♦ This week’s news in brief ♦
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan’s highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan
♦ Jebel Marra fighting swells South Darfur camps with new displaced
July 8 – 2018 MERSHING / NIERTETI Dozens of families have reportedly arrived at Mershing camps in South Darfur because of fighting between government forces and armed movements in Jebel Marra.
One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that the number of families who arrived in the camp since the month of Ramadan in May until last Sunday reached 450 families. Most of them are said to have fled from Rabkona, Sawani, Gena and Libei. In addition tot the influx of people in camps, many civilians have taken to the mountains of Jebel Marra to find refuge in caves.
As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, clashes between armed opposition forces and Sudanese paramilitary forces continued in south-west Jebel Marra on Thursday morning. The clashes took place between Baldong and Golol, in Central Darfur's Nierteti locality. A spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdelwahid El Nur claimed that the rebels managed to kill 45 members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A rebel fighter was killed.
This year in March, government forces, consisting mainly of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, attacked rebel sites in East Jebel Marra in South Darfur. Tens of thousands of people reportedly fled their homes.
♦ Sudan's FM condemns 'delaying actions' to Unamid exit plans
July 6 – 2018 KHARTOUM The Foreign Ministry has condemned actions that delay the implementation of the withdrawal from Darfur by the AU-UN peacekeeping mission. The ministry has set deadlines for Unamid’s exit in 2020.
On Thursday, the Sudanese foreign ministry announced that the recommendations of the strategic review team have been used to set the deadline in 2020, also as promised by the African Union Peace and Security Council. The council extended the mission’s mandate for a year in June.
In a press statement the Foreign Ministry added that it had noticed “moves by some parties to put obstacles in the way of Unamid’s exit as scheduled”. The moves are “creating confusion and attempting to cast doubt on the achieved stability through false pretexts and feeble arguments”.
Three armed opposition groups, namely the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Minni Minawi, the SLM-Transitional Council (SLM-TC) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have recently petitioned for the UN Security Council to reconsider plans to withdraw the peacekeepers from Darfur. Also, Amnesty International released satellite images showing 13 villages burned and destroyed in Jebel Marra area and called on the Security Council to not downsize Unamid, the “only source of security and safety” for Darfur civilians.
More news from Radio Dabanga:
July 10 – 2018 KHARTOUM Medical sources have predicted further increases in medicine prices in Sudanese pharmacies. People have complained about the new price…
Child drowns, homes collapse in Darfur rains
July 10 – 2018 EL FASHER / EL GENEINA / MERSHING Hundreds of homes collapsed under torrential rains that hit Zamzam camp on Sunday. A child drowned in El Fasher…
Three killed as Sudanese troops steal livestock in South Kordofan
July 9 – 2018 DALAMI / ABU KERSHOLA Three people including a boy were shot dead and six others wounded in the area of Dalami in South Kordofan. About 110 displaced families…
Sudan security gags two newspapers
July 9 – 2018 KHARTOUM Agents of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) confiscated the entire print-runs of Akhir Lahza and El Jareeda newspapers in…
Khartoum school exam dominance indicator of social injustice in Sudan
July 8 – 2018 KHARTOUM Education experts and activists say the result of the Sudanese secondary school exams this year again reflects the social injustice in the country…
El Gedaref farmers unable to plant, pay for land
July 6 – 2018 EL GEDAREF / WHITE NILE Farmers in southern El Gedaref have complained that they are unable to plant the majority of their land because of rising costs…
Two journalists in Khartoum sentenced to prison, detained
July 6 – 2018 KHARTOUM The Press and Publications Court sentenced a journalist to one month of imprisonment and to paying a fine of SDG40,000 ($1,421). A…
El Gedaref farmers abducted by Ethiopian gunmen
July 6 – 2018 EL GEDAREF Three farmers were abducted by militiamen near the border with Ethiopia in El Gedaref state on Wednesday. The area has witnessed frictions between…
Call for Sudan govt. to declare measles epidemic
July 5 – 2018 KHARTOUM The health sector of Sudanese Communist Party revealed a steady rise in the incidence of measles in the country this year by 158 per cent compared to 2017…
London: 400 protest closer UK ties with Sudan regime
July 4 – 2018 LONDON 400 people took to the streets in London on Saturday afternoon to protest increasingly friendly ties between the governments of the UK and Sudan…
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