U.S. and European Media

October 16, 2023

Agence France Presse: EU approves Chad, CAR peace mission. The European Union gave a green light Monday to the deployment of up to 4,000 troops to Chad and the Central African Republic to help deal with the refugee crisis stemming from Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region. The contingent, dubbed EUFOR TCHAD/RCA, will help protect some 300 UN police officers and help monitor camps for Darfur refugees and internally displaced persons, who number respectively around 236,000 and 173,000 in Chad alone. "We are in a very unstable situation" in the region around Darfur, said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "The fact that we are going to launch this operation is of great importance." The mission, to be manned in large part by France and led by an Irish general, will operate for a year, according to conclusions of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. "By addressing the regional dimension of the Darfur crisis, the deployment of EUFOR TCHAD/RCA and a UN police mission ... is a crucial step to facilitate a long lasting solution to the conflict in Darfur," they said in a statement. The EU also "urges all states in the region ... to work to promote regional stability and ensure security along their common borders, and in particular to respect their engagement not to support rebel movements operating from their territory against one of the other countries."

Reuters: Ethnic clashes kill 20 in tense eastern Chad. Twenty people were killed in ethnic clashes in east Chad after the desertion of former rebels loyal to the defence minister stoked tensions in the region bordering Sudan's Darfur, government sources said on Monday. The violence between the Tama and Zaghawa communities broke out after an armed group of Tama fighters who had served under Defence Minister Mahamat Nour abandoned the eastern town of Guereda last week and moved close to the Sudanese border. They accused Chad's armed forces of trying to disarm them. Details of the inter-communal fighting were scarce but it appeared armed Zaghawa clansmen had taken advantage of the absence of Nour's men in Guereda to settle scores with Tamas. Clan rivalries run deep in eastern Chad as in Darfur, many local residents go about armed and clashes are frequent. News of the latest violence emerged as European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved the planned deployment of an EU peacekeeping force in eastern Chad to protect civilians, refugees and aid workers. Ex-colonial power France will provide roughly half the U.N.-authorised force of up to 3,000 troops, due to begin its mission within weeks.

Reuters: Sudan's Bashir Meets South Leaders to End Dispute. Sudan's president met former southern rebels on Tuesday for the first time since they withdrew their ministers from government, triggering the country's worst political crisis since a 2005 peace deal. Last week members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) withdrew from a coalition government saying they wanted progress on key elements of the 2005 agreement, including troop redeployment and demarcation of the north-south border. Both sides insist they do not want a return to war and resolved to talk through the stalemate, but relations have been described as "poisonous" between the former foes turned partners in peace. The north-south agreement, which ended 20 years of civil war in the oil-producing region, created a coalition national government, a semi-autonomous southern administration, ensured democratic elections and gave southerners a vote on secession by 2011. It is also seen as a model for settling Sudan's other conflicts, most notably in Darfur, and analysts say its failure threatens to undo progress toward peace elsewhere in Sudan. "The extensive and compelling list of grievances articulated by the SPLM in its ... communique has long been well known to international actors, and yet pressure on Khartoum to abide by its commitments has been virtually non-existent," said Sudan expert and U.S. academic Eric Reeves.

NPR Morning Edition: Warren Buffet Slashes PetroChina Holdings. Warren Buffett's move to trim Berkshire Hathaway's holdings in PetroChina, the Chinese government-owned company that explores for oil in Sudan, is being seen as a victory for activists who say the company indirectly supports genocide in Darfur. To make that point in a public way, the Save the Darfur coalition produced a TV ad in which a broker talks to a couple about their investments. "You're really making a killing in Darfur," the broker says. A narrator then urges viewers to stay away from Sudanese investments, and to visit the group's Web site to check on what mutual funds have money there. Activists unhappy with PetroChina's involvement in Sudan are also hoping to use the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing to pressure China to change its policy. To listen to the full story, please follow the link provided above.

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The Darfur Daily News is a service of the Save Darfur Coalition.  To subscribe to the Daily News, please email [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ashley Roberts at (202) 478-6181, or [email protected].