SLM Report on Security Situation and Peace Process in Darfur

Between: Dec. 15. 2016 to March 15.2017

Deteriorating Security, a Protracted Peace Process, and Diminishing Opportunities

Foreword

The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) presents the following report on the humanitarian situation in Darfur, covering the three-month period from December 15, 2016 to March 15, 2017. This report, conducted by the SLM Humanitarian Team (SLM-HT) represents the SLM’s new initiative to monitor and respond to the humanitarian situation in the war-affected region of Darfur. Specifically, the report’s findings are the result of daily monitoring efforts to track and report on the violations committed by government forces and government-sponsored militias.

The report contains a wide range of information on the government’s humanitarian violations, including patterns and frequency of the manifestation of violence against civilians, both inside and outside the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. It further provides information on the security threats in Darfur, as well as the indicators of the prevailing security situation in the region. The indicators covered in the report include, among others, the government’s policies and actions to empower the militias and convert the Janjaweed into the RSF, the expulsion of UN partner international humanitarian aid organizations, the weakening of UNAMID and the government’s calls for its expedited withdrawal, the resettlement of outside groups on indigenous people’s lands, the international community’s encouragement of the government’s actions by lifting of sanctions, the government’s intransigent positions that impede the peace process, the governments increasingly common use of systemic rape as a weapon, the government’s fuelling of internal tribal conflicts, and the impunity of perpetrators.

I would like to thank all those who helped in any way to prepare this first report, and I call upon everyone concerned with the humanitarian situation in Darfur to contribute to the enrichment and development of future periodical reports of the SLM-HT. Also, I hope this report will help inform all those concerned with Darfur—including individuals, organizations, and countries—when they develop and offer their suggestions for mitigating this dire humanitarian situation in Darfur.

Mini Arko Minawi
Chairman
SLM
08/06/2017

Foreword 3

Introduction 4

Chapter One: The Absence of Security and Manifestations of Violence 5
1 – The Use of Chemical Weapons 6
2 – The Increase in the Use of Systematic Rape as a Weapon 6
3 – The Attacks on UNAMID, the UN and Humanitarian NGOs 10
4 – The Politicization and Militarization of Tribes Fueling Internal Conflicts 10
5 – The Failure of Voluntary Return 11
Chapter Two: Aggravating Humanitarian Crisis 12
Chapter Three: Security Threats and Indicators on the Ground 13
1 – The Government Strategy of Empowering and Strengthening the Militia 13
2 – The Continuation of the State of Emergency in Darfur 14
3 – The Strategy of Weakening UNAMID to Accelerate its Withdrawal 15
4 – The Expulsion of Humanitarian NGOs and the Impacts on the Ground 15
5 – The Inconsistency in the Aggregate Number of the War-Related Death Toll15 7 – Targeting Darfur Students 16
8 – The Presence of Foreign Combatants in Darfur 17
Chapter Four: The International Community’s Non-Reciprocal Reward to the Government 17
1 – The Lifting of Sanctions 17
2 – Assigning the Government to Combat Illegal Migration 18
Chapter Five: Resettlement of Alien Groups 18
Chapter Six: How the Government is Obstructing the Peace Process 19
1 – Impeding the Peace Process 19
2 – Undermining the National Dialogue 20
Chapter Seven: Other Issues of Concern 20
1 – Substantial Differences in Figures 20
2 – Absence of Human Rights Monitors and Independent Media 21
3 – Absence of Joint Humanitarian Mechanism 21
Chapter Eight: Recommendations 21
Table A-1 23
Table A-2 49

Below is the full text of the report

SLM Report on Security Situation and Peace Process in Darfur