Despite IRA report, Ulster might still say No – ISN
October 11th, 2006
Discussion aimed at reviving Northern Ireland’s dormant political institutions will take place this week in Scotland, but a deal is not assured.
Source CAIN (Copyright Peter Moloney)
By Simon Roughneen
A report released last week gave a remarkably positive assessment of the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) self-emasculation, 14 months after it declared an end to its three-decade war against Northern Ireland’s status as part of the UK.
The report, released by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), an Irish-British intergovernmental watchdog set up to monitor Ireland’s paramilitary groups, stated: “It [the IRA] is now firmly set on a political strategy, eschewing terrorism and other forms of crime. In this process there has been a loss of paramilitary capability.”
However, various vested interests on the part of all protagonists may combine to scupper a potential deal this week, as the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland’s main political parties discuss reviving the devolved government set up after the 1998 peace agreement.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is the largest on the Protestant-British side of Northern Ireland’s communal divide – and is the last hold-out against a deal, which will be pushed vigorously by both governments and by Sinn Féin at St Andrews in Scotland this week. (more…)
Regional war looms over Somalia – ISN
October 4th, 2006
Islamists have taken over another Somali city despite peace talks, while some observers say the CCIC has everything to gain from conflicts that would only legitimize its role.
Islamist fighters stand behind Somali government soldiers who Islamists claim were defecting to their side (AFP)
By Simon Roughneen in Nairobi
Despite talks designed to secure agreement on governance in Somalia, Islamists have followed up their control of Mogadishu by seizing the country’s third city – the port of Kismayo – on 25 September, only days after a failed assassination attempt on President Abdullahi Yusuf.
Following the failed suicide bombing attempt targeting the president, and the shooting by Islamists a day later of an elderly Italian nun, the latest Islamist advance may signal a drive to assert control over the rest of Somalia, which is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
This has in raised international concerns that the Consultative Council of Islamic Courts (CCIC) advance could lead to “the possible Talibanization of Somalia,” Harvard University’s Robert Rotberg told ISN Security Watch.
Somalia’s neighbors also seem apprehensive that the situation could spark a regional war in the Horn of Africa.
Militias loyal to the CCIC – originally a clan-based attempt to restore Islamic-based law and order to Mogadishu – wrested control of Mogadishu on 5 June from secular warlords widely viewed as backed by the US after a three-month battle that cost upward of 300 lives. (more…)
Sudan calls world’s bluff – ISN
September 7th, 2006
Sudan rebuffs attempts to send UN peacekeepers to Darfur amid a renewed military offensive against rebels.
Omar al-Bashir
By Simon Roughneen
Not only has the Sudanese government refused to give consent to a UN mission in Darfur and threatened to expel African Union (AU) peacekeepers, it has also renewed its military offensive in northern Darfur, apparently in alliance with the Janjaweed militia and the rebel faction that signed the May Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) – a peace agreement that is now basically defunct.
The developments come on the heels of a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution passed last week to deploy over 20,000 UN peacekeepers to Sudan’s Darfur region to bolster the dying peace agreement and forestall an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
Reports from the AU and non-governmental organizations on the ground in Darfur tell of an explicit military build-up in El-Fasher, the capital of northern Darfur, with government aircraft bring troops to the region and carrying out air raids on nearby anti-towns held by rebels who did not sign the peace agreement. (more…)
Cautious optimism over Uganda truce – ISN
August 30th, 2006
There is hope that a truce agreed on between rebels and the government will provide a solution to northern Uganda’s 20-year conflict, but a rebel amnesty that contradicts the ICC is seen as problematic.
Shelter where women and children shelter at night from the LRA, Kalongo, northern Uganda (Simon Roughneen)
By Simon Roughneen in Nairobi
“If their fighters enter these camps as agreed, then even before we sign a final peace deal, we can say it is the end of the war.” So said Ugandan government spokesman Robert Kabushenga, speaking after a ceasefire between the government and northern rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) was agreed on in Juba, Sudan, on 26 August.
LRA fighters are to proceed to two camps in southern Sudan during the three-week period leading up to 12 September, the deadline sought by Uganda President Yoweri Museveni for a peace deal to be signed between his government and the rebels.
On a visit to northern Uganda in April by ISN Security Watch, the desire for peace among the some 200 internally displaced person (IDP) camps in the region, home of sorts to 2 million people, was strong and clear.
At that time, the Ugandan government was promoting the idea that safe return to rural areas and villages was possible for northerners, some of whom had been displaced for almost 20 years. However, people in camps remained doubtful. As James Makena, a farmer staying in the Kalongo IDP camp, said: “ We can only go back when there is no more war, no more rebels and when the Army is gone.” (more…)
Stalemate in Northern Ireland – ISN
August 16th, 2006
With deadlock in Northern Ireland, the Irish and British governments could override local institutions in a potentially-destabilizing maneuver aiming to make parties cooperate.
By Simon Roughneen in Dublin
One year after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) announced the end to its almost-40 year armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland, political progress remains piecemeal in the long-divided region.
The IRA’s ongoing reticence to disarm was a key constraining factor in Northern Ireland’s slow-moving peace-building process. But now despite the organizations’ disarmament, ongoing wrangles have prevented the revival of the regional political institutions, which give Northern Ireland significant devolved authority from London. These institutions remain core aspects of the 1998 ‘Good Friday’ peace agreement.
The British and Irish governments have stated their intention to put some of the institutions into ‘cold storage’ if a 24 November deadline for restarting devolution is not met by the political parties. (more…)
Uncertainty ahead of Congo vote – ISN
July 27th, 2006
Haunted by a violent and corrupt legacy, the Democratic Republic of Congo prepares for elections.
IDPs on the move in the Kivus (Photo: Bob Kitchen/The IRC)
By Simon Roughneen in Paris & Nairobi
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, 30 July, marking the vast country’s transition from corruption, tyranny and violent anarchy. However, the elections are being held amid grave political and strategic uncertainty. Fears pervade that Congo’s conflicts could re-erupt as a result of elections that are meant to underline a transition to stability and provide a seedbed for development.
The last democratic elections held in Africa’s second largest state took place in 1960 after Zaire, the DRC’s name between 1971 and 1997, gained its independence from Belgium. The victor, Patrice Lumumba, was later assassinated, and his short tem in office was marked by an attempted secession by the mineral-rich Katanga province and a UN peacekeeping intervention. Mobuto Sese Seko then ruled Zaire with a Western-financed iron fist, from 1964-1996.
Since Mobutu’s accession to power, the past 40 years have seen the systematic impoverishment and destruction of a vast and potentially wealthy country. Gross domestic product (GDP) was US$259 per capita at independence. It is now less than US$100. (more…)
“I Escaped the Janjaweed, but we have no protection here” – The Irish Catholic
July 25th, 2006
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern TD visited Sudan and Darfur between July 2-5. His visit must now result in Ireland taking a proactive role in international efforts to resolve the political and humanitarian crisis in the region, including diplomatic intervention with Russia and China, writes Simon Roughneen.
IDP woman, northern Darfur (Simon Roughneen)
Harian Abdullah was on her way to the wadi about a half a mile from Fata Borno camp for displaced people in Darfur.
“Like all the women here, I have to go to collect firewood so we can cook and have light in the camp. I walk there most days to get some fuel. Two days ago, I was on my way down to the trees”, she says, pointing towards a green oasis about half-way between her shelter and the nearby clinic where GOAL provides healthcare and nutrition services to the camp-dwellers.
“It was not yet dark. I saw five men moving out from near the trees. I stopped for one moment as I did not recognise them. They were about 500 meters away. I turned and ran back. They ran as well, but stopped soon afterward once I got close to the camp.”
However, making the trek to the camp edge for firewood is a hazard that Darfur’s women face daily, across the vast region. With 2 million people crammed into sprawling and uncomfortable camp settlements, Harian’s dilemma is a recurring one for Darfur’s women.
In the camps, with minimal facilities, firewood is needed for cooking – otherwise the often malnourished and illness-prone people will go without food, exacerbating other health complications resulting from conflict and displacement.
However as Harian’s narrow escape describes, these vital chores carry a huge risk. (more…)
Brittle peace leaves life on the edge – Herald AM
July 17th, 2006
At the outskirts of Fata Borno camp for conflict-displaced, Majda Abdullah braves the blazing afternoon sun as she loads up her donkey to return to her temporary shelter. It is 42 degrees Celsius, and even the camels here needs to rest in the shade.
“It is better this way”, she says. “In the morning and in the evening it is dangerous to even come to the edge of the camp. Since three weeks ago, 6 women have been raped by Janjaweed.
Janjaweed ignore the African Union peacekeepers stationed at the camp, and are apparently unhindered by the Sudanese police barracks adjacent to that, as they loot donkeys, steal produce and violate women at will. (more…)
Deciding peace & justice in Northern Uganda – ISN
July 13th, 2006
Ugandan government and brutal LRA looking end a twenty-year conflict?
Joseph Kony's LRA is estimated to have abducted more than 20,000 children (Reuters)
By Simon Roughneen in Nairobi
Two weeks ago, the reclusive leader of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) gave an unprecedented television interview from an undisclosed location in the Congolese jungle, close to the border with Sudan and Uganda. Joseph Kony denied charges leveled against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has indicted him and four other LRA members for crimes against humanity and war crimes, saying “How can I kill the eye of my brother?”
Kony’s budding openness to the outside world has had ramifications beyond media interviews. Even though they have been postponed, peace talks were set to begin 12 July between an LRA delegation and the Ugandan government in the southern Sudanese town of Juba. The talks, if they had happened, would have been hosted by the former Sudanese rebel group known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), under their current role as the lead member of the regional Government of South Sudan (GoSS).
Whatever the catalyst for the new-found willingness of both sides to attempt to forge a deal, the two-decade-long conflict has left a legacy of abduction, death, displacement and failed peacemaking attempts that will occlude the latest process. A simmering dispute between the ICC and the Ugandan government may also have an impact, with the ICC stating that the Ugandans cannot override the indictments with a contradictory amnesty and political process. The Ugandan government sees its legal and political decision-making as a prerogative of national sovereignty. (more…)
Ahern must now see what’s needed in Darfur – The Sunday Tribune
July 9th, 2006
With Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern in Darfur last week, his visit should convince him that a UN peacekeeping force is needed in Darfur. However he must now persuade Sudanese allies at the UN, writes Simon Roughneen
In Darfur, everything: life, livelihoods, political progress, security, even humanitarian access for aidworkers – is on edge right now. GOAL cannot now reach some of the clinics and feeding centres established in outlying areas, serving some the 2 million Darfurians displaced by conflict and Janjaweed depredations. For aidworkers too, work remains balanced on a fine edge for now, weeks after the peace agreement. (more…)
