Musa Hilal addresses a crowd of villagers at his north Darfur home area in Mistiriyha, Sudan, May 10, 2005. (Reuters) Musa Hilal, a notorious leader of the Arab Mahameed tribal clan in Darfur, was accused of committing atrocities against civilians during the counter-insurgency campaigns implemented by the Sudanese government during the years 20003-2005 in the region.

Musa who made a rare appearance at the headquarters of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on Monday accused the holdout rebel groups of preparing a series of attacks in Darfur region in order to impede the implementation of the DDPD.

He said there is a need for a joint military action to establish the necessary conditions allowing to enforce the agreement and implement its outcome on the political, developmental and economic levels.

He further suggested that all the concerned parties including the former rebel groups who signed peace pacts with the government should agree on how to protect the DDPD in order to implement it fully.

Speaking to HRW in 2005, Hilal admitted recruiting Arab militia to fight rebel groups. The UN and the US government imposed financial sanctions and travel ban on him. But he was not named as war crime suspect by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The boss of Darfur hybrid peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) Ibrahim Gambari urged yesterday the international community to support the implementation of the Doha peace deal. His call came after a report by the Cease-fire Commission saying that the region witnessed a “considerable decrease” in clashes between the government and rebel groups.

The Sudanese army stated different times since last July, date of the DDPD’s signature, that it monitors rebels’ movement in the region. Also, Sudan and Chad agreed to foster their military cooperation to face any rebel activity seeking to disturb peace implementation in Darfur.

The government intends to organise a dialogue process and promote the voluntary return of displaced persons and refugees particularly in Chad.

The international stakeholders, who seek to convince the holdout rebels to join the Doha document, urged the Sudanese government to show more openness and flexibility with the insurgents and to avoid the repetition of heavy military attacks on their positions as it was the case after Abuja peace agreement signed in May 2006.

(ST)

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Peter de Clercq presented the 2012 plan on Tuesday in a joint press conference held in Khartoum with Mohammed Fadolalla, acting Commissioner for the Humanitarian Aid Commission.

The eighth annual UN and Partners Work Plan, which encompasses 331 projects across twelve sectors, is the largest humanitarian appeal in the world. It focuses on humanitarian and early recovery projects across the Sudan.

The UN relief office in Khartoum today said that Darfur, with its 3.75 million people affected by the eight-year conflict, remains on the top of Sudanese regions needing humanitarian assistance.

De Clercq told reporters that nearly 417,000 people fled their homes in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile since last June as result of the fighting between the government forces and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N).

He said there are 82,000 refugees in Ethiopia and South Sudan from the two areas while some 35,000 moved South Kordofan to the Sudanese capital where they are hosted by their relatives.

Sudanese government barred foreign aid groups and UN agencies from working in the troubled states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan saying it does not want to repeat the scenario of IDPs camps in Darfur. Reports from the ground say there is a dire need for humanitarian assistance.

UN officials in Khartoum say the preparation of 2012 plan involved 117 organisations, including 43 national NGOs, concerned Sudanese ministries, 58 international NGOs and 16 UN agencies.

The new plan represents a 5.4% decrease in requirements compared to 2011 plan which was 64% funded. Many projects of the ending year suffered from what is described as “Darfur fatigue”. Also, the South Sudan independence and the war with the SPLM-N drew away the attention from “Darfur tragedy”.

(ST)

The incident occurred at Umraik village in North Darfur, which is approximately 30 km North East of Ana Bagi and 65km North west of Kutum. The group was traveling from El Fasher to Chad at the time.

The nationality of the internationals or who they worked for is not known.

They are reported to have been traveling in a convoy of a Land Rover and two trucks carrying drilling machines when they were abducted by an unknown armed group.

The UN source told Sudan Tribune that the 9 September incident was reported to the Sudanese government on 21 September.

Efforts to find and secure the release of the nine hostages are said to be ongoing.

Kidnapping in Darfur began after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country’s war ravaged western region. In July last year genocide was added to the charges against him.

Bashir denies the accusations and refutes the legitimacy of the ICC, which was no means to arrest him other than if Sudan or a member of the court hand him over.

The UN estimate that 2,300 people were killed in the conflict in 2010. Since 2003 – when rebels groups took up arms, complaining of discrimination and underdevelopment – the UN say that around 300,000 have been killed.

The Sudanese government say this figure is near to 10,000.

(ST)

The fight broke out between Sudanese army and rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the two states bordering the Republic of South Sudan, since June for South Kordofan and Blue Nile in September.

The clashes displaced about 25 thousands in the Blue Nile and over 73,000 people who fled the Southern Kordofan. However, Sudanese government refused to allow international aid agencies and INGOs from working in the two regions saying this will be a repeat of Darfur camps.

Speaking in a press conference held at the Sudanese embassy in Paris on Thursday Karti said the ban of aid groups will be implemented until a ceasefire is reached with the SPLM-N. But he did not elaborate on how to reach it.

“If the other party (SPLM-N rebels) agree to a cease-fire and stop all military operations, then we be willing to allow United Nations organizations to work for the delivery of food assistance to these areas,” Karti said.

But “We will not accept that the rebels benefit from the humanitarian assistance to the civilians.” He said further stressed. The pointed out that the SPLM-N decided to not observe the unilateral ceasefire announced on 23 August, and to keep carrying its attacks. “So we will not allow it to receive such assistance and to continue its military operations”.

Sudanese Government imposed movement restrictions for UN aid workers in the Blue Nile following the start of hostilities between the two parties on 1 September. Aid groups and international NGOs can only deliver humanitarian assistance through local aid groups particularly the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS).

Today, the SPLM-N in the Blue Nile released a call to the international community urging more pressure on the Sudanese government to lift the humanitarian ban and allow it to work in the state, particularly in the rebel controlled areas where no information is available about the situation there.

President, Omer al-Bashir said on Wednesday the army would soon attack Kurmuk to dislodge the SPLM-N forces out of their last stronghold town near the border with Ethiopia.

Also Bashir repeated his refusal to any internationally mediated talks with the SPLM-N but said the movement can negotiate on the implementation of a protocol related the two provinces particularly the Popular Consultation.

Karti said the government will not accept the return of Malik Agar as governor.

The French foreign ministry said Thursday that foreign minister Alain Juppé and cooperation minister Henri de Raincourt discussed the situation in Blue Nile, Southern Kordofan and Darfur with Karti.

“This meeting was also an opportunity to discuss major regional issues of common interest, including the future of Libya and coordination of international assistance to the (Libya’s National Transitional Council) CNT, and good relations with this country.”

Karti told reporters he discussed ways to relief Sudan’s debit with the French ministers as debt servicing incurs more than $1 billion annually.

He said they asked France to discuss this relief with the 19 World’s biggest economies members of the Paris Club for the $38-billion debt that Sudan and South Sudan are still discussing among the outstanding issues in the implementation of the 2005 peace agreement.

(ST)

Despite the deteriorating humanitarian conditions where the displaced civilians in Darfur camps receive a third of their needs since more than a year ago, the security situation according to the UNAMID witnesses a relative improvement.

Inter-tribal violence had diminished in recent months and the “number of overall fatalities in Darfur fell from 2,321 in2010 to 724 thus far in 2011,” said the hybrid peacekeeping mission in a briefing to a meeting of the tripartite mechanism in New York this week.

However, the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) said government troops ridding four vehicles killed two people and wounded 20 others in an attack on Kroya Laban, a village located in the eastern part of the restive region and depending from North Darfur state.

El-Rayah Mahmoud, SLM-MM vice-chairman, said in a statement released from Kampala that the attack took place on 23 September and since four villagers are missing. He further accused the state governor of ordering the assault.

The rebel official also urged the UNAMID to investigate the attack.

In a media brief released Sunday, the joint operation said a Sudanese army gunship helicopter fired two rockets around Umgafala village, about9 km north of Khor Abeche, South Darfur.

However, the UNAMID said no human or material casualties reported.

The hybrid mission for the second time this week spoke about tensions between nomads and farmers.

The latest reported incident was a clash in Tamaru village, 25 kilometers northeast of Saraf Umra, North Darfur, on 22 September where three farmers and two nomads killed and two farmers injured.

The dispute over water and pasturages between farmer and nomads is seen as the major causes of the eight year conflict in Darfur but rebel groups also insist on political and economic causes.

(ST)

Al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday announced that the new government will be formed in late August before Eid Al-Fitr holiday which follows the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

This will be Sudan’s first government formation since the country split in two last July when South Sudan declared independence in line with the outcome of the region’s referendum vote on independence held at the start of this year.

In an address to the parliament last month, President Al-Bashir outlined the features of his “second republic,” promising a trenchant policy of reforms and balanced development in a bid to remedy the country’s chronic concentration of wealth and power in the center.

Sudan also said it intends to cut government spending and perks as the country sails into economic uncertainties following the loss of 75 percent of the country’s oil production with the south’s secession.

Al-Haj Adam Yousif, the NCP’s political secretary, revealed that the 33 members of the current cabinet would be reduced to 15 ministers and the National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) would be split to two branches, one for domestic security and one for external security.

Spending on Sudan’s notorious and fairly bloated security watchdog, NISS, costs the country a great chunk of its budget. Sudan’s expenditure on defense is estimated to have risen from US$2.469bn in 2009 by 36.18% in 2010, according to a report produced by Research And Market in 2010.

Yousif said in statements to the independent Arabic daily Al-Ahdath newspaper that his party had formed a committee to craft recommendations for state restructuring and formation of the new government. He further said that the committee had finalised its recommendations and would refer them to Al-Bashir in the upcoming days.

According to Sudan Tribune’s sources, the committee’s report has recommended mergers between some ministries and elimination of others.

Sudan’s current cabinet is composed of 35 portfolios occupied exclusively by NCP members and associates. Opposition parties criticise what they deem as an excessively big government and extravagant expenditure on state officials’ perks.

Furthermore, the NCP’s committee report recommended the creation of three vice-presidents’ positions to be occupied by two individuals from the western region of Darfur and eastern Sudan respectively beside the current vice-president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.

The NCP official also said that the president was seeking to form a government that enjoys consensus among the people and political forces.

Al-Bashir’s party has been engaged in talks with the mainstream opposition National Umma Party (NUP), led by former prime minister Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani in order to reach a power-sharing deal.

But the talks have so far failed to produce results amid reports of disagreements and refusal by the NCP to offer meaningful concessions.

Other opposition groups, most notably the Popular Congress Party (PCP) of Islamist leader Hassan Al-Turabi, remain publicly committed to regime-changing agendas and voice opposition to dialogue with the NCP which they accuse of a long list of failures, including the country’s breakup and worsening economic conditions.

Yousif said that incorporation of the DUP and NUP into the government was still under discussion. However, he stressed that his party would not forgo its demand for slashing the cabinet and would not allot any portfolios to the two opposition parties in the new government even if they end up participating in the government.

He further admitted the existence of a gap between the stances of his party and those of the opposition but he added that the dialogue was still ongoing.

Meanwhile, an NCP official told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper said that Al-Bashir does not mind the participation of opposition parties in the cabinet with 30 percent of its seats as well as the establishment of an advisory council that includes representatives of the opposition.

However, the anonymous official said there would be legal difficulties in incorporating opposition parties in the parliament given that the members of the NCP-dominated parliament were elected in the disputed national elections of April 2010.

The NCP official further revealed that his party was facing a great deal of pressure due to the fact that many current ministers would lose their positions in the new cabinet makeup.

There are 77 federal and state ministers in the current government, with a dearth of technocrats and the majority being members of the NCP or parties aligned with the NCP.

(ST)

The logistics specialist was kidnapped on Sunday while he is was in the rout to the airport with two Sudanese colleagues, the UN hybrid mission said Monday. The abductors who were dressed in plain clothes took Francesco Azzara after stooping the car.

The Italian foreign ministry said concerned services are already working with the Sudanese authorities and the aid group Emergency.

The Italian medical aid group Emergency said Francesco, 34-year, was on his second visit to Nyala where it operates a pediatric center.

Abductors used to demand ransom and talks take time as the authorities used to convince them to release the hostages unharmed.

The UN Security Council on 29 July expressed its “deep concern” over the deterioration of security conditions in Darfur, including among others, the attack on aid workers.

However Khartoum denounced the resolution saying it distorts the image of the country and urged UN body to relay on verified reports.

(ST)

Rawlings made the remarks following his meeting with Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday which was devoted to discussions on the famine situation unfolding in the Horn of Africa and particularly in Somalia.

The Ghanaian figure, who is now the African Union High Representative for Somalia, called on Africa to respond much more positively and significantly to the humanitarian situation in the region.

About 3.6 million people in Somalia are at risk of starvation. Some 12.4 million people in the Horn of Africa — including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti — are affected by the worst drought in decades, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands of people have already died.

Rawlings said that Africa’s failure to help alleviate the suffering in Darfur robbed the continent of its moral mandate. He said that Africa therefore needs to redeem itself by stepping up support to those impacted by drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.

“While inviting international concern, we must indicate that African leaders are also marshalling resources to help their brothers and sisters. Darfur was embarrassing. Let us not repeat it in Somalia” Rawlings said.

A counter-insurgency campaign against non-Arab rebels demanding more autonomy in Darfur in 2003 sparked a humanitarian crisis in the western Sudan region in which more than two million people have fled and 300,000 killed, according to the United Nations.

Violence peaked in 2003-2004 but analysts say there is still no end in sight to the conflict despite several peace agreements.

Sudan’s President Omer Hassan al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and genocide in Darfur.

The African Union (AU) however stood firmly by Bashir and instructed its members not to comply with the arrest warrant even if they are signatories to the court’s founding treaty.

(ST)

US Senior Advisor for Darfur, Dane Smith, said his government would invite Sudanese government, Darfur rebels and international partners to meet in Washington next September. He pointed out that the reunion aims mainly to consider the way forward after the signing of a peace agreement between Khartoum and the Liberation and Equality Movement (LJM). But he ruled out they would come with any initiative.

The gathering will include the Justice and Equality Movement which asks to open the Doha peace document adopted last May for negotiations, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) of Abdel Wahid Al-Nur which boycotts the Doha process and the SLM- Minni Minnawi who signed the Abuja peace agreement in 2006 but renounced it this year.

The former rebel LJM also will attend the meeting as the implementation of the Doha peace agreement will also be debated in Washington.

“If the Washington meeting aims to launch a new initiative we say there is no room for any new initiative to replace the Doha imitative which is sponsored by the State of Qatar and supported by the African Union and United Nations,” said Khartoum’s chief negotiator Amin Hassan Omer.

Amin who was speaking to Alray Alaam daily also said Washington did not inform them officially about the meeting.

Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Al-Obaid Marawih echoed Amin’s statements saying that Washington will commit a “big mistake” if it supports rebels’ demand to open new talks

“The US Administration would be committing a big mistake because it will not only be an insult to the Sudan, but also to those who supported the Doha agreement,” he further stressed.

The Sudanese official was alluding to the African Union, Arab League and United Nations which officially brought their support to the Doha peace framework document and urged the Sudanese parties to engage talks for a lasting peace in western Sudan.

The framework document is supposed to outline the features of peace agreements between the government and rebel groups in a way that the content of different deals be more or less similar even if they are negotiated separately.

During the Doha stakeholders conference, the US special envoy Princeton Lyman and the Senior Adviser for Darfur, Dane Smith approved the Doha peace document but stressed that it should be a basis for further negotiations between the government and the rebel groups.

The then Joint Chief Mediator, Djibril Bassolé, proposed the idea of a framework document as basis for separate peace agreements between the government and rebel groups, after failing to persuade the rebel groups to unite under common grounds before to negotiate with the government.

He also insisted on the need for a comprehensive and inclusive process to bring a lasting peace in Darfur. Bassole also was very critical to a parallel initiative aiming to include Darfur displaced, civil society and tribal leaders called Darfur Political Process because it excludes the rebel groups.

However, Khartoum said the Doha peace document should be not be amended and propose to the rebel groups to only discuss the political participation in the national and regional institutions and the security arrangements including the absorption of their fighters in the regular army.

(ST)