US embassy cable - 05NDJAMENA542

UNCLAS  NDJAMENA 000542 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/C, AF/SPG, DRL, INR, INR/GGI, PRM, 
USAID/OTI; LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICAWATCHERS; GENEVA FOR 
CAMPBELL, ADDIS/NAIROBI/KAMPALA FOR REFCOORDS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREF, KAWC, CD, SU, Human RIghts, Darfur Policy and Rebels, Humanitarian Operations 
SUBJECT: SUDANESE REFUGEES IN CHAD REPORT ONGOING VIOLENCE 
IN DARFUR 
 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary: Sudanese refugees crossing the border into 
eastern Chad say violence continues to rage in Darfur, a 
claim backed by workers from international and 
non-governmental organizations and African Union monitors 
based in Chad and Sudan.  Refugees described combined attacks 
involving Sudanese military and jandjaweed militias, 
occasionally supported by Antonov aircraft and helicopters to 
visiting officers from the Bureau for Democracy, Human 
Rights, and Labor (DRL).  Refugees who recently fled Sudan 
believe the violence is part of a Sudanese Government 
strategy to drive away African Sudanese in order to turn 
their lands, livestock, and other goods over to Arab 
Sudanese.  The fighting and looting reportedly led to severe 
shortages of food in Darfur.  In what appears to be a new and 
growing trend, men are often not accompanying their families 
to refugee camps in Chad, preferring instead to remain in 
Sudan in order to seek out and join rebel groups fighting the 
Sudanese Government.  Among the refugees and other key 
players, there is an increasing sense of frustration that the 
international community has not been able to end the violence 
in Darfur.  End Summary. 
 
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DRL INTERVIEWS NEWLY-ARRIVED SUDANESE REFUGEES 
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2.  (U) During a visit to eastern Chad from March 23 to March 
31, DRL officers interviewed recently arrived refugees along 
a 250 kilometers stretch of territory covering the Chadian 
side of the border with Sudan.  The refugees provided dozens 
of accounts of combined Government of Sudan (GOS)-jandjaweed 
military operations directed against non-Arab populations of 
Darfur.  From the Breidjing refugees camp in the south to the 
northern-most refugee camp near Bahai, refugees gave starkly 
similar reports of joint GOS-jandjaweed attacks often 
supported by Antonov aircraft or helicopters.  These attacks 
involved the raping of women, the execution-style killing of 
men and boys, the looting of homes and theft of livestock. 
 
3.  (U) Refugees interviewed needed little prompting to 
describe their ordeal or display the physical wounds of war. 
Near Bahai, a village chief from Sudan showed DRL officers a 
ten- year old boy who had reportedly lost part of his hand in 
an aerial attack 42 kilometers southeast of Karnoi on March 
26.  The same chief also brought in a woman with shrapnel 
wounds on her leg from the same attack. 
 
4.  (U) Strong parallels run through nearly all accounts 
collected along the border.  The refugees all described 
events that had occurred within the last month. 
 
--Near the town of Birak, a 32-year old man from the village 
of Labite told DRL officers of an attack that had just taken 
place a few days earlier on three villages in which fifteen 
children, ten women, and five men were killed.  The three 
villages include Labite, Hormot, and Alona.  "We counted 32 
government vehicles and about 400 men on horses and camels. 
There were also airplanes in the sky, but they did not bomb 
because of the nearby mountains.  They took 25 women away and 
raped them.  Fifteen children were burned alive in huts". 
The villager, and seven other men who nodded in agreement, 
said that the GOS military and jandjaweed also stole 570 cows 
and over 2,000 sheep.  The attack reportedly took place March 
16. 
 
--A 39-year old refugee interviewed in Bahai said "we were 
hiding in the mountains with our livestock when government 
soldiers and jandjaweed came and stole our animals.  They 
killed fourteen people in the attack and raped women.  We had 
to leave the women who were gang-raped behind because they 
are now very sick." 
 
--A little less than 180 kilometers away in the Kounoungo 
refugee camp, a 40-year old woman described a similar attack 
which took place several weeks ago.  "First came the airplane 
attack, then people came in vehicles, then came people on 
horses. A lot of men were killed.  They were captured and 
then shot." 
 
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AU AND NGOS COOROBORATE REFUGEE ACCOUNTS 
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5.  (SBU) Workers from international and non-governmental 
organizations as well as the sector commander of African 
Union Cease-fire Commission in Abeche agree the fighting has 
intensified in Darfur.  At the same time, they note that 
there has not been a massive influx of refugees into Chad. 
According to Taban Kokonga, the World Food Program 
Coordinator in Abeche, Chad, internally displaced persons 
camps in Sudan are likely taking in more victims who would 
have otherwise come to Chad.  AU Sector Commander in Abeche, 
Col. Jallo, noted that the AU is considering a force of 
10,000 soldiers in Sudan "which is a good indicator that 
things are not going well".  Major Emmanuel Etuka, formerly 
posted to the Abeche sector and now in Nyala, Sudan, reported 
to P/E officer on April 1 that "the situation in the general 
area near Nyala remains grave and something needs to be done 
immediately."  He said that the GOS continues to distribute 
uniforms, arms, and ammunition to the jandjaweed and People's 
Defense Force.  Meanwhile, the AU Mission in Sudan reportedly 
intends to deploy more troops to occupy several areas near 
Nyala. 
 
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CONTINUING GOS ATTACKS SPURS REBEL RECRUITMENT 
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6.  (U) DRL officers received reports from refugees living in 
several camps that young men who survived attacks in Darfur 
were remaining in Sudan to join the Sudan Liberation Movement 
(SLM) or Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).  This is a 
significant shift from seven months ago when DRL first 
conducted interviews with refugees along the border between 
Chad and Sudan in July and August 2004.  At that time, males 
who survived attacks were hopeful that the international 
community would quickly put an end to the violence and they 
would return to Darfur.  During the same period, a majority 
of the refugees were skeptical of the rebel movements.  This 
no longer appears to be the case.  In a recent interview in 
Kounougou, one female refugee stated that "the men are losing 
hope and believe they must now joint the rebels." 
 
7.  (U) Refugees interviewed said that the rebels were never 
in or near their villages prior to the GOS-jandjaweed 
attacks.  The refugees believe that the GOS continues to 
carry out attacks against civilians as part of a plan to rid 
Darfur of African Sudanese.  A refugee camp in Breidjing, a 
refugee told DRL officers that "in south western Sudan, you 
will not find any more blacks, only Arabs.  They are tired of 
seeing their family members killed and women raped." 
Meetings between DRL officers and members of the SLM and JEM 
also indicated that the number of new recruits has reportedly 
increased. 
 
8.  (U) Refugees also claim that the AU is not doing enough 
to end the violence.  During several interviews with recent 
arrivals in Oure Cassoni refugee camp, refugees claimed that 
AU forces only watched as their villages were ransacked. 
 
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COMMENT 
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9.  (SBU) The newly-arrived refugees' eye-witness accounts 
GOS and jandjaweed attacks and use of Antonovs and 
helicopters during the month of March indicate that President 
Bashir has not kept the promises made to President Deby and 
other African heads of state in N'Djamena in February. 
Chadian Government officials, Darfur rebel movements, and AU 
military commanders provide similar accounts of violence 
carried out by Sudanese forces.  There is an increasing sense 
of frustration among our interlocutors that the African Union 
and the international community lack the will and leverage 
necessary to put an end to the GOS's attacks against 
civilians in Darfur. 
 
10.  (U)  Khartoum and Tripoli Minimize Considered. 
WALL 
 
 
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