Darfur special
Sir David travels to Khartoum to talk to Sudan’s president about the Darfur crisis.
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| According to some estimates, more than 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur |
The conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region began in 2003 after rebel groups started attacking government targets.
The rebels complain that the government oppresses black Africans in favour of Arabs. They also accuse Khartoum of neglecting the impoverished region.
According to some estimates, over 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict. The UN says a further 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes. The US government and some human rights groups say that genocide has taken place.
The Sudanese government admits forming “self-defence militias”, but deny any links to the Janjiwid, the group accused of perpetrating some of the worst violence. They also claim that the extent of the violence has been exaggerated.
In this special edition of Frost over the World Sir David travels to Khartoum to talk to Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president. Sir David also talks to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a leading rebel, the head of the UN African Mission and to the World Food Programme’s (WFP) director in Sudan.
President Omar al-Bashir
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| Sir David talks to Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s president, in Khartoum |
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| The ICC’s chief prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo joins the show from The Hague |
Last month the ICC described all of Darfur as a crime scene, compared some of the activities in Sudan to the Nazi regime in Germany and indicted two named Sudanese, one a government minister, for war crimes.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo says individuals in Darfur are using the state apparatus to commit war crimes. But he is optimistic that the ICC will eventually capture and prosecute those accused.
Dr. Tahir El-Faki
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| Tahir El-Faki accuses Sudan’s government of being undemocratic |
For years Khartoum has been thought of as one of the safest cities in Africa.
This all changed last month when the rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), attacked Khartoum’s twin city, Omdurman. The attack further dented the already slim hopes of peace.
Dr. Tahir El-Faki says the Darfur conflict is a political problem that cannot be solved militarily. He says the Sudanese government is undemocratic and has not respected the will of the people.
Rodolphe Adada
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| Rodolphe Adada is the envoy for the UN’s African Union mission in Darfur |
Last year the biggest and most expensive UN operation was born.
UNAMID is the UN African Union mission in Darfur. It was mandated to get 26,000 soldiers and police into Darfur. Six months on barely a third of that number has arrived.
Rodolphe Adada, the UN-AU force’s envoy, says the operation does not yet have enough troops on the ground to make a difference. By the end of the year he expects to have 80 per cent of the force in Sudan.
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| Kenro Oshidari is the World Food Programme’s director in Sudan |
Millions of Darfuris fleeing the fighting are now dependent on food aid from the WFP in order to survive. As the conflict continues the food shortages are likely to grow worse.
Kenro Oshidari, the WFP’s director in Sudan, says that it is one of the worst crises he has ever experienced. He says the security situation makes it very difficult to distribute food aid.
Watch the interviews with Rodolphe Adada and Kenro Oshidari
This episode of Frost over the World aired on Friday, June 20, 2008
Frost over the World airs at 18:00GMT every Friday on Al Jazeera English and is repeated during the week.
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