Kerry leads Senate delegation to Darfur

Dialogue - real dialogue - needs to be the first step in making progress so it's a positive development to see John Kerry in Darfur. Regardless of what Europe, UN and North America think about the government in Khartoum, the Sudanese government remains popular enough in the Arab world. If we have any hope to make progress there we are going to need to do a better job of reaching out to our partners in the region and even the government leaders in Sudan. We're also going to need to work on this issue with China, who remain influential in the country. Going in, guns a blazin' has been proven to be a costly and ineffective strategy for the US.

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, will lead a delegation to Sudan's Darfur region, U.S. officials said on Monday, in a possible sign of a growing willingness to engage with Khartoum.

"This is significant," a U.S. diplomatic source told Reuters. "It is the first Congressional delegation to Sudan we have had since 2007. Like the U.S. envoy's current visit, it is a new tack."

The new U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, who is currently touring the country, made an unusually positive statement on his arrival in Khartoum last week, telling reporters he was looking for friendship and cooperation from the Sudanese government.

Next up, Zimbabwe. I hope. Read the rest of this post...

Sudanese immigrant will carry American flag at Opening Ceremony at Olympics

Okay, despite the best efforts of NBC, I'm trying not to get too caught up in the hype surrounding the Olympics. But, there is so much symbolism in the choice of the U.S. flag bearer:

Sudanese refugee Lopez Lomong was chosen by his U.S. Olympic teammates Wednesday to be the American delegation's flag-bearer at Friday's Opening Ceremonies, a move that will cast an additional spotlight on the controversy over humanitarian abuses in Sudan's embattled Darfur region as the Beijing Games begin.

The announcement of the vote by U.S. Olympic team captains came just hours after the Chinese government rescinded the visa of 2006 Olympic speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek, the co-founder of Team Darfur, a group of athletes that aims to raise awareness about the conflict in Sudan and has been pressing China to do more to help end the fighting.

Lomong is an active member of the organization. "This is the most exciting day ever in my life," Lomong, 23, said in a statement. "It's a great honor for me that my teammates chose to vote for me. I'm here as an ambassador of my country, and I will do everything I can to represent my country well."

Cheek, who carried the U.S. flag at the Closing Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, said he was "thrilled" by Lomong's selection. "I was more thrilled by it than I imagined I would have been," Cheek said by telephone. "It just seems incredibly relevant. . . . Every time I think I can't be prouder of U.S. Olympians, those guys find a way to outdo themselves."

It is very powerful. And, not only Darfur. This is a great story about refugees and immigrants who come to the United States. What do the immigrant bashers have to say? Read the rest of this post...

BBC provides evidence China violating Darfur arms embargo

No surprise here and of course, they are also providing arms and ammunition to Robert Mugabe for years. If China wants to sit at the grownups table on the world scene, they're going to have to live with the fallout that comes with playing there. This also means that people like Bush need to call them out and not become props in their TV spectacles for the world:

The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan's government militarily in Darfur.

The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005.

The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

China's government has declined to comment on the BBC's findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.

Read the rest of this post...

Sudanese president to be charged with genocide

It's shocking to see this come to this point and it will be even more shocking if it manages to get the president to The Hague. This will be a first.

The chief prosecutor of the Internationals Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant Monday for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity in the orchestration of a campaign of violence that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in the nation's Darfur region during the past five years, according to U.N. officials and diplomats.

The action by the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, will mark the first time that the tribunal in The Hague charges a sitting head of state with such crimes, and represents a major step by the court to implicate the highest levels of the Sudanese government for the atrocities in Darfur.

Read the rest of this post...

John McCain's creepy advisers

MoveOn's new ad is about one of John McCain's top advisers, who also has advised Ferdinand Marcos, Mbuto in Zaire, and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. Then again, John McCain's filthy rich wife, whose corporate jet McCain flies on for his campaign, had $2m in investments dealing with the nasty folks in the Sudan. Anyone else seeing a pattern? Watch it, it's good. Read the rest of this post...

Cindy McCain sells $2m in Sudan-related investments

Wish I had $2m invested in anything. Now who's the elitist? More from AP:

Cindy McCain, whose husband has been a critic of the violence in Sudan, sold off more than $2 million in mutual funds whose holdings include companies that do business in the African nation.

The sale on Wednesday came after The Associated Press questioned the investments in light of calls by John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, for international financial sanctions against the Sudanese leadership....

Last year, in a speech on energy policy to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, McCain cited China's investments in Sudan as an example of regimes that survive off free-flowing petro dollars.

Oops. The incredibly rich Mrs. McCain says she will never ever release her tax returns, even if her husband becomes president. Read the rest of this post...

Meanwhile, in more foreign policy debacle news

John Boonstra over at UN Dispatch writes about the still overlooked and under-reported continuing catastrophe in Darfur. President Bush's recent statements continue the administration's pattern of cynicism and misdirection on Darfur, and the detrimental effects are real and they are horrifying.

The alternative to a slow-deploying UN force was never sending U.S. troops into Darfur; this option was simply never on the table. [...] No, the alternative to U.S. troops in Darfur was, is, and will continue to be putting an effective UN peacekeeping force on the ground there, which the U.S. has been in the most opportunistic position to ensure. By failing to provide more robust support for UN peackeeping, to invest a deeper commitment in Sudan's tortured peace processes, and to exert more concerted pressure on Sudan and its enablers, the U.S. has consistently watched opportunities for peace and protection in Darfur sail by.

As John says, the false dichotomy presented by the administration on Darfur is simply misdirection. The US could use its considerable ability -- which, despite repeated foreign policy screwups, remains -- to make things better, but instead there's a lot of foot-dragging and blaming all sorts of other factors and elements. History will not be kind. Read the rest of this post...

UN says 300,000 may have died in Darfur over last five years

It looks like we desperately need a lot more constructive cooperation at the UN Security Council level than we are seeing today.

Holmes was later asked by reporters to clarify his estimate. He said he was "not trying to give an exact figure" and described 300,000 as a "reasonable extrapolation" from the 2006 estimate for the current total number of people who have died in Darfur of disease, hunger or in combat.

Holmes said the original 200,000 figure was based on a 2-year-old study by the World Health Organization. He said there were no plans now for a new scientific study to determine the precise number of deaths in Darfur caused by the conflict.

Asked if the figure could be even higher than 300,000, Holmes said: "I'm trying to be reasonable, conservative."

Read the rest of this post...

China feels pressure on Darfur

Heavens no, not by "democratic" governments. (Where would they outsource cheap labor?) On the heels of the pathetic decision by the British Olympic association to force athletes to not say anything that might be remotely political while in China, Steven Spielberg pulled out of the Beijing Olympics as an adviser and now others are joining the protest. A group of eight Nobel laureates including Desmond Tutu are asking China to alter its position on Darfur. (Tutu is really an amazing person who continues to speak out again obvious wrongs, whether it's bad policy on AIDS, Zimbabwe, anti-gay policies in the church and now this. We need more people like him.)

The Nobel laureates state that China "has a special role to play in ensuring that its actions this year are commensurate with the Olympic ideals of peace and international co-operation... As the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games approach, we will continue to call on the Chinese government for action. We are aware of the tremendous potential for China to help bring an end to the conflict in Darfur".

China buys about two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports and sells weapons to Khartoum, many of which find their way to a conflict in Darfur which has been described by the US as "genocidal".

A total of 200,000 people are believed to have died in the region over the past five years, mostly black Africans at the hands of Arab militias alleged to operate with government backing.

Read the rest of this post...

UN to send 26,000 troops to Darfur

A very good move in the right direction by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. There is plenty of hard work and diplomacy ahead but even getting to this stage required an enormous effort, starting back during the tenure of Kofi Annan. It would be nice to see China be more constructive in situations such as this but then again, the US government is often lacking as well with friendly countries who offer rich natural resources. Expanding power internationally cuts both ways, which China will discover, though they are already highly unpopular with the population in countries such as Zimbabwe where they continue to prop up a tumbling dictatorship. Read the rest of this post...

War crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur

There seems to be no question that crimes are occurring in Darfur, so what is the Bush administration planning to do about it? For someone who talks so much about democracy and freedom, surely he's not going to continue ignoring the widespread rape and murder in Darfur, is he? It's time Bush quits talking about compassion and democracy and gets around to acting on those words or else there won't be any people left in Darfur. Read the rest of this post...

Kofi Annan is absolutely correct

How can the world allow this to happen?

Outgoing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will ask Friday how the international community can allow the "horror" in Sudan's Darfur region to continue and say there is more than enough blame to shared all around.

In a speech to be given in New York, Annan says blame can be shared by those valuing abstract notions of sovereignty over human lives; those whose response of solidarity puts them on the sides of governments and not people; and those who fear commercial interests could be jeopardized.

"The truth is, none of these arguments amount even to excuses, let alone justifications, for the shameful passivity of most governments," Annan says in the speech to be given to mark International Human Rights Day.

"We have still not summoned up the collective sense of urgency that this issue requires," said Annan, who pledged earlier this week to make the killings in Darfur his priority until he leaves office on December 31.

Some 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur since the rebels took up arms against the central government in 2003, while another 2 million have been driven out of their homes.

Read the rest of this post...

Sudan providing orders and support for Darfur killing

Not that this comes as much of a surprise, but the BBC report on Darfur details the links between the government of Sudan and the deadly Janjaweed militia.

A man identified only as "Ali" told the BBC's Newsnight programme that Sudanese ministers gave express orders for the activities of his unit, which included rape and killing children.

"The Janjaweed don't make decisions. The orders always come from the government," he said.

"They gave us orders, and they say that after we are trained they will give us guns and ammunition."

"Ali" - who is now seeking asylum in Britain - said the men who had trained them were wearing the uniforms of the Sudanese military, adding that Interior Minister Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hussein was a "regular visitor".

Read the rest of this post...

More violence in Darfur and Bolton does nothing

Funny how the bully talked and talked but now that he is sitting there in the UN, he's done nothing besides block a UN envoy from discussing the human rights abuses in Darfur. OK, so what is the plan here? A two year stare down or something that is so cunning, only you and your wingnut friends will get it? Bolton and his kind really don't care about Africans and could care less how many human rights abuses are happening or how many die because see, they're proving a point...somehow. Yes, they say they want sanctions but they're going to drag this one out forever while people are raped, beaten and killed. So what's the plan? Read the rest of this post...

$4.5 Billion pledged in April for Darfur but

...it's slow to arrive. What part of mass starvation have the rich countries missed here? In a process that has been slow to begin with, this foot-dragging by countries to donate food and aid is beyond pathetic. It's not as though the US doesn't have troops all over this part of Africa so why are some of those resources not being diverted to help feed people? We're once again looking at short term policy that will cause long term problems.

Does the US want to win hearts and minds or oil contracts with the government of Sudan? Read the rest of this post...

Darfur calling - time to dig deep

Isn't it interesting how the US can "find" billions for the disastor of a war in Iraq yet sit by and do so little with the emergency in Daruf? Perhaps since the petroleum companies of the US, UK and France are all drooling to have full control of the oil in Sudan we ought to make them fork over the money that the African Union needs to supply and equip the troops to feed and protect the millions of displaced people there.

"Never again" should mean, "never again" and not "never again unless it's a poor African country." Dig deep rich countries, because no matter how you look at it, we have a hell of a lot more cash than the people of Darfur have to solve this political problem. Read the rest of this post...

Senator Corzine "gets it" re: genocide/Darfur

While some in DC talk about moral values, they seem to think that means restricting basic rights for certain people rather than universal moral values. One does not need to be a christian fundamentalist to see that genocide is a crime against humanity, though sadly that group seems to be laggards on this disastor. Senator Corzine had an important piece of legislation written and passed by the Senate with bipartisan support, no less. In short the Darfur Accountability Act insists on well, accountability.

How quickly some forget about Rwanda and Cambodia, events which have occured during my own years on the planet. What I like about this is that it raises the issue not only with the US government, but Sudan, UN as well as the African Union as well. All too often countries look the other way because they are getting a piece of the action whether there is oil involed (as is the case with the government of Sudan) or weapons being sold.

Fellow African countries may have dropped the ball by throwing red meat to their home audiences when they turned a blind eye to the recent election in Zimbabwe but it's time they step up and take action with this crisis. The White House should have been leading this if they want to try and re-gain any of the respect that we had at one time, they would have taken the lead but they did not. If we want to talk the talk, it's time to walk the walk. Is it going to be "freedom and democracy" or "freedom and democracy but only in certain circumstances when political donors see a windfall of profits"?

Corzine gets it but does the White House? Read the rest of this post...

Ho Hum, Another Slaughtering Of Innocents

Anyone seen "Hotel Rwanda" recently? The movie is so-so (though Don Cheadle is great) but it does shine a spotlight on the Rwandan massacre which took place over a long period of time while the rest of the world stood by. Bill Clinton says it's one of the most shameful memories he has and everyone, EVERYONE has sworn: Never Again.

Hello, Never Again, as the massacres in Darfur continue and the world watches and doesn't care. NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof interviews an American soldier who is over there right now.

"Every single day you go out to see another burned village, and more dead bodies," said former Marine captain Brian Steidle. "And the children - you see 6-month-old babies that have been shot, and 3-year-old kids with their faces smashed in with rifle butts. And you just have to stand there and write your reports."

Well, I don't know about sending soldiers (do we HAVE any soldiers left to send? Woops, no we don't.) but I can't WAIT to see the Jamie Foxx melodrama "Darfur Daddy" about a concerned American who adopts so Darfur orphans. It should come out in about 2017. Read the rest of this post...

Darfur crisis worsens since peace agreement

Danforth must have a real Midas touch going since he led the UN team down to Africa. Unfortunately this is one of those cases where special interests by some on the UN Security Council are getting in the way of doing more. Between weapons sales and the hope for oil drilling rights, some countries have clouded vision. The US tied its hands with the fiasco in Iraq so we have limited options to seriously address this problem. Clearly the African Union is going to have to step up its own efforts because I just do not see this administration actively helping out Africa unless it somehow involves sex, as we previously witnessed with the $15B AIDS package which is centered around the silly, unproven abstinence programs. You might be shocked to see how our tax money is being spent over there.
Read the rest of this post...

Sudan Arabs play the religion card

It remains to be seen whether fellow Arabs will buy the pitch that "America hates Arabs" but it is nothing more than a smoke screen.  This is a country that wants to eliminate all blacks that are not Muslim.  Sudan is a country that has been has allowed slavery to exist.  If anyone is playing the religion card, it is the government and their hired thugs who are killing and raping in Darfur.  Blair has taken the lead on the issue and has suggested that the UK would send troops to protect the civilians but only with the approval of the African Union.  Now it's time for the AU to jump on this.  I have visited enough countries that are under sanctions to know that international sanctions only hurt the people and have very limited impact on the leaders.  Let's not have another Rwanda or Cambodia.
Read the rest of this post...