Darfur Peace and Development

February 3, 2010 (EL FASHER) – The African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) strongly denied that it had given supplies to rebels, dismissing the accusations recently made by the spokesman of the Sudanese Armed Forces that the Mission is in collaboration with the Justice and Equality Movement.

The hybrid peacekeeping mission was responding to allegations made Monday that the peacekeepers willingly supplied the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) with food and fuel.

February 4, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) issued a statement on Thursday morning decrying what it described as “persistent targeting” by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudan and president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

On Wednesday the five-member appeal chamber reversed a majority decision by the Pre-Trial Chamber that excluded the crime of genocide from the arrest warrant issued for the Sudanese president but kept the counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

February 2, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – President Barack Obama revealed in an interview Monday with YouTube, a video-sharing website banned in Sudan, that he and his advisors have not yet concluded whether ’engagement’ with Sudan will result in meeting their goals. The president referred to brokering a peace agreement between Khartoum and Darfur rebels as “the next step in the challenge.”

The president said his special envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, “has been very active in trying to bring together the international community to get that deal brokered.” The negotiations themselves will be hosted in Doha, Qatar, and they have not yet begun. Sudan’s representatives have set a late March deadline for wrapping up the talks ahead of the April 11 nationwide elections.

January 31, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir has expressed today Sudan’s readiness to cooperate with the UN and the African Union in a four-track announced by the UN Secretary General in Addis Ababa.

Al-Bashir made his statement during a special meeting on Sudan held on the sidelines of the 14th African Summit. Besides, Ban Ki-Moon and the new AU Chairman Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika, the meeting was attended by South African President Jacob Zuma, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zinawi.

January 28, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The new head of the hybrid peacekeeping operation and joint representative in Darfur disclosed to the media that supporting the ongoing efforts to settle the seven-year conflict tops his priorities for Darfur.

Gambari who arrived last Friday to Khartoum after serving recently as top United Nations envoy for Myanmar said the UNAMID should now move from the focus on the deployment to the implementation of the core its mandate.

January 16, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese army launched an air and ground attack on a position of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur (SLA-AW) in North Darfur where 18 people were killed, a rebel spokesperson said today.

Last week the rebel group captured Gulu, the capital of Jebel Marra saying it wants to protect civilians there after the failure of the international community to press Sudanese army to stop attacks on civilians.

January 14, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has nominated Yasir Arman to run for the presidency of the country in the first free and fair election since the coup d’état that brought General Al Bashir to power on June 30, 1989.

The nominee is a senior figure in the party, serving as Deputy Secretary General for Northern Sudan and the head of the SPLM bloc in the National Assembly. He will face Al Bashir, who on Monday stepped down from his role as army commander-in-chief to vie for the votes that would legitimize his 20-year rule through the National Islamic Front, now called the National Congress Party.

January 11, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir issued a decree late Monday, relieving himself from the position of the general commander of the armed forces in a procedural step required in order for him to run in the upcoming presidential elections as nominee of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

December 29, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese government and the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) signed today a protocol including safety measures to ensure the security of the peacekeepers working in the restive region.

The deal comes after the killing of 20 peacekeepers in violence since the African Union United Nation operation took over from the African mission in January 2008. Also two civilian personnel had been abducted last August and only released some 100 days after earlier this month.