♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦ Darfur: Lull in Jebel Marra fighting

January 3 – 2016 JEBEL MARRA The attacks by government forces on Jebel Marra seem to have subsided as the rebel SLM-AW claims victory over military convoy in the western part.
No reports of ground-based military operations have been received from western and eastern parts of Jebel Marra on Saturday and Sunday other than aerial bombing. Villagers reported that the convoys with government troops that attempted to enter Jebel Marra from the east and the west withdrew.

On Wednesday morning, two large forces of army soldiers and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), backed by intensive air bombardments, attacked a number of villages in Jebel Marra. One force attacked the area from the west, and the second from the north-east. They used heavy artillery and missiles and were accompanied by intensive air raids, the villagers reported. The attacks continued on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, sources reported that retreating RSF troops stole large numbers of livestock from the villages.

The Sudanese government announced in October that its forces would “eliminate all rebel fighters during the next dry season”. Jebel Marra is a stronghold of the mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW).

The SLM-AW claimed that its fighters repelled an attack between Guldo and Golo in the western part of Jebel Marra, in a battle that lasted from Thursday until Friday morning. Shahabeldin Jarrad, the military spokesman on duty for the SLM-AW, told Radio Dabanga on Sunday that they inflicted heavy casualties on the government troops. 20 soldiers and paramilitaries were allegedly killed. The rebels seized six Land Cruisers, one of which contained a 12-pipe launcher and 15 missiles, two Land Cruisers mounted with Dushka machine guns, large quantities of ammunition, and seven Kalashnikov rifles.

Jarrad said on Sunday that the aerial bombardments on Jebel Marra were still ongoing. “The Antonov aircraft of the Sudanese Air Force are focussing on areas near Golo and Rokoro. The people in these areas sought refuge in the mountains and caves from the air raids. Large numbers of livestock were killed.”

The Jebel Marra massif lies in the centre of the Darfur region, bordering the state divisions of Central, South and North Darfur. It is a fertile region inhabited mainly by the Fur tribe and has since 2003 been the primary stronghold of the SLM-AW. It is the only place in Darfur where armed opposition maintains prolonged control over territory and the only area in Darfur to which humanitarian organisations have had no access between 2011 and 2015. 

According to a fact sheet of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan, tabout 365,000 people live in the greater Jebel Marra area. Approximately one third of them -120,000 people- inhabit in the inner Jebel Marra.

♦ Call to expedite demarcation of Sudan-Ethiopia border

January 1 – 2016 EL GEDAREF  The citizens of El Fashaga in El Gadaref Locality have demanded the re-demarcation of the Sudan-Ethiopia border and the return of the agricultural lands occupied by Ethiopians to their rightful owners.

Mubarak El Nur, the independent MP of El Fashaga constituency of El Gedaref state, told Radio Dabanga that the farmers of the border areas adjacent to Ethiopia suffer harsh living conditions owing to the Ethiopians seizing their farms.
He has called on the government to speed up the demarcation of the border because the slowdown in the demarcation will prolong the suffering of farmers and give an opportunity to the Ethiopians to further expand in the region.

Radio Dabanga reported in November last year that more than 50 villages and a million acres of farmland in the eastern localities of El Gedaref state have been occupied by Ethiopian militiamen.

El Gedaref and the southern Blue Nile state border the Ethiopian Amhara region. In July, large numbers of Ethiopian gunmen occupied farms in El Quresha locality. Three Sudanese farmers were killed and five were wounded In the ensuing shooting.

Both governments agreed more than once in the past to redraw the borders, drawn by the British and Italian colonisers in 1908. However, the talks were postponed over and over again. Moreover, Ethiopian opposition groups accuse Addis Ababa of ceding Ethiopian territory to Sudan.

In December 2013, the joint Sudanese-Ethiopian High Committee announced that it reached an agreement to end disputes between farmers from two sides of the border over the ownership of agricultural land, particularly in El Fashaga.

El Fashaga covers an area of about 250 square kilometres, including 600.000 acres of fertile lands, irrigated by the Atbara, Seteit, and Baslam rivers flowing across the state.

Other news highlights:

Darfur rebels, Qatar to meet in Paris

January 5 – 2016 PARIS Minni Minawi, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM), has said that a meeting is scheduled to be held in Paris next week between Sudan’s armed movements and Qatar government representatives…

Sudan follows Saudis, cuts ties with Iran

January 4 – 2016 KHARTOUM The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today that Khartoum has decided to sever diplomatic ties with Iran. A former Deputy FA Minister expressed regret at the haste with…

Sudanese family appeal for son’s release

January 4 – 2016 OMDURMAN The family of Emad El Sadig, a student member of the National Umma Party, issued a press statement today calling for his immediate release from detention by the security apparatus. The statement…

Plan to register civilian weapons in Darfur

January 1 – 2016 KHARTOUM The Sudanese Minister of Interior, Lt. Col. Esmat Abdelrahman has acknowledged that “the spread of arms in Darfur constitutes a major security concern”. On Wednesday he told Members…

New Unamid head’s record questioned

January 1 – 2016 DARFUR The UN has hired a Rwandan general to head Unamid, despite his previous role as army chief of staff at the height of a deadly, Rwandan-backed insurgency in the Democratic Republic of…

Anger escalates over Sudan's plans to dismantle camps

January 1 – 2016 DARFUR The reactions of the displaced have continued to escalate following the announcement by the Second Vice President, Second Vice-President Hassabo Abdelrahman, that all camps will be dismantled…

Criminal case filed against those behind ‘Port Sudan Massacre’

December 31 – 2015 PORT SUDAN On Wednesday, the Sudanese Prosecutor-General instructed the prosecution office of Red Sea state to file a criminal case against those accused of being involved in the ‘Port Sudan Massacre’…

‘Sudan's 2016 budget lacks realism’: economist

December 30 – 2015 KHARTOUM The 2016 budget passed by the Sudanese Parliament on Monday does not contain correct information and figures, and lacks realism, says economic analyst Abdelhadi Ibrahim. The…

This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here.