DARFUR WORKING GROUP led by Mr Ray Newton
Updated 17th March,2010
Darfur Training Committee
President:Malcolm Chisholm MSP Vice-President: Margaret McGregor DL.
Convenor: Dr. Abdel Adam. Secretary: Hilary Cornish.
Treasurer: Charles Reid, 54 Marionville Rd., Edinburgh, EH7 6DQ. Tel.
0131-661-4276
Assistant Treasurer:Ray Newton, B.Sc.,M.Ed.
10 Buckstone Way, Edinburgh, EH10 6PN. Email: newton@raypat.plus.com
Women's Group Convenor: Maryum Gallander
Websites: www.darfurtraining.org.uk
Darfur Training Committee
President: Malcolm Chisholm MSP Vice-President: Margaret McGregor DL.
Management Committee
Convenor: Dr. Abdel Adam. Deputy Convenor: Dr. Mariam Suliman
Secretary: Wiham Adam, 64/2 Balbirnie Place, Edinburgh EH12 5JL
Treasurer: Charles Reid, 54 Marionville Rd., Edinburgh, EH7 6DQ. Tel. 0131-661-4276
Assistant Treasurer: Ray Newton, B.Sc.,M.Ed.10 Buckstone Way, Edinburgh, EH10 6PN. Email: newton@raypat.plus.com
Course Advisor: Linda Richardson. Project Manager:Dr Abdel Adam. Women's Organiser: Mariam Galander
Group representivesfrom Scotland, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds.
Members: Darfuri Women only - Current members include:
Khadidja Fadoul, Zeinab Burma, Fatima Suliman, Khadiga Hussein, Asma Siddig, Marwa Gibril, Hawa Haggar, Maimona Ismail, Linda Gasin, Suad Moser.MariamHassim, Ekhlas Ahmed, Omema Dain, Saadia Abdelmajid, Aisha Dosa
Websites: www.darfurtraining.org.uk
www..edinburghuna.co.uk/darfur
Royal Bank of Scotland, DTC Account: 00717753. Sort Code: 83-24-18
Registered Charity SC 039333
The Chad Report - March 2010
A.) Introduction by Ray Newton
We should remind ourselves that exactly one year ago we were planning to revisit the groups of women that our volunteers had established in El Fasher and Nyala. Unfortunately, in March 2009 President Omar El Bashir was accused by the ICC of 'crimes against humanity' and he took his revenge. Most foreign charities were expelled by his security forces and our contacts by phone and email to Darfur faded then stopped altogether.
The alternative was to follow-up the report of Dr. Mariam Suliman whose visit to the border camps with CORD had just taken place. Then in the summer security problems emerged and our plans had to be postponed. Instead, the DTC arranged for Abdel and Kadidja Fadoul to visit the Capital of Chad, N'Djamena, in December to try and collect information and establish groups of displaced Darfur women there and report back. They are to be congratulated on their work in difficult circumstances but with the aim of improving the lives of women. Please note that the photographs in the original report have been omitted as the downloading of the report would have been long and tedious!
B.) Report by Dr. Abdel Adam
From the minutes of the DTC meeting in Edinburgh on the 10 February - 'Abdel reported on his Chad visit to (N’djamena) from Dec. 10 to 24. The aim was to organise women's groups and, hopefully to register a local committee in order to coordinate our work in Chad refugee camps in the border with Sudan. Abdel managed to hold sessions with five volunteers who subsequently formed a self-help committee to address the needs of Darfurian women in the Diaspora (N’djamena).
The group are very enthusiastic and were led by two brilliant females, Umahani (who works with a communications company) and Zubaida (a very intelligent secondary school teacher). They submitted a report to Abdel which he translated “ the Chad committee wished to address the problems of education, training and capacity-building, small scale enterprise and health problems (especially women’s)”. The group is awaiting our suggestions. But we need to make them as independent as possible and also self-reliant as we cannot provide them with funding at this stage.
Abdel also pointed out some problems which make it very difficult to get a local NGO registered in Chad, such as the prohibitively high registration fee (nearly £3,000).
Chad report 2009-2010 - Khadidja Fadoul, DTC Trained volunteer , London.
Here is the report of my visit to Chad. I held 4 workshops followed by 39 meetings in total, from the 13 December 2009 to 3 February 2010. We are trained to go to Darfur to
train other women. ‘Training of trainers’ is our main approach to women's empowerment. I was selected & invited to a large number of female participants to discuss a wide range of issues, from basic rights to education, health-care, access to drinking water, to wider issues such as good governance and there are women who have the potential of transforming their local communities and contributing to building strong and vibrant communities.
Normally I should have travelled to Chad on the 11 December but due to snow at Heathrow airport I went on the 12 of December 2009 for the project. We went to Chad to see what the situation is of the Sudanese women in Chad and form a committee so we can keep in touch with them as the DTC aims for the next 3 years plan to revisit if it’s possible. I started on the 13 December, I visited Abdel on the JEM residence in Clemat(Ndjamena) I handed over the walk-talky which Ray sent me before I left. I asked to plan the time and see the convenient time to start our project. Unfortunately Abdel asked me to do it on my own. It was surprising to me that we divide the same work with an organization which has the same goal/mission and in the same city and same people with the same gender. The next day I called 2 Darfur women they visited me and had names and contact details for others then I started to call and to pass information about our mission to their relatives and friends. Gradually I had most of the Sudanese women in N’djamena not only Darfuri. I found that many women were keen to participate. I held 4 workshops with Sudanese women followed by 39 meetings including the local authority and e-mailing ray.
As you know I continued to work hard to accomplish our mission on a daily basis. I recognize there are many humanitarian needs in the world, yet in case you are unaware, the violence plagued by civil conflict, their hopes of having a positive impact in their lives, as no woman or child should have to undergo such violence. They really need our support by providing life-saving services for displaced women and children, in Darfur and the host community including: emergency medical treatment and physician training, counselling to help heal deep psychological wounds, and economic opportunities to help promote self-sufficiency.
Procedure of an NGO to carry out any work in the territory of Chad: I visited the minister of planning and economy and I had the list of queries for installing an NGO, before meeting Mr Diara I went to the UNHCR but I had complications to meet the representative for various reasons. They were in a meeting concerning the Haiti disaster after 3 hours waiting, the security didn’t allow me to stay as I don’t have anything to identify our organisation and its on Friday which known as short day so I wrote e-mails to Ray. I went again on Monday and met the representative. He advised me on how to register an NGO with contact details of the department we need to see them in order to be registered and carry on afterward with partnerships. Then I called Mht Nour from the CENAR and made appointment with him he directed me to Mr Diara.
External assistance & NGO contributions Many international and local agencies undertake reconstruction programmes in the Chad. The DTC varies from providing welfare and shelter but the DTC aims for long-term assistance to initiating women's groups and small-scale development projects or cultural activities and conflict resolution by provide training mobilising and to empower Darfuri women to resettle down and live independently after the genocide.
Main problem All the Sudanese Diaspora are hoping for peace in Sudan so that the displaced could go back home. They hope for brighter and peaceful Sudan. Most of them haven’t witnessed the genocide but are more concerned about employment. They expect to get paid for employment after I clearly explain about DTC as a small organisation aim to empower women by mobilising women against Gender-based violence and to reduce all forms of violence, particularly against Women and girls including domestic, family, sexual, and workplace Violence, and to eliminate gender disparities in access to education at all levels. In a Conflict and post conflict situation, we discussed the different impact on and the particular needs of women and girls; and support the full implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security but not to provide immediate support such as food, shelter nor employability but the numbers were not big as from the start.
They really appreciated and welcomed me warmly but they want to stay in Chad.
To all of us out there who are in an advantageous situation please don’t get tired of helping the disadvantaged ones. I am a woman who would really want to make a difference. I was born & grown up in Chad and speak fluent French but my heart never felt in the way I am now. I have learnt a lot by this visit. I am studying in London and I know that one day there will also be an improvement in my life through the grace of God. We need to rise up as women and help our fellow sisters & mothers. If we change even the life of one woman as individuals we can make a start to touch the world.
Life remains extremely challenging; they had to rely on their husbands for everything however small. Let us help them from the bottom of our hearts to make them able to buy clothes for themselves and their children and household expenses without having to go to men for money & all other rights. Yes it's complex, but that is no reason for us not helping in any way. The personal courageous stories shared by these women are amazing.
From personal experience and after listening to them, especially Fatima and Makka’s stories, I do see the world differently. I have moved from thinking that the problems are "out there" and beyond my part to influence to something where we can make a difference. I would like to express my appreciation for the committee, its members, all the Darfuris for the huge help that they put to empower women and specially Ray. This expansion drew the attention of more women not only by me. “Educate a woman, educate the whole nation”
Makka’s case study
Makka’s is a Darfuri woman who left her children in the refugee camp and came to N’djamena to meet her husband who is a UK Citizen. she is desperate to return to her kids at the refugee camp and her husband persuaded her to wait. Makka had witnessed the war, lost most of her relatives, her house was burnt down and she fled to the east of Chad since the genocide started in 2003
Fatima’s case study
Fatima‘s story is a most sad and true history. She lost her husband, father, sons, brother in-law and witnessed her brother’s death. “We saw them when they came on horses to kill us. My brother fought back and they killed him. We could not defend ourselves because they are loaded with weapons” She left her 5 kids in the Chad camps and came to Ndjamena to get some money and return.
I found a lot of support for the DTC in Chad but also in London because it “has no political or religious affiliations and exists to help finance and organise training courses for people from Darfur, especially women. It aims to empower Darfur women to organise community welfare and assist in the advancement of education and community development. This work is particularly focussed on Darfur itself, but also in the wider Diaspora. We (the management committee and members) aim to build positive and enthusiastic teams who will perform to the least if not the higher standards.”
Team spirit is stimulated, developed and enhanced through the input of our passionate and enthusiastic people at all levels and across all gatherings. Let us have a tailored programme to provide a sound basis for better DTC projects in the future, and each of us should know its duties, commitment and responsibilities. The DTC fully believes in the principles of self development where the individual is responsible for achieving their learning objectives. We are all encouraged to play an active part in ensuring that our own development needs are reviewed and met as part of a dynamic and resourceful team. There is plenty of help available for us to meet our needs to enhance existing skills or develop new ones. Team leading and Management is not to be top-down but bottom-up as Ray always mentions throughout the courses. To empower women in society and the community needs to begin in the home, with girls being valued as much as boys yet in our community it is difficult but let us have hope.
Workshop results.
I struggled to train as much as possible without materials & logistics or any help/support. I asked myself what I should do to train but I hit the trail as much as I could, but honestly with my work/travel schedule it was nearly impossible without the moral support of my friends & family and prayers. And most importantly not presume on others for what I needed.
Recommendations by the Sudanese Diaspora in Chad
Education: expand and strengthen the opportunities of women and girls for post primary education and training including literacy and numeracy skills. Health: increase access to primary health care including sexual and reproductive health services and HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care for women, girls and youth.
Leadership: increase adolescent and adult women’s participation and representation at all levels of decision-making, within political, economic and social processes.
Livelihoods: enable poor women and girls to secure sustainable livelihoods by increasing and improving their access to, control of, and benefits from economic and natural resources, opportunities and services including housing, employment, land, credit, markets, trade, and information communication technologies (ICTs).
Some names of the volunteers to train women in the camps in the future.
1. Ache abakar (ache zaghawa)
2. Ahlam Sharif
3. Aisha mht
4. Ambusa idriss
5. Awadia Abdurrahman
6. Awatif Suleiman
7. Aziza sheikh
8. Beyne ali
9. Darasalam issa
10. Djamila Abdurrahman
11. Fatna abdelshafi
12. Fatna brahim
13. Fatna Mahmud
14. Fatna mht
15. Fatna om hayat
16. Fayza brahim
17. Hamida gasi
18. Hanane Mahdi
19. Hawa mht Abdullah
20. Kaltom djaroua
21. Madina Ali
22. Madjda bahradine
23. Magboula bichara
24. Mariam + shadia
25. Mariam djaroua
26. Muna abdoulaye
27. Nadjwa nadjmadine
28. Nadjwa Suleiman
29. Nouracham Suleiman
30. Raouda bahradine
31. Sabah nadjmadine
32. Sadia brahim
33. Salwa hasaballah
34. Samira bichara
35. Shama Hassan
36. Suad nurein
37. Teyba
38. Zara leysa
39. Zeinab Suleiman djibrine
40. Zubeida Mahmud
Comments at the DTC Report meeting 13 March 2010 - Ray.
It would be useful in the future for volunteers to have a badge or a card from the DTC. This was pioneering work and more training, guidance and preparation by the DTC is required. A better budget should include incentives for the women to train because we have a problem because other NGOs offer them cash when they ask for help but the DTC's emphasis must be to develop organised groups that will find ways to help themselves.
It seems to me that the women must be weaned off the present complete dependency by demanding their rights and to make their own voice heard. Also we must look for and give extra training to the women who show leadership qualities and make sure we have the ways and means to maintain good communication when we leave the groups in Sudan. We must try to follow up the work especially by revisiting them every six months. Unfortunately, we do not seem to have direct contact with any leaders in Chad and I hope Khadidja can rectify this through her relations there. I repeat that we are very grateful to Abdel and Khadidja for the work they have done in very difficult circumstances .
Your comments on the report would be welcomed by the DTC Management. Thank you.
All welcome to discuss the report of the recent visits to Chad by Dr.Abdel Adam and Khadidja Fadoul,Saturday 13th March 2010 at 2pm at the Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace,Edinburgh
updated 18th February 2010
ALL SUPPORTERS ARE WELCOME
The last AGM was held on the 30th June 2009
Ray Newton, 10 Buckstone Way, Edinburgh EH10 6PN
0131-445-2967. email newton@raypat.plus.com
Members of Darfur working group.
Trapped in a Darfur refugee camp
By Amber Henshaw BBC News, El Fasher, Darfur
I first met 28-year-old Khaled Abdel Muti Ali a year ago in Abu Shouk camp on the outskirts of Fasher in North Darfur.
Sitting around in a small mud hut in the huge, sandy settlement, he and a group of other Darfuris described the grim conditions there and answered questions from people around the world as part of a BBC laptop link-up.
I went back to see how their lives had changed, and they said the violence and insecurity had only got worse.
"Now when I look to the future it looks very dark," says Khaled.
"This life we are now living is not life. Ten people living in a house which is about 10 metres and we've been like this for five years.
"Nothing is better in Abu Shouk. Everything is getting worse, starting from security. Many NGOs [non-governmental organisations] have left the camp. We have no health service.
"Where are people supposed to get money to buy food or health or clothes for their children, or to pay for education?"
Last time I had taken a little blue taxi to the camp, and was able to wander around Abu Shouk uninterrupted.
This time I was forbidden from even entering.
There was no explanation, but national security made it clear that Abu Shouk was a no-go area.
Security officers refused to sign any of the necessary permits allowing me to work in the camps or the town.
Luckily I was able to track down Khaled and Omda Salah Bakhoor - who was one of the camp's only leaders in 2007. I bumped into Hawa Abdullah Mohammed in a shop.
We agreed they would come to my guest house. They brought other residents from Abu Shouk and the neighbouring al-Salaam camp.
“We can die today; we can die tomorrow, because the security is very bad”
Khaled Abdel Muti Ali, Camp resident
Women buying weapons
Last year, people told me they were afraid to go to bed at night because they could hear gun shots and they feared attacks after dark.
Now they say that things have further deteriorated.
Each one of them told me more and more weapons were being smuggled into the camp. They said the government was to blame.
Women and children as young as 14 were being used to bring arms into Abu Shouk, residents said.
"Now the ladies have guns and they are also bringing these weapons into the camp," one of them told me. "They are also buying the weapons for the men."
He said the government wanted people to go back to their villages, so they made life in the camp as bad as possible to drive people out.
"They have indicated that the armed militia, as well as the movements and the presence of GOS (the Government of Sudan) with arms may be contributing to this."
Disaffected youth
It seems that Abu Shouk is now split in a way it was not a year ago.
An international source in Fasher, who did not want to be named, told me half the camp was now pro-government and half behind Abdel Wahid el-Nur - the leader of a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army currently in exile in Paris.
The source said the government was buying supporters with cash, and that they were the most powerful group in Abu Shouk.
Wariara Mbugua says the longer people live in camps for internally displaced people, the more dangerous the situation will become.
"There are very serious dangers, especially a very large disaffected youth who are totally hopeless. They became a very easy target for mobilisation for the militia and the [rebel] movements, meaning you really have a ground for continuing of the fuelling up of the conflict."
Most of the people I spoke to think they will be in the camps for the foreseeable future.
This year the government has launched its own peace plan - the Sudan People's Initiative - but few Darfuris are holding out much hope.
Khaled, Hawa and Salah are all trying to make the best of a bad situation, but they know they could live in Abu Shouk for the next 10 or 20 years.
Khaled says he cannot really think about the future.
"We can die today, we can die tomorrow, because the security is very bad," he says.
"We are not able to go back to our villages and we are not able to stay here safely, so we are not thinking about life now."
Extract from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/7685248.stm
© BBC MMIX
posted January 26th 2009
The United Nations Association of Edinburgh in conjunction with the Darfur Training Committee held a conference entitled "The Empowerment of Women in Darfur"
posted 1st september,2008
1
Gender-based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection Workshop
Nyala Sakali IDP Camp, 23 Aug. 08
Reported by: Fatima Ahmed
This workshop is funded by the Darfur Training Committee, Scotland
Darfur crisis brought about gender-based violence and child abuse. The victims are often caught on
the way to the forest to
collect firewood for cooking 
the meals or palm leaf to
make handicrafts to sell for
cash to subsidized food
rations.
In a joint efforts with Women
Centres run by women in
Nyala it has been possible for
me to organize training
workshop. The workshop
focussed on protection
issues for both women
and children.
Photo above: areal View of Dirage and Utash IDP camps,Nyala, South Darfur State, Sudan
Photo below: example of group discussion of the Training workshop participants.
Several women
participated. The 
trainers are women
and one man with
vast experience in
GBV. Many women
and young
children attended
the workshop. The
participation has
been beyond the
organizers
expectation.
Furthermore, I
used the workshop
opportunity to meet
more women to discuss issue that are important to help women become leaders in their community.
Photo by: Bedreldin Shutta
Photo by: Mohamed Afsar
2
This is workshop would not have been possible without the tremendous efforts from my assistant
guide Dr. Muna who stood for facilitating permits from the security forces who have to grant me a
“permit” to enter the camps.
This is a breakthrough for me. I am very happy that the workshop took place and that there are
seminars expected to take place in the next. 
Greetings from School Children
View of Dirage IDP camp, Nyala 
Photo by: Mohamed Afsar
Photo by: Bedreldin Shutta
Arbiya’a Market
(the conversations were originally in Arabic, of course)
I met the 32-year-old Maryam of Dirage IDP camp. She is very busy at Arbiya’a Market surrounded by several men and women buying from her handicrafts.
I came close to her and she thought I am a client who wants to buy a basket from her weaved from palm tree leaves. When I told her that I want to know about her situation in the camp, aaha you are the munazamat people, she said. The word munazamat refers to charity organizations. She seems to be annoyed by presence but I have no idea why is that. I tell it from the appearance of her face.
Maryam said that “you munazamat (NGO) people you always ask us too many questions and you seem not organize yourselves, we get a surveyor in the morning asking all sort of questions and another comes in the afternoon asking the same question. I just wonder if you at all speak to each other!”
I nodded my head in agreement with her. I started helping her in arranging her handicraft in a style that attracts buyers. Having interacted with her she started to trust me and I asked her how she spends her day in the camp.
Maryam said that “I live in the Dirage Camp, which hosts about 24,000 Internally Displaced People, for more than three years by now. I am an active woman and I never stayed idle in our village. You know when a group of armed people attacked our village at dawn of a Saturday morning which is Suq (market) day; I lost my husband and two of my four children. My cousin took me with my children to small woodland where we hid ourselves till the night fall and thereafter we sneaked towards Nyala city. We went straight to the Dirage cam as we do not have relatives to accommodate us in Nyala besides we lost every livelihood means. We came to the Camp Sheik (Head) who registered me and my children. I have given a tent and some plastic tarpaulin of which I managed to build a makeshift residence. I have been given a registration number and a ration card. I received oil, sorghum, flour and lentils. However, I need to have onions, okra and tomato or potatoes so that I make curry or sauce for my children to eat it with the assida (porridge). Fining items such as vegetables and meat is not easy. Sometimes I barter some oil or sugar for meat. In my village we eat meat at least four times a week. In the camp meat is a luxury which is not accessible to the vast majority of the IDPs.
Since I am a good handicraft specialist, one day friend of me and I went out to collect palm leaf to use for weaving baskets, food-covers, Huffrat Dukhan covers known locally as birish. When we reached the wadi valley of Rumaliya and started collecting the palm leaf suddenly we saw armed people riding camels coming towards us. We dashed running like horses fuelled by power of fear. We ran for more than 6 kilometres and managed to usefully escape from the armed men. I heard that several women and girls were raped while collecting firewood, water or fodder for the animals.
My legs swelled and I was in total fear for several days. I used hot water and salt to ease the pain in my legs. After this incident I decided to come to Suq Arbiya’a (Wednesday market) and I barter some of my food ration items with palm leaf. When I do not have enough food ration items I borrow the palm leaf from the retailer and then pay him after a week or so following the selling of my products.
I work the whole day and night to weave the baskets and other handicrafts in order to take to this weekly market. I make little profit from which I pay for the school fees for my children. Recently some NGOs gave the children handwriting books and bags. I need to ensure that my children are in school to become educated so that they serve their community in the future. I have no future because I did not go to school. My husband went to school but he got killed in his early age and I want his children to study and be teachers or doctors.
I do not like to be in the camp because we loose our control over resources and we have to depend very much on food handouts. But also I cannot go back to the village because there is no security and we have nothing in hand to enable us to restart our life as before the war.
War is bad and I wish if rebels and government agree to end it and bring peace to. Now my children’s future is gloomy…. I cannot see any hope… no hope … means no future …..”
I am very sad to see that we are at war!!
End…
Dabir Tehrani/28 March 08
Enc: Article from afrol website.
ATTACHMENT
UN Darfur vote turns scramble for Sudan's oil
Source: http://www.afrol.com/articles/13921
Afrol News, 10 September (2007?) - As the UN Security Council is debating a US draft resolution on the Sudan crisis, based on colliding views whether a genocide is or is not happening in Darfur, the issue of Sudan's oil is becoming a key factor. If an oil export embargo is approved, China and India would lose their influence over Sudan's vast oil reserves and a Khartoum regime change would open up these resources to the West. The US is in favour of sanctions, China is against.
The population of Darfur is presently, as the UN puts it, suffering from "the world's worst humanitarian crisis." It is well documented that the Khartoum government bares much of the responsibility for this immense suffering, which the UN calls "ethnic cleansing" and the US yesterday called "genocide". It is however also well documented that the US through its closest African allies, helped train the SLA and JEM Darfuri rebels that initiated Khartoum's violent reaction, as afrol News reported on Tuesday.
While the US and UK governments are urging the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Sudan due to Khartoum's "acts of genocide" and to stop the humanitarian crisis, many Asian and African countries are sceptical to the sudden rush to condemn Khartoum. They suspect that the real interests behind the proposed sanctions and opening for the use of military force against Sudan is motivated by other than humanitarian motives to meet the Darfur crisis - a crisis which the West actually helped create.
After all, Sudan is believed to hold Africa's greatest unexploited oil resources, even greater than those of the Gulf of Guinea. US oil companies are barred from operating in Sudan and other Western companies are chased from the country by the Washington administration. The Canadian oil company Talisman Energy is even facing charges of "complicity in genocide and war crimes" in a US court due to its past engagements in Sudan. At present, Asian oil companies dominate the field in Sudan.
For China, Sudan has become an important oil provider and an important country to build a national sector of internationally operating oil companies. The rapidly growing Asian economic giant has urgent strategic needs to secure its own oil sources - only during the first seven months of this year, Chinese oil imports had risen by 40 percent compared to the anterior year. An estimated six percent of China's oil imports are from Sudan, a number that Beijing officials want to increase. Large investments are already made and others are planned.
China's state-owned oil company China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) owns a 40 percent share of the local Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), which controls two of the most important oil fields in the Western Upper Nile Province. Starting in mid-2005, China's CNPC is foreseen to produce oil in the Melut Basin east of River Nile. Other Chinese companies are involved in the construction of the 1,392 kilometre long pipeline from the Melut Basin to Port Sudan at the Red Sea and in the US$ 215 million project of constructing an oil export terminal port in this Sudanese city.
Other important players in Sudan's slowly growing oil industry are mostly from India and Malaysia, two other industrialising Asian countries with urgent strategic needs to secure their parts of the world's oil production in an ever fiercer competition with US interests. India's ONGC Videsh and Malaysia's Petronas have bought substantial shares in Sudanese oil fields as Western companies have been pressured to divest in the country during the last years.
For China, India and Malaysia, therefore, the US draft resolution on sanctions against Sudan to the UN Security Council poses a direct economic threat. Just hours after US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a US legislative committee that the killings in Darfur over the past year "constitute genocide", the US representative in the Security Council, John Danforth, presented the draft that included an embargo on Sudanese oil exports. China, as the only Asian power with veto rights in the Council, however has announced its willingness to block these sanctions.
The pressure on China and other Security Council members is however immense. Global human rights groups, an almost united world press corps and powerful political groupings hold the view that the world is obliged to stop the "genocide in Darfur". Not stopping it would mean being co-responsible, as when the world failed to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Time has run out for Khartoum, which should have acted earlier to stop the "Darfur genocide", they say. China would face strong condemnation if it blocks the UN resolution. The Germany-based Society for Threatened Peoples already yesterday released a statement titled: "China's thirst for oil prolongs genocide in Darfur."
Critics however hold that it was the Western thirst for Sudanese oil that in fact started the fighting in Darfur by training the SLA and JEM (anti-Khartoum) rebels. Chaos in Sudan, German analyst Uwe Friesecke told afrol News, will give Western powers an opportunity to intervene militarily and provoke a change of the unpopular Islamist regime in Khartoum. With new powers thus handed to the World Bank and the IMF to open up Sudan's economy, the country's vast oil reserves would be accessible to Western oil companies, the analyst holds.
According to Mr Friesecke, it is no causality that the powers that are "dictating the peace" between Khartoum and South Sudan - the US, UK, Norway and Italy - are all countries with big oil interest. The US has a declared aim of making Africa one of its main oil providers. Norway bases its economy on oil and is to host an upcoming donor conference for Sudan. Norway's ever-expanding state-owned oil companies are present in many similar zones. The UK and Italy also host major oil companies. "There are made detailed plans for post-peace Sudan in the West," maintains Mr Friesecke, referring to US government sources.
While the debate over the UN Security Council's upcoming Sudan resolution is turning into a power struggle over Sudan's future oil production, more than 1.2 million civilian Darfuris remain displaced and without sufficient international aid. Humanitarian organisations speak of severe lack of funds to secure decent food, water and housing to the many displaced. Most Western powers decrying the "ethnic cleansing and humanitarian crisis in Darfur" have contributed with very little funds, except the US, which is by far the largest donor.
By Rainer Chr. Hennig
Policy issue on Darfur for UNA National Conference March 2008
Edinburgh UNA welcomes the initiatives made by the UN to resolve the
desperate situation in Darfur and urges UNA(UK) to:-
a) publicise and lobby the British Government to voice its concern over the
delaying tactics of the Government of Sudan to reach a peaceful settlement
based on the equitable distribution of power and resources to the regions
and the establishment of human rights especially for women.
b) emphasise the need for women everywhere to be able to empower themselves
in civil society as a prerequesite to the social, economic and political
development of their country. Attention is drawn to the example of a group
of experienced Edinburgh UNA members forming a new Darfur Training Committee
including an authority on Darfur rural affairs. This is a long-term project
to train Darfur women to help themselves as exemplified on the website
www.darfurtraining.org.uk
The Darfur Training Committee gave a Press Conference in the Scottish Parliament Building on 23rd. October
From Left to Right - Malcolm Chisholm MSP, Dr. Abdel Adam, Joanna Dingwall, Ray Newton, Dr.Alec Gaines.
UNA meeting on Darfur on 23rd.
October in the Meeting House with Dr. Abdel Adam and Marium Hassim about
the training of Darfur women to empower themselves in the decision-making
processes in Sudan.
On Monday January 26 2009 over 60 people assembled in Edinburgh City Chambers for a Conference on ‘The Empowerment of Women in Darfur’. The Conference was co-sponsored by UNA Edinburgh and the Darfur Training Committee (DTC). Participants included representatives from a wide variety of NGOs; many - but not all of them - associated with human rights, development, and women’s affairs. Darfurian women came from communities in Leeds, Edinburgh, and Birmingham, and several had already participated in DTC training sessions. Representatives were also present from two of the liberation movements (Justice and Equality, Sudan Liberation Movement) and representatives of the Sudanese Government, including the Deputy Ambassador. The conference was ably chaired by Malcolm Chisholm MSP, President of DTC.
After a brief welcome from Malcolm Chisholm, the morning session continued with addresses by Linda Fabiani MSP (Minister for External Affairs) on the Scottish Government and aid policy. Dr Gari Donn JP (Convenor, UNA Edinburgh and a specialist in international education issues) spoke on ‘Empowerment of Women in the Developing World’. Then Dr Abdel Adam, Project Mananger of DTC, described how the DTC works to train women from Darfur, and the problems faced by women in Darfur. After a coffee break long enough to encourage some lively conversation and interaction, participants divided into 4 groups, each with mixed membership, to discuss some of the issues raised so far. Key features of these discussions were issues of education - should girls and boys be treated equally when it comes to education? Why do girls tend to drop out o f school? Questions like these highlighted cultural, family and basic economic issues and contexts - for example, so much of the growing of crops, fetching wood and water, etc depends on the womenfolk.
There was general agreement that to empower women in society and the community needed to begin in the home, with girl children being valued as much as boys, and progress to school so that girls and boys could have the same opportunities for education through school and beyond. Time and again education emerged as the key to nurturing the gifts and abilities of girls and women. Discussion also ranged around how women in Darfuri society could gain experience of leadership? Again, the starting point seemed to be in running the home (sometimes of necessity if men were away from home), and then in aspects of the local community. In the subsequent report-back session there was both agreement on some common issues, and diversity of ideas and responses reflecting the wide range of participants’ experiences and interests.
After a lunch break which again afforded time and opportunity for interactions and conversations, the afternoon session began with addresses from the Deputy Ambassador, representing the government of Sudan, and from the two representatives of liberation movements. We believe that this was a unique occasion and opportunity to bring together representatives from these different political parties and perspectives, and not surprisingly there was some lively discussion in the following groups. But before breaking out into discussion groups we heard from Mariam Hassim, a remarkable lady who after training with DTC, visited Darfur, worked with women in the camps and in villages, and began a network of active and involved women which at the last count has 900 participants - a truly remarkable achievement which bodes well for empowering more women in Darfur. Unfortunately Mariam had to leave before the end of the conference, but everyone agreed that she was the star of the day.
Inspired by Mariam’s talk, the afternoon groups tackled as a starter question: what hinders finding a just resolution to the problems of Darfur, and what would by women’s priorities? Discussion this time was even more lively. Each group again came up with some similar and other varied ideas, but, generally, there was a degree of criticism of the Darfuri government - perhaps that’s an occupational hazard of governments. Discussions ranged in various directions - for instance, which is more important, peace or justice? The consensus was that there must be some degree of peace, even the ‘negative’ peace of stopping the fighting, before issues of justice could be addressed. The necessity for all parties to a conflict having the courage to listen to each other in a spirit of respect and dignity was also stressed in at least one group. That may be a peculiarly women’s perspective, but it also linked with the agreed understandings that peace cannot be achieved by military means, but ultimately has to be through dialogue involving all parties, and while international agents may be able to facilitate that dialogue, ultimately peace, reconciliation and justice can only be achieved by and between the involved parties themselves. And women not only must have a role here, they can also bring their own special gifts of working together and across different communities. If there are many more like Mariam, and they can also be empowered to bring their own special contributions into society and debate at all levels, then surely there can be progress and a brighter future for Darfur and its people.
Outline of the conference
The programme consisted of the following speakers and included 4 working discussion groups.
Morning Topic: "The future role of women in the development of Darfur"
Speakers: Linda Fabiani MSP, Minister for European and External Affairs, responsible for Scotland’s aid to Darfur
Dr Gari Donn JP Edinburgh UNA and Edinburgh University
Dr. Abdel Adam Darfur Training Committee
Round Table Discussions then followed
Afternoon: "The Future of Darfur"
Speakers: The Deputy Sudanese Ambassador- Mr Mohamad Zaroug
Dr. Abdullah Eltom, Sudan Justice and Equality Movement
Ahmed Abbaker, Sudan Liberation Movement
Maryam Hassim, Darfur Training Committee
The conference concluded with reports from the working groups and a conference photograph.