Arabic Media

Novmeber 7, 2007

Source: Al Khaleej (UAE daily, with over 80,000 in circulation)
Headline: Bahrain to Build 100 Housing Units in Darfur

• Bahrain to build 100 housing units in Darfur region
• Meanwhile, Bahraini citizen’s donations will be used to provide essential services in a village in the region

Source: Al Khaleej (UAE daily, with over 80,000 in circulation)
Headline: UN Calls on Darfur Rebels to Designate Their Representatives to Next Phase of Peace Talks

• UN called on Darfur rebel groups to designate their representatives to upcoming peace talks’ meeting

• Ahmed Fawzi, AU - UN mediators’ spokesperson said “the international community is ready to devote millions of dollars to rebuild and develop Darfur” and added that “the rebels should speak with one voice and designate their representative and do it soon” so that peace can be reached and rebuilding can then start

Source: Al Khaleej (UAE daily, with over 80,000 in circulation)
Headline: Sarkozy Promises to Go Back to Chad to Bring the Remaining Europeans Still in Detention in Connection with Children Scandal

• Nicolas Sarkozy told journalists that it is his duty as a president to return to Chad to bring back the remaining French citizens regardless of what they did
• In Spain, Zapatero was said to have thanked Chadian President Idriss Deby for releasing the flight attendants and called on him to ensure the remaining detained Spaniards are afforded “the best kind of treatment possible”
• Meanwhile, UN official in Sudan Amira Haq condemned the failed operation and said that other humanitarian groups including the United Nations work hard to provide much needed aid in coordination with local authorities and that one bad organization should not tarnish all other honest organizations hard work

Source: Al Jazeera (Leading Arabic News Channel, headquartered in Qatar)
Headline: Different Opinions about SPLM Role in Darfur Crisis
By: Emad Abdul Hadi

• Experts are split on whether the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement played a role in creating and complicating Darfur crisis
• Many think the movement created, armed, and helped Darfur rebel groups, which they say helps to explain the movement’s “soft approach” in deal with these rebel groups
• Others think the movement was the reason the main groups’ failed to participate in Libya peace talks.  They argue the movement retaliated to put pressure on its ruling partner in resolving their differences regarding power sharing and South North relations
• Expert Hasan Maki said that Darfur rebel groups were born inside SPLM and added that the movement’s officials in charge of Darfur crisis were not eager to see Darfur crisis resolved
• Human rights activists Saleh Mahmoud pointed to the similarities between SPLM demands and those of the rebels: both want hybrid force deployment first, Abuja agreement revision, and reliance on international justice instead of Sudanese institutions to prosecute Darfur war crimes

Read the above in Arabic.