US State Department cables from places I have served plus items from my time as a UN peacekeeper. To increase public awareness of how diplomacy and peacekeeping are (were) actually done. All cables cleared by USG FOIA procedure. Cables are mostly those sent under my name from my posts but also others in which I was directly involved. UN documents and other items will also include occasional notes and background. Most recent in series on top with cables under the new series of UN documents.
Showing posts with label Darfur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darfur. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Friday, February 13, 2015
Journal Entry for December 10, 2003
Just back from a British reception. (Last night it was German.)
Spent a good deal of it talking about Darfur with colleagues. We are
all growing concerned about the conflict there. The government is
using the same tactics of bombing civilians and arming militias that
they used in the south. We westerners have been holding back from
confronting the government because of the peace process with the SPLM
but the west is getting bad and escalating. UN estimates 600,000
displaced and another 400,000 affected by the war, such as not having
food because they could not plant or harvest this year. We have been
reporting this but have not been alarmist. We're thinking that maybe
we now need to sound some alarms or risk having stood by during
genocide.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Back to Sudan: 03 Khartoum 1049 plus journal entry
From my December
8 journal entry:
Well, on top of the historic visit of the (Christian/animist) SPLM
to Khartoum now unfolding, Franklin Graham (son of Billy) is here to
give out Xmas gifts. The Christians have landed. Just came back
from dinner in his honor given by the (Islamic) government. Rev.
Graham gave a very nice speech at dinner showing faith, cultural
sensitivity and understanding. Very sincere man. I told him that I
saw his father preach in Madison Square Garden many years ago. He
said his father will give his last "talk" there next year.
(Must mean he is retiring, not ascending.) Tomorrow morn, I go with
him to the airport to see the big Russian plane deliver the presents.
So far no one has asked me to actually pray.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
03 Khartoum 1045
Note: "ADCM" is the acting deputy chief of mission. Also, as you can see, the entire comment was redacted by the State Department.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Journal Entry for December 2, 2003
Sitting here at 8am on December 2 with a nice breeze waifing in
Khartoum air. The scent is a bit musky but not unpleasant and it is
cool. Opened the windows in the middle of the night and turned the
AC off. Yahoo says the temp will range from 65 to 89 today and it'll
get into the high 50's for lows this week. Beats Belize by miles.
Woke up to birds singing and the occasional cry of a distant hawk.
Went
to Nyala, capital of Southern Darfur yesterday. Took 3 1/2 hours of
flying each way. Went with UK and EU Ambassadors to highlight our
concern over the conflict there. The Wali (governor), a tough
military man (and possible war criminal) had stopped the UK
ambassador and me from making previous tries to get there. He was
absent yesterday.
We
met with state government officials, NGOs and then with a group of
tribal leaders. The Wali had tried to stop us from meeting them but
we insisted. The leaders of the two main Darfur opponents -- Arab nomad
tribes and the Fur tribe (African farmers) -- both gave us their
sides. We encouraged them to make peace. (The Arab nomads have been
trying to drive the African farmers from their land. Both are
Moslem.)
Some
of our group went to a camp of people displaced by the war. They are
in bad shape. Darfur from the air looks absolutely barren and it
we'd call it desert.* But Greater Darfur has 6 million people and as
the Sahara spreads south, they have less good space and thus fight
for it. I find it hard when I am in such a place to grasp how the
people who live there and the people who live in the First World,
North America or Europe, could possibly be on the same planet. The
distance between realities is so great.
*2014 Note: Darfur does look very arid to an outsider. But it gets just enough rain when the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone moves north. The Jebel Marra region sticks up into the clouds and can get enough rain for agriculture and pasture. It's thus worth having.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014
Journal Entry for November 17, 2003
It's getting hard to keep things in perspective. I went from
dealing with the serious issues left by the recent threat and meeting
with embassy staff (American & local) to discuss this with them
to a phone call from the Director General. You can bet on how I
looked forward to the Ops Center connecting him to me. Sure enough,
not good news. Not a late recognition of my deserving advancement or
a word on how well I was handling the current crisis. No, he wanted
to tell me that AID Director* thought he had not been treated well
enough during his recent visit. Then I went to see the Egyptian
ambassador for a scotch and a chat. I enjoy talking with him. Home
for dinner and then after dinner, I discover the back lights are out.
In the current context, makes me predisposed to paranoia. Then I
talk to USAID Washington about a food shipment being held up by a
rebellious Agriculture Minister. There is an open feud over this
pitting the Minister against the Vice President (and "strong man")
and Foreign Minister who told us last month that we could ship
despite GOS concerns over GMOs. (Hardliners vs "moderates.")
The senior USAID official (who was on the trip) told me we have only
days before the food problem will lead to costly diversions. (But
"no", he knew of no problem with Andrew.) Then the RSO
calls me to tell me the government is already withdrawing police from
our facilities including some from my residence. I'm beginning to
wonder just what the early signs of coup would be here. I call the
desk just to chat. They feel good because the peace delegations had
a good meeting in London. (For all I know, they were talking to dead
men walking.)
What
part of this do I take seriously? I don't think I can handle all of
it. Think I'll concentrate on police guards.
*Note: Andrew Natsios was the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), 2001-06. USAID was a hotbed of USG support for the "Christian" African rebels (SPLM) fighting the Khartoum government in southern Sudan. The SPLM boosters within the USG did not like the Embassy constantly raising the distracting issue of Darfur. But Natsios also understood the need to be seen doing something about Darfur by sending food aid while the Sudanese government went ahead with its ethnic cleansing there. (Natsios reportedly said in a 2003 interview that the
total cost of rebuilding Iraq would not cost US taxpayers more than $1.7 billion.)
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
News Article by DPA posted on November 09, 2003
News Article by DPA posted on November 09,
2003 at 18:00:43: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan prohibits U.S. officials from travelling
to Dafur
KHARTOUM, Nov. 09, 2003 (dpa) -- The
American Embassy in Sudan published a statement Sunday expressing
regret that the U.S. Charge d'Affairs in Sudan, Gerard Galluci, and
other representatives of the Embassy and USAID were prohibited from
travelling to Nyala town in the South Darfur region of western Sudan.
The statement said that Humanitarian Aid
Commission (HAC), a government establishment regulating the work of
local and international relief organizations cancelled the trip
despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granting permission to
travel.
The embassy and USAID officials were travelling to
Dafur, a region of extreme unrest, to monitor on-going aid
programmes.
The statement demanded that the Sudanese
government remove barriers to free movement and permit free travel
throughout the country.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Journal Entry for October 28, 2013*
October
28:
Went to Darfur on Monday, leaving early on a WFP plane. Darfur
means "land of the Fur" and was an independent Sultanate
until 1916 when the British made it part of Sudan. Flying out with
us was a new government minister brought in to deal with the conflict
in Darfur, a grandson of the last Sultan. We went first to Geneina,
close to the Chad border. We met there, and in our second stop El
Fasher, with the local Wali (governor) and Emirs (tribal chiefs).
Darfur, like everyplace in Sudan, has a rich mixture of different
tribes and peoples. All are Moslem and all consider themselves Arab,
though most would be judged as “African” by non-Sudanese. There
is an age old conflict between farmers and herders and between cattle
herders and camel herders. Many members of the government and
military come from Darfur but the government has never given much
attention or resources to the region. Then this year, a small scale
civil war broke out and the government troops were beaten. The
government then gave the camel herders guns and unleashed them on the
others. Some 600,000 people lost their homes and had to flee the
war. Most are still refugees. USAID is helping feed them and care
for their children through WFP, UNICEF and other UN agencies. I went
to Darfur accompanying the AID Director.
The
people we met treated us very well because they know how much help
the US has given them and because they need more help. We wanted
them to know that we are ready to do more when the government
ends the war.
Monday
was the second day of Ramadan. Our hosts in El Fasher – where we
stayed for the night – fed us four meals even though they were
fasting. Ramadan is the holiest month in the year for Moslems. It
is a month of peace. It begins on the first day of the 10th month in the Moslem calender when the first crescent moon is sighted
after sunset. The faithful fast from sunup to sundown, taking no
food and no water. Someone told me that Mohammed set up the rules in
this way so that for that month, no one would have the energy to
fight. I fasted today to see what it was like and I can say I was
not anxious for strenuous activity.
I
got the idea for fasting last night at breakfast. At around 6:30,
when the sun goes down here, the faithful break their fast with a
quick light meal before evening prayer. The traditional meal
included dates, nuts, liquid and a mixture of sorghum and meat paste.
We were invited by our hosts – who had spent the afternoon talking
with us – to join them. We removed our shoes and sat on large
turkish rugs laid out on the lawn(picture below). After prayer, we joined them for
a larger meal. They set up some tables for us and some joined us
while most took their meal on the carpets. We ate outdoors under the
gaze of a tame gazelle. At my table, one of the Sudanese
suggested I try the fast because it would help clean out my system
and make me feel better. So I did.
The
sleeping quarters were very humble (and this morning there was no
water.) But I did have a cigar and some bourbon with a couple of
colleagues under the stars while evening prayer was called. We talked
about war and peace and how good it can feel to be in Africa.
*Note: see 03Khartoum 0959 below
*Note: see 03Khartoum 0959 below
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Friday, September 5, 2014
03Khartoum 0959
US Embassy Khartoum and EU counterparts sought to alert capitals to what we knew by October 2003 was going on in Darfur -- state-conducted ethnic cleansing -- with no great success. In Washington, focus was on the north/south Sudanese conflict. Eventually aid flowed but no support for pushing Sudan government to end its efforts to push African Moslems off land to contain the rebel insurgency and no real support for AU/UN peacekeeping until 2007 when ethnic cleansing was more or less completed.
Monday, July 14, 2014
03 Khartoum 0813
Note: These sorts of diplomatic exchanges are a tour d'horizon in which a broad range of issues are discussed or updated. The Sudanese government was on its best behavior believing they were now on a track that might lead to a more positive relationship with the US ans eventually lifting of sanctions.
Friday, July 4, 2014
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