Sudan Liberation Movement Army

KHARTOUM Jan 22 (Reuters) – Sudan will continue to allow only limited access to United Nations agencies and aid groups in two war-stricken border states, the foreign ministry said on Sunday, despite calls from the United States to allow more access to avert famine.

Fighting broke out between government forces and rebels in South Kordofan in June last year, shortly before South Sudan declared independence under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war. The conflict spread to Blue Nile in September.

Both states border South Sudan and are home to tens of thousands of fighters who battled Khartoum as part of More … »

South Darfur (22 Jan.) - A trader was killed at his home in Bul Bul Dalal Angara in South Darfur on Tuesday night.

A witness told Radio Dabanga four gunmen broke into the shop of a man named El Hadi Yacob and looted his goods.

The gunmen then called the man to the front, who was in the back room where he also lives. He entered his shop and was shot and killed.

The witness called on government authorities to protect citizens in light of the spread of arms in the region More … »

Zalingei (22 Jan.) - The internally displaced camps in Zalingei, West Darfur, have rejected the proposal by the head of the joint UN/AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Ibrahim Gambari to support the Doha agreement for peace in Darfur.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, the camp coordinator said the agreement fails to meet the aspirations and concerns of displaced people.

Residents think the newly proposed special court and prosecutor for crimes in Darfur, as well as the new division of states is a burden to the peace process.
In a meeting with Gambari yesterday camp residents were asked if they would like to return to their villages More … »

Youth groups in the city of El Muglad in South Kordofan have called on government authorities to improve services and infrastructure in the region.

In a seminar yesterday lead by El Dardiri Hamed young people from the area came together to discuss the sharp deterioration of services, such as electricity black outs, poor health and water sectors as well as the neglected road links to the region.

They demanded for local authorities to improve the health and education services, build functional water and electricity networks, pave internal roads and the road between El Muglad and Babanusa which has reportedly More … »

A senior US official has said the US might intervene and provide assistance to the border conflict ridden states if Khartoum continues to refuse aid agencies to the areas despite the looming humanitarian crisis.

He also urged activists to lobby Washington to help in Blue Nile state and South Kordofan, where Sudanese soldiers have repeatedly clashed with insurgents following the secession of the South in July 2011.

The UN estimates fighting has forced 417,000 people to flee from their homes, with more than 80,000 reported to have escaped over the border to South Sudan More … »

El Daein(22 Jan.) – An African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) patrol was ambushed today by unidentified armed persons in East Darfur. As a result, one peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded.
An African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) patrol was ambushed today by unidentified armed persons in East Darfur. As a result, one peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded.
The patrol was attacked at approximately 12:15 while en route from El Daein to Saleah, located about 60 kilometres northwest of El Daein.
Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari strongly condemned this attack which, he stressed, constituted a war crime. He committed the Mission to work closely with the Government of Sudan authorities in order that the perpetrators are apprehended as fast as possible and brought to justice More … »

January 20, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese capital Khartoum was preoccupied on Friday by the wedding ceremony of Chad’s President Idriss Deby, and daughter of Sudan’s Janjaweed militia leader, Musa Hilal, which took place at a top hotel and was attended by a host of dignitaries led by President Omer al-Bashir.The polygamous Chadian leader became engaged to Hilal’s daughter, Amani, during his most recent visit to Khartoum in November. According to press reports, Deby paid a $26 million dowry of which $25 million was paid to Musa Hilal and the rest to his daughter in the form of gold and jewellery More … »

KHARTOUM — Gunmen ambushed a UN-African Union peacekeeping patrol in Sudan’s conflict-stricken Darfur region on Saturday, killing one Nigerian soldier and wounding three, the UN said.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack on the patrol in South Darfur and called on the Sudanese government to carry out a speedy investigation.

The joint UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said the attack was staged around midday, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) northwest of El Daein in South Darfur.
“We don’t know who was behind it,” Christopher Cycmanick, a spokesman for the More … »

Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN, has warned the situation in Blue Nile state and South Kordofan could reach famine, if Khartoum continues to refuse humanitarian aid.

After a meeting of the UN Security Council Rice in a press statement said there is a severe humanitarian crisis taking place in areas next to the border with South Sudan.

If aid doesn’t enter the area by March, she warned, both areas would be on their way to suffering from widespread famine.

The Ambassador said the Sudanese authorities should treat the situation with more urgency More … »

Returnees from South Sudan are complaining about the return process, affirming that tens of thousands of returnees have been stuck for up to one year in Renk port, in Upper Nile state without any proper shelter, food, and medicine.

Ms Agnes, a returnee from Central Equatoria state, told radio Tamazuj that she has been stranded in Renk port for more than six months since the time she left North Sudan. She also added that the health situation is worsening and many children are getting sick due to cold weather, rains and mosquitoes. Ms Agnes also noted that the authorities in charge are not serious in providing any services for the returnees from the North.

Most of the returnees are facing difficult conditions like lack of food and medicine. Some had to sell all their More … »

Traders in Miram town complained about the persistence of the authorities in South Kordofan closing the road that leads to greater Northern Bahr El Ghazal.

A number of traders in Miram market told radio Tamazuj that they have been waiting for the authorities to reverse their decision of locking the road to Bahr el Ghazal.

They also pointed out that the government continues to persist in their final conclusion for closure; this has led the North traders to do unorganized business by smuggling goods through to South Sudan despite the road closure More … »

he Sudanese army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North announced an outbreak of fighting on Wednesday in the But area of Blue Nile state.

Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, the spokesman for the SPLM-N said the SPLM-N downed a Sudan armed forces helicopter when it was trying to rescue some troops, killing 26 soldiers in the operation.

The Sudan army spokesman, Al Soarma Khaled Saad denied any helicopter had been shot down, and said the army killed seven rebel fighters and wounded six others in fighting that took place between Monday and Wednesday near the border with South Sudan More … »

El Fasher(18 Jan.) -The Head of the Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minawi has criticized the final statement of the Follow-up Committee for the implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur.

The Doha government’s pledged its commitment that it will remain open to non-signatories of the Doha agreement.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Minawi said it would be impossible to negotiate on the basis of the agreement. The SLM, and other movements under the flag of the Sudan Revolutionary Front are talking about a comprehensive solution to all issues affecting Sudan and not just in Darfur More … »

Serba (20 Jan.) – On Thursday, police killed a man belonging to an armed group, south of Serba locality in West Darfur.

Witnesses said the armed men attempted to loot an ambulance carrying doctors and nurses back to El Geneina, near Kondobi.

Police confronted the militia resulting in an exchange of fire killing one member of the armed group.

A citizen from Kondobi, told Radio Dabanga local residents feared reprisals over the killing, as citizens were at risk of being subject to revenge attacks More … »

January 19, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail secretly met with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Damascus yesterday, Sudan Tribune has learned.Well placed sources told Sudan Tribune the unannounced meeting discussed the situation in Syria amid continued unrest and violent crackdown in that country since early 2011. They also reviewed the work of the Arab league monitors team dispatched last December.

The observer mission is headed by the Sudanese general Mohammed al-Dabi whose appointment drew strong criticism by Syrian opposition and human right groups due to his past as leading several security organs in Sudan accused of ill-treatment of dissidents More … »

NAIROBI, Kenya — South Sudan moved Friday to shut down its oil production, the latest development in an epic game of double-dare that threatens not only South Sudan’s economy but also that of its neighbor and antagonist, Sudan, just six months after the world heralded the peaceful split of the old Sudan with fanfare and hurrahs.

If implemented, the shutdown of oil production would deprive the infant South Sudan of virtually its only source of revenue and would bite a major hole in Sudan’s budget, already deeply in red after its southern third seceded.

South Sudan had no choice but to act after Sudan “stole” $350 million worth of petroleum in the past three More … »

KHARTOUM — Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno wed the daughter of the alleged Janjaweed militia leader on Friday at a ceremony attended by Sudan’s president who is accused of war crimes in Darfur.

Neither Deby nor his bride, Amani Musa Hilal, were present for the Islamic ritual held at a luxury hotel in the Sudanese capital, an AFP photographer said.

But Hilal, whose father is reputed Janjaweed chief Musa Hilal, arrived later for a party that followed the ceremony. Wearing a white Western-style wedding dress, she joined about 1,000 guests who were serenaded by Sudanese singers More … »

For Darfur’s pastoral communities, livestock is essential for their sustenance and constitutes the backbone of the local economy. Livestock are exchanged for other needs of the family such as staple food, clothes, medicine or contributions to social events. In exchange for a male sheep, herders can get approximately two big sacks of sorghum, which is enough to feed a family for three months. Male cattle are exchanged for up to ten sacks of sorghum, which can feed six people for 15 months. Herders usually possess from 100-200 animals and some as many as 2,000 animals. However, pastoralist families are often large; therefore, the animals belong to many people. Those who own several hundred animals are considered to be very rich, but they are also very rare.

Since the ICRC has been extending its support to community animal health by training animal health workers More … »

By Salma El Wardany
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) — Mohamed Hassan Alim, a Sudanese activist who gained notoriety for a confrontation with a top presidential adviser that was posted on YouTube, was released today after spending 24 days in jail.

Alim said he was taken from his home by plainclothes armed men on Dec. 26, blindfolded and held in Kober prison in Khartoum, the capital. He was picked up after the YouTube video appeared of his confrontation with presidential adviser Nafie Ali Nafie at an Islamic student meeting where he accused the government of corruption, nepotism and human-rights violations. Nafie denied he had anything to do with Alim’s detention, the state-run Sudan Media Centre reported yesterday More … »

The United States is warning of a severe food crisis in parts of Sudan if the Khartoum government does not give the United Nations and its aid partners immediate access to the affected areas.

In a letter to the president of the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice warns that without new and substantial aid to South Kordofan and Blue Nile states before March, food security there will decline to an emergency level and parts of Sudan will eventually suffer a famine.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Ambassador Rice directly blamed Khartoum for the situation.

“The government of Sudan has deliberately More … »