Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Africa Horn

Sudan inks peace deal with rebel faction, paves way for more

2019-12-25

[AlAhram] Sudan's transitional authorities and a rebel faction reached a peace deal on Tuesday, part of government efforts to end the country's decadeslong civil wars.

The deal was signed between the Sudanese government and a faction of the Sudan Revolutionary Front known as the ``Center Track,'' according to a statement by Sudan's transitional authorities.

The deal could pave the way for peace agreements with more factions of the SRF, as well as other rebel groups. The agreement was struck in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, where talks began earlier this month.

Negotiating an end to the rebellions in Sudan's far-flung provinces has been a crucial goal for the transitional government. It's looking to revive the country's battered economy through slashing military spending, which takes up much of the national budget.

The transitional military-civilian Sovereign Council took power in August, just months after a pro-democracy uprising led Sudan's military to overthrow former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir

...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...
in April.

``It's time to push for peace, and for Sudan to live in peace and stability after decades of wars and ruin,'' said Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy chief of the Sovereign Council, who led the government delegation at the talks.

The delegation returned to Khartoum later Tuesday, but is scheduled to head to Juba again later this week to resume talks with other rebel groups.

``The peace train has taken off,'' said al-Tom Hugo, deputy head of the SRF. He signed the deal on behalf of the Center Track faction, which represents areas in central Sudan.

Al-Hadi Idris, head of the SRF, called it a ``major breakthrough'' and said his faction ``supports the revolution and the transitional institutions.``

The SRF is part of the pro-democracy movement that led the uprising against al-Bashir, but didn't fully support the military-civilian power-sharing deal. That deal includes a six-month deadline for achieving peace, which runs out in February.

This current round of talks also included Sudan's largest single rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu.

It has called for a secular state with no role of religion in lawmaking, the disbanding of all al-Bashir's militias and the revamping of the country's military.

The group has said if its demands aren't met, it would call for self-determination in areas it controls in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan provinces.

Another major rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, rejected the transitional government and has stayed out of the talks.

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Africa Horn

Annan urges quick implementation of peace deal in Sudan

2006-05-06

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Friday urged Sudan and rebel groups to "move quickly" to implement the peace agreement they just signed in order to end the conflict in Darfur. Annan said the peace deal reached in Abuja, Nigeria, now gives the opportunity to strengthen peacekeeping operations in Darfur, starting with the African Union forces that have been in the war-torn region for the past two years.

The UN is planning to deploy peace troops to replace the AU by year's end. The Sudanese government and the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, signed the deal, which was followed by a splinter rebel group later on Friday. Annan said the humanitarian operations in Darfur need to be expanded to include donors from the Gulf states and other countries in addition the European Union and the United States.

The rest of the world has to finance Sudan? The place with the oil wells?

"I welcome the peace agreement," Annan told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. He called the agreement an "historic opportunity to bring this ... conflict to an end. I appeal to the parties to implement their commitments in good faith so as to stop the bloodshed and ongoing violence in Darfur, and to cooperate with the AU and the UN on the ground."

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Africa: Horn

Darfur Rebels Regret Internecine Clashes

2005-06-08

The two main rebel groups in Sudan's war-torn Darfur expressed regret yesterday at recent clashes that left several civilians dead and highlighted their differences ahead of crucial talks with Khartoum. "We are deeply sorry and we extend our apology to the Darfurian people," Abdel Wahed Mohammed Ahmed Nur, the head of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, told AFP.

"Golly. Shucks. Sorry about the dead guys. We'll clean up, okay?"

The African Union's mission in Sudan reported Monday that clashes between the SLA and its smaller rival, the Justice and Equality Movement, had left 11 people dead and 17 wounded last week. "There were incidents in two places, in Labado and Graida. It was a problem between individuals from the two groups and other people, unfortunately, were also killed," Nur said. He declined to elaborate on the number of dead or the exact circumstances in which they died. "The situation is now under control. We ordered all our troops to respect the ceasefire and such actions will not be repeated." A senior JEM member also deplored the clashes. "These were very unfortunate incidents and they are over. It was not the first time, but this time they went too far," Abdullahi El-Tom told AFP.

The AU mission accused the SLM/A of relentlessly targeting JEM rebels in the three Darfur states and said both groups were intensifying military operations to control the territory. Mahjoub Hussein, an SLM/A spokesman in London, admitted that the rebel organizations were jockeying for power on the ground ahead of the crunch peace talks in Abuja on Friday.

Link

Africa: Horn

Inside the Darfur rebels

2004-04-06

Rabu, a rebel fighter, cocks his ageing Kalashnikov and loosens the red bandana on his forehead as he explains to me his unit's combat tactics. "When we see the enemy we fight immediately, we rush upon them - there is no attempt at out-flanking or waiting," he says. "We must be fast and terrible before their helicopters arrive."

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) has many such guerrilla units, mainly in improvised battle cars, that move across Darfur and raid areas controlled by the Khartoum government whenever they see an opportunity. The cars are heavily armed and the young men sport yellow and green turbans, cigarettes and wrap-around shades. Rabu is my SLM/A escort as I cross the border from Chad to Darfur. A few days earlier, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan declared the war in Darfur was over and the rebels had been defeated. "If there is peace I want to study mathematics, have camels again and have a TV to watch Liverpool play," Rabu says.

We have stopped our vehicle and stand under some trees at 0300 in the desert. He pauses and peers out into the darkness, then swings the ragged-looking rocket-propelled grenade off his shoulder. For the past hour we have been followed. The car lights in the distance flicker and go out. Rabu crouches down and I follow suit. "But with Khartoum there will be no peace, only war," he says. He disappears into the night with my three bodyguards. I am left by the car. Then rifle shots go off in the darkness and I hug closer to the car tyre. A little later, three figures are coming towards me in the moonlight. I have no idea whether they are Sudanese army forces or my escorts. There is no point running, so I stand up and hold my breath - showing myself in the moonlight. The men draw closer, ghostlike out of the darkness. With relief I see Rabu's smile and recognise his easy loping gait.

We continue on our journey to meet the SLM/A military leader Minni Arkou Minnawi. A former English teacher, he is leading the SLM/A rebels in their guerrilla war against the Sudanese government. We drive throughout the next day and arrive at a cluster of trees. I see about 20 armed men, thinly spread out, watching our approach. Rabu and the others in my car raise their hands and the men step out from behind their cover. Each soldier smiles and grips my hand, and I wonder which one is Minni. A carpet is placed in the sand and I remove my shoes and sip hot sweet tea. Eventually a man walks slowly towards me in a loose fitting German army coat, with the hood up. I stand up and shake his hand. "Mr Philips from London," he says, beaming a smile from under his hood. "I want you to film a message to Mr President of Britain - tell him to come and rescue the people of Darfur."

I join the rebels in a reconnaissance mission following a government attack. In clouds of dust, we speed across the desert, the powerful battle cars moving hard and fast, the soldiers always watching the sky for the government's Antonov planes. The cars enter a village, one of the many deserted throughout Darfur, and the young soldiers spill out, cocking their weapons and splitting into small combat groups of five. I join one and we run full pelt through the village, Kalashnikovs raised to the shoulders. The men are nervous and unsure if the government soldiers are still in the village. But they need not worry - the only residents the village now has are piled corpses: stacked one upon one another, rotting in the sun.

Link

Africa: East

Humanitarian access blocked off in Darfur

2004-01-13

Humanitarian needs in Sudanâs war-torn region of Darfur are not being met primarily due to insecurity, according to humanitarian sources. "Only 15 percent of people are in areas that are accessible by the UN," said Ben Parker, the spokesman for the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. "And even access to these continues to be hampered by difficulties obtaining travel permits." The Sudanese government said in a recent statement that "assistance to the needy is being rendered satisfactorily" in Darfur, but humanitarian workers say they are unable to operate.

"But we find that very satisfactory," interjected His Excellency...

In northern and western Darfur, insecurity is confining agencies to the two towns of Al-Fashir and Junaynah, while from southern Darfur they can access only limited areas beyond Nyala. The prolific supply of small arms in the region, increased banditry and militia activity had led to a "complete breakdown in law and order", commented one source. "Weâre in suspense. Weâre stuck and weâre frustrated. We have supplies, we have funding and staff, we have made arrangements with local partners, but we cannot move because itâs too dangerous," said Parker. "At the same time the needs are increasing."

Just wait a year or two. The needs will ebb gently away, along with the population...

Meanwhile, in Al-Fashir and Nyala, the UN Childrenâs Fund has reported that a growing number of displaced children are working in the markets as domestic labour, and possibly as prostitutes or beggars. Some cases of rape by soldiers have also been reported. Fighting between the army and Arab militias on one side and Darfurâs two main rebel groups on the other has escalated since the breakdown of peace talks in December. Militia attacks on villages have increased, burning them to the ground as well as killing, raping and kidnapping villagers. The Sudanese government has said it is "firm on fully bearing its responsibilities of protecting the lives and property of its citizens and relief workers in Darfur". But observers say it has so far failed to do so.

"Depends on which citizens you're talking about, doesn't it?"

About 700,000 farmers and their families have been pushed off their land since February by militias, who come from the regionâs nomadic tribes. Of these, 95,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad - about 1,000 per day last month - but even there they are frequently attacked by militias. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Chadian authorities say they are continuing to search for inland sites to relocate the refugees away from the insecure border, in the hope of deterring the frequent incursions. In a separate development, Tom Vraalsen, the UNâs Special Envoy for Sudan, is currently in Chad to advocate for a resumption of peace talks - which broke down in December amid recriminations on both sides - and a humanitarian ceasefire. Both rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, have said that the presence of international monitors - other than Chad which has been brokering them to date - is a precondition to ceasefire negotiations.

Link

Africa: East

Death and destruction in Darfur

2003-12-14

Looting and killing has become a way of life around Junaynah, capital of Sudanâs strife-torn western Darfur province. Local leaders say the attacks are being carried out by Arab militias who conduct their almost daily raids "with total impunity".

Ethnic cleansing, anyone?

"I believe this is an elimination of the black race," one tribal leader told IRIN.

It doesn't happen without the government saying, "Yeah, that's a good idea."

He said that since Saturday alone, an estimated 9,000 people had become displaced in attacks on 15 villages located between 20 and 40 km from the town. Sixteen injured men were brought to Junaynah hospital on Tuesday night, and 10 on Monday, all with gunshot wounds. The hospital receives five or six casualties with gunshot wounds daily. Highly visible around the town, the horse-backed Arab nomads - Janjaweed militias or Peshmerga as they are known in western Darfur - were unusually absent on Wednesday. Local sources said an attack from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel group was imminent, and there was a highly visible military presence.

JEM's going to attack, so the "militias" go to ground and the soldier boyz show up to fight them off with heavy weapons. The "militias" are better at bumping off civilians.

Corroborating sources have accused the government of backing the militias, charges it ~~piously~~ denies.

How many of them has it wiped out?

Dr Sula Feldeen, the national humanitarian aid commissioner, told IRIN all of Sudanâs tribes had been asked to defend themselves against the rebels, not just Arabs. "No tribe was excluded," he said. "Some are coming forward and some are not. This does not mean that the government is biased against one group." In a report on Thursday, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said the conflict started when the JEM and another rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), launched their first attacks on government garrisons in the region in February 2003. "In response to those actions, the government of Sudan has mobilised and armed Arab militias (Janjaweed), whose salary comes directly from booty captured in raids on villages, to terrorise the populace of Darfur," the ICG said. It added that the Janjaweed had stepped up activities in the past three months against the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massalit groups, who are collectively accused of supporting the rebellion. "The fact is the government is arming some tribes, just Arabs, they go and kill, take the belongings and rape the women," local sources in Junaynah told IRIN. "The militias have been given access to good arms, they are better than the armyâs."

Builds plausible deniability, doesn't it?

Concern is mounting in western Darfur over looming food shortages, as the nomadsâ camels roam across local farms destroying crops. "Now they are fighting with bullets, but the time will come when starvation will set in," said one local leader. Those who try to defend their farms with guns come under attack, and are sometimes arrested by the local authorities. Local farmers are unable to leave their homes to harvest or to go to local villages to trade for fear of being shot. Commercial traffic in western Darfur has all but stopped, and food prices have increased dramatically from 1,800 Sudanese dinar to 7,000 for a bag of millet. Wood and charcoal prices have also gone up, while livestock are decreasing in value as people desperately try to sell their animals before they are looted. "The visible agenda is to fight the rebels, the invisible agenda is to get rich by looting and expand their tribal grazing areas," said a local source.

Lesser races are wealth producers, Arabs are wealth consumers.

Meanwhile, local efforts to begin a peace initiative have been put on hold. A meeting in Junaynah which planned to bring together leaders of 20 tribes - Arab and black African - was reportedly cancelled last week by the local authorities.

Cancelled for lack of interest?

Elsewhere in Darfur, humanitarian sources told IRIN that NGOs and UN agencies had been prevented from travelling to needy government and rebel-held areas in the north. UN officials and aid agencies were assured on Friday by local authorities that northern Darfur was calm and safe and that access would be granted. But five days later agencies were still awaiting travel permits to areas, including several held by the government. "The problem is in areas controlled by the SLM," explained deputy governor El Nour Mohammed Ibrahim. "Our experience has made us hesitant to send relief to areas under the SLM because of kidnapping and attacks on trucks."

By whom? He didn't say.

In its report, the ICG warned the international community not to focus solely on the regional peace process, mediated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) between the government and Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA/M). "The international community has thus far failed to respond appropriately to these developments, in part because the attention of the world remains focused squarely on the IGAD peace process," said the ICGâs John Prendergast.

They've got the peace processor set on "puree."

"The government of Sudan is being feted by the international community for its transition to peacemaker through the IGAD process, while it continues to carry out a bloody campaign by proxy against the people of Darfur," he added. "The end of one tragic civil war in Sudan should not be allowed to be a catalyst for a new one".

I doubt if the other civil war will quite end, either. Still too many black fellahs running around.

Link

Africa: East

Darfur rebels say Sudan broke the truce ...

2003-11-23

Seems consistent enough with their previous behavior ...
Rebels in western Sudan accused the government Saturday of violating a truce with airstrikes and militia raids that killed 30 people, mostly civilians.
Those would of course be the "military targets."
The government said it knew nothing of the attacks in the arid Darfur area, where the rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) emerged as a fighting force in February, saying Khartoum had marginalized the impoverished region.
"Lies! All lies!"
"Itâs been very bad. Attacks by government militias and the air raid have killed 30 people and lots of livestock," SLM/A Secretary-General Minni Arcua Minnawi told Reuters by phone from western Sudan. Minnawi said 24 of the dead were civilians and the rest rebel fighters. He said the attacks had started on Thursday and continued into Saturday in the west of Northern Darfur state, about 850 kilometers west of Khartoum. "They used an Antonov airplane to bomb civilians areas today (Saturday)," he said. In Khartoum, Internal Affairs Minister Major General Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein said he had not heard of any attacks in the area.

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