"US envoy wants Sudan terror label lifted" by Associated Press | July 31, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama’s special envoy to Sudan said yesterday that there is no evidence to back up the US designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Scott Gration told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that the US sanctions linked to the designation hinder his and others’ work to rebuild the war-torn African country’s infrastructure and to help people suffering in camps.
Gration’s comments underscored a debate in the Obama administration about how to deal with the government in Khartoum about Darfur, where up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million displaced, and how to keep a separate conflict between north and south from re-igniting.
See: Setting Up Sudan For Civil War
Gration recently irked Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, when he said the situation in Darfur was no longer a “genocide’’ but reflected the “remnants of genocide.’’ He did not back away from the comments yesterday. “There’s significant difference between what happened in 2004 and 2003, which we characterized as a genocide, and what is happening today.’’
I LIKE THIS GUY!!!!
Related: Slow Saturday Special: How Many Times Can the Globe Say Genocide Without Saying Gaza
I am GRATEFUL for GRATION!
“Right now, we’re focusing on saving lives,’’ he said. “It really doesn’t matter what we call it, in my view; what matters is that we have people living in dire, desperate conditions.’’
He's drawing water from my eyes.
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Of course, the propaganda is drawn forth by such truths.
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Police fired tear gas and beat women protesting outside a court yesterday during the trial of a female journalist accused of violating Sudan’s Islamic dress code by wearing trousers in public.
Why am I sensing an agent provocateur push (like gays here in AmeriKa)?
Police moved in swiftly and dispersed about 50 protesters, mostly women, who were supporting Lubna Hussein, a former UN worker facing 40 lashes on the charge of “indecent dressing.’’ Some of the women demonstrators wore trousers in solidarity with Hussein while others wore more traditional dress.
I knew it.
Trousers are considered indecent under the strict interpretation of Islamic law adopted by Sudan’s Islamic regime, which came to power in 1989. But activists and lawyers say the implementation of the law is arbitrary.
Hussein was among 13 women arrested July 3 in a raid by the public order police on a popular cafe in Khartoum. Ten of the women were flogged at a police station two days later and fined about $120.
Look, I'm not for FLOGGING ANYONE except WAR CRIMINALS, BANKSTERS and LYING LOOTERS! You know, those who actually deserve it; however, YOU SEE WHAT THIS IS, right?
But Hussein and two others decided to go on trial. She has sought to publicize her case internationally, inviting human rights workers, Western diplomats, and fellow journalists to witness her trial.
Uh-huh.
“I am not afraid of flogging. . . . ’’ Hussein said after the hearing yesterday.
She said that she would take the issue to Sudan’s constitutional court if necessary, but that if the court rules against her and orders the flogging, she was ready “to receive [even] 40,000 lashes.’’
Pretty BOASTFUL, isn't she?
Then we get a whole op piece rebutting the good envoy:
"The phony optimism on Darfur" by Eric Reeves | August 6, 2009
IN SENATE testimony last week, the US special presidential envoy for Sudan offered a peculiarly upbeat assessment of the crisis in Darfur and the throughout Sudan. Envoy Scott Gration argued that the United States should move toward normalizing relations with the regime in Khartoum, including prospects for peacelifting sanctions and removing Sudan from the State Department list of terrorist-sponsoring nations. This would be a grave mistake - and would reward a regime comprising the very men who orchestrated genocide in Darfur and continue to renege on key elements of the 2005 north/south peace agreement.
There was little policy detail in Gration’s testimony because debate within the Obama administration continues to be intense. But Gration is close to Obama and seems determined to set the tone and establish the substance of US Sudan policy. He clearly went a step too far in June when he declared that genocide had ended in Darfur, and that there were only “remnants of genocide,’’ a characterization disowned by the State Department, the US ambassador to the United Nations, and President Obama, who used the word “genocide’’ in the present tense during recent speeches in Germany and Ghana.
More troubling, Gration has said too little about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and the consequences of Khartoum’s March 4 expulsion of 13 key international humanitarian organizations; he has demonstrated little appreciation for what was lost, and the difficulty in generating new capacity. Stop-gap measures are beginning to fail at the height of the rainy season, and a number of camps report grave health and sanitation crises.
One word for you, bub: PALESTINE!
Gration also appears excessively optimistic about the moribund Darfur peace process. He repeatedly declared to Darfuris and humanitarians during a recent trip to the region that peace in Darfur would be achieved by the end of this year. But any meaningful peace agreement will first require an effective cease-fire, with robust monitoring of a sort that cannot be provided by the current UN/African Union peacekeeping force, which is badly underequipped, undermanned, and has lost the confidence of most Darfuris.
Humanitarians were dismayed at Gration’s insistent talk about the “voluntary’’ return of some 2.7 million displaced persons languishing in camps throughout Darfur. There is no humanitarian capacity to oversee such returns and ensure their voluntary nature; Khartoum refuses to provide security in areas it controls; and Darfuris in the camps complain bitterly that they are being asked to return to lands without protection, and which have oftentimes been taken over by Arab tribal groups. The notorious Janjaweed have not been disarmed and pose a constant threat. Even in the camps themselves, security is tenuous; women still face rape, men are tortured and murdered, and looting is commonplace. In the past, it has been Khartoum that has pushed for returns under these conditions; now, perversely, it is the US special envoy.
In his Senate testimony, Gration suggests that his travels to Cairo and Beijing enabled him to meet “leaders who share our common concern and want to work together toward shared objectives.’’ This ignores the long and resolutely obstructionist role both Egypt and China have played in Sudan over many years. Shortly after Gration’s testimony, a senior Egyptian official described Darfur as an “artificial’’ crisis directed against the people of Sudan. Beijing’s continued shipment of advanced weaponry to Khartoum; its opposition to the role of the International Criminal Court in pursuing atrocity crimes in Darfur; and its relentless support of Khartoum at the Security Council leave one wondering what Gration means by “common concern.’’
Is the US a member of the ICC? Yeah, that's what I thought!
Most disturbing, Gration gives no evidence in any of his public comments of understanding the ruthless nature of the security cabal that rules Sudan and is determined to retain its stranglehold on national wealth and power; like many before him, he is convinced that the National Islamic Front is controlled by men who can be reasoned with, cajoled, rewarded, made to do “the right thing.’’
Plug Israel where Sudan is and Zionist where Islamic is and you have a perfect description.
He ignores the basic truth about these men: during their 20 years in power they have never abided by any agreement with any Sudanese party. Any rapprochement that is not preceded by clear and irreversible actions to establish unimpeded humanitarian access, create freedom of movement and deployment for peacekeepers, and meet the critical benchmarks of the north/south peace agreement is doomed to fail.
--more--"What is interesting is that not until Clinton's last day did the paper come back to Sudan -- for this:
"Satellites to help Sudan track animals" by Reuters | August 13, 2009
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Conservationists have placed satellite and radio collars on animals for the first time in south Sudan to unravel patterns of little-understood mass antelope migrations, officials said yesterday.
So they can TRACK EVERY DAMN MOVEMENT on the PLANET, huh?
The southern government is keen to try to develop tourism, which was growing before the country’s north-south war, to try to shake off its dependency on northern-controlled oil revenues.
The southerners are mostly Christian and OUR GUYS!
That's the HUB of the ISRAELI ARMS RING!
You of course understand the other thing.
A 2005 peace accord ending more than two decades of civil war between Sudan’s mostly Christian south and its Muslim north has allowed the US nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society and the semiautonomous southern government to do aerial counts of the mammal populations. The south has 13 game reserves and six parks.
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Gee, it SURE SOUNDS like PEACE!
Must be SOMETHING that will SCREW IT UP!
KHARTOUM, Sudan - An appeals court commuted the death sentences for four men convicted of killing an American diplomat and his Sudanese driver after the driver’s family decided to pardon the murderers, a news agency reported yesterday.
It's called mercy, right?
Sudanese law stipulates that if a victim’s family chooses to pardon the murderer, the person cannot be sentenced to death and the prison term cannot exceed 10 years.... The three appellate judges delivered their verdict without considering the wishes of the family of the slain diplomat, John Granville, who was killed by gunmen along with his driver as he was returning from a New Year’s party in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, said the news agency, which has close links to the Sudanese government.
Doesn't that just make you mad, America? Can't be friends with them.
Of course, when our military massacres millions, we should be greeted with hugs and kisses for the "liberation," right?
So which spy agency did this guy work for?
The 33-year-old from Buffalo worked for the US Agency for International Development and was the first American to be killed in Sudan since 1973, when two diplomats were slain by Palestinian militants.
So his NOC was USAID!
And the jewspaper always has to work those Palestinians in, don't they?
He was working to implement a 2005 peace agreement between Sudan’s north and south that ended more than two decades of civil war....
And WHO WOULDN'T WANT THAT, huh?
One of them is a former Sudanese Army officer who was in active service at the time of Granville’s death.... The prosecutor in the case said during the trial that the assailants acted out of “religious zeal’’ and that the group was looking for a Western target during New Year’s Eve celebrations. The five men said they were coerced to confess to the American’s killing....
Then TOSS THOSE "confessions" OUT!
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Looks like NOTHING can STOP PEACE!
"Sudan foes patch gaps in peace deal" by Reuters | August 20, 2009
JUBA, Sudan - Representatives from Sudan’s north and south have agreed to implement several disputed or neglected elements of a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of fighting, a US special envoy said yesterday.
Scott Gration, the US special envoy to Sudan, said the new agreement was the result of months of work discussing sticking points in the deal that included the long-delayed demarcation of the north-south border and security issues.
The 2005 deal ended one of Africa’s longest wars. But tensions persist between the two sides as Sudan prepares for presidential, parliamentary, and other elections in 2010, followed by a referendum on southern secession in 2011.
The formal talks began in June when Gration invited representatives of the former southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and northern based National Congress Parties to thrash out their differences in Washington.
“It is a culmination of many months of work. It represents agreement between the NCP and SPLM on issues that remain, to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,’’ he said after the deal was signed in the southern capital Juba....
North-south fighting has broken out three times in two oil-producing areas since the peace deal was signed in Kenya in 2005. Some 50,000 people lost their homes and dozens were killed in violence in Abyei town last year.
OIL ALWAYS a STICKING POINT, notice that?
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Nevertheless, the AGENDA is ADVANCED despite the FACTS!
"Groups push for action from Obama on Darfur
WASHINGTON - Darfur activists upset about President Obama’s Sudan policy are launching a critical advertising campaign that urges him to step up pressure on Khartoum.
Why do YOU ZIONIST FLAKS want to WRECK PEA.... oh, right. Never mind.
Activists had hoped Obama would take a tougher line and focus more than the Bush administration did on Darfur, where conflict has led to the deaths of up to 300,000 people and the displacement of 2.7 million.
Welcome to the DISAPPOINTMENT LINE!
No, the end is around that corner way back there.
Advertisements purchased in newspapers to begin running today highlight past statements on Sudan by Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and urge the officials to live up to their words. They are signed by Humanity United, Save Darfur, the Genocide Intervention Network, I Act, Enough! and Investors against Genocide.
I never see them at the Iraq protests.
The groups purchased ad space in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and two papers on Martha’s Vineyard, where Obama is vacationing.
--more--"Nothing more about Cindy Sheehan, huh, Globe?
Let's end it the way we started, 'eh?
"Darfur no longer at war, peacekeeper says" by Reuters | August 28, 2009
KHARTOUM - Sudan’s Darfur region is no longer in a state of war and only has one rebel group capable of mounting limited military campaigns, the head of the area’s peacekeeping force said as he ended his tour of duty.
Awaiting orders from their U.S. paymasters.
The commander of the joint UN-African Union UNAMID force, Martin Luther Agwai, told reporters the conflict had now descended into banditry and “very low intensity’’ engagements that could blight the remote western region for years without a peace deal.
“As of today, I would not say there is a war going on in Darfur,’’ he said in a briefing in Khartoum on Wednesday. “Militarily there is not much. What you have is security issues more now. Banditry, localized issues, people trying to resolve issues over water and land at a local level,’’ he said. “But real war as such, I think we are over that.’’
May it PLEASE STAY THAT WAY!
The six-year Darfur conflict has pitted progovernment militias and troops against mostly non-Arab rebels, who took up arms in 2003, demanding better representation and accusing Khartoum of neglecting the development of the region. Khartoum says 10,000 have died in Darfur, while the UN puts the death count at up to 300,000.
Agwai became the latest senior figure to appear to play down the level of violence in Darfur, where the conflict has mobilized activists who accuse Khartoum of genocide. Mostly Western campaigners and some diplomats were angered by comments in April by UNAMID’s political leader, Rodolphe Adada, who said Darfur had subsided into a “low-intensity conflict,’’ and by the US Sudan envoy, Scott Gration, who said in June that he had seen the “remnants of genocide’’ in the region.
Agwai said the fierce fighting of the early years of the conflict had subsided as rebel groups split into rival factions.Hey, WHATEVER BRINGS PEACE!
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