Darfur Week of August 22, 2008

Sudanese ruling party accuses Islamist leader (Al-Turabi) of working with US, UK to oust Bashir
It’s the second week of attacks on the Popular Congress Party’s (PCP) leader Al-Turabi. This time, it’s not from the newly re-elected Taha, who last week accused Turabi of being a major cause of the Darfur crimes that have become the focus of the ICC recently, which heightened attention on the conflict by international bodies. Darfur has been at war with itself for years with no resolution and little hope for improvement for those caught up in the war. This week Al-Turabi flew to Geneva to take part in a forum at the Africa Center for Human Rights. While on his visit to Europe, the National Congress Party (NCP) initiated an attack on him by accusing him of collaborating with the US through the JEM (the Justice and Equality Movement). This attack and news of his European travel are published in the NCP publication “Al-Rae’d.” A few observers in Sudan have said that the ICC indictment is a bid to remove the NCP from power. Al-Rae’d also published that Al-Turabi is meeting in Europe to “coordinate support for the SPLM’s chairman in the presidential elections.” The NCP has called into question the timing of last month’s announcement by the SPLM that Salva Kiir will run in the 2009 elections, linking it to Bashir’s indictment.
Sudan agrees to allow UNAMID night flights in Darfur – envoy
Bad lighting at Darfur airports has delayed authorization for UNAMID to use Darfur airports at night. UNAMID this week received this much needed authorization from the Sudanese government. Rodolphe Adada, Joint Special Representative of the joint mission in Darfur, stated that UNAMID would help facilitate the necessary changes to the airport working with the Civil Aviation Authority. With one major obstacle out of the way, UNAMID now has the 24-hour capability of flight it needs.
Doctors withdraw from Darfur hotspots as US abstains from UN vote
Humanitarian vehicles and aid workers have been the target of many attacks in Darfur in the past year. John Holmes, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, confirms that the Sudanese government has not taken its responsibility to guarantee the security of those in the Darfur territory. These are the conditions while the UN Security Council renews its mandate of UNAMID. During the Security Council vote, the US abstained from the vote, directly as a result of the included reference to the delaying Bashir’s indictment. On the ground conditions have not improved for victims in the war-torn region. In response to a series of violent attacks against Doctors Without Borders, the aid group has decided to pull staff out of Tawila and Shangil Tobaya areas of North Darfur. This will leave 65,000 people without medical assistance, according to the UN.
114 Ethiopian peacekeepers arrive to Darfur
As UNAMID renews its efforts to tackle outstanding issues in Darfur, it received more peacekeepers this week. The Ethiopian engineering force of 114 personnel arrived and is scheduled to work on building roads, bridges and camps for the deployment of the 5,000 Ethiopian troops. The engineering force has been deployed to Kulbus and Silia in Western Darfur. Upon arrival to Sudan, the 114 peacekeepers were authorized entrance despite a problem related to their missing passports.
Halima Bashir’s Darfur account describes rivalries between African and Arab girls

Halima Bashir, with Damien Lewis, has written a memoir of survival in Darfur called “Tears of the Desert.” It’s the first memoir written by a woman who lived through and was caught up in the war in Darfur. Refusing to be silent, Halima, who was born to the Zaghawa tribe, shares with readers her story of being a privileged Arabic girl who grew up to be the village’s first doctor. The Zaghawa have often been the focal point of attacks by the Janjaweed. Bashir treated many of the traumatized rape victims. Her account also includes the very real rivalries between African and Arab girls and captures the underlying racism that continues to deteriorate the hope that tolerance can prevail between the cultures. Bashir describes the horror of being gang-raped by soldiers from the Sudanese army. The memoir provides a chance for victims, including Bashir, to not be lost behind the veil of silence that has gripped those who have been terribly treated while the state of affairs in Sudan allows for the army to deny the use of rape as a weapon and to limit any attempts by journalists or aid workers to shed light on these crimes against innocent people.
From my Perspective:
Halima Bashir is an extraordinary survivor for having moved to London and for continuing to shed light on the violence in Darfur. Giving voice to people who must feel forgotten and pawns to the caprice of those who chose to prolong the fight is a prerequisite to seeking peace and justice for those who have been forced to endure hostility. These accounts along with reports from UNAMID representatives and those willing to write from the region can only help undo the grip that war has taken on the region. Undoing the grip of war in this region requires a shift in purpose amongst those who are involved in bringing a better life to those who must wonder if there will ever be a time that they can live beyond the horrors of war, that is, fighting for resources that are being used as tools of war and being denied the status of human beings, which is supposed to bring with it much more than indignity, horrible medical conditions, cultural contempt and intolerance. Now that Doctors Without Borders have left due to increased violence, can UNAMID request more medical assistance? Currently, medical services that are still addressing needs in Darfur include: Medical Care International, International Red Cross, International Relief Teams, Americare, MAP International, and a few other organizations.
Darfurians have been denied their right of shelter while being degraded to simple pawns in a struggle that has little to do with facilitating coexistence. Oral historians in ethnic wars have historically brought to light individual experiences that have led to emancipation. Yet, in the meantime in Darfur, the priority to allow for hate to be the preferred underbelly of discourse is palpable and needs to change. A focus on individual differences to create doubt and feelings of inferiority is the type of psychological warfare that has destroyed the will of those being subjected to the war.
Do tribal leaders understand that they must call into question the treatment of individuals, and move toward inter-tribal new conditions for a new agreement to build a society that substitutes development for racially motivated violence? As reintegration efforts have worked in previous civil wars, seeking a solution to help rivals who are determined to focus on differences and make issue out of participation in upcoming elections by party leaders should include diffusing the anger and negative reactions. Specifically, I call attention this week to the case of the PCP and NCP. Party newspapers may continue to breed hostility toward other factions, however, as we have seen, the upcoming elections and those who will seek office will come under closer scrutiny within Sudan.
Currently, the relationship between President Bashir and tribal leaders is complex. The denial that is fast becoming the tone of dialogue among Islamic leaders needs to continue to be studied to see its effect among the Islamic factions toward those who might seek election. Candidates may seek to build support to improve the conditions in Darfur and reach for solutions beyond the combination of decades of environmental causes to the conflicts for the nomads and the ethnic and tribal armed conflicts. They may end up being subjected to being accused of only pursuing certain interests of the rebel groups and tribes that they are associated with. They might be criticized for addressing the needs of the society beyond tribal character and therefore may cause concern among those who see any possibility of elections as a threat to their current tribal system. Do each of the rebel leaders, some of whom are not well-liked by tribes and ethnic groups in Darfur, still maintain a secessionist position or are they trying to work towards negotiations that decrease tensions and violence among the groups and peacekeepers? Will the current Sudanese government see that it must become accountable for its ongoing attacks on primarily land-tilling non-Arab ethnic groups and develop a better approach toward seeking to include the interests of the region in its authority? Finally, where will victims to the atrocities be given the opportunity to seek redress?