Sudan Briefing: 2011-08-30

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Following the independence of South Sudan, Insight on Conflict will be producing a weekly round-up of the news. To subscribe to receive the updates via email, please contact [email protected] or complete the form below.

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News roundup

• North Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has announced a unilateral ceasefire in South Kordofan. Satellite Sentinel Project has said there is more evidence of mass graves in South Kordofan, bringing the total the group believes they have discovered to eight. North Sudan says there is no such evidence.
• North Sudan has sentenced to death a leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfur rebel group. He was captured during fighting in South Kordofan.
• The UN has said at least 600 people were killed, and 250,000 displaced, in cattle raids two weeks ago. The Southern army (SPLA) has deployed troops to try and stop retaliatory fighting. The Southern government has proposed a conference with traditional leaders to find a way to end the violence.
• There has been fighting between the SPLA and rebels in Upper Nile state. The Southern ruling party, the SPLM, has alleged the rebels are backed by Khartoum. Rebel general George Athor has claimed responsibility for the fighting, but denied links with the North.  The SPLA also say an opposition party, the SPLM-DC, were involved, a charge the party denies.
• South Sudanese police have attacked a UN human rights official. The assault left him hospitalised for five days.
• South Sudan has named its first cabinet.

News in detail

South Kordofan

Reuters: Sudan president announces ceasefire in South Kordofan
23 Aug: Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir announced on Tuesday a two-week unilateral ceasefire in Southern Kordofan state, a week after the UN called for an investigation into reports of violence and abuses there.
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL5E7JN10B20110823

NY Times: Images Show Mass Graves in Sudan, Group Says
24 Aug: A satellite imagery project monitoring parts of Sudan says it has found new evidence of mass graves in the troubled Nuba Mountains region, where the government has recently waged a fierce campaign to stamp out rebels.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/world/africa/24sudan.html

Reuters: Sudan says no proof of mass graves in conflict area
24 Aug: Sudan’s UN envoy dismissed fresh allegations by a U.S. group that says it has identified a total of eight mass graves in the African country’s conflict-ridden Southern Kordofan region.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN1E77N10J20110824

Sudan Tribune: Rift Valley report criticises international endorsement of South Kordofan’s elections
27 Aug: A report released this month by the UK-based Rift Valley Institute is highly critical of the endorsement given to the crucial South Kordofan gubernatorial elections suggesting that the results “may have been manipulated”.
http://www.sudantribune.com/S-Kordofan-s-problematic,39922

South Sudan

Bloomberg: UN Says South Sudan Cattle Raid Reportedly Kills 600 People
22 Aug: At least 600 people were reportedly killed and as many as 985 injured in South Sudan during a cattle raid, said the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the newly independent nation, Hilde F. Johnson.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-22/un-says-south-sudan-cattle-raid-kills-reportedly-600-people.html
Bloomberg: South Sudan Says 14 Soldiers Killed in Militia Attack in Upper Nile State
24 Aug: Fourteen South Sudanese soldiers were killed in attacks by militias in Upper Nile state, close to the border with Sudan, the army said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-24/south-sudan-says-14-soldiers-killed-in-militia-attack-in-upper-nile-state.html

VOA: Rebel Athor Admits Leading Deadly South Sudan Attacks
25 Aug: South Sudan is accusing Khartoum of backing a cross-border attack at Kaka town in Upper Nile state by rebel groups that left over 72 people dead. The dead include at least 15 Southern Army soldiers.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/east/REBEL-ATHOR-ADMITS-LEADING-SOUTH-SUDAN-ATTACKS-128400703.html

CNN: South Sudan deploys troops to prevent revenge attacks
26 Aug: The Security Council of the Republic of South Sudan on Wednesday ordered troops deployed to restore security and prevent retaliatory attacks after violent clashes in the past week.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/25/south.sudan.troops/

Reuter: UN complains after South Sudan police beat up official
26 Aug: The United Nations said on Friday it has complained to newly-independent South Sudan after police beat the top UN human rights investigator in the country so severely that he was hospitalised for five days.
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE77P4YT20110826?sp=true

Sudan Tribune: South Sudan opposition party denies supporting rebel groups
27 Aug: South Sudan’s largest opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), denied on Saturday allegations that it participated in a rebel attack in Upper Nile State.
http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Sudan-opposition-party,39970

Sudan Tribune: South Sudan proposes traditional leadership conference to end conflicts
27 Aug: The South Sudan government on Saturday proposed convening a conference with traditional leaders across to look for mechanisms to address the new country’s various tribal conflicts.
http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Sudan-proposes-traditional,39971

Reuters: South Sudan president names new cabinet
28 Aug: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir named his first cabinet since the country declared independence last month, including former supporters of the North’s main party as he set out to unite a fractured state.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE77R01320110828

North-South Relations

Africa Review: Sudan border team abandons demarcation task
25 Aug: A committee tasked with defining and demarcating the volatile borders between Sudan and South Sudan has abandoned the exercised ahead of talks slated for next month.
http://www.africareview.com/News/-/979180/1225150/-/h7dudmz/-/

Reuters: Sudanese risk post-independence statelessness – UNHCR
26 Aug: Large Sudanese communities could become stateless, deprived of basic rights such as access to jobs and education, unless Khartoum and Juba ensure citizenship for all following South Sudan’s independence, the UN refugee chief said on Thursday.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE77P02520110826

AP: UN launches campaign to end stateless ‘limbo’
26 Aug: The UN refugee chief has called on countries to end the plight of some 12 million stateless people caught in what he described as “limbo,” denied basic human rights because no country will grant them citizenship.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j76Uy9KvOokd1dHNr5mwVGRbiOYg?docId=8f843d23876842c5a9316418cdfaa4f3

North Sudan

Bloomberg: Sudanese Court Sentences Rebel Leader Al-Tom Hamed to Death by Hanging
27 Aug: A Sudanese court sentenced to death by hanging a leader in the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, which carried out attacks against the army in Southern Kordofan, state-run SUNA news agency reported late yesterday.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-27/sudan-court-sentences-rebel-leader-hamed-to-death-by-hanging-1-.html

Reuters: President orders Sudanese journalists freed
28 Aug: President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Saturday ordered the release of all Sudanese journalists, saying Khartoum respects responsible freedom of expression.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE77R00R20110828