U.S. and European media

May 26, 2023

Reuters: Darfur clashes over army base kill 63: military. Twenty Sudanese soldiers and 43 Darfur rebels were killed in fierce clashes over a Sudanese army base close to the Chadian border, the country's army said on Monday. Darfur's rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said it attacked the army base in the settlement of Umm Baru, in north Darfur on Sunday, the second military camp it has raided in just over a week. The region's joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force originally said the rebel attackers had overrun the army base. UNAMID later released a statement condemning the violence, adding 350 civilians and 100 government soldiers took refuge close to its own base in Umm Baru during the clashes. "Urgent humanitarian aid, particularly food, water, medical supplies and tents, is needed to help civilians displaced by the fighting," the statement added. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was gravely concerned by the fighting and urged both sides to seek a negotiated settlement.

ABC Online: Activists Frustrated with Lack of Focus on Darfur Crisis. Months after 13 aid groups were expelled from Darfur by the Sudanese government, escalating a years-long humanitarian crisis there, celebrity activists and lawmakers have engaged in fasts of solidarity, been arrested in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington, and protested in front of the White House. And despite a statement by the White House condemning the expulsion of the aid groups, activists are increasingly frustrated with the White House and President Obama for their perceived lack of concrete action on the issue. On Friday, a small group of Sudanese immigrants gathered in front of the White House to express their disappointment in Obama for not being active enough on Darfur from the outset of his presidency. "There are two issues," said Alex Meixner, the policy director for Save Darfur. "There is a growing urgency to address the situation," he said, explaining that because of the expulsion of the aid groups, and because the rainy season in Darfur washes out the roads there for much of the summer, the humanitarian situation will get much more dire. "And the second is some frustration that we're not seeing a lot of visible urgent response from the White House," said Meixner.

Agence France-Presse: US envoy to visit China, other nations on Darfur peace. US special envoy Scott Gration is due over the next week to visit China, Qatar, Britain and France to revive efforts to bring peace to Sudan's western Darfur region, a US official said Friday. The United States sees China as a key to ending the six-year war between the Arab government in Khartoum and ethnic minority rebels in Darfur because it is a government ally, military supplier and importer of Sudanese oil. "This is all an effort to align positions on the Darfur peace process under the leadership of United Nations-African Union joint chief mediator Djibril Bassole," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters. Kelly said that Gration will leave Saturday for China and return to Washington June 1.


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].