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Jan 25, 2011 07:34 EST

Dancing to the last beats of a united Sudan

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Half way through the evening you felt this is what a united Sudan could have been like.

It was an engagement party thrown by a beaming, white-robed Khartoum patriarch with pulsing music provided by Orupaap, a group of mostly southern musicians and dancers.

The band was barely into its third song when the northern, southern and foreign guests swarmed on to the stage raising their arms and clicking their fingers in one of the few African dances easily mastered by awkward middle class Englishmen.

“Where is the band from,” I shouted at the host above the amplified music. “I think the musicians are Shilluk,” he replied, referring to a group with its heartlands around the southern city of Malakal. “They’re from here in Khartoum.”

Northerners and southerners have lived and fought and traded together for centuries — and over the last five and a half years they have been experimenting with an even closer form of cohabitation.

In 2005 they ended decades of civil war and signed a peace deal that set up a joint north-south government.

Southerners moved up to Khartoum to take up government positions and politicians made speeches about making unity “attractive” to both sides.

COMMENT

Time of hope for Sudan and you guys! Sorry not to be with you would have loved to join in the dance! Have fun – perhaps I should give you a Wedding Goat?

Posted by PatriciaParker | Report as abusive
Dec 16, 2010 17:08 EST

Multi-tasking Sudan’s conflicts

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When I first began to cover Darfur in 2003 – nobody was interested. The story was all about the north-south peace talks in Naivasha. “Where’s Darfur again – is that in the south?” I would often hear.

But once Darfur’s conflict stalled the Naivasha talks to end Africa’s longest civil war, and reports of appalling atrocities in Sudan’s west began to seep into the public domain, Darfur became the only story. It overshadowed even the historic 2005 north-south peace deal named “comprehensive” because the negotiators said it would resolve all of Sudan’s problems.

Year after year Darfur dominated the diplomacy and headlines while many in Sudan kept warning – don’t forget the north-south problem – it will come back to haunt you.

After years of neglecting the north-south accord, much of which was either not fully implemented – or done only after threats and standoffs – here we are again at crisis point where Sudan is heading for an acrimonious split and again there is a battle to implement the final chapter – the referendum on southern secession.

And while all hands turn again to resolve the north-south standoff, Darfur is sliding back into crisis – largely unnoticed because of the hype about the likely split of Sudan.

In the past year, since the largest aid agencies working in Darfur were expelled and kidnappings forced others to withdraw to main towns, there is little information about a deteriorating humanitarian situation of 4 million aid recipients with even the United Nations too scared to speak out.

None of the main groups are negotiating with Khartoum in Qatar-based talks. The chief mediator’s only recent achievement was a tour of Darfur with no specific aim, and which sparked violence resulting in two Darfuris dying, nine injured and a major university being closed down.

Oct 10, 2010 22:00 EDT

from Global News Journal:

George Clooney, UN Security Council descend on Sudan

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George Clooney has been roughing it recently, on the latest of his trips to Sudan to highlight the problems there. 

The Hollywood superstar and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador was touring semi-autonomous south Sudan ahead of a planned January 2011 referendum on whether southerners in Africa's biggest country should secede from the Khartoum-led north. Tensions are high because of fears the plebiscite could be delayed, sparking a new war between the predominantly Muslim north and the heavily animist and Christian south.

The U.N. Security Council delegation I traveled to Sudan with was in Juba, the scruffy capital of south Sudan, at the same time as Clooney. But we reporters never saw him. The  journalists covering the Security Council's African trip were barred from the party that Clooney, council diplomats and U.N. officials attended. According to several of those present, Clooney and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, had a long huddle to discuss the problems of Sudan, including the referendum and the 7-year-old conflict in Sudan's remote western Darfur region. Of course Sudan was not the only interesting thing about the evening -- one U.N. official boasted of having seven pictures of her and Clooney on her digital camera.

Leaving south Sudan was not so easy. Our plane had engine trouble and we were all marched to a Russian peacekeeper base. Four local Sudanese reporters with us were told by U.N. officials that there no sandwiches for them and initially ordered to remain on the press bus.

When the delegation boarded a different plane, it was discovered that there was one too many passengers on the aircraft. A U.N. security officer decided that a Sudanese Reuters photographer would have to leave the plane, even though he had been invited to join the delegation and had all his permits in order. The Reuters photographer protested but was told he would be ejected forcibly if he didn't comply. When I asked why he was being singled out, the answer was: "He was the last one on." The Reuters photographer realized that the only way to avoid an ugly confrontation was to retreat, so he did. The three other local Sudanese reporters -- one of whom was a Reuters cameraman -- joined him out of solidarity.   One diplomat noted that while all the other envoys went alone or with a single advisor, the U.S. ambassador brought two advisors and two security personnel. If her entourage had been smaller, the diplomat said, there wouldn't have been a problem with space. (Others, however, suggested that the strict security policies of the U.S. government might have made a smaller entourage impossible.)

Because of the tight schedule and security concerns, the council had far less time for internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Abu Shouk refugee camp near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, than they had for George Clooney back in Juba.  

They spent around 15 minutes on the ground talking with refugees, who complained of hunger, unemployment and poor security in the camp. 

Sep 15, 2010 08:05 EDT

Can’t do or won’t do? Ending Darfur’s kidnap business

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Kidnapping foreign workers in Sudan for ransom has become a dangerous business in Darfur in the past year with 10 separate cases and at least 22 expatriate victims.

These are not the al Qaeda kidnaps of West Africa. The Darfuri criminals have so far demanded only money and have not killed any of their victims. Some have threatened to sell their captives to al Qaeda-linked groups if they do not get paid.

The abductions have restricted the operations of those aid and U.N. agencies still working in Darfur, with foreigners mostly relocated to the main towns and rarely travelling into the rural areas where people are most in need of help.

But the question always debated by Sudan watchers is: “Is it that Khartoum can’t protect foreign workers in Darfur or that it won’t?”

Many point to the timing as an indication — these abductions became a regular occurrence after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March 2009.

Others speculate that the government, which has long had a hostile attitude to the international humanitarian agencies in Darfur, does not want them to get out and report on the worsening situation in the rural areas.

COMMENT

The situation in Darfur makes me so upset. No one should live in fear of rape kidnap and torture like these ppl do. I heard the winner of the NY International Film Festival was Attack on Darfur. Finally, a movie that brings attention to the monstrosity in Sudan. I can’t wait for its release. 

Posted by annalion | Report as abusive
Aug 15, 2010 04:13 EDT

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t

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Darfur’s joint U.N.-African Union peacekeepers face a dilemma in Darfur which could shape the future of the world’s largest U.N.-funded force.

After violence left five people dead in the highly volatile Kalma Camp, six refugees sought sanctuary in the UNAMID force’s police base there. They are thought to be rebel sympathisers and the government accuses them of instigating the camp clashes, demanding that UNAMID hand them over.

Kalma, just outside Darfur’s largest town Nyala, has long been a problem for the Khartoum government, whose offices in the camp were burned down by angry refugees. Rebel supporters in the camp have obtained arms and there have been clashes with government police in the area.

Now if the six are responsible for the violence, which was between refugees who support rebel leader Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur and those who took part in peace talks which Nur rejects, then it is Sudan’s right to try them in a court of law.

However the government is headed by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, a man wanted by the International Criminal Court for presiding over genocide and war crimes against these same Darfuris, which is why they are in the refugee camps in the first place.

Repeated reports during the seven-year conflict of the torture of Darfuri detainees give a pretty good indication that they are unlikely to get a fair trial if UNAMID hands them over.

So what to do?

COMMENT

It’s hard to imagine living amongst the atrocities that go on in Darfur. I never really had a grasp on just how horrific the situation was over there until I saw Attack on Darfur at the NY International Film Festival. Genocide, torture, rape- the film did not hold back and although it was hard to watch at times, it really made me want to get involved. If we don’t do anything to help, who will?

Posted by AnnaB05 | Report as abusive
Aug 2, 2010 09:56 EDT

Darfur – when peace talks cause conflict

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It’s well-known that peace talks can cause fighting. I remember before every round of doomed negotiations on Darfur since 2003, either the govenment or the rebels would start a military campaign to gain ground ahead of any potential settlement.

But the violence in the past week in the camps that are home for two million Darfuris displaced by conflict is different.

It would be easy to blame the mediators who convinced more than 400 members of civil society groups to join a peace talks in Qatar which the two main rebel groups are not presently attending.

Some Darfuris, after seven years in the camps, decided the rebel leaders were unable to represent the interests of their people and went to make sure their voices were heard.

It was their return to the rebel-dominated Kalma Camp in South Darfur and the camps around Zalingei in West Darfur that caused fighting that claimed at least eight lives, injured dozens and drove thousands to flee the camps they had sought refuge in years ago.

But to blame only the mediators would ignore the problems they inherited — which pretty much amount to a mission impossible.

Rebel commanders have for years been forming factions by the dozen. They were disillusioned with their leaders, most of whom were young and inexperienced before being propelled into the international limelight as Darfur’s conflict went global.

Jun 14, 2010 09:52 EDT

Juwama vs. the Nile Republic – South Sudan searches for a new name

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What’s in a name? An entire cultural and national identity if you are from Sudan’s oil-producing south.

The region of southern Sudan is now less than seven months away from a referendum on whether it should split away to form Africa’s newest country.

One of the biggest unanswered questions hanging over the vote is what the new nation should call itself if, as widely expected, embittered southerners choose to secede.

The easiest option would be to stick to what people call it now — South Sudan or Southern Sudan.

But there are some serious branding issues. Say “Sudan” to most outsides and they will immediately think of a list of nasties — Darfur, the never-ending north-south civil war, military coups, militancy and crippling debt.

A new nation might be grateful for a new name with a clean slate.

Equatoria has a nice ring to it. But that would associate the entire diverse territory with just three of its current states — Western and Eastern Equatoria, together with Central Equatoria, the home of the capital Juba.

COMMENT

Isn’t it obvious? JEBELIA, of course, after the Bahr el Jebel, which runs through the country. It sounds much more like a real country name than those other names. Nile Republic sounds unimaginative, and Equatoria sounds way too much like Ecuador.

Posted by 54markl | Report as abusive
Apr 10, 2010 05:37 EDT

When is an election boycott not an election boycott?

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When it takes place in Sudan.

Preparations for Sudan’s general elections — due to start tomorrow — were thrown into confusion over the past two weeks as opposition parties issued contradictory statements over whether they were boycotting the polls.

Some announced a total withdrawal, protesting against fraud and unrest in Darfur, only to change their minds days later. Others pulled out from parts of the elections — presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial votes are taking place at the same time — then changed their minds days later. Others left it up to individual candidates to decide.

Even a day ahead of voting in the divided oil-producing state, serious questions remain.

These confusions are more than mere technicalities.

They will hinder the ability of Sudanese voters to make clear choices when they start queuing up for their first multi-party elections in 24 years.

They could also fuel legal challenges to the results when they are finally announced later this month, stoking tensions in a country already weighed down by ethnic divisions and conflict.

COMMENT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/genocideint ervention/4515324712/in/set-721576237154 11721/

Don’t legitimize the rule of Omar Al Bashir!

Posted by SayUncleNow | Report as abusive
Apr 6, 2010 09:00 EDT

Washington and Sudan’s elections: When interests collide

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The talk of the town for Sudanese is the position of Washington’s envoy Scott Gration after he met the National Elections Commission, the body accused of irregularities and bias towards the ruling National Congress Party.     “They have given me a lot of information that gives me confidence that the elections will start on time and that they will be as free and fair as possible,” Gration told reporters.

“This has been a difficult challenge but I believe they (the NEC) have stepped up and met the challenge,” he added.

Gration refused to answer a question on his opinion of the accusations of fraud and bias against the NEC, presiding over the polls to begin next week.

These include the NEC imposing restrictions on political party meetings, pre-recording and censoring political party broadcasts, intervening in the U.N. tender process to allow the government printing press to print the presidential and gubernatorial ballots and a later revelation they allowed the same press to print the voter registration books and slips.

The last contract was paid for with international donor money. Washington is the main bilateral donor to the presidential, legislative and gubernatorial polls, offering some $95 million.

The NEC has not published its finances so no one knows how much the elections will cost. But international sources estimate between $300 to $400 million.

Gration arrived after the shock decision by the main south Sudan party to withdraw its presidential candidate last week, citing massive fraud and sparking a wave of withdrawals which threatened the credibility of the polls.

COMMENT

The Americans seem ready to concede here in order to quarantine the Referendum where it is a Racing Certainty the Boys in Juba will go their own way. A Quid pro Quo?

Aly-Khan Satchu
http://www.rich.co.ke

Posted by AlyKhanSatchu | Report as abusive
Apr 2, 2010 13:47 EDT

A journalist’s guide to covering Sudan politics

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Sudan’s opposition is often criticized for being unable to unite. And on Thursday night they didn’t disappoint.

The chaotic scenes after a meeting to discuss whether to boycott Sudan’s upcoming elections left most reporters dazed and confused, especially those who were new to politics in Africa’s largest country.

Here is a short guide of how to cover Sudanese politics (or not):

Rule #1: Never make plans around a press conference:

When they say the meeting is at 1900, it inevitably starts at 2100. Much of a foreign correspondent’s time is spent waiting around for meetings which begin hours late, take hours to finish and are followed by a press conference which lasts almost as long.

Unfortunately a journalist’s biggest fear is to miss the story — so we have to arrive on time – just in case.

Sometimes that works against us. Some colleagues actually missed a plane taking them to a political party campaign in Darfur because they were too early.

COMMENT

How are these folks ever going to run this country they so quickly go to war for.

Posted by creigh | Report as abusive
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