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| Africa: Horn | |
| U.S. envoy shouts at Darfur official | |
| 2005-11-10 | |
| SHEK EN NIL, Sudan (AP) -- A shouting match Thursday between a senior U.S. envoy and a Darfur government official illustrated the difficulties of peacemaking in the restive region of western Sudan. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick had listened to African Union military observers describe a recent outbreak of violence that had turned southern Darfur's Shek en Nil into a ghost village of burned out homes, and heard local leaders profess their commitment to peace. Regional commissioner Sadiek Abdel Nabi followed as Zoellick stepped away for what was to have been a private additional AU briefing in the remnants of a village home. An angry Zoellick ordered Nabi out, saying: "I want to hear a straight story ... and I can't trust your government." When Nabi refused, Zoellick said he would protest to President Omar el-Bashir. "I am Bashir here!" Nabi, who had previously relied on an Arabic translator, shouted three times in English, standing inches (centimeters) from Zoellick. An AU officer persuaded Nabi to back off, and Zoellick heard details of three attacks on Shek en Nil in late September -- all violations of a tattered cease-fire. In the first attack, Sudan Liberation Movement rebels took the area. Days later, government troops retook it and were in control when so-called Janjaweed militiamen swept in for the third attack on Shek en Nil, burning and looting the homes of civilians and raping women, according to AU observers. Nabi and other local officials did not address the implication that the army and the Janjaweed had colluded. The government has repeatedly denied accusations it unleashed the ethnic Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed as a tactic in the war. After decades of clashes over land and water in Darfur that often pitted the region's ethnic Arab tribes against its ethnic African tribes, conflict erupted on a wider scale in February 2003. Then, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the other major rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, took up arms against the Sudanese government amid accusations of repression and unfair distribution of wealth. The United Nations estimates that 180,000 people have died, mainly through famine and disease. No firm figures exist on the number killed in fighting. Several million more have either fled into neighboring Chad or been displaced inside Sudan. Zoellick later Thursday visited one of the camps for the displaced, where rape and other violence against women is common. The Janjaweed sometimes attack the camps. Four hours before Zoellick arrived at Kalma camp, some 50 Arab men on horseback reportedly went in and shot one man dead while searching for cattle they claimed were stolen. The presence of smaller, armed groups and a split within the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement has made the situation even more volatile. Zoellick has pressed the rebels to resolve their feud. His deputy, Jendayi Frazer, left his delegation Thursday for a previously unannounced trip to meet elsewhere in Darfur with Minni Minnawi, leader of one of the rebel factions, according to an African Union officer who identified himself only as Ajumbo. U.S. officials did not immediately comment on Frazer's sudden departure from the planned schedule. Some 7,000 African Union peacekeepers deployed to stabilize Darfur have been unable to stem the spike in violence, because they do not have enough troops, proper military hardware and means for rapid movement in the region the size of France, Jan Pronk, the special U.N. envoy to Sudan, said after meeting with Zoellick Wednesday in Khartoum. There are also reports that the peacekeepers are running short of ammunition, Zoellick said late Wednesday.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #13 I am quite pleased with this account of what Zoellick and Frazer have done here. Zoellick confronted the minder and made him back down. Frazer leaves the dog and pony show altogether to facillitate ethnic-African factions in forming a united front. Short of encouraging Charlie Wilson to take an interest, I like what I see. I certainly wouldn't mind helping the AU with logistics - I would rather spend my tax dollars there than in meeting the PLA payroll. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-11-10 20:14 |
| #12 Sometimes tea is not what is called for. |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-11-10 19:59 |
| #11 Goodness, shouting. Next thing you know, someone will refuse to pour out the tea. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-11-10 19:36 |
| #10 Yes, yes, yes, we were sent to stop the rape, pillage, and plunder....but fortunately we got sucked into it! Thank you, thank you, thank you AU, this is just like home! Please boss, send more 7.62x39 and some MRE's. Do you have information the rest of us don't have? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-11-10 19:00 |
| #9 Another fine example of islamic "peace" and benevolence toward their fellow man. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2005-11-10 17:08 |
| #8 Check the picture out - the guy is starting to grow a "Bolton" mustache..... and so it begins.... |
| Posted by: Omuper Ebbitle5090 2005-11-10 15:28 |
| #7 Tell me again, why do we even have officials like Zoellick (and Dell in Bob-Land yesterday)in hell holes like these? Because it's safer than giving them real jobs. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-11-10 13:18 |
| #6 Some 7,000 African Union peacekeepers deployed to stabilize Darfur have been unable to stem the spike in violence, Yes, yes, yes, we were sent to stop the rape, pillage, and plunder....but fortunately we got sucked into it! Thank you, thank you, thank you AU, this is just like home! Please boss, send more 7.62x39 and some MRE's. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2005-11-10 13:15 |
| #5 The shouter wasn't the AU, mmurray - it was the senior Sudanese government official present. I imagine is is tickled pink that the AU is short on ammo .... |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-11-10 12:32 |
| #4 Darrell - Perhaps by our intrepid souls being there, there's not as much mayhem as there would be. I think mid-level bureaucrats in the tinhorn nations are afraid of American officials (except Joe Wilson - who is considered a dupe), because they think most our folks are a bunch of cowboys, and very unpredictible, so they keep the behavior in check to some extent. They want to live. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-11-10 12:15 |
| #3 Tell me again, why do we even have officials like Zoellick (and Dell in Bob-Land yesterday)in hell holes like these? Bring them home. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2005-11-10 11:16 |
| #2 The African Union has repeatedly asked for more money and logistical support from the West for its Darfur operations. Western diplomacy 101: Do not shout at the people you want stuff from. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-11-10 11:04 |
| #1 Shout! SHOUT! Shout at the Devil!!! |
| Posted by: Mötley Crüe 2005-11-10 11:03 |