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------Original message------ From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> To: "Group" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 11:24:26 AM GMT+0300 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Sudan-South Sudan issues 1. SUDAN-SOUTH SUDAN: What the analysts are saying post-secession JUBA, 3 October 2011 (IRIN) - It is two months since the euphoria surrounding South Sudan's peaceful secession from the north after decades of civil war, but violence in the border regions has flared since May. In a split still lacking clarity over border demarcations and the division of resources, several reports have outlined escalating tensions that have killed scores of people and pushed tens of thousands to leave their homes. A report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), Sudan - Avoiding a new crisis, released on 1 October, says the lack of political inclusivity and the heavy-handed approach of President Omar al-Bashir's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to crush rebels and dissent could lead to a civil war in Sudan and destabilize the whole region. The think-tank says that "conflict is spiralling out of control" in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states following Sudan's attempts to forcefully disarm and dissolve the northern branch of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) that fought against Khartoum for autonomy with the South for years. Sudan's refusals to pull troops put of the contested Abyei region and listen to marginalized people in eastern states and western Darfur could lead to mass unrest. The group also fears South Sudan being dragged into its first war, as accusations from both countries amplify over the funding of rebel groups to destabilize each other's fragile political and economic situations. In late August, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented civilians in South Kordofan talking about the [ http://www.hrw.org/video/2011/08/29/sudan-southern-kordofan-civilians-tell-air-strike-horror ] daily, indiscriminate bomb attacks by the Sudanese Armed Forces that have killed many civilians and displaced more than 150,000 people since June. Despite calls from these agencies to allow humanitarian aid to reach conflict areas, Bashir has steadfastly refused anyone but the Sudanese Red Crescent access since late August. On 29 September, foreign minister Ali Karti said Sudan could only allow aid groups to work in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan once a ceasefire was in place. On African Arguments, [ http://africanarguments.org/2011/08/23/war-in-the-nuba-mountains-again-by-nanne-op-%E2%80%99t-ende/ ] author and expert on the Nuba people Nanne op'Tende says that after a 2001 ceasefire between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and SPLM Nuba in South Kordofan, she wrote about why this ethnic group needed to return home. She hoped that the Nuba could turn their SPLM rebel movement into a political force, capable of negotiating themselves a better deal under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Op'Tende now thinks that neither side was ready to end the war, while the Nuba are once again trapped in a cycle of conflict. Magdi El Gizouli, a fellow of the Rift Valley Institute, [ http://www.riftvalley.net/ ] accuses too many people "addicted to the pornography of bloodshed" [ http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Kordofan-and-the-Blue-Nile,40206 ] who know too little about Sudan of meddling in its affairs. He criticizes NGOs for spurring on rebellions in Blue Nile from ousted SPLM governor Malik Agar and Abdal-Aziz al-Hilu's operations in South Kordofan in the belief they will bring down Bashir's regime. He explains why calling for US military intervention, the imposition of a no-fly zone over Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile and the destruction of the government's offensive aerial assets are as bad at fomenting further unrest as hardline pledges of fighting until dissent is stamped out. At end-September, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) [ http://www.unhcr.org/4e81cd1d9.html ] said more than 25,000 people had fled over the border to Ethiopia in the previous three weeks to escape air raids in Blue Nile state. With fighting continuing between the Sudanese army and rebels in Blue Nile, UNHCR said many refugees were taking beds, animals and televisions in expectation of a long exile. With another 10,000 expected arrivals, UN agencies and the International Organization for Migration have launched an US$18.3m appeal for Blue Nile refugees. When Sudanese Armed Forces stormed into Abyei in May, the George Clooney-sponsored Satellite Sentinel Project [ http://www.satsentinel.org/report/burned-ground-evidence-potential-war-crimes-and-intentional-destruction-abyei-town-government-sudan ] claimed footage showed that one-third of civilian buildings were destroyed by tanks and looting. More than 110,000 people fled south of the border and have been stuck in South Sudan ever since in areas hit by flooding and food insecurity, as the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) requested humanitarian access to Abyei. The former southern minister Luka Biong Deng [ http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/access-abyei-displaced-residents-continuously-threatened ] also called for access to the disputed territory from both sides of the border on legal and political grounds that mean the area of "special status" belongs to no one until both countries reach an agreement. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) warned that escalating inter-communal violence in Jonglei from cattle raids threatened to destabilize the new country. UNMISS Special Representative Hilde Johnson said containing the increasing brutality and sophistication of these armed attacks to a state the size of Bangladesh was the peacekeeping mission's highest priority. "If it gets out of hand, we will be in a situation where the cycle of violence will escalate to unknown proportions in South Sudan," she said on 27 September. Darfur In Darfur, the impact of rebel Khalil Ibrahim's return [ http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0913/As-Qaddafi-s-supporters-flee-Libya-fallout-could-impact-Darfur ] from Libya following Col Muammar Gaddaffi's fall could spell further trouble in the war-ravaged area as the region's strongest rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), regains a leader who is hell-bent on toppling Sudan's government. Meanwhile, Dissent Magazine [ http://www.dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=561 ] mourns the loss of the UN Panel of Experts for Darfur set up in 2005 to monitor an embargo on the movement of arms and military supplies and a UN Security Council ban on military flights into the Darfur region. It claims the region has been bombed more than 100 times this year, and Sudan's government has succeeded in closing down the most authoritative body investigating reports of indiscriminate aerial attacks, and those targeting civilians. A Human Rights Watch report in July also lamented the world's apparent disinterest in Darfur since South Sudan's independence. It said that during this period, Sudan stepped up bombing attacks on civilians [ http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/06/05/darfur-shadows-0 ] , displacing more than 70,000 people, largely from ethnic Zaghawah and Fur communities linked to rebel groups. END1 2. Bashir rejects foreign mediation in talks with South Sudan October 1, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s president Omer al-Bashir on Saturday said that his country seeks to promote dialogue with the newly independent South Sudan but without foreign mediation, ahead of a visit by his southern counterpart this week. South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit is expected to visit Sudan’s capital Khartoum sometime this week, probably on Monday, for the first time since his country seceded from Sudan in July this year in line with the outcome of the region’s vote on independence at the start of this year. Addressing the first conference of his ruling National Congress Party’s (NCP) external affairs committee, Bashir said that Sudan attaches great importance to the relations with its former southern region and would therefore seek to promote dialogue and peace between the two neighbors in the international arena. In his address, the Sudanese president further said that the secession was a political separation not a separation between the people. However, Reuters and al-Jazeera reported that al-Bashir also rejected foreign mediation between the two countries which remain engaged in talks to thrash out a number of post-secession issues including sharing of oil revenues, violence in shared borders and ownership of the hotly-contested region of Abyei. "We have to sort out all issues through dialogue but without any foreign mediation," he said. South Sudan minister of information and cabinet spokesperson, Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters Friday in Juba that President Kiir and an important delegation will fly to Khartoum next week for talks on pending issues such as border demarcation, foreign debt, oil transportation fees and Abyei. During his meeting last September with Barak Obama, Kiir reportedly informed the American president he would met Bashir to decrease tension between the two capitals and reach a negotiated settlement to the outstanding issues. He also pledged to support a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflicts in the Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. The Sudanese president last July recently rejected any foreign mediation with the rebels Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) , South Sudan’s former allies who are fighting Sudan’s army in the two country’s border states with the South . Bashir told his party’s conference that there would be zero-tolerance with whoever crosses the state’s "redlines" and seeks to undermine the security of citizens. Last week, the Sudanese president said his government was open to negotiating a peaceful settlement to the war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile but without superseding the provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which in 2005 ended more than two decades of Sudan’s north south civil war and paved the way for South Sudan’s independence. Speaking in the same meeting NCP deputy chairman Nafei Ali Nafei underscored that the shift of global economic power from the west to the East would be followed by a change in the world leadership. Bashir said a meeting with the Chinese Communist Party will take place soon in Khartoum to discuss strategic relations between the two ruling parties. (ST) END2 3. Sudan stability vital to Africa: Larijani Mon Oct 3, 2011 11:30AM GMT Press TV Speaker of Iran's Majlis (parliament) Ali Larijani has highlighted the significant role that Sudan plays in developments in Africa and the Muslim world, saying Sudan's stability is very important for Africa. Iran's Majlis supports the expansion of relations with Sudan in all politico-economic fields, said Larijani in a Sunday meeting with Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahi, who is in the Iranian capital of Tehran to attend the fifth International Conference on the Palestinian Intifada. The top Iranian parliamentarian stated that the conference on Intifada was another measure adopted by the Islamic Republic to help Palestinians restore their rights, IRNA reported. He noted that the participation of leading political and cultural dignitaries in the conference proved the importance of the Palestinian case. The Sudanese speaker, for his part, said Iran has always been among main supporters of the ideals of the Palestinian people. He lauded growing relations between Iran and Sudan and called on Iran's Majlis to further support bolstering ties. The two-day International Conference on Palestinian Intifada ended in Tehran on Sunday. It was aimed at calling enough attention to the issue of Palestine. Representatives, parliament speakers and scholars from different countries as well as a number of Palestinian leaders attended the event... http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202503.html END3 4. Sudan: Political Repression Intensifies Release Detainees, Uphold Freedom of Speech Human Rights Watch (New York, September 21, 2011) – Sudanese authorities should end their clampdown on opposition party members and critics of the government Human Rights Watch said today. In the past three weeks alone, government forces have arrested more than 100 real or perceived opponents of the government, including the well-known Sudanese writer, artist, activist, and former state adviser on cultural affairs, Abdelmoniem Rahma, who was arrested by national security in Damazin, Blue Nile on September 2, 2011, according to reports received by Human Rights Watch. “Rather than trying to silence dissent by fear and intimidation, Sudan should promote political debate in the face of its complicated political challenges,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Increased repression will only breed further violence and abuse.” South Sudan became independent on July 9 following a January referendum under the terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Sudan’s civil war. Sudanese authorities have cracked down on the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) – the successor to the southern SPLM party that shared power with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) until the South’s independence. Authorities have arrested hundreds of suspected party members, banned political parties, and restricted media coverage. The clampdown started when a new conflict broke out between Sudanese forces and armed opposition groups on the northern side of the border with newly-independent South Sudan. In June, government soldiers and other security forces arrested scores of ethnic Nuba civilians, suspected supporters of SPLM, at checkpoints and house-to-house searches in Kadugli and other towns. Government forces also carried out extra-judicial killings and beatings and looted and burned homes and churches. According to an August report released by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, government forces also shot at and threatened to kill UN peacekeeping staff, and arrested national UN employees who were attempting to leave from the Kadugli airport on June 22. Two of those arrested are still in detention. The High Commissioner has warned that human rights violations carried out in Southern Kordofan could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. On June 26, national security officials arrested Dr. Bushra Gammar Hussein Rahma, a prominent Nuba human rights activist, and detained him in a national security detention center in Khartoum for three weeks before moving him to a prison. Prosecutors ordered him released on August 14 for lack of evidence, but national security officials took him into custody again the same day and are detaining him at their headquarters office in Khartoum, where he has no access to family or lawyer visits. A second wave of arrests accompanied the outbreak of fighting in Blue Nile on September 2. Security forces arrested more than 100 suspected party members, closed party offices, and confiscated both party and personal property of members in towns across Sudan, including in Darfur. Many detainees were released within hours or days, after being forced to sign a renunciation of their political affiliation, former detainees told Human Rights Watch. SPLM-North officials said that 149 members were detained across Sudan as of September 15, with the majority in Blue Nile and Khartoum. The exact number of detainees and their whereabouts are not known. “The government should immediately communicate the names of all detained men and women and the places of their detention to relevant community leaders and family members,” said Bekele. “Authorities should release or charge them and ensure access by family and lawyers.” The risk of ill-treatment and torture is a particular concern. Released detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch in July showed signs of beatings. Earlier in 2011, Human Rights Watch and other groups documented a pattern of torture of student protesters arrested by security officials during pro-democracy demonstrations in Khartoum. Human rights groups have long called on Sudan to reform the National Intelligence and Security Service, which routinely uses its broad powers of arrest and detention against opponents of the ruling NCP and is known for ill-treatment and torture of detainees. Along with the arbitrary arrests and detentions, Sudanese security officials have also tightened restrictions on media and political speech. In mid-September, security officials warned editors not to publish statements of SPLM-North opposition leaders or rebel leaders from Darfur, where the conflict is now in its eighth year and shows little sign of ending. Although Sudan has not resumed the practice of pre-print censorship employed in the past, security officials confiscated editions of Al Midan, Al Jareeda, al Sahafa, and Akhbar al Yom because they contained articles about the fighting or articles by writers who oppose the ruling party. “These restrictions on press freedom and access to information stifle public dialogue about critical events concerning citizens,” said Bekele. “It appears Sudanese authorities are seeking to prevent public dialogue and keep information from the public and the international community.” In early June, security forces in El Obeid prevented Al Jazeera reporters from travelling to Southern Kordofan. Sudan has also forced out the United Nations peacekeeping mission (UNMIS) by refusing to extend its mandate, which ended in July, and has restricted aid groups from assisting displaced people in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile. On August 23, President Omar al-Bashir said no international groups would be allowed into Southern Kordofan. In July, authorities banned Ajras al Huriya, a prominent opposition daily popular with SPLM supporters, along with five other South Sudan-run newspapers. Earlier this month, authorities banned additional newspapers and 17 political parties – including SPLM-North – for their alleged “foreign” links to South Sudan. The move appears designed to create a legal basis for the actions against the SPLM-North in recent weeks, said Human Rights Watch. “With the South’s independence, Sudan has an opportunity to make long-promised reforms,” Bekele said. “It should immediately take steps to reverse the current wave of repression and show its commitment to civil and political rights for Sudanese people.” Background Armed conflict between government and armed opposition broke out in Southern Kordofan on June 5 and spread to Blue Nile on September 2, when President al-Bashir declared a state of emergency and dismissed the state’s governor, Malik Agar, who is the head of SPLM-North, and replaced him with a military commander. The two states, which lie north of the border with South Sudan, are home to historically marginalized populations with longstanding links to the former rebel SPLM, which is now the ruling party in South Sudan. Following South Sudan’s independence under the CPA, Sudan is to form a new government and pass a new constitution. To date, however, the ruling NCP has shown little willingness to include other political parties or make the constitutional process transparent, according to civil society leaders in Khartoum. For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Sudan, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/en/africa/sudan END4 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. 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