♦ 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
♦ New bombing Jebel Marra 'violates ceasefire': SLM-AW
April 26 – 2017 JEBEL MARRA The Sudanese Air Force bombed villages in north-west Jebel Marra on Saturday and Sunday, leading to an unknown number of casualties. At least 15 villages in the area between Maya in Kabkabiya locality and Aja in northern Jebel Marra were bombed. A spokesman for the association of displaced people in Darfur reported that the explosions set fire to many houses.
With the aim to hit positions of the holdout rebel group in Torentora, government and militia forces launched an attack on the area on Saturday morning. The spokesman for the rebel SLM-AW said that they managed to repel the attackers and killed 17 militiamen.
After a relative calm for months, the Sudanese air force dropped three barrel bombs on the area of Jawa in the eastern part of Jebel Marra on 6 April. Other areas were bombed in October. The rebels condemned the aerial bombardments by the Sudanese Air Force. “The government had announced an unilateral ceasefire,” said SLM-AW leader Abdel Wahid El Nur. “This government attack on the movement's bases underlines the lack of credibility of the government.”
Former United States President Barack Obama has ordered the easing of financial sanctions against Sudan because he found the country had reduced military activities in the Darfur region, among other reported improvements.
♦ Author’s international literary award ‘for all Sudanese’
April 20 – 2017 GENEVA Sudanese novelist Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin has won the 2017 edition of the Committed Book Prize of La Cène Littéraire for his novel Le Messie du Darfour – a French translation of his Arabic work entitled The Messiah of Darfur – published in 2016 by Zulma and currently, banned in Sudan.
In an interview with Radio Dabanga, which was broadcast in two parts on 20 April, Sakin says that “the announcement is a declaration of victory not only for me but for all Sudanese”. The annual La Cène Littéraire awards are based in Switzerland, and honour African literature than has been translated into French.
The Messiah of Darfur, which deals with the war in the region, is banned in Sudan. Last February, during a book fair in Khartoum, the books were confiscated by censorship officers together with other works. But the novel has found a great success at international level, where it won the prize of Resistance literature in France, and reached the short list for ‘best novel’ in the competition of the French Academy.
Sakin says “it describes the war in Darfur as a war for land and power, rather than a war between Zurga and Arabs… it is a war fought by the regime in Khartoum in favour of the Islamists”. La Cène Littéraire describes the book as “a dense, epic and edifying novel about the Darfur War.”
More highlights from Radio Dabanga:
Nuba Mountains refugees switch South Sudanese camps
April 25 – 2017 PAMIR Thousands of refugees from South Kordofan have arrived in Pamir camp in South Sudan, after being forced to leave Yida camp because of a shortage of food. 10,000 new refugees from the Nuba Mountains have arrived in Pamir…
Corruption in gold, oil show 'Sudan's Deep State': Enough
April 25 – 2017 WASHINGTON An inner circle within Khartoum has privately expropriated oil, gold, and land for self-enrichment and to maintain control through corruption and violence, according to international activists – a “kleptocracy with economic activities…
‘Gireida camps to be closed’: South Darfur governor
April 24 – 2017 GIREIDA The Governor of South Darfur has given the residents of the Gireida camps the choice between accepting the annexation of the camp sites to the town or returning voluntarily to their places of origin. In a public meeting in Gireida…
Cholera death, 40 new cases in Sudan’s White Nile state
April 24 – 2017 UM JAR A woman died of cholera in Um Jar locality in White Nile state on Sunday. Medical sources told Radio Dabanga that a woman cholera patient died at the Kateer Balla Health Centre on Sunday. Health centres in Andalus…
Mother, child die as militiamen raid five Darfur villages
April 21 – 2017 EAST JEBEL MARRA A woman and her five-year-old son have died and three more people wounded when militiamen raided five villages in East Jebel Marra on Thursday. Callers told Radio Dabanga…
'348 cases of rape in Sudan': Ministry report
April 21 – 2017 KHARTOUM Sudan witnessed 348 rape cases during one year, the Ministry of Interior reported, and 43 of these cases were reported in Darfur. While in 2017 alone, the prosecutor in the region reported almost 40 complaints of rape….
Critical water shortage in Port Sudan, North Darfur camp
April 19 – 2017 PORT SUDAN / NYALA Reservoirs that provide drinking water to Port Sudan are so depleted that they hold less than can supply the city’s needs for a month. The displaced of Nyala are suffering thirst from a lack of serviceable…
This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here
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