Brains Like a Shoe

It has not been a good week in Darfur or for the critics of the Sudanese government in Khartoum.  Check out a piece that I just wrote at the human rights section of Change.org.

Sudan’s Dangerous Trajectory

A new military offensive in Darfur, the arrest of political leaders, and the shutting down of newspapers in Khartoum: election season must be over in Sudan. Emboldened by electoral “success,” Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP) are sending troubling signals about their philosophy that will guide post-election governance.

The push last Friday by the Sudanese Armed Forces to regain control over a stronghold of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in West Darfur kicked off seven days of violence and repression. The army reported that it killed 108 JEM fighters in the assault. Elsewhere in Darfur, JEM allegedly attacked a tanker truck killing 20 Sudanese police officers. Continued clashes between nomadic tribes and the kidnapping of humanitarian aid workers – including an American – have only heightened tensions throughout Darfur.

Commenting yesterday on these recent developments before the United Nations Security Council, the Joint Special Representative for the United Nations/African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) stated that continued fighting in Darfur has “caused substantial civilian casualties, the displacement of communities, and hampered the delivery of humanitarian assistance.” The U.S. State Department earlier in the week also condemned the “recent offensive actions in Darfur” and “urged both the Government of Sudan and the Darfur rebel movements to refrain from any further actions that would undermine the Darfur peace process or endanger civilians.”

Yet, blithely ignoring the deteriorating conditions in Darfur, an NCP leader told Darfuri students this week that his party was seeking to deepen peace and foster a culture of national unity (article in Arabic). Most people in Darfur instead fear that the faltering peace process, government offensive, and continuing crisis in Jebel Marra proffer a new post-election reality.

Critics and opposition leaders in Khartoum share such concerns…

Read the rest here

Also, two nights ago I spoke with WSCOC-TV out of Charlotte, North Carolina about the kidnapping of three aid workers – one of them American – in Darfur with the organization Samaritan’s Purse which is based in Boone, NC. Today, I heard that the two Sudanese men kidnapped were released, but the American woman remains held hostage.

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Will Fischer – a field organizer at Save Darfur, veteran of the Iraq War, and former teacher in post-Katrina New Orleans – contributes his first piece at Brains Like a Shoe.

Here in America we, in recent years, have heard a great deal of the “invisible wounds” that people carry with them. Whether a story about a returning veteran of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, or that of a Katrina survivor, the idea of the invisible wound is prevalent.

As someone who has dealt with, both personally and with comrades, the invisible wounds of war, I cannot even begin to imagine those unseen and untreated victims of the genocide in Darfur and Sudan. And I’m not just speaking of the treated gunshot or laceration.

Among many, the first images of the wars in Darfur and Sudan will spawn thoughts of the Janjaweed storming into villages, their AK-47s firing for effect and their torches at the ready. But what of what goes on out front, but in the shadows – in tents, allies, and in front of children. What of the use of rape as a weapon of war? Do these wounds ever heal?

In today’s Washington Post, Michael Gerson pens an article that tells of these very troubling tales.  Bec Hamilton also this week discusses the latest UN Panel of Experts report that states that “sexual and gender-based violence is rampant” in Darfur.

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*First posted at Save Darfur’s blog.

Five news items in the last week and today highlight the precarious security condition for Sudanese living in Darfur and South Sudan.

In the first, Frank Nyakairu at Reuters explores whether the resurgent Lord’s Resistance Army is now receiving financial or military support from elements in Khartoum.  Last week, the UN Deputy Special Representative and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Ms. Ameerah Haq, expressed grave concern about the increasing number of deaths due to the escalating attacks by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against civilians – mostly women and children – in Southern Sudan’s Western and Central Equatoria States.

Suspicions abound that an old relationship has now been reborn.  A Ugandan intelligence official, for instance, notes: “They are estimated to be about 2,500 (strong) and operating in two languages, Acholi and Arabic.”  The use of Arabic points to possible renewed cooperation between the LRA and Sudanese intelligence (however, since the LRA recruits Sudanese – usually by abduction – this could also be a less troubling explanation).   With all this in mind, there is still no smoking gun and therefore an International Crisis Group expert concludes:

“We have heard the LRA appears to be better armed than it has been in the recent past…but we have no evidence to substantiate those allegations that Sudan is supporting the LRA.”

Another article this week explores the root causes for recent tribal violence in South Sudan. This year has been the bloodiest since the end of the civil war.  More than 1,200 people have been killed “in a wave of violence that has targeted villagers as often as cattle herders and women and children as often as men.”  Skye Wheeler at Reuters investigates the causes for the violent clashes, pointing out that many southerners see scary resemblances to the inter-ethnic violence of the early 1990s that was often encouraged and instigated by Khartoum.   He writes:

Senior officials from the south’s dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) have openly accused northern politicians of once again arming tribes and militias to destabilise the south ahead of the referendum. Khartoum denies the accusations.

Again, these claims still remain only suspicious rumors as there is yet no hard evidence to connect Khartoum to the recent wave of violence. The situation certainly though cries out for greater vigilance and further investigation.

Similarly, the drivers of continuing conflict and even the existence of continuing conflict in Darfur have been hotly debated over the last month.   As I wrote in an early posting, with or without active war, Darfur remains a dangerous and unpredictable place.   And recent figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirm this .  In 2009 alone:

Seven national humanitarian staff and three UNAMID staff have been killed.

12 humanitarian staff and 10 UNAMID staff have been wounded or injured.

11 humanitarians (seven international) have been kidnapped.

26 humanitarians and three UNAMID staff have been physically or sexually assaulted and 10 UNAMID staff have been wounded or injured.

11 humanitarians (seven international) have been kidnapped.

26 humanitarians and three UNAMID staff have been physically or sexually assaulted.

18 humanitarians and 11 UNAMID staff have been abducted during carjackings.

44 humanitarians and 12 UNAMID staff have been arrested or temporarily detained by the Government of Sudan.

64 humanitarian vehicles and 31 UNAMID vehicles have been hijacked or stolen.

There have been 103 assaults or break-ins on humanitarian agency premises, and 22 on UNAMID premises.

Given these statistics, it comes as no surprise that UNAMID announced this morning that it will increase patrols. And finally this morning we are receiving fresh reports about a Darfuri rebel splinter group attacking three Sudanese policemen which then resulted in Sudanese police and army activity around and inside three IDP camps.

As we continue to state, a peace process in Darfur and the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement are the only routes to long-term peace and security for conflict-weary Sudanese.  At the same time though, these stories and reports reveal that all of these negotiations are taking place in an environment of troubling violence and looming threats.   Since feelings of insecurity usually preclude comprise, the international community must ensure that investigating attacks and providing protection to civilians remains a constant priority.