Security Counsil Meeting on Sudan

Sudan, the first thing that comes to mind when many hear of that country is the conflict in Darfur. The war in Darfur broke out in 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (Army)(SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) groups in Darfur accused the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in favor of Sudanese Arabs. The Janjaweed are responsible for a lot of the fighting they hold a racist ideology that the Arab population in Sudan are the supreme race. They are on a campaign cleansing the land "are cleaning the land of non-Arabs." The Arab dominate government is accused of supporting the Janjaweed militia and condoning the mass human rights atrocities

•     An estimated 2.7 million people had at that time been displaced from their homes.
• The UN puts the death toll between 300,000-400,000 (many of the calculations do not include deaths from violence)

The Security Counsil had put out a mandate that would require a pannel to assertain the damage and what needs to be done to help save lives in the refugee area's and stop the violence. The panel assigned to do this has not been able to do their job. Why? they have been denied their visas since they arrived the government will not issue visas and so they can not stay in the country. The meeting discussed what they can do to help them get their visas, whether their mandate should be extended, and alternatives the Security council may need to consider. The UN has faced a lot of pressure from humanitaian organizations in terms of their progress in resolving the conflict, but they are doing what they can. The ICC (International Criminal Court) has:

• issued arrest warrants for the former Minister of State for the Interior, Ahmed Haroun, and a Janjaweed leader, Ali Kushayb, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2007.
• the Prosecutor filed ten charges of war crimes against Sudan's incumbent President Omar al- Bashir, three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder on July 14, 2008
• Finally in July, 2010, President Bashir charged by Hague for orchestrating Darfur genocide, three counts of genocide in Darfur by the ICC.

To learn more about the conflict in Darfur and what you can do to get involve please visit http://www.savedarfur.org/ 

my notes

The council joined the meeting via live video feed. They are in an area near Sudan but are having sever problems in reference to visas as Sudan has never granted any nation visas and there is continuous fighting throughout Sudan.

The US - is concerned that no one has been issued visas and they are going to put pressure on the offices in Khartoum and the Sudanese government to do so.  Why is the extension only three months? Home based?

Answers-- They thought they would have sufficient time because they where 3 months behind anyway but that was before the visa problem occurred. They want to have the home base for the panel to be in Khartoum or Darfur.  This however may be difficult, if the Sudanese government declines them permission to be in the area where they are currently located, as a result of the absence of information structures.

Visas were applied for on four occasions but to date, none have been received.  The chairman will arrange for passports to be received and be at the Embassy in Sudan for the visas. They are currently in Addis Ababba.  The US delegation has the pen on this mandate and is leaning towards extension.

Spain - feels the remaining time for the mandate is not enough and thinks it should be extended to Jan 2012.

What do the other members think?

•  France- will corporate with the US and put pressure for the visas issuance, also the location of the council would be easier in the country but understand the related safety issues. They will do their best. France agrees with Spain and thinks that they should extend the mandate but would like to wait until they receive their visas.

•  Germany- will corporate with any joint missions in ensuring their cousins safety and are going to try and get the council to work as soon as possible  

•  UK - Have spoken to the delegates and members of the Sundanese representatives and have been given positive assurances.  A positive response. One wonders whether additional pressure is needed.

•  China - does not believe the mandate needs to be extended but supports what the previous member states have said.  China reiterated that they did not want extensions.

Chairman -

•  Will hold some consultations and when they get their visas before sitting down to discuss an extension date.

•  Called for revision and self-examination of the mandate.  However, if this is found to be difficult, then the home based panel committees will draft letters for different committees and determine which nation's panels need letters.

•  China and Gabon do not think that letters are needed now. However, it was decided that letters will be circulated pertaining to the visa issue.

•  South Africa (Cedric)finds the delay of visas unacceptable and felt that the panel needed to get there to ensure that weapons to not reach rebels and worsen the violence. The lack of visas impedes the validity of their reports because they cannot go in and confirm what is going on in Darfur. The panel needs to determine whether the environment is conducive for the talks to talk place in Darfur.

•   Brazil- understands the hardships the panel is facing in completing the mandate.