Genocide in Darfur

The US will take over as president of the UN Security Council next month, and, in the Wall Street Journal, Mia Farrow and Nancy Soderberg say that ending the Darfur genocide should be a key goal during its term. Sudan is denying entry to all non-African UN peacekeepers, the actress and the ex-ambassador explain, so the US must coordinate support and training. More »

A Danish designer hoped her T-shirt featuring a starving child tricked out with Paris Hilton's favorite accessories—a Louis Vuitton handbag and her tiny dog Tinkerbell—would highlight the media's distorted priorities and raise money to fight genocide in Darfur. The French luxury brand, however, was not amused, and has launched a lawsuit calling for a halt in production of the T-shirts and demanding $7,500 for every day her website uses the Vuitton name, reports ABC News. More »

Sudan today severed ties with Chad, charging that the nation aided hundreds of Darfur rebels who launched a surprise assault on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman late yesterday. Khartoum and Omdurman were heavily guarded and under curfew after the assault hundreds of miles from rebel bases in the west. Sudanese leaders assured residents that the threat was over. Chad has denied involvement. More »

Darfur rebels battled Sudanese soldiers today in a rare bid for control of Sudan's capital, Reuters reports. The military later claimed victory and said just a few militants had reached Khartoum. "Thank God this attempt has been completely defeated," a government spokesman said. More »

A humanitarian group is using Facebook to search for two war criminals involved with genocide in Darfur, the BBC reports. The War Crimes Watch List issued an open call on the social network for sightings of Ahmed Haroun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, who face 51 counts of crimes against humanity for allegedly planning atrocities by Janjaweed militias. More »

The UN's humanitarian chief has painted a grim picture of the situation in Darfur, estimating that disease, war, and famine have claimed 300,000 lives in the region since conflict broke out in 2003—100,000 of them since 2006. People are continuing to die as efforts to solve the crisis have stalled, he warned the Security Council. More »

A new feature allows Google Earth users to take a tour of the world’s refugee hotspots, with images of camps supplemented by information from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the AP reports. The search titan has greatly improved the available resolution in its satellite photos of refugee areas—for example, individual tents are visible in a Chadian camp for Darfur’s displaced. More »

Shipments of African contraband such as ivory, tiger parts, and rhino horn are funding militant groups and perhaps terrorists, Newsweek reports. After the theft of $1.3 million in ivory in Chad last year and a reported rise in contraband smuggling, US lawmakers have become interested: A House hearing on the wildlife trade is scheduled to start next week. More »

Darfur may be on a road back to the pitched fighting between rebels, militias and the Sudanese army that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions 5 years ago, prompting the US to call it genocide, the New York Times reports. The Sudanese government recently stepped up operations in the area, creating “a population that is just being attacked from both sides.” More »

Activists are preparing to plaster college campuses with posters with charges like “McDonald’s: Proud Sponsor of the Genocide Olympics,” hoping to pressure multinational corporations sponsoring the Beijing Games into doing more about Darfur, BusinessWeek reports. Buying oil from Sudan makes China a sponsor of the region's genocide, the thinking goes, and Olympics backers like McDonald's are sponsoring the sponsors of the killing. More »

President Bush has defended his decision not to send US troops to Darfur to stop the genocide taking place in the troubled African region. The choice was partly due to a desire not to intervene in another Muslim country, he told the BBC. Bush is scheduled to leave today for a visit to five African countries, but may be delayed if the controversial eavesdropping bill he backs continues to be held up in Congress. More »

Human rights groups praised Hollywood's Steven Spielberg yesterday for stepping down as artistic director of the Beijing Olympics due to China's ongoing support for the Sudanese regime. His move has opened the floodgates to a deluge of criticism over China's involvement in Darfur, giving the Chinese government a taste of what's likely to come during this summer's games, the Guardian reports. More »

Steven Spielberg stepped down today as a 2008 Beijing Olympics adviser over China’s links to the Darfur genocide, the BBC reports. “I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual,” the filmmaker said. China has been criticized for buying oil from the Sudan, selling it weapons, and supporting it at the UN while Khartoum has waged war in Darfur. More »

Government attacks on Darfur villages, ostensibly directed at rebel fighters, have caused a new exodus of at least 12,000 people from western Sudan into Chad, the BBC reports. The government acknowledges bombing three villages Friday, but said it was targeting fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement. Rebel leaders denied their people were in those villages. More »

The president of Chad said today his forces had reclaimed control of the whole nation, the AP reports. "Security forces have repulsed the aggressors. The mercenaries directed by Sudan have been forced to flee," Idriss Deby said in his first public remarks since the uprising began last week. A rebel leader, however, said the coalition had accepted a ceasefire negotiated by Libya. More »

Chad's capital city was largely quiet today as rebels prowled the outskirts of violence-wracked N'Djamena, Reuters reports. "I think they are awaiting some reinforcements,” the foreign minister told the AP. Just in case, Nicolas Sarkozy said France was ready to lend its former colony's government military support. “Let no one doubt it,” the president declared. More »

Rebels pulled out of Chad’s capital city of N’Djamena last night, temporarily ending a 2-day siege, but renewed hostilities broke out today, the AP reports. The rebels said they pulled back to allow civilians to flee, an offer hundreds took advantage of. But the interior minister insisted the army was in control: “The savage mercenaries are routed.” More »

Actor George Clooney was officially designated a United Nations peace envoy yesterday—but he had already wrapped up his first mission. "If I'm going to go somewhere that cameras are going to follow me, they might as well follow me to places that people should be looking at," said Clooney, just back from a trip to Africa. Clooney spent two weeks in Darfur and other war-torn areas, where he pleaded for member nations to contribute funds to help UN peacekeepers do their job. More »

A US diplomat has died of injuries suffered when he was shot five times early this morning as he rode through the streets of Khartoum, the AP reports. The attack immediately killed his driver. The shooting occurred a day after a joint African Union-United Nations force took over peacekeeping duties in Sudan's Darfur region, but it was unclear if the shooting was targeted or random. More »

"It is unsafe for me to go back home and it's not safe here," a resident of Abu Chok, a refugee camp in Darfur currently home to 54,000, tells the Guardian . Residents endure endemic malnutrition, malaria, and typhoid in hopes of security—the camp is 4 miles from a base for African Union forces—but find that government-sponsored attacks follow them everywhere. More »