UN reports fresh violence in Darfur, alleges pressure on displaced

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=4&u=/afp/20040810/ts_afp/sudan_darfur_un_aid_040810173124

UN reports fresh violence in Darfur, alleges pressure on displaced

GENEVA (AFP) - Fresh violence erupted in Sudan's Darfur region, with attacks by government helicopter gunships and government-backed militias in the region, the United Nations said.

Aid agencies also alleged that the Sudanese government was putting pressure on displaced people in Darfur to return to their home villages despite continuing violence, but said this fell short of intimidation. <snip>

But OCHA said attacks by government-backed militias -- known as the Janjaweed -- targeting internally displaced people in the region were still being reported across all three states in Darfur. <snip>

The UN also said that despite formal pledges last month by the Sudanese government, access to the strife-torn region for aid workers "has deteriorated over the past week".

New obstacles included restrictions on flights by the World Food Programme (WFP), delaying the deployment of aid staff, as well as government red tape for non-UN agencies hiring local Sudanese staff. <snip>

[gottaB]

1. from Reuters

Sudan Launches Fresh Helicopter Attacks

They also independently confirmed the Amnesty report that people are being jailed for talking to foreigners.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256EEB005D1DFC

[JustJersey]

2. But It's Not Genocide

The Arab League and EU say so!

[gottaB]

3. The EU's statement was taken out of context, heavily spun

http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/08/eu_our_mission_.html

Be wary of this sort of thing. E.g. NGO worker asked, "Did you report that a genocide was taking place? Or ethnic cleansing? Or crimes against humanity?" NGO worker responds, "No, that was not a conclusion we put in our report. We merely reported on the need for humanitarian assistance." Spin: "NGO says no genocide in Sudan."

The distortion occurs in headlines and brief snippets. When you look at the fullest reporting, it's clear what is being said. For instance the first version of the story quoted Feith:

"We are not in the situation of genocide there," said Pieter Feith, who headed the mission as the personal representative for Sudan of EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana.

"But it is clear there is widespread, silent and slow killing going on and village burning of a fairly large scale."

Feith added that there were "considerable doubts as to the willingness of the government of Sudan to protect the civilian population."

No genocide in Darfur - EU

Does "We are not in the situation of genocide there" mean "No genocide in Darfur"? To me, it sounds like a way of saying, "We, the European Union, are not prepared to declare that the situation is genocide, a finding which would require us to intervene. Maybe it is a genocide, maybe it isn't." That interpretation is supported by today's clarification. It isn't clear though. What is clear is that "there is widespread, silent and slow killing going on." Arguably that should have been the headline.

[struggle4progress]

4. In international diplomacy, "genocide" is a technical term. So is ...

... "crimes against humanity."

It's possible to have mass murders which qualify as "crimes against humanity" without qualifying as"genocide."

So failure to find "genocide" doesn't mean all is well.

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