U.S. and European Media

October 19, 2022

Agence France Presse: Sudanese forces shelling Darfur refugee camp: rebel chief. An exiled Darfur rebel chief said on Friday that Sudanese government forces were shelling the largest refugee camp in Darfur. "This is happening as we speak. The government of Sudan is using artillery against the people in the camp," Nur told AFP by phone from Paris, where he is exiled. Nur said he had received information about the attack on Kalma, the largest camp in Darfur, from his field commanders. "The strategy is the following: kill, rape, burn, put people in concentration camps. This is the regime's final solution," added Nur, who founded the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) which has since splintered into several factions. "I am calling on the international community to stop the genocide against my people. What is happening is really very sad (and) everybody is turning a blind eye. "We need urgent action and the solution is not going to come from Libya," Nur added. Final settlement talks between Darfur's myriad rebel groups and Khartoum are scheduled to kick off on October 27 in Libya, in a bid to end the conflict that has raged since February 2003.

Associated Press: Advocacy group joined by Mia Farrow says China must set aside its own interests to help Darfur. China is in a unique position to help end violence in Darfur and must set aside its own economic interests and pressure Khartoum to hasten the deployment of an African Union-U.N. peacekeeping force, an advocacy group coalition said Thursday. In releasing a new report titled "Having it Both Ways" that analyzes the economic relationship between China and Sudan, the Save Darfur Coalition called for stronger action from Beijing to avoid a potential delay in deploying the 26,000-strong "hybrid" force agreed upon by the U.N. Security Council in July. "Now is the time for China to intervene again to ensure the agreement is met by Khartoum," Larry Rossin of the Washington D.C.-based coalition told The Associated Press. "China's responsibility to play a constructive role in ending this genocide extends beyond their relationship as Sudan's primary economic partner and diplomatic protector," she said, speaking during the conference call. The report said that China is now "trying to have it both ways" as both a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council that authorized the peacekeeping force while "tightening its economic relationship with Sudan." "Given its unmatched supportive relationship with Khartoum, the current responsibility and potential role of China in ending the tragedy in Darfur is unique, undeniable and absolutely indispensable," it said. Farrow, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, has labeled the Beijing Games the "genocide Olympics," and has launched her own torch relay through countries with histories of mass atrocities.

Reuters: Darfur activists urge China to stop arming Sudan. International activists working to end the conflict in Darfur called on Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday to stop selling weapons to Sudan and press Khartoum to admit U.N. peacekeepers. The letter to Hu by the Save Darfur Coalition was accompanied by a new study that accused China of "trying to have it both ways" by appearing to help ease the Darfur crisis to avoid trouble before the 2008 Beijing Olympics while continuing to arm and enrich the Khartoum government. "The balance of Chinese engagement in Sudan, Mr President, does not clearly prioritize ending the horrific and destabilizing conflict in Darfur, and indeed can still more easily be assessed to the contrary," said the letter. "It is entirely plausible to view China's positive steps toward resolving the Darfur crisis primarily as an effort to deflect criticism directed against your country as you prepare to host the Olympic Games next summer, and not as sincere," said the letter to Hu. "We wish to believe differently." China has supported the Sudan government's version of events, but has advised Khartoum to cooperate with U.N. efforts to send peacekeepers and name a special envoy for Darfur. At the same, however, China increased trade with Sudan 124 percent in the first six months of this year compared to 2006, according to Chinese statistics. China is Sudan's biggest arms supplier following a 25-fold leap in arms sales between 2002 and 2005 and the bilateral military relationship "continues unabated and may even be expanding," the study said. The letter urged China to push for the swift deployment of U.N. peacekeepers, contribute helicopters and heavy transport vehicles to the U.N. mission, and suspend all arms sales and military aid to Sudan until atrocities have ended.

Associated Press: Sudan Government Fails to Reconcile. The president and his estranged vice president failed Thursday to bridge a government rift threatening a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of civil war between Sudan's north and south. During a lengthy meeting, President Omar al-Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir were unable to bring back southerners who left their Cabinet posts last week, accusing the government of failing to live up to the peace deal. The two nonetheless pledged to continue implementing the agreement. The rift has been Sudan's biggest political crisis since the end of the civil war between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian and animist southerners, which claimed some 2 million lives. A return to fighting across central and southern Sudan would likely complicate efforts to end a separate conflict in the western Darfur region, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million been displaced since fighting began four years ago.

Reuters: Sweden plans troop contribution to EU Chad force. Sweden plans to send 200 soldiers to join the European Union peacekeeping operation in Chad and the Central African Republic, the government said on Thursday. The proposal is subject to parliamentary approval at a vote set for next month, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. "The EU operation will provide support for the U.N.'s crisis management capability, which is one of the most important tasks of the European security and defence policy," Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Bildt said in a statement. "The conflict in Darfur requires a unified approach to the serious humanitarian disaster that characterises the entire region -- which is why the EU operation in Chad is important." Sweden also plans to contribute 150 troops to a joint Sweden-Norway engineering force planned for Darfur and these soldiers will be focused on building roads and bases for the hybrid African Union force.

Investment News: Franklin Resources ripped on Sudan. In its quest to push for divestment in Sudan, the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition has decided to go underground to fight a major mutual fund company. The alliance, also known as the Save Darfur Coalition, comprises more than 180 faith-based advocacy and humanitarian organizations. It has plastered 230 advertisements at San Francisco's Montgomery Street Bay Area Rapid Transit station in the city's financial district criticizing Franklin Resources Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., for investing in Chinese oil company PetroChina Co. Ltd. of Beijing. According to the targeted-divestment model developed by the Sudan Divestment Task Force in Washington, PetroChina, through its parent company, China National Petroleum Corp., is the worst of the "highest offending" companies helping to fund genocide by conducting business in Sudan's Darfur region. In addition to targeting Franklin Resources, the coalition has on its "watch list" The Capital Group Cos. Inc. of Los Angeles, New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc. and The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pa.

New York Times: Images of Darfur, on Central Park West. Giant photographic images from the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan will be digitally projected onto the facade of the New-York Historical Society’s landmark building on Central Park West this evening, part of a traveling exhibition designed to raise awareness of what many human rights advocates have called a genocide. The show, “Darfur/Darfur,” was organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington. It has been seen in Boston, Chicago, Johannesburg, Montreal, Philadelphia and Toronto and will open in Detroit on Monday. In New York, the images will be projected every day for a week, today through next Thursday, from about 6 to 10 p.m. each night. The exhibition includes photographs taken in Darfur by a former marine, Brian Steidle, and by the photojournalists Lynsey Addario, Mark Brecke, Helene Caux, Ron Haviv, Paolo Pellegrin, Ryan Spencer Reed, and Michal Safdie. The images are accompanied by music inspired by the Sudan. The images will be projected onto the 76th Street and 77th Street wings of the historical society’s building, which faces Central Park West. “For the past two months we’ve been trying to spread the word about this in the neighborhood,” said Laura Washington, a spokeswoman for the historical society. “We want people to come out and see the human face of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur,” she said. “We’re hoping that it will provoke thought and that people will take action.”

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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].