May 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Civilians in North Darfur remote area of Forog urged the United Nations on Wednesday to provide them with more humanitarian assistance complaining from shortage of water and medicines.

Girls hold a banner calling to provide Forgo civilians with water on 30 May 2012 (Photo Albert Gonzalez Farran- UNAMID)

The civilians made their demands during a visit by a delegation from the joint African Union United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) which provides humanitarian aid to the isolated population in the restive region.

Sudan since July 2009 expelled 13 aid groups providing food, medical services and drilling and managing water wells in arid region of Darfur.

The UNAMID opened a new clinic and three schools in Forog, located in North Darfur .

The population of the area, which is controlled by the rebel Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur, welcomed the UNAMID delegation with banners demanding to provide them with water and medicines.

Local sources told Sudan Tribune that the community leaders told the visiting delegation that they are suffering from water shortage due to the lack of sufficient water wells in area.

They also pointed out the serious shortage of medicines and medical equipment as the area like many others suffers from the absence of aid workers.

They said there is no enough teachers to educate the children.

Sudanese government and a rebel group, Liberation and Justice Movement signed a framework document to end the nine-year conflict in Darfur. But the lack of money delayed the implementation of the peace agreement.

Also, rebel groups refuse to join the peace deal and formed last November an alliance with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North aiming to topple the Sudanese regime.

(ST)

Article source: http://www.sudantribune.com/civilians-in-Darfur-remote-areas,42758

May 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Negotiators of Sudan and South Sudan on Wednesday shared views of what they expect from each other in order to settle security and border issues, Sudan Tribune has been told.

FILE PHOTO – Pagan Amum (left), chief negotiator from South Sudan, lead mediator for the African Union, Piere Buyoya (centre) and Sudan’s head negotiator Idriss Abdu Qadir

Sources privy to the talks being held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa said that the negotiating teams of Khartoum and Juba agreed after a lengthy meeting to form a mini-committee comprising three representatives from each side as well as two representatives from the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), the facilitator of the talks.

Negotiations between Khartoum and Juba resumed on Tuesday after a two-month hiatus that saw the two neighbors fighting a war around disputed oil region of Heglig which was briefly occupied by South Sudan before being re-taken by Sudan.

The sources revealed that the two sides had presented proposals on security issues, including cessation of support to rebels, disputed regions and cross-border hostilities.

According to the sources, the proposal of Khartoum’s negotiators contained demands that Juba severs its ties with “the 9th and 10th divisions” of the southern army, SPLA, in reference to the combatants of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) which is fighting the Sudanese government in the country’s border regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Khartoum’s negotiators said that the two SPLA divisions-turned-rebels in the run-up to South Sudan’s secession last year must accept to be disarmed in order to find a comprehensive solution to their situation, either through the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program (DDR) which is a key provision of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Sudanese negotiators also indicated the possibility of holding direct negotiations with the commanders of SPLM-N forces under the supervision of the AUHIP led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

The security problems have gradually been part of the talks on the outstanding issues in the implementation of the CPA the two parties signed in 2005.

The fight in South Kordofan between the Sudanese army and the SPLM-North results of the failure of the two sides to agree on the implementation of security arrangements. The lack of a clear mechanism in the CPA on how and when they should be disarmed led to military confrontation between them when the Sudan Armed Forces threatened to forcefully disarm the SPLM-N combatant.

On the other hand Juba, since even the start of South Kordofan rebellion, accuses Khartoum of backing rebel groups that appeared in South Sudan after April 2010 elections.

Furthermore, the negotiators demanded that South Sudan ceases all forms of support to rebel groups from the western region of Darfur and expels them from its territories. Khartoum’s team also demanded that SPLA forces withdraw south of the 1956 borders and asked for the formation of a committee to monitor this process.

On the other hand, Juba’s proposal insisted that Khartoum reinstates commitment to all previous agreements, including the one signed in June 2011 between Sudan’s presidential assistant, Nafie Ali Nafie, and the SPLM-N rebels in Addis Ababa.

The said agreement provided a framework for settling the conflict in South Kordofan as well as recognizing the SPLM-N as a legal political force in Sudan. It was however scrapped by President Al-Bashir following a fierce campaign by anti-SPLM forces in Khartoum.

South Sudanese negotiators also insisted that Sudan pledges “in writing” to cease support to southern rebel groups as well as aerial bombardment in southern territories.

South Sudan repeatedly accuses Khartoum of conducting air raids on its territories as well as supporting rebel groups operating mainly in the South’s northern states of Unity and Upper Nile.

The southern delegation further demanded that all disputed border regions be turned into demilitarized zones under a joint administration. The sources added that the southern delegation also demanded the immediate start of negotiations on oil exports.

Sudan Tribune’s sources said that the coming hours would be crucial in determining the course of the negotiations. They said they expect that if the mini-committee manages to make progress, it would pave the way for holding a meeting of the joint political-security committee headed by the ministers of defense and chiefs of security from both sides within 48 hours.

The sources also added that the two sides are competing to demonstrate commitment to the AU roadmap and the UN Security Council (UNSC)’s resolution number 2046, which ordered them to conclude negotiations on citizenship, oil, borders and the status of Abyei within three months. They also said that each side is trying to show the other to be reluctant to abide by the resolution.

(ST)

Article source: http://www.sudantribune.com/Khartoum-and-Juba-exchange,42762

May 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Consultative Council of Human Rights (CCHR) is devising a new strategy to counter allegations of abuses against the country at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), an official revealed on Wednesday.

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva

The new strategy was announced by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, Issam Al-Din Abdel-Gadir, following a meeting of the CCHR in the capital Khartoum. Abdel-Gadir said that the meeting had discussed Sudan’s latest speech at the UNHCR in Geneva.

He said that the meeting had concluded that future Sudan’s speeches before the UNHCR must focus on how to counter potential attacks from the international community against alleged violations of human rights in the country.

He further added that the new strategy would largely depend on audiovisual documentation of the human rights situation in the country as well as early preparations for UNHCR sessions.

The undersecretary pointed out that during the latest UNHCR session, Sudan had presented films about abduction of children in the country’s war-battered state of South Kordofan, adding that the move led for the first time to Sudan walking out without unanimous condemnation.

In September 2011, the UNHCR renewed for a period of one year the mandate of the independent expert on the situation of human rights in Sudan, Mohamed Chande Othman, despite lobbying by Khartoum to the contrary.

(ST)

Article source: http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-plans-to-change-strategy-on,42763