♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦ NISS detain students, disperse marchers in Khartoum

June 2 – 2016 KHARTOUM At least two students were detained in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Wednesday at a peaceful march against the ongoing student detentions and the bombing in South Kordofan. Security agents used batons and verbal violence to disperse a second march that day by political and civil society leaders.

A Darfuri student leader told Radio Dabanga that student associations staged a peaceful march that moved from El Nilein University to downtown Khartoum in solidarity with the victims of the Heiban bombings, as well as the student detainees in Khartoum. The demonstrators handed a memorandum to representatives of the United Nations, which demands that the UN, the European Union, and the African Union exert pressure on the Sudanese government to support the immediate release of the students who have spent nearly a month in detention.

“But agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) intercepted the march and arrested a number of students, including one Khartoum University and one Bahri University student.”

Unrest among students grew over a rumoured plan by the university administration to sell-off faculty buildings. A number of protesting students were detained, and some are still being held.

Also last week, a group of activists, the committee for solidarity with the detainees and families of detainees, ultimately delivered a memorandum to the Ministry of Justice demanding the stop of the abuses against activists, university students and civil society. The NISS detained some of them for a short period.

♦ Two die in Jebel Marra mosque bombing

June 7 – 2016 NIERTETI / JEBEL MARRA Two men were killed when a mosque was bombed in an air raid on Darfur's East Jebel Marra that continued from Friday to Sunday. Areas south of Fanga were bombed as well.

An Antonov of the Sudanese Air Force bombed the mosque, east of Nierteti, when it was crowded with people for Friday prayers. The explosion led to the killing of 60-year-old Mustafa Ali and one other person, and seven worshipers sustained injuries.

Fallujah, Tamra, and Talba, south of Fanga, were intensively bombed on Sunday morning, an eyewitness reported. Seven sheep were killed while the explosions ignited a bushfire in Fallujah. An eyewitness said that Sunday also witnessed air strikes in Tamra and Talba near Fanga. One home (tulkul) was damaged.

Jebel Marra had not witnessed aerial bombardments by the Air Force for several weeks. Sudan allegedly deployed its Air Force last weekend in reaction to the clashes with fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid in Katrom last week. the rebel SLM-AW claim to have killed dozens of soldiers and allied militiamen in western Jebel Marra on 29 May.

The Sudan Armed Forces launched its offensive against the Abdul Wahid faction of the Sudan Liberation Army in January this year, and the fighting has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes to deeper in the mountains or sites for displaced people in North and Central Darfur.

More news from Radio Dabanga:

Corruption in Sudan’s public hospitals

June 7 – 2016 KHARTOUM Since Sudan introduced a health insurance system in 1994, the public health sector has witnessed a deterioration and decline that has led to the emergence of corrupt practices. An investigative…

Starvation as less than half receive rations in North Darfur camp

June 5 – 2016 EL FASHER Only about 100,000 of the 237,000 displaced in Zamzam camp, south of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, have been receiving rations. They describe the humanitarian and security situation as…

Ramadan message: Unamid head calls for peace in Darfur

June 5 – 2016 EL FASHER In a message for the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the head of the African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid), Martin Uhomoibhi, expresses the hope “that the observance…

Control of Kilgo, Blue Nile disputed by Sudan and rebels

June 3 – 2016 KILGO / KHARTOUM The Governor of Blue Nile, Hussein Yassin, declared that the Sudanese army has seized the control from Kilgo out of the hands of the rebel SPLM-N, but the armed movement…

Convicts freed from North Darfur prison

June 3 – 2016 SARAF UMRA Militiamen attacked a prison in North Darfur and freed all prisoners, several of whom face charges for heavy crimes, on Thursday. It is at least the third attack of its kind on Saraf Umra's…

‘Al Bashir copying and pasting Darfur genocide into Blue Nile’: Yasir Arman

June 2 – 2016 BLUE NILE The Secretary-General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Yasir Arman, says that Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir “is copying and pasting the Darfur genocide…

USAID announces new Sudan Mission Director

June 2 – 2016 WASHINGTON DC Dr Jeffrey Ashley, the new US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director for Sudan, has been sworn-in at a ceremony in Washington DC. According to a press…

South Darfur Imam slain in pre-dawn raid

June 2 – 2016 EL RADOOM / KASS / TABIT A South Darfur Imam who was also treasurer for the local gold exploration workers was shot dead in his home during a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday. A witness told Radio…

Sudan rebels repulse attack as RSF militia reinforce Blue Nile

June 1 – 2016 DAMAZIN The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) claim to have repulsed an attack by government forces on Torda in Blue Nile. More than 1,000 cadres of the pro-government…

Doha talks on Darfur ‘intensive, positive, and transparent’

June 1 – 2016 DOHA The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs of Qatar, Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, has described the talks held by the joint mediation for Darfur peace during the past…

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