U.S. and European Media

August 30, 2023

Reuters: Darfur rebels say bombing drives thousands from homes. Darfur rebels accused the government of bombing South Darfur on Thursday, the latest attack in an aerial campaign that has driven thousands of people from their homes over the past month. "There is aerial bombardment on a daily basis -- bombing by MiG 29 and by Antonov (in South Darfur)," Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) commander Abel Aziz el-Nur Ashr Ashr said. Ashr said 20,000 people in the area south west of Adila town near the eastern border of Darfur had fled their homes to the bush without access to clean water during the fighting which has been ongoing for the past month. Ashr said bombers attacked again in South Darfur early on Thursday. The army was not immediately available to comment. On Wednesday JEM and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) attacked an army base in the Kordofan region next to Darfur, which they said was the logistical and supply centre for ongoing attacks in South Darfur. The African Union peacekeeping force, struggling to defend itself, has declared the area no-go, making it difficult to verify facts.

Reuters: U.N. Official Warns Of Militarized Darfur Camps. Camps teeming with frustrated refugees in Sudan's Darfur region have become militarized and present a danger that cannot be ignored, a U.N. official was quoted as saying on Thursday. The U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, John Holmes, told the BBC the presence of weapons in the camps and the proximity of the Sudanese military outside refugee centers made for a potentially explosive situation. "If you have large numbers of people in camps, you have the government of Sudan's military presence in the area, there are bound to be clashes from time to time," Holmes was quoted as saying on the BBC Web site. "The politicization and militarization on the ground in the camps is a fact of life you can't ignore," he added.

Reuters: U.N. police chief calls for more Darfur peacekeepers. Major Western nations must offer more police for Darfur to end four years of violence, the retiring U.N. police chief said on Thursday as the world body struggles to find enough officers for the Sudanese province. The United Nations Security Council has agreed to send 26,000 U.N. and African Union peacekeepers to the Western Sudanese region to end four years of killing and violence that has left an estimated 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. The mission will need about 6,400 police. But outgoing U.N. police chief Mark Kroeker said the number of officers from major developed nations was dwindling and countries such as Britain, the United States, Canada, Italy and France needed to offer more. "The countries that have been talking about Darfur need to now do something about Darfur with their deployment of police in probably the most desperate place in the world," Kroeker, an American, told reporters at a police conference in Canberra. Kroeker, in Australia for a meeting of the International Policing Advisory Council of police chiefs and academics, said countries always faced a difficult choice over releasing police from fighting local crime to take part in overseas missions.

Associated Press: New U.N. Envoy in Sudan to Be Named. Ashraf Qazi, the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, is tipped to be the next U.N. representative in Sudan if the government approves, diplomats said Wednesday. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submitted Qazi's name to the Sudanese government about two weeks ago, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made. Ban will arrive in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Monday as part of a trip to promote a political solution to the conflict in Darfur and the diplomats said there is pressure for a new envoy to be named before he gets there. Ban told a news conference Tuesday he had proposed a successor to Jan Pronk of the Netherlands ''and the announcement will come out very soon,'' hopefully before his visit to the country. Pronk was ordered to leave Sudan last October after accusing the army of violating U.N. resolutions by mobilizing Arab militias in Darfur following heavy losses in fighting with rebels.

Associated Press: Canada Says Sudan Diplomat to Be Ousted. A Sudanese diplomat will be expelled from Canada within days in response to Sudan's decision to kick out Canada's charge d'affaires, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. The Foreign Affairs Department said the Sudanese diplomat, who has yet to be identified, will be ordered to leave the country by Saturday. Ministry officials said the diplomat would hold a similar rank to Canadian acting charge d'affaires Nuala Lawlor, who the Sudanese government ordered expelled last Thursday after accusing him of ''meddling in its affairs.'' ''Canada considers the expulsion of our charge d'affaires to be entirely unjustified,'' Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said in a statement. Along with Lawlor, Sudan said it was expelling the European Union's top diplomat in the country for ''meddling'' in its affairs. But the government later said it would allow Kent Degerfelt to complete the remaining three weeks of his mandate as long as he was replaced by someone new. On Monday, Sudan also ordered out the head of CARE International's operations in the country. No reason was given for the official's expulsion, but the group had been directing one of the largest private aid efforts in Darfur. Stung by criticism, Sudan has taken a hard line against what it says is interference in its internal affairs by outsiders.

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