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Sudan Arrests Two Officials With Doctors Without Borders
Following Report of Widespread Rapes in Darfur
CIA Secretly Restores Ties to Sudan Despite Ongoing Human
Rights Abuses in Darfur
Guantanamo Bay: A "Gulag Of Our Times" or a "Model
Facility"? A Debate on the U.S. Prison & Amnesty
International
Sudan Arrests Two Officials With Doctors Without
Borders Following Report of Widespread Rapes in Darfur
MSF-Holland director Paul Foreman said he was arrested and
interrogated on Monday and Vince Hoedt, Darfur co-ordinator
for the Dutch section of MSF was arrested and questioned on
Tuesday. Foreman was charged with crimes against the state,
publishing false reports, spying and undermining Sudanese
society.
Sudanese authorities detained and questioned two officials
of the aid group Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres
this week for releasing a report that documented hundreds
of rapes in the Darfur region. MSF-Holland director Paul Foreman
said he was arrested and interrogated on Monday and Vince
Hoedt, Darfur co-ordinator for the Dutch section of MSF was
arrested and questioned on Tuesday. Foreman was charged with
crimes against the state, publishing false reports, spying
and undermining Sudanese society. UN Special Representative
Jan Pronk told the press yesterday that the arrests were unwarranted.
- Jan Pronk, UN Special Representative to Sudan
The Sudanese government claims Medecins Sans Frontieres would
not turn over evidence used in its report "The Crushing
Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur," which documents
500 [five hundred] rapes in the Darfur region over a four
and a half month period. MSF officials say they could not
provide the personal information of people who were treated
for rape because of medical privilege and confidentiality.
Paul Foreman, speaking Monday.
- Paul Foreman, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Holland
A U.S. State Department spokesperson condemned the arrests
and called on the Sudanese government to stop its campaign
of harassment against aid workers in Darfur. In March, the
United States took steps towards normalizing relations with
Sudan, despite the lack of implementation of peace accords
signed by the government and rebel groups. The Sudanese embassy
in Washington said yesterday that neither Foreman nor Hoedt
were officially arrested, but rather that they were detained
for questioning and then released. We invited a representative
of the Sudanese government on the show but they did not return
calls. Also last weekend, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
visited the Sudan and spoke confidentially with rape survivors.
Annan’s translator during those sessions was asked to
report to authorities several times, despite government promises
that no one involved in the UN visit would be harassed. We
are joined now in the studio by Nicholas Detorrente, Executive
Director of Doctors Without Borders in New York City. And
on the phone from Washington, we’re joined by Charles
Snyder, the U.S. State Department Senior Representative on
Sudan. Again, we did invite the Sudanese government on the
program but they did not return our calls.
- Nicholas Detorrente, Executive Director of Doctors Without
Borders in New York City.
- Charles Snyder, the U.S. State Department Senior Representative
on Sudan.
CIA Secretly Restores Ties to Sudan Despite Ongoing
Human Rights Abuses in Darfur
The Los Angeles Times recently revealed that the U.S. has
quietly forged a close intelligence partnership with Sudan
despite the government's role in the mass killings in Darfur.
Charles Snyder, the U.S. State Department Senior Representative
on Sudan, defends the Bush administration's policy on Sudan.
In a major expose, the Los Angeles Times recently revealed
that the U.S. has quietly forged a close intelligence partnership
with Sudan despite the government's role in the mass killings
in Darfur. The Sudanese government has since publicly confirmed
it is working with the Bush administration and the CIA. Eight
months ago, former Secretary of State Colin Powell accused
the Sudanese of carrying out a genocide in Darfur. Already
180,000 have died in the region from fighting or hunger. But
relations appear to have since changed -- for the Sudanese
government's benefit. One senior Sudanese official the LA
Times that the country had achieved "complete normalization"
of relations with the CIA. The Times reported that the CIA
sent an executive jet in late April to Khartoum to ferry the
chief of Sudan's intelligence agency to Washington for secret
meetings sealing Khartoum's sensitive and previously veiled
partnership with the administration. The Sudanese intelligence
chief - Major General Salah Abdallah Gosh - has been accused
by members of Congress of directing military attacks against
civilians in Darfur. He also had regular contacts with Osama
bin Laden during the 1990s.
We talk with Charles Snyder, the U.S. State Department Senior
Representative on Sudan, about the report.
- Charles Snyder, the U.S. State Department Senior Representative
on Sudan.
Meanwhile as violence continues in Darfur, students throughout
California lobbied yesterday in Sacramento for a bill that
would require state divestment from all companies doing business
in the Sudan. Two California public pension funds have over
$12.5 billion in Sudan-related holdings. Last week the Illinois
state legislature became the first to approve divestment of
state funds from corporations doing business in Sudan. ??
- Ben Elberger, a student at Stanford who is part of the
group STAND, Students Taking Action Now: Darfur.
Guantanamo Bay: A "Gulag Of Our Times"
or a "Model Facility"? A Debate on the U.S. Prison
& Amnesty International
A week ago Amnesty International accused the Bush administration
of being a "leading purveyor and practitioner" of
human rights violations, debate has intensified over the U.S.
war on terror. On Tuesday, Bush described the Amnesty report
as "absurd." Today we host a debate between Amnesty's
William Schulz and attorney David Rivkin.
Last week, Amnesty International issued a damning report
blasting the Bush administration for ignoring international
law and mistreating detainees held at military prisons. The
report stated that human rights are in retreat worldwide and
the United States bears most of the responsibility. It called
the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "the
gulag of our times." Amnesty called on foreign governments
to uphold their obligations under international law by investigating
all senior U.S. officials involved in the torture scandal.
And, the group says, if those investigations support prosecution,
the governments should arrest any official who enters their
territory and begin legal proceedings against them.
This past weekend, General Richard Myers, and Secretary of
State Condoleeza Rice all dismissed Amnesty's report. And
on Monday night Larry King aired an interview with Vice President
Dick Cheney who said about the report, “Frankly, I was
offended by it. For Amnesty International to suggest that
somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I
frankly just don”t take them seriously.” He went
on to say that "Occasionally there are allegations of
mistreatment, but if you trace those back, in nearly every
case, it turns out to come from somebody who had been inside
and released to their home country and now are peddling lies
about how they were treated."
At a press conference yesterday, President Bush dismissed
the report as well:
"I'm aware of the Amnesty International report, and
it's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States
is a country that is -- promotes freedom around the world.
When there's accusations made about certain actions by our
people, they're fully investigated in a transparent way.
It's just an absurd allegation.
"In terms of the detainees, we've had thousands of
people detained. We've investigated every single complaint
against the detainees. It seemed like to me they based some
of their decisions on the word of -- and the allegations
-- by people who were held in detention, people who hate
America, people that had been trained in some instances
to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth. And so
it was an absurd report. It just is."
Joining us on the phone from New York is the executive director
of Amnesty International USA, William Schulz. Also in our
D.C studio is David Rivkin. He is is a partner in the Washington
office of Baker & Hostetler He also served served in a
variety of legal and policy positions in the Reagan and George
H. W. Bush Administrations, including stints at the White
House Counsel's office, Office of the Vice President and the
Departments of Justice and Energy.
- David Rivkin, a partner in the Washington office of Baker
& Hostetler LLP, a Visiting Fellow at the Nixon Center,
a Contributing Editor of the National Review magazine and
a member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection
of Human Rights which as an expert body, supporting the
UN Human Rights Commission.
- William Schultz, Executive Director, Amnesty International
USA
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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