Ja nao vale a pena esconder...

Darfur police 'assault UN staff'

By Jonah Fisher BBC News, Sudan

The United Nations says five of its staff have been assaulted by police in Sudan's Darfur region.
The UN workers were among 20 aid workers and African Union peacekeepers arrested by Sudanese authorities after a raid on a party at the weekend.

A statement from the UN said that some of their staff had suffered serious injuries and that it would protest officially to the Khartoum government. UN workers are providing vital aid in the conflict-hit region.

'Deeply concerned'

The Sudanese government has not intervened to protect Darfur's battered population from the brutal Janjaweed militia. But when aid workers, African Union peacekeepers and UN staff held a Friday night party in Nyala - Darfur's biggest town - it felt it had to step in. Sudanese police and security officers stormed the aid compound where the event was being held.

According to the UN, the 20 arrested people were physically and verbally assaulted with some seriously injured and needing medical treatment. A report on Sudan's state-owned television said the UN and African Union workers had been detained for misconduct, comparing it to allegations of sexual abuse which face peacekeepers in southern Sudan.

A statement from the United Nations said all the detainees had now been released, but it also said it was deeply concerned about the treatment of its staff and that the basic principles of rule of law had been violated.
Northern Sudan is governed by Islamic Sharia law which outlaws the drinking of alcohol. Its consumption by foreigners, within the privacy of their own homes, is usually tolerated.


Esta e uma descricao bastante fiel do que se passou a 10 metros da minha casa. So falta mencionar que a forca de intervencao contou com nao menos de 50 "policias", que as "serious injuries" incluiram agressoes sexuais, que a "firday night party" foi um almoco de colegas que se prolongou ate as 18h00 e que este incidente e muito mais que um incidente. E um teste aos tomates (perdoem a expressao) da comunidade humanitaria, que ate agora nunca tomou medidas drasticas apesar da deterioracao do conflito e das condicoes de seguranca em geral.

Desta vez, posso dizer-vos que nao cedemos a pressao, despertando a ira de quem orquestrou tudo isto. E agora vamos ter de nos aguentar a bronca, porque, uma vez lancada, esta estrategia so pode ser levada ate ao fim.

Pode ser que estes sejam os meus ultimos dias como Rule of Law Officer no Darfur, mas ironicamente, estao a ser os dias em que o meu trabalho tera sido mais relevante para a luta pelos principios da Rule of Law, isto pelos principios de um Estado de Direito.