SudaneseOnline: سودانيزاونلاين

SAAF Update 1-2012
www.SudanAdvocacy.com
January 9, 2012
 
Dear Sudanese Friends and Friends of the
Sudanese people,
It seems that the news about Sudan and South Sudan does not change.  The Government of Sudan continues its destruction and forced starvation of the people of Darfur, Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile regions.  In South Sudan the tribal violence in Jonglei state is escalating in frequency, destruction and deaths.  The United States government pursues its morally ambiguious leadership role by failing to consider any military option to protect the people of Sudan while supporting regime change in other areas of the Middle East.
 
Jacob Akol recently wrote in Gurtong Trust, "Not a single year since he came to power over 22 years ago has Bashir been not at war with someone within the Sudan, and he may want a war with South Sudan to survive just a little longer..."
A group from the Nuba Mountains, now living in Texas, regularly checks in with their families in the Nuba Mountains to see if they are surviving.  At the same time  published reports show that Washington, DC attorney Bart Fisher has accepted a $20,000 per month retainer to get the State Department to remove Sudan from its list of state-sponsors of terrorism and to remove sanctions that have been in place in an effort to get the Sudanese government to stop its crimes against the Sudanese people.  Note: This is the same government that is attacking civilians in the Nuba Mountains.  How does Fisher sleep at night?  Lobbying for such a regime is morally wrong and not the American way!
 
In the face of all this, the Sudanese people rightly ask, "If Syrians, why not Sudanese?  If Libyans, why not Sudanese? If defending Arabs from their despotic rulers is important, is defending black Africans somehow less important?"
 
Despite its significant problems, the United States of America is still the richest and most powerful nation in the world.  Is our government afraid to take the moral high road in Sudan?  Are we afraid to stop the Sudanese government's continuing crimes against humanity?  If we do the right thing all the time, we will offend evil leaders some of the time....so what!  Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers..."  Today, we must ask, "Where are the peacemakers?"
In His
Service,
Bill
Andress
Sudan Advocacy Action
Forum
News
Summary provided by Dr. Eleanor Wright, Sudan Advocacy Action
Forum
In this issue:
·    South Sudan eligible to receive US defense assistance
·    South Sudan to become IMF member
·    East African bloc admits South Sudan as member
·    South Sudan declares a disaster where 100,000 fled recent clashes
·    1,000 refugees arriving daily in South Sudan from Blue Nile
·    Heavy clashes and killing in South Kordofan
·    Shelling continues in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states
·    Air strikes kill 84 in Blue Nile state
·    UN mandate of Abyei peacekeepers extended
·    Sudan army kills Darfur rebel leader
·    Sudan Revolutionary Front meets US representatives
·    Khartoum conscripts IDPs and university students
·    Beshir offers to help Libya disarm former rebels
 
South Sudan eligible to receive US defense assistance. President Barack Obama issued a memorandum January 6, saying that the ability to provide defense materials and services to the government of South Sudan is in the national interest of the United States and could promote peace in East Africa. The determination does not constitute a decision to give defense support to the African state. The announcement came after an outbreak of violence between two South Sudanese tribes that may have left thousands dead and some 50,000 people needing aid. The United Nations said it has launched a â01Cmassiveâ01D humanitarian aid operation in South Sudan's Jonglei state, where tribal clashes occurred. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs told VOA the food distribution has already started, and that U.N. agencies are finalizing emergency plans for water, health care, shelter and sanitation. (VOA, 01/06/2012)
 
South Sudan to become IMF member.  Newly independent South Sudan is expected to become a member of the International Monetary Fund in early 2012, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said on December 16 after talks with President Salva Kiir. "South Sudan had applied for membership earlier this year, and I look forward to South Sudan becoming the Fund's 188th member in early 2012," Lagarde said in a statement, saying the country's membership application was in an "advanced stage". Lagarde said South Sudan faced "formidable challenges," including ensuring economic stability, building institutions to support its economy and managing oil revenue wisely. "We are working on a 3-year program of dedicated technical assistance," she added.  Kiir told a conference in Washington this week that South Sudan was determined to become an "island of stability" in Africa after emerging to claim independence in July, 2011. (Reuters, 12/18/2011)
 
East African bloc admits South Sudan as member. East African heads of state admitted South Sudan as a member the regional bloc Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on November 25, some four months after the nation proclaimed independence. "The Republic of South Sudan ... has taken a pro-active measure for membership to IGAD, and the membership was approved by the summit," Mahboub Maalim, IGAD executive secretary, told reporters following a meeting of heads of state. South Sudan was admitted to the African Union some two weeks after its independence on July 9. The U.N. General Assembly admitted South Sudan on July 14 as the 193rd member of the United Nations. (Reuters, 11/25/2011)
 
South Sudan declares a disaster where 100,000 fled recent clashes. This declaration would enable aid agencies to move in urgently, as food, medicine and shelter were badly needed, the information minister, Mariel Benjamin Barnaba, told the BBC. Following days of fighting, he said the areas was now under government control. Some 6,000 ethnic Lou Nuer fighters attacked the area around Pibor town, outnumbering army and UN forces. This is the latest round in a cycle of violence which has lasted several months. In one incident last year some 600 Lou Nuer were killed by attackers from the Murle community, the group which fled from Pibor.
The clashes began as cattle raids but have spiraled out of control. He said he could guarantee the security of any aid workers who went to the area. Barnaba said the humanitarian situation was "pretty grim". "They've been without food, they've been without water, without shelter." She said the "the main body of the Lou Nuer youth" who had been outside Pibor had started move in a north-easterly direction and were now 15km (about 10 miles) from the town. They had a large number of cattle with them AFP news agency reports. (BBC, 01/05/2012)
 
1,000 refugees arriving daily in South Sudan from Blue Nile. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported to IRIN that at least 1000 refugees are arriving daily in South Sudan's Upper Nile state. They are fleeing conflict in Blue Nile state across the border, according to aid agencies. UNHCR, says more than 23,000 people have been registered at the Doro refugee camp, about 40km from the border with Sudan, and it is planning new sites as thousands more are expected. "We're starting up a second site in Jammam [about 65km west of Doro] as Doro is reaching its maximum capacity [of 25,000] and maybe a third when we assess how many people are coming," said Mireille Girard, UNHCR's South Sudan representative. Only a few aid agencies are in Doro to tend to hundreds of refugees arriving with little or nothing, fleeing aerial bombardment in Blue Nile state, where conflict between Sudan government forces and troops formerly loyal to the south is ongoing. On December 12, UNHCR reported since July 2011, 36,000 had registered in Ethiopia fleeing fighting from Blue Nile State. A further 20,000 arrived from South Kordofan to Beida camp in Unity State. (Radio Dabanga, 12/16/2011)
 
Heavy clashes and killing in South Kordofan. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) claimed on January 2 that it achieved three victories against Sudan government forces in the areas of Bilingi, Hagar Anaba and Deluka 10 km south of Kadugli. SPLM spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said the SPLM forces had inflicted heavy losses of life of soldiers and destroyed military equipment. He said the government troops fled from those areas to Kadugli. Lodi also said the government forces on January 3 launched four Iranian built Shahab missiles towards Angolo in El Buram locality of South Kordofan. (Radio Dabanga, 01/04/2012)
 
Shelling continues in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. In South Kordofan, seven people have been killed and eight injured during air strikes in Al Buram locality in South Kordofan on January 2. The source said the Sudanese air force launched air strikes on the market and village, destroying five houses. In Blue Nile state a makeshift clinic reported 30 abortions carried out in one week, due to the trauma suffered by women traveling long distances on foot to escape recent air strikes. A medical assistant said 200 children had also turned up at the clinic suffering from malnutrition and diarrhea, but this was difficult to control with a lack of medicines and proper health service. The recent bombing in Blue Nile has also caused 20,000 people to flee towards Doro refugee camp in Upper Nile state, South Sudan in search of food and shelter, a source has said. However, Saad Allah the Commissioner of the western sector in Blue Nile, said there were actually 50,000 refugees sleeping outside under trees, after three weeks of hunger. (Radio Dabanga, 01/03/2012)
 
Air strikes kill 84 in Blue Nile state. On December 27, air strikes and heavy artillery were reported in Bao locality, Blue Nile state, killing 84 residents including 24 children, said Hashim Orta, humanitarian relief secretary of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) for Blue Nile. Orta said the aerial bombardment targeted gatherings of innocent civilians resulting in the massacre. He asked for the United Nations Security Council and the international community to put pressure on the Sudanese government to open safe corridors to enable humanitarian organizations to provide aid and protect those displaced. Hashim Orta accused Khartoum of continuing 'the systematically organized genocide of the people of Blue Nile'. He also accused Khartoum-affiliated militias of continuing to burn down villages and kill civilians in the area. (Radio Dabanga, 12/28/2011)
 
UN mandate of Abyei peacekeepers extended. The UN Security Council (UNSC) has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping force in Abyei and reiterated demands that Sudan and South Sudan immediately redeploy their remaining forces from the contested region. In a resolution adopted at the UNSCâ019s meeting on December 22, the 15-member council decided to extend for a period of five months the mandate the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) which was established in June after the signing of an agreement between Sudan and South Sudan on temporary arrangements for Abyei. Sudan says it is committed to the withdrawal of its troops, which occupied Abyei in May in retaliation to an attack reportedly carried out by South Sudanese troops, but stresses that it will only do so if all the provisos of Addis Ababa deal are implemented. South Sudan, which claims it has pulled out troops from Abyei, has been calling on the UNSC to adopt punitive measures against Khartoum for its failure to withdraw forces. (Sudan Tribune, 12/23/2011)
 
Sudan army kills Darfur rebel leader. Sudan's army has killed Khalil Ibrahim, key rebel leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) from the western Darfur region along with 30 of his troops, officials said. "The Sudanese army announced that they killed Khalil Ibrahim in fighting west of Wad Banda in North Kordofan," the official Sudan News Agency reported. JEM, however, said its leader died in an air strike and not a "clash" with government forces. A UK-based rebel spokesman said Ibrahim was killed by a fighter plane directed by "a spy," and denied there was a battle between rebel forces and government troops. "When Khalil was attacked he was in his camp," the spokesman said. Colonel Sawarmi Khalid Saad, an army spokesman, was quoted on Sudan's military website as saying the attacks targeted areas where security forces were not present, targeting local leaders and looting their property in the Umm-Gozain, Goz Abyadh and Aramal areas. The armed forces spokesman said Ibrahim and other leaders had been trying to enter South Sudan. (Al Jazeera, 12/25/2011)
 
Sudan Revolutionary Front meets US representatives. A delegation of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) met with members of the United States Congress and Senate on November 22,  in Washington. The delegation included members of the opposition groups Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi (SLA-MM). The SRF was formed on November 10, 2011 by the JEM, SLA-MM, Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).  Ahmed Hussein Adam, a member of the SRF and advisor to the president of the JEM, told Radio Dabanga in an interview, "The members of Congress drafted a letter to President Obama requesting the administration to change its policies towards Sudan and the delivery of aid and protection of civilians in Darfur, South Kordofan, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile," Adam said. He said, "The Obama administration needs to adopt a comprehensive approach towards issues of Sudan. The issues are all interconnected, and we need a comprehensive solution that addresses the root of the problem. There needs to be a change in the structure of governance." (Radio Dabanga, 11/23/2011)
 
Khartoum conscripts IDPs and university students. The Citizen has learned from its correspondent in Khartoum that the authorities there, despite protests from the South Sudan government and the leadership of South Sudanese University Students Union in Juba against such gross abuse of human rights, continue searching for IDPs and university students for compulsory recruitment in militia armies. Some students who were abducted from university gates and taken to collection centers before being transported in large military trucks by Sudan armed forces (SAF) and were followed by their relatives who are still in Khartoum and who bailed them out by paying 2000 SSP per head before they were released. The correspondent said paying ransom money was not a guarantee for not being captured again for recruitment because the same student could still be abducted and when the relative no longer can afford to bail him out by paying another 2000 SSP then he would be forcibly taken to any of the training camps notably Karasana, Abujebia, Magnis and other camps in the states bordering South Sudan. (The Citizen [Juba], 12/18/2011)
 
Beshir offers to help Libya disarm former rebels. President Omar Hassan Al Beshir, for years an adversary of Muammar Qadhafi, has offered his countryâ019s help  in disarming Libyaâ019s former rebel fighters and integrating them into the army and police forces - one of the trickiest problemâ019s facing Libyaâ019s new leaders.  The proposal from Beshir, who has been charged with crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur, triggered outrage from Amnesty International. The rights group said Beshir has a long history of arming militias to fight internal enemies in Sudan and would be the wrong person to help a country striving for democracy and respect for human rights. Libyaâ019s new leaders have struggled to form an effective government and disarm the mostly civilian militias that took up arms against Qadhafi during the eight-month civil war. Deadly clashes between former rebels have broken out since the warâ019s end, sparking fears that the persistence of armed groups outside of government control could further destabilize the country.  (Agence France-Presse, 01/09/2012)