Sudan threatens to shoot a UN helicopter

UN Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping, Alain Le Roy, has said that Sudan threatened to shoot a helicopter trying to evacuate UN peacekeepers wounded by a landmine in the disputed Abyei region. Le Roy added that the three wounded soldiers died amid negotiations.

The peacekeepers were sent to Abyei earlier this month. Shortly after their arrival from Ethiopia, their convoy hit a landmine in Mabok, south-east of Abyei town. One of the men died instantly, the other three later.

Speaking about the incident, Le Roy said: “"We didn't get the clearance for the Medivac helicopter to take off immediately…They prevented us from taking off by threatening to shoot at the helicopter."

According to various reports, seven other peacekeepers were injured in the blast. The village where the landmine exploded had been occupied by troops loyal to the government in Khartoum, which has signed the Ottawa Treaty banning the use of anti-personnel mines.

Sources: BBC News, Reuters, Voice of America

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

Sudan leaders agree “full demilitarisation” of Abyei

Leaders from north and south Sudan signed an agreement pledging to end fighting in the disputed border region of Abyei, on Monday 20th June.

The agreement was reached after days of mediation by former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, in the Ethopian capital of Addis Ababa.

The deal requires both northern and southern troops to leave Abyei, to be replaced by Ethiopian peacekeepers, in an agreement that Mbeki has said will provide for the "full demilitarisation" of Abyei.

Both north and South Sudan claim the oil-rich border region of Abyei, and northern forces seized the town last month, causing over one hundred thousand people to flee, mostly to the south.

Violence in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan has also led to 60,000 people being displaced.

Some 4,000 Ethiopian troops are expected to be brought in after the Sudanese army has left, although the UN will determine the exact troop numbers and their mandate.

With South Sudan planning to declare independence on 9th July, 2011, Mbeki said in his announcement of the deal, it was crucial that the peacekeepers were brought in as soon as possible. He urged the UN Security Council to authorise their deployment without delay.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement and pledged “the full support of the United Nations to the parties in facilitating its implementation.”

Ban also urged the two sides to resolve "all outstanding issues related to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and post-secession arrangement, and to reach an immediate cessation of hostilities in Southern Kordofan State and provide their full co-operation to humanitarian agencies in meeting the needs of the affected population."

The violence, which started on 5th June, continues in Southern Kordofan state. US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice, spoke of reports that alleged that forces aligned with the north had “searched for southern forces and sympathisers, whom they arrested and allegedly executed.”

Mbeki said political leaders from Southern Kordofan would be arriving shortly in Addis Ababa to hold talks on ending the conflict.

Violence broke out after residents in the state's Nuba Mountains, many of whom fought for the south during the country's decades-long civil war, were ordered to disarm by the new Khartoum-allied governor, Ahmed Haroun, who has been indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court.

South Sudan voted overwhelming in favour of independence in a January referendum, prescribed by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which brought civil war to an end.

Abyei was meant to have its own referendum on whether it would stay in the north or join the south, however the vote was postponed indefinitely over disagreements on voter eligibility, to do with the nomadic, Khartoum-backed Misseriya Arab tribespeople.

Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states are clearly in the north, however many of their residents fought with the south during the civil war, and tension has been high as the South prepares to separate.

Sources: BBC News, the Guardian, RTT News

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

Sudan bombs Darfur village

According to the UN, Sudan has carried out an air strike mission on a village in the western region of Darfur. A number of the group's officials are trying to make their way to the Sukamir area in north Darfur to gauge the situation.

The UN believes that pro-government Arab militias are trying to cleanse the region of non-Arab residence. It is estimated that as many as 300,000 people have been killed in the strike.

UN's deligation in Darfur, Unamid, released a statement on Wednesday 18th May, saying jet planes struck Sukamir, located near Kuma, on Tuesday. It also said a team had been sent to the area "to collect information on possible casualties and newly displaced persons". The statement confirmed that UN flights to the regions of Shangil Tobaya, Fanga Suk and others in north Darfur have been suspended.

Khartoum has denied knowledge of the strike, which was similar to the one on Sunday 15th May when the town of Labado and the village of Esheraya in southern Darfur came under bombardment.

Head of Unamid Ibrahim Gambari has voiced concern about the situation, saying: "I call upon all parties to exercise the utmost restraint in the use of lethal force."

Citing “security threats,” the Sudan's government restricted all movement of peacekeepers in South Darfur state beyond a 15 km radius from Nyala, the state capital.

Sources: BBC News, AFP, Bloomberg

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

Sudan: At least 20 soldiers killed in a clash with rebels

According to Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), at least 20 South Sudanese soldiers have been killed in a deadly clash with rebel fighters. A spokesman for SPLA said the soldiers were killed when the militants attacked a village in Unity State.

It is believed that the attack commenced when army trucks hit landmines set by the rebels, which later led to the deadly clashes. The new rebel group, calling itself South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), said the attack was only the "start of the offensive." A spokesman for the group, Bol Gatkuoth Kol, explained its objective by stating: "The government has failed miserably. It must go."

The SSLA, lead by former SPLA commander Peter Gadet, has voiced disapproval of South Sudan's government, saying it was corrupt and incapable of enforcing law and order in the region.

Oil-rich South Sudan is due to separate from the North in July, following an overwhelming secession vote in a referendum in January under a US-backed 2005 peace treaty which ended decades of conflict.

Earlier this year, the South's ruling party Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM) accused Khartoum of funding rebel groups in order to destabilise the South before it achieves independence on 9th July, a charge both Khartoum and the rebels have denied.

Sources: BBC, RTT News, Miami Herald, Bloomberg, Sudan Tribute

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

More violence as south Sudan goes to the ballots for the third day

According to official reports, 11 more people have been killed near the north-south border while on their way to cast votes in the historic independence referendum.

South Sudan's Interior Minister Maj Gen Gier Chuang Aluong said the figures were stacking up as 10 people had already been killed on Monday [10th January]. Reports of the latest fatalities emerged as southern Sudan held a third day of voting in a referendum that will determined whether or not the south will be divided from the north.

The week of balloting in southern Sudan is expected to produce a majority vote for independence. Speaking about the predicted outcome, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said that he will let the oil-rich south secede in peace.

The latest outbreak of violence, which took place in Kurdufan on the north and south border, is thought to have been initiated by fighters from the Arab Misseriya. Senior member of the Misseriya nomads, Mohamed Wad Abuk, denied responsibility for the attack, but Aluong insisted that, “somebody must be responsible…and be accountable for what has taken place.”

The latest attack came only four days after clashes between Misseriya nomads, southern security forces and youths in the Abyei region, a hotspot of north-south tensions in the past. Experts fear that the last couple of incidents may incite more outbreaks of violence.

Sources: Aljazeera, Voice of America, BBC News

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

Southern Sudan takes to the polls for the second day amid reports of violence

It has been reported that at least 36 people have been killed in Sudan's Abeyi region in the clashes between tribes-people and the ethnic Arab Misseriya. A spokesman for the administration of central Abyei region, Charles Abyei, said members of the Misseriya began attacking the village of Make on Friday 7th January.

Abyei's Dinka Ngok tribe, in the south, also accused Khartoum of enabling the clashes by arming the Misseriya with weapons and added that they were expecting more attacks in the coming days.

In trying to counteract the accusations of initiating the attacks, Misseriya's leader, Mokhtar Babo Nimr, said it was the southerners who started the fighting, leaving 13 of his men dead.

"They attacked us because they don't want the Arabs to go south to water their herds. But the cattle need water and they will go. If they continue to stop us going south this fighting will continue," he said.

Reports of violence emerged as thousands of south Sudanese gathered in from of the polling stations for the second day of voting in the historic independence referendum. The vote, expected to divide Africa's largest country, has evoked both violence and joy as Southern Sudan's President Salve Kiir couldn't hold back the tears when the southern Sudanese took to the polls in the regional capital of Juba, on Sunday 9th January.

Experts says that the central region of Abyei is most likely to undergo biggest outbreaks of violence during and after the referendum, due to a troubled peace deal which ended decades of civil war.

Sources: The Daily Telegraph, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Reuters

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.