Sudan minister quits over ‘Abyei war crimes’

Posted on May 25, 2011 by admin

From Capital News, May 24:

Sudan’s cabinet affairs minister Luka Biong Deng resigned Tuesday from the Khartoum government in protest at what he called “war crimes” in Abyei, occupied by northern troops at the weekend.

“We had hoped that we could form two viable states in good relationship with each other, but those in Khartoum do not seem interested in peace,” said Biong Deng, a senior southern leader in the national unity government.

“But with war crimes being committed in Abyei at the hands of (Khartoum’s ruling) National Congress Party, I could not in good faith continue to take part in such a government,” said Biong Deng, a member the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) who comes from the flashpoint Abyei region.

The fertile border region, claimed by both north and south, was due to vote on its future in January alongside a referendum on independence for the south, which delivered a landslide for secession to take place in July.

But Abyei’s vote did not happen amid arguments as to who was eligible to vote, and northern troops and tanks overran the district’s main town and its environs on Saturday.

Thousands of residents — mainly southern-supporting Dinka Ngok people — are reported to have fled across the border into the south, with houses set on fire and property looted in northern-controlled areas.

A UN Security Council delegation is due to hold talks on Tuesday with southern president Salva Kiir in the southern capital of Juba.

The southern government have demanded northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) withdraw immediately.

“The SAF must end their illegal occupation and leave Abyei,” the south’s information minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said Tuesday.

However, Khartoum’s government said late Monday that Abyei is a “northern town” and dismissed southern and international calls to pull troops out after days of fighting.

“Abyei will remain a northern town until the population decides on their situation by themselves,” said Khartoum’s defence minister Abdulrahim Mohammed Hussein, quoted by the official Suna news agency.

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Sudan: 197 troops killed, missing in Abyei attack

Posted on May 25, 2011 by admin

From Forbes, May 24, 2011:

A Sudanese official says 197 northern troops were killed or are missing after an attack last week by southern forces near Abyei that kicked off the latest tension between north and south Sudan.

Kamal Ismail Saeed, Sudan’s ambassador to Kenya, said Tuesday that last Thursday’s attack caused the northern forces to move into the flashpoint zone of Abyei in what he said was self defense.

U.N. troops were escorting the northern forces during the attack, which the U.N. called a “criminal act” and a breach of north-south agreements.

The fight over Abyei threatens to send north and south back to war only two months before the south is scheduled to declare independence.

Saeed said the north is committed to a peaceful resolution.

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Northern Sudan’s occupation of Abyei “political adultery” – SPLM

Posted on May 24, 2011 by admin

From New Sudan Vision, May 24, 2011:

An SPLM press conference this morning condemned the ongoing occupation of Abyei by Sudan Armed Forces in sharply worded statements.

Antipas Nyok Kucha, SPLM Secretary for Political Affairs and Mobilization and Acting Deputy Secretary General of SPLM Southern Sector told journalists the NCP’s seizure of Abyei was a “sin.”

He said the northern party’s move is “illegal” and a “political adultery.”

He alleged NCP was busing masses of its supporters into Abyei in order to later claim ownership.

Mr. Nyok said the attack on Sunday displaced, maimed and overthrew Abyei’s civil administration in a reshuffle that brought in NCP appointees. He said they did not yet know how many people have died in the SAF incursion into the area on Sunday because Abyei is in “disarray.”

A delegation of the United Nations Security Council, headed by US Ambassordor to the UN, Dr. Susan Rice arrived in Southern Sudan on Monday night to hold talks with southern Sudan authorities on the Abyei deadlock.

Mr. Nyok urged the Security Council in the press conference to exert “maximum pressure” on the NCP. He requested for Abyei to be removed from the Presidency and put under purview of the UN.

Mr. Nyok added the SPLM would also like the UN to create a “buffer zone” in the contentious border, and work towards an Abyei referendum.

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Oil-Rich Sudan State of Southern Kordofan Votes Amid Violence

Posted on May 18, 2011 by admin

From Bloomberg Business Week, May 2:

Northern Sudan’s sole oil-producing state, Southern Kordofan, started voting today in elections for governor and the state legislature after a campaign marred by violence.

Southern Kordofan, where the Nuba Mountains are located, was the scene of heavy fighting during the two-decade civil war between the northern and southern regions that ended with a peace agreement in 2005.

The contest threatens to fuel tensions between the two regions before Southern Sudan’s scheduled independence in July, according to Fouad Hikmat, Brussels-based International Crisis Group’s special adviser on Sudan. Under the peace accord, Southern Kordofan will remain part of the north.

“It’s a pivotal state, and elections in Southern Kordofan are important for the stability of the whole of Sudan and the completion of the implementation of the peace agreement,” Hikmat said today by phone from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

Ahmed Haroun, the current governor and the candidate of President Umar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party, is wanted by the International Criminal Court over allegations that he was responsible for war crimes in the western region of Darfur.

He’s running against deputy governor Abdel-Aziz Adam Al- Hilu, of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Southern Sudan’s governing party.

“Results will be a problem either way,” Hikmat said. “If Haroun wins, a lot of people will wonder how, as he is not from the region and he is not accepted by most people. Although al- Hilu does not represent all the tribes, he has a bigger chance. But how will the National Congress Party accept that their candidate loses in the election?”

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South Sudan improves business climate: World Bank

Posted on May 18, 2011 by admin

From AFP, May 17, 2011:

Southern Sudan, poised to become Africa’s newest nation in July, is making progress in creating a business-friendly environment, the World Bank said Tuesday.

“The Government of Southern Sudan is making strides to improve the business environment for small and medium enterprises,” the Washington-based institution said in a report on business regulations in Juba, which will be the new nation’s capital.

The semi-autonomous region overwhelmingly voted to secede from Sudan in a January referendum after five decades of conflict between the mainly Christian, African south and the predominantly Arab, Muslim north.

The World Bank report, “Doing Business in Juba 2011,” cites improvements in eight laws on business registration, operations, and land ownership that have been enacted since the 2005 peace agreement.

Starting a business, for example, takes a relatively swift 15 days in Juba, compared with an average 13.8 days in developed economies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the bank noted.

But the cost of starting a business is sky-high — as much as 250 percent of per-capita income and more than twice the average cost in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report financed by the US Agency for International Development.

Although commercial banks have been established and basic infrastructure is being rehabilitated, the fledgling country must make further progress to achieve a healthy business climate, the World Bank said.

“Reforms that cut red tape, clarify property rights, and streamline regulatory compliance can yield big payoffs,” Mierta Capaul, a top private-sector development specialist of the World Bank, said in a statement.

The study, conducted in partnership with the government’s ministry of investment, highlighted key areas for improvement, including access to credit which at present is very limited.

“There is an opportunity for Southern Sudan to build the strong foundation necessary for a vibrant formal private sector,” Capaul said.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank’s sister institution, said in late April it had received a membership application from South Sudan.

In view of the application, the IMF said it would seek donor contributions for a special $10.6 million trust fund to provide intense technical assistance to the authorities in building the new country’s macroeconomic institutions.

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SPLA ‘Kill 84’ in Attacks On Gatdet’s Militia in Unity State

Posted on May 18, 2011 by admin

From allAfrica, May 10, 2011:

South Sudan’s army (SPLA) has attacked militias loyal to rebel leader Peter Gatdet in the Nyadiet area of Unity state on Sunday and Monday killing 84 according to a local official. The SPLA allege that Gatdet is backed by the Sudan’s northern army, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in a bid to destabalise the region ahead of its independence in July.

The SPLA launched the attack in a remote village of Nyadiet in the western part of Mayom county on the Unity’s border between Warrap state, killing 38 on Sunday and a further 46 according to Unity state’s government spokesman Gideon Gatpan Thoar.

He said that the militias was implementing a a SAF strategy of laying land mines in South Sudan to threaten the transportation opportunities of South Sudanese ahead of their independence.

Thoar added that SPLA had attacked Nyadiet as it was being used as a hideout position for the militia. He said that 38 fighters loyal to the SAF were killed on Sunday.

He added that many were captured and are being held in what he described as good conditions. However, Thoar said the remaining militia had moved to Kuiy Koy an area north of west of Nyadiet but were attacked again by the SPLA on Monday killing around 46.

Militarily supplies including ammunition, anti-tank and anti-personal land mines, VHF radio, motors, machine guns and documents revealing the militias link for the Sudan Army Forces, were found he said.

The SPLA division four commander, Lt. General James Gatduel Gatluak, said on Tuesday that Gatdet’s militia had arrived from Timtha village, which is also the position of militia affiliated to the SAF in South Kordofan state. South Kordofan is in northern Sudan and after July will be north of a border between two nations.

South Sudan voted for independence in January as part of a 2005 peace deal that granted the south the right to self determination. Gatduel alleged that the northern army was supplying Gatdet with ammunition and logistical support.

Gatdet announced his rebellion against the southern government in March, declaring his intention to overthrow the southern government due to corruption and tribalism. Despite fighting the SPLA for much of the civil war Gatdet’s forces were integrated into the SPLA in 2006 after the peace deal. The SPLA deny Gatdet’s claims of defections to his militia based in Mayom county of Unity state.

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Sudan: UN peacekeepers attacked in Abyei

Posted on May 11, 2011 by admin

From BBC News, May 11, 2011:

Four UN peacekeepers in Sudan have been wounded after their patrol was attacked in the disputed Abyei region along the north-south border.

The UN mission said the attack on its patrol in Goli village, 25km (15 miles) north of Abyei town, was unprovoked.

The BBC’s James Copnall says the incident comes at a surprising time.

On Sunday the north and south agreed to remove any unauthorised troops from Abyei, claimed by both sides, which was seen as a positive development.

The UN mission in Sudan, which brokered the withdrawal deal, said the peacekeepers attacked in Goli were from Zambia, and that one of them was in a critical condition.

Abyei is disputed by the Dinka Ngok, a southern ethnic group who are the permanent residents of the region, and the Misseriya, northern nomads who spend part of every year there seeking pastures for their cattle.

Since January there have been a series of bloody clashes between the groups.

They accuse each other using their security forces in the fighting, and of a build-up of troops near Abyei.

Our correspondent in the northern capital, Khartoum, says the fear is that if a solution is not found, Abyei could ignite a new north-south civil war.

South Sudan is preparing to secede from Africa’s biggest country in July, after 99% of voters backed independence in January’s referendum.

A draft version of South Sudan’s interim constitution explicitly claims Abyei is in the south.

Last month, President Omar al-Bashir threatened not to recognise the new state if it tried to claim Abyei.

The Abyei region was meant to have its own referendum on whether to join the north or the south in January, but agreement could not be reached on whether the Misseriya could vote.

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US Lifts Sanctions On Sudan’s Largest Bank

Posted on April 29, 2011 by admin

From the Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2011:

The Treasury Department on Thursday lifted sanctions on Sudan’s largest bank, after determining that the Sudanese government no longer holds a controlling interest in it, officials said.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control posted notice on its website that Bank of Khartoum was removed from the blacklist, meaning it can seek the return of blocked assets and resume limited dealings with U.S. financial institutions.

The notice gave no reason for the de-listing, but Treasury officials said the bank’s privatization prompted the move. The bank, which has 17 branches in the capital and 33 branches nationwide, had been state-owned until about five years ago, when Dubai Islamic Bank became a 60% shareholder. Bank of Khartoum petitioned OFAC to be removed from the list, officials said.

The officials declined to comment on how many assets were unblocked.

The U.S. classifies Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism; sanctions that generally bar U.S. banks from facilitating exports to the country and doing business with the Sudanese government remain in place.

Although most transactions involving Bank of Khartoum are still prohibited, U.S. financial institutions are authorized to transfer personal remittances to and from Sudan that are processed through the bank.

After years of violence, in January an overwhelming majority in the southern part of Sudan voted to secede from the north. The split is expected to become effective July 9.

President Obama said in February that he would review sanctions on Sudan, provided that the Sudanese government allows a peaceful transition to democracy in the South.

U.S. sanctions on Sudan will not apply to the new nation, the Treasury has said.

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US Criticizes Sudanese President Over Abyei Remarks

Posted on April 29, 2011 by admin

From RTT News, April 29, 2011:

The United States on Thursday criticized Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for insisting that his government in Khartoum will not recognize South Sudan’s independence if it claims the disputed oil-rich Abyei region as part of its territory.

“Those comments are not helpful at all, and they only serve to inflame and heighten tensions. It is important that both sides – those in Khartoum and those in Juba – focus intensely on trying to resolve the key issues that have not been completed under the CPA,” US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told reporters in Uganda on Thursday.

“Abyei is one of them. This must be done before July 9. And it important that President Bashir and the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, continue to meet, negotiate, to resolve these issues as quickly as possible,” Carson added.

Carson’s remarks came a day after Bashir said while addressing a political rally Fula, a town in north Sudan’s key oil-producing state of South Kordofan, that Abyei would remain a part of north Sudan after the south secedes in July. That speech was broadcast live on state television.

“Abyei is located in north Sudan and will remain in north Sudan,” Bashir said in his speech. “If they put Abyei in the constitution of the new state of south Sudan, we will not recognize the new state.”

Bashir’s remarks came three months after voters in south Sudan voted overwhelmingly in favor of separation from the north in the January referendum, which was in line with a 2005 peace agreement that ended 22 years of civil war between the Arab North and the Christian and animist South.

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New rebel uprising in South Sudan

Posted on April 21, 2011 by admin

From UPI, April 20, 2011:

A new rebel group in South Sudan attacked military trucks belonging to the government in Juba because it’s not functioning adequately, a spokesman said.

A group calling itself the South Sudan Liberation Army exploded a series of land mines targeting military vehicles in the south of the country.

Bol Gatkouth Kol, a spokesman for the rebel group, was quoted by the McClatchy news service as saying the uprising was a campaign against the southern government.

“The government has failed miserably,” he said. “It must go.”

Rebel groups are coordinating under rebel leader George Athor, who last year staged an uprising against the government in Juba after losing a state election. However, he agreed to a cease-fire in time for a referendum on secession in January.

Athor claimed in March that at least 100 people, mostly Sudanese soldiers, were killed in fighting in Sudan’s south.

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