♦ News you might have missed this week ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ Suspension Sudan peace talks, deadlock over aid delivery

November 24 – 2015 ADDIS ABABA The mediation team of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) has decided to suspend the security negotiations between the Sudanese government and armed movements, in Ethiopia on Monday. The deadlock in the two peace negotiation tracks, on South Kordofan and Blue Nile States and on Darfur, remains.

Mbeki said that the suspension is a response to the calls of the delegations of the rebels to give all parties time to consult. The chief mediator expressed hopes that the current round has laid down bases for the resumption of talks on the outstanding issues. He added that they intend to hold the National Dialogue preparatory meeting on 7 December.

Both parties at the negotiation table of the ‘Two Areas’, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, have adhered to their positions on the delivery of humanitarian aid. The government’s delegation, led by Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, refuses to approve of a delivery route via Ethiopia, as it considers that as a step toward losing control over the monitoring of aid.

At the other negotiation table in Addis Ababa for the conflict in Darfur, government delegation leader Amin Hassan Omar told the press yesterday that he hopes to reach a ceasefire in the region. The two Darfuri armed movements, however, said that there are major differences between them and Khartoum.

On Thursday, the Sudanese government's delegation for the Darfur track boycotted the joint opening session for the peace talks with all Sudanese armed rebel movements in Ethiopia's capital. The opening session should also be held separately, Amin Hassan Omar said. The opening session was attended by the US special envoy Donald Booth, and some British diplomats as well as representatives of the East African regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). 

♦ One killed in eastern Sudan road robbery

November 24 – 2015 EL GEDAREF / KHARTOUM One person was killed while another sustained injuries in an attack, allegedly by Ethiopian militiamen, on a vehicle in southern El Gedaref state on Monday. The border demarcation issue between the countries is scheduled to be discussed in December.

The vehicle was on its way from Basunda in eastern El Galabat locality when Ethiopian militia members opened fire, according to Gamer Hassan Eltaher, a local activist. A guard inside the vehicle returned fire and forced the attackers to flee.
The activist claimed that the number of murdered or abducted Sudanese at the hands of Ethiopian militiamen “has exceeded 50 during the past three months”.

“The attacks of the Ethiopian shifta militias have developed from stealing agricultural machinery to murdering farmers,” said Mubarak El Nur, the independent MP of El Fashaga constituency. A man was shot dead by such militiamen last week when they attempted to abduct him for ransom. Abductions in El Gedaref have become prevalent starting the past month.

The Sudanese-Ethiopian border line of El Gedaref state is a disputed one. Recently, Sudanese farmers in El Fashaga locality were expelled by Ethiopian gunmen. Reportedly about 2,000 Ethiopian farmers are now cultivating lands in the eastern part of El Gedaref state.

In related events, Sudan's news agency SUNA reported that Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that the redrawing of the borders between Sudan and Ethiopia will begin next month, according to a previous agreement with Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir. A chairman of the state’s Legislative Council urged the authorities last week to speed up the demarcation of the border, reporting that Ethiopian militiamen occupy “more than 50 Sudanese villages and a million acres of farmland”.

Eight other news highlights:

Sudan condemns shooting of migrants in Egypt

November 24 – 2015 KHARTOUM / CAIRO / NEW YORK Five Sudanese nationals were found shot dead in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula near the Israeli border on Monday. The United Nations, Sudan, and Egypt have exchanged critical statements in…

‘Militia attacks continue’: Darfur farmers

November 24 – 2015 TAWILA Farmers in East Jebel Marra reported that they have been under attack from militias, for four consecutive weeks. Militiamen – reportedly, from the Abbala tribe – assaulted a number of farmers in the Kadarik and…

Sudan Parliamentary Committee summons former SAEC director over waste dump

November 23 – 2015 KHARTOUM Dr Hayat El Mahdi, Director of the Energy Committee in the Sudanese Parliament, confirms that her Committee has summoned the former Director of the Sudan Atomic Energy Commission (SAEC), Dr Mohamed…

Report: Sudan's declining oil sector remains corrupt

November 23 – 2015 GENEVA The Sudanese oil sector is corrupt, over-centralised and causing serious grievances among local communities, concludes a report on Sudan's oil future. It predicts a further decline in oil production and suggests that the…

North Darfur children burn to death in raid

November 22 – 2015 TABIT Two children and an adult were burned to death in a raid by militiamen on the village of Masalit, 12 kilometres west of Tabit in North Darfur on Saturday. Zahra Ibrahim Saleh (5), Hamoody Hussein (8), and Aisha Yusuf Ibrahim, died…

Kala-azar on the rise among North Darfur displaced

November 22 – 2015 EL FASHER The displaced of camp Zamzam, south of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, complain of an increase in those suffering from kala-azar* disease in the last five years. An activist told to Radio…

Sudanese activists enter Embassy in Germany

November 20 – 2015 HANNOVER On Thursday, a number of Sudanese refugees and activists from a refugee camp in the German Hannover stormed the Sudanese Embassy. They demanded the extradition of President Omar Al Bashir to the International…

Protest, more arrests in Central Darfur university

November 20 – 2015 ZALINGEI At least thirteen students at the University of Zalingei in Central Darfur were arrested on Thursday, when they participated in a protest against the expulsion of nineteen other students earlier this week. The protest…

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