Tuesday, April 17, 2012

UN Report on Darfur

The UN Panel of Experts on Sudan released its most recent report on Darfur under cover of a letter dated 24 January 2012. The upbeat report concludes that "the overall situation in Darfur remains ambivalent and complex, however, there has been a clear and relatively positive change compared to the situation in the previous years." The report adds that "there has also been a relative improvement in the overall security situation."

Click here to read the entire report.

This official UN report has resulted in a controversy at UN headquarters. A second unofficial report is circulating that was written by three of the original members of the UN's Panel of Experts. These three experts (Mike Lewis of the UK, Claudio Gramizzi of Italy and Jerome Tubiana of France) resigned after the UN Under Secretary for Political Affairs declined to take their views seriously. The unofficial report argues that the Darfur crisis is worsening with new incidents of ethnic cleansing, arms deliveries and aerial bombing. It also details the role of China, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in the supply of arms. Click here to read an account by Africa Confidential that broke the story.

Click here to read the entire report of the three former experts. It is a very different account of the situation in Darfur.