♦ 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
♦ Cholera spreads to East Darfur refugee camp
June 27 – 2017 ED DAEIN / NYALA / KHARTOUM / DELLING / EL OBEID The first cases of cholera have appeared in a South Sudanese refugee camp and a village in East Darfur, as five people reportedly died and more than 100 were infected.
Sheikhs in Kriu refugee camp for South Sudanese people, 35 km south of Ed Daein city, reported the deaths of three refugees from cholera. 61 people have been infected. Two people died and seventy others were infected in Khazan Jadeed in Shearia locality. Health workers counted the killed and infected people on Saturday. Health authorities reportedly arrived in the area.
Within a week, the first reports of the spread of cholera in Shangil Tobaya in North Darfur have been accompanied by reports of infections in South Darfur (Kalma camp) and East Darfur. A child died from cholera in a hospital in Nyala on Monday.
Authorities in South Kordofan closed the water wells in Farshaya on Monday, while the sale of vegetables and meat has been prohibited in Delling, to curb the cholera outbreak.
In the area of El Gash in eastern Sudan’s El Gedaref state, one patient died of cholera on Saturday, and at least 30 new cases appeared, a medical source reported to Radio Dabanga. “The situation in El Gedaref requires urgent intervention. El Gedaref state must declare an epidemic and call for the WHO to intervene,” he said.
♦ Crisis Group: 'Time to repeal sanctions on Sudan?'
June 25 – 2017 BRUSSELS By 12 July, Washington must decide whether to permanently lift the economic and trade restrictions on Sudan it suspended in January. According to the International Crisis Group, lifting the sanctions may be “the better of two imperfect options”.
The decision to continue or permanently lift the sanctions is not an easy choice, the Crisis Groups notes. “Sudan’s government has gone some way toward meeting US criteria for sanctions relief. But its progress, particularly on humanitarian access and ceasing hostilities in its internal conflicts, at best is partial […] On balance, lifting sanctions is the better of two imperfect options, particularly if coupled with clear signals that far more is needed.”
International think tanks such as Enough have accused Khartoum of curbing freedom of speech, violating human rights and repressing Christians and other minority groups, and urged Washington to maintain the sanctions.
United States Chargé d’Affaires to Khartoum, Steven Koutsis reacted last week that Washington was not blind to these issues and had “big differences” with Khartoum over them, but: “None of these other issues were the point of sanctions, and none of these other issues, therefore, should be linked to the lifting of sanctions.”
Koutsis expressed concern at the proposed downsizing of the hybrid peacekeeping mission Unamid in Darfur. It would require that the government of Sudan step up and fill the gaps left by Unamid in issues of security and development assistance. “As we have seen it is not clear that the government is fully able at this point to do that.”
More news from Radio Dabanga:
June 27 – 2017 TAWILA Displaced people returning to their farms in Tawila, North Darfur, encountered armed herders who prevented them from cultivating their land…
Darfur Bar Association regrets ‘US change of policy’
June 26 – 2017 KHARTOUM The Darfur Bar Association DBA has expressed its deep concern about the change in US policy towards the Darfur crisis, while the situation in the region…
Five drown in West Kordofan floods
June 25 – 2017 EN NAHUD Torrential rains and ensuing floods resulted in the death of five people in En Nahud locality in West Kordofan on Wednesday.Speaking to Radio Dabanga, an…
June 23 – 2017 EL OBEID A two-year-old girl died in the rains and thunderstorm that swept through El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, on Wednesday…
Enough Project pleads for new US-Sudan policy framework
June 22 – 2017 WASHINGTON In a pamphlet entitled The Missing Track, published in anticipation of the Trump administration’s imminent decisions on Sudan sanctions, the Enough…
Sudanese army chopper down – no survivors
June 22 – 2017 DONGOLA A Sudanese military helicopter has crashed in Sudan’s Northern State, killing all four crew members, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) confirmed…
Children of dead IS fighters repatriated to Sudan
June 21 – 2017 MISRATA The Sudanese authorities have repatriated eight children of slain Sudanese Islamic State (IS) fighters from Libya. Efforts are in progress to repatriate four…
Fire consumes 1,500 palm trees in Sudan’s Northern State
June 21 – 2017 DONGOLA More than 1,500 palm trees and at least six water engines have been destroyed in an extensive fire that broke out at Koka near Dongola, capital of Sudan’s Northern…
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