Arabs pile into Darfur to take land 'cleansed' by janjaweed

Source: The Independent on Sunday.
By Steve Bloomfield, Africa Correspondent
Published: 14 July 2007.

Arabs from Chad and Niger are crossing into Darfur in "unprecedented" numbers, prompting claims that the Sudanese government is trying systematically to repopulate the war- ravaged region.

An internal UN report, obtained by The Independent, shows that up to 30,000 Arabs have crossed the border in the past two months. Most arrived with all their belongings and large flocks. They were greeted by Sudanese Arabs who took them to empty villages cleared by government and janjaweed forces.

One UN official said the process "appeared to have been well planned". The official continued: "This movement is very large. We have not seen such numbers come into west Darfur before."

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, sent a team to the border with Chad at the end of May to interview the new arrivals. Fighting in eastern Chad has been steadily increasing and it was thought that many could be refugees. But only a very small number have required support from UNHCR.

"Most have been relocated by Sudanese Arabs to former villages of IDPs (internally displaced people) and more or less invited to stay there," said the UN official.

The arrivals have been issued with official Sudanese identity cards and awarded citizenship, and analysts say that by encouraging Arabs from Chad, Niger and other parts of Sudan to move to Darfur the Sudanese government is making it "virtually impossible" for displaced people to return home.

James Smith, chief executive of the Aegis Trust, said the revelations proved that the Sudanese government was "cynically trying to change the demographics of the whole region", adding: "If the ethnic cleansing has been consolidated because the land has been repopulated it will become irreversible. The peace process will fall to pieces."

Repopulation has also been happening in south Darfur where Arabs from elsewhere in Sudan have been allowed to move into villages that were once home to local tribes. Aid agency workers said the Arabs were presented as "returning IDPs".

Before the conflict started in 2003, Darfur was home to seven million people, mainly from three African tribes, Fur, Marsalit and Zargahwa. Darfur literally translates as "Land of the Fur". But some 2.5 million have now been forced to flee their homes after attacks by Sudanese troops and planes, and Arab militia on horseback known as janjaweed.

Most are now in camps around Darfur's main towns, relying on handouts from international aid agencies. About 250,000 have become refugees in Chad. A further 1.5 million have been affected by the conflict, meaning at least four million people are now reliant on the 80 or so international aid agencies in the region. More than 200,000 people are believed to have been killed so far during the four-and-a-half-year conflict.

And if Khartoum is moving Arabs from abroad to replace them, diplomats fear that Darfur rebels may try to remove them forcibly. "It could be quite explosive," said one western diplomat. "It is a very serious situation."

Nomadic Arab tribes have been crossing the border between Chad and Sudan for centuries, long before lines were drawn on a map. It is normal for tribes to follow the rains from west to east and back again, searching for fertile grazing land for their cattle. Straight lines carve out the northern borders of the five countries which spread across the Sahel, taking no notice of traditional tribal links and nomadic routes.

In Mauritania and Sudan, both countries long ruled by Arabs, black African tribes have suffered most. In Mali, Niger and Chad, the Arab and Tuareg nomads have been suppressed.

Towards the end of last year, Niger announced that it planned forcibly to remove more than 150,000 Arab nomads into Chad. Many of the Arabs, known as Mahamid, moved from Chad in the 1970s after a serious drought. Although the government later rescinded the order, it is thought that many decided to return to Chad voluntarily.

Apart from the 30,000 Arabs from Chad and Niger cited in the UNHCR report there have been consistent rumours that a further 45,000 Arabs from Niger have also crossed over. For most nomads citizenship means very little; the lines that separate the countries of the Sahel have not created a sense of nationality. But for the Khartoum regime it could be pivotal. Elections are to be held in two years, the first since President Omar al-Bashir seized power in a coup in 1989.

Although opinion polling is not very advanced, it is thought that no party is likely to win an overall majority. By providing citizenship for the new arrivals, one Khartoum-based diplomat said, President Bashir could be hoping to bolster his election chances.

For the Arabs who have crossed into Darfur there are both push and pull factors. Drought in parts of northern Africa has forced nomads to look further afield for fertile land. Although the spread of desert is rapidly reducing the amount of land available for farmers and nomads in Darfur, much of the area cleared by the janjaweed and government forces is fertile.

An ethnic cleansing and colonisation strategy that stretches back through history

* EAST TIMOR: The poorest country in Asia, much of East Timor's instability stems from the country's repeated colonisation. Invaded and occupied by Indonesia from 1975 to 1999, hundreds of thousands of Javanese migrants flooded the former Portuguese colony from nearby islands as part of a government-sponsored programme. This led to decades of violent clashes between the indigenous Timorese population, which is 90 per cent Roman Catholic, and the Muslim Javanese migrants. There has been little improvement following the Indonesian withdrawal and East Timor's subsequent independence; in 2006 150,000 East Timor residents were displaced due to conflicts.

* SOVIET UNION: Russia deliberately exported ethnic Russians to restive republics during Soviet times.

Thirty per cent of the population of the Baltic state of Estonia was implanted during the Soviet regime. In 1949, following the annexation of the Baltic states, Stalin, right, deported 42,000 Latvians to Siberia. As a result, the proportion of ethnic Russians there increased from 8.8 per cent in 1935 to 34 per cent by 1989. Stalin's ethnic cleansing - involving 3 million people between 1941 and 1949 - included the deportation of 200,000 Crimean Tatars to central Asia.

* KOSOVO: Currently administered by the UN, this disputed land-locked province in southern Serbia endured conflicts throughout the 1990s, fuelled by ethnic divisions and repression. With Serbian and ethnic Albanian inhabitants vying for supremacy, these struggles came to a head in the mid-1990s, when Serbian forces began a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Kosovo's mainly Muslim Albanians. Thousands of people died and hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to neighbouring states. Reconciliation between Kosovo's 1.5 million ethnic Albanians and its 100,000 Serbs remains elusive, pending approval of an internationally backed draft plan for virtual independence.

U.S. envoy says Sudan bombing civilians in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- The top U.S. envoy for Darfur on Friday accused the Sudanese government of bombing civilian targets in its war-ravaged western region and rebels of cynically obstructing international efforts to end the conflict.

Andrew Natsios told a news conference in Khartoum following a visit to Darfur that both sides were to blame for the conflict that has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "After a halt in the bombing between the beginning of February and the end of April in 2007, the Sudanese government has resumed bombing in Darfur," Natsios said. "This should end, and the ceasefire that was agreed to sometime ago should be respected. We urge the Sudanese government to end all bombing in Darfur immediately," he said.

Khartoum signed a ceasefire agreement with the two main rebel groups in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement, in 2004, but violence has continued. A May 2006 Darfur peace deal was signed by only one rebel faction. Since then, rebels have split into a dozen groups. "Some of them are descending into warlordism and criminality and this is not a good trend in Darfur, which is all the more reason why we need to accelerate the political process for a peace agreement," Natsios said.

"Some rebel leaders are cynically obstructing the peace process and the United States government is very disturbed by this. It needs to end now," he continued. Natsios said the bombing by the Sudanese military focused on the Jebel Marra region, a strong-hold of Abdul Wahid Mohammed Nour, leader of a faction of one of the Darfur rebel groups, and other targets in West and North Darfur.

"I think there were four attacks in Jebel Marra Mountains. We are troubled by this, because these have been stable areas before," the U.S. envoy said. "And there had been other bombings I think in West Darfur and North Darfur of civilian targets," he added.

The Sudanese military could not be immediately reached for comment.Natsios also said the United States was disturbed by reports that the Sudanese government was deliberately trying to change Darfur's demography by settling non-Sudanese Arab tribes there.

"It is a very provocative action that concerns us all and will complicate any future political process for reconciliation in Sudan and particularly in Darfur," he said. "Because when a settlement is reached and people go back to their homes and they find out someone is living on their land and farming it, this will simply create a new war."

The U.S. envoy's comments came as Britain, France and Ghana circulated a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council for a joint African Union-U.N. force for Darfur, which also threatened force against those who attack civilians, relief workers and obstruct peace efforts. The resolution, expected to be adopted this month, allows the U.N. to formally recruit troops for the mission.

Under sustained international pressure, Sudan agreed last month to a combined U.N.-AU peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 troops and police to bolster the cash-strapped AU force of 7,000 already operating in Darfur. The AU troops have failed to stem the violence.

International experts estimate 200,000 [It has been 400,000 for 2 years now!] people have died as a result of ethnic[, religious] and political conflict in Darfur since it flared in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms after accusing the central government of neglect. [LIE! It was the Arab janjaweed that was raping, pillaging, murdering, flash burning the land, and committing genocide that started the war.] Washington calls the violence genocide, and blames the government and its allied militia. Khartoum rejects the term and says only 9,000 have died.

Other sources: AlertNet, AlertNet, Reuters, by Simon Apiku, U.S. envoy blasts Sudan for attacks (San Jose Mercury News, written by MOHAMED OSMAN Associated Press Writer), etc. May I also add that they are ALL using the same Reuters article! Will someone please explain to me why everyone goes to journalist school if they are only going to copy/paste? Just asking...

Sierra Leone war crimes court convicts 3

Source: CNN.

June 20, 2007.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) -- A U.N.-backed court trying those accused of bearing greatest responsibility for the brutality of Sierra Leone's civil war issued its first verdicts Wednesday, convicting three former leaders of a junta that had terrorized the country during a brief reign.

The court found the three defendants guilty of 11 of 14 charges, including terrorism, using child soldiers, enslavement, rape and murder.

The three were acquitted of charges of sexual slavery, "other inhumane acts" related to physical and acts related to sexual violence, said Peter Andersen, spokesman for the Sierra Leone Special Court.

The tribunal was set up following the end of fighting in 2002 to prosecute the worst offenders in a conflict that ravaged the small West African nation and spilled over into neighboring Liberia. The court has indicted 12 people, including former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is charged with backing Sierra Leonean rebels.

The three defendants convicted Wednesday in Freetown had pleaded not guilty to all the charges, which were linked to heading a junta that raped women, burned villages, conscripted thousands of child soldiers and forced others to work as laborers in diamond mines.

The men -- Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu -- were indicted in 2003 as the alleged leaders of the group, called the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. The group of former military officers toppled Sierra Leone's government in 1997 and then teamed up with rebels to control the country until 1998, according to the indictment.

The conviction marks a watershed, said Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch. "It's the first time that an international court has issued a verdict on child recruitment," she said.

David Crane, the founding prosecutor of the Sierra Leone Special Court, agreed.

"It's a huge moment for children around the world who have been oppressed in these conflicts," said David Crane, now a law professor at Syracuse University. "This particular judgment sets the cornerstone forever -- those who recruit children into an armed force are criminally liable."

Dufka said the group led by the three men committed their worst atrocities after they were pushed into the bush by an international peacekeeping force in 1998. It was then that they started "punishing the civilian population as a whole," said Dufka, an expert on the conflict.

It is estimated that about half a million people were victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities during Sierra Leone's conflict, in which illicit diamond sales fueled years of devastation.

Five others are awaiting verdicts in Freetown.

Some have criticized the Special Court for not progressing through trials quickly enough. Three of those charged have died since the indictments -- two of natural causes and one in a killing that many believe was a move to silence him.

Taylor's trial opened earlier this month in The Hague, Netherlands. It was being held outside of Freetown because of fears the case could trigger fresh violence, but remained under the auspices of the Sierra Leone court. Taylor's case was being heard in a room rented from the International Criminal Court.

Taylor is also linked to brutality in his own country, but Liberians have opted for a truth and reconciliation commission rather than a court.

3,000 Darfur refugees make 10-day trek through bush

Source: CNN.

BANGUI, Central African Republic (Reuters) -- An estimated 3,000 Sudanese refugees driven from their homes by fighting in Darfur trekked for 10 days through the bush to seek shelter in Central African Republic, United Nations officials said on Tuesday.

The refugees told a U.N. team in the northeastern town of Sam-Ouandja, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Sudanese border, that a ground and air attack had forced all 15,000 inhabitants of the southern Darfur town of Dafak to flee their homes.

Most of them headed south within Sudan, but some fled westward into Central African Republic, an arduous journey of more than 125 miles (200 kilometers) following a track accessible only on foot or by horse.

Their flight was the latest evidence that the conflict in Darfur, where a war pitting rebels against Sudan's army and allied militias has raged since 2003, is pushing refugees into neighboring states like Chad and Central African Republic.

"So far we have registered 1,411 refugees and more of them are arriving every day," said Bruno Geddo, country representative for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, who led a U.N. mission on Monday to Sam-Ouandja in the isolated north-east.

"We are working on an estimate of 3,000 [refugees] at the moment," he told Reuters.

Although initial news reports suggested the groups were armed and could include Chadian rebels, Geddo said the U.N. team had found no evidence of either weapons or Chadian nationals.

The town of Sam-Ouandja was attacked in March and November by insurgents trying to topple Central African President Francois Bozize, who seized power in a 2003 coup before legitimizing his rule at the ballot box two years later.

Geddo said the town's inhabitants were unable to cope with the influx of Sudanese refugees, who were currently relying on mangoes picked from the bush for food.

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF estimated last month that a quarter of the 4 million people in Central African Republic -- the world's sixth poorest country -- are suffering the effects of internal violence or the spill over from conflicts in neighboring Sudan and Chad.

Photo: Conflict in Darfur is pushing Sudanese refugees into neighboring states like Chad and Central African Republic. These refugees left Darfur in September 2004.

In Darfur camp, women recount rapes, suffering

Source: CNN.

KALMA, Sudan (AP) -- The seven women pooled money to rent a donkey and cart, then ventured out of the refugee camp to gather firewood, hoping to sell it for cash to feed their families. Instead, they say, in a wooded area just a few hours walk away, they were gang-raped, beaten and robbed.

Naked and devastated, they fled back to Kalma.

"All the time it lasted, I kept thinking: They're killing my baby, they're killing my baby," wailed Aisha, who was seven months pregnant at the time.

The women have no doubt who attacked them. They say the men's camels and their uniforms marked them as janjaweed -- the Arab militiamen accused of terrorizing the mostly black African villagers of Sudan's Darfur region.

Their story, told to an Associated Press reporter and confirmed by other women and aid workers in the camp, provides a glimpse into the hell that Darfur has become as the Arab-dominated government battles a rebellion stoked by a history of discrimination and neglect.

Now in its fourth year, the conflict has become the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and rape is its regular byproduct, U.N. and other human rights activists say.

Sudan's government denies arming and unleashing the janjaweed, and bristles at the charges of rape, saying its conservative Islamic society would never tolerate it.

It has agreed to let in 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers, but not the 22,000 mandated by the U.N. Security Council. It claims the force would be a spearhead for anti-Arab powers bent on plundering Sudan's oil.

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 civilians have died and 2.5 million are homeless out of Darfur's population of 6 million, the U.N. says, and a February report by the International Criminal Court alleges "mass rape of civilians who were known not to be participants in any armed conflict."

Stigma of sexual assault

Kalma is a microcosm of the misery -- a sprawling camp of mud huts and scrap-plastic tents where 100,000 people have taken refuge. It is so full of guns that overwhelmed African Union peacekeepers long ago fled, unable to protect it. It is so crowded that the government has tried to limit newcomers -- forbidding the building of new latrines, so a stench pervades the air.

Anyone venturing outside must reckon with the janjaweed, as Aisha and her friends found out.

In Sudan, as in many Islamic countries, society views a sexual assault as a dishonor upon the woman's entire family. "Victims can face terrible ostracism," says Maha Muna, the U.N. coordinator on this issue in Sudan.

Some aid workers believe the janjaweed use rape to intimidate the rebels, and their supporters and families. "It's a strategy of war," Muna said in an interview earlier this year in Khartoum, the capital.

Sudan's government is especially sensitive about such accusations and denies rape is widespread.
Sudanese public opinion would view mass rape much more severely than other crimes alleged in Darfur, said a senior Sudanese government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from his superiors.

He acknowledged the janjaweed had initially received weapons from the government -- something the government officially denies -- and said authorities now are struggling to rein in the militias.

Nasser Kambal, a prominent human rights activist and co-founder of the Amel center, a Sudanese group helping victims of rape and other abuse, offers a similar view.

"I don't think raping was planned by the government. Killing and looting and torture, yes, but not rape," he said.

" All the time it lasted, I kept thinking: They're killing my baby, they're killing my baby."
- Aisha Hamid

Kalma isn't the only place where multiple accounts of rape have surfaced. Some 120 miles away, in the town of Mukjar, two men separately described women being brought into a prison where they were being held and raped for hours by janjaweed.

They said the assailants shouted that they were "planting tomatoes" -- a reference to skin color: Darfur Arabs describe themselves as "red" because they are slightly lighter-skinned than ethnic Africans.

According to Muna, U.N. agencies are working closely with Sudanese authorities to improve the government's response to rape allegations. In 2005, the government created a task force on rape in Darfur, headed by Attayet Mustapha, a pediatrician, government official and women's rights activist.

In an interview this year, Mustapha said social workers were being deployed to address the problem and a special female police unit was being assembled in Darfur.

"We tell officials that the government has decided to enforce a zero tolerance policy toward rape in Darfur," she said.

U.N. workers say they registered 2,500 rapes in Darfur in 2006, but believe far more went unreported. The real figure is probably thousands a month, said a U.N. official. Like other U.N. personnel and aid workers interviewed, the official insisted on speaking anonymously for fear of being expelled by the government.

Victims usually can't identify their aggressors, which makes prosecutions impossible. Only eight offenders were tried and sentenced for rape crimes in Darfur by Sudanese courts in 2006, said Mustapha, the task force leader. "They received three to five years prison, and 100 lashes" in accordance with Islamic law, she said.

In May, after the top U.N. human rights official charged that Sudanese soldiers had raped at least 15 Darfur women during one recent incident, Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi asked where the evidence was.

"We always seem to get sweeping generalizations, without naming the injured, without naming the offenders," he told reporters.

In Kalma, collecting firewood needed to cook meals is becoming more perilous as the trees around the camp dwindle and women are forced to scavenge ever farther afield. It is strictly a woman's task, dictated both by tradition and the fear that any male escorts would be killed if the janjaweed found them.

Agreeing to tell the AP their story earlier this month through a translator, the seven women's voices wavered and hesitated, broken by embarrassed silences. All gave their names and agreed to be identified in full, but the AP is withholding their surnames because they are rape victims and vulnerable to retaliation.

The women said they set out on a Monday morning last July and had barely begun collecting the wood when 10 Arabs on camels surrounded them, shouting insults and shooting their rifles in the air.

The women first attempted to flee. "But I didn't even try, because I couldn't run," being seven months pregnant, said Aisha, a petite 18-year-old whose raspy voice sounds more like that of an old woman.

She said four men stayed behind to flay her with sticks, while the other janjaweed chased down the rest of her group.

"We didn't get very far," said Maryam, displaying the scar of a bullet that hit her on the right knee.

Once rounded up, the women said, they were beaten and their rented donkey killed. Zahya, 30, had brought her 18-year-old daughter, Fatmya, and her baby. The baby was thrown to the ground and both women were raped. The baby survived.

Zahya said the women were lined up and assaulted side by side, and she saw four men taking turns raping Aisha.

The women said the attackers then stripped them naked and jeered at them as they fled. On their way back, men from the refugee camp unraveled their cotton turbans for the women to partly cover up, but the victims said they were laughed at when they entered the refugee camp.

"Ever since, I've made sure that women living on the outskirts of the camp have spare sets of clothes to give out," said Khadidja Abdallah, a sheika, an informal camp leader, who took the women to the international aid compound at the camp to be treated.

They were given anti-pregnancy and anti-HIV pills, thanks to which their families haven't entirely ostracized them, the women said. The baby Aisha was expecting at the time is doing well. His name is Osman.

Alarming trend of assaults in camps

Sheikas in Kalma said they report over a dozen rapes each week. Human rights activists in South Darfur who monitor violence in the refugee camps estimate more than 100 women are raped each month in and around Kalma alone.

The workers warn of an alarming new trend of rapes within the refugee population amid the boredom and slow social decay of the camps. But for the most part, they added, it all depends on whether janjaweed are present in the area.

The sheikas say they are making some headway toward persuading families to accept raped women back into their embrace and let them report attacks to aid workers. One advantage is that they get a certificate confirming they were raped.

"We tell husbands they might be compensated one day," said Ajaba Zubeir, a sheika. "But I don't think that's going to happen."

The seven women say they haven't left the camp since they were attacked. They have started their own small workshop and make water jugs out of clay and donkey dung to sell to other refugees.

As they worked on their large pile of jugs and bowls, they said they are even poorer than before, because they now have to buy their firewood from other women.

"But at least we never have to go out again," said Aisha.

None of the women has any faith that Sudanese or international courts will ever give them justice. All Zahya asks is that one day she can return to her village.

"If people could at least help end the fighting, that would be enough," she said.

U.N. peacekeeper killed in Darfur

Source: CNN.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- A U.N. peacekeeper was killed in Darfur, the first U.N. casualty since the world body began sending small reinforcements to a beleaguered African Union force deployed in the violent western Sudan region, the AU and the United Nations said Saturday.

The U.N. peacekeeper, Egyptian Lt. Col. Ehab Nazir, was shot by unidentified gunmen who looted his house late Friday in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. He died hours later in an AU hospital at the African force's headquarters about one kilometer (half mile) away, the AU said.

"The senseless killing of an innocent man in the confines of his residence is beyond comprehension," said Hassan Gibril, the deputy head of the AU mission, at a memorial for the peacekeeper held Saturday at the AU's headquarters.

"He is the first peacekeeper sent to us as reinforcement to be killed in Darfur," AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni told The Associated Press by telephone.

The U.N. mission in Sudan confirmed the Egyptian officer's death -- the first time a blue helmet was slain in Darfur.

The unidentified gunmen who killed him where thought to be burglars, but an official close to the investigation said authorities would not exclude other motives for the killing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

In Cairo, the foreign ministry deplored the Egyptian officer's death and deeply condemned in a statement the "sinful aggression" in which Nazir became the "casualty of an attack by armed elements."

African Union faces increasing hostility

The AU has faced increased hostility from warring factions in Darfur, and has lost 19 of its own peacekeepers since it first deployed in June 2004.

"Not a month goes by without a new killing, it's very difficult," AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni said.

The U.N. began deploying some 180 staff to Darfur in December as reinforcement to the overwhelmed 7,000-strong AU mission.

This "light support package" is part of a broader agreement that should lead to 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers moving into Darfur in 2007, but the AU and U.N. both acknowledge that even the first batch of 180 reinforcements have not yet all arrived.

The Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir has rejected a U.N. resolution for some 22,000 U.N. peacekeepers to replace the AU in Darfur, where over 200,000 people have been killed and 2,5 million chased from their homes in four years of fighting.

Since then, Khartoum, the U.N. and the AU continue to negotiate a compromise deal for U.N. forces to slowly beef up world efforts to end Darfur's spiraling violence.

Siniora officially asks UN to form Hariri tribunal

Source: The Daily Star.

Opposition slams 'stubbornness' of premier

By Rym Ghazal and Nafez Qawas
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, May 15, 2007.

BEIRUT: In an official letter to the United Nations on Monday, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora requested help with the establishment of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri "as a matter of urgency." "We called on the UN Security Council to establish the court as soon as possible after all possible means to ratify it in Lebanon have failed," Minister of Information Ghazi Aridi told reporters after a Cabinet meeting late Monday.

Siniora sent the letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday morning. The letter, copies of which were released to the media, asked the Security Council to set up the court by whatever means "it deems appropriate." It went on to explain that attempts to ratify the tribunal in Parliament had failed.

"We found all the doors closed in Lebanon regarding this issue," said Aridi.

Opposition leaders said on Monday that the government had made no real effort to reach a compromise on the tribunal.

"We worked hard to turn the court into a point of unity between the Lebanese," Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil told reporters after a meeting with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

"But the stubbornness of the head of this illegitimate government and his followers ruined any chance of that," he said. "I don't believe this move will help any of the current problems."

The government first officially sought the world body's help in establishing the court in a petition submitted on April 10. Since then, government supporters have repeatedly called for the establishment of the court under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would bypass parliamentary approval.

The opposition has expressed concern that the court will be used for political ends and other reservations.

"There is no basis for all the fears and worry over the establishment of the court under Chapter 7," said Aridi.

A spokesman at UN headquarters in New York told The Daily Star on Monday that the world body had been "expecting" the prime minister [sic] letter but that no hearings on the issue were planned.

"Currently there is nothing scheduled this month with the UN Security Council on the court issue," he said.

Ban has urged Lebanese officials to work on reaching.

U.N. official accuses Sudan of 'disproportionate' attacks

Excuse me. Is there any proportional attack against civillians? You people make me sick. Pardon me. Go ahead and read. Just had to add my 2 cents to this atrocity. They're committing genocide, and they use baby-like words. Why? So as not to offend them??? They sure don't worry about offending us, and we pay most of their stinking salaries!

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) -- The United Nations' human rights chief on Friday said recent air raids by Sudanese forces on at least five Darfur villages appeared to be "indiscriminate and disproportionate", and violated international law.

The attacks between April 19 and 29 have already been condemned by U.S. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, although Khartoum says they never took place.

Making no reference to the Sudanese denial, the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said the attacks were reportedly carried out by helicopter gunships and Antonov aircraft.

There were "numerous civilian casualties and destruction of property," with school children amongst the wounded, Arbour's spokesman Jose Luis Diaz said in a statement.

At least five villages near El Fasher in North Darfur were targeted during 10 days of attacks which had "contributed to an already critical humanitarian situation".

"The bombardments appear to have been indiscriminate and disproportionate", and as such constituted "violations of international humanitarian and human rights law," Diaz added.

Earlier this month, Ban called for an end to air raids by Sudanese forces, which he said had caused civilian deaths and destruction, although he gave few details at the time.

But Sudan's ambassador to the U.N. Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem denied the reported attacks and said rumours were being spread by people out to torpedo peace talks with rebels.

The United Nations says that some 200,000 have died and more than 2 million have fled their homes since conflict flared in Darfur in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government accusing it of years of neglect.

Sudan says 9,000 have perished.

The U.N. has sent some peacekeepers to Darfur, in western Sudan, and is trying to get agreement with the Khartoum government on more.

Cheadle acts to stop Darfur genocide

Source: CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Actor Don Cheadle has a new mission in life: raising awareness about the atrocities being carried out in what the United Nations says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Cheadle traveled throughout western Sudan's Darfur region in 2005, and the trip left him a changed man, so much so it was difficult to come back to "my comfortable life and take stock in all the privileges ... and do nothing," he said.

The "Hotel Rwanda" star teamed up with human rights activist John Prendergast to write "Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond" (Hyperion), which arrived in bookstores this week.

It chronicles the Darfur crisis and urges readers to take action to stop genocide there and across the globe.

Cheadle and Prendergast spoke with CNN during a recent book tour that brought them to the nation's capital. They are hoping the book will draw attention to what's happening in Darfur -- where the United Nations estimates 200,000 people have been killed and another 2.5 million displaced since the conflict flared in 2003.

"[I] really try to feel what it would possibly be like to have been attacked and trudged through miles and miles and miles of desert," Cheadle said.

Cheadle and Prendergast detail what they saw throughout Darfur and outline how people can take action.

"It is urgent that President Bush act... to confront the Sudanese regime for the atrocities that it is committing and perpetuating to bring this genocide to an end once and for all," they write.

The book lists six steps for readers to get involved, beginning with raising awareness and then campaigning to bring an end to the crisis.

Prendergast, a former Clinton administration official who is a senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, urges the U.S. government to pressure the Sudanese regime to take action against the militias that have ravaged Darfur.

"These guys will respond to significant measures," he said.

There is one image from Darfur that haunts Prendergast. He was traveling through the desert with a colleague when they came across the bodies of about 24 young men left to rot in the 130-degree heat.

"No amount of time in Sudan or work on genocide ever prepares anyone sufficiently for what Samantha and I saw in a ravine deep in the Darfur desert," Prendergast writes.

"One month before, they had been civilians, forced to walk up a hill to be executed by Sudanese government forces. Harrowingly, this scene was repeated throughout the targeted areas of Darfur."

The United States has called the atrocities of Darfur this century's first genocide.

The Darfur crisis began in February 2003 when black Sudanese rebels attacked government property, accusing the government of neglecting Darfur in favor of the country's Arab population in northern Sudan.

The government is accused of arming the pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia, whose members have raped, killed and tortured Darfur civilians.

Cheadle said he finds it disturbing the mainstream media gives so little attention to the killings in Darfur, while crime stories in the United States will be reported on ad nauseam.

"The media loves when they have a little piece of tape that they can run over and over. I just think that it really does a disservice," Cheadle said.

While the actor and Prendergast are hoping to bring about an end to the atrocities, they also acknowledge it's a daunting task.

"Preventing genocide and other mass atrocities is a challenge made all the more difficult by a lack of public concern, media coverage, and effective response, especially to events in Africa," they write.

I just have one question. Where have you been? President Bush has been trying to get everyone involved. Do you mean to say that the political party of a person determines who you will and will NOT help? HMM?

China's Sudan Foray Falls Far Short: Mia Farrow

Source: Radio Free Asia.

WASHINGTON—China’s bid to answer critics by using its clout to stop violence in troubled Sudan falls far short of what’s needed to make a difference, actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Mia Farrow has said.

Farrow’s March 28 comment in The Wall Street Journal used the term “Genocide Olympics” to call for a boycott of the 2008 Games in Beijing. While Sudan had agreed to allow a small UN peacekeeping force to Darfur, she said, no timeframe had been set, and the proposed 3,000 troops had yet to materialize under an unclear mandate.

“I feel that what Khartoum has agreed to is so minimal as to be nothing,” Farrow told RFA’s Mandarin service.

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Liberia loses 'blood diamonds' label

Source: CNN.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to lift a ban on Liberian diamond exports imposed in 2001 when so-called "blood diamonds" were being used to fuel civil wars in west Africa.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the current council president, said the vote was "a recognition of the progress made in Liberia" to ensure diamonds are mined legally.

The vote is "a reflection of our confidence in that country, in its leadership," Jones Parry said.

Liberia applied March 27 to join the Kimberley Process, a voluntary 71-nation group created out of the furor over diamond-funded wars in Sierra Leone and Angola.

The group, whose members agree to trade only certified diamonds, has helped conflict diamonds drop to less than 1 percent of those sold worldwide, from about 4 percent previously.

After the vote, Liberia's U.N. Ambassador Nathaniel Barnes said he had just learned that the Kimberley committee was going to accept Liberia's application as a result of the council's action, "so as of now, we are officially a part of the Kimberley Process."

Barnes called the council's decision to lift the ban "a vote of confidence ... (and) support of our very strong political will to do the right thing for Liberia and Liberians."

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf inherited one of the world's poorest countries when she took office in January 2006. Liberia had been battered by back-to-back civil wars from 1989 to 2003 that left 200,000 people dead and displaced half the country's 3 million people.

Her government has pressed for the lifting of the diamond sanctions imposed in May 2001 to stop former President Charles Taylor from using government revenues from diamonds to fuel civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.

"We welcome the lifting of the sanctions because it will, to some extent, provide job opportunities for our people," said Sirleaf spokesman Cyrus Badio. "This is something that we are in bad need of. Proceeds from the diamond industry will be used for the benefit of the country."

Barnes said he expects the lifting of diamond sanctions to have an "incredibly positive" impact because it will provide jobs in a country with an 85 percent unemployment rate.

"Anywhere on the globe, that's unacceptable, but it's further exacerbated by the fact that a large portion of these unemployed are ex-combatants," he said. "So by the removal of the sanctions on diamonds, and the appropriate monitoring mechanisms in place, we'll be able to put people to work, which is one of the biggest challenges we have right now."

Historically, Liberia has used very old technology -- sifting surface soil and sand with pans -- to find diamonds, "but we think with new technology there's incredible potential for Liberia," Barnes said.

That will take foreign capital, he said, because "we do not have the resources domestically to do it."

The Security Council said it would review its decision to lift diamond sanctions in 90 days after reviewing a report by a U.N. panel of monitors.

"This is an example of sanctions working and we're pleased that Liberia has turned this corner in its history," said the U.S. Mission's deputy spokesman, Ben Chang.

Liberia is still subject to an arms embargo, a travel ban on certain individuals, and an asset freeze against Taylor and his top officials.

End Darfur violence or face sanctions, Bush tells Sudan

Source: CNN.
April 18, 2007.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Bush warned Sudan's president on Wednesday that he has one last chance to stop violence in Darfur or else the United States will impose sanctions and consider other punitive options.

Bush said he has decided to give U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon more time to pursue diplomacy with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir but made clear in a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Museum that his patience is limited.


"President Bashir should take the last chance by responding to the secretary general's efforts and to meet the just demands of the international community," Bush said.

Bush raised the possibility of an international no-fly zone aimed at preventing Sudan's military aircraft from flying over Darfur. He accused the Sudanese of painting military planes white to disguise them as United Nations or African Union aircraft.

"I'm also looking at what steps the international community could take to deny Sudan's government the ability to fly its military aircraft over Darfur, and if we don't begin to see signs of good-faith commitments, we will hear calls for even sterner measures. The situation doesn't have to come to that," Bush said.

Bush has been frustrated at the international community's failure to stop what he calls genocide in Darfur, where more than 200,000 400,000 people have been killed since 2003.

Report: Sudan agrees to U.N., AU troops

Source: CNN, April 15, 2007.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Sudan has signed a joint agreement with the United Nations and the African Union that defines their respective roles in Darfur, the official Saudi news agency reported.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir phoned Saudi King Abdullah and told him the Sudanese government had signed the agreement, the SPA news agency reported Sunday.

It quoted the king as saying the agreement "will support Sudan's unity, security, stability and peace." No additional details were provided.

In New York, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said she could not immediately confirm the Saudi report.

Abdullah, along with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Amr Moussa, met al-Bashir at an Arab summit in Riyadh last month to discuss the introduction of U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.

The news came as Libya announced it will host representatives from the U.S. and several European and African countries in late April to discuss the crisis in Darfur.

The conference will be held in Tripoli on April 28th and will include officials from the U.S., the European Union, the African Union, Sudan, Chad and Eritrea, said Ali al-Teraiki, the AU representative in Libya's foreign ministry.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.2 million forced to flee their homes in the four-year conflict in Darfur, which began when rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the central government. The government is accused of responding by unleashing the Janjaweed militias of Arab nomads -- blamed for indiscriminate killing. The government denies the charges.

The United Nations and Sudan agreed in November on a three-stage plan to strengthen the undermanned and underequipped AU peacekeeping force of 7,000 in Darfur. It was to culminate in the deployment of a joint AU-U.N. force with 17,000 troops and 3,000 police officers.

The first phase, a light support package including U.N. police advisers, civilian staff and additional resources and technical support, has already been sent to Darfur.

The U.N., AU and Sudan agreed on a second phase last Monday -- including more than 3,000 U.N. troops, police and other personnel as well as substantial aviation and logistics equipment. But Sudan rejected a proposal to include six attack helicopters.

Al-Bashir has backed off from the final stage, saying he would only allow a larger AU force, with technical and logistical support from the United Nations. He maintains that deployment of U.N. troops would violate Sudan's sovereignty.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was in Khartoum Sunday as part of the international push to persuade the government to accept the larger third-phase force. His visit comes as the United States is holding off on imposing sanctions against Sudan so negotiations can take place on the proposal.

On Monday, Ban is to host a meeting at U.N. headquarters attended by AU negotiators to try to get a political agreement on Darfur.

Excuse me, but this is not news. We already know that al-Bashir will not allow UN Peacekeepers into the country. We already know that al-Bashir is using the janjaweed to murder civillians in Darfur. So what is new? They had another dead-end meeting? They've been stringing everyone along since we screamed loud enough for you to hear us! Do Not Write Another Article Until You Have Some News.

North Korea disarmament deadline slips

Source: CNN.
April 14, 2007.

BEIJING, China (AP) -- The U.S. envoy to North Korea's nuclear talks said Saturday that a two-month-old disarmament plan lacks "momentum" as North Korea failed to meet a deadline for shutting down its main nuclear reactor and processing facility.

"We don't have a lot of momentum right now. That is for sure," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters before meeting his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei.

The disarmament plan, reached in February after nearly four years of arduous negotiations, laid out a timetable for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programs. The plan was unexpectedly disrupted by a dispute over frozen North Korean funds in a Macau bank that Washington said this past week was finally resolved.

On Friday, Hill did not say what the consequences would be if the North missed the Saturday deadline.

"There is no reason why the DPRK can't get on with the task of denuclearization," said Hill, using the official name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We are not indifferent to missing a deadline. Obviously it is a very important date," he said. "We will work with our other partners on the appropriate response to the current circumstances."

As part of the disarmament agreement, the North was supposed to gain access to $25 million in frozen funds at the Banco Delta Asia bank in the Chinese territory of Macau. The bank was blacklisted by Washington in September 2005 for allegedly helping the North launder money and pass counterfeit $100 bills.

The funds were unblocked this week, but North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Friday it was still confirming the release. The Ministry said the country would carry out its side of the February agreement "when the lifting of the sanction is proved to be a reality."

North Korea alarmed the world in October when it conducted its first-ever underground nuclear test. After a 13-month boycott of nuclear talks, it agreed in February with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for energy aid and political concessions, along with a U.S. promise to resolve the bank issue.

Macau's Monetary Authority, which has taken control of the bank, has been tightlipped about the process of releasing the frozen funds.

But Hill said Friday that the U.S. considered the problem resolved.

"It's certainly worrisome to all of us to see them approaching this date rather lethargically. ... We understood their concerns about the banking issue and frankly those concerns have been met," he said.

U.S. officials and experts say the process of shutting down a reactor and having U.N. nuclear inspectors verify it would take at least several days -- making it virtually impossible for the North to meet the Saturday deadline.

"It's a technical question, but it does not take that long," Hill said. "We're not talking months or anything like that. There should be no reason to go slow in this process."

He would not say how long the other countries would wait for North Korea to act on its promises.

"I don't want to put a date or an hour, but another month is not in my constitution," he said.

The only immediate cost the impoverished North would suffer for not shutting the reactor by the deadline would be an initial 50,000 ton shipment of heavy fuel oil promised as a reward. That shipment was part of 1 million tons of oil it would get for dismantling its nuclear program.

However, it is unlikely the U.S. or other countries would take any punitive action, as Washington also failed to resolve the bank issue within 30 days as promised.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, was still awaiting an invitation from North Korea for a preliminary visit, a diplomat familiar with the issue said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

After a visit by two senior IAEA officials to establish procedures for an inspection tour, the agency's board would meet to approve the first return of inspectors since December 2002, when North Korea kicked them out and quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The process could take weeks.

China leans on Sudan to accept peacekeeping plan

Source: CNN.
April 11, 2007.

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China urged Sudan in unusually strong terms on Wednesday to show more flexibility on a peace plan for its devastated Darfur region, but said the international community would get nowhere by dictating terms to Khartoum.

China, which buys much of Sudan's oil and wields veto power on the U.N. Security Council, has been criticized in the West for not using its leverage to force Khartoum to act to curb violence in Darfur, where ethnic tensions erupted into a revolt in 2003.

"We suggest the Sudan side show flexibility and accept this plan," Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun told a news conference on his return from a three-day trip to the African country.

Sudan has rejected U.N.-A.U. force

He was referring to a peace plan put forward by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to deploy a hybrid African Union-U.N. peacekeeping force. Sudan has had reservations about the deal.

Zhai met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir as well as Foreign Ministry officials and visited refugee camps in Darfur -- a rare step for a Chinese official. He said on Wednesday Beijing was using its influence in its own way and rejected suggestions that it would get further by using threats.

"The international community should pay attention to the way of having consultations with the Sudan government in order to achieve better results. This is my opinion," Zhai said.

"On the Annan plan, China has played an essential role. Just because of the Chinese government, Sudan is adopting a flexible attitude," he said. "China can't do everything, but we respect each other and consult as equals."

But while insisting its role in Sudan is constructive, China has offered Khartoum increased military cooperation. Last week it played host to its Joint Chief of Staff in Beijing.

Chinese weapons are also used by all sides in the Darfur conflict despite an arms embargo on the region.

Calls Janjaweed 'only a group of bandits'

Zhai played down the strength of the government-allied Janjaweed, calling their militias "only a group of bandits". And he said China would not support sanctions against Sudan.

"We should help Sudan resolve this issue instead of creating further problems or complicating the issue. Therefore, we are not in favor of sanctions," he said, adding that it was too early to say if China would veto such a resolution.

Zhai's trip was the latest sign of China's intensifying engagement with Sudan and follows a trip by President Hu Jintao in February.

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo also discussed promoting diplomatic efforts to resolve the Darfur issue with his U.S. counterpart John Negroponte by telephone earlier this week.

The four-year war in Darfur has killed an estimated 200,000 people and driven more than 2 million from their homes.

But the Khartoum government has been resisting the deployment of international troops to back ill-equipped African forces.

"Sudan has accepted in principle the three-phased Annan plan. However, on some of the details, it has reservations," Zhai said. "Sudan is most concerned about its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

U.N. fears up to 400 killed in Chad raids

Source: CNN.
April 10, 2007.

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Up to 400 people, far more than previously feared, were killed in Chad during a cross-border attack by Sudanese Janjaweed militia some 10 days ago, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

Chadian authorities estimated last week that at least 65 people died in the early morning attacks on March 31 on two villages in eastern Chad, Tiero and Marena, home to some 8,000.

The new estimated toll followed a visit to the remote area Sunday by a group of U.N. agencies, which described the scene there as "apocalyptic," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Ron Redmond said.

"Estimates of the number of dead have increased substantially and now range between 200 and 400. Because most of the dead were buried where their bodies were found -- often in common graves owing to their numbers -- we may never know their exact number," he told a briefing.

Survivors identified the attackers as a coalition of well-armed Janjaweed militia "assisted by Chad rebels equipped with heavy weapons and vehicles," he said. It would be one of the most violent single incidents so far recorded on the volatile Chadian-Sudanese border.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Helene Caux said that survivors had reported recognizing some of the Janjaweed as living in Arab settlements around their villages, while others appeared to have crossed the border from Sudan.

The U.N. team found decomposing bodies near the villages, including those of a 30-year-old father of eight. Hundreds of homes had been burned to the ground, and there was an "overwhelming stench" from rotting carcasses of dead animals.

"There were many indications that people had little or no time to flee, given that many essential household goods, food and domestic animals were left behind," Redmond said.

"All along the route to those villages could be seen belongings abandoned along the way by those who collapsed. ... Many died where they fell along the road," he said.

An 8-year-old boy told the U.N. team that he had dropped to the ground to "escape bullets that came like rainfall" as he fled Tiero. A girl his age had died of a gunshot wound to the head as she got up to run, he said.

"The number of survivors who have provided us with heartbreaking testimony such as this is overwhelming. It paints a portrait perhaps better described as a massacre than an attack," Redmond told Reuters.

Khartoum has denied any responsibility for the deadly raids.

The number of wounded in the raids stood at about 80, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Many of those who survived the initial attack, especially elderly and young children, had died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing, it said.

Some 9,000 Chadians -- mainly women and children -- from the surrounding area had fled after the attacks, joining another 9,000 compatriots who had fled earlier raids, the agency said.

"The whereabouts of many men remain unknown," Redmond said. "This is really a nightmarish situation that is occurring in southeastern Chad."

The villages are in the Wadi-Fira region of Chad's eastern border with Sudan. Chad has identified the raiders, some mounted on camels and horses, as Sudanese Janjaweed militia.

The raids appear to be another spillover of violence from Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region, where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003 in a war between rebels and Sudanese government forces and their allied militias.

The Geneva-based U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has been warning for nearly two years about the spread of unrest from Darfur, "the epicenter of conflict in the region," Redmond said.

"We have seen a dangerous escalation for a long time, not only in Darfur, but in Chad and Central African Republic," he said. "That situation is continuing, as evidenced by the tragedy we just saw in the two villages."

Chad: Rebels driven back after attack on troops

Source: CNN.
April 9, 2007.

N'DJAMENA, Chad (Reuters) -- Chad said it had routed an attack Monday by a rebel convoy of more than 200 vehicles launched from Sudanese territory, just two months after a nonaggression pact signed by the two countries.

Information Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement the rebel forces had been routed after attacking army troops in the border village of Aldjirema. At least eight Chadian soldiers and numerous rebels were killed, he said.

"Chad expects the international community to unequivocally condemn this enemy aggression led from Sudan against Chad and take appropriate measures to compel the Sudanese government to abandon its expansionist plans to destabilize Chad," Doumgor said.

The rebel Chadian National Concord, in a statement signed by its military commander, Mahamad Hassan Kokiss, confirmed heavy fighting had taken place but said government forces had attacked its troops first.

"After six hours of resistance, our forces redeployed to new positions, and the enemy remains within our reach," Kokiss said, saying the fighting violated an agreement signed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Chad had signed a peace deal with another rebel group in Tripoli in December and a nonaggression pact with Sudan there in February. It was not immediately clear whether Kokiss was referring to either of these.

President Idriss Deby's government said exact casualty figures for the rebel forces were not yet available but 38 of their vehicles were destroyed in the attack.

The Chadian National Concord said the rebels had lost three vehicles and 10 men, while destroying 35 government vehicles and killing numerous soldiers.

Doumgor said the convoy was made up of forces from several rebel groups, including the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development of Mahamat Nouri and the Rally of Democratic Forces led by Tom and Timan Erdimi, nephews of Deby.

The four-year war in Sudan's western region of Darfur has spilled across the border into Chad.

N'Djamena accuses Sudan of backing Chadian rebels based in Darfur, while Sudanese Arab militia known as Janjaweed are raiding ever further into eastern Chad.

Khartoum has denied any support for Chadian insurgents.

Sudan expected to resist U.S. pressure on Darfur

Source: CNN.
April 9, 2007.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- Sudan is unlikely to ease its opposition to the deployment of U.N. troops in Darfur this week when a top U.S. official visits, but there are signs it may be flexible on boosting African troops in the troubled region.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is expected to deliver a tough message from Washington, which has threatened new measures to try to break Sudan's resistance to international troops to back the ill-equipped African Union forces

The AU operates an overstretched 7,000-strong force in Darfur, where violence has persisted despite a 2006 peace agreement between the government and one rebel faction. Unidentified gunmen killed five AU troops last week.

Negroponte also will visit Chad and Libya, two other players in the Darfur conflict. It is not clear when he will arrive in Sudan on a regional tour.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is known for his diplomatic skills and is promoting his country as a mediator in African affairs, will arrive in Sudan on Tuesday and is expected to discuss the Darfur issue.

At the heart of the debate is the outcome of a November meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The United Nations says Khartoum agreed then to a three-phase plan that would end with a hybrid AU-U.N. operation in Darfur.

Sudan said it only agreed to the first two phases of U.N. logistical and financial support.

After a meeting with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Saturday, African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare backed Khartoum, saying that there had been a clear agreement in Addis Ababa that there would be a hybrid force consisting of an African force under AU command, with logistical, financial and administrative assistance from the United Nations.

But he said the size of the African force had yet to be determined. The AU and United Nations were holding discussions on the issue Monday in a technical meeting in Addis Ababa.

Al-Bashir, who says U.N. troops would amount to foreign occupation, has made a vague reference to "reviewing" issues related to Darfur.

U.S. officials have said they were close to imposing new measures against Sudan, but an announcement appears to have been put on hold after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he wanted more time to convince Bashir to accept a hybrid force.

The measures contemplated include adding more firms to a U.S. sanctions list as well as further limits on Sudanese firms doing business in dollars and slapping travel and banking restrictions on at least three more Sudanese individuals.

The United States also aims to pressure Bashir militarily by helping rebuild the forces of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which was at war with the north until a 2005 peace deal.

But Sudan, which has faced little pressure from the African Union and enjoys growing ties with China, has remained defiant.

State television gave prominence to a visit by the China's special envoy, Zhai Juan, who visited Darfur camps for the displaced and said international pressure would only hurt efforts to ease the suffering there.

Experts estimate that 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million fled their homes in Darfur since the conflict flared in 2003, when rebels took up arms against the central government. Khartoum says 9,000 died.

Sudan accused European countries on Saturday of withholding support for African Union troops in Darfur to try to force the need for U.N. military intervention.

Chinese PM calls for close ties with Japan

Source: CNN.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged Japan's parliament on Thursday not to forget Tokyo's wartime aggression, even as the two Asian powers mend their strained ties and bolster thriving business relations.

Wen -- the first Chinese leader to address the parliament in 22 years -- was on a three-day "ice-melting" trip to Japan as the two countries worked to reverse a deterioration in ties caused in part by disagreements about the past.

The Chinese premier, who spent part of Thursday urging Japanese business leaders to invest in China, also struck a conciliatory note, acknowledging Japanese apologies and blaming a clique of militarists for Tokyo's invasions of China. (Watch why Wen's visit marks a thaw in China-Japan relations.)

"To reflect on history is not to dwell on hard feelings but to remember and learn from the past in order to open a better future," he said, adding, however, that he hoped Japan's apologies would be "turned into actions."

The two countries have been at odds in recent years over Japan's invasions and occupation of China in the 1930s and '40s. China has accused Japan of not fully atoning for its aggression, while some Japanese feel accounts of their wrongdoings have been exaggerated. (Watch how World War II continues to cast a shadow on the two countries' ties.)

The Wen trip was aimed at building on an improvement in ties begun when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to China in October. Ties had plunged to postwar lows during the 2001-2006 term of his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.

Japanese officials said they were satisfied so far with the visit, which was to end Friday.

"Premier Wen Jiabao's speech was very positive, and I thought it was very good that forward-looking remarks were made on broad-ranging issues," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said.

On Wednesday, Wen and Abe declared their firm intentions to move forward on rebuilding relations, signed agreements on energy and the environment, and issued a joint statement that laid out a series of issues for the countries to cooperate on. (Full story)

Wen also strove to put a human face on the Chinese government, coming out early Thursday for a jog at a Tokyo park -- wearing sportswear with a Beijing 2008 Olympics logo -- and even joining a group doing tai chi. On Friday, he was to play baseball with college students in western Japan.

Much of Wen's activities on Thursday and Friday were aimed at business relations. China, including Hong Kong, is Japan's No. 1 trading partner, and Beijing is eager to increase Japanese technology transfers and investment in its booming economy.

After the parliament speech, Wen lunched with members of Japan's leading business federation, declaring that "winter has past, and spring has come in China-Japan relations."

He urged Japanese companies to invest in China, vowing to address vast imbalances in the Chinese economy, improve the natural environment, protect intellectual property rights, continue tax breaks for high-tech companies and proceed with currency reform.

"China must build a society that conserves its resources and protects its environment," Wen said.

Wen and Abe also launched a series of high-level economic dialogues aimed at boosting ties between Asia's two biggest economies.

"Our economies have become indispensable to each other ... and our relationship is also crucial to the world economy," Abe said.

Oil dispute

But a statement in an annual report by China's No. 1 oil producer that it is producing oil and gas from a disputed area in the East China Sea threatened to disturb the cordial mood of Wen's visit.

Japan has asked Chinese officials to confirm the report by CNOOC Ltd., which said the company was producing 42 barrels of oil and 4 million cubic feet of gas per day from the disputed Tianwaitian oil field, according to a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

The two countries have not demarcated their exclusive economic zones in the area, and Japan has objected to Chinese exploitation of the deposits, saying some of the gas belongs to Japan. Joint talks so far have achieved little.

Still, Wen made a number of statements on issues close to Japanese hearts.

On Wednesday, he expressed understanding for Japan's drive to win a resolution of North Korea's past kidnappings of Japanese citizens. On Thursday, he alluded to Tokyo's long-standing campaign to win a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council -- a campaign China has blocked in the past.

"China understands Japan's hope to play a bigger role in international society, and we are ready to strengthen our mutual understanding over the United Nations' reforms," he said.

Wen, however, also warned the Japanese not to meddle in Beijing's relations with Taiwan, which it considers part of China. The premier said China hoped for peaceful reunification, but that it could not tolerate Taiwanese independence.

Chad: At least 65 killed in Sudan militia raid

Source: CNN.

N'DJAMENA, Chad (Reuters) -- At least 65 people were killed in a cross-border raid by Sudanese Janjaweed militia who torched two villages in eastern Chad, driving up to 8,000 civilians from their homes, Chadian authorities said Tuesday.

Sudan denied any role in the weekend attacks.

Chad's government said its forces killed 25 of the raiders, some mounted on camels and horses, others in vehicles, who destroyed the villages of Tiero and Marena on Saturday in the Wadi-Fira region of the eastern border with Sudan.

"Chadian military authorities reported at least 65 dead just in the village of Tiero," Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, in a briefing on the attacks.

Early reports indicated at least 70 wounded, half of them seriously. The death toll was expected to rise as casualty figures from the second village attacked became available.

Chadian Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said the raiders, whom he identified as Sudanese Janjaweed militia, burned down the two villages, forcing their inhabitants to flee.

"Between 6,000 and 8,000 people are out in the open, without shelter and deprived of everything," he said, adding that government forces had pushed back the attackers.

The raids appeared to be the latest spillover of violence from Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region, where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003 in a war between rebels and Sudanese government forces and their militia allies.

Chad President Idriss Deby, who also faces an insurgency in the east, frequently accuses Sudan of sending the Janjaweed -- feared mounted raiders whose name in Arabic means "devils on horseback" -- across the border to kill and plunder.

But Khartoum denied any responsibility for the latest raid.

"I have not heard anything about this incident. The Sudanese government played no role in this whatsoever," Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig told Reuters in Khartoum, Sudan.

The UNHCR's Redmond said there were reports of "corpses along roadsides" after the raids. He added testimony so far from victims indicated the assault was led by Janjaweed militia.

"Survivors interviewed by UNHCR said their villages were surrounded by men on horseback and camelback, as well as many motor vehicles, some of which were equipped with heavy weaponry. The assailants began to fire at random in the villages and then began pursuing the fleeing population," he said.

At least 2,000 people, mostly women and children, who fled the attacks reached the Goz Amir refugee camp near Koukou, some 28 miles (45 kilometers) west of the two villages, according to UNHCR.

"They say many people are still hiding in the bush, fearful their assailants might still be in the area," Redmond said.

The Janjaweed attackers fled toward the Sudanese border.

Goz Amir camp is already home to more than 19,000 Sudanese refugees from neighboring Darfur.

Sudan has refused to allow the deployment of a strong U.N. force in Darfur to bolster an over-stretched African Union peacekeeping contingent already there.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended in January sending up to 11,000 peacekeeping soldiers and police to Chad and Central African Republic to secure their porous borders with Darfur and protect civilians and refugees.

But Chad has said it only wants a civil protection force of police and gendarmes in the east.