♦ 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
♦ 'Our demands to be approved': Sudan opposition on roadmap
26 July – 2016 KHARTOUM A public discussion in Sudan about the renewed position of the Sudan Appeal towards the proposed peace roadmap sparked in Sudan, as its representatives have held the first press conference after their meetings in Paris last week.
On Monday, Umma Party leader El Sadig El Mahdi and SPLM-N Secretary-General Yasir Arman disclosed new information on the steps to be taken before the Sudan Appeal opposition will sign the peace roadmap, that has been proposed by the African Union and signed by the Sudanese government.
They claimed that chief AU mediator Thabo Mbeki has promised that his team will pass the opposition's demands for the roadmap. The AU panel has yet to make a statement after this announcement, however, the ruling party NCP stressed that the roadmap is already clear and ruled out that any preparatory meeting between the government and the Sudan Appeal will take place.
The Sudan Appeal members, a mix of rebel movements, opposition and civil society parties, express their willingness to sign the file following months of rejecting it. The roadmap outlines the subjects that the Sudanese government and the Sudan Appeal should agree on: a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access in Sudan's conflict areas.
♦ Activists encourage Darfuri women to prevent rapes
July 22 – 2016 NYALA In Darfur, activists condemn the prevalence of sexual violence against displaced girls and women as much as the denial of the government and the impunity for offenders. Sexual violence is continuously used during attacks on villages and displaced people in Darfur, according to the United Nations Secretary-General in April. The acts have continued for as long as the conflict in Darfur has lasted: more than 12 years.
Women rights activists have been able to pin-down the areas where most cases of rape have occurred: Jebel Marra, Kereinik locality in West Darfur, and the camps Otash and El Salam in South Darfur.
The representative of displaced women in the five Darfur states, Awatif Abdelrahman Yousif, explained that the majority of rapes in Darfur are covered-up by the families of the victims. Most rapes are not filed at police stations because victims fear to be persecuted by the police. “Women say they are humiliated and at times the police turns their report into accusing them of committing adultery.” Despite amendments to the definition of rape in Article 149 in Sudan’s criminal law, the legislation remains unclear about evidence standards that apply.
To respond to sexual violence in camps in South Darfur, representative Awatif Yousif has established an association that supports victims of rape. Sheikhs and elders, for instance, encourage women to go farming in groups in order to be less easy victims for roaming gunmen. Radio Dabanga found in 2015 that the majority of the victims of reported rape crimes in Darfur were assaulted while tending their farm.
Dr. Nur El Sadig, a Sudanese women rights defender, called on Sudanese women to curb the underreporting of rape cases. “Stop denying the rapes in Darfur and recognise that they happen.”
More highlights from Radio Dabanga:
SLM-AW claims win in Jebel Marra battle
July 26 – 2016 WESTERN JEBEL MARRA / KASS Rebels in Darfur claim to have killed more than 100 soldiers during a battle in western Jebel Marra on Friday night. The military spokesman for the SLM led by Abdel Wahid El Nur (SLM-AW)…
Children die of malnutrition in Lobe, South Darfur
July 24 – 2016 DERIBAT Two children died of malnutrition on Thursday and many more are in danger among the displaced people taking refuge in the Lobe area, eight kilometres west of Deribat in East Jebel Marra. About 2,500…
‘No significant improvement in human rights in Sudan’: UK Govt. report
July 24 – 2016 LONDON The Human Rights Priority Country report on Sudan taken from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2015 Human Rights and Democracy Report laments that “overall there was no significant…
Displaced boy commits suicide in Central Darfur
July 22 – 2016 ZALINGEI A 14-year-old has comitted suicide in a camp for displaced people in Zalingei, Central Darfur. The coordinator of Hamidiya camp, El Shafi Abdallah, reported the suicide on Wednesday…
Sports papers seized, crackdown on journalists in the Sudans
July 22 – 2016 KHARTOUM / JUBA The security service in Sudan cracks down on news media, as the print-runs of two sports newspapers were confiscated on Thursday. Two journalists were summoned or tried in court, while the United…
Heavy rains and flooding across Sudan: OCHA
July 21 – 2016 SUDAN In its latest Humanitarian Bulletin, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan reports that the areas of Sudan affected by heavy rains and flash floods include parts of Blue Nile, Kassala…
Sudanese Pound hits record low against US Dollar
July 20 – 2016 KHARTOUM Tuesday saw the Sudanese Pound (SDG) drop to a record low against the US Dollar, as demand for greenbacks outstripped supply on the parallel market. At one point, Dollars were trading on the parallel…
This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here
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