Darfur Peace and Development

May 6, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — Over 83 people arrested by the Sudanese security services in South Darfur last month are still in prison since protests in April against president Bashir’s government organized by the supporters of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur.

The SLM supporters organized a series of demonstrations in different Sudanese states including the Darfur region chanting for regime change and to asking to hand president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir accused of genocide and war crimes over to the international justice system.

April 27, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir has reiterated claims that the contested oil-producing region of Abyei belongs to the north, and threatened to wage war in the border state of South Kordofan if the newly independent South Sudan opted for confrontation there.

Ownership of Abyei region is claimed by both north and south Sudan, which voted earlier this year to secede in a referendum promised under the 2005’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended nearly half a century of intermittent north-south civil wars.

April 13, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — Representatives of a camp in South Darfur said they brokered jointly with the hybrid peacekeeping mission and a UN humanitarian body (OCHA) the release of twelve Sudanese aid workers held in Kalma after the arrest of a local aid worker.

Sudanese security service arrested on Monday 11 April a local aid worker employed by a US relief group, the International Medical Corps (IMC) from the camp. In reprisal, on the same day the relatives of the arrested aid worker, Jibril Ahmed Nourein, reacted by taking 12 workers conducting a vaccination campaign inside Kalma.

April 12, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese aid worker employed by a US relief group was arrested by an unidentified group of armed men in Kalama camp, South Darfur, on Monday.

“Seven armed men stormed the office of the International Medical Corps (IMC) inside Kalma camp and forcibly arrested Jibril Ahmed Nourein on Monday morning,” said Hussein Abu Sharati who is the spokesperson of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Darfur camps.

April 10, 2011 (JUBA) – Several human rights activists on Friday took to the streets of New York to rally in advocacy for the international community’s action on issues of Sudan, citing the pending Abyei referendum, the unresolved conflict in Darfur and political repression in the north.

The rally, which was conducted in coordination with Amnesty International was sponsored by seven US-based organisations. These included, the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies , New York City Coalition for Darfur , Brooklyn for Peace, Brooklyn Coalition for Darfur, Ubuntu-students for a world without genocide and Darfur Vigil.

March 22, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Darfur peacekeepers and rebels from the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur agreed to establish a humanitarian corridor in Jebel Marra.

Delegations led by UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari, and SLM Chairman Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur met during the earlier hours of Tuesday in Kampala after resolving last minute technical details related to the organization of the reunion.

By Deepa Babington

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – More than 70,000 people have fled fighting in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the past three months, swelling numbers at a refugee camp by more than third, U.N. humanitarian officials said.

A series of ceasefires and foreign-backed talks have failed to end fighting in the remote area, where conflict between mostly non-Arab rebels and government troops backed by largely Arab militias…

March 22, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Two soldiers from the African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were seriously injured after being ambushed during a return trip from escort duties near the capital of West Darfur.

The mission said in a statement that the incident took place in Masteri, a village 45 km south of El-Geniena. The driver and a peacekeeper had their vehicles fired on by unidentified men.

March 18, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A delegation of the UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNMID) on Friday managed to visit two areas in the sparsely-accessed, mountainous terrain of Jabal Marra in the troubled western region of Sudan, the mission has announced.

Darfur region has been under an armed conflict that killed more than 300, 000 people and displaced 2.7 million since it erupted in 2003 between the Sudanese government and rebel groups accusing it of marginalizing the region.

March 17, 2011(KHARTOUM) – One student was killed at the University of El Fasher in the capital of North Darfur during clashes between the police and protesters against the suspension of political activities inside the academic institutions.

Last week talks between the university administration and the student s failed to lift the suspension of the political activities. However, the students decide to overcome the ban and resumed the discussions circles as Sudanese students used to do in all the universities of the country.