---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 11:43 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fwd: Fighting breaks out in South Kordofan To: Group <[email protected]>
Sources on the ground appear to confirm that clashes have broken out. John BEGIN 1. Clashes reported in Sudan flashpoint state Sun Jun 5, 2011 2:54pm GMT * North has threatened to clear out southern-allied forces * South says South Kordofan militia are northerners By Jeremy Clarke and Alex Dziadosz JUBA/KHARTOUM, June 5 (Reuters) - Clashes have broken out in a flashpoint region of Sudan controlled by the northern government, exacerbating tensions as the southern portion of the vast country prepares to secede following a referendum. Two southern party officials and the United Nations reported fighting at the weekend in the Nuba region of South Kordofan, an area in northern territory that the Khartoum authorities have threatened to clear of southern-allied armed groups. Tensions have been mounting between north and south Sudan ahead of the scheduled July 9 division of the country. The Khartoum government seized the disputed Abyei region on May 21, causing tens of thousands of people to flee and drawing sharp international criticism. In the latest violence, the United Nations said it had received reports of shooting in the village of Umm Dorain in South Kordofan on Sunday and was sending military observers to gather details. "There were reports of shooting in Umm Dorain, which took place late morning," spokeswoman Hua Jiang said. Unknown armed groups also attacked a police station in the town of Kadugli late on Saturday, taking some weapons before leaving, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Sudan said. Two officials with the southern ruling party in South Kordofan confirmed the clashes in Kadugli and Umm Dorain, and accused Khartoum of launching the attacks. "NCP (National Congress Party) attacked this morning in Umm Dorain and yesterday night in Kadugli, but it is quiet now," an official with the southern ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), told Reuters. The National Congress Party is the ruling party of the Khartoum government. In statement carried by the state news agency SUNA, a spokesman for the northern army said "the incident" in Umm Dorain was an individual case resulting from one soldier firing at random. "The situation was contained," the statement said, adding Kadugli was calm and that relations between Sudan's armed forces and "the other party" in the Nuba region were stable. PEACE PACT Analysts have said fighting could erupt in parts of South Kordofan and the north-run Blue Nile states, which are home to southern-allied armed groups that fought Khartoum during the civil war. Southern officials say the South Kordofan militia are northerners and so Juba cannot tell them to withdraw south. Southerners voted overwhelmingly to secede in a January referendum promised by a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended decades of civil war. "The SPLM is still respecting the CPA and the international community, but if they attack again, no one will accept that, and we will be defending ourselves," the southern party official said. He added that tanks were used, but did not give details. A second official said the northern army had shelled Umm Dorain. The reports could not be independently verified. Both officials said they did not know if there had been any casualties yet. The division of Sudan has been complicated by unresolved disputes including the exact position of the common border and the fate of Abyei, which is used all year round by the south-linked Dinka Ngok people and for part of the year by northern Arab Misseriya nomads. Abyei is prized for its fertile grazing land, but also produces some oil, which Khartoum may be eager to hold on to as the south breaks away, taking with it some three-quarters of the country's oil revenues. About 45 percent of Khartoum's budget comes from oil. The occupation of Abyei followed an attack on a convoy of northern soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers that was blamed on southern forces. Khartoum has refused calls from the United States, United Nations and southern officials to withdraw from Abyei, saying the land belongs to the north and its troops will remain until the dispute is resolved. (Additional reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Writing by Alex Dziadosz; Editing by Jon Boyle) END1 2. SPLA denies having troops in Sudan’s Blue Nile and S. Kordofan By John Actually May 31, 2011 (BOR) – South Sudan’s army (SPLA) has denied the presence of its forces in South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions – which lie north of the 1956 colonial border - following an ultimatum by the Khartoum’s Sudan Army Forces (SAF) for the SPLA to withdraw its forces from the states. Speaking to Sudan Tribune from Juba, SPLA spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer Panyang said the SPLA had no forces to withdraw from South Kordofan and Blue Nile. In accordance with the security arrangement in the 2005 peace deal between North and South, Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) of 24,000 soldiers, 12,000 each from SAF and SPLA were deployed in various towns in South Sudan, Khartoum, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. The forces were to serve as the nucleus for a future national army should the people of South Sudan vote for the unity of the country in a plebiscite agreed as part of the peace deal. Following January’s referendum in South Sudan and the declaration of its outcome in favor of independence, SAF components of the JIUs in South Sudan withdrew to the north of the 1956 borders. Many people from the northern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile took up arms with the SPLA in the two decade civil war against various Khartoum governments. Under a 2005 peace deal the two states were given special status but were unable to take part in South Sudan’s vote on independence earlier this year. Instead of a referendum the two areas were granted popular consultations to assess whether the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) addressed their grievances and define their relationship with the Khartoum government. However, the consultations have yet to take place as South Kordofan only completed the elections needed to establish the state parliament in early May, over a year after the rest of the country voted. In the election of April 2010 Blue Nile was the only northern state that returned an SPLM governor. In South Kordofan the incumbent governor, Ahmed Haroun, beat the SPLM candidate in May’s controversial election, which was endorsed by international observers. Colonel Aguer said the forces in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan and Blue Nile are part of the north and SPLA cannot withdraw them to South Sudan. “There are no forces to be withdrawn from South Kordofan or Nuba, because the forces that are there in South Kordofan and Blue [Nile] are sons and daughters of Nuba and Blue Nile, so we have no right to withdraw them to South Sudan,” said Aguer. “We have no forces to be withdrawn because they are not South Sudanese. These are Nubian and Blue people. They come from the North,” he continued. The SAF’s demand that all SPLA soldiers move South of the 1956 border comes after the northern army occupied the contested town on Abyei on Saturday 21 May. Khartoum’s military spokesperson has said that the SAF will not leave the region until a comprehensive solution is found - in contravention of the CPA. The northern army say they took Abyei by force in response to an attack on a UN-accompanied SAF convoy near the area by southern armed groups. Western countries along with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), while acknowledging that Southern forces provoked the attack, called on SAF to withdraw unconditionally. They also urged Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir to revoke his decision to dissolve the Abyei administration council last week. Abyei’s own referendum to allow residents to choose between joining the North or South did not take place as the NCP and SPLM could not agree on who was allowed to vote. Colonel Aguer repeated the line of South Sudan officials this week that the soon-to-be independent country will not go back to war with north over the issue of Abyei. He said the dispute over Abyei – which is currently part of South Kordofan state - should be resolved with the help of the international community. “We are not going to war. We have left the case of Abyei to the international community. UN will see that issue. The violation of CPA and violations of Abyei protocol are in the hands of UN”, he said. Between 20,000 and 40,000 civilians have fled Abyei since the SAF took control of the town. As well as air strikes and ground bombardments destroying houses, property was also looted. The presence of the SAF in Abyei is seen by some analysts as a way of forcing South Sudan into compromises in the ongoing negotiations regarding implementing the provisions of the CPA – such as demarcating the North-South border – and post-independence issues. Aguer accused the SAF of blackmailing the world and denied that the South Sudan army was present in North Sudan. “Why should we bring northerners to South Sudan?”, he said. The second Sudanese civil war broke out between the Khartoum government and Southern rebel leaders in 1983 but the SPLA were later joined by rebel armies in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Many people from the two regions joined the SPLA complaining of oppression, marginalization, human rights violations and racial and in some cases religious discrimination. The two regions also straddle Sudan’s largest known oilfields that were discovered in 1979. Aguer said people of Blue Nile and South Kordofan have arms which they acquired during the civil war. As part of the CPA the SPLA was made the official army of South Sudan. He said it is up to the north whether to demobilize, reintegration or disarm those with arms in Blue Nile and South Kordofan. “North [Sudan] is supposed to discuss what to do with the forces in Blue Nile and South Kordofan. It is [a] northern conflict and we are not part of it,” Aguer added. (ST) END2 3. Sudan's SPLM says its army to remain in its positions in South Kurdufan Text of report by liberal Sudanese newspaper Al-Sahafah on 2 June A statement by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement [SPLM] in South Kurdufan State [south-central Sudan] has affirmed that [its army] the Sudan People's Liberation Army [SPLA] units in the Joint Forces will adhere to the implementation of the provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA] and the Security Arrangements Protocol by remaining in their positions and reserving the right of self defence and retaliation in case of aggression by the Sudan Armed Forces [SAF]. The SPLM in South Kurdufan State strongly criticized the speaker of parliament, Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Tahir, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces, Maj-Gen Ismat Abd-al-Rahman, for their statements with regards to a deadline given to the SPLA forces north of 1st January 1956 border to leave the area. The SPLM statement of which Al-Sahafah received a copy yesterday [1 June] said that the speaker of parliament was supposed to be the first guardian of the CPA and the constitution instead of demanding that the SAF forcefully disarm SPLA components in the Joint Integrated Forces. The statement took issue with the remarks of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces, Maj-Gen Ismat Abd-al-Rahman, issuing orders to his forces to attack the SPLA components in the Joint Units and occupy their positions by 1 June 2011. It considered this a breach of the CPA and the Security Arrangements Protocol which stipulate that joint forces will remain! in their positions until 9 April 2012. Source: Al-Sahafah, Khartoum, in Arabic 2 Jun 11 BBC Mon ME1 MEEau 020611/ah-as BBC Monitoring, Caversham Park, Reading, RG4 8TZ, UK Tel: +44 (0)118 948 6289 Fax: +44 (0)118 948 6331 Email: [email protected] http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk END3 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor Sudan Ecumenical Forum [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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