U.S. and European Media

October 22, 2022

Associated Press: Deadly Fighting Erupts in Darfur Camp. Fighting at a refugee camp in southern Darfur has left several people dead and others missing, an African Union official said Saturday. The clashes in the Kalama refugee camp broke out over differences among tribal groups that signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government in 2006 and those who did not sign, according to Al Sahafa, an independent daily newspaper reporting from Darfur. AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni said "a number of parties were implicated" in the fighting Thursday. He would not elaborate or provide an exact death toll, citing an ongoing investigation. "We can confirm that a number of persons were killed and others are missing, and the investigations are still going on about the whole episode," Mezni said. Al Sahafa reported that at least five people were killed and nine were injured.

Albuquerque Journal: Speakers Share Darfur Experiences. To hear Daoud Hari discuss the harrowing experiences he endured in his native Darfur is to know what strength -- of spirit, of will -- is all about. "One woman who had been tortured and raped by the Janjaweed told us that she and many others had been treated that way for 15, 16, 20 days -- they did not know how long it had been," said Hari, who managed to escape the sight of perhaps the world's worst genocide in a generation. "I myself knew that the more times I tried to re-enter Darfur from Chad, the more chance there would be that I would die. "When I was captured, I was held in jail for one month and 10 days. It was very hard. I didn't know where I was." In the end, Hari was freed after Gov. Bill Richardson negotiated his release, as well as that of Paul Salopek, a Chicago Tribune reporter whom Hari had been assisting as a translator. Hari and Amal Allagabo were the featured speakers on Saturday for "Voices From Darfur," a national speaking tour aimed at raising awareness of the issue hosted by the University of New Mexico.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ira Newble talks about visit to Darfur. The children in the refugee camps just out side the border of Sudan use the red crayon more than any other. Ira Newble noticed it right away. The Cavaliers guard saw the youngest of the survivors splotch paper with crimson again and again while they sat in dingy school buildings and tried to forget the horrors around them, but only colored painful memories. The kids drew pictures of mothers running through streets with babies clutched to their chests. And planes dropping bombs over villages. And armies of gun-toting rebels spraying bullets into crowds. "My kids are at home drawing rainbows and cars and flowers," Newble said sadly. "These kids, this is what they draw because this is what they see." Newble visited two Darfur refugee camps in August and came back with a renewed vigor to publicize the genocide in Sudan. He latched onto the cause last spring when he urged his Cavaliers teammates to sign a letter of protest addressed to China, the chief buyer of Sudanese oil and the host of next year's Olympics. And most of all, he has plans to recruit more athletes to join his fight - including his famous Cavaliers teammate, LeBron James. "I have no choice but to talk about it," Newble said. "I can't turn my back. These are humans being murdered and driven out of their homes." Newble visited the Darfur camps with a group called Dream for Darfur, which strives to raise awareness by running the Olympic torch through countries that have experienced genocide. And though the United Nations announced that rebel leaders from Darfur will hold peace negotiations with the government Oct. 27, the situation is far from resolved, Newble said. "The governments are failing Sudan," Newble said. "The U.S. government, the whole international community is failing. There's no reason to wait. We're failing them. And we can help them."

BBC: Muslim stars sing to help Darfur. The event on Sunday at Wembley Arena was to highlight the crisis in the Sudanese region and featured some of the Muslim world's biggest stars. Among them was Sami Yusuf - dubbed the Islamic Bono - and Texan country and western singer Kareem Salama. The director of Islamic Relief said British Muslims must unite and "raise their voices" over the issue of Darfur. Jehangir Malik said the event - organised by Islamic Relief - was inspired by the Live Aid and Live 8 concerts which drew global attention to famine and poverty in Africa. "We felt this was an important event to put on for the British Muslim community to be able to raise their voices and stand in solidarity and stand together with Britain to say, 'Look, we need to do something about Darfur'." Mr Malik said British Muslims had already raised £2m for Darfur. "This is a thorny issue for us and it is clear that we have to do more." The concert was timed to coincide with the end of Ramadan and the celebrations associated with Eid.

Reuters: Sudan Vice President Accuses South Of Troop Buildup. Sudan's vice president accused former southern rebels on Sunday of building up their forces and escalating tension, 10 days after they withdrew their ministers from the country's government sparking a political crisis. Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha urged the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to return to Khartoum and restart work on implementing a fragile north-south peace deal. "The SPLM says it will not go back to war," said Taha, speaking through an interpreter. "But the reality on the ground indicates that the SPLM is redeploying its forces and building them up between the Blue Nile and the While Nile in Bahr el-Ghazel," a region near the north-south border. "We are calling on the SPLM to practice self-control and to stop the escalation of the situation." SPLM Deputy Secretary-General Yasir Arman described Taha's allegations as "totally baseless," and said SPLM Chairman Salva Kiir would respond to them in detail "very soon." Commentators have warned a collapse of the pact would have a devastating impact on security across Sudan, including its war-torn western Darfur region. The two-decade civil war that the CPA ended killed 2 million people and drove 4 million from their homes.

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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].