7/24/08 - ICC prosecutor said Sudan wanted guarantees before handing over two Darfur suspects

July 23, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) revealed today in an interview with the 'Time' magazine that the Sudanese government sent an envoy to inquire about how far up the chain command he is willing to go. The unidentified Sudanese envoy asked Ocampo if handing over Haroun would stop investigations of people above him. "Suppose Haroun comes to The Hague and says he was only following instructions. Do you (...read more...)

7/17/08 - One peacekeeper killed in Sudan's Darfur

July 16, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - A U.N. peacekeeper has been killed in West Darfur in the day where the UN Security council condemned the last week killing of seven peacekeepers in the troubled region. The council on Wednesday strongly condemned the July 8 attack as "premeditated, deliberate and intended to inflict casualties," and said that attacks on U.N. peacekeepers during armed conflicts "can constitute war crimes." In the same time in Khartoum, "The (...read more...)

7/16/08 - EU urges Sudan to cooperate with ICC war crimes warrants

July 15, 2008 (PARIS) - The European Union has urged Sudan to turn over to the International Criminal Court two leading war crimes suspects. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier says such a gesture "would constitute an element of positive appreciation" of Sudan by the international community. France holds the rotating EU presidency, and Chevallier was speaking Tuesday on behalf of the 27-member union. He didn't comment on Monday's ind(...read more...)

7/15/08 - Hybrid force to evacuate non-essential staff from Sudan

July 14, 2008 (EL FASHER) - The joint African Union - UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) announced Monday the evacuation of the non-essential personnel but continue to operate in the troubled region of Darfur. The announcement is made in the day where the International Criminal Court Prosecutor asked for an arrest warrant against the Sudanese president for genocide, crimes against the humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. The joint pea(...read more...)

7/15/08 - Fates of other leaders show chance of Bashir arrest

July 14, 2008 (AMSTERDAM) - Sudan's president may not be delivered swiftly into the arms of international justice, but the fate of former leaders of Liberia and Yugoslavia suggests he might not evade the law indefinitely. The International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor accused Sudan's president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday of plotting a campaign of genocide in Darfur, including the killing of 35,000 people and asked judges to issue an arrest warr(...read more...)

7/12/08 - Darfur rebels vow to protect civilians, aid workers

July 11, 2008 (GENEVA) - Two of the main rebel groups in Darfur pledged on Friday to protect civilians and aid workers in the western Sudanese region where a dire humanitarian situation has worsened amid escalating insecurity, a joint statement said. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement Unity faction also said that they would improve the flow of aid and intercept any stolen relief supplies or hijacked vehicles that m(...read more...)

7/11/08 - BREAKING NEWS: Sudan president to be charged by ICC of war crimes - Washington Post

July 10, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - The Washington Post quoted UN officials and diplomats as saying that Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will be charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with genocide and crimes against humanity. Earlier today the ICC announced that its prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will hold a press conference on Monday revealing his new case "on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years". It is not (...read more...)

7/11/08 - US confirms ICC arrest warrant against Sudanese president

July 11, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - The US State Department confirmed Friday that prosecutors from the International Criminal Court were to seek an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. "I understand that there is some notice that the prosecutor intends to go before a panel of judges to present information and request for a warrant," department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. He was(...read more...)

7/10/08 - UK says prepared to host peace talks between Darfur parties

July 9, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - The British Foreign minister David Miliband said that his government is prepared to host peace talks in London for the warring parties in Darfur. "We are prepared to go forward with it" he said before adding that the Sudanese government and some Darfur rebels have agreed to the idea of London as a peace venue. But the Sudanese foreign minister Deng Alor appeared to be in contradiction with his counterpart's statements saying(...read more...)

7/9/08 - Sudan preliminary census results released - report

July 8, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - The preliminary results of Sudan census that started in April has been released, according to press reports. The daily Al-Hayat newspaper published in London said that the results show that the population of Sudan is approximately 38 million people. The state of Khartoum is the most populated with 6.5 million residents while Al-Jazeera state came second with 4.2 million. The report also said that the population of the 10 (...read more...)

7/9/08 - Darfur rebels to attend humanitarian workshop in Geneva

July 8, 2008 (GENEVA) - A Geneva based conflict mediation organization will hold this week a three day workshop for Darfur rebel movements to discuss key humanitarian issues in the troubled region and its responsibilities in this respect. The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue organizes a humanitarian workshop in coordination with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) from 10 to 12 July on humanitarian issues and substantive human(...read more...)

7/9/08 - South Sudan celebrates Girls' Education Day

July 8, 2008 (JUBA) - Southern Sudan celebrated its annual Girls' Education Day in order to acknowledge achievements in girls' enrollment and galvanize action to close the gender gap in education. This year celebrations were organized on Monday July 7 in the Lakes State capital of Rumbek where thousands of school children gathered in the town’s Freedom Square. The event, which was attended by representatives of the Government of Southern Sudan, Minis(...read more...)

7/9/08 - Ambush kills Darfur peacekeepers

Six members of the joint United Nations African Union peace mission in Sudan's Darfur region have been killed in an attack, a UN source has told the BBC. Those who died included four Rwandan peacekeepers, one policeman from Ghana and another from Uganda. State media reports that a convoy of 40 armoured vehicles ambushed the peace force while on patrol in North Darfur. The UN-AU mission has been struggling to contain the violence and has just 9,000(...read more...)

7/8/08 - US firm work in Darfur to be terminated mid-July: UN

July 7, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) - The contract for a US firm building infrastructure for peacekeeping forces in Darfur will be terminated mid-July, a UN official confirmed. The new head for the UN Department of Field Support Susana Malcorra told Inner City Press website that the contract will be "broken up into smaller pieces for a broader range of vendors including those from Sudan". The controversial no-bid contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin's P(...read more...)

7/5/08 - Sudan urges international support for new Darfur mediator

July 4, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - State minister for the foreign affairs, Al-Samani Al-Wasila called on the international community to assist the newly aapointed mediator for peace in Darfur and show goodwill towards resolving the Darfur crisis. Al Wasila further said that what is required from the international community is to encourage the rebel movements to take part in the peace process and not to send negative signals that could affect the resolution of Da(...read more...)

7/3/08 - US Darfur envoy disappointed at slow UN deployment

By Patrick Worsnip UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy for Darfur expressed disappointment on Wednesday that the United Nations had not met a U.S. goal for reinforcing peacekeepers in the area, calling progress so far "absolutely unacceptable". Richard Williamson, who asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in March to ensure that 3,600 more U.N.-African Union troops were deployed in the west Sudanese region by the end of June, said only 600-6(...read more...)

7/1/08 - WFP humanitarian air service to continue up to September

June 30, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - UN World Food Programme said that the the humanitarian air service which flies aid workers to critical areas in Sudan will continue running until the end of September. "These donations have arrived just in time. Our passengers - relief workers from more than 200 aid organizations operating in Sudan - would be unable to do their vital work without WFP-HAS," said Kenro Oshidari, WFP Representative in Sudan. After the World Fo(...read more...)

6/30/08 - Unidentified assailants kill WFP driver in South Sudan

June 29, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - Unknown gunmen killed today a Ugandan driver in an ambush in southern Sudan, bringing to five the number of WFP-contracted drivers murdered in the region this year. Muzamil Ramadan Sida, 28, shot and killed on the Juba-Yei road in the evening of 27 June after he delivered food to a WFP warehouse in Juba, the U.N. World Food Programme announced. His assistant escaped after steering the truck to a stop 300 metres from the att(...read more...)

6/30/08 - Displaced Darfuris struggle against hunger in Zam Zam camp

June 30, 2008 (ZAM ZAM CAMP, Sudan) - Markets stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables. Shiny new gas stations. Freshly built houses. Smooth paved roads. A pizzeria. These are not images one would normally associate with Sudan's western Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have died in five years of conflict. But they are all found in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state. El Fasher is home to thousands of civilian (...read more...)

6/28/08 - Burkina Faso minister to be Darfur mediator

June 27, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) - Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole has been chosen as the new U.N. and African Union joint chief mediator for Darfur, though his appointment has yet to be confirmed, diplomats said Friday. Several diplomats told Reuters the United Nations and AU had settled on Bassole as the best choice to try to broker a resolution to the five-year-old conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur. "Bassole has been chosen,(...read more...)

6/28/08 - Sudanese militias attack aid workers to starve Darfuri – rebel chief

June 27, 2008 (PARIS) - Attacks by Khartoum militias against humanitarian convoys and aid workers mean to starve the displaced people and the refugees and kill them, a Darfur rebel chief said today. Attacks on World Food Programme food convoys have forced a cut in rations to millions in Darfur by almost half since May. They have plenty of food in the warehouses but massively deteriorated security, banditry, hijackings and kidnappings makes it simply too(...read more...)

6/27/08 - UN envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson, to resign

June 26, 2008 (STOCKHOLM, Sweden) - The top U.N. envoy to Darfur, Jan Eliasson, is resigning from his job to make room for a new full-time chief negotiator, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Thursday Eliasson, a former Swedish foreign minister, said he would continue to work as a special adviser on Darfur, but "the situation is so serious now it is extremely important to find realistic lines of action," according to state-run radio. Earlier this mont(...read more...)

6/27/08 - US calls on Sudan to change its behavior to normalize ties

June 26, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - The Sudanese government needs to change its behavior and cooperate with the international community, a senior US official said today. The US special envoy for Sudan Richard Williamson issued a statement calling on Sudan to follow the footsteps of North Korea which received concessions from Washington today in terms of easing trade sanctions and removal from list of states that sponsor terrorism. The decision by the US adm(...read more...)

6/24/08 - Water and food shortage threaten Darfur displaced – spokesperson

June 23, 2008 (NYALA) - Refugee spokesperson said water and food shortage threaten the Internally Displaced Persons (IPDs) camps in Darfur. He urged the international community to help displaced people with the necessary aid. The World Food Programme had announced food cuts due to the deterioration of security conditions in the region and recurrent attack against the aid workers. While the lack of funding forced the WFP to reduce air its services. Hu(...read more...)

6/23/08 - Darfur faces food crisis - UN

June 22, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - Darfur faces a food crisis this year as a result of a "perfect storm" of growing violence, overcrowding in refugee camps and a bad harvest, the United Nations said on Sunday. The conflict in Darfur has prompted the world's largest humanitarian operation, which helps two-thirds of the region's 6 million population. But this year, a confluence of problems in the western Sudanese region could cause a spike in malnutrition rate(...read more...)

6/22/08 - Darfur's poorest squeezed by ration cuts

June 22, 2008 (ARDAMATA CAMP, West Darfur) - Khamisa Tafaela is frantic about 10-month-old son Nabil Abdulkarim, crying miserably in her lap. She has already lost one child to the same vomiting and diarrhoea in the same Darfur camp. Painstakingly, she squeezes gooey paste into his reluctant mouth from the energy-meal sachets provided after a doctor's visit but Nabil writhes and twists his head away, uninterested, his tiny thin legs dangling off her lap.(...read more...)

6/20/08 - Sudan paper suspends work to protest censorship

June 19, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - One of Sudan's leading independent papers suspended work on Thursday, saying censorship by authorities had made it impossible to function. Ajras al-Huriya, or the Bells of Freedom, said it had not been able to publish for two days this week after Sudanese security arrived and ordered the removal of up to nine articles and columns minutes before the paper went to the printing press. "They, the security elements, are replacin(...read more...)

6/18/08 - US special envoy to Sudan expresses frustration with UN Secretariat

June 17, 2008 (NEW YORK) - The US special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson voiced disappointment at the UN secretariat for failing to move quickly on the deployment of peacekeepers to Darfur. "We find it very disheartening that six months after the transfer from the African Union (AU) to the hybrid UN-AU force that 6,900 African Union troops have been re-hatted. There has only been an addition of 585 new UN peacekeepers" Williamson told reporters at th(...read more...)

6/15/08 - Europe urged to sanction Sudan over Darfur suspects

June 14, 2008 (BRUSSELS) - The European Union has been urged to impose sanctions on Sudan over its refusal to apprehend two men accused of crimes against humanity in the country's deeply troubled western province of Darfur. Foreign ministers from the EU's 27 governments will meet Jun. 16 to discuss the Khartoum government's non-compliance with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Last year the ICC issued arrest warrants for the arrest of Ahmed Har(...read more...)

6/14/08 - Israel looks for African country to absorb Sudanese refugees

June 13, 2008 (TEL AVIV) - Israel is negotiating with four African countries to host Sudanese and other African refugees who sneaked from Egypt, said a report published here on Thursday. Sudanese refugees and Eritrean nationals continue to escape to Israel from Egypt posing a dilemma for Israel while Egyptian authorities shoot some of them every week in vain to stop the flux. According to a report published by Haaretz yesterday, Israel has offered to(...read more...)

6/13/08 - EU ministers to warn Sudan but stop short of action

June 12, 2008 ( BRUSSELS) - EU foreign ministers are expected to warn Sudan of possible EU sanctions if it fails to cooperate on war crimes but will stop short of the immediate action demanded by rights activists, diplomats said on Thursday. Foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday will for the first time warn of specific EU sanctions against individuals instead of repeating warnings of possible sanctions via the United Nations, which have been(...read more...)

6/13/08 - Mediators urge Security Council to get tougher in Darfur

June 12, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) - The UN Security Council should get tougher in its efforts to resolve the Darfur conflict, mediators said Thursday, warning of a worsening humanitarian and security situation on the ground. "We can't deal with the problem alone," said Jan Eliasson, UN special envoy to the region. "We can't reach full force without the weight of the Security Council (members). They have to exercise more willingness to get involved. The Sec(...read more...)

6/12/08 - Cholera outbreak kills 45 people in South Sudan

June 11, 2008 (JUBA) - An acute watery diarrhea epidemic killed 45 people in southern Sudan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said today. At least 640 people are infected by the Cholera in Sudan's Central Equatoria and Eastern Equatoria states, while 45 people have already died, the IFRC said citing government statistics. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection spread by contaminated water or food. It cause(...read more...)

6/12/08 - WFP reduces air service for aid workers in Sudan

June 10, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday it would cut back air service for around 14,000 aid workers who travel to Darfur and other parts of Sudan due to a lack of funding for the Humanitarian Air Service. WFP-HAS, the air service run by WFP on behalf of the entire humanitarian community in Sudan, must cut one helicopter immediately and two fixed-wing aircraft on 19 June from its fleet because it is unable to cover the(...read more...)

6/12/08 - Chinese president urges Sudan to settle Darfur crisis

June 11, 2008 (Beijing) - Chinese president urged today that Sudan settle the Darfur crisis by fulfilling its commitments with regard to the deployment of the hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur and to accelerate the peace process with the rebels. Hu Jintao made the remarks when he received the visiting Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha who ended a three day trip to China on Wednesday. Hu said the three parties - the Sudanese government,(...read more...)

6/10/08 - U.N. funding shortfall threatens Darfur air aid

(CNN) -- The U.N. World Food Program, the globe's largest humanitarian agency, is cutting back its air service in Sudan because a lack of funding has made it difficult to ferry aid workers to remote parts of Darfur and the southern part of the country, the agency said Tuesday. The cutback will affect the efforts of 14,000 aid workers, it added. The WFP said it needs an infusion of $20 million by June 15 in order to maintain full service for its Humanita(...read more...)

6/7/08 - Sudanese refugees in Chad petition UN Security Council

June 6, 2008 (GOZ BEIDA, Chad) - Refugees from conflict in Sudan's Darfur and Chad appealed to visiting U.N. Security Council envoys on Friday for more international protection so they can return to their homes. On the sixth day of a 10-day tour of African conflict spots, the ambassadors travelled to Goz Beida in eastern Chad to visit United Nations-run camps sheltering Sudanese refugees from Darfur and Chadian civilians displaced by violence. They w(...read more...)

6/6/08 - Head of Darfur mission urges removal of peacekeeping obstacles

June 5, 2008 (EL FASHER) - The head of the hybrid mission in Darfur urged the visiting UN delegation to provide the necessary help to remove the obstacles hindering the full deployment of the peacekeeping troops in the troubled region. The UN Security Council (UNSC) delegation visited the United Nations-African Union Mission in Sudan (UNAMID) Headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur, as part of a 4-day visit to Sudan within the framework of a tour that w(...read more...)

6/5/08 - Europe is willing to consider sanctions against Sudan over ICC

June 4, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - The European Union is willing to consider penalties against Sudan should Khartoum continue to harbor suspected Darfur war criminals charged by the world court, a top diplomat said Wednesday. French ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Maurice Ripert, whose country assumes the rotating E.U. presidency next month, criticized Sudan's refusal to surrender two alleged war criminals to the International Criminal Court. Ripert wa(...read more...)

6/5/08 - US praises Chinese actions in Darfur but asks for more

June 4, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - Two senior U.S. officials on Wednesday praised China for increasing pressure on Sudan to change its behavior in Darfur but said Beijing can do much more to stop Khartoum from harming civilians in the Sudanese region. Thomas Christensen and James Swan, deputy assistant secretaries of state for East Asia and Africa, respectively, also told lawmakers that the U.S. is pushing China to reconsider its close military ties with "repr(...read more...)

6/4/08 - Darfur advocacy groups not surprised by suspension of US-Sudan talks

By Wasil Ali June 3, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - The Darfur advocacy groups in the US have expressed little surprise over the abrupt suspension of normalization talks between Washington and Khartoum. John Prendergast, a former Clinton administration official and Co-Chair of the ENOUGH Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity, told Sudan Tribune that the talks "were ill-fated because the U.S. approached them without any leverage". (...read more...)

6/3/08 - Eliasson cancels Geneva meeting, announces new Darfur envoy to be appointed

June 2, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - Jan Eliasson, the U.N. Secretary General special envoy to Darfur said today here he cancelled a planned meeting to discuss security issues in the strife-torn region of Darfur. He further announced that a new joint mediator will be soon appointed. The UN envoy, who seems more and more dealing in solo without his African counterpart, told the press in the Sudanese capital today that he had to adjourn Geneva meeting due to the rej(...read more...)

6/1/08 - US envoy talks of "apocalypse" in Sudan's Abyei

May 31, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - Burned and looted huts stretch as far as the eye can see in Sudan's oil-rich town of Abyei, now empty of civilians, U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Richard Williamson, said on Saturday. Williamson, who toured Abyei on Friday, told Reuters he saw "scorched earth" devastation in the town where heavy fighting this month between northern and southern Sudanese troops sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing. "It was really like a(...read more...)

6/1/08 - Egypt deports southern Sudanese refugees to Juba

May 31, 2008 (NEW YORK) - Egyptian authorities forcibly repatriated Sudanese refugees and asylum seeker to their country breaching international refugee law, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. On April 19, 2008 Egyptian authorities deported 30 Sudanese men and boys to southern Sudan. The UNHCR recognized at least 11 of them as refugees or asylum seekers. At least two of the deportees were 17-year-old children. The rights watchdog said the deported Su(...read more...)

5/31/08 - UN admits shortfall of Darfur peacekeeping mission

May 30, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) - The UN peacekeeping chief acknowledged on Thursday that Darfur peacekeeping forces are deployed without the necessary staff and equipments to fulfill its mandate. Jean-Marie Guehenno, speaking at a news conference on the 60th anniversary of U.N. peacekeeping said that the killing this week of a Ugandan peacekeeper in Darfur proves the mission's insufficient resources. He further regretted this habit of authorizing mission(...read more...)

5/31/08 - ICC to announce a new list of Darfur war crimes suspects

May 30, 2008 (THE HAGUE) - Urging decisive action against Sudanese war crimes suspects, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Friday he would announce details of a new case next week against senior players in the Darfur conflict. "I will inform the ... (United Nations) Security Council on June 5 when I will present my second case on Darfur," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters in The Hague, the tribunal's permanent seat. H(...read more...)

5/31/08 - Sudan ousts British officer from Darfur peace mission

The struggling United Nations mission in Darfur has suffered a fresh blow after its British chief of staff was forced out by the Sudanese government. Brigadier Patrick Davidson-Houston, the most senior non-African official in the joint UN and African Union mission, said he was "extremely disappointed" to be leaving Darfur just six months into his one-year contract. "The Government of Sudan has objected for some time to the presence of a British general (...read more...)

5/29/08 - US presidential contenders condemn Darfur atrocities

May 28, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - The three major U.S. presidential candidates issued a rare joint statement on Wednesday condemning atrocities against civilians in Sudan and demanding an end to the violence. "After more than five years of genocide, the Sudanese government and its proxies continue to commit atrocities against civilians in Darfur," said the statement signed by Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican can(...read more...)

5/29/08 - Fukuda cites Darfur precondition for aid

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told visiting Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir that an early settlement of the Darfur conflict is a precondition for full-scale Japanese aid to Sudan. The president is in Japan to attend the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. About 300,000 people are believed to have fallen victim to 5 years of hostilities between government troops and anti-government forces in Darfur. The conflict is ofte(...read more...)

5/28/08 - Resumption of violence in Abyei can hinder humanitarian aid - UN

May 27, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - United Nations warned the Sudanese parties in Abyei resumption of fighting in the region would hinder its ongoing humanitarian efforts in the disputed area. A UN mission led by the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for Sudan, Ashraf Qazi visited the devastated town of Abyei. The acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan,Ted Chaiban, urged the Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army to c(...read more...)

5/28/08 - Sudan talking to US over end to sanctions - minister

May 27, 2008 (SEOUL) - Sudan is in talks with the U.S. about lifting economic sanctions, Sudan's finance minister said Tuesday, offering a glimmer of hope to U.S. investors locked out of Africa's biggest country by land mass. "There is a discussion on that. I see some positive signals," Awad Ahmed Eljazz told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview in Seoul, without elaborating. Sudan's proven oil reserves of 6.4 billion barrels are among the largest in (...read more...)

5/26/08 - Sudan SPLM official says the country inches closer to civil war

May 26, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan is on the brink of civil war, a leader of the main political party in the south of the country and coalition partner in Khartoum's central government warned on Monday. "They have committed serious ethnic cleansing. They have displaced more than 100,000 people, burning down their villages, looting all their property. Not because of anything but because they were Dinka Ngok," Pagan Amum told AFP. The number two in the Su(...read more...)

5/25/08 - US Congressmen ask to end normalization talks with Sudan

May 25, 2008 (WASHINGTON) - US Congressmen urged the Bush Administration to end normalization talks with the Khartoum government as result of Abyei fighting between the northern and southern Sudanese armies and the displacement of the local population. Two Congressmen, Michael Capuano, and Donald Payne, both from the Democratic Party, condemned in a statement issued on Saturday the "deliberate, brutal, and systematic attacks against innocent civilians i(...read more...)

5/24/08 - Sudan's Abyei is devastated after heavy fighting

May 24, 2008 (ABYEI) - Smoke still rises from charred huts and the only people left behind in this town of 30,000 in the oil-rich region are the looters and the army. The worst fighting in years between Sudanese government forces and former southern rebels has laid waste to Abyei. The fighting, which broke out two weeks ago, threatened a 2005 peace treaty that ended a two-decade civil war between north and south in which 2 million people died. That agre(...read more...)

5/23/08 - EU parliament calls for freeze on Sudan leaders' assets

May 22, 2008 (STRASBOURG) - The European Parliament on Thursday urged the EU to freeze the assets of Sudanese leaders who don't cooperate with the international criminal court which has arrest warrants out for two officials. The MEPs called on the 27 European Union leaders "to take steps", at their next summit in June, "against a clearly identified group of Sudanese officials who bear responsibility for Sudan's non-cooperation" with the Hague-based cour(...read more...)

5/23/08 - Darfur JEM detainees in Sudan living in poor prison conditions

May 22, 2008 (LONDON) - Darfur rebel group members who are being detained by the Sudanese government are being held in very poor conditions, a rights group said today. The Darfur Center for Human Rights and Development (DCHRD) based in UK issued a report saying that the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) fighters are locked up in Omdurman military prison which has reached "life-threatening proportions" for them. The Center also accused Khartoum of a(...read more...)

5/23/08 - Hundreds Rally for Darfur at U.S. Mission to the UN

Pressure Escalates on Bush Administration to Do More to End Genocide During June Presidency of UN Security Council Friday, May 23, 2008 (New York, NY) - Nearly 300 activists joined leaders yesterday at a rally in front of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, calling on the Bush administration to make protecting the people of Darfur and promoting peace for Sudan the top U.S. priority for its presidency of the UN Security Council during the month of Ju(...read more...)

5/20/08 - UN begins relief operation in Sudan disputed Abyei

May 19, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - U.N. agencies and aid workers on Monday began distributing food to some of the 30,000 to 50,000 people displaced by deadly fighting in an oil-rich flashpoint on the border between north and south Sudan. "Today we are distributing vital food assistance in two locations in Agok. A total of five food centers are being set up covering some 18 villages," said David Gressly, U.N. regional coordinator for southern Sudan, in a statemen(...read more...)

5/20/08 - Sudan president says will not honor ceasefire in Darfur

May 20, 2008 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir announced today that his government is no longer bound by ceasefire with the Darfur rebel groups. "We will deal swiftly with anyone who bears arms outside the armed forces or the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signatories. Any ceasefire will be according to our own terms" the Sudanese president said today. Sudan official news agency (SUNA) said Al-Bashir was addressing officers of S(...read more...)

5/18/08 - AU optimistic on Chad-Sudan relations after talks

KHARTOUM, May 18 (Reuters) - The new head of the African Union said on Sunday he was optimistic tensions between Chad and Sudan would ease, after holding talks in both countries. Sudan cut diplomatic relations with Chad last week, blaming it for an attack on Khartoum which killed more than 200 people. Chad denies responsibility and has accused Sudan of masterminding attacks on N'Djamena in the past. "We are confident ... that we are going to engage i(...read more...)

5/17/08 - UN dispatches emergency assessment team to Sudan's disputed Abyei

May 17, 2008 (JUBA)- The United Nations on Saturday dispatched a first emergency assessment team to Sudan's disputed area of Abyei since evacuating staff after deadly clashes erupted, officials said. The extent of the destruction in the town of Abyei - an impoverished settlement in the heart of a contested district on the border between north and south - is not clear and the UN had previously evacuated all civilian staff. The team is set to arrive on(...read more...)

5/16/08 - WFP air service in Sudan to continue for one month

May 15, 2008 (NAIROBI) - The UN World Food Program (WEP) said today that its Humanitarian Air Service (WFP-HAS) in Sudan can continue operations until mid-June, adding that there is still a risk of closure. WFP-HAS, which flies about 14,000 humanitarian workers around Sudan each month, has faced a funding crisis this year. On its US$77 million budget for 2008, the air service still needs US$51 million to fly from mid-June onwards. In a statement issu(...read more...)

5/16/08 - Clashes lead UN to pull staff from Sudan oil area

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - The United Nations said Thursday it had evacuated 250 civilian staff from the town of Abyei following three days of clashes in the oil-rich region between Sudan's army and former southern rebels. Abyei lies just north of the disputed boundary line between north and south Sudan, which fought a civil war for more than two decades before a 2005 peace agreement. It is a volatile region that remains contested between northerners and so(...read more...)

5/16/08 - AU chief urges Chad and Sudan presidents to calm tensions

NDJAMENA (AFP) - The head of the African Union, Jean Ping, held talks with the presidents of Chad and Sudan on Thursday in a bid to resolve growing tensions between the two countries. AU Commission chief Ping met President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital and was to later hold discussions with Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir in neighbouring Khartoum. On Saturday, rebels from the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur staged an unprecedented attack on(...read more...)

5/15/08 - Northern, southern Sudanese soldiers clashe in Abyei, 4 killed

May 14, 2008 (ABYEI, Sudan) - South Sudanese former rebels fought northern government forces on Wednesday in the disputed oil-rich Abyei region, killing up to four people and sending hundreds fleeing, south Sudanese and U.N. officials said. Fighting began near the town of Abyei on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday heavy exchanges of machine gun and mortar fire could be heard from a U.N. base just outside the town in the north-south border zone, witnesses (...read more...)

5/15/08 - Ellison, Carson urge US to take action in Darfur

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer Congress' two Muslim members urged the U.S. government on Wednesday to lead efforts to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced. Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Andre Carson of Indiana joined other black Democratic lawmakers making that call at a "Muslim Voices for Darfur" news conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Sudan(...read more...)

5/14/08 - UN official says little progress made on Darfur force

May 14, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) - The U.N. peacekeeping chief expressed concern today that the rebel attack on capital could pose serious threats to the deployment of the peacekeeping force. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno speaking to the UN Security Council (UNSC) that retaliation by the Sudanese government "could impede UNAMID deployment". Guehenno said the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attack on the capital's twin c(...read more...)

5/13/08 - Watchdog says concerned by mass arrests after rebel attack

May 12, 2008 (NEW YORK) - Human Rights Watch raised concern and fears over mass arrests in Khartoum of perceived supporters of a Darfur rebel group and other political opponents. The arrests by Sudanese security forces of more than 100 people followed an attack on Sudan's capital by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on May 10, 2008 that left dozens of civilians dead or severely injured. "The Sudanese government may be systematically rounding up(...read more...)

5/12/08 - Sudan shooting after rebel raid

Shooting has been heard in two separate parts of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, following a raid by Darfur rebels. Details are sketchy - in one incident a lot of shooting was heard and roads closed after security forces pursued a small group of suspected rebels. There was also at least one arrest near the US embassy. Sudan's Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi has been arrested and accused of links to the rebels, who on Saturday came close to (...read more...)

5/10/08 - Darfur envoys say alarmed by surge of violence in Darfur

May 9, 2008 (KHARTOUM) --- Darfur peace envoys today expressed concerns over military escalation in Darfur between the Sudanese army and the Justice and equality Movement. They said this rise of violence can only cause more suffering to civilians. The United Nations and African Union Special Envoys for Darfur, Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim are "alarmed and deeply troubled" by the recent military escalation between Sudanese army and the rebel JEM. (...read more...)

5/10/08 - UN chief condemns JEM attack in Khartoum

May 10, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) — The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon condemned today attack by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) forces that has broken out on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. “condemns strongly the use of armed force and military means by JEM for the achievement of political ends and calls for an immediate cessation of fighting and a renewed commitment to a peaceful resolution of outstanding issues,”. Ban said(...read more...)

5/9/08 - Sudan’s Janjaweed force thousands of Chadians out of villages

May 8, 2008 (GOUROUNKOUN, Chad) — Chadian village elders have told how how the feared Janjaweed Arab militia from Sudan and other bandits have forced thousands of people from their villages and into refugee camps. "They killed us. We couldn’t go back home," Adoum Moursal, a village chief, told EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana during a visit to the volatile border region. "We are cattle raisers, traders, farmers, and they came and raped our wom(...read more...)

5/8/08 - US to help equip Rwandans for Darfur peacekeeping

May 8, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) — The United States is helping to equip Rwandan troops who will be heading to Darfur and is trying to find helicopters for the peacekeeping force in the conflict-wracked region, the U.S. special envoy to Sudan said Wednesday. A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force took over duties in Darfur in January from a beleaguered AU force to try to stem the violence. But it only has about 7,500 troops and fewer than 2,000 polic(...read more...)

5/7/08 - Sudan donors, Khartoum vow work for unity

May 6, 2008 (OSLO) — Rich donor states and the government of Sudan pledged on Tuesday to support further implementation of a 2005 north-south peace treaty and to work to prevent the east African nation from breaking apart. Sudan is seeking $6 billion in funding for 2008-2011 at a three-day donors conference in the Norwegian capital. The Sudan consortium has met yearly since the 2005 peace deal ended Africa’s longest civil war, though upheaval continu(...read more...)

5/6/08 - Sudan seeks $6 bln at Oslo donors’ meeting

May 5, 2008 (OSLO) — Sudan will ask donor nations meeting this week for $6 billion over the next three years to help rebuild Africa’s largest nation after decades of civil wars, and host nation Norway said it would provide nearly $500 million. The Sudan consortium, which began meeting on Monday, has met yearly since a 2005 north-south peace deal ended Africa’s longest civil war. It is the stage for richer nations to show their support for maintaining(...read more...)

5/6/08 - Senior UN relief official urges immediate access to wounded in North Darfur

Voicing her deep concern about the reported attacks on villages in North Darfur, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan has called for immediate access to the affected areas to provide assistance and medical evacuation for the injured. In Oslo for the Sudan Consortium, which is evaluating progress in implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South Sudan, Ameerah Haq joined delegate after delegate in calling for(...read more...)

5/5/08 - 14 killed in Darfur following Sudanese army aerial attacks - Rebels

May 4, 2008 (LONDON) - Sudanese army yesterday killed 14 civilians during a bombardment of two areas in North Darfur, Justice and Equality Movement said today. Ahmed Hussein Adam, JEM spokesperson told Sudan Tribune that an Antonov of the Sudanese army killed 11 civilians in Shugag Karo area in North Darfur state and wounded 4 child and 2 women. He further said this aerial attack occurred on the market day of the area. According to the rebel official(...read more...)

5/4/08 - Mia Farrow urges China to help stop Darfur killings

May 2, 2008 (HONG KONG) — Actress Mia Farrow urged Beijing on Friday to help stop the killings in Sudan’s western Darfur region, staging a peaceful, one-woman protest on the sidelines of the Hong Kong leg of the Olympic torch relay. The 63-year-old actress held aloft her own torch, which she said honored victims of genocide, near Hong Kong’s government headquarters - away from the Olympic torch route. "As the games approach, China has the opportunity(...read more...)

5/3/08 - Peacekeeping mission says Sudan attacked Darfur civilians

May 2, 2008 (EL FASHER) – The hybrid peacekeeping mission said today that it had evacuated wounded civilians following Sudanese army air strikes in North Darfur. The UNAMID further condemned attacks against civilians, urging all parties to adhere to international humanitarian laws, which prohibit military attacks against civilians. It added that a fact finding mission is probing the attacks on the ground. The peacekeeping mission said that Sudan Libe(...read more...)

5/2/08 - US special envoy downplays talk of imminent normalization with Sudan

By Wasil Ali May 01, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The US special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson downplayed the possibility of a quick normalization in relations between Washington and Khartoum. Williamson told a group of Darfur activists in a conference call sponsored by Enough Project from Washington that he does not foresee improvement of ties with Sudan "during his tenure". Last February the Sudanese foreign minister Deng Alor told reporters that he (...read more...)

5/1/08 - Violence forces 12,000 refugees to flee in South Darfur

April 30, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Around 12,000 civilians fled their homes following an outbreak of fighting in South Darfur according to the spokesperson of displaced and refugees in the region. Hussein Abu-Sharati told Sudan Tribune that the freshly displaced civilians were made up of 2,700 families who arrived at the Kalma camp in south Darfur. He said that fighting erupted between forces loyal to Sudan’s senior presidential assistant Minni Arcua Minnawi a(...read more...)

5/1/08 - Darfur peacekeepers battalions to start arriving in June

April 30, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Two battalions to reinforce Darfur’s fledgling U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission will arrive in June, the first step to deploying 80 percent of the force by the end of the year, the head of mission said on Wednesday. Four months after assuming peacekeeping responsibilities in Sudan’s lawless west, suffering from five years of violence Washington calls genocide, one third of the force strength has worked overtime but fai(...read more...)

4/29/08 - Darfur IDPs are not counted in Sudan census - Official

April 28, 2008 (EL-GENEINA) – A Sudanese official stated that Internally Displaced Persons would not be counted during the ongoing census operations due to their opposition to the fifth national census. Darfur IDP’s in the three states of the troubled Darfur staged protests during the last week to show their opposition to the census operations and the next year general elections. They demand the adjournment of the process till the signing of a peace agr(...read more...)

4/28/08 - Darfur peacekeeping mission condemns murder of WFP driver

April 27, 2008 (EL FASHER) – The UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force (UNAMID) condemned today the killing of a UN WFP driver in South Darfur last week. "UNAMID is deeply shocked and profoundly disturbed by the cold-blooded murder of Mohamed Makki El Rasheed, a truck driver working for United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday 21 April 2008." Said a statement issed by UNAMID today. The perpetrators killed Makki after he had returned t(...read more...)

4/26/08 - ICC urges global pressure on Sudan to hand over Darfur crimes suspects

April 25, 2008 (THE HAGUE) — The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday called for global pressure on Sudan to hand over two Darfur war crimes suspects for trial. Almost one year after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Sudan’s secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb, Khartoum didn’t give sign of cooperation with the international justice over their case. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo(...read more...)

4/26/08 - Norway to host Sudan donor conference in May

April 25, 2008 (OSLO) — Oslo will host a conference in May to generate pledges of support for the further reconstruction and development of southern Sudan, Norway announced today. The meeting was initially scheduled to be held in Paris. The World Bank, the United Nations, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) organised the first international donor conference on Sudan in April 2005. On March 9-10, 2006, the second Sudan Consortium conference was hel(...read more...)

4/25/08 - Sudan disputes UN figure of 300,000 dead in Darfur

April 24, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A Sudanese presidential aide challenged a new U.N. assessment that as many as 300,000 people have died in the 5-year-old Darfur conflict, saying Thursday the figures were unfounded and intended to put political pressure on the government. John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, gave a grim report on Darfur to the Security Council this week, estimating as many as 300,000 persons have been killed up f(...read more...)

4/24/08 - US, UN say Darfur peacekeepers need water

April 23, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — U.S. and United Nations officials said Wednesday that peacekeepers in the Darfur region of Sudan are limited by some of the factors feeding the conflict — problems over access to land and water. The U.N. is trying to field a joint U.N.-African Union force agreed to by Sudan. But so far only about 9,000 of the authorized 26,000 peacekeepers have been deployed. Jane Holl Lute, a senior U.N. official who overseas the organi(...read more...)

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