♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

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

♦  SPLM-N report major govt. attacks in South Kordofan

March 27 – 2016 NUBA MOUNTAINS The Sudanese government reportedly launched a major offensive on areas held by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan on 27 March. 

The military spokesman for the SPLM-N, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, reported in a statement on Sunday that government forces launched attacks in six different locations in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan that morning.

Areas in Buram, Um Dorain, Heiban, and Dalami were targeted, Lodi reported. He said that “South Sudanese militiamen of the opposition” were fighting alongside the Sudanese army and allied militia troops. “This shows how the National Congress Party regime is linked with these militias. The authorities even opened training centres for them in Abu Jubeiha, El Liri, and other places in Sudan.”

The rebel spokesman further claimed that the SPLM-N fighters destroyed a military convoy consisting of 100 vehicles in the vicinity of the state capital Kadugli. 17 army soldiers were killed and several others were captured. The rebels seized a T-72 tank, and two Land Cruisers mounted with Dushka machineguns “in good condition”.

He added that the rebel fighters killed eight government troops in a battle in the area of El Teis in Buram locality, “among them South Sudanese militiamen of the opposition”.

In the area of Hamra, east of Kadugli, the SPLM-N combatants repelled an attack as well, the spokesman stated. “The commanding officer of this contingent is a South Sudanese, from the Shilluk tribe,” he said, citing “credible information”. In addition, the rebels reportedly withstood a government attack in the Kega hills near Talodi. 15 combatants sustained minor injuries.

The spokesman for the Sudan Armed Forces, Brig. Ahmed Khalifa El Shami, reported in a press statement on Monday that the government troops managed to liberate the areas of Mardis, El Labo, Kuton, Agab, Karkaia and Biera in the Nuba Mountains. He said that the army caused the rebels great loss of life, and that the materiel seized and destroyed is still being counted.

El Shami further accused the SPLM-N of rejecting all efforts to achieve peace in South Kordofan, pointing to the movement’s refusal to sign a roadmap agreement proposed by the AU High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) a week ago.

The Sudanese peace negotiations are still in an impasse. When the AUHIP mediation team presented the roadmap, the Sudanese government signed it immediately. The opposition said that they were not given not enough time to discuss the contents, and refused to sign the present text. 

In a statement on 25 March, AU Commission Chairwoman Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma gave the Sudanese opposition a week to sign the roadmap. On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the signing by Khartoum, and urged the rebel movement and the NUP to sign as well.

The rebel spokesman reported in a brief statement on Tuesday that fighting is ongoing in the area of Agab and Karkaia, northeast of Kadugli.

♦  Two Nuba held incommunicado for five years in Sudan: HUDO

March 29 – 2016 KAMPALA Two people who disappeared nearly five years ago in South Kordofan have been found in a detention centre of the Military Intelligence in the state capital Kadugli.

Government employees Mousa Abdin Ali and Ibrahim Kano disappeared in Kadugli on 7 June 2011, two days after renewed fighting broke out in the Nuba Mountains.

Their whereabouts remained unknown for more than five years until recently, when both were found in very poor health in Kadugli, the Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported in an ‘Urgent Action’ statement on Monday.

Ali, a member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) was 38-years-old when he disappeared, Kano was 43, and not affiliated to any political party. 

The HUDO Centre recently received evidence from more than two reliable sources that both men were alive, and being detained by the Kadugli Military Intelligence. Since their disappearance, they were held incommunicado, while Military Intelligence, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), and politicians denied any knowledge about their whereabouts. 

During their detention, Ali and Kano were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, the statement reads. They did not receive proper feeding or adequate health care.

With its appeal, HUDO urges those concerned to call on the Sudanese authorities to intervene for “the immediate and unconditional release of Mousa Abdin Ali and Ibrahim Kano”. The Ministry of Justice should investigate “the illegal period they have spent in custody and make the results/report public indicating who is responsible”.

HUDO further calls on the authorities to disclose the whereabouts of many others who disappeared as well.

Other highlights from Dabanga Sudan:

Sudan bars human right activists from travelling

March 29 – 2016 KHARTOUM Security agents banned two human rights activists from travelling to UN meetings in Geneva on Monday. Human rights activists Sawsan El Shaweya and and Muawiya Shaddad…

Sudan MPs demand expulsion of 'African religious groups'

March 29 – 2016 KHARTOUM An independent Member of Parliament from North Darfur demanded the immediate expulsion of foreign religious groups that have settled in Kutum locality for the past days….

Darfur's East Jebel Marra: Surviving under siege

March 28 – 2016 EAST JEBEL MARRA The continuous attacks and air raids on East Jebel Marra in South Darfur have put most of the population to flight. Some have reached camps for the displaced in the region…

UN OCHA: 'Darfur hotline working well'

March 28 – 2016 KHARTOUM The Darfur Hotline, set up by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in 2013, is working well, though a number of issues need improvement, according…

Sudan signs UN action plan to protect children in conflict areas

March 27 – 2016 KHARTOUM In what has been hailed a milestone for the protection of children in Sudan, the Government of Sudan signed an Action Plan with the UN to prevent the recruitment and use of children by Sudan….

Malnutrition, fear cause Darfur women to miscarry in Jebel Marra

March 25 – 2016 JEBEL MARRA At least 32 women from the villages of Gendato, Toran Tora and Tobang in Darfur’s Jebel Marra have reportedly suffered miscarriages as a result of malnutrition and extreme fear of attacks…

Women activists 'silenced with rape' in Sudan: HRW

March 24 – 2016 NAIROBI Sudanese security forces have used sexual violence, intimidation, and other forms of abuse to silence women human rights defenders across the country, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says…

Christian priest detained in Sudanese capital

March 24 – 2016 OMDURMAN On Monday, officers of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) detained the head of the Sudan Church of Christ in Omdurman, the  twin-sister of Khartoum. El Amel Organisation…

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