Conflict in Darfur, Sudan - The Mega Thread

[Yrys]

No return for Sudan's forgotten slaves

Akech Arol Deng has not seen his wife and son since they were seized by Arab militias from their home in south Sudan 19 years ago.

His son, Deng, was just three years old at the time but Mr Arol is sure they are still alive, being used as slaves in the north. "I miss them so much.
I really hope that one day they come back," Mr Arol told the BBC News website mournfully in his home of Malualbai, just a few hours' on horseback
from the Bahr el-Arab river which divides Muslim northern Sudan from the Christian and Animist south.

Audio slideshow
Sudan's slave voices

Some 8,000 people are believed to be living in slavery in Sudan, 200 years after Britain banned the Atlantic slave trade and 153 years after it also tried
to abolish slavery in Sudan. But rows about money mean no-one is doing anything to free them.

In the same year that Mr Arol's family was kidnapped, Arek Anyiel Deng, aged about 10, was seized from her home, not far from Malualbai. Arab militias
rode in to her village on horseback, firing their guns. When the adults fled, the children and cattle were rounded up and made to walk north for five days
before they were divided between members of the raiding party.

Forced conversions

Ms Anyiel returned home under a government scheme last year. "My abductor told me that I was his slave and I had to do all the work he told me to
- fetching water and firewood, looking after animals and farming," she said. "When I was 12, he said he wanted to sleep with me. I could not refuse
because I was a slave, I had to do everything he wanted, or he could have killed me."

Such raids were a common feature of Sudan's 21-year north-south war, which ended in 2005. The northern government is widely believed to have
armed the Arab militias in order to terrorise the southern population and distract rebel forces from attacking government targets.

According to a study by the Kenya-based Rift Valley Institute, some 11,000 young boys and girls were seized and taken across the internal border
- many to the states of South Darfur and West Kordofan. The boys generally looked after cattle, while the girls mostly did domestic chores before
being "married", often as young as 12.

Most were forcibly converted to Islam, given Muslim names and told not to speak their mother tongue.

Can Africa escape slavery?
Sudan: Special report

More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

The French foreign minister weighs in with the Franco-EU perspective:

Keeping the peace
International Herald Tribune, March 10, By Bernard Kouchner
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/10/opinion/edkouchner.php

For months, for years, we have been deeply distressed, yet powerless, with respect to the tragedy in Darfur. Two weeks ago, despite the troubles in Chad, Europe gave itself the means to protect the victims and to rebuild their villages in eastern Chad. At the behest of France, and thanks to the efforts of our European partners, the European Union - implementing a unanimous UN Security Council resolution - launched its Eufor operation.

There will finally be help and comfort for women - who up to now were raped or killed as soon as they left their camps - and for hungry children.

This is no small achievement. I've just returned from Goz Beida in eastern Chad, and I will never forget the enthusiastic welcome the European soldiers received from displaced persons and refugees.

The launch of an autonomous EU operation in Africa, led by an Irish general with a Polish deputy and bringing together troops from some 15 countries, illustrates how far we have come in building a European defense. It is now desired and supported by nations that until very recently remained skeptical.

We have been working to build a European defense since the 1990s. The Europeans needed military means commensurate with their political ambitions. How could we hope to influence a crisis or negotiations without the means to back up our words?

"The Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises," concluded the Franco-British Saint-Malo Summit in 1998. The European Security and Defense Policy inscribed in the Lisbon Treaty is finally allowing us to meet this need. In the future, if we wish to do so, the EU will be able to fully assume its role on the international scene...

But what sort of "autonomous action" will those "credible military forces" actually take?

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Darfur's return to hell
Children raped. Homes looted. Villages torched. And thousands forced to flee aerial bombings– three months after UN took over peacekeeping
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/darfurs-return-to-hell-794453.html

The conflict in Darfur has entered a violent and deadly new phase. Another "scorched earth" policy is being unleashed, reminiscent of the worst waves of government-backed violence that brought the Sudanese region to world attention five years ago and led the US to declare that what was happening there constituted genocide.

Internal reports by humanitarian agencies operating in the region, and seen by The Independent, reveal that the active Sudanese government-backed military phase of the conflict, thought to have ended early in 2005, has resumed, with horrifying consequences.

The brutal new onslaught is centred on western Darfur where clusters of villages have been aerially bombed and, in co-ordinated ground attacks, homes have been looted and burnt to the ground. Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed and tens of thousands forced to flee into neighbouring Chad.

"The tactics are exactly the same as those the government pursued right at the start of this conflict: aerial bombings, followed by sending in the militias to loot, kill and rape," said one source in Sudan. "It is as ruthless as in 2003."

The village of Sileah, with a population of 20,000, is among those attacked. When UN officials reached it last week, they found just 300 people left. "These places had been scorched," said Orla Clinton, a spokeswoman for the UN's humanitarian operations. "People pleaded with us for protection. They feel like it has been five years and nothing has changed for them. They are losing hope in our ability to protect them." The UN team said health clinics, schools, water systems and aid agencies' compounds were looted or destroyed...

And despite high-profile campaigning by celebrities including George Clooney, Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg, the Khartoum government remains impervious to external pressure. The Chinese government, Sudan's biggest trading partner stung by the threat of Olympic boycotts, has recently joined in the criticism.

But Sudan is defying the world, and arrogantly parks its bomber aircraft on the same airstrip the new UN peacekeeping force is using at its West Darfur base. Some of the Sudanese-government Antonov aircraft which bombed villages in West Darfur last week have even been painted white, the same colour as the planes used by the UN and aid agencies for delivering food. "The openness with which the government has carried out the air strikes is worrying," one Sudan-based diplomat said.

The new UN force (Unamid) took over from the underfunded and understaffed African Union mission on 1 January this year. The African Union soldiers had struggled to police Darfur, an area twice the size of the UK, with just 7,500 troops. But despite a commitment to sending 26,000 troops and civilian police, Unamid's numbers are barely higher. An Egyptian company is to arrive in South Darfur this week, but the full force is not expected to be fully deployed until 2009 [emphasis added--good freaking grief]. The Sudanese government has tried to block deployment at every turn, vetoing non-African troops, blocking supplies and refusing to provide land for new bases. But Western leaders are also accused of failing to follow their words with actions. "We're in the hands of member states," said a Unamid spokesman, Adrian Edwards. "They need to make good their pledges of support."

It is not just soldiers that Unamid is lacking. The force requires 18 troop-carrying helicopters and six armoured attack helicopters. So far, they have none [emphasis added--see second piece below]. Unamid officials say they could have responded to last month's attacks if they had the right equipment.

Darfur is home to the world's largest humanitarian operation but the growing insecurity has also made it one of the world's most dangerous places...

Canada Announces Additional Funding for Humanitarian Initiatives in Sudan and Chad
http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/En/ANN-312152111-QPS

The Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation and the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will provide up to $6 million to humanitarian organizations that help those affected by the ongoing conflicts in Sudan and Chad.

“The Government of Canada is continuously monitoring the humanitarian situations in Sudan and Chad,” said Minister Oda. “The support to humanitarian organizations we are providing will help meet the basic needs of populations affected by ongoing conflicts. Canada stands ready to react quickly in the face of humanitarian emergencies—when lives are threatened and time counts.”

Minister Bernier commended today's announcement, saying, "Canada remains concerned by the ongoing violence in Sudan and Chad and its destabilizing effect on the region, and we call for dialogue leading to peace. We also call on all actors to recognize their obligations in ensuring the protection of civilians and providing safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers who are assisting those in need."

Canada will provide funds to the following humanitarian organizations:

    * $3.25 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for operations to assist and protect internally displaced persons in Chad and Chadian refugees in the region. The funding will also facilitate the voluntary return of Sudanese refugees to southern Sudan, and will meet the basic needs of internally displaced persons and Sudanese refugees in Darfur and Chad.


    * $1.5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC) for operations to assist internally displaced persons and refugees in both Sudan and Chad. This money will aid the provision of water and sanitation services, emergency health care, food, shelter and protection.


    * Over $400,000 to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to coordinate emergency services across Sudan.


    * $500,000 to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for operations that will provide medical assistance and other humanitarian services to internally displaced persons in Eastern Chad.

    * The remaining $350,000 in aid for humanitarian efforts will be allocated in the coming days to help international humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations to meet the urgent needs of the people affected by the crisis in Chad...

...Since 2006, CIDA has provided more than $102 million in humanitarian assistance to Sudan, representing Canada's largest humanitarian commitment to any country [emphasis added--but Afstan is largest aid recipient with most of the aid not being "humanitarian"]...

Russia to Aid Mission in Chad
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102901.html

Russia has approved the deployment of helicopters to bolster a European Union peacekeeping force along Chad's border with the western Darfur region of Sudan, the Russian defense minister said Tuesday.

The deployment would be the first direct Russian contribution to an E.U. military mission, an E.U. official said, though details of the plan were still being discussed and no timeline was announced. The E.U. force's mission to Chad is to help limit possible spillover from fighting in the Darfur region.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Plus ça change...encore:

Peacekeeping in Darfur Hits More Obstacles
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/world/africa/24darfur.html?ref=todayspaper

As Darfur smolders in the aftermath of a new government offensive, a long-sought peacekeeping force, expected to be the world’s largest, is in danger of failing even as it begins its mission because of bureaucratic delays, stonewalling by Sudan’s government and reluctance from troop-contributing countries to send peacekeeping forces into an active conflict.

The force, a joint mission of the African Union and the United Nations, officially took over from an overstretched and exhausted African Union force in Darfur on Jan. 1. It now has just over 9,000 of an expected 26,000 soldiers and police officers and will not fully deploy until the end of the year [emphasis added], United Nations officials said.

Even the troops that are in place, the old African Union force and two new battalions, lack essential equipment, like sufficient armored personnel carriers and helicopters, to carry out even the most rudimentary of peacekeeping tasks. Some even had to buy their own paint to turn their green helmets United Nations blue, peacekeepers here said...

When previous large missions were organized in Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the central governments in those countries had collapsed or were so weak that they had little choice but to accept peacekeepers. The government of Sudan agreed to accept United Nations-led peacekeepers in Darfur only after a long diplomatic tussle and under a great deal of pressure.

The progress to get the mission in place has been slow, and much of the blame for this has been placed at the feet of the Sudanese government. For months after the United Nations Security Council approved the force, Sudan insisted on limits on its makeup and independence, demanding the power to dictate which countries contributed troops, to shut down its communication systems when the government carried out offensives and to restrict the movement of peacekeepers at night.

Ultimately, the government signed a compromise agreement with the United Nations allowing the force to operate, but Sudan was successful in insisting that the vast majority of troops come from African countries, and will be supplemented by soldiers from other regions only if suitable African troops cannot be found.

This has delayed the force’s mission, because African armies are not usually able to deploy quickly with equipment and training to meet stringent United Nations standards, United Nations officials and Western diplomats said. Sudanese government officials have argued that African troops are up to the job, and that non-African troops would be seen as neocolonial interlopers...

It is unclear how exactly the deployment of troops in Darfur can be speeded up, give the built-in constraint that African troops be used first. Western activists concerned about Darfur say the Sudanese government is primarily responsible and have demanded that China, Sudan’s main trading partner and one of its suppliers of weapons, join other countries to press Sudan to allow troops of any origin the troops to deploy quickly.

While the Sudanese government has been blamed for some of the delay, United Nations requirements have also slowed the force [emphasis added], some diplomats and political analysts say.

The deployment “is not principally being delayed by the Sudanese government,” said a senior Western diplomat in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, who is not authorized to speak publicly. Other problems, like the United Nations bureaucracy and the reluctance of troop-contributing countries, were as much to blame, the diplomat said...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Same old:

Darfur worsens as UN security mission slowed
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=420426

As the world's worst humanitarian crisis enters its sixth year, aid agencies in Darfur, Sudan, say the challenges are greater than ever.

The UN peacekeeping operation that was supposed to replace an ineffective African Union (AU) policing operation is already three months late in deploying as the Sudanese government continues to balk at letting peacekeepers in [emphasis added].

After barring international peacekeepers, Sudan finally allowed 7,000 AU troops into Darfur, then refused to let the ill-prepared and poorly equipped force do much.

In July, under intense international pressure, it reluctantly agreed to the creation of a UN-AU mission.

But three months after the UN took over in Darfur, it still has only about 9,000 of its 26,000 peacekeepers in the country [most of those are from the existing AU force] and is encountering constant roadblocks.

Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's President, insists most peacekeepers should come from Africa and has balked at UN attempts to add troops from Nepal and Thailand [emphasis added].

When Canada contributed 105 armoured cars to the AU mission, it took the government more than four months to allow the vehicles into the country.

Last week, when Maxime Bernier, the Foreign Affairs Minister, spent four days in Sudan talking to senior government officials, he announced a US$275-million Canadian contribution to the UN peacekeeping operation.

He also warned, "Canada's bilateral relations with the government of Sudan depend on the willingness and commitment of the Sudanese government to take steps to address the situation in Darfur."..

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

I wonder if all the protest pressure on China will have any effect--or just put their backs up:

UN's Ban, U.S. push to add Darfur peacekeepers – and soon
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0409/p02s01-usfp.htm

Eight months after the United Nations Security Council authorized sending a peacekeeping force to Darfur, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is warning that security and humanitarian conditions in the violence-torn western province of Sudan are going from bad to worse...

Worldwide protest campaigns aim to pressure the international community to take action on Darfur, But they have yielded mixed results, at best, in two key objectives: building the UN peacekeeping force and enlisting China to strong-arm Sudan, with which it has close commercial ties, to cooperate more fully on Darfur...

The peacekeeping mission approved last summer is to be a hybrid force of as many as 26,000 UN and African Union military personnel and civilian police. So far, 9,000 troops have been deployed to Darfur [most were already there with the AU force - MC]. The Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir has resisted plans for some of the peacekeepers to come from outside Africa, but Ban says the government has given the green light to troops from Nepal and Thailand [emphasis added--that's a reversal].

The US government – spurred by President Bush's characterization of violence in Darfur that has killed more than 200,000 people as "genocide" – is calling on the UN to accelerate deployment of peacekeepers and to add at least 3,600 troops by June. The US is not offering troops or helicopters – which the Khartoum government would probably not accept anyway – but pledges $500 million to help train, house, and supply the mission.

While it's important to get more authorized military and police personnel into Darfur, say peacekeeping experts, it's more crucial to train and prepare the troops going in and to ensure they'll have the supplies and the mobility to do their jobs...

So far, no UN member has stepped forward to offer any of the two dozen tactical and transport helicopters authorized for the mission by the Security Council resolution, the advocacy group Africa Action noted recently.

Africa Action and other groups are calling on the US in particular to provide "international leadership" by pressing all parties involved in the Darfur crisis to accept and join a peace process, noting that the real answer lies in implementing a political accord among the government and rebel fighters.

Grass-roots efforts for more action from the international community, especially in getting consistent cooperation from the Bashir government, explain the mounting pressure on China. Activists are playing on Beijing's sensitivity to its image as it prepares to host the Olympic Games this summer. Chinese officials counter that the pro-Darfur activists are exaggerating Beijing's influence over Khartoum.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Edward Campbell]

I wonder if all the protest pressure on China will have any effect--or just put their backs up:

UN's Ban, U.S. push to add Darfur peacekeepers – and soon
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0409/p02s01-usfp.htm

Mark
Ottawa

First: I think we have to appreciate that China, official China, really does believe in its doctrine of "no interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations". Of course that applies, above all, to any foreign power that might want to interfere, in any way, with China, but it also means that China is reluctant to interfere in the "internal affairs" of others, including Sudan.

Second: China does not regard the "suffering" of Africa as a grave crisis. Where, some Chinese wonder, was all the international sympathy when the Chinese were starving? Those and other Chinese will say that famine and the like are the consequence of choices being made by the peoples of Chad and Sudan and they can, as China did, change policies and change outcomes, too.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

And I'm beginning to wonder if, in the long run, the Chinese answer isn't the best one?  What is likely to work better- a western "crusader" force invading yet another Islamic nation, picking a side (probably the wrong one) and fighting another long running insurgency. Or letting the locals finally get tired of killing each other on their own and come to terms with what they have done?

I dunno...

 

[Long in the tooth]

Maybe it's just time to accept the fact that the 'white man' can't solve all the world's problems, and maybe we should be addressing those closer to home.  The US effort in Iraq is crippling the economy.  They are adding $800 billion to their debt each year, perversely benefitting the Chinese economy.

I don't see any upside to a western intervention.  I do see the grief of Somalia and Rwanda rolled into one and multiplied by ten.  Let's just be pragmatic and say enough is enough.

 

[Yrys]

Attacks force U.N. to cut Darfur food relief

(CNN) -- Attacks on its humanitarian convoys are forcing the U.N. World Food Programme to cut the rations it provides to millions of hungry people in Sudan's
war-stricken Darfur region by about half, the agency said Thursday. The cuts are to start in May, the WFP said, because "banditry against WFP-contracted trucks is
preventing sufficient stocks of vital food relief from getting through."

Kenro Oshidari, WFP representative in Sudan, said in a written statement that the Sudanese government provides some police escorts for convoys on the main routes,
"but unfortunately the frequency is not enough to maintain the food pipeline." Oshidari said a meeting is planned to increase the convoys, and appealed to the rebels to
ensure security on the roads. "If the security situation on the roads improves, we will be able to restore the ration levels," he said.

Josette Sheeran, WFP's executive director, issued a statement saying that "attacks on the WFP food pipeline are an attack on the most vulnerable people in Darfur. With
up to 3 million people depending on us for their survival in the upcoming rainy season, keeping WFP's supply line open is a matter of life and death. We call on all parties
to protect the access to food."

Ahead of the rainy season, which lasts from May into September, WFP trucks should be delivering 1,800 metric tons (1,984 short tons) of food to warehouses in Darfur,
WFP said. However, deliveries have dropped to fewer than 900 metric tons (992 short tons) per day, it said. Since January, 60 WFP-contracted trucks have been hijacked
in Darfur, the agency said. More than half -- 39 -- are still missing, and 26 drivers are unaccounted for. One driver was killed in Darfur last month, WFP said. The United
Nations estimates that violence in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced at least 2 million.

The United States has described the violence in Darfur as "genocide," with nomadic Arab militias targeting pastoral black Africans. A U.N. commission concluded in 2005
that the Sudanese government and militias "conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape
and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement."

The WFP also has had difficulty with its trucks elsewhere in Sudan. Last week, a trucker for WFP and his assistant were shot and killed in southern Sudan while they
were delivering food, the agency said. The incident occurred near Mayom, not far from where two WFP-contracted drivers were stabbed to death last month.

 

[Yrys]

U.N.: 100,000 more dead in Darfur than reported

NEW YORK (CNN)  -- The number of deaths in Sudan's Darfur region since 2006 may have been underestimated by as much as 50 percent, the U.N.
undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said Tuesday In March, international figures, including U.N. data, put the death toll in Darfur at 200,000, with
another 2.5 million people displaced.

But 300,000 are believed to have died in the tribal conflict in the past two years, said John Holmes, who also is the United Nations emergency relief coordinator.

Holmes said sexual violence has increased and food allotments for civilians affected by the civil war will be halved in a few days. Holmes gave the U.N. Security
Council an update on conditions in the western Sudan region, revisiting a report he gave a year ago. "I am sad to say that the humanitarian situation remains as
grim today as it was then, if not more so," he said.

So far in 2008, 100,000 civilians have fled their homes, many not for the first time. The Darfur conflict began five years ago when ethnic African tribesmen took
up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Sudanese government. Sudan's Arab-dominated government is accused of responding by
unleashing tribal militias known as Janjaweed, which have allegedly committed the worst atrocities against Darfur's local communities.

There also have been intra-rebel and tribal clashes, Holmes added. He blamed the military arm of the Justice and Equality Movement faction of the Sudan Liberation
Movement for the most recent round of violence, and accused the government of using "disproportionate force" and failing to differentiate between civilians and rebels
in their response. "Darfur today is still characterized by insecurity, lawlessness and impunity," he said. "A particularly worrying feature is evidence of high levels of sexual
violence and exploitation in the northern corridor of west Darfur over the past two months."

This is shown by the increased number of women and girls seeking treatment after sexual brutality, Holmes said. The World Food Programme announced last week that
it will have to cut back its food distributions in May, partly because of attacks on convoys that reduced the amount of supplies they can get through, Holmes said.

Six aid workers have been killed so far this year, and 42 humanitarian posts have been attacked.

The supply line also is hurt by soaring food prices -- the price of staples such as millet has doubled since April last year, Holmes said. While expressing gratitude to the
Sudanese government for improved cooperation under various agreements, Holmes said there still is no physical access to internally displaced persons and some other
groups.

He said he was "saddened and angry" that after five years, there has been no lasting solution to the suffering. He made several recommendations to the government,
including disbanding the Janjaweed, providing security for citizens, ending impunity for criminals and shouldering more of the financial burden for humanitarian aid.
Holmes also said rebels must stop their attacks against people and humanitarian convoys.

 

[trotpacker]

When you were in Darfur what type of fighter aircraft did you see operating? Are the Chinese Fantans the only ones the military uses, or do they also use older model MIgs in Darfur ? I guess they dont use the Mig29s for Darfur as that would be technical overkill not to mention expensive for them? Do they use the Fantans for attacks at all?

and the Mi24 helicopter you said was buried in the sand, do they get any of those up in the air for use in attacks?

 

[Yrys]

So much questions for someone that has been here so long, with with such information in the profile  :.

"Temps total passé en ligne:  9 minutes."

Suggestion : read, then search, then ask if you don't find  ...  ^-^

 

[trotpacker]

there was no request for more information when i signed up? I just came across this website, so I think its normal to post an entry fairly soon no?
:-*
I have a spent a lot of time in darfur working with IDPs and like to follow the debate. I am fascinated that the IDPs always talk about Antanovs and fighter aircraft but that no one seems to know which fighters the Sudanese use

 

[Flip]

Otto,

Maybe it's just time to accept the fact that the 'white man' can't solve all the world's problems, and maybe we should be addressing those closer to home.  The US effort in Iraq is crippling the economy.  They are adding $800 billion to their debt each year, perversely benefitting the Chinese economy.

Sorry - gotta disagree.  You have to remember that Africa is Europe's back yard.
If there are refugees, many will end up in Europe. Some will end up here.
There is a cost in not acting. Like 9-11. You can draw a line from giving up on Somalia to the present day.  If governments fail, particularly democracies, other groups will take their place.  Some of these groups will not just stay in their own neighbourhood.

American debt is not just because of war ( about 4% of GDP?).
The debt load is primarily due to a serious trade imbalance.
In short, the American economy is not creating wealth in material goods.

I see not acting as something we can't afford to do.

 

[George Wallace]

there was no request for more information when i signed up? I just came across this website, so I think its normal to post an entry fairly soon no?
:-*
I have a spent a lot of time in darfur working with IDPs and like to follow the debate. I am fascinated that the IDPs always talk about Antanovs and fighter aircraft but that no one seems to know which fighters the Sudanese use

Here is a list of what they may have:

            Aircraft type                                Qty.           Role

Antonov An-24RV Coke                            5      Transport
Chengdu F-7M Airguard Fishbed               10*      Tactical Fighter
CASA C-212-200 Aviocar                          2      Transport
Dassault Falcon 50                                  1      VIP Transport
Dassault Falcon 20F                                 1      VIP Transport
de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo           3      Transport
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300       1      Photogrammetric Surveyor
Fokker F.27 Mk 100 Friendship                   1      VIP Transport
Lockheed C-130H Hercules                        3*      Transport
Mikoyan MIG-23BN Flogger-H                     3*      Tactical Fighter
Shenyang F-5/ Chengdu FT-5 Fresce         10*      Tactical Fighter
Agusta-Bell AB 212                                 10*      Transport
ICA IAR-330L (Romanian Built Pumas)         12*      Transport / SAR
MBB Bo 105 CB                                       20*      Transport / Antiarmor / SAR
Mil Mi-8T Hip                                          6*      Transport
Mil Mi-24 Hind-D                                     6*      Gunship/Assault

Source (Defence & Foreign Affairs Handbook)
* Indicates unverified quantities


If you really want more accurate numbers, you will have to research Arms Sales of aircraft to the Sudan, Company Sales of the various aircraft lines, Air Disasters and Air Crashes involving Sudan's Air Force, etc. and you may come up with some more accurate numbers.  Currently, many of these aircraft are not flight worthy.  Most that are flight worthy, are maintained by foreign technicians, and flown by foreign pilots.

 

[GAP]

there was no request for more information when i signed up? I just came across this website, so I think its normal to post an entry fairly soon no?
:-*
I have a spent a lot of time in darfur working with IDPs and like to follow the debate. I am fascinated that the IDPs always talk about Antanovs and fighter aircraft but that no one seems to know which fighters the Sudanese use

Empty profile, but you state you worked with IDPs, it would be appreciated if you gave US your insights from personal experience.....educate us!!

 

[trotpacker]

There have been recent attacks (feb) in the west of Darfur that has sent thousands more IDPs fleeing over to Chad. These are similar type attacks to those in 2004 at the start of the conflict. The UN force on the ground was unable to respond militarily because they dont have enough men on the ground, and are only able to fly when they get permission from the Sudanese government, which itself was involved in the attacks.

The situation in Darfur looks to me like it will go on for decades, just as the war in the south did, with IDPs living in camps indefintely whilst the world whines about how awful it is without taking effective measures to stop it. The UN is virtually impotent there.

IDPs talk consistently about coordinated attacks from the ground and the air, and report that they see fighter jets which they universally call MIGs. But the only confirmed sighting of a fighter jet in Darfur as far as I am aware is the Chinese Fantan A5 aircraft. Does anyone know if these are used in attacks ? Or has anyone seen Mig fighters in Darfur? If was known that they were Fantans being used in the violence there would be international pressure on the Chinese to stop helping to service these planes, which they presumably are doing.

That would help the IDPs who are helpless below when the bombing starts.

 

[MarkOttawa]

No surprise:

UN troops overworked and outgunned in the badlands of Darfur
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3803943.ece

The peacekeepers could do nothing to stop the huge Antonov aircraft flying over the tiny town of Sileia, close to Sudan’s border with Chad.

They were too late to stop the Janjawid – the feared Arab militia, some on horseback and some in Toyota pickup trucks – sent in to do the Government’s dirty work, looting or destroying anything they couldn’t carry away. The first soldiers into Sileia, in fact, were Sudanese armed forces who arrived the next day to take control of the town. They painted over graffiti proclaiming support for one of the main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and raised the Sudanese flag in the sandy central square...

Five years ago the people of Darfur could have told the above tale with little variation, except that the peacekeepers were from the African Union, a beleaguered and hybrid force of soldiers and police. On January 1 they were joined by United Nations personnel, which is supposed to swell to a 26,000-strong force eventually monitoring ceasefire violations and protect civilians and aid workers from attack.

No one knows when the force will reach full strength. Contributing countries are struggling to meet their commitments; 2,000 troops have joined the 7,000-strong AU force to form the United Nations and African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid). Most of the latter merely painted their green helmets blue and carried on as before [emphasis added]...

Unamid is planning to build a base for monitors in Sileia and is running long-range patrols across the territory to show locals that it is serious about their security. But the force only has 9,000 people to look after an area the size of France. They still lack the helicopters they need to get around rapidly and even the rations for long-distance patrols [emphasis added]...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Lovely place for "peacekeeping":

Sudan cuts ties with Chad after Dafur rebels reach Khartoum
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3911988.ece

Sudan raised the spectre of all out war with neighbouring Chad today after a whirlwind assault on Khartoum by Darfuri rebels backed by the Chadian government.

Hundreds of fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) launched an attack on Omdurman, which lies across the Nile from the modern capital Khartoum, on Friday evening.

Sudanese armed forces responded with artillery and helicopter gunships as fighting raged through the weekend.

It is the first time that the war in Darfur has reached the gates of the capital.

Analysts and United Nations sources in Khartoum said Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of Jem, wanted to show his strength rather than launch a serious attempt to topple the government.

But it brings closer the prospect of the region’s proxy war becoming a real war.

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan announced he was cutting relations with Chad.

"These forces are all basically Chadian forces supported and prepared by Chad and they moved from Chad under the leadership of Khalil Ibrahim," he said in a televised address, adding that he reserved the right to retaliate against the “outlaw regime”...

State TV broadcast pictures of what the Government claimed to be captured rebel vehicles.

A British resident of Khartoum said things were calm although helicopter gunships continued to buzz back and forth across the city...

About 200 technicals – pickups mounted with heavy machine guns – made the four-day journey from their strongholds in the Jebel Moon region of West Darfur.

They crossed into North Darfur and then Northern Kordofan using areas controlled by sympathetic tribes, according to security sources.

They picked up reinforcements along the way before approaching Khartoum from the west via its historic neighbour Omdurman.

The city is well-defended with machine gun emplacements on all its major arteries but at times Jem commanders claimed to have captured much of the city before withdrawing.

Richard Cornwell, an analyst with the Institute for Security Studies, said the attack undermined the government’s image as an all-powerful military force.

“Overall it’s messy but this is the first time anyone has managed to take civil war to the doorstep of the government so it’s a propaganda victory of sorts,” he said...

Mark
Ottawa