♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦ Medics report: Cholera spreading in Sudan

January 22 – 2017 KHARTOUM According to laboratory results, the diarrhoea cases spreading over various parts of Sudan since September last year are caused by cholera. The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors reported 53 such cases in Red Sea and El Gezira states on Friday.

Dr Mohamed Naji El Asam, Member of the Doctors' Executive Committee, told Radio Dabanga in a special interview that the federal Ministry of Health has kept silent about the disease in spite of the confirmation by laboratory tests on acute diarrhoea samples conducted in the Ahmed Gasim Hospital in Khartoum.

The medic said that of the 42 patients stricken with the disease in Port Sudan Hospital, two children died last week. 11 patients are in the quarantine department in Wad Madani Hospital in El Gezira state, where six to ten cases are recorded every day, El Asam added.

He attributed the outbreak and spread of the disease to the pollution of drinking water in various parts of the country. Medical journalist Osman Hashim reported from Port Sudan that the state government announced taking preventive measures to limit the spread of the deadly disease.

Reports about the spread of ‘watery diarrhoea’ in various parts of Sudan increased during the last quarter of 2016. At least 17 people died of the disease in Blue Nile state. Radio Dabanga broadcasts daily updates about the number of diarrhoea infections that doctors and medical workers report to the station from the states of Khartoum, El Gedaref, El Gezira, Blue Nile, Kassala, Red Sea, and River Nile.

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♦ Rebel SLM-SR signs on to Darfur peace file

January 24 – 2017 DOHA A defected rebel group of the Sudan Liberation Movement signed an agreement with the Government of Sudan on the basis of a five-year-old Darfur peace agreement in Doha on Monday.

Leader of the SLM-Second Revolution, Abulgasim Imam El Haj and Dr. Amin Hassan Omar, the Presidential Envoy for Darfur peace negotiations signed on behalf of the government. Ahmed bin Abdullah Aal Mahmoud, Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar, Musa Mohamed Ahmed, the Assistant to President Omar Al Bashir, and the head of the AU-UN Mission in Darfur (Unamid) attended the event.

“The SLM-SR will stand for what has not been implemented in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur,” El Haj said afterwards. His movement's inclusion can widen the area for implementations of the Doha peace agreement, especially in the Jebel Marra mountains where the SLM led by Abdel Wahid El Nur holds its base. El Haj and allied combatants defected from El Nur's movement in May 2014.

According to the mediator for Qatar, Deputy Minister Abdullah Aal Mahmoud, contacts are ongoing with the non-signatory movements on the Doha document. “We know that some have specific demands, but some of them are difficult to achieve, including the opening of the Document and start negotiating on it.”

The Doha peace agreement was first signed on 11 July 2011 by the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement, a coalition of breakaway factions of Darfur rebel movements, and two years later by the Justice and Equality Movement faction led by Bakheit Abdelkarim ‘Dabajo’.

More highlights from Radio Dabanga:

Indonesian Unamid police deny smuggling arms from Darfur

January 24 – 2017 EL FASHER / JAKARTA Indonesia's National Police has denied reports that an Indonesian police unit, which served for one year under Unamid, allegedly attempted to smuggle a large number of weapons…

12-year-old girl abducted in North Darfur

January 22 – 2017 DUBBO EL OMDA Gunmen seized a girl and her cows in Tawila locality in North Darfur on Friday, and took her to an unknown destination. “Three armed men riding on camels intercepted Shadia Haroun…

'Sudan deliberately attacks Darfuri students': Amnesty International

January 20 – 2017 NAIROBI / KHARTOUM / OMDURMAN Dozens of students have been killed, injured and expelled from universities since 2014 for speaking out against human rights violations in Darfur, according to…

Three TRACKS activists go free

January 20 – 2017 KHARTOUM The Criminal Court in Khartoum acquitted three affiliates of the Centre for Training and Human Development (TRACKS) on Thursday,and dropped the death penalty against two others. Against…

Lifted subsidies cause knock-on inflation hike in Sudan

January 19 – 2017 KHARTOUM Sudan’s Central Bureau of Statistics says that the annual inflation rate rose to 30.47% in December 2016, compared with 29.49% in November 2016. The climb is attributed to the rise of food…

Sudan Appeal leaders meet with French MPs in Paris

January 19 – 2017 PARIS The leaders of the Sudanese opposition parties gathered under the Sudan Appeal Forces had a meeting at the French Parliament in Paris on Wednesday, with several French Mps. The meeting was headed…

Fans mark fourth anniversary of death of Sudanese singer with songs and tears

January 19 – 2017 KHARTOUM Fans of the Sudanese singer Mahmoud Abdelaziz commemorated the fourth anniversary of his death under the title “Fi Bali” at Khartoum stadium on Tuesday, many of them weeping and..

‘Eased US sanctions have no impact on Sudan’s market prices’: Traders

January 18 – 2017 SUDAN Traders and market dealers have said that there has been no decrease in commodity prices, despite the government’s claim of the improved economic situation following the easing of US sanctions…

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