UN must investigate chemical weapon charges against Sudan

An edited version of this was published in todays i newspaper. See link below:

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/united-nations-must-investigate-chemical-weapon-charges-sudan/

The first genocide this century is underway in Darfur. Despite it being acknowledged as such a decade ago, it continues – unfettered by UN intervention.

An Amnesty International report published today presents overwhelming evidence that the Government of Sudan, emboldened by international indifference, is using chemical weapons on its own civilians. The report, which makes for harrowing reading, documents interviews with 184 survivors. It seems that the Khartoum regime is primarily targeting Fur civilians, living in the Jebel Marra region, not rebel forces. These attacks include the aerial bombardment of villages, ground assaults on civilians and the frequent use of chemical weapons that have killed more than 250 people, perhaps many more.

The Jebel Marra region in Darfur has been under siege by Sudanese government militias since mid-January. Some 34,000 people were displaced in the first 10 days alone. Since the genocide began 13 years ago, 4 million people have been displaced. Forced from their villages into camps, they are now dependent on aid, meagre though it is, for survival.

Amnesty reports that as many as 250,000 people have been displaced in the region with a death toll thought to be many thousands. Rapes and violent attacks are rampant.

That the Sudanese government is now allegedly using chemical weapons should come as no surprise to UN officials. Here’s why.

Firstly, the minutes of a meeting with senior Sudanese officials, including President Bashir, were leaked to renowned US Sudan expert, Eric Reeves, last year. One official was reported as saying, "We shall expel UNAMID from Darfur…We shall make it hell for them”. This would pave the way to forcibly repatriate IDPs [international displaced persons] so that “the job can be finished off”. The document contained an alarming reference to "dirty" chemical weapons. One of the officials allegedly said, “We have started to transport radioactive materials containers to Jabel Um-Ali, with the aim of using them to make bombs and missiles for aerial bombardment and artillery shelling".

But aerial bombardments never stopped (the UN no-fly zones were never actually implemented). They abated for a short time when satellite images captured evidence of bombed villages and mass graves. Aid agencies were expelled so that starvation and mass rape were increasingly deployed as preferred weapons of war. With most of the rebels now deployed to protect territories in the South and the world’s media focused on Syria, Khartoum has once again intensified its genocidal campaign in Darfur.

Secondly, this is not the first time Khartoum has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians. In 1999 Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) raised concerns when the villages of Lainya and Loka were bombed with chemical weapons. The UN took samples, the results of which were never disclosed. MSF expressed concern at the non-disclosure and the fact that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was not asked to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons. Although the OPCW has the powers, in order to act, it requires an official request from another party state. None was forthcoming.

Having failed to act on the warning flagged in the recent leaked minutes, the UN must not allow Khartoum to evade the OPCW scrutiny that should be triggered now in light of Amnesty’s revelations.

Instead of leading the charge, the British envoy to Sudan, Christopher Trott, was shamefully silent today. Having visited Sudan last week, Trott’s trip notes make no mention of the Darfur genocide. The obsequious language seeks to legitimise what is a known genocidal regime, whose president is wanted in The Hague for crimes against humanity and genocide.

British and UN officials, whose lack of resolve is as reprehensible as it is irrefutable, are being outplayed by the barbaric Bashir, who interprets their silence as tacit approval. There are two decisive actions that the UK could, and should, take in response to Amnesty’s revelations.

Firstly, request an immediate, unfettered investigation by the OPCW, ensuring that the findings are publicly disclosed. Secondly, sustaining a genocidal campaign is expensive. Sudan has accrued a $46 billion debt which it can’t repay, much of which is held by Paris Club creditors, one of whom is the UK. As Foreign minister, Boris Johnson could work with European colleagues to terminate talks of debt relief until attacks on civilians stop, aid is allowed through and threats of repatriation are removed.

Beleaguered Darfuri civilians have been failed by successive British and US leaders. Promises of “never again” long abandoned to political expediency. For every broken promise there are countless broken bodies, And still we bury our heads in the[oil rich] sand.

The only thing standing between Jeremy Corbyn & number 10 now is the next PLP plot

The glass door opened onto a fusion of multi-coloured faces. If it wasn’t for the school girls, still in uniform, I could’ve been at a UN convention – not Momentum HQ.

Jeremy Corbyn renewed and strengthened his leadership mandate today – in spite of the McCarthyite tactics employed against him by the New Labour elite. He won because he has a vision and ideas that speak to people throughout the country. His appeal spans ethnicity, class, age and religion. When I visited Momentum on Tuesday, the people I met didn’t fit the media’s reductionist stereotype.

There was a middle aged Jewish woman who organises cake sale fundraisers, a grandmother who knits for Christian aid, the 70 year old Muslim man who left Labour when Blair “took it to the right” but returned when Jeremy Corbyn became leader. I met a white working class lad who listens to Nick Ferrari (to understand right wing views) and a couple of black school girls, to name a few. None of them fitted the description of “rabble”, “groupie” or “hard” anything. They were kind, welcoming and open (in spite of the previous night’s Dispatches stitch up) but above all – they were organised. Confident of winning the leadership election, they had already moved onto their next campaign: JC4PM.

When Jeremy Corbyn arrived to thank volunteers for their work, no one fainted at his feet. There were no selfies. These are measured, discerning individuals who are signing up to a vision of hope – not a cult of personality. Having spent 6 months undercover with Momentum in a “sting” that exposed that there was nothing to expose, I couldn’t help wondering why Dispatches hadn’t chosen to investigate the movement behind Owen Smith’s campaign.

The right wing Labour movement, progress, who the GMB accused of instructing Labour’s front bench to support Tory cuts and wage restraint in 2012, backed Smith. Large sums of money have been donated to Progress by corporations such as Pfizer, for whom Smith worked as a lobbyist.

Save Labour, which instigated a major recruitment drive for Smith supporters (though this wasn’t called “entryism”) was bankrolled by former Blair spin doctors, according to the electoral commission. Donations were made via a company founded by Blair loyalist, David Blunkett, called Labour Tomorrow Ltd. Donors include Blair’s former spin doctor, Peter Mandelson, and a hedge fund manager. The company has reportedly given Save Labour £117,000.

I was dismayed when JK Rowling endorsed the Save Labour campaign to back Owen Smith. Her defence of New Labour’s record on single parents seemed incongruous. She is a woman I admire greatly and I read Harry Potter to my son every night, but her hostility towards Jeremy Corbyn is misplaced. One of the first things Tony Blair did when he became PM was to cut benefits to single mothers. Jeremy Corbyn defied Blair and voted against cuts to lone parents.

Under New Labour, inequality almost doubled reaching levels not seen since the 1920s.  Decades of market-based capitalism has left the UK one of the most unequal countries in the OECD. It was Tony Blair’s de-regulation of financial services that precipitated the recession, which left the richest, 64% richer and the poorest 56% poorer. Privatisation of the NHS and education was also promoted during the Blair years (which Smith has previously said he’s comfortable with).

Despite Labour HQ trawling through members’ social media accounts and purging 130,000 individuals on specious grounds (such as tweeting comments on the Tory leadership election), Jeremy Corbyn emerged victorious today. He has made the Labour party relevant to ordinary people and inspired an unprecedented surge in membership. With 600,000 members, Labour is now the biggest left of centre party in Europe.

The only thing standing between Jeremy Corbyn and number 10 now is the PLP plotters who have serially undermined him. If BP executives resigned en masse and sought to topple the CEO with a smear campaign (damaging the company brand in the process) they wouldn’t expect their old job back when their treachery backfired. The pugilistic plotters will need to earn back, not just Jeremy Corbyn’s trust, but that of battle weary Labour members and supporters. 

Grammar schools are fact factories that specialise in social engineering

This piece was published in today's Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/grammar-schools-social-engineering-my-child-moved-away-11-plus-exams-good-of-the-children-theresa-a7232591.html