Feedback? Suggestions? Please feel free to leave them in the comments.

See below for pictures from the event, and if you live in Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, or Edmonton, be sure to attend a screening in your city TONIGHT! Tickets are on sale at http://standcanada.org/darfurfilm/buy-tickets/.

• She Does The City

• TheTyee.ca

• NOW Magazine

• Toronto Star

To purchase your tickets and find out more about the film, visit http://standcanada.org/darfurfilm/.

We will be showing the unreleased Hollywood film Darfur, starring Billy Zane, Edward Furlong and Kristanna Loken.

In partnership with Cineplex, the film will be screening in:

1) Toronto – Feb 1st – Scotiabank Theatre
2) Montreal – Feb 4th – StarCite Montreal
3) Vancouver – Feb 4th – SilverCity Metropolis (Burnaby)
4) Ottawa – Feb 4th – SilverCity Gloucester
5) Edmonton – Feb 4th – Cineplex Odeon South Edmonton
6) London – Feb 8th – SilverCity London
7) Guelph – Feb 8th – Galaxy Cinemas Guelph
8) Hamilton – Feb 8th – SilverCity Hamilton Mountain
9) Kingston – Feb 11th – Cineplex Odeon Gardiner’s Road
10) Winnipeg – Feb 11th – SilverCity Polo Park

Each screening will begin at 7pm, and will be followed by a Q&A session with Stand leaders and special guests.

Tickets are $10 each, and can be purchased here: http://standcanada.org/darfurfilm/

Feedback? Suggestions? Please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Stand’s holiday giving campaign, after only 10 days, raised nearly $500! That is enough to keep 1-800-Genocide going for the month of January – let’s try to keep it going for the entire year! To donate, please visit www.standcanada.org and click the Donate Now button, or www.pincgiving.com and choose one of Stand Canada’s individual campaigns to support yourself. If you would like to become a fundraiser, sign up at www.standinteractive.ning.com to create your own profile, and add the SocialGiving application, which creates your own campaign at pincgiving.com for Stand Canada, and you can send out the link to all of your family and friends.

Thank you for your support – together, we can keep anti-genocide advocacy alive in Canada this year!

Anne

Darfur activists have been accused of ignoring the environmental roots of the conflict, arguing that such attention absolves the Sudanese government of any wrong-doing despite its brutal military response to the region’s suffering. However, it is critical that we recognize desertification as the crucial element of the conflict’s outbreak, and acknowledge that without an alternative source of water no lasting peace can be sustained in the region.

In recent years climate scientists have plugged historical records of sea-surface temperatures into atmospheric computer models and concluded that African monsoons will decline still further, leaving the continent with less water. As the Sahara desert maintains its relentless march southward nomadic herders from northern Darfur are becoming increasingly dependent on the more plentiful water supplies of southern farmers. Where historically cultivated water agreements once governed the peaceful distribution of the precious resource, northern arrivals are now finding themselves forced to pay for access to wells. With a 40 percent decline in annual rainfall over the past 25-30 years, sedentary farmers feel obligated to guard their water against outsiders.

The competition for water does not end in Darfur, however, but reaches across the border into Chad where countless refugees queue up every day for miserable rations of water from humanitarian agencies. Water is no more plentiful in Chad than it is in Darfur with Lake Chad, that great inland sea that once sustained twenty million people in west-central Africa, losing 90 percent of its surface area over the past three decades. With Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger heavily dependent on the fast disappearing reservoir, a far broader conflict threatens to erupt on the very doorstep of Darfur.

Underground reservoirs may offer an alternative, though temporary, source of water. A more permanent supply of water may be provided by artificial catchment basins, a system that is simple enough to be built at the community level and therefore easier to repair and maintain in the absence of technical experts from humanitarian agencies. Whatever the response, without arable land Darfur refugees can never return to their homes, and without land local authorities cannot build political alliances, conclude land deals or buy-off other tribes. In short, without land the social fabric of Darfur unravels. Darfur, Sudan and the entirety of central Africa can expect no permanent peace without water. The world should take heed, for what were problems once considered exclusive to Africa are fast becoming global.

Relief Web, “Sudan: Climate change escalates Darfur crisis,” http://www.reliefweb.int/rwarchive/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EKOI-75H3R9?OpenDocument&Click=

Global Policy Forum, “Shrinking of Lake Chad,” http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/198/40377.html

Stephen Faris, “The Real Roots of Darfur,” The Atlantic Monthly April 2007.

Also see Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer.

The Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, says it is now the time for international peacekeepers to prepare to leave Darfur. This was in response to a United Nations report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The latest report on the situation in Darfur outlines that the United Nations-African Union mission (UNAMID) in Darfur has been “fraught with difficulties.” There have been bureaucratic delays and other difficulties including warning shots fired at the UNAMID, weapons pointed at convoys, and Sudanese helicopters flying low over UNAMID in a threatening matter. Harassing and limiting movements of UNAMID personnel is in breach of the Status of Forces Agreement, a deal that was made when the peacekeepers were deployed two years ago. The report also says there are now “close to 20,000 troops and police deployed in Darfur, the site of what U.N. official’s say is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.” According to the U.N., as many as 300,000 people have died in the conflict, which Khartoum denies.

Abdalhaleem disagrees strongly with the report on the conflict-torn Darfur region. The Sudan envoy’s belief is that the report should have focused on the fact that, according to him, the war is over, peace is in sight and the African Union and the Sudanese government needs an exit strategy for the peacekeepers. The U.N.s main initiative should be ensuring peace talks between the government and rebels reach success.

UNAMID is also in conflict over what status the situation should be labeled as. Some UNAMID officials describes the war as over, others have said the Sudanese government and rebels were bringing troops into Darfur which could possibly lead to new violence. UNAMID has been working for two years to try and stabilize the region and protect the citizens of Darfur.

They continue to conflict with Khartoum, well government and rebel forces continue to clash. There has also been fighting amongst Sudan and Chad at the border. Efforts to resume peace negotiations between the parties in Darfur have not worked. U.N. officials also say “Darfur is also plagued by rampant banditry and that a wave of kidnappings of aid workers has led some humanitarian aid agencies to curtail staff in the region, causing a 50 percent cut in aid presence in remote areas.” All this is in the midst of trying to prepare for Sudan’s first multi-party elections in 24 years in April 2010. However these elections have had to extend voter registration, and there are already worries that with National Congress Party of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir the elections will not be fair.

As is evident there is still much work to do in the region. There are still conflicts raging. Although it is unclear what exactly the status of Darfur is at present, what is clear is these citizens have suffered and have no clear leadership to help rebuild. There is still work to be done. Success needs to be achieved before an exit, or else it was a wasted two year mission. I do not think it is a good time for peacekeepers to leave Darfur.

Sources:

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Butty-Sudan-UN-Report-React-24Nov09-72130587.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5AM4BX20091123

The relaunching of the digest allows us to occasionally broaden our subject matter, while maintaining the main theme and message that the digest has always presented.

This month, we provide an insider view of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and discuss the challenges that this country continues to face. In addition, the digest continues to explore developments in three areas: The Negotiations and Peace Process, Humanitarian Affairs and Security, and Darfur in Canadian Politics.

Feedback? Suggestions? Please feel free to leave them in the comments.