We would like to bring your attention to a great campaign called The Darfur Wall which is trying to help the people of Darfur in its own unique way. Make sure you check it out. At the same time, we would also like to bring your attention to Werner K, a South African soldier stationed with the African Union troops and blogging straight from within Darfur. It’s a great source of information from someone who is very close to the conflict.

The security situation in Darfur is worsening:

Dec 19, 2006 (CAIRO) — The United Nations evacuated more than 70 aid workers from the largest refugee camp in Darfur, Sudan on Tuesday after gunmen looted their compounds, leaving some 130,000 refugees virtually without humanitarian help.

It was the largest single instance of an aid worker evacuation since the U.N. launched its large-scale humanitarian campaign in war-torn Darfur in 2004. Over the past year, worsening violence has made delivering vital aid to hundreds of thousands of residents difficult or impossible.

A group of over 20 gunmen raided several humanitarian compounds in the South Darfur refugee camp of Gereida late Monday, harassing staff and stealing vehicles, communication equipment and money, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

… “More than 400 (workers) have been evacuated this month, the situation is getting worse and worse,” said OCHA spokeswoman Dawn Blalock on the telephone from Sudan.

A handful of aid workers chose to remain in Gereida, but the “the vast majority” left the camp, Darfur’s largest with some 130,000 refugees, she said.

The attacks were “preventing humanitarian organizations from providing life-saving assistance” to refugees, said UN humanitarian coordinator Manuel Aranda da Silva in the statement

This is defintely not a good development.

Via Sudan Tribune:

Dec 12, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — Tony Blair has backed imposing a no-fly zone over Sudan’s Darfur region while military planners in Washington are also developing plans for air strikes and a naval blockade to pressure Khartoum to stop the violence, the Financial Times reported.

The British prime minister declared his support for a no-fly zone for the first time during his visit last week to Washington, during which he told President George W. Bush that they had to deal with Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, in the next two to three months.

“If rapid progress is not made, we will need to consider alternative approaches, with international partners,” Blair warned on returning to London.

Military planning has moved ahead, one official said, adding: “The Americans mean business.”

Blair said he would seek United Nations backing for a no-fly zone which would be enforced by the US and UK.

Military action in another oil-rich Muslim country almost four years after the Iraq invasion would be risky. But some officials in Washington and London suggest it may be the only way to deal with the situation in the western Sudanese region, where between 100,000 and 400,000 people have died through famine and slaughter and 2.5m more have fled their homes since 2003.

A no-fly zone would be designed to prevent the Sudanese government from using its air force or helicopter gunships in attacks against villages in Darfur. Such attacks have been alleged by UN monitors and human rights organisations.

No decisions over possible military action over Darfur have been reached, and such a course would be considered only if Mr Bashir resists UN demands for the deployment of a “hybrid” force of UN and African Union peacekeepers.

Opposition from the US military is said to be strong. Analysts and diplomats are also sceptical the US and UK will conclude that military intervention against Khartoum’s wishes would rescue a complex situation.

China, which consumes almost two-thirds of Sudan’s oil exports, is said to be concerned its image is being tarnished by its close association with Khartoum. But envoys doubt that Beijing would back any UN plan that might affect its oil purchases.

Blair spoke in Washington of his fears that the violence and “terrible suffering” in Darfur might destabilise the whole region and called for “tougher action”, but with UN approval.

Andrew Natsios, the US special envoy for Sudan, flew to Khartoum at the weekend to make another diplomatic push, though US officials doubted Mr Bashir would allow the deployment of peacekeepers.

“We are very concerned that [Mr Bashir] is buying more time to continue with military operations in Darfur. We need a different game plan,” one official told the FT, referring to what the US is calling “Plan B”, believed to be a package of sanctions and coercive action.

(FT)

It seems that whatever is being planned, it’s purpose is to put a stop to the violence. However, the root causes of this complex ugly conflict still aren’t paid attention to.

Excellent idea by Amnesty International. They have organized an online Q&A with Amin Mekki Medani about Darfur.

This was published minutes ago on Arab News:

AMMAN, 2 December 2006 — Sudan yesterday rejected a US proposal to accept a hybrid international force for Darfur, saying the African Union could do the job.

Sudanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Al-Samani Al-Wasiyla met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the sidelines of an Arab foreign ministers’ meeting at the Dead Sea resort of Shuneh.

“I asked that we should work together and she said she would work together but only on the condition that we accept a hybrid (force),” Wasiyla said after the meeting. “We know as Africans what we need,” he said.

At the conference, Rice conferred with eight Arab foreign ministers on the latest developments in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, official sources said. The meeting involved foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt and the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

During the meeting, the Arab ministers stressed the need for resolving the Palestinian question which represents the core of the Middle East conflict, extending support to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and helping the Israelis and the Palestinian to go back to the negotiating table, the sources said.

On Thursday, Rice traveled to the Palestinian territories and Israel where she discussed with Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert the possibility of a resumption of peace talks between the two sides.

The foreign ministers also underscored the importance of extending support to the Iraqi government in its drive to accomplish national reconciliation and maintaining security and stability in the country, the sources said.

On Lebanon, the participants expressed support to the Lebanese government in its efforts to build up a national concord and the resumption of dialogue among various groups to avert further deterioration in the country.

They also called for showing due respect to Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence and noninterference in the country’s internal affairs.

The foreign ministers’ meeting was being held on the sidelines of the Forum for the Future meeting that is being attended by foreign ministers of 37 countries, including the G-8.

What a misleading title, when most of the article doesn’t even touch upon what’s going on in Darfur. Why mention it briefly in the introduction without even noting the seriousness of the conflict, or even implying that it’s horrific and is getting worse on a daily basis? The genocide deserves an entire category of its own. You don’t just cram its name in a title of a lazy article and claim that it’s fair reporting. For people to act, they need a clear explanation of what’s going on.