Darfur ex-combatants discharged

Hundreds of former combatants in Darfur, western Sudan, have been discharged in a process that targets 5,000 members of various fighting groups, the AU–UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said. The discharge took place from 22-24 November, in El Fasher town.

The ex-fighters, including women and the disabled, were disarmed in July 2008. They included fighters from Sudanese Armed Forces, People’s Defence Forces, and the Sudan Liberation Army. They each received US$150 from the Sudanese government.

The militia groups are also believed to have a large number of child soldiers, according to Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. Speaking to reporters in Khartoum on 25 November, she said the number of child recruits in armed movements such as Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Janjawid and Chadian armed forces, was said to be significant.

There was also active recruitment in Darfur. However, the signatories to the Darfur peace process, including the Sudan Liberation Army/Free Will, JEM/Peace wing and SLA/Abu Ghasim, had agreed to discuss how to discourage recruitment. “Even within the armed forces of Sudan, there is now a child protection unit, whose purpose is to ensure that children are not recruited,” the UN representative added.

Scale up peacekeeping in Darfur, agencies urge

Photo: Marcus Prior/WFP

Internally displaced people: A coalition of 22 NGOs have warned that more support is needed to ensure peacekeepers are able to protect civilians.(file photo)

(IRIN) – Aid workers and officials are calling for a scaling-up in peacekeeping efforts in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

“Darfur may appear calmer, but one has to remember that there are fewer reports coming out because they are deeply nervous of how the Sudanese government will react to criticism,” said one international aid worker, who has spent more than two years in Darfur.

The joint UN-African Union Mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, continues to be hampered by both government restrictions and lack of vital equipment. Despite recent improvements in general security, people continue to struggle under what activists in the region describe as a “worsening situation”.

A coalition of 22 NGOs warned on 29 July that more support was needed to ensure peacekeepers were able to protect civilians.

UNAMID “has failed at many critical junctures due to lagging support from the international community and continued obstruction by the Sudanese government”, the NGOs said in a joint statement.

The NGOs, which include the Save Darfur Coalition, said: “UNAMID currently lacks the resources to fulfil its civilian protection mandate, and is therefore unable to carry out its most important obligation.

“For instance, helicopters that are needed for transport remain undelivered, and the Sudanese government continues to impede the mission’s effectiveness.”

The lack of “critical assets” was echoed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has also called for “political will” to secure 18 more helicopters and other key equipment.

“I have been discussing this issue with almost all the leaders of the countries who, I thought, would be able to provide, or would have some capacity to provide, helicopters, but I have not been able to get this support,” Ban said on 29 July.

Photo: OCHA

UNAMID’s one-year mandate expires on 31 July but it is expected to be extended by the UN Security Council for another year.

The US has called on the Northern government to allow more humanitarian workers into Darfur and fill worrying gaps in aid – and step up cooperation with peacekeepers.

Pressure increased on humanitarian workers following the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March for President Omar el-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

The Northern government reacted by expelling 13 key aid agencies, accusing them of supplying the ICC with information. The move has increased pressure on remaining agencies.

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Other NGOs ready to move into Darfur – official

(IRIN) – Several relief organisations from Arab and Asian countries have applied to work in the western Sudanese Darfur region to replace agencies expelled or stopped from working there, a senior official said.

“We have received many applications from Arab and Asian countries,” Sudanese State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun, said. “They want to go to Darfur.”

The applicants include the Red Crescent Societies of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. Several doctors and medical supplies were also being sent to Darfur.

Photo: UNICEF/CAR/2008/Pierre Holtz

The government says other agencies are ready to step in to help the Darfur IDP

Discussing Sudan’s plans to replace the organisations expelled after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against President Omar el-Bashir on 4 March, Haroun said: “We have already begun the process.”

Government confident

Darfur is baking hot for much of the year, but the upcoming rainy season will put extra pressure on already vulnerable communities, aid workers say.

According to the UN, Sudan does not have the ability to carry out the work of the expelled agencies.

However, said Haroun: “The assessment is not true, there is no evidence to support it on the ground.”

Haroun is himself a war crimes suspect. A warrant was issued by the ICC in April 2007, detailing 51 charges of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur in 2003 and 2004.

“The UN is not in a position to order or advise Sudan. They should just deal with the new situation on the ground.”

Needs assessment

Sudanese government and UN officials were to travel on 11 March to Darfur for a week to assess the impact of the expulsion of aid agencies.

The assessment would be crucial in establishing how the country intends to address the key needs of some 2.7 million people displaced in Darfur. It would also provide some measure of the scale of the crisis and cover all three Darfur states.

“Three joint UN-government teams composed of experts from both sides will visit Darfur to conduct an assessment of critical short-term needs,” Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said.

The Sudanese order to 13 international and three local NGOs to stop work is expected to leave an estimated 1.1 million people, especially in Darfur, without food; 1.5 million without healthcare and more than a million without drinking water.

The 16 agencies, according to OCHA, employed nearly 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur – 6,500 national and international workers. In total, 7,610 humanitarian staff are affected in northern Sudan, including Darfur.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it had lost 35 percent of its food distribution capacity through the expulsion of four of its implementing partners – Save the Children USA, Action Against Hunger, Solidarités and Care International.

“WFP does not have the capacity to fill this gap,” said spokeswoman Emilia Casella. “Unless the NGOs are allowed to resume their activities, people are going to go hungry.”

Attacks

In Darfur, a UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) patrol was attacked on 9 March by unknown armed men, who fired at their vehicle with small arms. Four peacekeepers were wounded, one seriously.

A UNAMID vehicle was also carjacked by armed men in El-Fasher, while an observer on his way to El Daein, about 160km southeast of Nyala, South Darfur, was shot at by two men.

Darfur Conflict Claims Nigerian Soldier

Civil conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan yesterday resurged and killed another Nigerian soldier, who was on the peace-keeping mission in the conflict-ridden country until his demise.

Reuters News Agency broke the news of his death, stating that the deceased was killed in an ambush after up to 60 armed bandits ambushed his convoy in the Darfur region.

This is coming as Federal Government yesterday called on the 14th annual conference of the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres (IAPTC) to give concrete solutions to the challenges confronting peacekeeping operations in the present international scene.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, gave the charge yesterday at the opening of the conference with the theme: “The Changing Nature of Peace Operations – Implications for Education and Training.”

The United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) source said the Nigerian peacekeeper was the ninth officer to die in action in three months.

Quoted by Reuters, UNAMID spokesperson, Kemal Saiki, said the sergeant was shot when the attackers opened fire on the UNAMID patrol around 5 p.m Monday and died of his wounds before he could be evacuated to hospital.

Saiki said the convoy was attacked on patrol about 75km North of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. He said it was not immediately clear who the attackers were.

According to him, seven members of the under-manned UNAMID force were shot and killed, and another 22 injured, in an ambush by militia fighters in North Darfur in early July. Just a week later, Saiki added, another Nigerian officer was killed in a car-jacking in West Darfur .

“UNAMID is responsible for keeping the peace in a war-torn region about the size of Spain. But with less than 10,000 soldiers and police on the ground, it is still far short of its promised strength of 26,000 personnel.

“UNAMID helicopters and officers, mostly from African nations, have come under fire several times since they came to Darfur at the beginning of the year, with the attacks blamed on bandits, rebel factions and government troops,” he added.- This Day

Forces build up outside Darfur camp

(Reuters) – Sudanese forces accused of killing more than 30 people in a raid on a Darfur camp have started to build up their position outside the settlement, raising fears of a new attack, peacekeepers said on Wednesday.
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