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agreed by the government and the U.N. special representative in early August. This planwas not agreed by the two rebel groups.Meanwhile the Janjaweed maintain sixteen heavily armed bases, five shared withthe Sudanese army and several within reach of camps for Internally Displaced Persons.Residents of the IDP camps testify that both Janjaweed and government soldiers havebeen targeting these camps for further rape, robbery, extortion and killings. Some of thebases have been set up in villages from which the Janjaweed and government forces haddriven out the inhabitantsThis report also notes that conflict has extended to and beyond the Chad border,which has become militarized on both sides. There thousands of refugees and theirlivestock attract opportunistic raids and looting. Aid agencies have warned that the ethniccleansing campaign in Darfur has already cost thousands of lives; and that hundreds ofthousands more may die of starvation and disease without unhindered access to fullyfunded aid.Khartoum claims it cannot disarm or control the Janjaweed, while still refusing toallow adequate international forces in to protect civilians and stabilize the situation. Aninternational inquiry is called for into the abuses in Darfur, including allegations ofgenocide, and for international monitoring of any trial procedures there. 47 Human RightsWatch believes the U.N. Security Council should reject the ‘safe areas’ plan because,given the government’s record, these areas could be used to consolidate the ethniccleansing that has taken place in Darfur instead of giving real protection to civilians.HRW believes that the key to civilian security is controlling abusive government forcesand militias and that this is only to be achieved by an increased international presencethroughout Darfur.HRW called on the U.N. Security Council to use Chapter VII of the U.N. Charterto mandate the African Union to increase the number of troops in Darfur and extend itsmandate to include protection of civilians. 48 On September 19 it was reported (ABC TVnews) that the Security Council had ordered Sudan to restore order in Darfur or face oilindustry sanctions.SYRIASyria has not signed the Refugee Convention and has no domestic laws to protectIraqi, Bedoon or Afghan refugees living there. Iraqi refugees are theoretically eligible fora visitor’s visa for up to six months. Like over 3000 accepted applicants waiting forUNHCR resettlement, they might just be successful in this claim. However, many do notmake this application because of justifiable fears of long delays and being identified andrefouled by the Syrian authorities in the process.They then live very precariously without legal status, with severe restrictions onemployment and freedom of movement, denial of access to health care, education andhousing, combined with constant risks of arrest, detention and deportation. Undocumentedrefugees are very vulnerable to harassment and extortion by the Syrian police, threateningarbitrary arrest or refoulement. This is particularly true of the Bedoons. Support for this47 Human Rights Watch, ‘Empty Promises: Continuing Abuses in Darfur, Sudan’, August 200448 Human Rights Watch, ‘Safe Areas’ Offer No Real Security, September 1, 2004, hrw-news-africa@topica.emailpublisher.com24
description may be found in the footnoted reports 49 of the US State Department, HumanRights Watch, UNHCR and Amnesty International.ZIMBABWEThe political situation in Zimbabwe has gradually deteriorated since 1996, whenRobert Mugabe won another six years in government. At the beginning of 1999, popularfrustration with economic mismanagement and increasing corruption led to the formationof the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), with a strong base in the unions andsupport from commercial farming interests. When the MDC won 57 of the 120 electiveparliamentary seats in the June 2000 poll, Mugabe moved to remove or suppress hisopponents in the judiciary, the media and other centres of influence. 50Now Zimbabwe is in a parlous state, with the economy all but collapsed and thegovernment manipulating widespread famine so that the people in opposition strongholdssuffer most. Strong military backing is used for the forced removal of white farmers in abrutal land redistribution programme, which has earned President Mugabe widespread scorninternationallyIn October 2004 the Government is set to table in Parliament the Non-GovernmentalOrganisations Draft Bill. It is proposed so to limit the activities of the NGOs in the area ofhuman rights issues as to render them ineffectual. If the leader of an NGO were found to bein breach of this law, he or she would be dealt with at the discretion of the Minister. Therewould be no recourse to a court. This proposed law would seem to contradict theGovernment’s July undertaking to enact legislation on electoral reforms. Such reformswould have to support respect for the civil liberties of citizens. These include ‘freedoms ofassociation and expression’ which would be denied under the proposed NGO Draft Bill.In July 2004 Pretoria News 51 reported strong criticisms of President Mugabe’sregime by Zimbabwean clerics and a human rights lawyer: Archbishop Pius Ncube ofBulawayo, Rev Kumbukani Phiri of the Zimbabwe Pastors Conference, Jonah Gokova ofthe Ecumenical Support Services and Jacob Mafume of Lawyers for Human Rights. Thefour predicted an escalation of violence in the approach to the elections next March. Newlaws will prevent the opposition from campaigning, as it is now illegal for two or morepeople to meet to discuss politics or to organise any protest or demonstration withoutpolice approval. Their criticism extended to the African Union for doing nothing tochallenge President Mugabe to end the repression in Zimbabwe.49Human Rights Watch By Invitation Only- Australian Asylum Policy 2003; US State Department, ‘ Country Reportson Human Rights Practices 2002: Kuwait’ 31 March 2003; UNHCR, ‘ Chapter 6: Statelessness and Citizenship’in The State of the World’s Refugees: A Humanitarian Agenda, 1997; Amnesty International Index MDE13/027/2003 7 August 2003(on recent refoulements from Syria to Iran)50 Human Rights Watch, ‘Under a Shadow: Civil and Political rights in Zimbabwe’, Briefing Paper, June 6,200451 ‘Comment’, in Pretoria News, p.17, July 8, 200425
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DEPORTED TO DANGER - Edmund Rice Centre

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