Darfur Peace and Development

February 22, 2011 (NAIROBI) – Sudanese security authorities have employed several forms of gender-based violence, including rape, against female activists who took part in recent anti-government campaigns, a local right group said on Sunday.

Small anti-government protests erupted on 30 January in the capital Khartoum and other parts of the country in response to a campaign organized via the internet by youth groups inspired by the wave of revolts convulsing the Middle East.

February 20, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will not run for re-election in 2015, a senior official in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said on Sunday.

“[Bashir] announced that he will not enter the coming elections to compete for the presidency,” Rabie Abdel-Aati, a senior National Congress Party official, told Reuters.

February 16, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — The head of the first joint UN-African Union force and the largest peacekeeping mission announced that a new approach on movement and access has been adopted to better protect civilians in the restive region of Darfur.

Ibrahim Gambari made the announcement on Wednesday in a press conference held in Khartoum two weeks after severe remarks by U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice on 26 January over the performance of UNAMID to discharge its mandate in the war ravaged region.

February 14, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — State authorities in the troubled South Darfur region expelled Monday a French aid group accusing them of supporting rebels from the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abel Wahid Al-Nur.

Médecins du Monde (MDM), which has worked in Jebel Marra since 2008, announced in a press statement last week the evacuation of its staff members from Kidingir and Leiba on 11 February, citing heavy fighting in the areas between the Sudanese army and SLM rebels.

February 8, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The U.S. administration has initiated a process to remove Sudan from its blacklist of terrorism-sponsoring countries, notwithstanding the conflict in the western region of Darfur.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, for an intelligence assessment report of Sudan‘s support for terrorist activities.

January 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — Government soldiers and militiamen killed five civilians in north Darfur on Friday, said Adam Saleh Abakar the spokesperson of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Minni Minnawi.

According to the rebel spokesperson, Sudanese army troops and militiamen looted 200 head of sheep, 120 head of cattle and 1300 camels from civilians in Id Bayda village located south of El Fasher on Friday.

January 31, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government today declared that it accepts the preliminary results of the referendum in the South Sudan which came overwhelmingly in favor of independence.

“We declare our agreement and our acceptance of the preliminary results of the referendum announced yesterday and we will directly embark on the arrangements which will follow this phase,” said Sudan’s Vice-President Ali Osman Taha in a press conference held in Khartoum on Monday.

January 29, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese youth have called for a mass demonstration on Sunday, inspired by the thousands of protesters who have defied authorities in Tunisia and Egypt by calling for their leaders to step down.

Emails, text messages and posts on social networking website Facebook have encouraged Sudanese to take to the streets of Khartoum to challenge the government.

On Friday, thousands of…

January 27, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese army on Wednesday carried out an aerial bombardment on rebel-controlled areas in north Darfur and threatened to “burn down” a base of the UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in the area.

Troops of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) clashed a day before on Tuesday with rebels from the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdel Wahid Al-Nur joined by combatants of the disaffected SLM faction of Minni Arkoi Minnawi in Tabit area, 45 kilometers from El-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur state.

January 16, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Mainstream opposition parties in north Sudan have announced plans to stage street protests against austerity measures adopted recently by the government to offset the impact of the near-certain secession of the oil-rich south Sudan.

Meanwhile, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in north Sudan has threatened to take back the “freedom” enjoyed by the opposition if it attempted to “incite sedition.”