African Media Coverage

September 1-15, 2008

ERITREA: Shabait
"President Isaias opens Foreign Ministers Contact Group Meeting"
Published: September 12, 2023

President Isaias Afwerki today opened the 5th Foreign Ministers Contact Group meeting on normalizing Sudanese-Chadian diplomatic relations at Hotel Intercontinental Asmara.

The President indicated that the conflict between the governments of Chad and Sudan “is not attributable to chronic or inherent factors but rather it is a crisis spawned by the problems that unfolded in Darfur.” Stating that the conflict was fuelled in a short time and began to be portrayed as a very grave regional and international problem, he explained that its negative implications for the internal conditions of Sudan and the region cannot be underestimated.

President Isaias went on to say that despite the fact that an agreement was earlier signed in February 2006 upon the initiative of Brother Muammer Al-Khadafi to solve the crisis, it did not bear tangible outcome due to various and well-known reasons. And as such, the crisis regressed into further chaos before the implementation of the envisaged Observer Force was fully deployment along the border of the two countries, he elaborated.

Indicating that the primary objective of the Tripoli Agreement was not the mere deployment of an observer force, the President underscored that the force was intended as a means towards the achievement of an enduring solution.

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RWANDA: New Times
"Rwanda’s input to solve part of UNAMID’s problems – Karake"
Published: September 6, 2023

The Deputy Commander of the Darfur force has said that the equipment donated by the United States of America to Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) to empower the force’s peacekeeping interventions is part of the solutions to the United Nations/African Union Mission to Darfur (UNAMID) challenges.

“U.S is among countries recognised as ‘Friends of UNAMID’. The equipment donated by its government will contribute greatly in solving some of the shortage,” Major General Karenzi Karake told The New Times Thursday in an exclusive interview in Kacyiru.

“As more and more equipment come in, the more the mission’s effectiveness and capability is enhanced, which makes it possible for UNAMID to execute its mandate even more,” Karake pointed out.

Karake said that a team at the UN headquarters in New York will soon pay a pre-deployment visit to a number of countries including Rwanda, and the team would determine the countries’ readiness for deployment.  

He said that the equipment is part of what they require though it might not fully address the force’s requirements, but it helps in solving part of it. 

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UGANDA: Daily Monitor
"Influential power against Darfur peace – al-Bashir"
Published: September 3, 2023

The Hague - Sudan could be plunged further into turmoil if the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on genocide and war crimes charges, the country's foreign minister said on Thursday.

Deng Alor said peace efforts in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region and a peace agreement that ended more than two decades of conflict in the country's south - Africa's longest civil war - could unravel if the court orders al-Bashir's arrest.

In July, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo asked judges to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir. Prosecutors allege al-Bashir leads a campaign of genocide in Darfur. Judges are expected to announce their decision within weeks.

At the time, observers warned that going after al-Bashir was a high-risk strategy that could harm peace prospects in Darfur and hinder the full deployment of a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in the region.

An arrest warrant "could generate some internal political instability, further political instability," Alor told reporters in The Hague after meeting his Dutch counterpart, Maxime Verhagen.

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