GI-NET's blog

This incredible video shows former Sudanese Commander Arbab Idries admitting to arming and leading Janjaweed milita attacks on civilans in Darfur in order to "rid the land of blacks." The former commander says he believes he committed war crimes in Darfur.

The UN General Assembly is expected to approve UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s choice for the next UN high commissioner for human rights – South African judge Navanethem Pillay.

Radovan Karadzic, who was arrested yesterday thirteen years after being indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes, plans on conducting his own defense in his trial.

Karadiz is charged with multiple counts of genocide due to his ordering the siege of Sarajevo and the killing of at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, during the Bosnian War.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo has grabbed headlines the past two weeks with the stunning announcement that he and the International Criminal Court are seeking an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Dozens of world figures have weighed in on the indictment, but many activists may wonder what role they as individuals have in making the wheels of international power spin.

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade told Reuters last week that Bush warned him at an undisclosed time that he would consider sending American troops to Darfur if African leaders could not quell the genocide themselves.

Yesterday, member organizations of the Darfuri Leaders Network, an association of Darfur diaspora groups in the US, sent a letter to members of the U.N. Security Council welcoming ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Campo's recent request for the arrest of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.

An investigation by BBC program Panorama has found evidence of recent shipments of Chinese arms and military vehicles to Sudan in violation of a UN arms embargo.

Two Chinese-made troop transport vehicles and an anti-aircraft weapon were recovered by rebels in Darfur helping the reporters with their investigation. One of the vehicles has been linked with an attack on the town of Sirba in West Darfur where it was reported to have fired its mounted anti-aircraft weapon directly into homes.

Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented evidence to the ICC today in The Hague supporting charges of genocide and war crimes by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Darfur. Following a three-year investigation, Moreno-Ocampo concluded that al-Bashir "masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups, on account of their ethnicity." Moreno-Ocampo asked the three sitting ICC judges to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir.

For the past month, we have been bragging about our super-activist and summer intern, Matthew Heck, who organized the Never Ignore, Never Forget relay --  a 1,300 mile relay from Kansas to Washington, DC. This week, Save Darfur named Matt and his intrepid teammates its Darfur Heroes for July! Click the blue box to read the article.

From all of us here at GI-NET, congratulations Matt, and congratulations to all of your teammates, on this special recognition.

While in Japan, President Bush defended his decision to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August; he believes that not attending "would be an affront to the Chinese people," making it "more difficult to be able to speak frankly with the Chinese leadership."

Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fakuda will also be attending the opening ceremonies, voicing views similar to Bush, and adding "I don't think you really have to link Olympics with politics."