Darfur Peace and Development

August 14, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan is considering reinstating pre-publication censorship by which security officers screen newspapers for items that they deem inappropriate so it can be taken out before it goes for printing.

A number of well placed sources told Sudan tribune that president Omer Hassan al-Bashir who is the NCP chairman was extremely furious during the party’s meeting over a story alleging that he granted lawmakers 15,000 pounds ($7,500) each as a grant on the occasion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

20 July, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security service released a local staff working with the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in Darfur, three months after his arrest.

“IdrissAbdelrahman was released from detention this afternoon in Nyala, SouthDarfur” announced the hybrid operation on Wednesday. “The prosecutors yesterday told UNAMID officers that charges against him were dropped due to lack of evidence”.

July 11, 2011 (LONDON) – North Sudan’s secretary for the political sector threatened Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) operating in Kordofan and Darfur with penalties or expulsion on Monday.

Gudbi-Al Mahadi, of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) is reported by the pro-Khartoum Sudanese Media Centre as threatening NGOs with “legal penalties” and “halting of activities” as some were “found providing logistical support to insurgents”.

June 25, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Insecurity in Sudan’s flashpoint state of South Kordofan has persisted amid reports of freshly-laid landmines and attempts by local security authorities to coerce displaced persons to return to places where their safety could be at risk.

Sudan’s North-South border state of South Kordofan has been in a state of civil war since clashes erupted on 5 June between North Sudan’s army known as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and local fighters aligned with the soon-to-be independent South Sudan.

June 13, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese authorities have been assessing the performance of “Western” aid agencies in the country’s war-battered region of Darfur in order to issue “decisive resolutions” in the next few days, an official announced on Monday.

In a report carried by the Sudanese Media Center (SMC), a website believed to be operated by the country’s security and intelligence apparatus, the director of the organizations department at Sudan’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs (HAC), Ali Adam Hassan, said that the competent authorities had received “a report on the performance of Western aid organizations” in the western region of Darfur.

June 6, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Three Bulgarian pilots held hostages in Sudan’s western region of Darfur since January this year have been released unharmed and moved to the capital Khartoum.

The World Food Program (WFP), for which the Bulgarian crew members operated a helicopter delivering food aid in the troubled region, on Monday announced their release and said they were transported to Khartoum ahead of departure to their country.

May 23, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Darfur peacekeepers reported yesterday that 10 people were killed during a recent air attack by the Sudanese army in the restive region of Darfur.

The joint peacekeeping operation stated last week it was sending teams to investigate a number of air strikes reported in the region on 18 May. The Sudanese army slammed the announcement saying it has the right to fight and pursue the rebels opposed to the peace process.

May 18, 2011 (El-Fasher) – Darfur peacekeepers have set out to investigate reports of an airstrike carried out by government forces on a village in the north of Sudan’s western region.

In its daily media brief on Wednesday, the UN-AU Hybrid Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said that its units based in Kuma, located approximately 100 kilometers northeast of North Darfur State’s provincial capital El-Fasher, are currently en route to the nearby village of Sukamir in order to verify reports of an airstrike conducted by government forces on the village.

May 15, 2011 (DOHA) — The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) declared its support to the participation of the US envoy for Darfur saying his presence allows transparency in the talks and encourage the parties to engage constructively.

Yesterday the delegation of the Government of Sudan (GOS) at the venue of the peace process in Doha said the Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole, who is also Burkina Faso foreign minister, involved US Senior Adviser for Darfur Dane Smith in the talks and support his proposals to boost bilateral relations between Ouagadougou and Washington.

May 13, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Various forms of human rights violations and conflict-concomitant abuses continue to be rife in large parts of Sudan, an international report indicated on Friday.

In its 2011 annual report on the state of the world’s human rights, the London-based Amnesty International (AI) painted a grim picture of the human rights state in Sudan, documenting a large number of violations and abuses committed by state actors.