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 Re: كوفي عنان يرحب بالاتفاق و يحث الحكومة السودانية علي تسهيل التحضير لارسال قوة دولية الي دا (Re: omar ali)
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greetings Omar
,protection of civilians is the responsibility of the state
where it fails in fulfilling such an obligation
the international community has to step in, it does has
the right to ensure protection
even by force
impunity to perpetratorsis to end
perpetrators are to be brought to justice
be well and thanks for the post
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Sat, May 06, 2006 Edition.
World must protect Darfur civilians, using force if necessary - Annan
Saturday 6 May 2006 04:30.
May 5, 2006 - UNITED NATIONS
Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the international community has an obligation to protect civilians in conflict-wracked Darfur using force if necessary, and he urged all countries to press the warring parties to reach a peace deal.
UN SG Kofi AnnanAt last September’s U.N. summit, Annan said, world leaders "pledged solemnly, individually and collectively to take responsibility for the protection of people in such situations, arguing that it is a responsibility of each member state to protect" its own people.
"But where they fail, or are unable to do so, or they themselves are the perpetrators, the international community, through the (Security) Council, has to take action, and, if need by, by force," Annan said in an interview Thursday on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS television.
"And now we have to redeem that pledge, that solemn pledge of September," he said.
The responsibility of countries to protect civilians facing genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing was one of the most important results of the U.N. summit. Annan’s call for countries to exercise that responsibility in Darfur, using force if needed, marked the first time that he invoked the summit pledge.
The three-year conflict between Darfur’s rebels, mainly ethnic African farming tribes, and the Arab-dominated central government has killed about 180,000 people _ mostly through disease and hunger _ and displaced 2 million.
Annan said the 7,000 African Union soldiers in Darfur must be strengthened and given logistical support to help implement any peace deal and provide better security for the displaced people and the refugees. The African Union troops also need financial support until a U.N. peacekeeping force takes over, he said.
The Sudanese government has refused to allow a U.N. planning team into Darfur to start planning for a U.N. mission. But the government has said it will talk to the U.N. if a peace agreement is reached in Abuja, Nigeria, where African Union-mediated negotiations are at a critical stage.
Annan urged all those with influence to press the warring parties in Abuja "to seize the moment and make ... a real agreement, that will stand the test of time on the ground."
If a peace deal is reached, Annan said he expects the Sudanese government to begin serious talks about a U.N. force taking over.
"If the Sudanese had been able to protect their own people and prevent what is going on in Darfur, we would not even be talking about deployment of U.N. troops," the secretary-general said. "Having failed to do so, I think they have an obligation to accept help from the international community to help with their protection."
Annan cautioned that even if an agreement is signed, the displacement of people will not stop immediately.
"It will help, but it will take some time," he said. "You know, with these things, by the time you get the order down to the men on the ground fighting and get it down all the way to the lowest level, it does take a bit of time."
Earlier Thursday, Annan met at U.N. headquarters with a group of countries that are Friends of Darfur.
He told reporters afterward it was essential to strengthen the African Union force and find additional money to provide food and medicine for the millions of displaced people, whose rations have just been cut in half because of a shortage of funds.
"The members seem anxious to help," Annan said, "and they are going to do whatever they can, both in terms of sending messages to the people in Abuja and to the government, and also trying to help us raise money for the humanitarian activities."
(ST/AP)
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Sudanese security forces in Darfur enjoy impunity - UN
Saturday 6 May 2006 01:02
May 5, 2006 - KHARTOUM
The Sudanese government grants "broad immunity" to its security officers for rights violations in Darfur and minimizes the scale of the killings and rapes taking place there, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday.
In a statement issued at the end of a six-day visit to Sudan, Louise Arbour said that while government security forces maintain a high profile throughout Darfur, "there is no apparent minimum level of physical protection for the communities affected by the conflict. On the contrary, the pervasive presence of the national security apparatus inspires fear and apprehension among internally displaced persons and their host communities."
Arbor said that in the 19 months since she first visited Darfur in late 2004, the situation in Sudan’s western region was "just as critical and in some respects worse."
"There are continuing attacks on civilians, raids and pillaging of villages and rape and gender-based violence," she said. During her stay, she said she had met women with babies born as a result of rape, and heard reports of children being recruited or abducted to serve as soldiers.
In an interview, Arbour said both men and women in the camps for displaced people in Darfur fear to venture outside to collect firewood, for instance.
"Women fear sexual violence ... men fear being killed," Arbour said.
Members of Darfur’s African ethnic groups rose in revolt in early 2003, provoking a counter-insurgency in which pro-government militia conducted widespread killings and destruction. More than 180,000 people have died in the conflict _ many of disease and hunger _ and another 2 million people have been displaced.
Long-running negotiations resulted in the signing of a peace accord by the government and one of the Darfur rebel factions in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Friday night. The United States, Britain and the African Union pushed the parties this week to settle the dispute, but failed to persuade two other rebel factions to sign the accord.
In the interview, Arbour said the signing of the peace agreement would "open up space for improvement" in Darfur by encouraging donors to recommit themselves to the region and resume aid.
Arbour said the government’s security forces required fundamental overhaul.
"A crucial part of this reform is the abolition of the broad immunity granted to officers of the security apparatus," she said in the statement.
She added that during her visit to Darfur, she heard reports of rebel violence against civilians and humanitarian workers.
"A particularly worrying development is the proliferation of armed groups (with no clear allegiances or political aims) engaged in criminal activity," she said.
"Despite a number of measures taken by the authorities, notably the establishment of special courts and committees, impunity remains the norm in most cases of human rights violations in Darfur," she added.
The government has acknowledged that rights abuses have occurred in Darfur but it has long denied that they are systematic. It has also denied supporting the pro-government militia, the Janjaweed, which is blamed for the bulk of abuses.
"In discussing the critical situation in Darfur with Sudanese local and national authorities I was struck, as I was during my first visit, by their efforts to minimize the gravity of the problem," Arbour said.
She also spoke of the fall in humanitarian aid to the region, citing a shortfall in contributions from donors and an insecurity that impeded access to communities outside the major towns.
Arbour said in the interview that on her visit to southern Sudan this week, she found that more than a year after the signing of the January 2005 peace treaty which ended the civil war, armed groups and militia "continue to terrorize people."
"Disarmament is a critical issue," she said.
She visited an area 10 minutes’ drive from Juba, the capital of the south, where the people said the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group from northern Uganda, had recently killed 10 members of the community.
The civil war between southern rebels and the Khartoum government, which lasted more than 20 years, resulted in thousands of rifles coming into the region. Many of these weapons are now being used for acts of banditry.
(ST/AP)
(عدل بواسطة hala alahmadi on 05-06-2006, 08:18 AM)
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omar ali
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست