Posts Tagged Peace

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Peace Amid the Smell of Lime and Death

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Update: Join us on July 9th at noon (eastern) for a live Twitter Q&A with Tom and Dan from Juba, South Sudan. You can submit a question in advance or use the hashtag #inSudan to follow the action on Twitter.

The Rwandan genocide in 1994 was what originally set me along my current path working for an organization dedicated to ending genocide and mass atrocities. I was a high school student who knew just enough history to be horrified by the Holocaust and certain that something like that could never happen again.  Seeing genocide happening in Rwanda was nearly incomprehensible to me.

Hills of Rwanda

Years of study and professional pursuits related to the fight against genocide and I am no closer to comprehending why.  Indeed, being now in Rwanda and looking over the lush green rolling hills and speaking with the welcoming people, it seems even harder to explain.

If I think of visiting Rwanda as a pilgrimage of sorts for me, then Murambi is the ultimate pilgrimage site, a gruesome reminder of what genocide can do.  Murambi was the site of a slaughter of more than 50,000 peoople who had gathered under the false belief that the picturesque hilltop setting was a place of refuge.  Some 848 bodies have been preserved with lime as a reminder of what happened there.  The captured gestures are haunting; hands up to block falling machetes, crushed skulls of small children, the mystery of an extended pointer finger (in fear or defiance?).

Words cannot describe the feeling of being in the midst of this captured terror.  So as I walk from room to room, holding my breath against the smell of lime and death, the only appropriate response is silence.

Body in Murambi preserved with lime. From morganinafrica.blogspot.com

Yet upon leaving each room, ears are met by the peaceful sounds of rural life, a breath of fresh mountain air flows into the lungs, and the eyes are met with a bitter contrast of surrounding natural beauty.  The contrast is nearly overwhelming, such horror amongst such beauty.

One part of the memorial tells the story of a survivor, one of just 14 known among more than 50,000 in Murambi.  She tells of genocidaires surrounding the buildings, throwing grenades, and using a spiked club to kill a child before her eyes.

Leaving the memorials as the Rwandan sun begins to dip low, I am left imagining hate-fueled monsters streaming up the hill toward the thousands of innocent victims.  I struggle more than ever to make sense of it all and cannot begin to imagine how those directly affected by such violence might cope.

The voice of my Rwandan driver breaks me from my contemplation. “Agahozo Rwanda”, he says reaching for the radio volume in answer to my confusion.  “Rwanda peace” he replies in his broken English and goes on to explain the lyrics of the catchy up-beat song that is playing.  “Never again in Rwanda.  The sun is coming up.  Birds are flying.  Birds do not fly during war.  There is no father, no mother, no brother, but there is the future.  Never again. Agahozo Rwanda.”

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Rwanda: A Place Where Tears are Dried

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

“There are dead people walking in Rwanda. People have seen things you would not believe.” -Rwandan orphanage worker

Today I visited a Rwandan youth village set up for orphans of the 1994 genocide.  Meaning a place “where tears are dried” and “peace”, the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, about 45 minutes outside of Kigali, is aptly named.

Standing on the top of one of Rwanda’s thousands of rolling hills, the sound of a girl’s choir rising in the background, Alain Munyaburanga, Deputy Director of the village, stretches out his hand repeating one of the villages mottos, “If you can see far, you can go far.”  To paraphrase, he tells the orphans that life is like the rolling landscape before them, full of peaks and valleys and all sorts of trees, lakes, and other objects, beautiful and dangerous, in between.  If you find yourself in a valley, you must realize that it is not the end.

GI-Net/SDCs Dan Sullivan and Tom Andrews with village Deputy Director, Alain Munyaburanga, with Aghozo-Sholam Youth Village for orphans in the background.

It is a strong message for teenagers who have been traumatized by memories of the genocide and the void left by the murdered family members who should have been there to help them come of age.   Seventeen years after the genocide, few of the teenagers still in the village have direct memories of the genocide, but the scars on the society remain.  “There are dead people walking in Rwanda”, Alain tells me, describing how orphans (99% of them genocide survivors the year the village was opened) have come in seemingly numb.  It takes over a year for most to begin to feel comfortable and when their hurt is truly uncovered they break down in tears.  Some never quite reach that comfort.

It reminded me of my conversation with a Rwandan refugee and genocide survivor a few days before in Nairobi.  As he recounted the horrors he had seen he described feeling like he had lost a part of himself.

“Part of me went dead and I couldn’t function as a whole person mentally.”
-Rwandan genocide survivor in Nairobi

The orphan village at Agahozo-Shalom seeks to repair the most battered part of Rwandan society and to revive those who continue to walk as if devoid of life.  The sounds of singing, a fleeting smile, and the sight of an extended hand from the opposing team on a soccer field, show that, step by step, hill by hill, it truly is a place where tears are being dried.

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Water for Peace in Darfur

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

Official inauguration day of the Water Conference Photo by Olivier Chassot / UNAMID

The Darfur International Conference on Water for Sustainable Peace, which took place in Khartoum on June 27-28, brought together experts in water use and distribution with development specialists and donors to discuss how providing water in Darfur can contribute to achieving peace in parallel with the political process. The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), and the Government of Sudan jointly sponsored the conference.

The conference sought $1.5 billion for 65 projects over six years to expand water infrastructure, water resource management, and water services. Transparent management of the funds is essential to ensure that all the money donated goes towards water projects, and this can be achieved through responsible international monitoring.

Water Projects

Water has been the focus of other UN initiatives in Darfur. Earlier this year, UNAMID began distributing rolling water containers to women in eight villages where returnees from displaced persons camps live. The containers each hold 75 liters, improving water access by allowing women and children to transport larger amounts of water with less exertion and fewer trips to the well. So far the initiative has provided 3,000 containers, and eventually it hopes to distribute the containers on a wider scale and even produce them locally.

Water Situation

Water is a major concern for the residents of Darfur. The region is in the Sahel, a semi-arid area south of the Sahara desert that faces frequent droughts and receives little annual rainfall, concentrated during the rainy season from June to September. The ongoing conflict has been detrimental to the existing water infrastructure and has aggravated environmental degradation, further exacerbating the water crisis.

Water for Peace?

While competition over resources, particularly water, has been cited a cause of the conflict in Darfur, the situation is more complex than a cycle of water-related conflict and conflict-driven water scarcity. Local tensions over the access to land and water were used by the Sudanese government to mobilize pro-government militias in Darfur, circumventing traditional conflict resolution tools. Even though increasing the supply of water and promoting its sustainable usage throughout Darfur will be beneficial to the population, it is just one of many steps towards peace, which will require addressing longer standing issues of justice, economic and political marginalization, as well as a host of other issues.

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USHMM on Implications of Sudan’s Upcoming Referendum

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Committee on Conscience published a blog post yesterday on the upcoming referendum in Sudan:

UN Photo/Fred Noy

A Decision for Sudan’s South Has Nationwide Implications

In news coverage of the upcoming referendum on southern Sudan’s independence, there has been little discussion about the potential ramifications of this defining political moment for northern Sudan.

Just as the south will have to construct its own nation, northern Sudan will have to grapple with a new social, political, and economic reality. At the very least, it will need a new constitution. “It will enter a new political era,” writes Alex de Waal, an expert political analyst on Sudan. “It will inherit many issues of national identity and governance, almost certainly unresolved.”

Among the most critical issues is the status of an estimated 1.5 million southern Sudanese living in Khartoum and other northern towns. Although all southerners living throughout the country are eligible to vote in the referendum, many in the north have expressed increased anxiety over rights of citizenship. Human Rights Watch reports, “In recent months, officials in the northern ruling party have publicly threatened that southerners may not be able to stay in the north in the event of a secession vote.”

In a letter to President Obama, Refugees International urged attention to this issue — above all the other pressing concerns. “Citizenship and the protection of minority communities on either side of the border have the most potential to develop into serious humanitarian crises.” The letter continues, “We are concerned that the Government of Southern Sudan’s recently announced repatriation plan, called ‘Come Home to Choose,’ should be carefully planned and carried out in conjunction with international actors and should only repatriate those southerners who genuinely want to return.”

Darfur, where fighting continues today, will remain in the north regardless of the outcome of the referendum. Two million people continue to live a perilous existence in displaced persons camps, where some Darfurians have already been for seven years. In the north, opposition groups face potential risk as the political landscape shifts. Many had a lot at stake in the dream of a “new Sudan”, a dream that seems to be giving way to a divided Sudan.

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, promote human dignity, and prevent genocide.  Learn more at www.ushmm.org.

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Arrest and Torture of Students Belonging to Girifna

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies issued the following statement on the arrest and torture of members of Girifna, a peaceful organization dedicated to the promotion of political change in Sudan.

Student Members of Girifna Arrested and Tortured in Khartoum

Contact: Osman Hummaida, Executive Director
Phone: +44 7956095738
E-mail: osman@acjps.org

At 6:30 PM on 5 July, Sudanese police arrested three student members of the Girifna movement in Souk Sitaa (Market 6) of the Alhaj Yousif area of Khartoum. Girifna, Arabic for “we are fed up”, is a non-violent social movement that began during the Sudanese voter registration to encourage civic participation and voter education through door-to-door campaigning and demonstrations. At the time of their arrest, the three students were distributing Girifna’s magazine, a new initiative. They are:

  • Hassan Ishag
  • Azzi Eldine Al-Anssari
  • Hassan Mohamed

In the first days following its publication, over 7,000 copies of the magazine were distributed throughout Khartoum and Omdurman.

The group was taken to the local Police Precinct Number 5 in Alhaj Yousif Area, and charged under Articles 69 (breach of public peace), and 63 (sedition) under the Sudanese Criminal Code of 1991. Their homes were subsequently searched. Later that evening, National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) agents took the detainees from police custody to NISS offices, where they were subjected to torture and questioned extensively about the Girifna movement before being taken back to police custody.

These arrests are the latest in a string of attacks on civil society in Sudan, which has seen an increasingly repressive environment for human rights defenders in the months since elections. The tactic of referring detainees from police custody to NISS offices has begun to be employed systematically, sending clear signals to civil society and the broader human rights community that any offense will be treated as a national security issue.

Arbitrary arrest and torture violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Convention against Torture.  The three students appear to have been targeted solely due to their association with Girifna and involvement in peaceful political activities critical of the National Congress Party.  The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies calls on the government of Sudan to respect the freedom of expression, guaranteed by the Interim National Constitution (INC), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.  Article 39(1) of the INC of 2005 guarantees that “every citizen shall have an unrestricted right to the freedom of expression, reception, and dissemination of information”. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies calls on the government of Sudan to guarantee their right to a fair trial and immediately investigate allegations of torture. If substantiated, the perpetrator should immediately face disciplinary action.

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Lessons from Horn of Africa Hearing

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Deployment of Child Soldiers. Human Rights Violations. Growing Terrorist Cells. Failed Elections. Violence against Women.

Alarmingly, the above descriptions do not seem specific to one failed/failing nation in the horn of Africa; but, rather apply to all. The June 17th House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health (SAGH) Hearing on The Horn of Africa: Current Conditions and U.S. Policy spoke informatively and gravely about the aforementioned issues that are plaguing Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. The hearing was extremely informative about the political climate in the Horn of Africa, but it also conveyed a more fundamental message.

In order to fully tackle the instability within these nations and achieve sustainable peace, it is critical to remember that each of these nations, while similar in instability, are vastly different in their history and the ethnic conflicts they’ve faced.

This became most clear when one of the speakers on the panel, Pagan Amum, discussed steps towards sustainable peace in Sudan. He proposed the following.

  1. U.S. should assist in a North-South post referendum agreement.
  2. U.S. government should support a popular vote in Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
  3. Foster democratic reforms in the North.
  4. International assistance in ensuring two stable states with good relations. Pagan Amum’s suggestions are specific to the Sudan and speak to his fundamental understanding of Sudanese political infrastructure.

Mr. Amum’s suggestions speak to the larger purpose of the hearing. The crisis in Sudan is grave and demands international attention, but it must be approached differently than the issues plaguing the other nations in the region. Certainly, the Horn of Africa presents enormous challenges and tackling them often seems daunting. Based on the SAGH hearing, it is clear that each of these nations demands international attention and assistance, but that there is no universal strategy to effect peace. To impress real change on the future of these nations, it is critical to recognize the ethnic, cultural, and historical differences and to create peace processes that respect these nuances. This hearing served as a reminder that real change comes from a committed and real understanding of each country in the horn of Africa.

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Kampala: the Road to Justice for Darfur

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Over the last two weeks, I had the opportunity to be a part of an extraordinary gathering in Kampala in support of the fight against impunity. I joined the first ever Review Conference for the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court (ICC), held from May 31st to June 11th.  Participating in the conference were high level representatives from the 111 member states of the ICC, 10 of the countries from non-state parties who came in support for justice with status of observers including the United States, intergovernmental and international organizations and civil society representatives from every region of the world, the majority of whom were members of the international Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC).

This event came 12 years after the creation of the Court through its founding Rome Statue and 7 years after the ICC entered into force, helping the world start to transition from an era of absolute impunity to an era of accountability for the most serious crimes. The Review Conference came at a very critical time, as there was a great need for the ICC and its members to gather to address the multiple challenges that the Court has encountered in its work, and to improve the Court’s interaction with and responsiveness to victims and communities affected by atrocities. Member states needed this review meeting to examine their commitments to the Court many had participated in creating.

The ICC Review Conference provided a huge window of opportunity for the world community to reiterate its commitment to the fight against impunity. For example, the European Union and its 27 member states count themselves among the most ardent supporters of the ICC. At the conference, the representative of the European Parliament made a particularly strong statement of the EU’s commitment to ensuring cooperation with the Court and the execution of the pending arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Other positive examples of countries seizing the opportunity presented by the Review Conference included the leading role played by the Latin American state parties; the clear statements of commitments to justice made by the African states parties; pro-active initiatives from Asian states including Bangladesh becoming the 111th country to join the ICC after ratifying the Rome Statute just prior to the Review Conference; as well as the general support by the non state parties and NGOs. All this, along with a clear recognition by nearly all participants of the importance of the role of civil society, sent a profound message about the value of the Court and of international justice. Holding the Review Conference in Kampala presented an exceptional opportunity for victims and affected communities from Uganda and other parts of the region to participate in the deliberations.

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The Referendum can’t solve the Crisis in Darfur

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

“41 killed in Darfur fighting”, “Deadly fighting erupts in Sudan’s Darfur: rebels”, “Sudan army, Rebel groups clash in Western Darfur”. As such headlines evidence, violence and chaos remain hallmarks of the climate in Darfur with the January 2011 referendum on Southern succession practically on Sudan’s doorstep.

The joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur recently reported that “the security situation in Darfur is tense following reports of fighting between Sudanese armed forces and the Justice and Equality Movement”.  Clashes in Darfur have cost almost 600 lives in May 2010, 440 of which were lost in fighting last month between Darfur rebels and government forces, 126 in tribal violence, and 31 in other violence, including murder. This increase in violence comes after the collapse of peace talks between the Government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement. In the past several days, violence between Arab tribes in Darfur has killed 41 people. The spokesperson for the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur stated that in the last couple of months there have been lower numbers of fatalities in Darfur, but in May, there have been an increasing number of clashes. Despite the surge in violent deaths in Darfur, the international community and Sudanese government is planting much of its focus in the upcoming referendum and the rebellions in South Sudan.

The increasing number of clashes is partially due to lack of progress in peace talks between the JEM and the government of Sudan. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir announced on Saturday that the current round of Darfur peace talks would be the final negotiations with any armed group. He claims after this round there will be no legitimacy through guns, only through the ballot box. Amongst others, rebel divisions and fighting have been two of the biggest obstacles to peace talks which started in 2003 and have continued in Chad, Nigeria, Libya and currently in Doha. Since April, Bashir’s security forces have cracked down on what little political freedom opened up during the electoral process, arresting opposition leaders, and cracking down on press and civil society liberties.

While the upcoming southern referendum and the rebellions in South Sudan are understandable distractions for the international community, Darfur continues to face a humanitarian crisis. Darfur’s humanitarian operation is the largest in the world with more than 4 million people requiring aid and costing nearly $1 billion a year, but the fighting and kidnapping of humanitarian workers and UNAMID personnel has forced some agencies to scale down operations and withdraw from certain regions. While it is important for the United States and international community to prepare for the upcoming referendum, this must not overshadow addressing the humanitarian crisis and violence that continue in Darfur.

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Pat Farrell – May’s Darfur Hero has a generous heart

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

The Darfur Heroes program is a way for the Save Darfur Coalition to honor individuals and groups who have done inspiring and important work in an effort to end the violence in Sudan. This May, Save Darfur Coalition is proud to honor Pat Farrell. Pat has been a longtime activist in the Sudan movement and a generous donor every month since 2006. Her contributions have helped support advocacy programs to raise media outreach and pressure policymakers. Find below her own words about her passion for the people of Sudan.

I became interested in the situation in Darfur several years ago. I am a nurse, and was working at a school where Mia Farrow’s son was a student. I had the opportunity to meet Mia a few times and become aware of her outstanding devotion to the women and children who suffer such horrible atrocities. I called Mia, and after a brief conversation I knew that I could no longer just stand by, but had to become active in the Save Darfur Coalition’s advocacy work.

I have tried as much as possible to raise awareness of this cause among family and friends. I contribute a small amount every month and have attended rallies to bring more attention to the situation in Darfur.  My dream of joining a medical team and traveling to the refugee camps to help even more people would be hard to achieve. Nevertheless, my intention is to continue my devotion to the women and children of Darfur no matter what it takes. I am an adoptive parent and have had the opportunity to see up close and personal the tremendous need world-wide to help children. After my experience I am left to ask you – how can we not?

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Darfur Womens Action Group and STAND club at American University Honor Women

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Late last week I attended a panel discussion by the Darfur Women Action Group and the STAND Club of American University to honor the struggle, strength and resilience of Darfuri women in the face of genocide. This event was held to commemorate International Women’s Day and Women’s History month, and was solely focused on what needed to be done to empower female survivors of the genocide and how to bring justice and accountability to Darfur, the marginalized cities, and all of Sudan.

It was an all-woman panel featuring Rev. Gloria White Hammond of My Sister’s Keeper, Evelyn Thornton of Initiative for Inclusive security, Fatima Haroun of Darfur Women Action Group, Ciatta Z. Bayshah, Esq. for International Justice Project and Niemat Ahmadi, a representative of Save Darfur Coalition and member of Darfur Women Action Group

Rev. Gloria spoke first of the terrible history of slavery in South Sudan that she herself witnessed. She mentioned that, at the time, $33.00 U.S Dollars was the exchange rate for a slave and that women were disproportionately affected by the slavery. She spoke of the need of women’s voices in peace building for Darfur and all of Sudan. She encouraged the attending American University students, Diaspora community, and other activists to never give up and to use their voice to advocate for women and peace in Sudan.

Evelyn Thornton spoke strongly, clarifying that asking actors to include women in the peace process is not to demonize men, but to have women present and represented in the peace and decision making process for their community and Sudan. Ms. Thornton talked about Inclusive Security’s commitment to innovative strategies that will include women in the peace processes while mentioning that women were only present at the Abuja peace talks at the final, or 7th meeting. She highlighted that female inclusion was not about equality, and that women at peace talks or tables helped raise issues of peace, not power, education, development and healthcare centers. In all women, have demonstrated a willingness to cross conflict lines and consistently reach collaborative agendas.  Key findings that were discussed about women’s involvement were that women should be involved from day 1, that the US negotiation team of mediators should reflect at least 30% women, and that women should be supported at the peace talks.

Fatima Haroun of Darfur Women Action Group spoke passionately of a need for community healing and recovery; that women are enduring constant pain and emotional distress from being witnesses to murder, rape, mass killings, and abuse. She highlighted a urgent need for a process of healing, as well as a trusted system of justice and accountability in Darfur. Fatima asked for stabilization, social amenities, infrastructure and development, trade schools and an empowerment center for women that can provide counseling services and microfinance institutions.

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