♦ 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
♦ Rebel SPLM-N cancels decision on peace talks by its committee
April 3 – 2017 NUBA MOUNTAINS The National Leadership Council of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), headed by Malik Agar, has cancelled a decision by the Nuba Mountains Liberation Council (NMLC), the movement's highest political authority in South Kordofan.
Friction within the rebel movement surfaced in March when its Deputy-Chairman Abdelaziz El Hilu resigned from his position. He accused Yasir Arman, SPLM-N Secretary-General and chief negotiator, of disregarding the issue of self-determination for the Nuba Mountains in the peace talks with Khartoum. Five days later, the NMLC announced its support for El Hilu’s stance, and relieved Arman of his positions as secretary-general and chief negotiator.
On Saturday, the NMLC announced a decision to freeze the peace negotiation process with Sudan’s government “until internal arrangements are completed after an extraordinary general conference has been convened”.
In a statement today, SPLM-N chairman Agar announces that the movement’s National Leadership Council decided in a meeting to cancel the decisions of the NMCL, and to establish a new temporary joint committee to manage the affairs in Two Areas (South Kordofan and the Blue Nile) for six months.
The Leadership Council also agreed not to accept the resignation of El Hilu and resolved to form a committee to meet with him.
♦ Cyanide protests: Angry mob torches gold factory
April 3 – 2017 TALODI / DONGOLA Angry residents of Talodi in South Kordofan last Wednesday set fire to El Tagola gold-extraction and torched vehicles and equipment, causing factory workers to flee. Callers from Talodi told Radio Dabanga that the residents gave the factory management an ultimatum on Sunday to dismantle it. When the deadline passed and nothing had happened, residents converged on the factory and put it ablaze.
The main grievance of the protestors is against the factory’s use of highly toxic cyanide in its processes, which pose a threat to people and animals. In February this year, villagers in Talodi burned buildings of a factory and vehicles because they were upset with the use of cyanide in the gold mining activities.
On Sunday night, police in Sodari, North Kordofan, released a member of the environmental committee after nine hours in detention, following demonstrations by locals against a gold-mining factory.
In Sudan's Northern state, a man and his son were seriously injured by members of the security apparatus on Monday, who suspected them of impeding the power supply to one of the factories. Residents of El Sawarda have prevented authorities from connecting electricity to a factory that extracts gold in the area, for a similar reason as the people in South Kordofan: they feared the pollution of water sources by the suspected use of cyanide.
More highlights from Radio Dabanga:
50+ dead in Kordofan tribal clashes
April 4 – 2017 EN NAHUD More than 50 tribesmen have been killed in two days of clashes between Hamar and Kababish tribes in North and West Kordofan at the weekend. Government forces have managed to separate the two sides…
‘Security is still gagging Sudanese press’: journalist
April 3 – 2017 KHARTOUM Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is still harassing journalists and columnists, says Mujahed Abdallah, one of the three journalists who are currently banned from publishing. “The…
Cholera spreading again in eastern Sudan
April 3 – 2017 EL GEDAREF Isolation centres in El Gedaref received dozens of new cholera patients last week. Two of them have died. In various parts of the eastern Sudanese state, people are suffering…
Central Darfur-Chad border open again
April 3 – 2017 UM DUKHUN The Chad-Sudan border in the area of Um Dukhun town in Central Darfur, closed on Friday, was opened again on Sunday. Tensions in the area started more than a week ago, after a group of…
Sudan opens new aid corridor to South Sudan
April 2 – 2017 KHARTOUM On 26 March, the Sudanese government announced the opening of a new corridor for humanitarian assistance from central Sudan to northern South Sudan. The new northern corridor, from the North Kordofan…
Protest in Paris against deportation of Sudanese asylum seekers
April 2 – 2017 PARIS Dozens of Sudanese and French activists staged a protest in Paris on Friday against the forced deportation of Sudanese asylum seekers. The protesters demanded an immediate stop of the deportations…
Release of Sudanese human rights champion Mudawi delayed
March 30 – 2017 KHARTOUM Detained Sudanese human rights champion Dr Mudawi Ibrahim is still in detention, in spite of an order by the Attorney-General to release him on bail on Tuesday. Mudawi’s defence lawyer, Nabil…
This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here
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