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Darfur Refugees Flee Into Chad

By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter, Western and Central Africa

ABECHE, Chad – European Union military forces are presently being deployed to Eastern Chad.  By the end of the month, almost 4,000 troops are expected to be on the ground. The troops are needed to protect civilians and refugees from violence and insecurity that has spilled over from the Darfur, Sudan region. These troops will provide security, aid, and promote stability in the region.

On Monday, Nouradine Delwa Kassire Koumakoye, Chad’s Prime Minister, stated that Chad could not absorb any more refugees from the Darfur region. In the last few days, more than 12,000 refugees from Darfur have crossed the border.

In response, the government of Sudan has claimed that Chad is using the refugees from Darfur as a “trading” and “bargaining chip” in the growing dispute between the two nations.

Mohamed Ahmed al-Aghbash, Sudan’s Commissioner of Refugees told state news agency SUNA, that the “Chadian announcement violates the laws and charters of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.”

Presently, the UNHCR and its partner groups “were taking care of 240,000 Sudanese refugees in 12 camps in eastern Chad and some 50,000 from Central African Republic in the south of the country.”

For more information, please see:

BBC- EU Force Resumes Chad Deployment – 12 February 2008

Africa Reuters -Sudan condemns Chad threat on Darfur refugees – 12 February 2008

CNN – New Wave of Darfur Refugees Flee Into Chad – 12 February 2008

U.S. Aid Worker and Two German Film Makers Arrested in Niger for “Espionage and Terrorism”

By Meryl White

Impunity Watch Reporter, Central and Western Africa

NIGER DELTA, Nigeria- A U.S. aid worker, Judith Asuni, and two German film makers, Florian Alexander Opitz and Andy Lehmann, have been arrested in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta on charges of “espionage and terrorism.” The German nationals without a government clearance have been filming masked youths from the Ijaw region in the Niger Delta. The Germans were preparing a possible TV documentary about the string of violence in the oil rich region. The Germans were detained last week by the State Security Service.

Judith Asuni has lived in the Niger Delta for 36 years. The United States embassy has released the following statement, “All we know is that Judith Asuni is a peace worker who got funding from academics and international donor agencies to work for peace in Nigeria.” Asuni is in charge of an organization called Academic Associate Peace Work as organization that conducts mediations between the government and militant groups and encourages disarmament In the past, she has organized workshops with the Nigerian police on conflict management.

Asuni was arrested for giving assistance to the German filmmakers. Now all three suspects face accusations of carrying out an act of terrorism against the Nigerian government. Addo Mwazu stated, “The lady is suspected of espionage by exploiting the situation in the Niger Delta.” Other people believe that the arrests were a result of the Nigeria’s fear of the embarrassment following the worldwide release of the documentary.

While members of the government may be uncomfortable with the German filmmaker’s work, Port Harcourt journalist Ibiba Don Pedro believes that these filmmakers “are playing a crucial role in getting information out about the region’s problems.”

The U.S. embassy is presently in touch with Nigerian officials. Meanwhile, Germany’s ambassador to Nigeria has rejected the charges that the Germans are spies and terrorists. German officials insist that the two filmmakers are only journalists.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Nigeria arrests foreign ‘spies’ – 28 September 2007

VOA – American Peace Worker, 2 Germans Detained as ‘Spies’ in Nigeria’s Niger Delta – 29 September 2007

Afriquenligne – Germans arrested in Nigeria are not spies’ – 29 September 2007

ICC Prosecutor Demands Arrests in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan – The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo is calling for the arrests of two men charged with war crimes in Darfur.  Warrants for Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abad al-Rahman were issued by the ICC in April.   Sudan’s government has continued to assert that it is not bound by the ICC decisions.

Both men are wanted by the ICC on 51 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.  Ahmed Haroun was a minister responsible for the Darfur portfolio in 2003 and 2004 and allegedly was responsible for organizing and funding the Janjaweed militia.  As the minister for humanitarian affairs, he currently has authority of the displaced persons camps and control over the flow of humanitarian aid.  Mr. Ocampo has said that “there can be no solution     to the crisis in Darfur while Mr. Haroun remained free.”  Ali Muhammad Ali Abad al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, is accused of ordering the torture and mass rape of civilians during attacks on villages in west Darfur.

Ministers from 26 countries have been invited to attend a meeting on Friday chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare.  The meeting is intended to discuss mobilizing support for new political negotiations, deployment of a 26,000 UN-AU force, and expansion of humanitarian assistance.  Mr. Ocampo urged the international community to remind Sudan’s government of its duty to arrest those charged.  “I am concerned that silence by most states and international organizations on the subject of the arrest warrant has been understood in Khartoum as a weakening of international resolve in support of the law, and in support of the arrest…It is time to break the silence.”

Political talks are set to begin in Libya next month between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels to discuss peace and to speed up deployment of peacekeepers to the region.   The arrest warrants are not on the agenda for those talks.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Prosecutor demands Sudan arrests – 21 September 2007

AFP – ICC prosecutor presses for arrest of Darfur war crimes suspects – 21 September 2007

Sudan Tribune – ICC Prosecutor urges world to be on side of Darfur victims – 21 September 2007

The Canadian Press – Prosecutors want arrest of alleged war criminals atop Darfur agenda – 21 September 2007