Darfur Peace and Development

July 27, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Fighting between government forces and rebel groups in Sudan’s westernmost region of Darfur has “gained in intensity” in recent months, making it “very difficult for international aid organizations to operate,” an international aid group said yesterday.

A report released by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about its activities in Darfur during the period between May and June noted the armed conflict in Sudan’s western region has intensified over the recent months.

July 27, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — A Darfur rebel group accused of instigating violence at an Internally Displaced Camp (IDP) denied their responsibility for the shootout and described the account released by United Nations-African Union peacekeepers “as an attempt to conceal their complicity”.

UNAMID has reported gunmen belonging to the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur (SLM-Nur) started firing inside the Kalma camp indiscriminately which houses 100,000 IDP’s in South Darfur.

July 25, 2010 (WASHINGTON) — The African Union (AU) delegates at the summit in Uganda agreed to remove language from the draft resolution that instructs its members not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in apprehending the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

The original draft text circulated on Saturday included the non-cooperation clause and criticism of the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

July 16, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The U.S. special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration is scheduled to have arrived in Khartoum today in the first leg of a tour that will take him to Uganda and Qatar.

State media said that Gration will take part in the international consultative meeting on Sudan organized by the African Union (AU) that will witness attendance by regional and international delegates.

July 19, 2010 (WASHINGTON) — The Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) slammed Sudan’s decision to expel two senior aid officials from the restive region after saying they violated the terms of their presence.

The two officials from the International Organisation for Migration received orders on Wednesday to leave Sudan within 72 hours, aid workers said.

July 17, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — Darfur’s joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) said on Friday that they have exchanged fire with the Sudanese army but reported no casualties.

An official at the peacekeeping force said that a missile was fired at UNAMID patrol in West Darfur.

July 17, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Following an assessment of the ongoing talks to end Darfur conflict, the mediation and the negotiating teams today decided to continue the talks for a week in order to achieve tangible progress in the process.

The Sudanese government and the rebel Liberation and Justice Movement have formed six committees to negotiate different issues they defined in a framework agreement.

July 14, 2010 (WASHINGTON) — The U.S. president Barack Obama said today that peace in Sudan cannot be realized without justice while acknowledging the need to move carefully, a day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir for orchestrating genocide in the Darfur region.

The genocide charge followed an arrest warrant issued by the Hague-based court against Bashir in March 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur conflict. He is alleged to have targeted the African ethnic tribes of Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit.

July 11, 2010 (KHARTOUM) —Over two hundred people were killed in Darfur in June as a result of armed conflict and criminality according to a report by the joint African Union / United Nations (UNAMID) peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Of the 221 deaths, nearly 140 were due to inter-tribal fighting between the Rizeigat and Misseriya tribes.

July 8, 2010 (PARIS) — France called on Sudan to lift restrictions on the movement of peacekeepers and ensure access of aid groups to the needy in the restive region of Darfur.

Sudanese authorities ban the movement of the peacekeepers in several parts of Darfur where they consider it as military zone they also ban the access of aid groups to many areas in Darfur particularly in Jebel Marra.