The desperate plight of refugees in Darfur

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Joyce Mulama | Nairobi

"The toll on children is most worrying," says James Elder, communications officer for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), about the situation in Darfur, western Sudan.

He noted that "There are high levels of malnutrition, especially among children. Many of them have died of malnutrition it is difficult to get the number of those dead due to lack of monitoring logistics."

On the eve of World Refugee Day, there seems little relief in sight for Darfur -- where Arab militias are said to have launched a scorched earth campaign against the members of three black ethnic tribes: the Fur, Masaalit and Zaghawa.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=117534

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1. African Union head on Sudan visit

African Union head on Sudan visit

AU commission chairman Alpha Omar Konare will spend two days in the area to try to give impetus to the effort to implement a ceasefire between the government and two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement.

The BBC's Martin Plaut says that it is a critical trip for the AU head, who will have decide whether to use his powers to recommend effective intervention to prevent further atrocities.

The African Union has the right to intervene directly in a member state in what are called "grave circumstances" - where there have been war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity.

Sudan: Justice Africa Analysis

As overwhelming evidence of atrocities in Sudan continues to emerge, there are new calls for action to stop the genocide. This issue of contains excerpts from a mid-May briefing by Justice Africa focusing on key elements needed to inform such action. These include identifying the political forces within the Sudanese government responsible for directing the violence.

The London-based Justice Africa (http://www.justiceafrica.org), which works closely with the Pan African Movement secretariat in Kampala and the Inter Africa Group in Addis Ababa, has extensive experience in the Horn of Africa. It has coordinated a series of conferences with Sudanese civil society and human rights organizations. Justice Africa's directors include Alex de Waal, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Yoanes Ajawin, Abdul Mohamed, and Paulos Tesfagiorgis.

In response to the question "Is the Darfur conflict genocide?" Justice Africa replies, "If we strictly apply the provisions of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, there is no doubt that the answer is yes." However, this establishes a firm international obligation to act, which is why governments and the United Nations are wary of using the term. Such action, Justice Africa implies, must lead to changes in Khartoum.

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2. kick

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