U.S. and European Media

August 17, 2023

Reuters: Darfur Refugees Haunted By Past, Long For Peace. Mariam Khamis Adam is huddled on the floor, using giant marker pens to draw a picture of her childhood memories. "These are flowers," she says, "and this is the Janjaweed killing my older brother. This is my other brother, he ran from the house and survived. Later he died of illness." The youngsters here may be quick to smile, but a glance through their drawings hints at their inner turmoil. Alongside the occasional flower, there are repeated images of war: planes bombing villages, huts on fire, men with guns shooting women, attackers on horseback. Asked how they felt drawing the pictures, every child gives an identical answer: "I felt angry." Hollywood actress and rights activist Mia Farrow, a goodwill ambassador for U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF, was visibly moved during her four-day visit to eastern Chad's refugee camps this week. "I have drawers full of children's paintings -- I have 14 children," said Farrow. "They are full of suns and stars and stick people smiling. These are very different drawings. "I'm looking at a head being shot off, I'm looking at attack helicopters, I'm looking at homes on fire. "I think these pictures should be seen by everyone, lest with the passage of time anyone deny this happened, or how it happened. This is the purest documentation." "If U.N. troops enter Darfur, we would like to move the same day and pitch our tents in Darfur," said Osman Iman Osman, a refugee leader in Oure Cassoni camp, 3 miles from the border. "Our country is very valuable to us, it's better than here." While refugees were united in their support for a U.N. mission, all were adamant they wanted only Western troops. "We don't want African troops, we only want U.N. soldiers," said Amna Adam Khamis, a 70-year-old refugee. "We can't trust AU troops as they are the same as the government of Sudan. I am optimistic, but if they are African I am pessimistic." Most refugees appear to be under the impression that a U.N. force would be composed of Western troops, not the more likely scenario of African soldiers under foreign command.

Associated Press: U.N. Chief Wants Backing for Chad Force. The U.N. secretary-general urged the Security Council to back a new international mission that would deploy European and U.N. forces in Chad and the Central African Republic to protect civilians trying to escape violence. In a report to the council circulated Thursday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the proposed mission would help refugees and internally displaced civilians caught in local fighting and the spillover from the Darfur conflict in neighboring Sudan. It would also enable humanitarian organizations to carry out their work, he said. The newly revised proposal addresses the misgivings of Chadian President Idriss Deby who opposed Ban's original proposal for deployment of a U.N. military force but agreed to a European Union force, the secretary-general said. With Deby's approval and the EU's agreement last month to start planning for a possible 3,000-strong peacekeeping mission, the pieces finally appear to be falling into place.

---------------------

The Darfur Daily News is a service of the Save Darfur Coalition.  To subscribe to the Daily News, please email [email protected]For media inquiries, please contact Ashley Roberts at (202) 478-6181, or [email protected].