---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2011 15:40:50 +0300 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Sudan shuts down SPLM-N offices in Khartoum To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Sudan shuts down SPLM-North offices in Khartoum September 3, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese authorities today closed the offices of the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) one day after clashes erupted between Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and troops loyal to the chairman of the party in Blue Nile state Malik Agar. The SPLM have been registered as a political party since the interim period of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Following the secession of the South Sudan last August, the registration office said the SPLM is registered with Salva Kir as chairman and Pagan Amum as secretary general stressing that this party in no longer is part of the current Sudan. Sudan’s security forces shut down on Saturday the premises of the SPLM in the capital Khartoum and barred the entry of its members to their offices. Also, a police force seized the office of the SPLM-North secretary general Yasir Arman in Arkweit suburb. Police informed the party members who tried to get access to their offices that the SPLM activities are banned until the regularisation of its activities. Kamal Obeid the government spokesperson said at a press conference on Saturday that 95% of the SPLM members are now foreigners. He stressed that the party has to register officially and to disband its armed militias. The political parties law says before its recognition as political party any organised group has to renounce the use of arms. This clause prevented the Sudan Liberation Movement of Minni Minnawi from participating in the 2010 general elections. The SPLM-North troops were to be disbanded six months after the conduct of the popular consultations a key part of the CPA for South Kordofan and Blue Nile intended to assess whether the grievances of the two areas had been addressed during the six year peace deal. However, since last June after armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the SPLM troops loyal to Abdel Aziz al-Hilu in Southern Kordofan, the insurgents say a new security arrangements protocol should be negotiated. Since August, the SPLM has been negotiating an alliance with three rebel groups in Darfur region to overthrow the regime of the National Congress Party through political and armed means. The Sudanese officials accused the elected governor of the Blue Nile state of preparing to launch attacks on the position of the regular army. (ST) END1 2. Sudan’s SPLM-N vows to buck Blue Nile’s ‘coup’ September 3, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) on Saturday declared resistance to what it described as a coup against the elected governor of the Blue Nile State, Malik Aggar, announcing intensification of its efforts to forge a nationwide alliance to execute regime-change agendas. Sudan’s southern state of Blue Nile on Thursday became the latest flashpoint, since South Sudan seceded from the rest of Sudan in July, when clashes erupted between Sudan’s army (SAF) and forces of the SPLM-N led by Malik Aggar. A similar scenario has been taking place in South Kordofan, an oil-rich state which also borders South Sudan, where fighting between Sudan’s army and SPLM-N forces erupted in early June and led to the displacements of thousands of people and many deaths. It is not yet clear who instigated the clashes but both sides accused each other of doing so. The SPLM-N claimed that Sudan’s army started the attacks and targeted the house of Aggar, Sudan on the other hand claimed it was the SPLM-N which launched the attacks. Sudan’s President on Friday declared a state of emergency in the state and later sacked Agar from the position to which he was elected in April 2010, appointing in his place the commander-in-chief of the SAF base in the state capital Al-Damazin as a military ruler. Meanwhile, fighting has continued amid concerns of a potential humanitarian crisis. The UN refugee spokeswoman, Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, said that the UNHCR had received reports of some 16,000 people fleeing across the border into Ethiopia. In a statement, the SPLM-N’s secretary-general Yasir Arman said that the unfolding events in the Blue Nile represent a continuation of the attempts by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum to “uproot active and democratic” forces in the Sudanese political arena. Arman said that the last episode in this policy appeared in the “political and military coup” against Agar and the stalled popular consultation vote in the area which was promised under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between Sudan and South Sudan which gained full independence as an outcome of the same deal. The SPLM-N, which says it is now structurally separate from the ruling party in South Sudan, urged the Sudanese people to respond to this policy which will “tear apart the rest of Sudan.” It further urged members of the international community, including the CPA’s troika consisting of the United States, Britain and Norway, as well as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to respond to the impact of this “blatant coup,” by preventing further displacements in Blue Nile and South Kordofan as well as prevention of “ethnic cleansing” and targeting of civilians by the “NCP’s [Sudan’s] air forces.” “It is time for imposing a no-fly zone stretching all the way from the Blue Nile to Darfur through a resolution by the UNSC,” Arman said. The SPLM-N reported that abuses were already being committed by Sudan’s army, citing allegations of attacks on civilians, abduction and destruction of public facilities in the state. Arman claimed that attacks on SPLM-N’s position continued since Thursday, saying that their forces had managed to chuck Sudan’s army out of Al-Kurmuk town and few other areas. “We vociferously declare that the only option before us is to forge a nationwide democratic front with the agendas of a radical restructuring of the power’s center in Khartoum and build a new state that recognize others and their right to be others,” Arman announced. He further said that the SPLM-N would seek to solidify the strategic alliance it forged last month with rebel groups in the western region of Darfur. Arman revealed that a meeting took place on Friday between him and Manni Arkoi Minnawi of Darfur rebels Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Mansur Abdul Gadir of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), another Darfur rebel group. According to Arman, the meeting resolved to finalise the alliance’s political program and arrange for a conference to create a strong political and military body to lead the opposition. “We also declare that Aggar will remain the elected governor of the Blue Nile,” Arman said, saying that NCP leaders must face justice for their crimes. The events in Blue Nile drew condemnation from Sudanese rebel forces and political parties. Darfur’s SLM rebels denounced the events in Blue Nile as a continuation of the “never-ending crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity” by the NCP government. It echoed calls for a wide-ranging coalition to topple the government in Khartoum and called on Agar to join the struggle to achieve that goal. The rebel group also urged the international community to support and respect the will of Sudanese masses which joined the quest for a government change. Another Darfur rebel, JEM, condemned in the strongest terms Khartoum’s attempt to “assassinate” Malik Agar and the ongoing military assault against people of the Blue Nile. The rebel group vowed to work in tandem with the SPLM-N to defend the people in Blue Nile. In Khartoum, the opposition National Umma Party said it condemns the outbreak of violent events in the Blue Nile and called for an immediate ceasefire to stop the bloodshed and address the humanitarian situation. The genesis of the ongoing clashes in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan can be traced back to May’s warning by SAF to SPLM-N to either disarm their forces or deploy to what is now the new country of South Sudan. Blue Nile and South Kordofan are part of north Sudan but their population sided largely with the South during the second Sudanese civil war 1983-2005. Under the CPA, the two states were supposed to hold “popular consultations” to determine the level of local satisfaction with the implementation of the agreement. But the vote stalled in both states as efforts to reach a political settlement failed to yield results. (ST) END2 3. Sudan: UN says thousands flee fighting in two states By James Copnall BBC News, Khartoum 4 September 2011 Last updated at 08:35 The United Nation's refugee agency, UNHCR, says fighting has displaced thousands in Sudan's Blue Nile state. Clashes broke out on Thursday night between the government and soldiers loyal to an opposition party with links to South Sudan. The opposition party, SPLM North, is calling for a UN no-fly zone over Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur. In July South Sudan became independent, but Sudan is still fighting rebels in these states as well as Darfur. A press release from SPLM-North also accuses the Sudanese armed forces of bombing and killing civilians in Blue Nile, and arresting hundreds of its party members. The government spokesman for the armed forces was not immediately available for comment. The government has control of Damazin, the state capital, and the rebels have largely retreated towards their base, Kurmuk, in the south of the state. The UNHCR says it has received reports of 20,000 people fleeing across the border from Blue Nile into Ethiopia. It has sent an assessment team to Western Ethiopia to find out more. One resident of the capital of Blue Nile state, Damazin, said the town was almost deserted on Saturday afternoon, adding he could hear gunshots nearby. Sudanese accusations Most of the soldiers loyal to the opposition SPLM-North party have retreated to Kurmuk in the south of Blue Nile state. They used to fight on the side of the rebels who recently won independence for South Sudan. On Saturday the Sudanese Foreign Ministry announced the country was complaining to the UN Security Council about South Sudan's alleged role in supporting the SPLM-North fighters in Blue Nile. It accused South Sudan's army of sending 25 armed land-cruisers to the state at the end of last month, for example. Sudan had previously made a similar complaint about Southern Kordofan, where rebels loyal to SPLM-North have been fighting the government for the last three months. South Sudan denies both charges. The peace deal between Khartoum and the South Sudanese rebels signed in 2005 left three notable unresolved problems: the border regions of Abyei, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. There has been heavy fighting in each one at some point in the last few months. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14776814 END3 4. UN refugee agency: Thousands reported fleeing into Ethiopia amid Sudan clashes The Washington Post By Associated Press, Published: September 3 GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency says thousands of people are believed to be fleeing to Ethiopia to escape fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres appealed Saturday for an immediate end to the clashes. His agency says it has received reports of some 16,000 people fleeing across the border since fighting erupted Thursday. A UNHCR team was sent to western Ethiopia to assess the situation. Sudan’s president declared a state of emergency in the region on Friday and fired Blue Nile’s governor after clashes broke out between armed forces and a rebel group. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/un-refugee-agency-thousands-reported-fleeing-into-ethiopia-amid-sudan-clashes/2011/09/03/gIQAR6PxyJ_story.html END4 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [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. 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