flow to Darfur... Would we then have killed in the name of justice? Murdered those we should have protected?

More on The Road about Darfur and Sudan.

By the way, if you have a high bandwidth Internet connection, you can watch "Darfur now", the movie online, right here on the The Road.

Picture courtesy Britolam.org

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Heading for trouble in Sudan

Judges at the International Criminal Court have decided to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, brushing aside diplomatic requests to allow more time for peace negotiations in the conflict-riddled Darfur region of his country, according to court lawyers and diplomats.

It is the first time the court has sought the detention of a sitting head of state, and it could further complicate the tense, international debate over how to solve the crisis in Darfur.

Ever since international prosecutors began seeking an arrest warrant last year, opponents have pressed the United Nations Security Council to use its power to suspend the proceedings. But a majority of Council members have argued that the case should go forward, saying Mr. Bashir has not done enough to stop the bloodshed to deserve a reprieve.

Many African and Arab nations counter that issuing a warrant for Mr. Bashir’s arrest could backfire, diminishing Sudan’s willingness to compromise for the sake of peace. Others, including some United Nations officials, worry that a warrant could inspire reprisal attacks against civilians, aid groups or the thousands of international peacekeepers deployed there. (Full)

While Sudan still plays down reports on al-Bashir arrest decision for the moment, there was plenty of press in the past months where Sudan claimed indicting their president would risk bloodshed.

And then there is of course the statement of the UN envoy to Sudan saying Bashir's government warned the UN of "serious consequences" for its staff and facilities if the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant.
This resulted in the Sudanese government denying such threats (Full), and the UN denying it was to evacuate its staff in view of the upcoming arrest warrants (Full).

All politics and maneuvering... My predictions:
- Sudan will not surrender its president to the ICC
- UN and the powers-that-be will further pressure Sudan
- Masses will come onto the streets in all major cities, attacking UN and NGO facilities, causing the latter to seriously reduce staff.
- Darfur rebels and South Sudanese fractions will see a potential vacuum, and will renew military actions.
- ..causing the Sudanese military to respond more violently than before
- UN and NGOs evacuate
- ...giving either warring fractions enough space to do whatever they want in a free-for-all genocide.
- and by the time all of this is finished with a political compromise, Sudan will have one million people less. And the world will have one more genocide to justify.

But that is just me and my cynical mind, of course.

Picture courtesy AFP/Getty Images

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News: Obama appoints US ambassador to the UN.

Interesting. Maybe the US will -for once- have a president who remembers his promises even after the election... Obama had vowed more direct action against the Darfur genocide. He now appointed Susan E. Rice, as ambassador to the United Nations.

The New York Times reports on her appointment:

The choice of Ms. Rice to represent the United States before the United Nations will make her one of the most visible faces of the Obama administration to the outside world aside from Mrs. Clinton. It will also send to the world organization a prominent and forceful advocate of stronger action, including military force if necessary, to stop mass killings like those in the Darfur region of Sudan in recent years. (Full)

To get a feel for her stance on Darfur, check out this article she co-authored for the Washington Post.

It is not only that. Obama also wants to restore the ambassador’s post to cabinet rank, as it was under President Bill Clinton. This would send a message to the UN that the US commitment is to be taken more serious. As it should be. Are the Bush years definitively over?

More on The Road about the UN, the US, Darfur and Obama.

Discovered via Stop Genocide and For Those Who Want to Know

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Rumble: Darfur Now!

"Darfur Now" is not just a factual movie. It is an in-your-face call to action for people everywhere to help end the crisis in Darfur. For the first time in history, the US Government has declared a genocide while it is ongoing, and that is a bad sign.

The movie shows the struggles and achievements of six very different individuals who bring to light the situation in Darfur and the need to get involved:
A UCLA graduate in Los Angeles (CA), a Darfurian woman who joined the rebel forces, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, a UN humanitarian on the ground in Sudan, an internationally known actor and activist, and finally to a community leader in a West Darfur refugee camp.

The film portrays the heroic efforts of six people responding to a humanitarian tragedy unfolding before our eyes. (More)

The official trailer can also be found on YouTube

If you have a high bandwidth Internet connection, you can watch the full movie online here.

More on The Road about Darfur, Sudan and genocide

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Rumble: "Saying Good-bye Sudan, Good-Bye Darfur"

Colleague and fellow blogger Worldman is retiring. In this must-read post, Peter is saying good-bye from Darfur and Sudan.

He writes: "I have been living and working here for 4 years. In a few days I will leave. It is very hard to go. But a big part of my heart will stay behind."

Why do I call it "a must-read" post? Because it shows the heart and the essence of an aid worker.

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News: Sudanese ex-commander speaks up about Darfur crimes

This video shows former Sudanese Commander Arbab Idries admitting to arming and leading Janjaweed milita attacks on civilans in Darfur in order to "rid the land of blacks." The former commander says he believes he committed war crimes in Darfur.



More posts on The Road about Darfur

Source: Genocide Intervention Net

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Picture of the day: A Thin Coat of Blue

Despite the newly painted blue helmets, after six months on the ground, the United Nations-African Union peacekeepers in Darfur have yet to make an impact. (Full)


More Pictures of the Day on The Road.

Picture courtesy Alfred de Montesquiou (AP)

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News: US presidential candidates united in support of Darfur

There don't seem to be many issues that the US presidential candidates Clinton, Obama and McCain agree upon, but one which caught my eye: their stand against Sudan and the genocide in Darfur.

Extract from their statement:

After more than five years of genocide, the Sudanese government and its proxies continue to commit atrocities against civilians in Darfur. This is unacceptable to the American people and to the world community.

We deplore all violence against the people of Darfur. There can be no doubt that the Sudanese government is chiefly responsible for the violence and is able to end it. We condemn the Sudanese government’s consistent efforts to undermine peace and security, including its repeated attacks against its own people and the multiple barriers it has put up to the swift and effective deployment of the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. We further condemn the Sudanese government’s refusal to adhere to the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the conflict in southern Sudan. (Full)

More posts on the Road about Darfur

Picture courtesy Save Darfur

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Rumble: Translator of Nightmares

I read hundreds of articles and blog entries about Darfur. Few have impacted me as much as this article, covering a book, "The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur" written by Daoud Hari.

Daoud Hari is a Dafur tribes man who assisted journalists travelling in his region as a translator. A translator of horror stories.

Sleepless during nights of exile in Chad, Daoud Hari stared at cracks in his room's mud walls. The lines formed random shapes that reminded him of drawings from thousands of years ago -- of horned beasts, of women, men and children. He had seen them in the cool mountain caves of Darfur, where he played as a boy. They triggered an urge to sketch scenes of the savagery and starvation he had witnessed in the once-tranquil lands of his childhood. During those uneasy nights, he picked up pencil and paper to turn his torment into tolerable numbness. He drew the woman who had hanged herself from a tree with her shawl because she could not feed her children. Hari had found their tiny corpses around her, their skin like "delicate brown paper, so wrinkled." He drew the story he had heard of a militiaman lowering his bayonet into the belly of a 4-year-old girl as she ran toward him, impaling her. The gunman pranced around as her blood drained down upon him. He remembered the girl's father, his sobbing, his horror, his shock: "What was he? A man? A devil? He was painted red with my little girl's blood and he was dancing. What was he?" His wakeful consciousness felt the pain of these images. His drawings, he says, were "stick pictures of scenes I needed to get out of my head. History. History. History. The people. The little girl. The woman," he says in his memoir, "The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur." (Full)

Here is an interview with Daoud Hari on BBC:



More posts on The Road about Darfur.
More recommended books from The Road.

Picture courtesy Jahi Chikwendiu (The Washington Post)

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Picture of the day: Drawing from Darfur.

This picture was drawn by a young Chadian boy in a camp for displaced persons in Eastern Chad. His drawing describes the attack on his village by Janjaweed militias from Sudan. On the top left hand corner of the drawing is written ‘ataque village’ (French for ‘attack of the village’). The attackers, wearing military uniforms and on camels are shooting civilians with machine guns and burning their houses. Bullets are coming from all over. Next to each civilian that is shot is the word ‘Morts’ which is the plural of ‘dead’ in French.

More posts on The Road about Darfur.
More "Pictures of the Day" on the Road.

Picture courtesy wagingpeace.info

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News: Louis Vuitton Sues Darfur Fundraiser

The Paris based fashion house Louis Vuitton has filed charges against Nadia Plesner, a Dutch 26 year old student artist for selling posters and t-shirts of a Darfur victim, holding a designer bag inspired by a Louis Vuitton design. All of the profits were going to charity.

Nadia said: “I started this campaign because of the distorted way the media prioritizes between big and small world news. How can Paris Hilton make more front covers than the genocide in Darfur? So, I “pimped” a victim, to see if it worked. And it did!”

Louis Vuitton now demands $7,500 (5,000 Euro) for each day she continues to sell Simple Life products, $7,500 for each day their letter is published on the website and $7,500 a day for using the name “Louis Vuitton” on her website. In addition they want her to pay their lawyer costs and $15,000 to cover other expenses they have incurred in protecting their ‘intellectual property’. (Full)


More posts on The Road about Darfur.

Source: Torrent Freak
Picture courtesy Nadia Plesner.

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News: Sudan - From the 1994 famine to five years of Darfur. What is the solution?

This photo by Kevin Carter won the “Pulitzer Prize” in 1994 and became a symbol of the Sudan famine at the time. The picture depicts stricken girl crawling towards an United Nations camp, located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat her.
This picture shocked the whole world. No one -including the photographer- knows what happened to the child.

Here is the story behind the picture:

In 1993 Carter headed north of the border with [his colleague] Silva to photograph the rebel movement in famine-stricken Sudan. To make the trip, Carter had taken a leave from the Weekly Mail and borrowed money for the air fare. Immediately after their plane ) touched down in the village of Ayod, Carter began snapping photos of famine victims. Seeking relief from the sight of masses of people starving to death, he wandered into the open bush. He heard a soft, high-pitched whimpering and saw a tiny girl trying to make her way to the feeding center. As he crouched to photograph her, a vulture landed in view. Careful not to disturb the bird, he positioned himself for the best possible image. He would later say he waited about 20 minutes, hoping the vulture would spread its wings. It did not, and after he took his photographs, he chased the bird away and watched as the little girl resumed her struggle. Afterward he sat under a tree, lit a cigarette, talked to God and cried. "He was depressed afterward," Silva recalls. "He kept saying he wanted to hug his daughter." (Full story)

Three months later Kevin Carter committed suicide.

This was Sudan in 1994. We are now 2008. Five years into Sudan's Darfur conflict. The humanitarian situation is just as desperate. Maybe with less famine, but with just as much despair, as I wrote in several posts about Darfur over the past year.

Many, including celebrities like George Clooney (watch his video diary), Mia Farrow (Pictures and video), Angelina Jolie (Articles), Steven Spielberg (Article) and others have done efforts to raise the awareness over the problems in Darfur.

There are groupings like the "Save Darfur Coalition", an alliance of over 180 advocacy and humanitarian organizations representing 130 million people, and the Darfur Genocide movement. Amesty International created Eyes on Darfur.

Numerous fundraising websites (like The Darfur Wall), campaigning, video advocacy and education , awareness sites and Online Info Centers were created.

Musicians made songs like Living Darfur. And there is even a game (Darfur is Dying) created to advocate the Darfur issues.

Public pressure was raised against the countries in alliance with the Sudan government, focusing lately on China and its hosting of the Olympics.

Athletes, normal citizens, students, food lovers and bloggers on a global and a local level united to raise awareness and increase pressure on the Sudanese government.

You can buy items online through Yahoo! to show your support and you can even see how each US legislator scores on his or her support for Darfur.

Many governments responded with pressure on Sudan and several UN resolutions condemned the Darfur genocide (Overview).

The African Union sent troops, and UN Peacekeepers were deployed, eventually merging into one, called UNAMID.

And still, despite all of this, peace talks have failed to get off the ground, the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission will not be fully deployed for months to come, and two-thirds of Darfur's population is dependent on the world's largest aid operation.

"The situation is not better than it was five years ago," says Auriol Miller, head of Oxfam in Sudan. "We would still say the situation is getting worse. Humanitarian workers are being targeted and attacked (see this post) in a way that has got increasingly worse over the last few years."

A BBC reporter recently wrote:

"When I last visited the remote, arid region in November, destitute refugees lined up at the Abu Shouk camp, desperate to tell their stories so the world could find out what had happened to them.

They spoke of toddlers being burnt alive in villages as men on horseback razed their houses to the ground; of women being raped as they fled their homes looking for safety in the early stages of the conflict.

At night, people said they still found it hard to sleep - terrified of being killed while in their beds. (Full)

So, if everything else fails, what helps? What is the solution for Darfur? What is the solution for Sudan?


More posts on The Road, about Darfur and Sudan.

Pictures courtesy Worldfamousphotos.com and WFP.
What set me thinking: Iqbal Latif

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News: Darfur peacekeepers: UN-armed or unarmed?

On April 9th, gunmen have attacked a UNAMID (UN African Mission in Darfur) police patrol, two kilometres (one mile) from the Zam Zam camp for internally displaced persons.

The officers were ordered out of their vehicles and the four gunmen stole their personal belongings and official identity cards. One officer was repeatedly hit in the neck by the back of an AK-47 when he hesitated in obeying instructions to get back into the vehicle.

"UNAMID police do not carry weapons and Wednesday's patrol was operating without protection", according to Noureddine Mezni, the UN African Mission spokesman. He added that "this was for confidence-building purposes and for easier contact with the civilians they aim to protect". (Full)

More posts on The Road, about Darfur and Sudan.

Picture courtesy Reuters

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News: Five WFP drivers killed in Sudan

Five truck drivers delivering food for the U.N. World Food Program have been attacked and killed in Sudan over the past three weeks.
Four of the five were killed in southern Sudan and one was killed in the western Darfur region.
In the latest attack, two WFP-contracted drivers were shot dead in southern Sudan on Monday after returning from delivering food supplies.
Previously, three other WFP workers were killed in Sudan late March. (Full)

More posts on The Road, about Darfur and Sudan.

Update April 18 2008: "Attacks force U.N. to cut Darfur food relief": In the past three and a half months, 60 WFP-contracted food aid trucks have been hijacked in Darfur only. 39 trucks are still misssing and 29 drivers still unaccounted for.

Picture courtesy WFP

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News: UN Peace Keeping in Darfur. A New UNStart?

A United Nations peacekeeping police officer, holds the babies handed to hear by two refugee women, while on patrol in the Abou Shouk refugee camp in North Darfur. The patrol was one of the first to re-enter Darfur's refugee camps since the United Nations took over peacekeeping in Darfur this month to try to end five years of violence. (full post)

I might sound largely cynical, but the way the UN Peace Keeping Operations works, with often a too limited mandate and an intrinsic bureaucracy, I would not be surprised if the same mothers would take a shot at the guy in the middle, one year from now. Mark my words.

Photo courtesy AP/Alfred de Montesquiou. Source: International Aid Workers Today

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Rumble: Darfur Now! - The Full Movie

Here is the full 1h37m "Darfur Now!" movie. This .wmv version is 426 Mbyte so - you need a highspeed Internet connection, and a bit of patience as the file downloads.
It requires the ActiveX plugin for your browser and is best viewed with Firefox.

Be patient as the file downloads! It might take up to 10 minutes before you see anything in the videoviewer

Movie courtesy GratefulChild.org

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News: Darfur. Do We Still Care?

How many more movies and documentaries are to be shown before the world has the courage to change anything about the situation in Darfur? This video shows why we should care!

For updated humanitarian news, check out The Other World News

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