Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Africa Horn

Sudanese minister sues radical preacher for accusing her of apostasy

2019-10-07

[Sudan Tribune] Sudan’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Walaa al-Boushi, on Saturday filed an official complaint against a radical Islamist hate preacher who accused her of apostasy.

Abdal Hai Youssef an Islamist preacher known for his support to the former regime, last Friday, slammed the launch of women football league saying it aimed to distract Sudanese from the crises.

He further said that Islam prohibits women football and accused the minister of youth and sports of blasphemy

...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran...
On Saturday, al-Boushi’s office issued a short statement announcing that "the minister filed an official complaint against the Youssef and that the Sudanese prosecutor summoned him for interrogation".

Several activists were angered by statements and called to incriminate accusations of apostasy by the radical preacher who is known for spreading hate speech and criticizing the revolution.

They further called to ban the controversial Moslem holy man from preaching as he turned his mosque into a base for radical Islamism and inflammatory sermons against the revolution and its transitional government.

A Sudanese Republican Party writer- Nur Hamad, strongly criticized Youssef and challenged him to say that Saudi Crown Prince is an apostate referring to a recent decision in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
announced last Friday to organize a women football league.

The preacher who is a leading member to the radical Salafist movement in Sudan claimed that the minister was affiliated to the Republican Party, a liberal Islamic group that call to reform the Islamic precepts. Its leader Mahmoud Mohammed Taha was executed by former President Jaafar Nimeiri who was backed during his last days by the Sudanese groups.

Link

India-Pakistan

What is Liberal Islam?

2012-04-29

The word "Liberal Islam" provokes very diverse responses in Pakistain. Some laugh it away as an oxymoron, the more secular of us see it with cynicism as consisting of 'moderates' and non-practicing Moslems, and the orthodox treat it scornfully as heresy, justifying that Islam was already revealed as the perfect and unchanging religion, the complete code of life for all times to come. Amidst all this skepticism, the existence of Liberal Islam as a real phenomenon within the Islamic theological tradition is neglected. The marginalization of this mode of Islamic thought from public discourse and the resultant dominance of orthodoxy has resulted in grave consequences all over the world.

The practice of Islam as it exists all over the world, including Pakistain, can broadly be categorized into three traditions. The first is the Customary tradition, which is noted by the incorporation of regional practices and beliefs, such as reverence for saintly figures, forms of music and beliefs in spirit and magic. The other rapidly spreading tradition is Revivalist Islam, also called fundamentalism or Wahhabism, which aims to rid religion of all un-Islamic influences and envisions a return to the past in which Islam in its 'true' form was practiced. The third and much-neglected tradition of Liberal Islam is critical of both Customary and Revivalist traditions and maintains that Islam is compatible with the spirit of modernity if interpreted properly. It is a tradition within Islam that subscribes to liberal and modern values, such as opposition to theocracy, support for democracy, guarantees of the rights of women and non-Moslems in Islamic societies, defense of freedom of thought, and belief in the potential for human progress.

There are different approaches that theologians of Liberal Islam have taken to support their claims, and the tradition itself encompasses a heterogeneous group of thought. I see it as forming a whole spectrum of beliefs, progressing in a ladder-like fashion. Let's begin with the Brute-Force Liberal Islam. This approach separates religious law from public life and politics without attempting an adequate theological explanation of how or why it is justified in religion. Ataturk and his modernization of Turkey is a poignant example of it, and this is also very commonly adopted in Pakistain by the 'moderates', who can neither let go of Islam nor secularism, and hence live with an uneasy compromise.

Then we have a view-point that Koran and Sunnah if properly understood are already liberal in nature (Liberal Sharia). This is also a popular form of Liberal Islam, and understandably so, promoted these days by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi and the likes of him. It is also, however, the most vulnerable to attacks of conservative-minded scholars, as the proponents generally struggle against the well-developed orthodox theology with all the references to Koran and Hadith and Sunnah worked out in detail.

Progressing on the ladder, we come across Silent Sharia, the idea that Koran and Sunnah are silent on a number of matters, and this silence allows room for progress within Islam. This is another well-known position, but limited in its extent because as it turns out, Sharia with its claim to being a complete code of life is not silent on a whole lot of matters! Abd al-Raziq, an Egyptian scholar, provides an example of this thought when he argues that Sharia is silent on the specific form a government has to take, and thereby he paves the way for democracy in Islam.

Things begin to get heretical from here onwards. We have the Koranists, the group of theologians who claim that the Koran alone is valid as a source of Islamic law and Hadith must be rejected in general for a number of reasons that these scholars present (and debate very furiously!). Ghullam Ahmed Perwez of the Tolue-e-Islam movement is one of the familiar proponents. Being restricted to the Koran allows for greater leverage than having to deal with the whole of Shariah, and also allows for more creative ways of interpretation.

Next we have Contextual Islam which believes that the legal, moral and social dictates of Islamic law are context dependent, and therefore subject to modification with change in context. This may apply to Hadith only, or for some to both Koran and Hadith. There are proponents such as Allama Iqbal who believed that hadiths of legal nature were context-dependent, and Mahmoud Mohamed Taha from Sudan who believed that all the Medinan verses merely refer to the historical applicability of the Koranic essence revealed in Meccan verses to the society as it existed in the Prophet's time and place. Therefore, it is only the general principles elaborated in the Meccan verses that are to be followed, while the rest have to be reconstructed according to the needs of the time.

The most daring of Islamic scholars currently belong to the Interpreted Sharia mode which says that Sharia is divinely revealed, but the interpretations are human and fallible and can be subjected to critique. These theologians argue that interpretation is always based on human perspective and therefore cannot be granted a universal applicability, even though the scripture is divine. Fazlur Rehman of Pakistain is a well-known theologian of this tradition. He said that the Koran is the divine response, through the Prophet's mind, to the moral-social situation of the Prophet's Arabia, and a proper interpretation of the Koran would consist of two steps. The first step would be to understand the Koran's specific responses to specific situations; and the second step would be to generalize those answers and enunciate them as statements of generalized moral-social objectives that can be distilled from the religious texts in the light of socio-historical background. Another established thinker of Interpreted Sharia is the Algerian-French scholar Mohammed Arkoun, who applied Western hermeneutical techniques borrowed from structuralism and postmodernism to the Koran, and preferred a secular analysis keeping in view the historicity of tradition. Arkoun believed that traditional Islamic thought has restricted itself by creating boundaries of interpretations determining what is "thinkable"; Arkoun uses techniques of Deconstruction to uncover the "unthinkable" in Islamic tradition, the meanings which have been marginalized and oppressed. He argues for pluralism within Islam and acceptance of multiple interpretations.

While Moslem scholars have challenged interpretations, there are very few who have contested the literalism that is associated with the scripture; it is possible to maintain, like many Christians, that Koran is not the literal word of God, but was inspired by God and clothed in human language because of the constraints of the human condition. It is also consistent with the view that may see Islam as a mystic tradition rather than a revealed religion. This doctrine has not yet seen any significant adoption among Islamic theologians, but has been expressed in certain neo-Vedantist reviews of Islam and remains a potential mode of thought.

This is another popular version of Liberal Islam in Pakistain, often adopted by people who label themselves (mistakenly) as 'Sufi Moslems'. These adherents of Essence Islam, as I call it, maintain their distance from theological debates by stripping Islam to its bare essence and believe that to follow Islam is not to follow the rules of Sharia, which are human sociopolitical developments, rather it is to follow the essence of what Islam prescribes, such as morality, rationality, justice, modesty, etc., i.e. to be a good human being.

Such is the diversity and richness of Liberal Islam which has been much ignored. We have here a number of theological traditions in which Islam can be made compatible with modernity and liberalism. The only way these solutions can work is if Moslems are willing to do so, which sadly they still are not. As Daniel Pipes astutely remarks: "Islam can be whatever Moslems wish to make of it." The possibility of a modernist reform is there; templates and prototypes exist. The only question for Moslems is: Are you up for it?

Link

Africa North

Naguib Mahfouz's novels promoted 'prostitution and drugs': Salafist Parliament candidate

2011-12-03

[Al Ahram] Salafist
...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't...
leader and Alexandrian parliament candidate Abdel-Moneim El-Shahat described the literature of Egyptian Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz as "inciting promiscuity, prostitution and atheism."
El-Shahat reiterated his opinion regarding Nobel prize novelist Naguib Mahfouz in a TV interview on Thursday night, elaborating that Mahfouz's novels "are mostly set in areas involving brothels and drugs." He went on to describe Mahfouz's acclaimed novel Awlad Harretna (Children of our Alley), one of the books that earned him a Nobel prize in 1988, as a novel whose "symbols promote atheism."

El-Shahat's statement propelled a reaction of alarm among Egypt's liberals and intellectuals. Some considered the statement a reminder of the dangers that freedom of expression is likely to face in Egypt should the Islamists take power.

Novelist and critic Howeida Saleh reacted strongly to El-Shahat's latest televised statement: "We have long stressed [during the old regime] the importance of respecting democracy and giving Islamists the opportunity to demonstrate their cultural and political approach; but we [Egyptians] have not had a revolution so that the likes of El-Shahat come to smear our cultural symbols and call us atheists as soon as they [Islamists] start rising to power."

Contemporary novelist and literature professor Sahar El-Mougy argued that it would be useless debating with El-Shahat and other ultra-Islamist figures over matters concerning arts and culture. It would overshadow, he says, the important questions they should be asked, instead, such as their economic and social plans for the country.

Author Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, however, believes that the intellectual community is overreacting to El-Shahat's statement. Abdel-Meguid says dismissively that Abdel-Meguid is "tuned into a time a thousand years ago," and that he takes El-Shahat's statements only with pity.

Other statements by El-Shahat, the official spokesperson for the Salafist umbrella group, the Salafist Call, have sent just as many chills up the art community's spine.

For instance, he is notorious for his statement that Pharaonic monuments should be covered up because, according to El-Shahat, they are from a "rotten" culture that does not worship God. This also caused outrage among archaeologists as well as those who work in the tourism sector, who have further accused him of sabotaging one of Egypt's main sources of revenue.

El-Shahat also denounced those who promoted democracy, and not God's word represented by Sharia (Islamic Jurisprudence), as atheists.

El-Shahat will be facing Hosni Mohamed Taha, who is supported by the Moslem Brüderbund, in a run-off election for a single-seat in Alexandria in the first phase of Egypt's parliamentary vote on Monday 5 December.

Link

Africa Horn

Sudanese vice president announces gov't acceptance of referendum results

2011-02-01

(Xinhua) -- Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha
... Father of the Janjaweed militias. Taha was responsible for handling the Darfur crisis from 2003 to 2004. He was instrumental in releasing Musa Hilal from prison in 2003, assigning him authority to recruit and command a militia group, which became known as "Quick, Light and Horrible Forces of Misteriha." ...
on Monday announced Sudanese government's acceptance of south Sudan referendum results which indicated that around 99 percent of the voters have voted in favor of the region's separation.

"We declare our acceptance of the referendum's preliminary results which were announced yesterday by the referendum commission and we will directly embark on the arrangements which will follow this phase," said Taha at a presser here Monday.

"We hope this positive spirit, which characterized all stages of the referendum process, would lead to containing tensions that could surround some of the outstanding issues," he added.

Taha further reiterated continuation of cooperation and coordination between north and south Sudan, saying that "the separation, even if it has its constitutional and political consequences, the relation and common interests will remain standing and will not cease."

The Sudanese vice-president stressed that north and south Sudan were really willing to find a political settlement for the Abyei issue and prevent any unilateral solutions, saying that "we have agreed that the current administrative, political and security arrangements at Abyei would continue."

"It has also been agreed that joint forces would be dispatched in Abyei, besides removing the south Sudan police forces which recently entered the area and that the Abyei Administration would remain until a political agreement is reached."

Taha, as well, disclosed that the north and the south have agreed to exclude the option of double nationality, saying that " each state will have the right to issue a law organizing the nationality and how it could be obtained and to avoid having persons with no legal identification documents."

"We have agreed that there would be flexibility regarding presence of northerners in the south and vise versa and to protect them and their properties until their status is adjusted. There are many arrangements needed to be made to adjust the conditions of the employees at the public service and the regular forces," he said.

The South Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) on Sunday announced south Sudan's preliminary results which showed that 98. 83 percent of the southern Sudanese voters have voted in favor of the region's separation and only 1. 17 percent voted for unity.

The final results of the referendum are expected to be announced on Feb. 7 in case there were no appeals; otherwise they will be announced on Feb. 14.

According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), inked between north and south Sudan in 2005, there would be a transitional period until July 9 to pave the way for transition to separation of south Sudan if the southern Sudanese opted for separation in the referendum.

Link

Africa Horn

Sudan to be example for development, says VP

2010-07-14

Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha has said that Sudan will be a model nation for peace, security and development in the region

This came when Mr Taha addressed a mass rally in Al-Affadh area, Northern State, on the occasion of inauguration of Karima - Nawa road as well as the bridge of Al-Daba - Argi yesterday.

Mr Taha said that the newly-inaugurated development projects are considered a gift to the souls of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the homeland's dignity, top of them was martyr Al-Zubair Mohamed Salih. Mr Taha urged in his address, the people of the Northern State to focus on the agricultural development and to increase productivity. He also called on the local investors to invest in agriculture and manufacturing

The Vice President called on the government of the Northern State to concentrate on people's welfare, education and helping for the poor

Meanwhile, the Wali (governor) of Northern State, Fathi Khalil, said that the inaugurated projects are important and that Merowe Dam is one of the features of modern Sudan, pledging more developmental projects in coming period.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas arranges mass wedding for 100 Gaza widows

2009-07-10

Keeping it in the family
One hundred Gaza widows - veiled, wearing long black dresses and gloves - celebrated their second marriages on Friday in a mass wedding arranged by Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

To how many ~~man~~ men?

The 100 women, many of them mothers, lost their husbands during the 22-day Israeli military offensive carried out on the impoverished enclave.

None of the 100 men, some getting married for the first time, or 100 women were older than 25, and all were dressed in black and loyal to Hamas.

And here I thought we'd have five 'sheikhs' as the grooms, ten at most ...

They were accompanied at the mass ceremony by their relatives, friends and their children - the daughters wore white dresses, while the sons wore black suits.

"Just remember sonny, when I marry yer Mudder you're getting a boombelt as a gift!"

Many of the bridegrooms, who received 2,800 dollars from Hamas in recognition of their marrying a widow, are taking on another wife, and a majority of the men are brothers-in-law of the widows, the late husbands being Hamas militants killed in the Israeli invasion.

Ahmed al-Fayoomi, a 22-year-old former single, proudly said he decided to marry his brother Alla's 24-year-old wife Sabrin because 'according to our Islamic rules as well as to our traditions, I believe I'm the one who should take care of my brother's wife and their children.'

"And she's hot, hot, HOT!"

Alla, who died in the conflict, left behind seven children, he said.

At age 24 she has time to turn out another eight to fifteen ...

Mohamed Taha, 23 years old, also married his brother's wife Iman, who is one year older than he. 'Because I love my brother so much, who is now a martyr, I decided to take care of his wife and his only child.'

Who will now have a dozen step-siblings ...

One young man, Jibril al-Na'ooq, 20, married the 25-year-old wife of his dead uncle, and thus taking on the care of his two young cousins.

A widow from the city of Khan Younis who declined to give her name said 'today I'm getting married to the brother of my martyr husband. I am so happy for this marriage.'

'I feel that my husband is resting in peace now because his brother will take care of me and my children,' she added, speaking out from the black veil that revealed only her green eyes.

Link

Britain

Libya and Britain agree to transfer prisoners

2009-04-30

[Al Arabiya Latest] Libya and Britain agreed to transfer prisoners on Wednesday, opening a legal window for the repatriation of a former Libyan agent jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing as his lawyers launched an appeal against his conviction.

The deal to allow the transfer of prisoners between the two countries was one of four agreements on judicial cooperation ratified in Tripoli, and removes an obstacle to any future deal to send home Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

He was convicted in 2001 for the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently in a Scottish jail.

All 259 people on board the Pan Am Boeing 747 en route from London to New York died, along with 11 people on the ground at Lockerbie as a result of falling debris.

"The agreements are effective as of today," said a statement released by the Tripoli government shortly after the signing by Libya's Foreign Ministry judicial department director Mohammed es-Sagaier and Britain's ambassador to Libya, Vincent Fean.

The Libyan statement said the four agreements covered the exchange of wanted suspects, prisoner transfers, judicial cooperation on civil and commercial affairs, and legal aid in criminal cases.

"The agreements are standard deals ... They allow the transfer of prisoners after final court verdicts to permit them to spend the remainder of their prison terms near their families," Libyan Cooperation Minister Mohamed Tahar Sayala said, when asked if Megrahi would benefit from the deals.

Link

Africa Horn

Sudan executes nine found guilty of editors murder

2009-04-14

KHARTOUM - Sudanese authorities on Monday executed nine men found guilty in the 2006 murder of a Sudanese newspaper editor, state media and a police source said. Nine people guilty in this case were executed today, the source said.

The case has been sensitive for the government, which initially banned reporting of the trial other than by state media. The nine men are from Darfur, a region torn by a conflict between rebels and the government.

The state news agency SUNA later confirmed the men were hanged at Kober prison in Khartoum and named them. A Reuters reporter outside the prison saw groups of relatives and some women wailing.

The decapitated body of the editor, Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, was found on a dirt road in Khartoum in September 2006. His hands and legs were tied and his head lay next to his body. In November 2007 the nine men were found guilty of killing Ahmed, a journalist and the owner of the Arabic-language newspaper al-Wifaq.

During the trial the lead police investigator, Abdul Rahim Ahmed Abdul Rahim, said the defendants motives were political, ethnic and financial. Abdul Rahim said the defendants had been infuriated by an article in Ahmeds paper. A defence lawyer said the article played down reports about rape in Darfur and used unflattering language to describe Darfuri women.

Earlier this month local media said a constitutional court had upheld the death sentences, putting an end to the appeal process.

Link

Africa Horn

Qaeda "leader" claims he cut Sudan editor's head off

2006-09-13

A man purporting to lead an African branch of al Qaeda claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the beheading of a Sudanese newspaper editor who was found dead last week. The man, in a statement distributed to Sudanese newspapers, called editor Mohamed Taha a "dog of dogs from the ruling party", and accused him of insulting the prophet Mohammad.

'Three individuals from this organisation undertook this operation and they are now outside Sudan'... 

The statement was signed by Abu Hafs al-Sudani, who said he was the leader of al Qaeda in Sudan and Africa. Taha, an ally of the government who was himself an Islamist, was reported kidnapped from outside his home in the capital Khartoum a week ago, and was found dead last Wednesday. "Three individuals from this organisation undertook this operation ... and they are now outside Sudan," said the statement, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Colleagues say Taha had also begun to criticise the government's policy on Darfur and recent price rises to fill a budget gap...

Taha's killing heightened political tensions in Khartoum as the government headed on a collision course with the international community over its rejection of a U.N. Security Council resolution to deploy more than 20,000 troops and police to war-ravaged Darfur. Taha had drawn protests from Islamic groups last year by reprinting a series of articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammad. Colleagues say Taha had also begun to criticise the government's policy on Darfur and recent price rises to fill a budget gap.

Link

Africa Horn

Kidnapped Sudanese journalist found beheaded

2006-09-07

A SUDANESE newspaper editor who was kidnapped by unknown armed men was found beheaded, a day after he was reported snatched from outside his home in the capital Khartoum, an Interior Ministry source said. A photograph showed Mohamed Taha's body bound at the feet and hands with his severed head next to his body, a witness said. He was found on a dirt street in a middle-class residential district of southern Khartoum. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing.

Kidnapping of civilians is common in Sudan's war-torn western region Darfur and was a feature in the south during large-scale conflict there, but is very rare in the capital. Mr Taha was arrested last year and his al-Wifaq paper closed for three months after it published a series of articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammed, which were condemned by Sudan's powerful Islamists.

Local papers quoted Mr Taha's family as saying a group of men bundled him into a car outside his home in north Khartoum and sped off towards central Khartoum. Mr Taha was an ally of the Government, which took power in a military coup in 1989. The government in northern Sudan follows strict Sharia law but has been opposed by some Islamist organisations.

Link

Africa Horn

Thousands of Sudanese protest against U.N. force

2006-03-08

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Shouting "Down, Down USA", thousands of Sudanese protested in Khartoum on Wednesday against any deployment of U.N. troops in the western Darfur region.

"Get out all foreigners, we don't want you here," shouted 21-year-old student Zeinab Kheir el-Sir.

"Darfur will be the grave of the conquerors," said banners carried by the demonstrators.
T-shirts available through Cafe Press

African Union foreign ministers are due to decide on Friday whether to ask the United Nations to take control of their 7,000-strong mission monitoring a shaky ceasefire in Darfur.

U.N. officials have sought NATO and EU support to bolster the AU force, which lacks funds and equipment, triggering alarm in Sudan which opposes intervention by non-African troops.

Ahead of the AU meeting, senior western officials held talks in Brussels with Sudanese leaders aiming to persuade them to agree to the deployment of a robust U.N. mission in Darfur.
Belgium has always played such a constructive role in Africa.

But after a government-led media campaign against U.N. intervention, nationalist sentiment in Sudan is running high.
The pro-government al-Intibaha newspaper has announced the formation of two new Islamist movements threatening to target foreign interests in Darfur, called the Darfur ~~Limb Hacking Society~~ Jihad Organization and the ~~Rabid Moonbats~~ Blood Brigades.

The protestors handed a statement to U.N. offices demanding the immediate ~~decapitation~~ eviction of the top U.N. envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk. Sudanese women ~~wearing Cindy Sheehan T-shirts~~ bearing kalashnikovs joined the march, declaring their readiness to fight foreign troops.

The defense minister also rallied troops against intervention at a military demonstration in Khartoum.

"Jihad, victory, martyrdom," the soldiers chanted. "Our martyrs are in ~~the dirt~~ heaven, and we are ready," said Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein.
Hussein last week threw out all foreign press from a news conference, accusing them of fabricating the Darfur conflict, which Washington calls genocide.

Khartoum denies genocide in the arid west, but tens of thousands have been killed and 2 million herded into camps by three years of rape, looting and killing. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes there.

Among the crowd of demonstrators, one brave woman quietly said she supported intervention in her place of origin, Darfur ~~,before being torn to pieces~~ .

"I don't think the government can solve the problem, nor can the African Union," student Maha Mekki said. "I want America to come in," she said.

CHANGE OF COMMAND?

The United Nations is currently deploying about 10,000 troops to Sudan's south to oversee a separate peace deal signed last year to end more than two decades of civil war there.

But the government and opposition parties have all said they do not want this U.N. force to be extended to Darfur as well.

"In the south they are there to help, but in Darfur this will just be a front for Israel and America to come in to get our ~~kalashnikov toting beauties~~ oil," said demonstrator Amal Jaafar.

Sudan produces roughly 330,000 barrels per day of crude, mostly from fields in the south.

U.N. sources say any U.N. force in Sudan's west is likely to keep the same AU forces on the ground, but change the command over to a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha to step up pressure on Sudan to accept U.N. peacekeepers.

"Taha is a key player in the Sudanese government ... We hope he hears the message," an EU official said
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, due to join the talks during the day, said he would push for a U.N. mission.

"We believe that, to the maximum extent possible, the AU forces in Darfur should be incorporated into the U.N. mission in which Africans should play a key leadership role," Zoellick said in a statement before leaving Washington.

Link

Africa Horn

Bolton Hits Annan Over Sudan Talk

2006-02-21

The American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, criticized Secretary-General Annan yesterday for employing double standards over sending U.N. troops to the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur.

Mr. Bolton said that while Mr. Annan has publicly chided Washington for leadership shortcomings on Darfur, he has not encouraged Africans and Arabs to do more, and has failed to push his own U.N. underlings hard enough.

Mr. Bolton signaled America's sense of urgency on Darfur when he elevated the issue to the top of the Security Council's agenda on assuming the council's presidency for the month of February. Just three days into the presidency, Mr. Bolton encouraged the council to issue a statement calling for the replacement of the 7,500-troop-strong African Union force in Darfur with a much larger force under the U.N. umbrella, which would be augmented and strengthened with a mandate allowing intervention to stop atrocities in the region.

Mr. Annan has publicly chided the West, including America, saying the force should include support, military assets, and even troops from the developed world. Mr. Bolton sent a letter to Mr. Annan, offering Washington's help in planning the mission. A week after arriving in New York, however, four American military planners have met only once with U.N. peacekeeping officials.

At the Security Council, American ideas for establishing the force, which is opposed by the Sudanese government, met with resistance from Khartoum's allies from African and Arab countries.

"It would be helpful, I think, if the secretary-general, in addition to prodding the U.S., could also be out there talking to the African Union and the Arab League, and in fact, even talking to his own peacekeepers about the importance of moving ahead," Mr. Bolton told reporters yesterday.

"It's important that whatever is being said rhetorically" by Mr. Annan, Mr. Bolton added, "should be matched by what the Secretariat planners are doing."

Hundreds of thousands have been killed in Darfur over the last few years, in what only America so far has described as genocide. Mr. Annan's representative in Sudan, Jan Pronk, recently said that to stop the killings, rapes, and abuse, and to create an environment that would allow millions of Darfur villagers to return home from refugee camps in Sudan and Chad, a well trained force of 22,000 troops, supported by helicopters and other aircraft, should be deployed.

However, a top Turtle Bay peacekeeping official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The New York Sun it would take his department nine months to compose such a force. American officials said that when a peacekeeping force was needed for Liberia, U.N. officials also told them it would take many months, but after being prodded to set up the force in 90 days, they were able to do so.

Last week, President Bush said NATO could help to set up the force. In New York a second meeting is planned between U.N. officials and American military planners, according to U.N. spokesmen.

"They're here ready to go, and we think other nations are prepared to augment the planning force," Mr. Bolton said yesterday. "We recognize that the secretary-general needs help. That's why we brought these very experienced, very knowledgeable people up here, so we wouldn't lose any time."

Mr. Annan yesterday declined to respond, but his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, countered by saying that "the planning process is moving full steam ahead."

We hae the caterers and the meeting rooms booked for MONTHS of meetings. How's that for planning, huh?

Once the shape of the new force for Sudan starts to emerge, he added, "we will be presenting options to the Security Council," and then try to recruit troops from around the world. Meanwhile, Mr. Pronk is negotiating with representatives of the African Union.

The Sudan regime, however, argues that non-African troops would infringe on its sovereignty. "Sudan rejects replacement of the African Union forces with United Nations forces, "Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha told a visiting delegation of 11 American legislators, led by House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat of California, on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

As a result, Khartoum's African and Arab allies in Turtle Bay have resisted ideas for a council resolution that Mr. Bolton circulated last week among the 15 council members.

"African and Arab members of the Security Council on Friday said we should wait until the African Union decision on March 3," Mr. Bolton said. "I said no, we're not going to wait for that. We're going to go ahead and circulate these elements of the resolution" in order to pass it before the end of the month.

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