10-03-05, 8:39 am

Continuing attacks by paramilitary forces aligned with the Sudanese National Islamic Front (NIF) regime on refugees and other non-combatants in Darfur indicates that despite agreements peace has not come to the southern region of the Sudan.

On 19 August 2005, armed men on horsebacks allegedly attacked and looted Amar Jadeed village, North West of Labado, Shearia province, Southern Darfur state. The attack took place in the early morning hours when the villagers were sleeping, according to sources for the Sudan Organization against Torture (SOAT). During the attack, three of the villagers were killed and tens were wounded. The militias’ also looted livestock and destroyed property. Following the attack, the militias traveled to the North towards Niteaga, Shearia province where there have been confirmed reports of a gradual build-up of Janjaweed militias in the area.

Area tribal leaders of the Birgid have reported the attack on Amar Jadeed and the amassing of Janjaweed militias in Niteaga to African Union observers in the region and to the Governor of Shearia, however no action has thus far been taken.

This attack and numerous others aimed at refugees, civilians, human rights workers, and supporters of the political opposition to the ruling NIF regime, confirmed by human rights observers, has caused UN observers to express deep concern about the region returning to a state of 'perpetual lawlessness' as the UN news agency IRIN reported two weeks ago.

At the end of last week Amnesty International condemned the kidnapping of three staff-members of Sudan Development Organization.

'There has been quite an increase in both the number and the scale of attacks,' Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), told IRIN.

Despite a recently signed peace agreement between the NIF regime and opposition groups as well as self-congratulatory remarks from the Bush administration, an attack by government-aligned militia forces, known as the Janjaweed, last week signaled continuing failures by the NIF to abide by the agreement. An African Union military mission official based in the Sudan told the BBC last week that observers had witnessed the recent attack and their report gave 'credence to the repeated claim by the rebel movements of collusion between the government of Sudan forces and the Janjaweed.'

US-based African affairs organization Africa Action released a statement following the attack condemning the failure of the Bush administration to take effective measure to protect civilian lives. The organization further questioned the administration’s material support for the NIF regime in the face of its own declaration that that regime has and continues to conduct genocide against the non-Arab tribes of southern Sudan.

In its statement, Africa Action emphasized that the government-sponsored genocide is continuing in Darfur, and that the U.S. is failing to take the necessary steps to provide protection to civilians and humanitarian operations in the region.

Africa Action also rejected the administration's claims last week that the security situation in the region is improving and that the U.S. is providing strong leadership in responding to the crisis.

Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said, 'The crime of genocide is continuing in Darfur. This is clear from recent violent attacks on camps and villages, and it is also clear from the horrific conditions in camps where more than 2 million displaced people now struggle to survive after having been driven out of their homes by the Khartoum government and its proxy militias. The immediate and urgent need to stop the violence and provide security to the people of Darfur is simply not a priority for the Bush Administration.'

The desperate situation and ongoing violence caused some UN officials to suspend humanitarian operations last week in some areas of Darfur because the security situation has become too dangerous.

Still Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the situation was improving. Zoellick was the first US official to visit Khartoum after the Bush administration declared the NIF and its allies to be engaged in genocide, taking the lives of as many as 400,000 people and displacing up to 2 million others.

Zoellick reestablished friendly relations with the genocidaires and promised massive material and intelligence support to the NIF regime.



--Reach Joel Wendland at jwendland@politicalaffairs.net.