Darfur News Round-up

Memorial of St. Maria Goretti
A Coalition for Darfur Post

Khartoum and the two rebel groups in Darfur have signed a prelminary peace agreement with the arduous and contentious details of a comprehenisve peace agreement to be worked out later.

The UN is reporting that $1.3 billion out of the $1.9 billion it needs to support the North/South peace agreement has yet to be received.

Eric Reeves has revised his mortality total for Darfur from 400,000 to 360,000 but warns that the mortaily rate will likely increase in the near future.

Rebels in Eastern Sudan have accused Khartoum of bombing civilians and villages and covering up the attacks.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, briefed the Security Council recently on the status of the investigation into the crimes committed in Darfur. He reported that the ICC has collected a "significant amount of credible information" to show that grave crimes have taken place in Darfur.

Sudan is still refusing to cooperate with the ICC.

Last week, President Bush stated "the violence in Darfur region is clearly genocide."

A survey of 11,000 African show found that about two-thirds of respondents agreed that the U.N. should have the right to intervene to stop serious abuses of human rights in the region.

Janes Defence Weekly reports that sections of eastern Sudan are becoming "areas of choice" for Al-Qaeda and other militant groups as they seek to boost recruitment in the region.