Peace,
Gabriel and the SGN/i-ACT Team

By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday narrowly opted to keep an investigator in Sudan for another year, despite calls from African states and their allies to stop scrutinising conditions in war-ravaged Darfur.

Western countries triumphed in a close vote to amend a weaker African-backed resolution and create a new mandate for an independent expert to monitor conditions in Sudan.

The post will replace the one held since 2005 by Sima Samar, a former deputy prime minister of Afghanistan, whose term as special rapporteur in Sudan is about to expire.

Its creation was opposed at the 47-member forum by countries including China, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

The European Union had led efforts to keep watch on Sudan's Darfur region, where the United Nations estimates that 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million driven from their homes in six years of conflict.

The United States, which formally joins the Council on Friday, played a key behind-the-scenes role in negotiating the text, diplomats said.

Since being set up in 2006, the Human Rights Council has dropped its investigators for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Belarus and Liberia. That leaves eight country-specific investigators for Burundi, Cambodia, Haiti, Myanmar, North Korea, the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia and Sudan.

Amnesty International said in a statement that the U.N. body needed to keep a presence in Sudan to give it credibility as a watchdog for gross human rights violations.

Samar, whose post expires this month, presented a report this week warning that government forces were attacking civilians in Darfur by land and air, and that activists in the region were regularly arrested and tortured.

She also said all sides of the Darfur war had committed killings, torture and sexual violence against women and children, and that "large-scale killings" were continuing.

Abdel Daiem Zumrawi, under-secretary at Sudan's justice ministry, dismissed her findings, which he said "failed to give a true picture of human rights in Sudan".

I have two rather urgent requests to make :) We are looking for:

1. Two to three 10-14 year old students who can be available this Saturday from 8.30am to 1pm Pacific to be at the live broadcast center in Mountain View (UCSC/NASA) to interact with refugee students in Chad. The students in Chad will be with our i-ACT field team there. Ideally, the kids should be enthusiastic and not too shy :) The kids on each side will share something with the other side, like photos of themselves, a school project, artwork or something they made, even perform dance / music.

2. A video editor to help us edit refugee-related footage from various sources, as well as viewer-uploaded footage. The edited footage will then be injected into the live webcast. We know people with video editing skills, but ideally we'd like someone with a deeper understanding of Darfur/Chad, or even other refugee/IDP situations. We'd love it if the person could start helping us from tomorrow through Saturday, and be present at the live broadcast center for a large part of 6am - 6pm Pacific on Saturday.

Chad is the center-piece of the Saturday live webcast and interactive program, so I was thinking this might be an interesting opportunity for folks who already felt connected to the community there :)

Thank you!!

Yuen-Lin

US STATE DEPARTMENT
Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:56:37 -0500
Current Status of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and His Recent Travels
Scott Gration
Special Envoy to Sudan
Washington, DC
June 17, 2009
 
 

MR. KELLY: Good morning. We’re very pleased to have with us today Scott Gration. General Gration grew up in the now Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. He served in the Air Force from 1974 to 2006. Among his assignments, in 1995, he was in command of the 4404th Operations Group in Saudi Arabia. In 1996, he was in Turkey and oversaw Operation Northern Watch, which enforced, as you know, the no-fly zone over Iraq. Among his Pentagon assignments, in 2000 and 2001 he was Deputy Director for Operations in the Joint Staff in Washington and was also Director, Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate of the United States European Command in Stuttgart. General Gration speaks Swahili and has a Masters – well, he has a B.A. from Rutgers and a Masters from Georgetown in National Security Studies.
General Gration was appointed as the President’s Special Envoy to Sudan on March 18, 2009, and we’re very pleased to have him with us here today. He’ll make some remarks and then take a few questions.
MR. GRATION: Thank you very much for that kind introduction, and good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to share some of the things that I’ve learned since becoming the Special Envoy to Sudan. I’ll tell you what we’ve been doing in the last three months, and then I’ll give you an idea of what we plan to do in the next few months.
Since my appointment on the 18th of March I’ve made three overseas trips. The first was to Sudan, where I traveled to Darfur, Juba, Abyei, and to Khartoum. The second was to Sudan’s neighborhood, to Doha, to Cairo, N’Djamena. The last trip was to London and Paris and
Beijing. I’ve learned through these trips that we need to have constructive dialogue with the international community, with all parties in Sudan. We need to have engagement with all parties to save lives in Sudan, to bring about a lasting peace. More suffering in Sudan is simply unacceptable. We need engagement to make a positive difference in Darfur. We need engagement to fully implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
This isn’t about discussions only. It’s about making a difference in the lives of the Sudanese people. It’s about getting results.
Our initial efforts to build multiple channels of dialogue have produced some positive results. We’ve been able to work with the Government of Sudan and NGOs and the United Nations to restore humanitarian assistance capacity in Darfur. Three new NGOs are joining the international humanitarian assistance team in Darfur. Along with that, the UN and remaining NGOs have been able to increase their capacity. And we’ve essentially closed the humanitarian gap that existed in Darfur when the 13 NGOs were expelled.
The situation remains fragile, and the short-term interventions by USAID and its partners still need to be strengthened. The constructive dialogue will also help us negotiate a ceasefire in Darfur so that the people living in IDP camps and refugee camps have the opportunity to move back to a place of their own choosing and to be able to live in safety and security and dignity.
This dialogue engagement is also helping us in the second round of the talks in Doha, a process that’s designed to produce a political settlement to Darfur, a process that is designed to improve relations between Chad and Sudan, and to stop the fighting and violence that has been so disruptive. The dialogue and engagement will also be critical as we implement all the aspects of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
Before the referendum for self-determination is held on January 2011, we have a lot of work to do. We have to secure agreements on border demarcations, wealth sharing, power sharing. In addition, we have to make sure that all parties are involved to ensure that places like Abyei do not become the next war zone in Sudan. To successfully tackle these challenges, we need the support of the international community. We must continue to deepen and broaden international coordination in Sudan.
One initiative in this direction is the Forum for Supporters of the CPA. This event that will be held on the 23rd is an event where we will bring together over 30 countries and organizations to help restore that international commitment and to rekindle the passion that we had in Naivasha in 2005 when the CPA was signed.
Before I take your questions, let me tell you about the tight timeline that we have to work within. We only have eight months to get ready for the national elections, and we only have 19 months before that referendum that will determine the future of Abyei and of Southern Sudan. With these events fast approaching, it’s absolutely critical that we work together, that we seize every opportunity to save lives, to facilitate a lasting peace in Sudan, and to promote stability and security in the entire region.
I’m ready for your questions.
MR. KELLY: If you can identify yourself, too. Well, we all know who you are, Kirit, but go ahead and identify --
QUESTION: Kirit Radia of ABC News. If I could just ask – President Bush and his top officials always referred to the situation in Darfur as a genocide. Not going back to define what happened in the past, would you describe what is happening – the situation now in Darfur – as a genocide?
MR. GRATION: What we see is the remnants of genocide. What we see are the consequences of genocide, the results of genocide. We still have thousands of people living in camps as IDPs. We have women who are still afraid to go out and collect firewood. And we have children that are not having the benefits of growing up in their homeland -- that are growing up in these camps.
So what we need to do is focus on the people. We need to correct the situation. We need to bring a ceasefire. We need to bring a political process. We need to bring security and safety and dignity so these people have the right to return voluntarily to wherever they choose, and that they can live out their lives in, as I said, safety and security and dignity.
And that’s what we’re aiming and we’re working on building a future for these folks.
QUESTION: But the level of violence, would you describe that as genocide at this point?
MR. GRATION: The level of violence that we’re seeing right now is primarily between rebel groups, the Sudanese Government, and as you know from the news, we’ve had some violence between Chad and Sudan. The violence still exists where bandits and Janjaweed and warlords and those kinds of folks do conduct terrorist activities on these folks and do increase terror. But it doesn’t appear that it is a coordinated effort that was similar to what we had in 2003 to 2006.
QUESTION: So, no.
MR. KELLY: Lach.
QUESTION: Okay. Yeah. I’m Lachlan Carmichael from AFP. During your recent travels, you visited China. Would you say that was the key stop in your travels and that’s because you need commitments on military supplies from them or to stop the supply of military weapons to Sudan, and that they’re key to resolving both the conflict that could reemerge in Abyei and also in Darfur? What kind of commitments did you get during that trip?
MR. GRATION: What we’re trying to do is visit all the capitals of nations who have an interest in Sudan. And China certainly has an interest in Sudan. They have a large investment – about $4 billion in the oil – and that oil is in Abyei, which is on the border between the North and the South.
And what we’ve been able to secure with the Chinese is an understanding that we have similar goals in Sudan. We both need security. We both need stability. We come at it from different sides, but the end results are the same. And so we have reached agreement to share information, to work together, to integrate our activities on the humanitarian front. And I’m very happy that Ambassador Liu and I have been able to develop a strong relationship. He was with us in Doha. He will be with us on the 23rd.
QUESTION: So they gave you no commitments on weapons or linking supply of weapons to actions that the government might be taking -- the Sudanese Government?
MR. GRATION: We didn’t spend a great deal of time discussing those issues.
MR. KELLY: Charlie.
QUESTION: Charlie Wolfson with CBS. Can you describe the discussions you’ve had with the Government in Khartoum, and how responsive they were, if at all, and whether – and to the extent they’re worried about the genocide and other legal actions taken against them?
MR. GRATION: Our main efforts in negotiations and discussions and dialogue with the Khartoum Government were initially over the return of the NGOs. Our position was that we would like to have all the expelled NGOs returned. And we’ve been happy to see that through a period of discussion, we now have three new NGOs returning to Sudan, and they have taken steps to improve the operating environment for international NGOs in terms of visas, in terms of technical agreements, and in terms of making the operations more effective. So we are pleased to see that the words that they have given us have turned into deeds, and that’s what we’re holding them accountable to do.
QUESTION: And what about the other expelled NGOs? You said three new ones?
MR. GRATION: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: So none of the expelled NGOs have returned. What’s the status of that?
MR. GRATION: It appears that the 13 NGOs that were expelled will not be allowed back into the country. But you should note that right now, we are near a hundred percent capacity returned. We have – on the food side, we’re providing the same food resources as we were prior to expulsion, a hundred percent. And in the WASH, which is water, sanitation and hygiene, we’re at about 95 percent, and the other services about a hundred.
Now I must say that some of this is being done through emergency methods. In other words, it’s not sustainable. But with the new NGOs that are going back in right now, we believe we’ll be able to sustain these operations and actually get more capacity than we had on the third and the fourth when these were expelled.
MR. KELLY: Yes. Can you identify yourself?
QUESTION: Bill Varner with Bloomberg News. It’s been reported that the level of violence in Southern Sudan, North-South violence, is now greater than that in Darfur. Is that your view, your observation from what you’ve seen?
And also, what is the linkage, if any, between the expectation that Sudan will increase its oil output to 600,000 barrels a day by the end of the year and a million by 2015, the rising oil prices, and perhaps the increased level of violence in Southern Sudan where most of the oil is?
MR. GRATION: Yes. The reason that we’re spending so much time on border demarcation, on wealth sharing, just grazing rights, and where the – and how we’re going to have that border, it’s really not up to us, but we’re trying to create an environment where the North and the South can resolve these issues, because you’re exactly right. As the production increases, as the value of the oil and the other commodities that are possibly under the ground yet to be discovered, as these issues and the value of these products goes up, obviously, the tensions can increase. So what we’re doing is we’re going to be holding trilateral talks to allow these governments to work through these issues, and we’d like to get resolution in the very near future.
As you know, the Abyei arbitration is coming out in July. And so the timeline for these discussions is very, very short. And so United States and the rest of the international community is doing what we can to help create an environment where these issues can be looked at and resolved in a way that’s mutually beneficial to both the North and the South.
QUESTION: And just to follow up, I mean, is it your observation that the level of violence and the North-South violence is now outstripping Darfur? And is your observation that whatever you observe about the level of violence, it is related to resources?
MR. GRATION: I will say that the level of violence is greater, and we’ve seen an uptick in violence in the South. It’s very difficult at this time to exactly attribute it to the resources, but it is very concerning to us.
MR. KELLY: Yes, Mary Beth.
QUESTION: Could you give us kind of a sense of context about the meeting – I’m sorry, Mary Beth Sheridan from The Washington Post – a sense of context about the meeting next week? I mean, when was the last time there was this type gathering? You know, what are you hoping comes out of that?
MR. GRATION: Yes. As far as I know, there have been hard task meetings. There have been meetings to coordinate donor contributions and those kinds of things. But as far as I know, this is probably the first meeting at this level and of this type. At least I’m not aware of any others in the past. But it’s probably appropriate that it is happening now, because we are now approaching the point where we need to get into the sprint mode, where we need to get everybody together coordinated on the same sheet of music. So it’s probably appropriate that it is happening now, and there probably was not a requirement for this kind of meeting earlier.
So that’s what we’re trying to do right now, is to get the folks together, the team together, and do that final surge so that we can get the national elections done. Within the CPA, there’s requirements for the international community to participate as monitors and to take an active role. And of course, that process is – it’s going to be the same process that we’ll be using for the referendum, the referendum that will allow the people of Abyei and the people of Southern Sudan to decide whether they want to be a unified country or an independent country.
MR. KELLY: Daniel Dombey from Financial Times.
QUESTION: A very general question, and I apologize if you’ve had to deal with this before. Can you mark out anything that distinguishes this Administration’s approach to Darfur specifically from the previous Administration? I mean, we sporadically heard talk of a no-fly zone being contemplated in the previous administration, seems to be a more emollient line in this Administration, or is that wrong?
MR. GRATION: Our focus right now is to save lives. We have a situation where the lives of many people are at risk, whether they’re in Darfur or whether they’re in the three areas of Southern Kordofan, Abyei, and the Blue Nile. We want to make sure that this situation is stabilized, and so we’re taking efforts to make sure that the humanitarian assistance is there, that we’re able to facilitate and help coordinate a ceasefire, an end of hostilities, and then we want to make sure that there’s political processes in place in Darfur and these other places, so the will of the people can be brought and so that they can have democratic principles and mechanisms.
That’s what we’re working on right now, and we’re using all methods to accomplish this, whether they be carrots and whether they be sticks.
QUESTION: Just to --
MR. KELLY: One – okay, go ahead, Dan.
QUESTION: Yeah, sorry. Just to follow up on that, does that mean that essentially, it’s a continuity with the last administration, or would you say it’s – you’re actually standing out by taking an eminently practical approach?
MR. GRATION: What we’re doing is making sure that we are value-added to the situation. And so there’s things that the last administration were doing that we’re continuing, and there’s also things that are new and – in terms of our approach. What we want to do is get results. What we cannot tolerate is the continuing lack of human rights that we’re seeing, the lack of conditions that we want those people to live in. And so what we’re doing is taking a look at all the elements of national power that we can bring to bear to get results to change that situation, so that the people in Sudan have a brighter future, have more stability, more security, dignity, and human rights.
MR. KELLY: Last question. We’ll go back to Kirit.
QUESTION: A two-part question that are related, actually. Your predecessor seemed to focus more as Sudan envoy on the Darfur problem. You’ve spoken more about the CPA and the problems with North-South. Do you think – would you describe that as your main focus right now? Do you see that as more of the powder keg?
And similarly, there’s been a lot of criticism from some on the Hill, mainly from Congressional Black Caucus, that not enough is being done for Darfur. Do you think that is a misplaced concern?
MR. GRATION: What I would say is that we’ve realized in the trips that I’ve made that this is a situation where we can look at things in series. We’re going to have to parallel process. We’re going to have to work Darfur as hard as we can. And that’s why we’re working hard to resolve the tensions between Chad and Sudan, because it impacts on Darfur. That’s why we’re totally engaged in Doha and why I’ve made several trips there, and why I’ve put my full support behind the AU and the UN mediation and the efforts that the Qatar Government are doing.
This is why we’re working hard with the Government of Sudan and the rebel groups to do the prisoner exchanges and those things that are preventing us from getting the peace and stability that we seek. At the same time, we have to work very hard on Southern Sudan. As the CPA is winding down, there are things that must be done, but there’s also development work and other aspects that we must focus on – the things we’ve talked about in the three areas. In addition to that, the neighborhood. There’s things that we need to work on.
My point is that our approach is very comprehensive. Our approach is integrated. Our approach is one where we do multiple things at the same time, just because our timeline is so short and the challenges are so great that we no longer can have the luxury to segment and focus on one thing and then switch to the other. We must work all these at the same time in an integrated way where all parties are part of the solution, where the international community comes together in a unified way to bring about the results that we all seek.
MR. KELLY: Okay, thank you very much.
MR. GRATION: Thank you.
# # #

Since arriving in Goz Beida, the last two days have been a blur, more so than the five days of travel to get here.  My overwhelming impression is that for a group of people that have been displaced from their homes and forced to live in a refugee camp, the residents of Camp Djabal still have a trust and openness I rarely find. Without fail, every single person smiles back when I acknowledge them.  They let me in. I hold a grudge over things and lose trust in humanity for things so small, and here I’m meeting a group that has every reason not to see another human being without thinking there’s a large risk, yet they continue to show love like nothing has happened. I need to learn that trick.
 
Of course, it’s not a trick.  It’s a way of life.

Over the blur of images from the last two days, I have images of endless smiles and the sound of continuing laughter. The kid’s are obsessed with the blonde hair on my arms, and they are constantly running their hands along to make sure it’s real. I had expected, as said in my previous entry, that white people entering the camps with video cameras was a common site, but every time I show anyone their own image on the video, it’s like magic.  They are so overjoyed to see their faces, that one might suspect Darfurians are narcissists, but it’s obviously not that. I believe they are just pleased to be acknowledged, even if it’s by an inanimate object like a digital video camera.   And of course, I like anyone who thinks I’m funny. They’re either laughing at me or with me, but I don’t care.

One clear preconceive notion that has been wiped immediately away is that this is not a group that needs pity. They are not helpless. Not even close.  Neither I, nor those westerners that have walked here before me are any types of saviors to be put on a pedestal.  We all merge into the cacophony of support that any human would need being in a refugee camp, but are mostly witnesses to an undeniable force of endurance and adaptability.  The 17,000 people in this camp are not waiting around for the western world to save them…there is no moss growing on these rolling stones.  They are hard at work, educating themselves, creating homes out of the environment, and keeping the family unit in tact, all while advocating to anyone that will listen that they want one simple thing….to go home.  

Ian
--
Stop Genocide Now
i-ACT (interactive-activism)
(310) 415-2863
gabriel@stopgenocidenow.org

JOIN the anti-genocide grassroots movement: http://www.stopgenocidenow.org

Today we fly from N'Djamena to Abeche. On the small prop planes you are only allowed a total of 15 kg's (33 lbs) of luggage per person, and that includes whatever personal bags you bring with you in the cabin. Four of us flying together = 60 kg's (132 lbs)... we had closer to 160 kg's (350 lbs)! We trimmed this down a little bit by doing some extreme pocket stuffing. Whatever you can pack on your body doesn't get weighed and count toward your luggage allowance. I managed to squeeze 5 kg's of food and equipment in my pockets: laptop charger in left rear, 2 Cliff bars in right rear, 2 more Cliff bars and a Flip video camera in left side, another 2 Cliff bars and iPhone in right side, a large bag of prunes in front left, and 3 large foil-packed bags of tuna in my right front pocket!

When we got to the airport we played it cool and acted like we weren't trying to get double our allowed weight on the flight. Gabriel and KTJ were friendly with the people working the desk and shared some of our Humanity before Politics t-shirts with them... unfortunately we didn't have any XL's for the big buy, I wonder if he'll try to squeeze into the large we gave him? They were still very appreciative, everywhere we go people love the Humanity before Politics shirts. Anyway, long story short, they didn't say a word about all our luggage and we didn't have to leave anything behind! The team has always had to compromise and leave stuff (like extra clothes and food) behind on previous i-ACTs... we lucked out!

I'm sitting on the 19-seater World Food Program plane. Besides our group of 4, there's only 2 other people on the flight. I've never flown on such a small commercial plane like this before... it's LOUD! I'm grateful for the ear plugs that I picked up in the sleep kit  on the Air France flight to N'Djamena. Last night I didn't get any sleep, stayed up all night to test the video conference equipment. I dozed off in the airport for a few minutes while waiting for the flight. I'm really starting to feel the fatigue, but I don't want to sleep through this flight across almost all of Chad. So sleep will have to wait a little while longer.

There is a dirty haze above the desert that makes it impossible to tell the ground from the brown clouds in the sky. It's almost as if we are flying through a thick brown ether. The clouds on the horizon are perfect clean white cotton puffs. How far away are they, and why so different? The land below is so dry and desolate, I wonder how different the land in Darfur could possibly be. I wonder what would become of me if I was given a parachute and tossed out of the plane with nothing more than the clothes on my back? Would I, by myself - not carrying a baby or sick child, be able to walk for weeks with no food or clean water? How horrific must the janjaweed attacks have been for mothers and fathers to have felt that taking their children on the long trek across the desert to escape their villages was their best hope? Certainly they knew that many would not make it alive to the end of their trek, or if their trek even had an end. But that was their only choice, so really they had no choice. I am thinking about Adef and Achta. Achta's baby died on her back while they fled Darfur on foot. They had to burry their baby and keep going. And now in Camp Djabal, in the past year they had to bury another of their children, baby Marymouda, far from their home in Darfur. Will we see Adef, Acta, and their children again on this trip?

I am getting restless to make it to Camp Djabal so I can see with my own eyes what the conditions are like. I feel like we have already traveled so far, and accomplished so much. But we haven't even started our real work until we reach the camps. Our journey continues...

As always, it's quite an adventure just to make it even close to a camp.  It is now June 14th here.  We left Los Angeles on June 10th.  We are closer to our first camp, but still a flight and a short drive away--two more days.

It is really good to be traveling with our teammates, Eric and Ian.  Katie-Jay and I have been out here multiple times, so it is great to experience things with our new guys, as they live this for the first time. 

Eric already got to experience his first sleepless night out here, testing and re-testing some of the equipment and going through some frustrations with that.  As a reward for that, he got a long day of travel and waiting, with very little food, until we made it to Abeche, where he could finally crash.

He and I are now sitting here in a little lounge at the UNHCR guesthouse, with our
trusty satellite modem (a Bgan) connecting us to the rest of the world. 

June 20th is World Refugee Day.  It is a day that unavoidably brings with it many mixed feelings.  It is a day to celebrate.  The people in the camps are grateful to have found a temporary home and so much assistance coming from all over the world.  I could not even imagine how many more people would have died without the monumental job performed by UNHCR and its partner aid organizations, bringing shelter, food, water, medicine, and more to an unforgiving part of the world.

World Refugee Day should also be a time to reflect on the root causes of so many people being forced to live away from their homeland and to think of the solutions that might bring them back home.  It should be a day of action, as action is the very best way to honor and celebrate the sorrows and triumphs of humanity connecting with humanity in the toughest of times.

Today, I looked at some video from our last trip to camp Djabal.  I saw Raouda, a thin but resilient 12 year old girl.  She lives with her grandma, and the two of them are surviving, and they are living.  Raouda goes to school every day, but she also takes care of grandma, collecting firewood, cooking, fetching water, and cleaning.  It is not an easy life and probably one that none of us writing or reading this post would ever want our own kids to experience.  We want more for our children. 

Whose child is Raouda?  Is she one of "ours?"

Paz,
G

--
Stop Genocide Now
i-ACT (interactive-activism)
(310) 415-2863
gabriel@stopgenocidenow.org

JOIN the anti-genocide grassroots movement: http://www.stopgenocidenow.org