U.S. and European media

September 30, 2023

New York Times: Accusations Against Leader of Sudan Fuel Debate. The possibility that the International Criminal Court might indict President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan on charges of genocide and war crimes in the coming months prompted an intense tug of war at the United Nations General Assembly that ended Monday. Although Darfur took a back seat to other issues at the General Assembly, United Nations officials emerged with a commitment for 18 helicopters for the peacekeeping force there from Ukraine. There were so many conditions attached by Ukraine, however, including using private contractors and getting approval from the embattled Parliament, that it remained unclear whether a solution for the long quest for 24 helicopters had really been found.

Associated Press: Sudan: Darfur aid plane shot down, 4 crew dead. An aid helicopter for the U.N.-African Union mission in Darfur was shot down outside a refugee camp on Monday, killing all four crew members and scattering debris over a half-mile, Sudanese police and the U.N. said. Police Gen. Hashim Ibrahim Fadul al-Mawla said the helicopter was shot down in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. The helicopter was operated by a private company and hired by UNAMID to carry relief materials to Muhajiria from Nyala.

Reuters: Nobel laureates urge pressure on Sudan, Myanmar. African Union leaders are more interested in protecting Sudan's president than its people and Southeast Asian leaders do the same when it comes to Myanmar, a group of women Nobel Prize winners said on Monday. "All those clubs, the African Union, ASEAN, or the U.N. Human Rights Council club, recognize their job as protecting the state rather than protecting the human rights of people from states that violate them," said Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for campaigning against land mines.

The Guardian: What price action over Darfur? The apparent failure of Sudan to block the formal indictment of its president for war crimes is threatening to plunge the country into renewed internal conflict, provoke a break with the UN and end cooperation of African Union countries with the international criminal court. Tribunal judges are expected to rule within the next two months on a request by the international criminal court chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, for an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir concerning war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide allegedly committed in Darfur. Activists passionately oppose freezing the case against Bashir. "A suspension of the investigation would deny justice to the thousands of victims in Darfur," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. A statement by more than 100 Darfuri and Sudanese diaspora groups, published by the Save Darfur Coalition, warned a freeze would "embolden a government in Khartoum which has repeatedly broken promises".

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].