Vol. 8 Issue 7 - Public International Law & Policy Group

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Maintenance is a major problem, however. The metal pumps are basic designs, and heavy use in tough conditions puts great strain on them. More than 40 percent of boreholes in villages assessed by the IOM were not working. In nearby Wanpi, women walked wearily through the dry grass. Their pump was broken, dozens of people had descended on the village for a celebration, and now they faced hours of back-breaking work fetching water. "I check everything is working fine and do regular maintenance, but I can't do complicated repairs," said Bullen Tio, trained as a "water caretaker" by Oxfam. This time an engineer must be called out to fix the broken Wanpi pump. Water carrying is women's work, and while the borehole in Mirindanyi has cut down the hours needed for that, there are always other tough tasks they must do such as tending the crops, washing, gathering firewood and cooking. "It has helped them," said elder Supana Juruba, lay priest of the village's thatched-hut church, nodding towards one woman pumping water. "Now there is more time for them to do other work." The boreholes are changing lives. "Carrying water was such hard work. Now I get to lie in the morning in bed -- more time with my husband," said grandmother Monica Elizai with a big wink and a toothless laugh. Sudanese anxious over possible Beshir genocide charges Guillaume Lavallee, Agence France Presse, 2/15/09 Sudanese in Khartoum are awaiting possible <strong>International</strong> Criminal Court (ICC) charges against President Omar al-Beshir, including accusations of genocide in Darfur, with both fear and uncertainty. Beshir "might be a criminal but we don't know what will happen if he's charged," says computer technology graduate Abdel Rahman. According to the United Nations, 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since rebels in the western region rose up against the Khartoum government in February 2003. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000. "We're on the president's side because we think the Darfur conflict is primarily a tribal matter that Westerners have blown out of proportion via the media," says Ossama, sipping tea at an improvised cafe on a Khartoum pavement.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that ICC judges in The Hague had decided to issue an arrest warrant for Beshir for alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur. Commenting on the report, an ICC spokeswoman told AFP: "At this moment, there is no arrest warrant." Many Sudanese believe that formal charges against Beshir -- which would be the first ever issued against a sitting head of state -- would plunge the country into chaos. The authorities have predicted major demonstrations in Khartoum and around the country if Beshir is charged, but that does not mean the people will take to the streets in large numbers. "It's not clear what's happening in Darfur because the local media are controlled by the government," says Awad, a newspaper seller on the banks of the Nile in downtown Khartoum. Demonstrations in the wake of ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's initial call for charges against Beshir last July brought barely 1,000 people out onto the streets of the capital. Since then, Beshir has been deploying diplomatic contacts abroad aimed at stymieing potential charges and trying to present an image of unanimous support for himself from the population as well as opposition parties if he is charged. "The regime will be even more intolerant towards any kind of opposition," said one Western diplomat, requesting anonymity and citing the case of Beshir's former mentor and political opponent, Hassan al-Turabi. Turabi was arrested in January after he said that Beshir was "politically responsible" for the situation in Darfur and should hand himself over to the ICC. "People are afraid to express themselves on this matter because the intelligence services and the president's (National Congress) Party are very powerful," says Sadig, a lawyer. "Some people will be very happy to hear it if the president is charged by the ICC" because they "suffer" under the current NCP-controlled system, says Sadig's friend Ahmed, wearing a traditional Sudanese white gown. "The country is divided in two, those who are with the government and those who are not," says Younis, stirring his tea at the Arab market. "Me, for instance, I support international justice."
Page 1 and 2:
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WATCH Thursday,
Page 3 and 4:
Kosovo marks 1 year of independence
Page 5 and 6: Whitman said he could not discuss p
Page 7 and 8: "Now that we have realized this is
Page 9 and 10: "However, the aforesaid statements
Page 11 and 12: The court has linked the former Bos
Page 13 and 14: The military regime has promised to
Page 15 and 16: Former US President George W. Bush'
Page 17 and 18: "How can we go on without the main
Page 19 and 20: "I don't want to be on the side of
Page 21 and 22: EU enlargement commissioner Olli Re
Page 23 and 24: "Have I said that Bosco Ntaganda ha
Page 25 and 26: The first victim of the operation h
Page 27 and 28: The five-day war and Russia's subse
Page 29 and 30: Tengku Syamsuddin, a spokesman for
Page 31 and 32: India and Pakistan have fought thre
Page 33 and 34: New Delhi has noted with strong app
Page 35 and 36: Serbs consider Kosovo to be the hea
Page 37 and 38: "The key to our success is in unity
Page 39 and 40: Macedonia EU mulls economic support
Page 41 and 42: "As for the content of the document
Page 43 and 44: The UN Security Council has called
Page 45 and 46: Moro Islamic Liberation Front which
Page 47 and 48: Somalia Overcrowding at Kenya refug
Page 49 and 50: "We are happy with that," he said,
Page 51 and 52: "With a growing number of children
Page 53 and 54: Dr. Thurairaja Varatharaja, the top
Page 55: Without a borehole, water was colle
Page 59 and 60: The talks mediated by Doha are the
Page 61 and 62: Aid workers and human rights activi
Page 63 and 64: "They have no way out of these swam
show all

Vol. 8 Issue 7 - Public International Law & Policy Group

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?