Voices of Hope Concert for Darfur - The Tripoli Peace Talks Face a Quick Death

Darfur continues to stream in and out of the headlines in the build up to the peace talks that are scheduled to take place in Tripoli, Libya starting on Saturday, October 28th.

Meanwhile, the situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate. The security situation is so dangerous that a number of NGOs have pulled their operations from the region. This necessary move has expedited the deaths of thousands of men, women and children and it has increased the pain and suffering of those that are left behind.

To make matters worse, it has been announced that there are now seven rebel groups that have pulled out of the Tripoli peace talks. The Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) one of the main rebel groups said that it would not participate in the masquerade, referring to the Tripoli talks. The Sudan Liberation Movement, the most important rebel group, has also withdrawn from the talks because they said that the atmosphere was not "conducive" to success.

This news ensures that the Tripoli talks with follow the same path as all the other peace initiatives that were doomed to failure even before they got started. What doesn’t help is the fact that the chief moderator of the Africa Union stated that the neither the UN nor the AU was going to dictate what “sort of peace plan” would be implemented in Darfur, that it was the sole responsibility of the parties involved to determine this. I believe that this is a very poor effort to disguise the fact that the Sudanese government will have the ultimate say pertaining to the direction of peacekeeping operations in Darfur.

The key sponsor of the Tripoli talks, Colonel Gaddiffi, “simplified” the conflict in Darfur by comparing it to a “quarrel over a camel.” I have never witnessed an argument over a camel but I wonder how many people have died over a camel. He also extended blame for the continuing human suffering in Darfur on the NGOs and other aid agencies. To clarify this statement, he said that if these groups were not in Darfur, the displaced refugees would have to move back home. This would enable them to get back to looking after themselves.” Does this make sense? I didn’t think so either.

To date, only one country outside of Africa has offered to send troops as part of the UN-AU hybrid force due for deployment in Darfur in mid to late 2008. That country is Thailand. No western country, as of yet, as offered to supply any of the logistical support requirements or the military capabilities for the successful deployment of the force and to enhance its ability to carry out its mission.

The following are some of the things that have happened over the past few days in relation to Darfur.

Financial Institutions under Pressure Not to Make Profits from Business Interests in Sudan

• A number of financial institutions are now being placed under great pressure to back away from making blood money in Sudan. Leading human rights groups and world renowned stars have demanded that UBS, the Swiss-based bank, not participate in the placement of PetroChina on the Shanghai stock exchange.
• UBS issued a statement stating that it can not discuss the work of its clients – how bloody convenient!
• It is important that further pressure be place on these types of institutions that care only about making money and not about saving lives. As we know, PetroChina is a major sponsor of the Sudanese government and it has been behind the funding of both the civil war in Sudan that ended in 2005 and it is also behind the funding of the conflict in Darfur.
• PetroChina is not the only company making billions of dollars from the pain and suffering of the millions of innocent civilians in Darfur. It is time that all those companies that continue to make blood money from their business interests in Sudan, are publicly shamed for being complicit in the mass human rights abuses in Darfur.

Sudanese Spy Arrested in Germany

• An agent for the Sudanese government was arrested in Germany on October 23rd. The agent, who was not named, was arrested for forwarding information on Sudanese dissidents and critics living in Germany back to the government in Khartoum.
• My good friend, Dr. Eric Reeves who has been an outspoken critic of Sudan since the initiation of the mass human rights abuses in Darfur, has been on the receiving end of international operations by the Sudanese government against him and he has received numerous threats against his life for his criticisms of the regime.
• All the unsung hero’s that are working towards highlighting the plight of the innocent victims in Darfur need to be protected, whether they are in Africa, Europe or wherever.

The International Alliance For Human Rights, together with Hope For Humanity, will be staging the largest global concert event ever held to raise awareness about the conflict in Darfur. Please support the upcoming Voices of Hope Concert for Darfur. For more information please call David Nolan at 212.695.7022, ext. 315 or email him at dnolan@iafhr.org. Feel free to add your voice and ideas to our blog at http://iafhr-darfur.blogspot.com/