♦ 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
♦ USA to extend Sudan's sanctions for a year
November 1 – 2016 WASHINGTON The US State Department has announced that President Barack Obama will order the extension of the country’s sanctions against Sudan this Thursday.
In a press statement from Washington D.C. on Monday, the Department said that on 3 November 2016, “consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), President Barack Obama will continue, for one year, the national emergency with respect to Sudan declared in Executive Order 13067.”
The decision is “technical… and part of a routine, annual process that does not prejudice the ability of the President to provide sanctions relief at any point in the future.”
“The United States government remains committed to continued high level policy engagement with Sudan and has been quite clear with the Government of Sudan on the steps that need to be taken to secure economic sanctions relief,” the Department said, looking forward to frequent and fruitful exchanges with its Sudanese counterparts.
The Sudanese government has gone to great efforts over the past months to convince Washington to lift the sanctions. The International Monetary Fund reported that despite Sudan's efforts, economic sanctions and other factors will continue to constrain its economic activity.
♦ Central Darfur militia kill man, surround camp
October 28 – 2016 GARSILA One man was killed when militiamen raided a camp for displaced people in Central Darfur on Thursday. They surrounded the camp until the military intervened the next day.
The tense situation in Wadi Salih locality is the result of the murder of a man, who was protecting his family from bandits, on Wednesday. Militant Abbala tribesmen shot him dead in Belja Valley.
A team of locals set out on Thursday to pick up the body of the killed Younes Jagoub Abdelmoula from the valley. They caught two of the alleged perpetrators, a source informed Radio Dabanga. The locals beat the two captives and handed them over to the police in Garsila.
Militant tribesmen then gathered in vehicles and on horses and camels and surrounded the three camps for displaced people in the area: Jeddah, Jebelein, and Aradeba. They threatened to torch the camps and rob the displaced, unless their two captured comrades were released by the police. A displaced man was wounded when the militiamen opened fire into the air.
The camps were besieged until after the Friday afternoon prayers, when the Commissioner of Wadi Salih and the military and police intervened. On Monday the State Governor announced that the incidents have been "resolved", when he revealed a ban on motorcycles, as part of new security measures in the state.
One month ago, a Sheikh of camp Jeddah was seriously wounded in an attack by bandits. As on Wednesday, the attackers were apparently intent on assaulting the daughters of the abused man.
More highlights from Dabanga Sudan:
Sudan rebels extend ceasefire, peace talks resumption ruled out
November 1 – 2016 KHARTOUM Three armed rebel movements in Sudan extended their cessation of hostilities in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur for another six months. President Omar Al Bashir announced a ceasefire for two months…
Nairobi Declaration calls for political change in eastern Sudan
October 31 – 2016 NAIROBI At the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA), Sudanese civil society leaders met in the capital of Kenya to discuss the current situation in the region…
Teacher killed in South Darfur
October 28 – 2016 KASS A secondary school teacher was shot dead in Kass, South Darfur, on Thursday evening. Three gunmen intercepted teacher Fadul Adam Abdelrahman at 9pm when he was on his way back from his mother's house to his home in Ereli…
Army intercepts smugglers, migrants headed for Libya
October 28 – 2016 EL FASHER The Sudanese military arrested a human trafficking gang as it smuggled 22 Somalis to the Libyan border by car. The commander of the sixth infantry, Maj. General Ashraf Mahdi El Rufai, announced that they intercepted…
Imam of Mecca to mediate between Darfur tribes
October 28 – 2016 ED DAEIN An imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca arrived in East Darfur to mediate between the warring Rizeigat and Ma'aliya tribes today. High cleric Dr Khaled El Ghamdi travelled from Saudi Arabia to Ed Daein, the capital of the state…
Mass student protests spread in Khartoum
October 28 – 2016 KHARTOUM Renewed demonstrations by students against the alleged murder on Adam Yahya Haroun were held at Khartoum University on Thursday, without intervention by riot police. The Darfuri Student Association at Khartoum…
Sudan: Four dead, 25 infected with acute watery diarrhoea
October 27 – 2016 EL HAJ YOUSIF At least four people have died and more than 25 others have reportedly been infected with acute watery diarrhoea at Albanjadeed hospital in Sudan’s El Haj Yousif, north of the capital Khartoum. One of the relatives of the…
US Senate delegation meets North Darfur displaced
October 27 – 2016 ZAMZAM CAMP On Tuesday a US Senate delegation led by Senior Foreign Policy Advisor – Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Michael Phelan met with leaders, Sheikhs, youth and women’s unions of camp Zamzam…
This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here
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