CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s government signed a deal to allow Egyptian companies access to farm land in Sudan, the first deal of its kind between the two countries, an agriculture ministry official said on Monday.
The agreement would allow Egyptian firms to grow crops on 1 million feddans (1.04 million acres) of land, said Saad Nassar, advisor to Egypt’s agriculture More … »
Nairobi — When Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir showed up in Nairobi on August 27 for the launch ceremony of Kenya’s 
new constitution, he became the Big Party Pooper.
By the end of the day, Bashir, who is currently under indictment for war crimes in the Darfur region of his country, had become as big a story as the celebrations themselves.
Human-rights organisations across the world berated the Kenya government for kicking international law in the teeth by inviting an indicted war criminal to Nairobi – and not arresting him.
Within days, the Bashir issue had created a new split between the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement – the partners in the Kenyan coalition More … »
UNITED NATIONS, September 6 — The UN was supposed to be an honest broker in Darfur. Most recently, however, UN staff member
Gambari
Al Tijani Al Sissi Ateem was recruited from the UN Economic Commission on Africa to head up the new Liberation and Justice Movement.
When Inner City Press asked the UN, and Joint UN-African Union Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari about the propriety of a UN paid staff member heading a “rebel” movement to negotiate with Khartoum, both have said that only joint AU-UN mediate Bassole can answer. But he won’t. And apparently Bassole has no spokesperson.
Now the Justice and Equality More … »
NAIROBI — Troop contributions for UN peacekeeping missions are helping African nations build a buffer against criticism over
A soldier from Rwanda serving with the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
democratic and human rights failings, analysts said Monday.
Reacting to a leaked United Nations report last week that its forces committed war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda threatened to pull out its soldiers from Darfur if the document is published.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said the UN cannot have it both ways: “You cannot accuse our army… and want the same army to be a disciplined moral army to protect civilians around the world.”
Providing some 3,000 peacekeepers for the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur and the United Nations Mission in Sudan may be spreening Kigali’s international image, but could also be providing a shield against scrutiny, More … »
The demarcation of a clear North-South Sudan border remains unresolved five years past the deadline set by the 2005 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the country’s decades-long civil war.
Besides hindering implementation of the CPA over the years, a new policy briefing paper prepared by the International Crisis Group, says that the undefined boundary has fuelled mistrust between Khartoum and the Government of South Sudan and contributed to heightened anxiety in More … »
I am not a fan of Sudan president Omar al-Bashir, who is currently under indictment for war crimes, and I wish him bad luck.
If I had my way, I would ensure that Bashir’s crops don’t flourish; his cows don’t multiply; that his children run amok; his wives desert him; and that he would spend sleepless nights tormented by nightmares over the thousands of people killed in Darfur.
That said, I still find the furore over his attendance at the More … »
September 5, 2010 (PARIS) — The United Nations-African Union Joint Chief Mediator Dijibril Bassole will hold a meeting soon with 
the chairman of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Darfur to discuss the resumption of the faltering peace talks in Doha.
Bassole told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that he will travel to Khartoum to secure the approval of Sudanese authorities for the return of the rebel leader to Darfur More … »
Peacekeepers in Sudan’s Darfur region say at least six people have been killed during clashes at a refugee camp.
Peacekeepers from the joint United Nations-African Union mission say gunfire broke out Saturday at the Hamidiya camp in West Darfur state.
It is not clear who was involved in the violence. Rebels say government forces attacked the camp for displaced people More … »
Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) — Kenya has cleared the way for the International Criminal Court to pursue the masterminds of post-election
Residents of a Nairobi slum shout at demonstrators during clashes after the 2007 disputed election.
violence — a week after the nation came under fire for hosting the court’s top target, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
The violence from the disputed election in 2007 killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is investigating top Kenyan officials and business leaders for their alleged roles in the chaos following the disputed More … »
CAIRO — Clashes in a refugee camp in Sudan’s restive Darfur region left six people dead, U.N.-African Union peacekeepers said 
Saturday, days after violence elsewhere in the area claimed the lives of at least 37 people dead.
The spokesman for the UNAMID mission, Chris Cycmanick, said the fighting took place in the Hamidia refugee camp in West Darfur late Friday night and continued intermittently through to Saturday morning.
According to witnesses in the camp, the clashes between different More … »
