♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦ Cholera appears in North Kordofan, claims lives in White Nile

May 23 – 2017 EL OBEID / WHITE NILE Cases of cholera have appeared in the state capital of North Kordofan for the first time. The hospital in El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, received 38 cases of cholera. A medical source told Radio Dabanga that cholera infections appeared in the city two days ago, in Karima district and El Wehda district. “There is a sign with 'No entry, special cases' that prohibits entry of visitors,” the source reported from El Obeid hospital.

The disease has spread into epidemic proportions in White Nile state. In Kosti, seven people died of cholera on Saturday. Its Eye Hospital has been turned into an isolation centre to accommodate the rising number of cases: medical sources told this station that 183 patients remain here. In the village of Asalaya, a school is transformed into an isolation centre for 126 cholera patients.

White Nile state Governor Abdelhameed Mousa Kasha acknowledged the state's inability to provide safe drinking water. He reported the death of more than 20 people from “acute watery diarrhoea” and infection of 1,000 others. In neighbouring Sennar the number of patients is rising again since early May.

Early this year, the Health Ministry acknowledged a “watery diarrhoea epidemic” in eastern Sudan and Khartoum, reporting that more than 300 patients were recorded in Khartoum, El Gedaref, and Red Sea states. But medical sources accuse the authorities of hiding actual numbers. They told this station that thousands of people have been infected with cholera in the country. The death toll has climbed into the hundreds.

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♦ Rebel commander killed, chief captured in Darfur battles

May 23 – 2017 DARFUR / KHARTOUM The rebel movements involved in the recent clashes with the Sudanese army in North and East Darfur announced that their military commander Mohamed Abdelsalam, known as Tarada, was liquidated by the military intelligence.

Minni Minawi's Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) and the SLM-Transitional Council have claimed the killing of 214 troops of the RSF and Sudan army in East and North Darfur, in battles that lasted from Friday until Monday.

The joint statement by the two armed movements today reported that their commander-in-chief and leading members have been captured during the battle in Mount Adola on Sunday. The Sudanese army did not issue a statement on the capture of the rebel leader and his commanders. While the SLM-MM released a statement warning against the killing of the captured rebel leaders. A Sudanese Popular Defence Force coordinator in Kalimendo and the commissioner of Taweisha also reported the arrest of rebel fighters on Monday.

“The government RSF militia took advantage of the ceasefire which the movement recently signed unilaterally in the presence of Unamid officials, and intercepted the convoys on Saturday,” the military spokesman for the SLM-MM told Radio Dabanga yesterday.

The renewed fighting between government forces and rebels on more than one front in Darfur on Saturday triggered widespread reactions in the country and abroad, in particular as the Sudanese government has repeatedly declared that the situation in Darfur has become stable after the armed movements have been annihilated.

More news from Radio Dabanga:

Unamid calls for restraint in renewed Darfur fighting

May 22 – 2017 EL FASHER The Joint Special Representative of the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid), Jeremiah Mamabolo, has expressed the Mission’s deep concerns about the renewed clashes…

Ammo blast turns South Darfur capital into chaos

May 22 – 2017 NYALA A huge explosion in the largest arms and ammunition storage building in the South Darfur capital of Nyala on Sunday caused panic in the entire city. A young man was fatally hit by shells. Sources…

‘Sudan should implement democratic reforms’: UN Human Rights Expert

May 21 – 2017 KHARTOUM During his fourth visit to Sudan, the UN Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan, Aristide Nononsi, witnessed positive developments, yet he remains concerned about a…
 

Sudan’s president not attending Saudi summit

May 20 – 2017 KHARTOUM President Omar Al Bashir will not take part in the Islamic-American Summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh this weekend. Taha El Hussein, Minister of State at the Presidency, will represent him. On Friday,…
 

Deadly tribal clash erupts in Bindisi

May 19 – 2017 BINDISI / ED DAEIN Renewed fighting erupted between members of the Salamat and Misseriya tribes on Friday, southwest of Bindisi in Central Darfur. In East Darfur, a military force chased and clashed with…
 

Girl raped and killed: Nyala city in anger

May 19 – 2017 NYALA A six-year-old girl was raped and killed in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on Wednesday. A shopkeeper in her neighbourhood was caught in the act…
 

New arrests as Darfuri student protest raided in Omdurman

May 18 – 2017 OMDURMAN The security services today arrested at least seven Darfuri students of the University of El Zaeem El Azhari, as protests continue for exemption from tuition fees…
 

‘Limited agenda’ as AU ambassadors meet Darfur displaced

May 18 – 2017 EL FASHER Yesterday a delegation of 15 ambassadors of the African Union Peace and Security Council met with leaders of the displaced in Darfur, however, the leaders were warned not to discuss certain…
 

Church of Christ in Sudan laments confiscations

May 18 – 2017 KHARTOUM The Church of Christ in Sudan hays that its property has been subjected to an arbitrary campaign of confiscation by the security authorities, demolition of its premises, and the confiscation…
 

Post-harvest survey: Severe food gap in North Darfur

May 17 – 2017 EL FASHER The results of the post-harvest survey in North Darfur for the last agricultural season reveal a severe food gap in the state. The survey shows that the annual food deficit in North Darfur is…
 

Villager killed in military raid, South Kordofan

May 16 – 2017 DELLING A raid by members of the Sudanese Military Intelligence west of Delling, resulted in the death of a villager on Sunday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that members of the Military Intelligence (MI)…