Africa: Points of (no) return – ISN
December 21st, 2007
Destroyed Sudanese army tank, outside Malakal (Simon Roughneen, Feb 2006)
Peacekeepers and peace processes are unlikely to curb elemental violence and widespread suffering across Darfur, Somalia and eastern Congo, while shaky deals could unravel between North and South Sudan, and in northern Uganda.
“We have reached a point of no return from mediating peace and reconciliation in Uganda, therefore I appeal to all IDPs and Sudanese refugees to return to their respective homes.”
This unbridled optimism came just last week from Riek Machar, a vice-president in the regional government of South Sudan (GoSS) and facilitator of peacemaking efforts between the Uganda government and the feral Lords Resistance Army (LRA) – the rebel group that has terrorized northern Ugandans since the late 1980s.
But not so fast. While the mainly Acholi victims of largely Acholi-perpetrated LRA terror have had some respite since the peace parley opened in July 2006, talks have moved slowly, and given that previous dialogue attempts have come off the rails, for long-suffering northerners to return home en masse just now is premature.
Many points of no return loom elsewhere – but in a very different sense.
Northern Uganda’s 20-year agony is linked to conflict elsewhere – in Sudan, and more recently, intertwined with events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – crucible for the world’s worst war since 1945, where an estimated 4 million people killed. (more…)
Darfur Conflict Intersects Sudan’s Other Wars – The Irish Examiner
November 1st, 2007
Shambolic peace talks only part of the problem, as renewed war looms elsewhere in Sudan
Kassab IDP camp, northern Darfur (Simon Roughneen, Feb 06)
On Monday United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) mediators tried to put a positive spin on the latest Darfur peace talks failure. Talks may resume in three weeks, leaving little time to broker some viable deal before a proposed 26,000 UN/AU peacekeeping force enters Darfur in early 2008.
The Libyan-hosted gathering attracted few of the main rebel protagonists, instead featuring a gathering of relative unknowns and splinter movements. But not only have key rebels stayed away, the Khartoum government with whom they are supposed to negotiate has collapsed.
Two of the main rebel factions – the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) wing led by a Paris-based lawyer, Abdul Wahid al-Nur, and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), did not go to Libya. Wahid wants international peacekeepers on the ground first – he is widely popular among ethnic Fur in Darfur’s camps, but has relatively few fighters. For its part, the JEM does not take the UN or the AU as honest brokers, and linked with another SLA wing – ‘Unity’ – to form an effective military opposition to the government forces. (more…)
The coming war in Sudan – Foreign Policy
October 31st, 2007
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2007/10/31/the_coming_war_in_sudan
Abandoned Sudanese tank outside Malakal, Upper Nile State. The area here was heavily contested during the 1983-2005 war (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
On Monday, United Nations (U.N.) and African Union (A.U.) mediators tried to put a positive spin on the failure of the latest Darfur peace talks in Sirte, Libya, after various splinter movements were the only groups to show up to negotiate with a Sudanese government that has collapsed. Crucially, Darfur’s major rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), were absent.
The meeting’s host, Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi, said that the world should cut Khartoum some slack over international peacekeepers since Darfur is nothing more than a tribal “fight over a camel.”
No Progress Reported in Ending Rift Between North and South Sudan – VoA
October 30th, 2007
De Capua interview with Simon Roughneen mp3 
Listen to De Capua interview with Simon Roughneen mp3
De Capua interview with Simon Roughneen ra
It’s been several weeks since ministers from Southern Sudan suspended their involvement in the national unity government. They say Southern Sudan has not benefited so far from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005. The agreement ended about 20 years of civil war.
For a look at where the situation stands now, VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua spoke with Simon Roughneen, former aid worker and now a senior analyst for the International Relations and Security Network. (more…)
Sudan: Its not just Darfur – Village
July 10th, 2007
http://www.village.ie/World/Africa/Sudan%3A_It%92s_Not_Just_Darfur/
Looming behind the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur is Sudan’s other, older, bigger war – the 1983-2005 north-south conflict that claimed over two million lives and displaced over four million people. The conflict was resolved, on paper at least, by the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA); that agreement is now in jeopardy.
At an event held in South Sudan’s regional capital, Juba, on 9 January 2007 to celebrate the CPA’s second anniversary, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Vice-President Salva Kiir — also South Sudan’s regional president — traded public accusations over responsibility for Sudan’s peace-building failures. (more…)
Sudan: Unresolved Conflict Risks War Beyond Darfur – World Politics Review
June 28th, 2007
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=892
Instability could jeopardise even small-scale rebuilding projects, such as this one at Malakal, Upper Nile State (Simon Roughneen)
The world has dithered in putting together the necessary political response to the humanitarian catastrophe that has ensued in Darfur since 2003. The latest “breakthrough,” with the Sudanese government consenting to a hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, comes after years of stalling by Khartoum, and half-hearted efforts by the international community.In any case, the 20,000 troops will not get on the ground before 2008, and the peace agreement that they are meant to be enforcing remains a dead letter. So not much is likely to change for the traumatized people of Darfur anytime soon, despite French President Sarkozy”s nouveau conflict resolution drive.
Sudan”s other, older war — the much larger 1983-2005 North-South conflict, which claimed over 2 million lives and displaced over 4 million people — was resolved, on paper at least, by the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). But that agreement is now in jeopardy.
At an event held in South Sudan”s regional capital Juba on Jan. 9, 2007, to celebrate the CPA”s second anniversary, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir, who is also South Sudan”s regional president, traded public accusations over responsibility for Sudan”s peace-building failures. This followed the deaths of hundreds in serious north-south clashes in the southern town of Malakal in November 2006. (more…)
Peace in peril: Sudan, two years on – openDemocracy
January 17th, 2007
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-africa_democracy/sudan_peril_4256.jsp
An event on 9 January 2007 to celebrate the second anniversary of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, provided vivid evidence that the full resolution of the twenty-two-year civil war in the country was still incomplete. At the gathering, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and his vice-president Salva Kiir – who is also southern regional president – traded public accusations over responsibility for Sudan’s peacebuilding failures.
The open disagreement – which followed serious north-south clashes in the key southern Nile town of Malakal in late November 2006, when hundreds of people were killed in fighting – signals a serious rift between the partners in Sudan’s post-conflict government. The question it raises is: do these political rivalries form the prelude to a resumption of widespread armed conflict? (more…)
Downhill to the summit – ISN
January 17th, 2007
Summits such as Monday’s African Union (AU) gathering in Addis Ababa are often depicted as “pivotal” or “ground-breaking” or some such hyperbolic epithet. But for once, such appellations may actually be applicable. This time, the AU refused to allocate its revolving chairmanship to Sudanese leader Oman al-Bashir.
Had it not, the AU would have been left in the absurd position of being formally headed by a state that is a central player in a conflict region where AU peacekeeping troops are deployed.
Rebels in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region had pre-empted the summit by declaring that AU peacekeepers would become legitimate targets should Sudan be given the AU chair.
This time last year disagreement among AU states over rights abuses and ongoing violence in Darfur saw al-Bashir’s candidacy postponed until 2007. However, the situation in Darfur has deteriorated since early 2006. (more…)
Somalia in Catch-22 after Islamists are routed – ISN
January 8th, 2007
With an apparently facile victory achieved over the Council of Somalia Islamic Courts, the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government faces a more difficult challenge in establishing a functioning government in Somalia.
Ethiopian soldier (AFP/Getty)
By Simon Roughneen
After a blitzkrieg campaign launched Christmas Eve involving an estimated 15,000 Ethiopian troops backed by tanks, fighter jets and helicopter gunships, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has established itself in Mogadishu, after spending most of its precarious and ineffective existence thus far in the western town of Baidoa.
The quick defeat of the Islamists has averted fears of a Somali vortex pulling the Horn of Africa into a regional war. But in its place, a long-running guerrilla campaign and renewed insecurity are likely. Princeton Lyman, Africa Program Director at the Council on Foreign Relations, told ISN Security Watch, “I expect a good deal of instability and warlord-type of activity for awhile at least.”
Ethiopian and TFG troops much assert control rapidly, before Islamists regroup or are rearmed by the Hawiye, as a means of curbing renewed warlord chaos. The Ethiopian presence may radicalize a greater proportion of Somali Muslims. (more…)
Integrated community health in Darfur: interacting with culture, dealing with insecurity
December 31st, 2006
http://www.odihpn.org/report.asp?id=2865
by Simon Roughneen and Sam Fox (GOAL)
GOAL community health team meeting in Kutum, north Darfur (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Health education and promotion is a process of learning and communication designed to improve health information, health literacy, health knowledge and life skills conducive to individual and community health. GOAL’s community health education and promotion programme in North Darfur applies this definition in a community-oriented education and outreach programme. The programme aims to improve beneficiaries’ health knowledge and practice, and to build capacity among local staff and beneficiaries.
An integrated approach: fine words, better practice?
GOAL runs an inclusive primary healthcare (PHC) programme encompassing curative care, clinics, water and sanitation and nutrition services for over 200,000 people in North Darfur. Our community health education and promotion (CHEP) programme has become a crucial tool in maximising participation in the PHC by the local community.
The CHEP programme employs 40 community health promoters and 240 volunteers. In conjunction with local communities, community health committees have been established, and these play an active role in the planning and provision of health care. The CHEP team delivers health messages on specific topics over a 2–4-week period, and seeks to tie these in with programme activities in other areas. (more…)
