SUDAN ADVOCACY ACTION FORUM - SITUATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAAF Update 08-2009

June 17, 2009

In this issue:

 

  • 500 seats in Sudan parliament allotted to the 25 states
  • Sudanese parliament passes new press law
  • Sudan ends gum arabic monopoly
  • Food delivery in Southern Sudan blockaded
  • Khartoum arms 'used in UN raid'
  • Ugandan LRA rebels attack civilians in Southern Sudan
  • Lam Akol launches new political party
  • 244 die in recent inter-tribal clashes in South Kordofan
  • UN-AU Peacekeepers in Darfur receive new vehicles

 

500 seats in Sudan parliament allotted to the 25 states. The Sudan National Electoral Commission allotted 50% of the seats in the federal parliament to six northern states based on the results of the fifth national census.  Six states, namely Khartoum, Al-Jazeera, South Darfur, North Kordofan, North Darfur and Kassala won 225 seats, accounting for 50% of total seats.  The other 19 states shared the remaining 225 seats. The total of seats allocated to the ten States of Southern Sudan reached 96 seats, 21.3% of total seats of the National Assembly. (Sudan Tribune, 06/13/09)

 

Sudanese parliament passes new press law. The Sudanese parliament has approved a new press law removing heavy sanctions on journalists but keeping censorship. The final version of the press law — voted unanimously by the Sudanese legislator — removes the contested fines of 50,000 pounds on journalists and also restricts the power of the Press Council to close newspapers. However, the new law does not remove the power from intelligence services who can censor papers ahead of publication under Sudan’s National Security Act. (Sudan Tribune, 06/09/09)

 

Sudan ends gum arabic monopoly.  Sudan has ended its government monopoly on production and trade in gum arabic. An agricultural official, Mohammed Ali Dingel, said exports had fallen to about a third of the 30,000 tons a year Sudan used to produce. Dingel told Reuters the initiative would allow private business to buy and export the product.  Dingel said the biggest buyers of gum arabic were France and the United States, which has a range of sanctions on Sudan but which made an exemption for gum arabic. Gum arabic has a wide range of uses from cosmetic creams to food stabilizer and is a main ingredient in Coca Cola.  (Reuters, 06/05/09)

 

Food delivery in Southern Sudan blockaded. Twenty-seven food relief barges of the World Food Programme were intercepted by fighters of the Jikany Nuer group in Upper Nile, resulting in a gunfight with the SPLA soldiers escorting the convoy. Because the washed-out roads to Akobo are impassable this time of year, the food must be delivered by river. The food on the barges was destined for some 18,000 civilians who were displaced by earlier fighting, including when the Murle attacked Akobo County in May. Barges had been blockaded since May but were allowed to leave Nasir on Friday after high-level negotiations. Nevertheless, the SPLA-escorted convoy was attacked by Jikany fighters some 10 to 20 miles outside of the town. Forty people were killed and 41 others injured in the attack. (Sudan Tribune, 06/15/09)

 

Khartoum arms 'used in UN raid'.  Pagan Amum, secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, told the BBC's Focus on Africa program the spirit of the comprehensive peace agreement which ended the fighting had been "assassinated" by Khartoum, as he accused its government of distributing arms in the south.  He told the BBC that arms were being distributed in the south to spread dissent between rival groups.  Several hundred people have been killed in clashes between rival ethnic groups, including the Jikany Nuer, in the south in recent months. (BBC, 06/15/09)

 

Ugandan LRA rebels attack civilians in Southern Sudan. Southern Sudan has ordered more troops to its southwestern border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following recent attacks by the Ugandan rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA. The attacks in late May have driven nearly 1,000 people from their homes near Yambio, the capital of the Western Equatoria Province.  The LRA fighting has generated a new wave of Congolese refugees into Western Equatoria, according to officials, estimated to number around 20,000. (Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 06/10/09)

 

Lam Akol launches new political party.  A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lam Akol, has announced that he will lead a new political party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement- Democratic Change (SPLM-DC).  Akol explained this action by the need to "save the SPLM from the collapse it is heading for." He also criticized the "bankruptcy" of current leadership and its failure to implement good governance and democratic practice in Southern Sudan where the party dominates the semi-autonomous government.  Akol was a key figure at an assembly of southern leaders in April at Kenana, North Sudan, that slammed the dominant southern party for its “poor record of governance” since winning power over the South in 2005.  (Sudan Tribune, 06/07/09)

 

244 die in recent inter-tribal clashes in South Kordofan.  Clashes between major Arab nomadic tribes in the South Kordofan region of Sudan have killed 244 people. Members of the tribes — the Misseriya and Rizeyqat — clashed near the border between South Kordofan and Darfur.  When Sudanese police officers interceded to break up the fighting, they were attacked by 3,000 horsemen from the Rizeyqat tribe.  The tribes live on either side of the border dividing South Kordofan and Darfur, and they have clashed in the past over access to drinking water for their horses and livestock.  South Kordofan, which lies between Darfur and South Sudan, is one of the most unstable parts of the country. (Agence France-Presse, 05/28/09)

 

UN-AU Peacekeepers in Darfur receive new vehicles. The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping operation in the Darfur region of western Sudan (UNAMID) has received a new fleet of vehicles. The convoy of 21 fuel tankers and 22 other vehicles arrived at the UNAMID mission headquarters in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, after a nine-day road trip across Sudan from the capital, Khartoum. The Mission said that these convoys usually provide its police personnel a chance to establish closer contacts with Sudanese civilians along the route. (UN News Service, 06/08/09)