Sudan Talks Falter

By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A high-level panel set up to resolve the political stand-off between south Sudan and the government has stopped working just days after it began.  The talks have reportedly failed due to disagreements over the oil-rich Abyei region.  The U.S. Sudan envoy, Andrew Natsios, stated that all of the differences have been resolved except for the status of the central Abyei region and the north-south border. 

The crisis began four weeks ago when the main southern party, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), withdrew from the governing coalition.  SPLM accused Khartoum of failing to implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a 20-year conflict. 

SPLM’s Vice-President, Malek Agar, told journalists that the committee suspended its work due to differences on how to deal with disputed matters and the persistence in disagreements over the CPA.  However, Agar said the suspension of work was not “the end of dialogue” aimed at ending the crisis.  The committee is now waiting for instructions from President Omar al-Beshir and south’s First Vice President Salva Kiir. 

The 2005 CPA provided for six-year transition period in which the south would enjoy regional autonomy and participate in a national unity government in Khartoum.  In 2011 southerners will vote on whether they want to be independent or remain a part of Sudan. 

Sudan’s north-south civil war was Africa’s longest and resulted in the loss of 2 million people and the displacement of 4 million.  The war was between Khartoum’s Islamic government and the mostly Christian and animist southern rebels, and was complicated by religion, ideology, and oil. 

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Talks fail to end Sudan stand-off – 11 November 2007

Reuters – North-south Sudan talks fail to reconcile ex-foes – 11 November 2007

AFP – North-south Sudan talks stumble – 11 November 2007

BRIEF: Aid Agencies fear impending winter

Refugee aid agencies fear that they will not be able to adequately help the 60,000 Iraqis who flee their homes every month.  The fear is magnified by the approaching winter, which will further inhibit the aid workers seeking access to the remote areas containing the displaced.

The difficulties that the agencies must overcome are accurately assessing the number of displaced people, what the displaced people need, and how to safely reach those in need.

The difficulty of reaching the displaced peoples is that they are less likely to flee to other nations because of the tighter border control restrictions.  The tighter control of the border has lead many people to flee to the mountains, which compounds the problem of reaching the remote areas with the necessary blankets and other needs.

The aid agencies are trying to provide the basic necessities for the displaced peoples, and if possible also provide education.

For more information, please see:

IRIN News- IRAQ: Aid agencies struggle to support over two million displaced Iraqis- 11 November 2007

BRIEF: Probe in rocket attack from UN-run school in Gaza

NEW YORK CITY, United States – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon ordered an investigation into reports of rocket firing from a UN school in Gaza.  On October 29, an Israeli aircraft filmed militants firing mortars from a school in Beit Hanoun run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).  The video shows militants entering the school grounds and firing several rockets.  During the time of the incident, the school was empty; its teachers and students were evacuated prior to the incident due to an Israeli incursion in the area.

The spokeswoman for the secretary general, Marie Okabe, said that “the secretary-general condemns this abuse of UN facilities, which is a serious violation of the UN’s privileges and immunities.” Also, that “he calls on all involved in this conflict to avoid actions that endanger the lives of civilians, especially children, and that put at risk UNRWA’s ability to carry out its humanitarian mission.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Mortars fired from UN Gaza school – 9 November 2007

International Herald Tribune – UN condemns use of Gaza school by Palestinian militants – 9 November 2007

AHN – Palestinian rocket attack launched from UN-run school in Gaza – 8 November 2007

Reuters – UN’s Ban orders probe of shooting for Gaza school – 8 November 2007

Iran Rejects Interpol Wanted List Decision

By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran on Thursday denounced Interpol’s decision to place on a wanted list five prominent Iranians for the bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994. On previous day, the global police agency’s general assembly responded to Argentina’s request by voting to issue the “red notices” seeking the extradition of the Iranians and a Lebanese allegedly responsible for the attack that killed 85 people.

Red notices inform governments that a certain individual is wanted with a view to extradition but do not force a country to arrest suspects. Although the notices do not always result in the wanted individual’s apprehension, they are symbolically important and can put government leaders on the spot for letting suspects roam freely in their country. Notices also make it more risky for suspects to travel abroad.

Iran, which had fought hard to avoid having the country’s name linked to the bombing, denounced the decision as politically motivated and unlawfully influenced by Israel and its friends in the United States. Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini also criticized Interpol for allowing its professional reputation to be tarnished by “succumbing to the Zionist regime and some dominant power’s political will.”

Last year, Argentina issued international arrest warrants for nine in connection with the bombing, including former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. However, Interpol in March issued its own wanted notices against six of the nine, excluding Rafsanjani.

The Iranians who made the list include former intelligence chief Ali Fallahian; Ahmad Vahidi, a Revolutionary Guards general; Mohsen Rabbani, former cultural attaché at Iran’s embassy in Buenos Aires; Mohsen Rezaei, former head of the Revolutionary Guards; and Ahmad Reza Asghari, former third secretary in Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires and a Revolutionary Guards general.

So far, Iran has denied all allegations linking 1994 bombing to the aforementioned Iranians. Hosseini said “Iran will take necessary legal measure and other steps until these notices are cancelled and will demand compensation as well.” In addition, in a retaliatory move against Argentina, an Iranian court summoned five Argentines accusing them of “actions against the security of the Islamic Republic.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Interpol warrants decision pleases Israel, angers Iran – 8 November 2007

Reuters – Iran rejects Interpol wanted notices – 8 November 2007

International Herald Tribune – Iran rejects Interpol decision to add Iranians to most-wanted list – 8 November 2007

Associated Press – A look at 6 put on Interpol wanted list – 8 November 2007

ABC News – Interpol issues red notices against bombing suspects – 8 November 2007

BRIEF: Army Abuse of Internally Displaced in Congo

KINSHASA, Congo – The UN reports that the threat of violence from rebels are preventing thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from returning home.  Arsene Kirhero of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said “[w]ith dissident groups hiding in the forest, displaced persons dare not return to their village.  At the same time they are being mistreated by the army in the very areas where they are seeking refuge.” 

Investigators have discovered that the army has been forcing civilians to work as porters for long distances and was collecting “taxes” at roadblocks on market day.    The army has said there is only some truth to the allegations. 

Fighting in DRC’s eastern Nord-Kivu province has driven some 375,000 people from their homes since last December due to continued fighting between government forces, renegade troops and rebels.  160,000 have been displaced in the last two months.

For more information, please see:

AllAfrica.com – Congo-Kinshasa: Army Abuse Compounds IDPs’ Lot in Ituri – 9 November 2007

AFP – DR Congo displacement worst since civil war – 9 November 2007