A United Nations court has resumed proceedings in the case of a former Rwandan planning minister convicted of involvement in his country's 1994 genocide, following the release from custody in Turkey of one of the judges involved in the case. The UN's Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals announced on Monday that it will review the conviction of Augustin Ngirabatware, who was sentenced on appeal to 30 years in 2014 for inciting, instigating, aiding and abetting genocide. Ngirabatware last year filed a request for review of his convictions. The case was put on ice after UN judge Aydin Sefa Akay was detained in his native Turkey. Akay was convicted last week of membership of a terrorist organization and sentenced to seven and a half years' imprisonment but released pending appeal. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 News 24

Standing in the living room of her brother's home in Sterling Heights, Lina Denha wipes away tears with a tissue as she recalls how federal agents arrested him early one Sunday morning this month. "To just come and grab him in front of his kids and family — that's not right," she said of the June 11 detention of Haydar Butris, 38, one of 114 Iraqi immigrants with criminal records arrested in Michigan. "He's been here most of his life. He did a mistake. He paid for it. Now, he is a good father, has kids, a family. He works, pays taxes and everything. And you just come knock on the door, come out of nowhere and grab him? That's not right." Denha's sadness turns to frustration as she expresses disappointment with President Donald Trump, whom she and some other Iraqi-American Christians in Michigan had supported. Denha's sense of betrayal is echoed across metro Detroit among some Iraqi-American Christians who voted for Trump because they hoped he would be sympathetic to their community abroad, where they are a religious minority, and in the U.S. "We voted for Trump," Denha said. "That's what we get from him? ... Obama is better than him, 100 times." Trump portrayed himself as a "savior" to Iraqi Christians, said Sterling Heights attorney Wisam Naoum. While on the campaign trail, Trump said that he would work to protect Christians in the Middle East and increase the number of Christian refugees admitted from countries such as Syria and Iraq. During the campaign, some Iraqi-American Christian leaders met with Trump and his campaign officials, ultimately endorsing him and encouraging others to vote for him. "Chaldeans for Trump" signs appeared at Trump rallies in Michigan, referring to Iraqi Catholics. Now some Iraqi Christians say that Trump has failed to keep his promises and is actually worse than former President Barack Obama, whose administration in 2010 stopped the deportation of Iraq immigrants with criminal records after considering complaints from Chaldean leaders. In contrast this month, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is strongly defending its recent roundup of 199 Iraqi immigrants nationally (114 of them in metro Detroit) with criminal records. They said the Iraqis arrested were already facing final orders of removal from a judge and all but two were convicted of crimes, ranging from homicide and assault to less serious crimes like marijuana possession in the case of Butris. ICE suggests more arrests may come as there are hundreds of other Iraqi nationals with final orders of deportation. Trump "basically sold the community on the idea that he would protect their community in the homeland, that he would prioritize them, that he would be this savior of their people," Naoum said. "It hasn't been even a few months and he's betrayed them." At an Iraqi-American Christian rally Friday in Detroit, a man held a Christian cross and a sign that read "You Vowed To Protect Us," with a photo of Trump above a tweet from the president in January that read "we can't allow" Christians in the Middle East to be targeted. ICE suggests more arrests may come as there are hundreds of other Iraqi nationals with final orders of deportation. Trump "basically sold the community on the idea that he would protect their community in the homeland, that he would prioritize them, that he would be this savior of their people," Naoum said. "It hasn't been even a few months and he's betrayed them." At an Iraqi-American Christian rally Friday in Detroit, a man held a Christian cross and a sign that read "You Vowed To Protect Us," with a photo of Trump above a tweet from the president in January that read "we can't allow" Christians in the Middle East to be targeted. "You Vowed To Protect Us," reads sign with Trump photo at protest by Iraqi-American Christians on June 16, 2017, outside Patrick McNamara building in Detroit. The sign has copy of a tweet by Pres. Trump in January that reads "Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!" (Photo: Elaine Cromie, Detroit Free Press) Many of the Iraqis arrested recently in Michigan are Christian and worry they would be targeted if deported to Iraq, where they are a minority facing threats from extremist groups. Sending them to Iraq would be like a virtual death sentence and violates international treaties, advocates have said. Many legal actions have been filed, including one by the ACLU, to try to stop the deportation process. In addition to the arrests, Iraqi-American Christians say the Trump administration is ignoring the concerns of religious minorities in Iraq and is strongly supporting Saudi Arabia, which they say is responsible for groups like ISIS that target Christians. Lina Denha, of Sterling Heights, is concerned about the ICE detention on June 11, 2017, of her brother, Haydar Butris, 38, one of 114 Iraqi immigrants in Michigan arrested by ICE. She spoke on Monday, June 13, 2017, at her brother's home in Sterling Heights. She said she regrets supporting Trump. (Photo: Niraj Warikoo) Chaldeans, who are Iraqi Catholics, have been active in both the Democratic and Republican parties in Michigan. It's unclear what percentage of Iraqi-American Christians voted for President Trump since there are no presidential election polls specifically targeting that population, experts say. According to 2015 U.S. Census figures, there are 46,441 Michiganders with Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac ancestry, three groups that are Iraqi-American Christian ethnicities. There are also an additional 31,863 people in Michigan who identify as having Iraqi ancestry, some of whom are Christian. Chaldean leaders say the Census undercounts their size in Michigan.Michigan also has a sizable Iraqi-American Muslim population, concentrated in Dearborn and Detroit. In Macomb and Oakland counties, where the Iraqi Christian population is more likely to be concentrated, many Chaldeans were enthusiastic for Trump, said Joseph Kassab, founder and president of the Iraqi Christians Advocacy and Empowerment Institute in West Bloomfield. Trump defeated Clinton in Macomb County by 53.6% to 42.1% while Clinton defeated Trump in Oakland County by 51.3% to 43.2%. "We supported him big time," said Kassab, who was part of the American-MidEast Coalition for Donald Trump. "First of all, we are conservative and conservatives are Republicans. And he said he will protect the Christians." Kassab said given the close election in Michigan, the votes of Middle Eastern Christians could have made a difference. Michigan has the highest percentage of Arab-Americans among states in the U.S., many of whom are Christian. Iraqi-American and Lebanese-American leaders at rally in Novi for Donald Trump on Sept. 30, 2016. Second on the left is Sam Yono. To his left is Sheikh Mohammad Al Hajj Hassan (wearing white turban), John Akouri, a Lebanese-American leader who is a former city councilman in Farmington Hills. Second man on Akouri's left side is Saad Abbo (with light blue shirt) of Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce. Further on his left is Rev. Anthony Kathawa (wearing priest collar), of St. Thomas Chaldean Church in West Bloomfield. On Kathawa's far left is Joseph Kassab of the Iraqi Christians Advocacy and Empowerment Institute in West Bloomfield. (Photo: Joseph Kassab) Kassab said that under the Obama administration, the percentage of refugees who were Christian from Syria was only about 4% over the past two years. A report on the conservative media outlet CSNews.com said that more than 99% of refugees admitted into the U.S. from Syria from January through October last year were Muslim, citing statistics from the State Department Obama officials said they would not admit refugees based on religion. Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean Community Foundation, said: "I think the majority (of Chaldeans) likely supported the president" in the November election. "They were frustrated with the previous administration because of their" perceived weak "response to the persecution of Christians by ISIS. They were looking for someone who would stand up for the rights of minorities." Like other Chaldeans, Kassab is upset over the potential deportations of the Iraqis, but he doesn't blame Trump. Joseph T. Kassab, 64, is the Founder and President of the Iraqi Christian Advocacy and Empowerment Institute. During the elections, Kassab was an active member of the Trump Coalition of the Middle Eastern community in Michigan. (Photo: Salwan Georges, Detroit Free Press) "It's not Trump who's having to kick out the Christians," Kassab said. "It's ICE under orders to deport people who don't have status. I don't think he singled out Christians. He singled out everybody who doesn't have the status." "But because this is a humanitarian situation, we don't want people to be sent back to Iraq. I will not trust the Iraqi government to protect the people. The Iraqi government is not fair, it's corrupted." In a statement last week, ICE said the arrests came about after a March 12 agreement with the government of Iraq. As part of the deal, Iraq said it would accept Iraqi nationals in the U.S. with criminal records who it had previously said it wouldn't admit. "As a result of recent negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq, Iraq has recently agreed to accept a number of Iraqi nationals subject to orders of removal," said ICE in a statement. "Since the March 12, 2017, agreement with the government of Iraq regarding removals, eight Iraqi nationals have been removed to Iraq. ICE focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security." ICE said that no group of immigrants is immune from enforcement: "As (Department of Homeland Security) Secretary (John) Kelly has made clear, ICE will not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement." Joseph T. Kassab, 64, is the Founder and President of the Iraqi Christian Advocacy and Empowerment Institute. During the elections, Kassab was an active member of the Trump Coalition of the Middle Eastern community in Michigan. (Photo: Salwan Georges, Detroit Free Press) "It's not Trump who's having to kick out the Christians," Kassab said. "It's ICE under orders to deport people who don't have status. I don't think he singled out Christians. He singled out everybody who doesn't have the status." "But because this is a humanitarian situation, we don't want people to be sent back to Iraq. I will not trust the Iraqi government to protect the people. The Iraqi government is not fair, it's corrupted." In a statement last week, ICE said the arrests came about after a March 12 agreement with the government of Iraq. As part of the deal, Iraq said it would accept Iraqi nationals in the U.S. with criminal records who it had previously said it wouldn't admit. "As a result of recent negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq, Iraq has recently agreed to accept a number of Iraqi nationals subject to orders of removal," said ICE in a statement. "Since the March 12, 2017, agreement with the government of Iraq regarding removals, eight Iraqi nationals have been removed to Iraq. ICE focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security." ICE said that no group of immigrants is immune from enforcement: "As (Department of Homeland Security) Secretary (John) Kelly has made clear, ICE will not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement." Jeremiah Suleiman, of Sterling Heights, holds a sign among dozens during a rally to stop the deportation of Iraqi-American immigrants outside Patrick V. McNamara Federal building on Friday, June 16, 2017 in Detroit. (Photo: Elaine Cromie , Detroit Free Press) U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham, who has previously issued statements on the plight of Iraqi Christians, did not sign the letter by the other U.S. representatives. Also, no Republican U.S. representative appeared at a rally Friday for the Iraqi detainees outside the federal McNamara building in Detroit attended by Levin and Lawrence, who have been outspoken against the detentions, Manna said. Trott and six other House Republicans did write a separate letter on Thursday to the national director of ICE, but it was not as critical of the arrests as the letter by the other U.S. representatives. "The people who voted for Donald Trump, they are very disappointed," said Dr. Jacoub Mansour of West Bloomfield, a longtime leader in the Chaldean community. "They didn't expect him to do that. I don't think in future elections, they will vote for him." Mike Sarafa, a Chaldean advocate from Bloomfield Hills, said that some in the Chaldean community who backed Trump thought the administration would not target them for deportations. "The community largely supported Trump and sometimes, you get what you asked for," Sarafa said. "When somebody has kind of reactionary tendencies, they're not bound by anything. So why people would have thought he would have targeted only Mexicans and Muslims, I'm not sure." Family photo of Haydar Butris with one of his daughters. Butris was detained on July 11, 2017, by ICE immigration agents and could be deported to Iraq. He is Christian and would face persecution there, said family members. (Photo: Family photo) Denha, the sister of Butris, one of the Iraqis detained, got some good news later in the week when ICE decided to allow him to stay in the U.S. until at least Aug. 10, when he will have a court hearing. Butris and other Iraqi nationals are currently in custody at an immigration detention center in Youngstown, Ohio. ICE said they all have criminal backgrounds, including Butris, who pleaded guilty in 1999 to possessing several pounds of marijuana. Denha is worried he could be deported to Iraq, a country he hasn't lived in since 1992, when he was a teenager. She said his three children, ages 3, 9, and 12, depend on him. Siblings from top, Lilly Butris, 12, Meryana Butris, 9, and Eli Butris, 3, pose for a photograph in their family home on Monday, June 12, 2017 in Sterling Heights. Their father Joe Butris was picked up by ICE and detained on Sunday, June 11, 2017. (Photo: Elaine Cromie, Detroit Free Press) After his arrest, his 3-year-old son "was crying: 'I want my dad, I want my dad'" Denha said. "He was crying so bad." If Butris is deported, he won't be able to survive, she said. Butris has heart problems, is unfamiliar with Iraq, and will be a targeted minority there. "What is he going to do?" she said. "It's a war there, they are killing people. There are ISIS there. ... I want my brother back." ______________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Detroit Free Press

The National Assembly will shortly analyze the bill on the national observatory for the prevention and eradication of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, this organ is subject to controversy. The national observatory is an advisory organ, mandated by the 2005 Constitution in article 274. It is responsible for a regular monitoring of the evolution of Burundian society from the point of view of the issue of genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity among other things. The observatory will also have the task of preventing and eradicating acts of genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity, as well as suggesting measures to effectively fight against crime impunity. It will also promote and enforce strict legislation against genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity; propose policies and measures to rehabilitate victims of genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity and contributing to the implementation of a comprehensive program of awareness-raising and education for peace, unity and national reconciliation. The observatory was already governed by the September 2003 law. It was stipulated that the organ should include 45 members recognized for their moral integrity and interest in the life of the nation particularly for the promotion and defense of social peace, human rights and justice. "Apart from the fact that the observatory is no longer functional, the law that governs it is no longer adapted to the current Constitution promulgated in March 2005" says Philippe Nzobonariba, spokesman for the government, after a study of this bill in the Council of Ministers on 10 May, 2017. According to him, this bill comes to adapt to the constitution that currently governs the Republic of Burundi. Aloys Batungwanayo : « The organ should be apolitical » The coalition of victims' associations, Amepci Gir'ubuntu, welcomes this initiative. Aloys Batungwanayo, Coordinator of this platform, says the group is useful so as what happened may not happen again. "However, politicians should not be appointed to steer the organ because some have other hidden interests." He calls for more partners to be involved in the project for more credibility. "It is with their input that the organ can be of benefit to everyone." Térence Mushano: « We do not expect anything good from this Observatory » The association AC Genocide Cirimoso says it does not expect anything good from this Observatory "insofar as the National Assembly which will examine this project setting up this body is dominated by Cndd-Fdd members just as the government, the initiator of the project." Térence Mushano, Secretary of the association, wonders whether the government really wants to fight against war crimes and crimes against humanity whereas it withdrew itself from the International Criminal Court (ICC). "This is not the right time to set up such an observatory." Lambert Nigarura: « it is a simple diversion" "It is a desperate attempt to pretend to be concerned about the crimes of international law and thus anticipate the complementarity principle to be soon activated by ICC", says Mr. Lambert Nigarura, a human rights activist. According to him, Burundi needs concrete actions, chiefly, judicial actions and not just politicized groups set up to disorient the victims of these crimes who claim justice. Nigarura criticizes the establishment of "a purely political group instead of investigating the allegations of the commission of these crimes in Burundi" Anschaire Nikoyagize: "A government's tactic to hamper the work of the ICC" Anschaire Nikoyagize, a human rights activist, says Bujumbura wants to show the international community that there is a local group that is working to block the ICC's action. "If we had an independent justice, we would not need ICC". This activist feels the idea of setting up the observatory is good, but he is not expecting any result. "The national commissions and other groups created since the past few years are seen as window dressing by the international community. We know the group will be instrumentalized." Gilbert Bécaud Njangwa: "Let institutions work!" Gilbert Bécaud Njangwa, legal representative of Onelop, says it is not too early especially since this observatory is provided for in the Constitution. "The observatory will allow justice to working well and preventing crimes." He asks that all the organs provided for by the constitution, such as the high court of justice, should be set up. Hamza Vénant Burikukiye: "Better late than never" Hamza Vénant Burikukiye, the legal representative of Capes+, congratulates himself for the forthcoming establishment of the observatory. According to him, previous regimes did not do so despite the requirements of the Arusha Agreement. "We must support the current government instead of discouraging it." He urges Burundians not to give in to prejudices and let the observatory work. "At that point, we can judge whether or not the observatory is manipulated." __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(c) 2017 All Africa

The UN Security Council is poised to slash the presence of UNAMID in Darfur in enormously consequential ways—targeting for reduction police personnel, military personnel, and logistical/administrative personnel. The effect of this action will be to put millions of Darfuris at greater risk, both from intensifying insecurity and the inevitable reductions in humanitarian access, much of which is made possible only by virtue of UNAMID escort. Three million Darfuris remains displaced from their homes and unable to return: 2.7 million Internally Displaced Persons and 300,000 Darfuri refugees in eastern Chad, living in miserable conditions but too fearful to return to Darfur. One might think that the deaths of more than half a million people—either directly or indirectly from Khartoum-orchestrated and countenanced violence—might give the UN Security Council pause—but that is not the case. Indeed, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has not published any mortality data or promulgated a single mortality estimate since April 2008, when OCHA head estimated that 300,000 people had died from the effects of violence. In more than nine years the UN has said nothing about deaths that are the consequence of genocidal violence. For years non-Arab/African Darfuris attempted to track violent mortality inflicted upon them by the Khartoum regime and its militia proxies; the world was not interested That violence continues and is reported on a daily basis by Radio Dabanga. Aggregations of incidents, attacks, and security deterioration as reported by Radio Dabanga reveal that far from gradually coming to an end, violence that began to surge in 2012 has remained at intolerably high levels: “Changing the Demography”: Violent Expropriation and Destruction of Farmlands in Darfur, November 2014 – November 2015" | December 1, 2015 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1P4 Continuing Mass Rape of Girls in Darfur: The most heinous crime generates no international outrage | January 2016 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1QG [Arabic translation of this report | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1Rr ] Many tens of thousands of girls and young women have been raped, often gang-raped in the most brutal fashion, by Khartoum's militia forces and its regular troops; sexual violence has been a primary weapon of war from the beginning of the Darfur genocide UNAMID was always a catastrophically misconceived “hybrid” operation shared between the UN and the African, and was in no way comparable to the peacekeeping mission authorized by the Security Council in August 2006 (Resolution 1706). Instead of the robust peacekeeping mission authorized under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the Chinese-proposed July 2007 UN Security Council authorization of UNAMID was the end result of countless disabling compromises with Khartoum and the disastrous hubris of the African Union, which not only declared falsely its ability and capacity to carry out such a mission but would at various junctures declare that violence in Darfur had essentially come to an end—the “false narrative” that Human Rights Watch refers to in the Radio Dabanga dispatch below. UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari chatting it up with Génocidaire-in-Chief Omar al-Bashir's, president of the Khartoum regime and sought for genocide and massive crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court; this "sociability" was in violation of UN stipulations about contact with those indicted by the ICC. The incident was a deep revelation of not only the character of UNAMID leadership, but of the willingness of the African Union Peace and Security Council to allow UNAMID to fail, despite the immense consequences of this failure for the future of peacekeeping in Africa. The African Union Peace and Security Council has declared that UNAMID is “worthy of emulation” in future peacekeeping operations in Africa; it is difficult to imagine a more cynical, or dangerous, assessment UNAMID’s failure has been overwhelming, and yet it remains the only civilian protection force in Darfur; and we may be all too sure it will not be replaced or supplemented once reduced (44 percent of the military personnel are targeted for withdrawal; 33 percent of the police forces, crucial to any form of security in the IDP camps; and many UNAMID posts away from the major cities in Darfur will simply disappear). To the extent it has provided some protection—for civilians and humanitarians—the UN Security Council has said it no longer cares about this provision of protection. This is the same attitude that led to the misbegotten force created by UN Security Council Resolution 1769. It is impossible to estimate the staggering number of people who will suffer, die, and be endangered by the decision to gut UNAMID The original failures of August 2006, and the subsequent authorization of the compromised force known as UNAMID in July 2007, are now compounded by international expediency, callousness, and indifference to the suffering of millions of people. CONTINUING GENOCIDE Human Rights Watch has reported a speech by Vice-President of this regime, Hassabo Mohammed Abdel Rahman, addressed to troops about to begin assaults on civilian in the area known as East Jebel Marra; it is recalled by a defector from the paramilitary "Border Guards": Ahmed, a 35-year-old officer in the Border Guards, spent two weeks at a military base in Guba in December 2014 before being sent to fight rebels around Fanga. Two senior RSF officials, the commanding officer, Alnour Guba, and Col. Badre ab-Creash were present on the Guba base. Ahmed said that a few days prior to leaving for East Jebel Marra, Sudanese Vice President Hassabo Mohammed Abdel Rahman directly addressed several hundred army and RSF soldiers: “Hassabo told us to clear the area east of Jebel Marra. To kill any male. He said we want to clear the area of insects… He said East Jebel Marra is the kingdom of the rebels. We don’t want anyone there to be alive.” (Human Rights Watch, "Men With No Mercy’: Rapid Support Forces Attacks against Civilians in Darfur, Sudan” | September 9, 2015) ******************************* “Reduction of UNAMID troops flagrant mistake”: Darfur displaced June 18, 2017 | DARFUR https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/reduction-of-unamid-troops-flagrant-mistake-darfur-displaced Members of the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association have described the planned downsizing of the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) as “a major disappointment and a flagrant mistake.” “A reduction of the number of UNAMID peacekeepers will make the Darfuris more vulnerable to abuses of all kinds by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and other militias operating in the region,” Hussein Abusharati, Spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association told Radio Dabanga. “The current situation requires the joint UN-AU forces to strengthen their force in order to protect the people, rather than a withdrawal or reduction of the troops,” he said. “The last couple of years, the attacks, killings, rapes, theft, and kidnapping have increased again. There is ample evidence for this. Even UNAMID peacekeepers themselves as well as aid workers have been targeted.” He cited the recent incidents in Ein Siro, Sortony, Mukjar, and Nierteti. The Sudanese government began calling for UNAMID to leave the country in December 2014, after Radio Dabanga exposed an alleged mass rape by army troops in Tabit in North Darfur in late October that year. Six months later, the AU Peace and Security Council stated that it was satisfied with the developments concerning the mission's exit, though it stressed the “critical importance” of a continued UUNAMID presence for peace and stability in war-torn Darfur. The AU and the UN are now proposing 44 percent and 30 percent reductions in their troop and police presence in Darfur as a step towards an eventual exit. “The reconfiguration of UNAMID is an important milestone towards the completion of its mandate,” said Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El Ghassim Wane on Wednesday as he updated the 15-nation Security Council on the recommended changes to the peacekeeping mission. He stated that the level of armed hostilities remained significantly lower than in previous years, noting that a successful military campaign by Khartoum has reduced the rebellion to a small presence in Jebel Marra. On Friday, the Sudanese government welcomed the Security Council’s plan to downsize UNAMID, saying the move underscores the stability in Darfur. “False narrative” In a statement on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the Security Council should leave flexibility for UNAMID to respond to evolving threats, and strengthen the mission’s human rights monitoring and reporting capacities,” “The planned cuts reflect a false narrative about Darfur’s war ending,” said Daniel Bekele, senior director for Africa advocacy at HRW. “There is no reason to believe that government attacks on civilians and other abuses have ended since the same security forces remain in place; they have never been prosecuted for their crimes and can’t be relied on to protect civilians.” Two of the three main rebel movements reacted to the UN reduction plans as well. The Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minawi said in a letter to the Security Council that “UNAMID is considered the conclusive guarantee for the protection of civilians in Darfur, particularly that the government of Sudan renews its attacks in the region. “Despite confirmations that there was a decline in the direct military confrontations in Darfur, this does not mean the conflict has ended or that the conflict would not escalate again. This is evident in the clashes which took place in May in North and East Darfur,” they noted. In late May and early June, Sudanese forces attacked, robbed and torched villages in North and East Darfur, after clashes with rebel fighters. Thousands of villagers were reportedly displaced. UNAMID’s report for the first quarter of 2017 found an increase in human rights violations and abuses compared with the same period in 2016, and confirmed that Sudanese government restrictions seriously hamper the peacekeepers from protecting civilians. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 SUDAN Research, Analysis, and Advocacy

On behalf of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Matthew Heineman and Abdalaziz Alhamza, founder of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, you are cordially invited to a screening of CITY OF GHOSTS at the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, June 19 at 12:00pm. Screening details and RSVP information are below. We hope you can join us for this special screening and discussion. To Register :https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://links.cfr.mkt5175.com/ctt?kn%3D4%26ms%3DNTQxODY3ODUS1%26r%3DMjc0NTMwOTAwODcwS0%26b%3D0%26j%3DMTE4MDEzNDg1MAS2%26mt%3D1%26rt%3D0&source=gmail&ust=1497925897252000&usg=AFQjCNFAwSMWcCVGlsK9Euds-iaaUaP9zg _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Council on Foreign Relations

The World Bank Group has indirectly financed some of Africa's most notorious land grabs, according to a report by a group of international development watchdogs. The World Bank's private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is enabling and profiting from these projects by outsourcing its development funds to the financial sector. AngloGold Ashanti mine in Siguiri in eastern Guinea. The mine produces about 300,000 ounces of gold each year. The report, Unjust Enrichment: How the IFC Profits from Land Grabbing in Africa, was released today by Inclusive Development International, Bank Information Center, Accountability Counsel, Urgewald and the Oakland Institute. "Pouring money into commercial banks that are driven only by profit motivations is not the way to foster sustainable development," said Marc Ona Essangui, Executive Director of Brainforest and winner of the Goldman environmental prize in 2009. "In Gabon, this development model has instead enabled a massive expansion of industrial palm oil, which threatens our food security and the ecological balance of Congo Basin's ancient rainforests." "Tens of millions of hectares of land on the African continent have been grabbed by foreign investors in recent years. This has led to loss of life, land, and livelihoods for millions, and threatened the very survival of entire communities and indigenous groups," commented Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. "The World Bank must acknowledge that this is not development. It is not poverty reduction. These are investments for corporate profits that exploit and displace people." The report is based on a yearlong investigation conducted by Inclusive Development International, which found that IFC-supported commercial banks and private equity funds have financed projects across the world that have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of people and caused widespread deforestation and environmental damage. In Africa, the investigation uncovered 11 projects backed by IFC clients that have transferred approximately 700,000 hectares of land to foreign investors. The projects include agribusiness concessions in the Gambela region of Ethiopia that were cleared of their indigenous inhabitants during a massive forcible population transfer campaign in the area; oil palm plantations in Gabon that have destroyed 19,000 hectares of rainforest and infringed on the customary land rights of local communities; and a gold mine in Guinea that led to the violent forced eviction of 380 families. "These projects are antithetical to the World Bank's mission of fighting poverty through sustainable development," said David Pred, Managing Director of Inclusive Development International. "They also make a mockery of the IFC's social and environmental Performance Standards, which are supposed to be the rules of the road for the private sector activities that the IFC's intermediaries support." The report is the fourth of the investigative series Outsourcing Development: Lifting the Veil on the World Bank's Lending Through Financial Intermediaries, which follows the trail of IFC money and examines at how it impacts communities around the world. Inclusive Development International's yearlong investigation uncovered 134 harmful or risky projects financed by 29 IFC financial-sector clients. These projects are found in 28 countries and on every continent except Antarctica. A database of the findings can be found here (https://goo.gl/UZ90PI). In response to the concerns raised in the Outsourcing Development investigation and by the IFC's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, IFC Executive Vice President Philippe Le Houérou recently acknowledged the need for the World Bank Group member to re-examine its work with financial institutions. In a blog post from April 10, Le Houérou wrote that the IFC would make "some important additional improvements to the way we work," by scaling back the IFC's high-risk investments in financial institutions, increasing its oversight of financial intermediary clients and bringing more transparency to these investments, among other commitments. The IFC has also exited investments in banks highlighted by the Outsourcing Development investigation, including ICICI and Kotak Mahindra in India and BDO Unibank in the Philippines. "We welcome the IFC's new commitments to encourage a more responsible banking system by increasing its oversight and capacity building of financial sector-clients moving forward," said Pred. "However, rather than simply divest, we want to see the IFC work with its clients to redress the serious harms that communities have suffered as a result of the irresponsible investments that we have brought to light." "IFC's collusion in land-grabbing in Africa is deeply shocking, so its pledge to reduce high risk lending to banks is welcome, said Kate Geary, Forest Campaign Manager for Bank Information Centre Europe. "But how can we be sure when there is no disclosure of where over 90 per cent of IFC's money invested through third parties ends up? The IFC's financial sector clients must come clean about projects they are financing so they can be held accountable to their commitments to invest responsibly." Financial-sector lending represents a dramatic shift in how the IFC does business. After decades of lending directly to companies and projects, the World Bank Group member now provides the bulk of its funds to for-profit financial institutions, which invest the money as they see fit, with little apparent oversight. Between 2011 and 2015, the IFC provided $40 billion to financial intermediaries such as commercial banks and private equity funds. Other development finance institutions have followed suit. The Outsourcing Development series is available at: http://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/outsourcing-development A database of IFC Financial Intermediary sub-Investments with serious social, environmental and human rights risks and impacts is available at: https://goo.gl/UZ90PI For more information, please contact: David Pred, Managing Director of Inclusive Development International: +1 917-280-2705; david@inclusivedevelopment.net; Twitter: @preddavid Kate Geary, Forest Campaign Manager at BIC Europe: +44 7393 189175; kgeary@bankinformationcenter.org Moritz Schröder, Communications Director at Urgewald: +49 17664079965, moritz@urgewald.org Kindra Mohr, Policy Director at Accountability Counsel: +1 202-742-5804, kindra@accountabilitycounsel.org, Twitter: @AccountCounsel Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute: +1 510-469-5228; amittal@oaklandinstitute.org, Twitter: @MittalOak _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Unjust Enrichment: How the IFC Profits from Land Grabbing in Africa [Excerpts from full report. Full report available at http://tinyurl.com/n2g9b7r] On November 7, 2015, Sira Bérété was walking home from high school. It was a hot, dry after- noon in remote northeastern Guinea, one of West Africa's poorest countries. As Bérété approached her village, she heard soldiers shouting. The situation in her community, Kintinian, had been tense for a while, and government security and defense forces had become a regular presence. The commotion alarmed the ninth grader, but she needed to get home. So she kept walking. Bérété heard gunshots. She didn't have time to react. She felt an immense force slam into her from behind. Her body hurled forward. A bullet entered her back, to the left of her spine, just below her shoulders. It tore through her and exited through the front of her neck. She remembers the pain. She remembers starting to run. Then she lost consciousness. She doesn't remember much else. She found out later that a bystander had rushed her to the hospital. The medical staff saved her life. She spent three months recovering — nearly 90 days of agony and trauma — before being discharged. Her life has not been the same since. Bérété has dropped out of school. She has lost functional use of her left arm. She is in constant pain. It grips her head, neck and arm, and moves down to her hand and fingers. She carries more than the paiunjust n from that day. She worries that the terror will never leave. "I'm still afraid," said Bérété, her eyes pooling with tears. " Those soldiers came to brutalize us. They came to take our land." Before the shooting, Bérété had lived with her father, who maintained a small plum orchard. Their lives were modest. "We always had enough to eat," she said. But they and approximately 380 other families lived on valuable land. There was gold under that land, and a mining company wanted it. The firm, called Societe Anglo- Gold Ashanti de Guinee, or SAG, has held a concession since 1998 to mine a 1,500-square-kilometer area that encompassed Bérété's village. In 2015, SAG announced that its existing mines in the concession had been depleted. The company needed new land to mine. According to numerous community members interviewed for this report, the company moved in with government security and defense forces and compelled the families to sign inventories of their possessions, often at gunpoint. The mixed forces included members of the notorious Presidential Guard, known as the Red Berets, an elite unit that massacred and raped hundreds at a political rally in the capital in 2009. "I signed over my land with a soldier pointing a gun at me. I had no choice," said Bassy Camara, 42, a small-scale gold buyer who lost his home and his business. "If you had a man standing over you with a gun, what would you do?" SAG is a subsidiary of AngloGold Ashanti, a South African gold mining company with operations on three continents. The sole purpose of SAG, a joint venture with the Guinean government, is to mine the concession in Guinea. AngloGold Ashanti is the world's third-largest gold mining company. The company generated $4.25 billion in revenue in 2016. In 2015, the year before Bérété and her neighbors were evicted, AngloGold Ashanti received a loan worth 1.4 billion South African rand (approximately $102 million) from two commercial banks located in South Africa. The loan was general in nature, meaning the company could use the money as it chose, including funding its mining operations around the world. One of those lenders, Nedbank, is a financial-intermediary client of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The World Bank's private-sector arm provided Nedbank with $140 million for "cross-border lending across Africa, including capital-intensive projects." An IFC press release announcing the deal noted that the funding was designed to increase lending for "resource-extraction projects" in Africa, among other goals. Support for AngloGold Ashanti's gold mine in Guinea falls squarely within the purpose of the IFC's loan to Nedbank. Through this financial relationship, IFC money could be used by AngloGold Ashanti to operate and expand the mine in Guinea. Moreover, profits from AngloGold Ashanti and the mine have moved up through Nedbank and on to the IFC, in the form of interest from the loans. In other words, the IFC, whose mission is to fight poverty and support sustainable private-sector-led development, is both indirectly financing and profiting from a project that is harming and further impoverishing the poor. The IFC's exposure to the mine fits a pattern. An ongoing investigation by Inclusive Development International has found that the IFC is indirectly funding some of the most harmful invest- ment projects in the world. The World Bank Group member is doing this by channeling the bulk of its funding through shadowy investments in financial intermediaries, such as commercial banks and private equity funds. The IFC poured over $50 billion between 2010 and 2015 into the financial sector, where it has little control over or even knowledge of how that money is used. Although the IFC's financial-sector clients are required to implement the institution's social and environmental Performance Standards, the evidence suggests that this is not happening in practice, contributing to headline-grabbing abuses. And since the IFC does not publicly disclose the end use of such funds, the World Bank Group can frame the deals in terms of job creation and poverty reduction — when in fact the funds often flow to projects that undermine these goals. When the Nedbank loan was announced, IFC official James Scriven praised the deal. "IFC, the [Af rican Development Bank] and Nedbank share the objective of increasing social and environmental awareness in the financial sector, helping to contribute to more sustainable economic development across Africa," Scriven said. (The African Development Bank provided a concurrent $140 million loan to Nedbank.) Yet in Guinea, the IFC's support for Nedbank has created anything but sustainable development. Deprived of their land and livelihoods, and given paltry compensation by AngloGold Ashanti, the relocated families have spiraled into destitution. "We don't have enough food for our children," said Lala Condé, a mother who lost her home. The mine's impacts extend far beyond those evicted. Approximately 150,000 people are believed to be living in AngloGold Ashanti's concession area. They are in danger of being forcibly evicted in the future. The mine has also caused serious environmental damage. AngloGold Ashanti uses cyanide, a deadly toxin, to wash the gold in preparation for refining. During rainstorms, which occur frequently in tropical Guinea, residual cyanide has flowed into the area's water sources, killing fish and livestock and poisoning drinking water, according to community members. AngloGold Ashanti has made a number of promises to the people whose lives it has upended. It has pledged to provide jobs, irrigation, drinking water and electricity to those it evicted. Yet community members say that the company has kept few of those promises. " The company took everything from us. We've been left with nothing. No trees. No water. No jobs," said Balla Camara, an elected representative of the affected community. "At this moment, we prefer death to life," he said. ... Africa is in the grips of a land-grabbing epidemic. Nearly a decade ago, in the wake of the global financial crisis, food and commodity prices soared, creating an unprecedented money-making opportunity for investors. Large multinationals, in search of cheap land to grow crops and extract minerals, rushed to Africa to make deals. Huge swaths of land have been granted to these firms, mainly in the form of long-term leases for mining and agro-industrial projects. Between 2008 and 2010 alone, investors acquired between 53 million and 61 million hectares of land on the continent, an area roughly the size of Ukraine, according to an academic analysis of media reports collected by the International Land Coalition. National policy makers and international development institutions, including the World Bank, have enabled this trend by promoting large-scale land investments as a catalyst for rural development. Supporters contend that these projects increase the productivity of under-used land and create jobs in countries rich in natural resources but poor in capital. Yet by encouraging foreign investment in land that was deemed "idle" or "empty," these policies have enabled the seizure of land that local people have sustainably used and managed according to their traditions for centuries. To those affected, these deals have been nothing more than land grabs, resulting in dispossession and displacement on a massive scale. The World Bank Group has been at the center of this storm. Through its advisory services, the IFC has encouraged governments to make land easily available to investors by setting up land banks and similar one-stop investment shops. Acknowledging the environmental and social risks of large-scale land deals, the bank's leadership has argued that these can be managed and minimized through the adoption of voluntary codes of conduct, to which investors and governments could be persuaded to adhere. The IFC has also provided direct financial support for companies to develop largescale industrial plantations. These investments have, however, been limited since 2009, when the bank's then president, Robert Zoellick, instituted a temporary moratorium on lending to the palm oil sector, following a damning investigation by the IFC's ombudsman into complaints of land grabbing and deforestation by an IFC client in Indonesia. While the palm oil moratorium was lifted in 2011, the IFC has been hesitant to invest directly in large-scale land projects because they inevitably — and visibly — run afoul of its environmental and social standards. But IFC money is still flowing to these projects in Africa — through the murky back channel of financial intermediaries. By following this trail of money, Inclusive Development International has revealed that the IFC has contributed to some of the most notorious land grabs on the continent. In Ethiopia, the IFC indirectly financed the Indian agribusiness company Karuturi Global through ICICI, a top Indian bank that the IFC provided with $150 million in 2006. In 2010, with financing from ICICI, Karuturi signed long-term leases for 111,000 hectares of land to develop sugarcane, corn and oil palm plantations in the Gambella region. Thousands of indigenous Anuak and Nuer people were forcibly displaced from the area that was simultaneously offered to foreign investors, including Karuturi, under the government's "villagization" program, according to the Oakland Institute. In Gabon, Ecobank Transnational, an IFC financial-sector client, has financed oil palm plantations and processing facilities operated by the Singaporean company Olam. The project is being developed on a 300,000-hectare concession that local and international environmental groups warn threatens to destroy large areas of the Congo Basin rainforest, harming biodiversity and the liveli- hoods of thousands of people. Export-oriented industrial sugarcane plantations in Sierra Leone and Zambia, funded by multiple IFC financial intermediaries, have been accused of grabbing small-holder farmland and displacing thousands of people, leading to declining incomes and food security. The IFC's exposure to these projects demonstrates the risks of financial-sector lending. Yet the World Bank Group member has doubled down on the practice in recent years. The institution's outstanding commitments to commercial banks, private equity funds and other financial intermediaries have risen by 45% since 2010. According to the IFC's own data, between 2013 and 2015, its lending to financial intermediaries categorized as "high-risk" jumped by 300%, from $450 million to $1.3 billion. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter. AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please write to this address to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see http://www.africafocus.org __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Africa Focus

4 years ago, the military-backed, organized mob slaughtered 500 Muslims, at least. The media reports are inexcusably conservative with the scale of killings - either at Meikhtila or in Rohingya region. I talked to eye-witnesses from Meikhtila, who are NOT Muslims. The then military intelligence chief ex-LtGeneral Ye Myint absolutely knew where several dozen Muslim students were hiding, but in his capacity as the Chief Minister of Mandalay Division which has direct jurisdictions over the town of Meikhtila, Ye Myint let innocent Muslims of the town be slaughtered: he chose NOT to order the troops to rescue them. Meanwhile, the genocidal killers were slaughtering any Muslims in sight. Then they brought in used car tires in pick-up trucks, piled the dead and the wounded, about 20 or so each pile, threw gas and lit the fire. Disposing bodies is also a standard procedure of the Burmese military - since July 1962, when the army killed several hundred Rangoon University protesters several months after Ne Win's coup. According to the eyewitnesses the fire enginees were brought in at 2 or 3 am to cleanse the streets on campus of any fresh flood stains and ppols. That is, after the bodies were collected on army trucks for dumping in some mass graves in undisclosed locations in Rangoon. One Buddhist monk, on the other hand, saved 1000 Muslims, in his monastery. Meikhila is a heavily forified military towns, with about 60 different military units. They can reach every neighbourhood in 5 minutes. But all the troops, and police, were given NO ORDER to stop the killing spree and burning down Muslim neighbourhoods. Myanmar Government bans mass praying of Muslims in Meikhtila. Here is the latest from the BBC Burmese - about the banning of 4000 Burmese Muslims from praying in 3 different locations - because their old mosques have been burned down back in March 2013. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 BBC News

President Barack Obama provisionally lifted U.S. economic sanctions on the Khartoum regime by Executive Order on January 13, 2017; Obama cited “positive actions” and his UN Ambassador Samantha Power went so far as to declare that there had been a “sea change” of improvement in humanitarian access in Sudan. These sanctions were first imposed on the regime in 1997 and strengthened during the administration of President George W. Bush. The Obama Executive Order stipulated the conditions for a permanent lifting of economic sanctions, which are essentially twofold: [1] Significant improvement in humanitarian access to Darfur as well as South Kordofan and Blue Nile (the “Two Areas”) and, [2] End organized violence in the regions, including a halt to the indiscriminate aerial bombardment that has defined Khartoum’s genocidal counter-insurgency in Darfur for fourteen years and for over almost six years in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. What this second criterion does not address is Khartoum’s continuing support for militia proxies in Darfur, which have come to control the region, creating what has recently been quite accurately described as a “militia state.” The U.S. government seems intent on minimizing this defining military reality—and for its distorted representation has been sharply corrected by Hamid Nur, one of the most distinguished and knowledgeable Darfuri civil society leaders: “Darfur fully dominated by militias”: civil society leader | Radio Dabanga | April 16, 2017 | KHARTOUM | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-fully-dominated-by-militias-civil-society-leader Sudan’s western region is politically, militarily, and economically dominated by militias, says the head of the Darfur Civil Society Platform. The Darfur displaced and refugees have no way to return to their as the places are occupied by militiamen and their families. In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Hamid Ali Nur, head of the Darfur Civil Society Platform, called the repeated statements by the Sudanese government and the recent report by the US military attaché about the improved security situation in Darfur inaccurate and incorrect. According to the civil society leader, the Khartoum government has, to a large extent, succeeded in changing the Darfur population itself. “Militiamen and their families have occupied the villages and farms left by fleeing Darfuris during all these years.” The civil society activist said that the government's options given to the Darfur displaced, either to return to their villages of origin, or integrate them into the local communities by re-structuring the camps, are fake. “As the displaced are not able to return, Khartoum’s policy is aimed at permanently displacing them from their homes, lands, and heritage. Dominance “The government militiamen known as janjaweed, recruited from Bedouin groups in the region and over the past couple of years also from neighbouring countries, are enjoying full immunity,” he stated. “They can do whatever they want without any accountability. The Khartoum government has given them full political, military and economic dominance, while it denies the other entities in Darfur their basic, legitimate rights. Nur said that the Darfuri people, “in their homes or in the camps for the displaced, are humiliated and oppressed by the militiamen on a daily basis. There is no opportunity to complain or resort to justice because of the immunity enjoyed by these militias. “Displaced returning to their areas of origin for farming in the rainy season have to hand half of their yields to militias in the area. In other instances, militiamen force displaced farmers to work on their farms as slaves,” he explained. “This situation can never lead to peace, because of the complete absence of justice and accountability.” Unless these issues are addressed, a U.S. sanctions review will be meaningless, at least for the vast majority of the people now suffering continuing violence and acute deprivation. Appendix A collects those dispatches from the past month bearing on the increasingly insistent threat by the Khartoum regime of camp closures and dismantling. But the violence that makes voluntary returns by displaced persons impossible has been substantially documented, including in numerous dispatches from the past month. I will continue issuing periodic “report cards” assessing the regime’s performance in meeting U.S. government criteria for a permanent lifting of economic sanctions. This present “report card” focuses on reports from Radio Dabanga and Sudan Tribune since the last “report card (April 8, 2017 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-22o/); Khartoum’s grade continues to be an “F”—failing. ********************* [1] Improve humanitarian access in Darfur as well as South Kordofan and Blue Nile (the “Two Areas”) [all of my comments on these dispatches appear in blue italics, followed by my initials, ER] • Sheikh foresees “humanitarian disaster” as thirst grips North Darfur camp | Radio Dabanga, May 10, 2017 | SORTONY camp | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sheik-foresees-humanitarian-disaster-as-thirst-grips-north-darfur-camp Sortony camp for the displaced in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, is heading for a ‘humanitarian disaster’ unless a solution is found for the water crisis that has lasted more than two months. One of the camp Sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that the price of a tin of water has soared to SDG 6 ($0.90). He pointed out that the displaced in the camp are currently receiving drinking water from Kabro and Goli areas, which entails a six-hour round trip on the backs of animals. He said there are four water tankers operating once a day for to bring water to the camp which houses more than 22,000 displaced people. The Sheikh says he foresees “a severe humanitarian disaster by the end of the summer unless the authorities and organisations resolve the problem.” Last month, a number of displaced people in Sortony told Radio Dabanga that the severe drinking water shortage was caused by the reduction in the number of water tankers carrying water to the camp: from 17 vehicles per day to two vehicles. [There are many ways for Khartoum to obstruct humanitarian relief in Darfur, including the denial of adequate numbers of critical transport vehicles—ER] • Lacking resources, equipment cause surgery backlog at North Darfur hospital | Radio Dabanga | May 10, 2017 | EL FASHER | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/lacking-resources-equipment-cause-surgery-backlog-at-north-darfur-hospital Health authorities in North Darfur have revealed that there is a waiting list of 24 people who require surgery for urinary fistula* at the obstetrics and gynaecology section of El Fasher hospital. [In Darfur, by far the most common cause of fistulas is violent sexual assault, specifically rape—ER] The director of the fistula centre of the El Fasher hospital in the North Darfur capital, Dr Salih El Tahir Salih, told Radio Dabanga that the lack of material resources, medical devices, and equipment, is preventing the operations from being carried out. [This lack of equipment occurs despite the reality of many tens of thousands of girls and women victimized by rape used as a weapon of war, deployed by Khartoum’s militia and regular military forces for over fourteen years: see | http://sudanreeves.org/2016/04/03/update-to-continuing-mass-rape-of-girls-in-darfur-the-most-heinous-crime-generates-no-international-outrage-january-2016/ —ER ] • Thirst growing in Darfur camps | Radio Dabanga | April 23, 2017 | | SORTONY / ZAMZAM / GIREIDA | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/thirst-growing-in-darfur-camps Displaced living in the Sortony and Zamzam camps in North Darfur complain about a severe drinking water shortage. Residents of the Gireida camps for the displaced in South Darfur suffer from thirst as well. Several displaced told Radio Dabanga from Sortony that two weeks ago the number of water tankers carrying water to the camp was reduced from 17 vehicles per day to two vehicles, resulting in a severe water crisis for the about 63,000 people in the camp. “We cannot afford to buy water for SDG5 ($0.70) per jerry-can, sold by the owners of the donkey carts,” a camp resident said. “And when we leave the camp to get water from a well, we more often than not are assaulted by militiamen.” [The significance of Darfur having become a “militia state” can hardly be overstated—ER] In the Zamzam camp, south of the north Darfur capital El Fasher, people also complain about shortages of drinking water and high prices. A Zamzam camp elder told this station that 39 of the 79 pumps in the camp are not operating. He expressed his fear that “Our thirst may become fatal in the summer, when the water level in the wells decreases, and it will be more difficult to collect enough water.” He said that the price of drinking water doubled recently. “We now pay SDG30 ($4.20) to have a water tank filled.” In Gireida in South Darfur, the price for a barrel of water has risen from SDG12 to SDG20 ($2.80), a resident of the Forika camp reported. “Since last Sunday, five of the water pumps in the camp have stopped working because of a lack of fuel.” He called on the South Darfur authorities and humanitarian organisations to provide fuel to the camps. [Refusing to allow humanitarian organizations to repair pumps, or to supply them with adequate supplies of fuel, is one way in which Khartoum is increasing pressure on residents of IDP camps to leave—ER] • Critical water shortage in Port Sudan, North Darfur camp | Radio Dabanga | April 19, 2017 | PORT SUDAN / NYALA | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/critical-water-shortage-in-port-sudan-north-darfur-camp Nyala The displaced people of camp Otash in Nyala, South Darfur, have complained of a severe drinking water crisis due to a lack of fuel, and the breakdown of a number of pumps and water wells. One of the Sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that WEST water organisation in the camp told them that the cause of the crisis is a lack of fuel to run the pumps, depletion of water levels in a number of wells, and non-operation of wells at 4 Sanatir. He said the organisation has asked the displaced to contribute financially to resolving the problem • Water outages in hospitals in North Darfur capital | Radio Dabanga | April 18, 2017 | EL FASHER | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/water-outages-in-hospitals-in-north-darfur-capital People in El Fasher face an acute lack of water because of ongoing outages in the city's electricity sector. Two hospitals are facing problems. The academic hospital and the Gynecology and Obstetrics Specialist hospital have witnessed continuous water shortages, listeners in the city reported to Radio Dabanga. On Monday, the general directorate of drinking water services in North Darfur confirmed its commitment to address the problem for both hospitals. The service wants to provide them with permanent water supply lines, and wants to re-operate the water tanks that are spread through districts of El Fasher and supply water to the residents. A month ago the Minister of Urban Planning of North Darfur announced the repair of a number of water pumps in the city and to drill seven new wells, so as to prepare for the coming summer period. South of El Fasher in Zamzam camp for displaced people, community leaders have also called upon local organisations to avert the looming drinking water crisis. [Denial of humanitarian access has knock-on effects, including the denial of critical supplies to hospitals and clinics in Darfur—ER] • Two medical staff for 90 patients/day in West Darfur’s Sirba | Radio Dabanga | May 1, 2017 | SIRBA | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/two-medical-staff-for-90-patients-day-in-west-darfur-s-sirba Patients in Sirba in West Darfur complain about the deterioration of medical services in the area. Speaking to Radio Dabanga on Saturday, an activist reported that the entire staff of Sirba Hospital, the only hospital in the locality, exists of a medical assistant and a nurse. “There are almost no medicines as well.” He said that the number of patients who are daily visiting the hospital amounts to about 90. “They have to wait for hours in a difficult environment, that does not even have drinking water.” He called on the West Darfur state authorities “to speed up the rehabilitation of the hospital and provide it with trained health personnel, doctors, and medicines.” [Because of Khartoum's actions and the pervasive insecurity in Darfur, 97% of those working for humanitarian organizations in the region are Sudanese nationals; a critical shortage of doctors throughout the country is magnified by Khartoum’s having made it virtually impossible for international aid workers, including medical personnel, to work in Darfur—ER] • Disease fells children, seniors in West Darfur camp | Radio Dabanga | April 14, 2017 | MURNEI / EL FASHER | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/disease-fells-children-seniors-in-west-darfur-camp At least 19 people, including 11 children and eight seniors, have already died during April of an unidentified fever that is spreading fast in Murnei camp for the displaced in West Darfur. The camp coordinator told Radio Dabanga that the situation is made worse by a lack of medicines. The few drugs that are available are too expensive for the displaced to afford. The coordinator has appealed to the authorities to intervene to diagnose and contain the outbreak, which causes severe diarrhoea, and provide medicines and treatment for those infected. A number of patients and their escorts in the intensive care unit (ICU) of El Fasher Teaching Hospital in North Darfur have complained that the ICU has seen an electricity outage since Monday. They have called on the authorities to intervene immediately to save the patients’ lives. The medical Director of El Fasher Teaching Hospital, Dr Khalil Badawi, has acknowledged that there was an interruption in the electricity. He said that there was a problem with the electricity supplier. [Again, denial of humanitarian access has knock-on effects, including the denial of critical supplies to hospitals and clinics in Darfur—ER] • South Darfur survey: hundreds mentally ill | Radio Dabanga | April 30, 2017 | NYALA, South Darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/south-darfur-survey-hundreds-mentally-ill A survey conducted by the Department of Social Welfare in South Darfur has showed a significant increase in the number of mentally ill people in the region. Social researcher Mohamed Abaker Eisa told the press in the South Darfur capital of Nyala on Thursday that the war and the harsh economic conditions have caused many neurological and mental disorders. “Preliminary results of the survey revealed that at least 423 people in South Darfur are mentally ill. “The spread of madmen in the streets of Nyala may be very dangerous,” he warned, and pointed to the importance of establishing a special section for mental and neurological patients at the Nyala Teaching Hospital. “There is not a single clinic for psychiatric disorders in the state, which has greatly exacerbated the conditions of the patients, and forced many families to send their mentally ill relatives to El Tijani El Mahi Psychiatric Hospital in Khartoum,” he said. [Psycho-social services provided by INGOs are among the first to be cut when humanitarian access is curtailed—ER] [2] End organized violence in the regions, including a halt to the indiscriminate aerial bombardment that has defined Khartoum’s genocidal counter-insurgency in Darfur for fourteen years and for over almost six years in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. • “Nine dead in RSF militia attacks on 12 Darfur villages” | Radio Dabanga | May 8, 2017 | ZALINGEI | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/nine-dead-in-rsf-militia-attacks-on-12-darfur-villages At least nine people were reportedly killed, 22 others were injured, and four were raped in attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on western Jebel Marra on Sunday. A Central Darfur official has denied the incidents. “At about 7 am on Sunday, elements of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) driving 41 Land Cruisers loaded with weapons, and others on camels and horses began to attack 12 villages north of Nierteti,” El Shafee Abdallah, the coordinator of the camps for the displaced in Central Darfur, told Radio Dabanga. “Nine villagers were shot dead, four young women were gang-raped, and at least 22 people were injured,” he reported. “Before torching the houses, they stole all the property. They cut and burned even the lemon trees.” The camp coordinator said that the entire population of the villages fled into the mountains, “as the roads leading to Nierteti are blocked by the militiamen.” A Central Darfur government official denied the attacks took place. “Reports about RSF attacks on Jebel Marra villages are sheer lies,” he told this station. “The Jebel Marra region is currently experiencing security and stability it has not witnessed for more than 13 years.” [Darfur is a “militia state”: there is no denying this basic reality and yet it seems not to figure in the U.S. government’s assessment of Khartoum’s military actions in Darfur. This is a disingenuous form of denial—ER] • New waves of displacement reported in Central Darfur | Sudan Tribune | May 9, 2017 (NERTITI, Central Darfur) | http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?iframe&page=imprimable&id_article=62415 Hundreds of civilians have fled their villages in Darfur’s Jebel Marra area following fresh attacks by Sudanese government militiamen forces, said a local representative of displaced persons. On 26 April, the holdout rebel group Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) said they clashed with the government militia near Nertiti locality, Central Darfur State. In statements to Sudan Tribune, IDPs coordinator in Central Darfur State el-Shafei Abdallah claimed that militiamen wearing military uniforms and riding four-wheel-drive vehicles and camels recently attacked 122 villages in Jebel Marra. He said the attacks included several villages in the locality of Guldo and eastern part of Nertiti, adding that nine people mostly women and children were killed and their belongings were looted. He said the government has failed to stop the attacks by the armed militias pointing that the new waves of displacement refute the "state government’s repeated lies about the voluntary return in the state.” In a related development, Adam Abdalla Ishaq, the deputy president of IDPs and refugees association, said more than 410 families (2800 people) fled to Nertiti and Guldo on Monday and called on aid groups to provide them with food and shelter saying they are in poor conditions. Ishaq blamed the government saying it encouraged the return of the IDPs to their villages and pledged to protect them. Also, he said the local authorities refrained from providing any services before their return to their villages. Central Darfur government officials were not available for comment, as the IDPs representatives are often hostile to the authorities which accuse them of supporting the rebels. [It is not clear why attacks on “122 villages in Jebel Marra” do not constitute “offensive military campaigns” of the sort that presumably figure in U.S. government assessments of Khartoum’s behavior in Darfur—ER] • North Darfur: Two dead in attacks on Jebel Marra villages | Radio Dabanga | April 10, 2017 | TAWILA, North darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/north-darfur-two-dead-in-attacks-on-jebel-marra-villages Two people were killed and six others wounded in attacks by gunmen on villages in north-east Jebel Marra in North Darfur’s Tawila over the weekend. A resident of El Gabas village told Radio Dabanga that an armed group driving two four-wheel drive vehicles, accompanied by others riding camels and horses raided El Gabas, 25 kilometres west of Katur in Tawila locality, on Friday. “They began shooting. Yousef Haroun (52) and Mahjoub Saleh (42) were killed instantly,” he said. “All the villagers sought shelter in the valleys. The janjaweed then left, taking with them most of our livestock.” The source said that the same group of militants attacked the village of Rogoli, not far from El Gabas on Saturday. “Yousef Hussein (32), Adam Yagoub (28), and Ahmed Bakhit (18) sustained bullet wounds. All the cattle and donkeys were stolen from the village.” On Sunday, the same men attacked the area around Falluja village, 20 kilometres south of Katur, a listener reported to this station. “Omda Mohamed Omar, Salem, and Maryam Juma were shot. The attackers took the sheep, goats and donkeys from the village.” • Gunmen threaten to torch South Darfur camp | Radio Dabanga | May 3, 2017 | MERSHING, south Darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/gunmen-threaten-to-torch-south-darfur-camp Militants have threatened to storm and torch Keila Camp in Mershing locality in South Darfur unless the inhabitants pay compensation for livestock the gunmen claim to have lost. One of the displaced residents of the camp told Radio Dabanga that they sought help of the locality police, but the militants threatened the police and gave the displaced an ultimatum until Saturday to return 40 cattle or the cash equivalent, or they would pillage and burn the camp. On Tuesday militants broke into Kushina basic school south Tawila in North Darfur. Omda Bosh told Radio Dabanga that militants on two Land Cruisers mounted with a Dushka machinegun 10 am on Tuesday, seized school equipment, chairs, cupboards and other school objects including doors from the headmaster and teachers’ offices and the storehouse, loaded them into a lorry headed towards Kabkabiya. [Threats of arson, and actual arson, have long been grim facts of life for those in IDP camps, which have frequently been militarily assaulted. There are two major reasons for these threats and actions: extortion and serving the Khartoum regime’s announced policy of dismantling the camps for IDPs. Arson is an extremely efficient method of “dismantling,” and the camp burnings of more than a decade have often left people to flee into highly insecure environments—ER] • Mother, child die as militiamen raid five Darfur villages | Radio Dabanga | April 21, 2017 | EAST JEBEL MARRA | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/mother-child-die-as-militiamen-raid-five-north-darfur-villages A woman and her five-year-old son have died and three more people wounded when militiamen raided five villages in East Jebel Marra on Thursday. Callers told Radio Dabanga that armed militiamen, riding camels and horses descended on the villages of Jasu, Hai Mudraj, Hillet Sheikh Adu, Hillet Liba and Hillet Adam Abdelmajid, north of Mershing locality which is in South Darfur. A woman and her 5-year-old son were killed by the attackers. Sheikh Adam Abdelmajid, the village leader of the settlement named after him, and his wife and 7-year-old son Iskander sustained injuries. Witnesses said the attackers stripped all five villages of money, property and livestock. • Deadly ambush, “foreigners bussed-in” in North Darfur’s Gallab | Radio Dabanga | April 30 - 2017 | GALLAB, North darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/deadly-ambush-foreigners-bussed-in-in-north-darfur-s-gallab A displaced woman was killed, her sister was injured, and five others went missing in an ambush in Gallab near El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, on Friday. A number of African families reportedly arrived in the area on Thursday. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a Zamzam camp elder said that a group of gunmen attacked seven women of the camp in the area of Gallab, south-west of El Fasher, on Friday afternoon. “The women were collecting straw in Gallab, when the janjaweed suddenly appeared and began to shoot them. Maryam Osman Eisa was killed instantly and her sister Umeldur was injured,” he said. “The five other women disappeared.” He said that two search parties were formed, one by Zamzam camp elders and another by Adam Jadeed, Commissioner of Tawila locality, “to hunt down the perpetrators.” Foreigners People living in the area of Gallab reported the arrival of seven lorries from El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, on Thursday. The vehicles carried “foreigners with their families, who were hosted at the school of Gallab and its health centre.” They said that a lorry arrived from El Fasher on Friday, carrying food for the newcomers, whom they believe came from Chad, Central African Republic, Niger, and Mali. “Militant foreigners who arrived in the past years threatened to beat and kill anyone who goes out to collect straw and firewood or cultivate their lands,” one of the sources said. [The presence of Arab militiamen from countries to the west of Darfur, whose entry into Darfur has been facilitated by the Khartoum regime, has been well-documented for a decade now. This is but another means of “changing the demography of Darfur,” in the infamous words of notorious Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal in August 2004 | http://sudanreeves.org/2015/11/05/musa-hilal-and-the-changing-of-darfurs-demography/ —ER] • Two dead, seven injured, Imam beaten in Darfur militia attacks | Radio Dabanga | April 27, 2017 | DARFUR | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/two-dead-seven-injured-imam-beaten-in-darfur-militia-attacks Two people died, seven – including two children – were injured, and three others are still missing after a night attack by armed militants on Mura and Barkoro areas west of Katur in eastern Jebel Marra. The Imam of a village mosque was beaten by bandits in South Darfur. One of the survivors told Radio Dabanga that militants on camels and horses attacked both areas on Tuesday night, instantly killed two people, and wounded seven others, including Yousif Ibrahim Adam, Ali Mohamed Haroun and Aisha Seifeldin. He said the attackers plundered cash, property, about 1,500 head of cattle, and then headed towards El Malam area of South Darfur. On Monday, militants attacked Birka Toli village of Abu Ajoura administrative unit in South Darfur and beat the Imam of the Haroun El Haj mosque. A witness told Radio Dabanga that on Monday militants on camels and horses attacked the village during Maghreb prayer, opened fire in the air before they began to attack the worshipers. They stole cash, more than 18 mobile phones, and plundered Dr Adam's pharmacy. • West Darfur market killings condemned | Radio Dabanga | April 12, 2017 | EL GENEINA | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/west-darfur-market-killings-condemned The shooting at Kerending camp in El Geneina in West Darfur, that left two women and a child dead, and at least 12 people injured on Sunday has prompted a chorus of condemnation from outraged voices across Darfur. The Darfur Bar Association issued a statement on Tuesday saying that “the attack [on Rokroko market of Kerending camp] in which force of arms was used without warning, nor measures taken to remove the market, are weak justifications. The problems started when the Commissioner of El Geneina announced his decision to remove the Kerending camp market earlier this week. After the displaced strongly opposed the idea, the Commissioner ordered police and security forces to remove the market by force. On Sunday morning they torched the market stalls, whereupon camp residents set fire to the police post and a number of locality buildings in the area. Other took to the streets in a protest march. The government forces then started to shoot at the protesters. “The attack on the market used excessive force, in which the property of the displaced people and the goods in the shops were burned,” the Bar Association says. The statement condemned the practices of the authorities of West Darfur and El Geneina and held them responsible for the loss of innocent lives of civilians and the destruction and theft of their private property. The Bar Association called for a speedy investigation and accountability, and for criminal charges to be filed against the officials. The Association also calls for compensation for the displaced for their material losses. In Khartoum, MP Siham Saleh Hasabullah held the Governor of West Darfur, Fadlul Mawla El Haja and his government responsible for the incidents, and demanded his resignation. In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Siham confirmed that three people were shot dead and 12 others were wounded at camp Kerending when the displaced people protested against the decision to remove the market and transfer it east of El Geneina. [The attack on civilians in Kerending is emblematic of Khartoum’s brutal determination to prevent any form of protest or political expression by Darfuris—ER] • Police forces kill three protesters in West Darfur camp | Sudan Tribune | April 9, 2017 (EL-GENEINA, West Darfur) | http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?iframe&page=imprimable&id_article=62152 Three people were killed in a camp for internally displaced persons outside El-Geneina, West Darfur, when the police opened fire to disperse a protest by IDPs against a decision to relocate a local market to another area. An eyewitness told Sudan Tribune that the incident took place Sunday at the Krinding camp, on the outskirts of Geneina town, when a joint force from the police and security services started to remove the Rako Rako market in the implementation of a decision issued by El-Geneina commissioner. "During the removal process, a fire broke out in a shop made of local materials, and the IDPs demonstrated against the law enforcement agents who rushed to shoot on the protesters killing a woman and injured other dozens. Later, the hospital received the bodies of two people who died of gunshot wounds," he said. The residents of the Krinding camp, which is divided into two sections are mainly, Massailit people from South and East of West Darfur but there are also some Gimiir, Bargo, Tama and Zaghawa. There is no official statistics about the number of residents in the camp, but the WFP in its figures of 2015 says it assists some 5,428 households in Krinding 1 and 2,416 households in Krinding 2. A West Darfur official who preferred anonymity confirmed to Sudan Tribune the incident. He said El- Geneina commissioner since last month has issued a decision to relocate the market to a new market at two kilometres but the displaced refused the decision. The local official further said the decision has been taken because the current market has become a hideout for drug trafficking, adding that the police opened fire because some protesters were carrying grenades in their hands. • Soldiers beat, torture water delegation in North Darfur | Radio Dabanga | April 12, 2017 | TABIT, North Darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/soldiers-beat-torture-water-delegation-in-north-darfur Four people, including a policeman and a member of the Popular Defence Forces were severely beaten and tortured by military personnel in the military garrison at Tabit in North Darfur on Tuesday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that residents of the area protested as the military garrison monopolises the only water engine in the area; civilians were prevented from drawing drinking water for most of the week which caused thirst to them and their livestock. They pointed out that on Tuesday the area water committee asked the army to allow the residents to draw water and to organise it, but the soldiers saw this as interference in their affairs. They allegedly assaulted and beat four members of the water committee and took them to the military garrison. Callers told this station that the soldiers beat and tortured the head of the Tabit water committee, Abdelaziz Juma (35), his brother Zaki Juma (32), an unnamed member of the Popular Defence Forces, a 35-year-old policeman Taha Abdelkarim, and Abdullah Saleh (42) for two hours and then released them in critical condition. They said the villagers took them immediately to El Fasher for treatment. • South Darfur teachers remain detained without charge | Radio Dabanga | April 11, 2017 | NYALA, South Darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/south-darfur-teachers-remain-detained-without-charge Four school teachers from Gireida have remained in detention for five months without charges laid upon them or trial. The four higher secondary school teachers were detained on 10 November, without knowing the reasons. Saber Abdallah Ahmed, Shamsuldin Mohamad Harin, Mohamed Musa Daoud, and Bahruldin Adam El Toam have been transferred to Kober Prison in Nyala. “They have not been interrogated either,” a relative of one of the detainees told Radio Dabanga. “This is a violation of the rights of detainees and blatant violation of the law.” He called on the authorities to release them immediately or bring them to a fair trial. The teachers were accused of organised a protest in November, held against a number of militia attacks in several villages in Gireida that month. Their arrest came under the instruction of the Commissioner of Gireida using the Emergency Measures after their protest. • Darfur herders injured, cattle stolen in Jebel Marra | Radio Dabanga | April 24, 2017 | JEBEL MARRA | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-herders-injured-cattle-stolen-in-jebel-marra Two herders were wounded in a cattle rustling incident in the eastern part of Jebel Marra on Saturday. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a relative of the victims reported that a group of gunmen in a Land Cruiser, and others riding motorcycles and camels attacked a number of nomad settlements in the area of Falluja, south of Dubbo El Omda, on Saturday evening. “Yousef Haroun Ibrahim and Abdelmowla Adam Haroun were hit by their bullets,” he said. “The janjaweed then left, taking 41 cows and two donkeys with them.” [Dispatches such as the preceding are too common for all of them to be included here; but this is the daily life for non-Arab/African tribal populations throughout Darfur--ER] [The following report from SLA/Abdel Wahid has not been independently confirmed by non-SLA sources; nonetheless, the specificity of the account should give pause before its authenticity is dismissed—ER] • Fighting, bombing resumes in Darfur’s Jebel Marra | Radio Dabanga | April 23, 2017 | JEBEL MARRA | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/fighting-bombing-resumes-in-darfur-s-jebel-marra On Saturday, 17 militiamen were reported killed in clashes between Sudanese government forces and rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement, headed by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) in Jebel Marra. The Sudanese Air Force bombed villages in north-west Jebel Marra on Saturday and today. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, SLM-AW spokesman Ezzeldin Sambala, reported that government forces launched an attack on the area of Torantora, one of the movement's strongholds in Jebel Marra on Saturday morning. He said that the SLM-AW combatants managed to repel the attackers. “We inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. 17 militiamen were killed, among them Lance-Corporal Hamdan Mohamed Eisa.” Bombing The Sudanese Air Force bombed at least 15 villages in the area between Maya in Kabkabiya locality and Aja in northern Jebel Marra were bombed on Saturday and Sunday. “It is unclear yet how many people were killed and wounded,” Hussein Abusharati, spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association told this station. “The explosions set fire to many houses in the villages,” he said. "What is required now is urgent action by the United Nations,” the camp leader added. “They should pressure Khartoum to stop the indiscriminate aerial bombardments of civilians in Darfur, that only causes more displacement. “We further call on humanitarian organisations to immediately intervene, and provide aid to the thousands of villagers who fled into the wilderness without being able to take anything with them.” After a relative calm for months, the Sudanese air force dropped three barrel bombs on the area of Jawa in the eastern part of Jebel Marra on 6 April. The latest bombing occurred in October, weeks after renewed fighting had broken out between government forces and SLM-AW combatants. APPENDIX A: CAMP CLOSURES, INVOLUNTARY RETURNS From the beginning of the Darfur genocide, the camps for displaced persons have been an embarrassment to the Khartoum regime—an unignorable sign of the massive violence and destruction that drove people to the camps, as well as the continuing insecurity that prevents the return of displaced persons. Over the past two years, regime officials—in Darfur and in Khartoum—have become increasingly strident and threatening in their declarations that the camps will be dismantled, this based on the patent fiction that Darfur is secure and these people have villages, homes, and lands to return to. A satisfactory resolution of the status of IDPs—including restitution and security—is the only way a meaningful peace can be achieved in Darfur. This basic fact seems lost on U.S. government officials, with their concentration on humanitarian access (still terribly compromised) and military “offensives,” still occurring if now almost exclusively by way of militia proxies. The following dispatches reveal all too much of the reality that the international community as a whole is content to ignore: • “Militiamen living in our villages, using our lands”: Darfuri displaced | Radio Dabanga | April 17, 2017 | BELEIL / ZALINGEI | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/militiamen-living-in-our-villages-using-our-lands-darfuri-displaced The continued announcements of the Sudanese government and the recent declaration of the US military attaché in Khartoum about the improved security situation in the region are “false propaganda”, according to the displaced people in Darfur. “These statements about security in Darfur have no basis in reality,” Hussein Abu Sharati, the spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, commented to Radio Dabanga. “In terms of security and stability, the situation in Darfur is now more serious than three years ago. As the region is currently under the control of those who fought alongside government forces against the people, and chased them from their villages. The government rewarded them by letting them occupy our lands.” Abu Sharati explained that the displaced and refugees do not refuse to return voluntarily. “On the contrary, they are longing to return to their places of origin. It is imperative however, to achieve a comprehensive peace, to restore security, disarm the militias, expel the militiamen and their families from the occupied lands, and bring those who have committed crimes against civilians in Darfur to justice. “Otherwise, we have nothing to do with any re-planning of camps, nor with the so-called voluntary return as it is promoted by the government,” he added. “Baseless propaganda” According to El Shafee Abdallah, Coordinator of the Central Darfur camps and one of the members of the Darfur Camps Coordination Committee, the government's announcement of security in Darfur and the possibility for the displaced people in the camps to return to their villages is “baseless propaganda. “The lands and villages of the displaced people are currently occupied by militiamen, from the region or neighbouring countries, who are allied with the government,” he said. “They daily prevent the displaced from leaving the camps to collect firewood and straw, let alone to return to their villages.” He explained that “The government aims to keep the displaced people where they are, after a so-called replanning of the camps. “If the camp areas are annexed to the towns and the displaced registered as town residents, they will deprived from the possibility to reclaim their land. Thus the way to legalising the new settlers’ ownership of our lands will be paved.” “That is why the displaced people will never accept the re-planning of the camps and their integration into the towns,” he said. • “No voluntary return in insecure Darfur”: displaced to US | Radio Dabanga | April 25, 2017 | EL FASHER, North Darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/no-voluntary-return-in-insecure-darfur-displaced-to-us People in Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur complained that the security and humanitarian situation in the camp is very bad. They told a United States envoy that militiamen occupy their home farms; voluntary return is out of the question. A delegation from the office of the US Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, Paul Steven, arrived at Zamzam, south of El Fasher, to meet with Sheikhs, leaders and youth and women representatives. Zamzam is one of the largest camps in Darfur. The coordinator of the camp told Radio Dabanga that the delegates asked them about the security and humanitarian situation, in addition to the possibility of voluntarily returning to their home areas. Steven said that security problems remain despite “the relative improvement” in the situation in North Darfur. In a press statement he urged the Sudanese government to take control of the militias and protect its citizens, along with granting the AU-UN hybrid peacekeeping mission (Unamid) and aid agencies freedom of movement. Making progress on the human rights situation in Sudan is of utmost importance, he added. Attacks The security situation in the vicinity of Zamzam is very bad, youth and women representatives said. Armed men and militia members attack people who go outside. Meanwhile residents have witnessed a reduction of the food ration cards and a deterioration of the health situation. The envoy's office wanted to assess the situation on the ground in Darfur to present a full report on the situation in Sudan in July, the month set by the US Government to review the progress in the country and ease economic sanctions and a trade embargo that have been in place against Sudan since 1997. Earlier this month the military attaché of the US embassy in Sudan visited North Darfur for a briefing by the State Governor. Sudanese media reported that Military Attaché Jörn Pung said he witnessed great developments in North Darfur. A week later the embassy said the US “encourages close cooperation among the Government of Sudan, United Nations, and native administrations.” • Darfur displaced “under pressure” from health issues, plans to dismantle camps | Radio Dabanga | May 9, 2017 | DARFUR / ZALINGEI | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-displaced-under-pressure-from-health-issues-plans-to-dismantle-camps Displaced people in camps in Darfur feel they are facing pressure to leave the camps while health issues continue to emerge. The government is preparing plans to dismantle the camps. Yesterday, community elders from various camps reported to Radio Dabanga that the camps witness the spread of diabetes, blood pressure issues and mental illnesses among camp residents. They said these are caused “by the horrors of war, the living conditions and the economic crisis”. One of the sheikhs of camp Murnei, in West Darfur, told this station that seventeen people had a leg amputated in the camp because of diabetes-related complications. About 20 people reportedly suffer from mental illness. He called on the humanitarian authorities and organisations to provide health care and the necessary medical and psychological support, especially to the patients. Continued announcements of the Sudanese government and the recent declaration of the US military attaché in Khartoum about the improved security situation in the region are signs of a campaign to increase the numbers of voluntary returnees from the camps to their areas of origin. While the majority of displaced long to return, reports of militiamen with their families occupying the abandoned villages and farms continue to emerge. Meanwhile people in Zalingei, Central Darfur, are witnessing an increase in medicine prices, poor medical services, poor hospital environment, and a lack of life-saving medicines in the emergency sections. Yesterday one of the residents told Radio Dabanga that no maintenance is done in the city's hospital, and dirty wards, toilets, and broken fans cause mosquitoes to breed. “Patients in the hospital suffer from their disease, but also the lack of medicine and high prices in the pharmacies.” He called on the state authorities to expedite the sanitation of the hospital environment, maintenance of wards, improvement of hygiene standards and also to provide more medicine to the state. • “Gireida camps to be closed”: South Darfur governor | Radio Dabanga | April 24, 2017 | GIREIDA, south Darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/gireida-camps-to-be-closed-south-darfur-governor The Governor of South Darfur has given the residents of the Gireida camps the choice between accepting the annexation of the camp sites to the town or returning voluntarily to their places of origin. In a public meeting in Gireida, Governor Adam El Faki told the displaced people that the more than ten camps may be added to the existing residential districts or they may become new districts in the town. In both instances, the displaced people will not be entitled any more to humanitarian aid. The camp residents strongly rejected the options, for legal and security reasons. “Actually the annexation of the camp sites to Gireida town means the legitimisation of the theft of our lands. In this case, the land ownership will be officially transferred to the new settlers and the government’s militiamen,” a camp elder told Radio Dabanga. “Yet, the people are also unable to return, because of the presence of militiamen in their villages and at their farms. They prevent us from returning to our lands for farming. Even when we leave the camp for a few kilometres to collect firewood or straw, they attack us. “So we can only return if the situation has become secure, and a comprehensive peace has been reached,” he said. “Baseless propaganda” El Shafee Abdallah, Coordinator of the Central Darfur camps, told this station earlier this month that the lands and villages of the displaced people are currently occupied by government-allied militiamen, from the region or from neighbouring countries. “The government aims to keep the displaced people where they are, after a so-called replanning of the camps,” he said. “If the camp areas are annexed to the towns and the displaced registered as town residents, they will deprived from the possibility to reclaim their land. Thus the way to legalising the new settlers’ ownership of our lands will be paved.” “That is why the displaced people will never accept the re-planning of the camps and their integration into the towns,” he explained. • Central Darfur displaced reject land rezoning | Radio Dabanga | April 13, 2017 GARSILA, Central darfur | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/central-darfur-displaced-reject-land-rezoning The residents of Arula of Garsila locality in Central Darfur, who fled to Garsila camps in 2003 because of the war, have refused a local committee's decision to build public facilities at Arula and compensating them with alternative housing. Yesterday one of the sheikhs told Radio Dabanga from that the displaced have refused a decision to remove their residential land and return voluntarily because of insecurity. They called on Shartai Ismaili Mohammad Bashar and his local committee to build schools, hospitals and police stations on their original sites, not in the places instead of on their land. They also demanded from the local and state authorities to intervene immediately to stop this rejected decision. In Khartoum, the Governor of South Darfur announced the transformation of camp El Salam which accommodates 150,000 displaced people, to El Salam city as part of the government plan for the camps. Voluntary return The Governor of South Darfur, El Faki said after a meeting with the First Vice President and the Prime Minister Bakri Hassan Saleh in Khartoum that the process of voluntary return in South Darfur has begun in more than 15 villages without interference from the government. The Prime Minister stressed the importance of planning the camps and enhancing the process of voluntary return for peace and stability in South Darfur. The Commissioner of Um Baru, Ahmed Mohammed El Taher announced the return of 40,000 refugees and displaced persons to their places of origin. Yesterday he announced to Sudan News Agency the opening of Um Baru hospital and five health centres at areas of Orshi, Musbat, Um Haraz and Um Marahik to provide medical and treatment services for the patients. He explained that during the last phase the locality has managed to implement several service projects such as the rehabilitation of the Orshi reservoir in cooperation with the voluntary organisations and the local community, digging eight underground wells, the maintenance of about 25 hand pumps and installing of six solar units to benefit from in running wells. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 SUDAN Research, Analysis, and Advocacy

AUNG SAN SUU KYI IS ONE of the most celebrated human rights icons of our age: Nobel Peace Laureate, winner of the Sakharov Prize, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an Amnesty International-recognized prisoner of conscience for 15 long years. These days, however, she is also an apologist for genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass rape. For the past year, Aung San Suu Kyi has been State Counselor, or de factohead of government, in Myanmar, where members of the Rohingya Muslim minority in the northern Rakhine state have been shot, stabbed, starved, robbed, raped and driven from their homes in the hundreds of thousands. In December, while the world focused on the fall of Aleppo, more than a dozen Nobel Laureates published an open letter warning of a tragedy in Rakhine “amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” In February, a report by the United Nations documented how the Burmese army’s attacks on the Rohingya were “widespread as well as systematic” thus “indicating the very likely commission of crimes against humanity.” More than half of the 101 Rohingya women interviewed by UN investigators across the border in Bangladesh said they had suffered rape or other forms of sexual violence at the hands of security forces. “They beat and killed my husband with a knife,” one survivor recalled. “Five of them took off my clothes and raped me. My eight-month old son was crying of hunger when they were in my house because he wanted to breastfeed, so to silence him they killed him too with a knife.” And the response of Aung San Suu Kyi? This once-proud campaigner against wartime rape and human rights abuses by the Burmese military has opted to borrow from the Donald Trump playbook of denial and deflection. Her office accused Rohingya women of fabricating stories of sexual violence and put the words “fake rape” — in the form of a banner headline, no less — on its official website. A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry — also controlled directly by Aung San Suu Kyi — dismissed “made-up stories, blown out of proportion.” In February, the State Counselor herself reportedly told the Archbishop of Yangon, Charles Bo, that the international community is exaggerating the Rohingya issue. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Intercept

On 7 April, at the end of a closed trial, a court in the north-eastern city of Pavlodar sentenced Sunni Muslim Kuanysh Bashpayev to four and a half years’ imprisonment to punish him for talks he gave on his faith between 2008 and 2011. He had been arrested in October 2016 on his return to Kazakhstan from Saudi Arabia. The 30-year-old Bashpayev – who is married with six children – denied inciting religious hatred and will appeal against his conviction, his lawyer told Forum 18. One of the two Prosecutor’s Office officials who led the case in court refused to say what harm Bashpayev might have done to anyone else. A growing number of Muslims who have studied their faith in Saudi Arabia – like Bashpayev – have been arrested and are awaiting trial. Among those is Nariman Seitzhanov, who has been held in pre-trial detention in Kokshetau in Akmola Region since 15 January. And in a separate case, a court in South Kazakhstan Region imprisoned seven Sunni Muslims for between one and four years on 4 April. They were also banned from conducting certain activities – which the court would not reveal – after their release. All seven were convicted for alleged membership of the Muslim missionary movement Tabligh Jamaat, which the Kazakh authorities banned in 2013. Sairam District Prosecutor Orazali Abdramanov – who led the prosecution of the seven men in court – denied that they had been punished for their faith. He refused to say who – if anyone – the men might have harmed. One of the seven men had been given an administrative fine in August 2016 to punish him for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief. Seven sentenced Sunni Muslims The seven men sentenced in Sairam in South Kazakhstan Region under Criminal Code Article 405 are: Bakhytzhan Esimkhanovich Baimusayev, 4 years’ imprisonment, plus four-year ban on activities. Abduvakhab Salibekovich Shakirov, born 21 December 1962, 4 years’ imprisonment, plus four-year ban on activities. Furkhat Farkhadovich Abatayev, 1 year imprisonment, plus two-year ban on activities. Abdivasit Abdikakharovich Abdirazakov, 1 year imprisonment, plus two-year ban on activities. Murodzhon Abdivakhabovich Abdullayev, 1 year imprisonment, plus two-year ban on activities. Zhenisbek Erakhmetovich Manbetov; born 16 July 1983, 1 year imprisonment, plus two-year ban on activities. Meirambek Amalbekuli Sarymsak; born 8 March 1965, 1 year imprisonment, plus two-year ban on activities. All seven men are married with children. 53 Tabligh Jamaat convictions since December 2014 A court in the capital Astana banned Tabligh Jamaat in Kazakhstan as “extremist” in February 2013. Until the movement was banned, it used to send members on short-term missions to other towns and villages where they slept in mosques and addressed local Muslims, both door to door and in the mosque, a close observer of the movement in Central Asia told Forum 18. Male adherents are often identified by their beards and wearing of South Asian clothing. If Muslims are thought by the authorities to agree with some of Tabligh Jamaat’s teachings or practices, possess religious books often used in the movement, or meet others close to the movement, this can be enough to trigger a criminal prosecution. The new sentences in Sairam bring to 53 the number of alleged Tabligh Jamaat adherents (all of them Kazakh citizens) known to have been given criminal convictions since December 2014. Of these, 39 were given prison terms while 14 were given restricted freedom sentences. In the most recent known previous sentences, five Sunni Muslims in Almaty Region were sentenced in late December 2016 to between 18 months’ and three years’ imprisonment. Organising, participating in a “banned religious association” Like the previous 46 convicted Sunni Muslims, all seven Sairam defendants were convicted under Criminal Code Article 405 (or its equivalent in the old Criminal Code). Article 405, Part 1 punishes “organising the activity of a social or religious association or other organisation after a court decision banning their activity or their liquidation in connection with extremism or terrorism they have carried out” with a fine or up to six years’ imprisonment. Article 405, Part 2 punishes “participation in the activity of a social or religious association or other organisation after a court decision banning their activity or their liquidation in connection with extremism or terrorism they have carried out” with a fine or up to two years’ imprisonment. Two of the 53 Sunni Muslims – Saken Tulbayev and Khalambakhi Khalym – were also convicted and imprisoned under the broadly-framed Criminal Code Article 174, Part 1. This punishes “incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious hatred or antagonism” with imprisonment or restricted freedom for between two and seven years. As well as Tulbayev, Khalym and the newly-sentenced Bashpayev, Seventh-day Adventist prisoner of conscience Yklas Kabduakasov is among many other individuals serving a prison sentence under Article 174, Part 1. Jehovah’s Witness Teymur Akhmedov is currently on trial in the capital Astana under Article 174, Part 2, which punishes such incitement by groups of people. All reject the accusations. The number of such prosecutions – all initiated by the National Security Committee (KNB) secret police or with its close involvement – appears to be growing. Bank accounts likely to be blocked All eight newly-sentenced prisoners of conscience – Bashpayev in Pavlodar and the seven in Sairam – are likely to be added to the Finance Ministry Financial Monitoring Committee List of individuals “connected with the financing of terrorism or extremism”, thus blocking any bank accounts they might have, without any additional due legal process. As individuals are not told when they are added to the List, they normally only find out they have been added when they or relatives attempt to withdraw money from their bank. Pavlodar: “Inciting religious hatred”? Bashpayev gained a first degree and then began studies for a Master’s degree in Islamic theology at Medina University in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi authorities detained him from December 2015 to autumn 2016 at the request of Kazakhstan’s authorities. They freed him with no charge and apologised to him, his lawyer Bauyrzhan Azanov told Forum 18 on 10 April 2017. Bashpayev returned from Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan on 12 October 2016 on what he intended to be a short visit. However, he was arrested as soon as his flight landed at Astana Airport and taken to a prison in Pavlodar, Azanov added. Captain Gabit Bakirov of Pavlodar Region KNB secret police had already launched a case against Bashpayev under Criminal Code Article 174, Part 1 (“incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious hatred or antagonism”). Captain Bakirov launched the case after officers found recordings of Bashpayev’s talks on Islam on the Russian social network VKontakte on 7 April 2016, according to the 24-page indictment seen by Forum 18. Further online talks were found on 22 May 2016. “Expert analyses” of 15 April 2016 and 20 June 2016 claim to have found Bashpayev inciting religious hatred in the talks. In some of his remarks, Bashpayev criticised the state-controlled Muslim Board. Colonel Bekezhan Kalkomanov of Pavlodar KNB claimed to Forum 18 in January that he had “insulted the religious feelings of Kazakhstan’s traditional Muslims”. Bashpayev said the recordings of the talks, which he gave in a mosque in Ekibastuz in 2008 and in a cafe in Almaty in 2011, were later placed online without his knowledge. He denied inciting hatred of any sort. One of those who claimed in the investigation that Bashpayev had incited hatred was Asiya Abitova, a religious studies specialist at the state-financed Centre for Analysis and Development of Inter-confessional Relations in Pavlodar. She refused to answer any of Forum 18’s questions about her analysis. Dulat Beisembyaev, the lead Prosecutor’s Office official at the trial, refused to explain who – if anyone – had suffered from Bashpayev’s exercise of his right to freedom of religion or belief. “I can’t answer any questions by telephone,” he told Forum 18 on 10 April. He then put the phone down. Pavlodar: Closed trial Bashpayev’s closed trial began under Judge Kayirbek Yelemesov at Pavlodar City Court No. 2 with a preliminary hearing on 14 February. The full trial began on 6 March. The prosecution case was presented by two officials of Pavlodar Regional Prosecutor’s Office, led by Beisembayev. The Judge ordered the trial closed, claiming that this was at the request of a “victim”, the prominent Almaty Muslim Board imam Ersin Amire. The Judge’s assistant refused to tell Forum 18 in what way Amire needed protecting. Bashpayev’s lawyer Azanov described the decision to order the trial closed as “a violation of the law”. He noted that only the Judge, two prosecutors, Bashpayev and himself as his lawyer were present, apart from witnesses questioned. The acting head of the Pavlodar branch of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Ruslan Issenov, had been intending to observe Bashpayev’s trial. “The Judge read my appeal to be allowed into the trial and rejected it,” Issenov told Forum 18 from Pavlodar in early March. “I asked for a copy of the ruling declaring the trial closed, but he replied that a ruling is an internal document and cannot be handed out”. Bashpayev was brought to court for each hearing by four masked and armed guards. “Observers from the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law’s branch in Pavlodar were denied entry, as were Bashpayev’s relatives,” his lawyer, Azanov, told Forum 18. “His mother appealed to the Judge to let her even see her son, but he refused.” Azanov pointed out to the court that his client’s alleged “crimes” had taken place under the old Criminal Code, which had been replaced in January 2015. The case was then heard under Article 164, Part 1 (“incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious hatred or antagonism”) of the then Criminal Code in force at that time. Although the wording of the crime was almost the same as the current Article 174, Part 1, the maximum Article 164, Part 1 punishment was – between 2002 and 2011 – five years’ imprisonment. Azanov commissioned a linguistic analysis of Bashpayev’s words from the Almaty-based free speech organisation Adil Soz (Free Word). The analysis – completed on 22 March – “found not one sign of incitement to religious discord in Bashpayev’s words, not one”. Religious studies specialist Abitova, who had given testimony against Bashpayev before the trial, also appeared in court as a prosecution witness. However, Azanov dismissed her and her testimony as “ill-informed about Islam”. Azanov sought to have the KNB investigator in the case questioned in court, as well as other specialists who had prepared “expert analyses” on Bashpayev’s remarks. He also sought the right to question witnesses for the defence in court. “In all I lodged 20 different appeals during the course of the trial,” Azanov told Forum 18. “I referred to an individual’s rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Judge rejected all of them.” Pavlodar: Prison sentence On 7 April, the final day of the trial, Judge Yelemesov found Bashpayev guilty under the old Article 164, Part 1. He sentenced him to four and a half years’ imprisonment in a general regime labour camp, the lawyer Azanov told Forum 18. In his oral presentation of the verdict, the Judge mentioned no other restrictions on Bashpayev’s activity after he completes his sentence, Azanov added. “The Judge read out the verdict at the end of the trial but has not yet provided it in writing,” Azanov told Forum 18. He added that the written verdict is expected by 14 April. Bashpayev intends to appeal against his conviction to Pavlodar Regional Court. He is also considering lodging a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Until any appeal is heard, Bashpayev is likely to remain in Pavlodar’s Investigation Prison. Only on 11 April – after the trial was over – did Judge Yelemesov grant Bashpayev’s mother the right to visit her son in prison, Azanov noted. She had sought such a meeting for more than four months. Sairam: Secret police launch investigation Meanwhile, in South Kazakhstan Region, KNB secret police officers detained the seven Muslim men in November 2016. Officers searched their homes and claimed to find “banned” religious literature in Uzbek and Russian, as well as audio and video recordings. The KNB opened cases against the seven under Criminal Code Article 405. It identified two of the men, Bakhytzhan Baimusayev and Abduvakhab Shakirov, as leaders. They had to lodge money while the investigation continued to ensure they did not flee. None of the seven was held in pre-trial detention. The seven men insisted during the investigation – and later during their trial – that they are simply Muslims and not members of Tabligh Jamaat. Sairam: Court hands down prison terms On 9 March the case against the seven men reached Sairam District Court, where it was assigned to Judge Saltanat Kabylova, according to court records. The prosecution case was led in court by Sairam District Prosecutor Orazali Abdramanov. After hearings on 16, 28 and 29 March, the Judge found all seven men guilty on 4 April. All seven men had denied any guilt. Judge Kabylova took an hour and a half to read the verdict at the end of the trial, Kazinform news agency noted on 4 April. The two men identified as leaders – Baimusayev and 54-year-old Shakirov – were each sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in an ordinary regime labour camp under Criminal Code Article 405, Part 1, the court chancellery told Forum 18 on 7 April. Both men had been on bail in the run-up to the trial. The Judge also banned Baimusayev and Shakirov from conducting certain activities for four years after the end of their prison terms. The court chancellery did not specify what activity they would be banned from conducting. The other five – Furkhat Abatayev, Abdivasit Abdirazakov, Murodzhon Abdullayev, 33-year-old Zhenisbek Manbetov and 52-year-old Meirambek Sarymsak – were each convicted under Article 405, Part 2. Each was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, to be served in a work camp. The Judge similarly banned the five men from conducting certain activities for two years after the end of their prison terms. The court chancellery did not specify what activity they would be banned from conducting. District Prosecutor Abdramanov insisted that the seven men “had not been punished because of their faith”. “They conducted propaganda for a religious organisation that has been banned,” he told Forum 18 on 7 April. Abdramanov acknowledged that the men had not killed anyone or incited the killing of anyone, but refused to say in what way the men’s exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief had – if at all – violated the human rights of others. “I won’t answer your questions,” he said, before putting the phone down. Sairam: Punished for literature, meetings The seven men are alleged to have joined the Tabligh Jamaat movement in the 2000s. “The leader of the group and his assistant studied the Tabligh Jamaat movement deeply and travelled to study in India and Pakistan,” Judge Kabylova told journalists after the hearing. “Then they perfected their knowledge over four months in Bangladesh, which is considered the headquarters of this destructive movement.” Judge Kabylova added that the men forged links with Tabligh Jamaat in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and adopted their practices. “From Kyrgyzstan they imported banned literature and conducted agitation in Sairam District. They conducted propaganda for the destructive movement among villagers in Karabulak and Karasu who had gathered in prayer rooms and mosques. Later they created a group – that is a jamaat [group] – and conducted agitation at home.” The two apparent leaders, Baimusayev and Shakirov, also travelled to other regions of Kazakhstan. The other five were accused of listening to sermons and distributing religious books. “This is all slander,” Otyrar.kz, a Shymkent news site, quoted the men as declaring in their final address to the court. “We’re not terrorists and we’re not members of any movements. We’re normal Muslims.” All seven men were arrested in the courtroom after the sentences were handed down. Sairam: Earlier punishment The same Sairam District Court had earlier punished one of the seven sentenced Muslims, Manbetov, for exercising freedom of religion or belief. Police accused him on 14 May 2016 of maintaining a prayer room linked to the Tabligh Jamaat movement in his home village of Karabulak of Sairam District. The record of an offence was prepared against him on 12 July 2016. On 3 August 2016, Judge Saparaly Kurbanov of Sairam District Court found Manbetov guilty of violating Administrative Code Article 490, Part 1, Point 1. This punishes “violation of procedures established in law for conducting rites, ceremonies and meetings” with a fine for individuals of 50 Monthly Financial Indicators (MFIs). This represents about a month’s average wage for those in work. Judge Kurbanov fined Manbetov the prescribed 50 MFIs, 106,050 Tenge (2,600 Norwegian Kroner, 280 Euros or 310 US Dollars), according to the decision seen by Forum 18. He also banned him from conducting unspecified activities for three months. Manbetov did not appeal against the fine to South Kazakhstan Regional Court. Because Manbetov failed to pay the fine, court bailiffs launched proceedings to recover the funds on 7 November 2016, according to Justice Ministry records. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Human Rights Without Boarders

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets Myanmar’s de facto leader and honorary Canadian Aung San Suu Kyi next week, he needs to pressure her to protect the Rohingya Muslim minority, which is facing genocide and crimes against humanity in the northwest of the country, says a Canadian genocide expert. Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) at Concordia University and a Fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, says Suu Kyi’s five-day visit to Canada is a unique moment for Trudeau press the Nobel Peace Prize winner to do more to protect the stateless minority. “It’s a very opportune time for the Canadian government to host her but realize that there are some severe human rights violations going on and Canada should not be quiet about it but should actually pressure her when she’s here,” said Matthews. The Prime Minister’s Office announced Friday that Suu Kyi, whose official title is State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, will visit Canada from June 5 to 9, 2017. Suu Kyi is travelling to Canada to consult Trudeau on constitutional reforms. Her visit to Canada follows fresh round of peace talks in the capital Naypyidaw aimed at ending a conflict in Myanmar’s troubled frontier regions, where various ethnic groups have been waging war against the state for almost seven decades. Trudeau will meet Suu Kyi on June 7 to “discuss federalism and democratic reforms in Myanmar, as well as regional peace and security and the importance of promoting democracy, good governance and human rights,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office. The Rohingya, who number about one million, have lived in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for generations. However, many in Myanmar’s predominantly Buddhist population view them as foreign intruders from neighbouring Bangladesh. The persecution of Rohingya has been going on for a long time, Matthews said. Attacks against the Rohingya in Rakhine State along the border with Bangladesh came into the forefront in the last four-five years before Suu Kyi took power, he said. “In the past couple of years we have seen different Buddhist monks actually become very open and loud in using their pulpits to spread hate and ask for the masses in Myanmar to attack the Rohingya,” Matthews said. “We’ve had civilians taking up weapons and arms to attack Rohingya and we’ve had almost sectarian strife between the Rohingya and the Buddhist population.” Muslim mobs have also attacked Buddhist temples and villages in Rakhine and in neighbouring Bangladesh. The most recent spate of fighting began in October last year, when nine Buddhist Burmese border guards were attacked and killed. Security forces responded with a major security operation, conducting “clearance operations” and sealing the area, effectively barring humanitarian organizations, media and independent human rights monitors from entering, according to a report by Amnesty International. Dozens of Rohingya villages have been burned to the ground, women have been raped and civilians murdered by the army, Human Rights Watch reported in late 2016. At least 10,000 Rohingya have fled across the Bangladeshi border to escape the violence. The government has placed thousands of Rohingyas in internment camps, in places where they can’t interact with anyone else and don’t have the freedom to travel, he said. “There have been deportations, there have been mass killings,” Matthews said. “What has happened with Rohingya is a series of targeted human rights abuses against one particular group with the aim or partially destroying the group or trying to make them leave the territory.” That’s the very definition of genocide, Matthews said. However, the Burmese government has denied allegations of genocide and ethnic cleansing, rejecting any evidence to the contrary as “propaganda” and “fabricated news and rumours.” Lost opportunities When Suu Kyi took power after the 2015 elections, many in the international community and human rights organizations saw her as a beacon of light, someone who has fought against oppression and for justice, and fought for democracy, Matthews said. However, many have been very dismayed that that she hasn’t made any strong public statements about what’s happening to the Rohingya and doesn’t seem to have done anything to help their plight, Matthews said. “So it [persecution of the Rohingya] didn’t start on her watch, but she is now in charge and, having won a Nobel Peace Prize, it’s a little perplexing that she has not been more outspoken or done more to protect the Rohingya,” Matthews said. “I don’t know of any other Nobel Peace Prize winners who have gone on to govern a state committing genocide against a minority.” _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Radio Canada Internationa

The meeting Wednesday had the look of a feel-good visit between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and honorary Canadian citizen Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader of Myanmar, also known as Burma. But a major international human rights watchdog and groups representing Burmese refugees in Canada called on Trudeau to push Suu Kyi to allow an independent international investigation into allegations of widespread human rights abuses against the Muslim ethnic Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine. Suu Kyi's government has so far resisted those calls, which came from a special UN commission chaired by former secretary general Kofi Annan. Farida Deif, Canada director for Human Rights Watch, urged Trudeau to use the meeting with Suu Kyi on Parliament Hill to specifically push her to accept the UN call. "The prime minister should make clear that Myanmar's full co-operation with this independent and impartial investigation is expected by Myanmar's international donors and friends," said Deif. Treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya raises alarms Myanmar military plane missing with 120 on board Trudeau made no mention of the Rohingya situation during a brief public photo-op with Suu Kyi as the two exchanged pleasantries in his office. "We have some way to go before we become a working, democratic, federal nation such as yours, but I'm sure we'll get there," Suu Kyi told Trudeau. She is a one-time political prisoner, democracy champion and Nobel Laureate who won a landslide election victory in late 2015. While Trudeau's office said he did raise the investigation during the meeting, he didn't attach any strings. His office said Canada was giving Myanmar an additional $8.8 million in humanitarian assistance to promote "peace and stability" programs, including human rights. Pressing Trudeau for action Deif said Canada should view the Rohingya situation as "an important test of the Myanmar government's commitment to uphold the rule of law and to work constructively with the international community to establish the facts, identify perpetrators and deter future human rights abuses by all sides." Trudeau's spokesman said the prime minister planned to use the meeting to "advocate for further reforms in Myanmar, especially those that support ethnic and religious minorities, women, and young people — including the situation of the Rohingya." The prime minister also offered Suu Kyi Canada's condolences for the loss of a military plane from Myanmar, which disappeared Wednesday while carrying more than 100 passengers and crew. The Karen Community of Canada, which represents ethnic Karen refugees, also urged Trudeau to press for an independent UN investigation in Myanmar. The group said in an open letter to Trudeau it didn't want the visit to be a "feel-good celebration" that will ignore "human rights abuses in Burma's ethnic areas, which Aung San Suu Kyi's government has done virtually nothing to alleviate." Forging business links The Rohingya situation has dulled much of the lustre of Suu Kyi's successful entry into democratic politics in what was once one of South Asia's most repressive military regimes. She spent 15 years in detention in Myanmar before her National League for Democracy won the election after five decades of military rule in her poor, but resource-rich country. Former Conservative foreign affairs minister John Baird travelled to Myanmar in 2012 to present Suu Kyi with honorary Canadian citizenship and support her and the democratic reforms that were taking root then. Canada has since re-established diplomatic relations with Myanmar and wants to forge new business links with a country the World Bank has described as possessing "fertile lands, significant untapped agricultural potential and a rich endowment of natural resources." But in its letter to Trudeau, the Karen community urged the government to reign in its enthusiasm for exploiting opportunities in Myanmar's oil and gas sector because that has human rights implications. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Canadian Press,