U.S. and European media

April 15, 2023

Reuters: Elections spark new fears in Darfur camps. In Zamzam refugee camp in Sudan's Darfur region, optimism that national elections will bring an end to years of conflict and deprivation is in short supply, just like water, food, and everything else. The elections taking place across Sudan this week seemed a distant notion in Zamzam, a sprawling makeshift city crowded with bony livestock and dust-coated children who are among the 2.5 million people forced from their homes since 2003 by fighting between rebels and state-backed militias.

Reuters: Killings, harassment mar last day of Sudan vote. Sudan's ruling party said on Thursday that the southern army had killed nine people, including at least five of its officials, stoking tensions during voting in the first open elections in 24 years.

VOA: Sudan Election Should Not Legitimize Bashir, Says Ambassador Frazer. The former U.S Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs says Sudan's general election scheduled to end Thursday reinforces the status quo which will allow President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP) to further dominate the country's politics. Ambassador Jendayi Frazer said the NCP seems determined to maintain its grip on power in order to continue its policies of marginalizing other regions as well as ensuring that power and wealth remain in Khartoum.

The Daily Beast: Obama Hires a Clooney Confidant. David Pressman took George Clooney on his first trip to Darfur. Now Obama's hired him to a new position to help combat genocide and mass atrocities. Pressman, a 32-year-old civil-rights attorney and former Clooney adviser, will be coordinating and supporting the U.S. government's efforts to respond to and prevent mass atrocities around the globe, from Darfur to the Congo, Rwanda, Burma, and Zimbabwe. In the new job, Pressman plans to do "some important plumbing and wiring" to create a structure within government to fight war crimes, working alongside the Departments of State, Treasury, Justice, and the intelligence community.

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].