---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Suzanne Jambo <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:43:28 +0300 Subject: [SouthSudan] Fwd: "Yet More Compelling Evidence of Atrocity Crimes in South Kordofan" To: SPLM Global Network <[email protected]>, "[email protected] SPLM Holland Leader Email" <[email protected]>, "[email protected] Paulino Biel Email" <[email protected]>, "[email protected] Simon Duku Email" <[email protected]>, Makur maker Mabor <[email protected]>, mangok mayen <[email protected]>, Pac Mayen <[email protected]>, Gisma Ruphael Mou Mou Email <[email protected]>, Sunday Taabu <[email protected]>, Abu Deng Email <[email protected]>, "[email protected] SPLM Cde Khamis West Australia Leader" <[email protected]>, lazim el-basha <[email protected]> Cc: SS Human Rights Society for Advocacy SSHURSA <[email protected]>, CSO HR SSHURSA <[email protected]>, CSO Justice africa <[email protected]>, Isaac Gang <[email protected]>, David Dau Email <[email protected]>, Dandois Media French Groups <[email protected]>, "[email protected] Cde Nora Email" <[email protected]>, "[email protected] Media Italy" <[email protected]>
Dear all, More on the unabated continuation of Khartoum's National Congress Party (NCP) gross human rights violations being committed against the Nuba people, Southern Kordofan! Our activism toward civilians protection and the total respect for Nuba People's Rights must aggressively go on...we can't standby as the Nuba are being terrorized! Thank you! Suzanne Jambo Suzanne Jambo National Secretary for External Relations (NSER), The Sudan People's Liberation Movement, SPLM, Juba The Republic of South Sudan (RSS) E-mail: [email protected] Tel: Juba: +249 957108989 +256 477108989 +249 926474463 ROAMING: +254 734456931 Kenya: +254 721456931 Begin forwarded message: > From: "Eric Reeves" <[email protected]> > Date: August 26, 2011 3:43:35 AM GMT+03:00 > To: "Eric Reeves" <[email protected]> > Subject: "Yet More Compelling Evidence of Atrocity Crimes in South Kordofan" > > "Yet More Compelling Evidence of Atrocity Crimes in South Kordofan" > Three more mass gravesites identified by the Satellite Sentinel Project, > along with clear evidence of advance planning by Khartoum for the slaughter > in Kadugli > > Eric Reeves > August 25, 2011 > > The most recent report on atrocity crimes in South Kordofan was published on > Tuesday, August 23, by the Satellite Sentinel Project ("Special report: > evidence of burial of human remains in Kadugli"). It provides compelling > evidence---satellite photography and eyewitness accounts---of three > additional mass gravesites in and around Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan, > and scene of well-documented attacks on the Nuba ethnic group. The UN High > Commission for Human Rights has released its own report, which also presents > compelling evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity (the > un-redacted and more revealing version is available here). The weak head of > UNHCHR, Navi Pillay, has declared that it is "essential [that] there is an > independent, thorough and objective inquiry with the aim of holding > perpetrators to account"; she has been echoed in this insistence by other > senior UN officials and diplomats from member states. But as I've recently > argued, this will be adamantly refused by Khartoum; and---protected by China > on the UN Security Council---the National Islamic Front/National Congress > Party regime will be in a position to reject any non-consensual > investigation. This will be an extraordinary moment of political and moral > clarity for the world body, and for whatever remains of the ideal of a > "responsibility to protect." There will simply be no way in which to finesse > international failure to investigate at this moment, with such compelling > evidence. > > To be sure, Khartoum has now offered the UN the opportunity for a brief > "assessment mission" in South Kordofan, which will be strictly controlled by > the Sudan Armed Forces and Military Intelligence; it will be a thoroughly > sanitized view. At the same time the regime has created a new "committee" > charged with monitoring the situation in South Kordofan. This will be the > ongoing reply to any further insistence on the need for an independent human > rights investigation. Accepting this "assessment mission" and Khartoum's > factitious monitoring committee in place of the demanded independent and > thorough investigation will be to admit the most abject failure. > > What gives special importance to this new report from the Satellite Sentinel > Project (SSP), in addition to the evidence it provides, is the editorial > comment that accompanies it. This "Note from the Editor" makes clear just > how perversely unwilling the Obama administration has been to accept the > overwhelming evidence of mass gravesites and extensive atrocity crimes in > Kadugli, including widespread, ethnically-targeted human destruction. This > has entailed what is finally no more than a feckless and disingenuous > skepticism, deployed for reasons of diplomatic expediency rather than any > reasoned concern about pre-judging the situation on the ground. The "Note > from the Editor" provides a brief, perspicuous survey of all the evidence now > available, and thus provides a devastating account of how untenable the Obama > administration's continuing skepticism and counter-claims have become. It > also provides clear evidence that the Khartoum regime had prepared in advance > for the mass killings that began on June 5: > > "Statements and press releases by the International Federation of Red Cross > and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the SRCS, and the International Committee > of the Red Cross (ICRC) have also confirmed that mass body recovery and > disposal operations have been occurring in Kadugli. A 1 July report released > by IFRC verifies the SRCS, reportedly acting on instructions from the > Government of South Kordofan, has been actively collecting dead bodies in > Kadugli town, and had at least 415 body bags and 2,000 plastic tarps recently > transferred to it from the IFRC prior to the fighting in June. By the end of > June, the SRCS was publicly saying it needed more body bags." (emphasis added) > > In this context, the conclusion to this "Note from the Editor" has an > inescapable authority: > > "It is now two months since reports of the systematic killing of civilians in > Kadugli by Government of Sudan-aligned forces first emerged. The debate > continues about what further steps the US and the international community > should take in response to the gross violations of human rights that have > been reported. What should no longer be debated, however, is that these > alleged crimes, including mass killing and subsequent mass burial of the > dead, have happened and continue to occur." > ********************************** > Editor’s Note > > Satellite Sentinel Project, August 23, 2011 > "Special report: evidence of burial of human remains in Kadugli" > > The Satellite Sentinel Project's (SSP) identification on 14 July 2011 of a > cluster of white bundles in Kadugli as consistent with human remains wrapped > in white plastic tarps or body bags was controversial at the time. Although > publicly questioned by a U.S. government official, it has now been > established by SSP through the collection of additional imagery and > eyewitness reports. This report presents more visual evidence and new > information by eyewitnesses who spoke directly to SSP of the collection and > burial of human remains wrapped in tarps and/or body bags by the Sudanese Red > Crescent Society (SRCS). The bundles were buried at an additional two new > apparent mass graves in and around Kadugli. > > To date, SSP has identified a total of eight mass graves in and around > Kadugli, as well as evidence of corpses wrapped in what appear to be body > bags and/or tarps at four sites. Also, SSP's imagery of apparent mass graves > has been reviewed by Stefan Schmitt, International Forensic Program Director > for Physicians for Human Rights, who has concluded that the images "provide > enough credible evidence to suggest the presence of mass graves." > > Despite the visual evidence corroborating the eyewitness accounts, as well as > images of three mounds consistent with reported mass graves nearby, the US > government claimed that SSP's satellite imagery provided "no clear evidence > of mass graves." In a 20 July 2011 Washington Post article, "US Government > Cannot Confirm Mass Graves in Sudan," a US government official stated that, > "What they (SSP) identify as body bags, we see those same items in those same > places before the fighting started." The US government has released no > eyewitness report or imagery in support of its assertion. > > SSP has determined, though, that these same items were not present in those > same places on 7 June or 17 June or 20 July. Since the 14 July report, SSP > has published reports from additional eyewitnesses who have seen corpses > wrapped in what appear to be white body bags or white plastic tarps. And > satellite imagery shows the dumping and subsequent burials of what appear to > be white bundles of human dimensions, wrapped in some sort of tarps, and bent > in the shapes of the letters "C" or "J," consistent with human bodies bent at > the waist or knees, on a remote, wooded mountainside. > > Statements and press releases by the International Federation of Red Cross > and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the SRCS, and the International Committee > of the Red Cross (ICRC) have also confirmed that mass body recovery and > disposal operations have been occurring in Kadugli. A 1 July report released > by IFRC verifies the SRCS, reportedly acting on instructions from the > Government of South Kordofan, has been actively collecting dead bodies in > Kadugli town, and had at least 415 body bags and 2,000 plastic tarps recently > transferred to it from the IFRC prior to the fighting in June. By the end of > June, the SRCS was publicly saying it needed more body bags. > > This, paired with a 7 July statement by the ICRC stating that it "provided > Sudanese Red Crescent emergency action teams with technical advice on the > management of dead bodies, and with the body bags they needed to recover the > dead," corroborates SSP’s assertion that the white or light-colored objects > are consistent with body bags. Eyewitnesses have described to SSP seeing a > yellow front-end loader with a backhoe digging mass graves in and around > Kadugli at sites in which an SRCS Land Cruiser and SRCS workers were also > present. One eyewitness described a yellow excavator digging two pits at a > site where men dressed in a manner consistent with SRCS workers subsequently > threw bodies into the pits. > > These eyewitness reports, obtained by SSP, are consistent with a statement to > the press by the executive director of the South Kordofan branch of SCRS that > the locality of Kadugli provided the SRCS corpse management team with "a > loader for excavation." > > It is now two months since reports of the systematic killing of civilians in > Kadugli by Government of Sudan-aligned forces first emerged. The debate > continues about what further steps the US and the international community > should take in response to the gross violations of human rights that have > been reported. What should no longer be debated, however, is that these > alleged crimes, including mass killing and subsequent mass burial of the > dead, have happened and continue to occur. > > [footnotes in PDF at http://www.satsentinel.org/reports ] > > _____________________________ > Eric Reeves > Smith College > Northampton, MA 01063 > > [email protected] > 413-585-3326 > Skype: ReevesSudan > www.sudanreeves.org > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
