---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 11:10 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Economic assistance and Sudan's wars To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Arman says economic assistance to Sudan must be conditioned on end of war October 29, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The secretary-general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-N), Yasir Arman, has called on the international community to withhold economic assistance to Sudan until the country’s government ends the war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Arman made his call during a two-day visit to Berlin where he met a number of German officials and representatives of political parties and lobby groups. The SPLM-N said in a media release that Arman called on German officials and legislators to support his group’s demands of opening corridors to deliver humanitarian assistance in Blue Nile and South Kordofan as well as establishing an international committee to investigate reports of abuses. South Kordofan and Blue Nile have been the scene of an armed conflict between the Sudanese army (SAF) and SPLM-N fighters who were part of the army of the now independent state of South Sudan. The conflict killed hundreds and displaced thousands of citizens as the UN reported violations that may amount to ’war crimes’ and ’crimes against humanity’ if substantiated. In his talks with German officials, Arman noted Sudan’s frantic efforts to persuade Western countries to relieve its debt, saying that any economic assistance to Sudan must be conditioned on the government’s respect of human rights and ending the war in the two states. Arman also said that Sudan’s request to hold a conference in Turkey to galbanize financial support comes from officials accused of committing war crimes, in what appears to be a dig on president Al-Bashir who is sought by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. He said that the international community should not lend any economic support a dictatorial regime that spends more than 70 percent of the country’s budget on security and military. The SPLM-N’s official said that any economic support to Sudan would be a support for the continuation of war and crimes not for Sudanese people who aspire to end the war and achieve democratic transformation and sustainable development in order to end their suffering. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Arman-says-economic-assistance-to,40575 END1 2. Dry season offensive feared in Sudan's troubled areas - report 28 Oct 2011 17:23 Source: Alertnet By Katie Nguyen LONDON (AlertNet) - Sudan's dry season is likely to herald a new military offensive in the troubled South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas, inflicting a fresh wave of displacement on a region weakened by months of clashes, a campaign group has warned. Fighting between government forces and rebels broke out in South Kordofan in June and spread to neighbouring Blue Nile in September. Tens of thousands of people are thought to have fled their homes in the region close to the border with South Sudan. Dutch-based IKV Pax Christi predicted that displacement would rise with the onset of the dry season in November with members of the Nuba community afraid that government tanks, troops and militia currently deterred by waterlogged roads would soon be on the move again. Once key battlegrounds in Sudan's civil war, the two areas are home to thousands of fighters who sided with the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels in their war against Khartoum. Following the end of the conflict in 2005, many SPLA joined their counterparts from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to form joint military units - meant to embody a vision of unity in the period between the signing of the peace deal and a southern referendum on independence in January this year. When the south voted overwhelmingly for independence, it raised concerns in Khartoum about the number of weapons in the hands of fighters formerly aligned to the SPLA. The SPLA-N, the local wing of the SPLA, blamed the recent outbreak of violence on SAF attempts to disarm its members in these joint units. However, the northern army says it was trying to stop an attempted uprising. "The immediate prospects for peace in the two areas are not good," Pax Christi said in a report. "Both sides believe there is advantage in continued military action - the SPLA-N because of its early successes and what it perceives as a process of disintegration in the government's forces and finances; SAF because of the approaching dry season and the chance, as it sees it, of redressing military balance." "CATASTROPHIC" CONDITIONS It estimates that 226,000 people from the Nuba community are displaced in Southern Kordofan without food in areas blockaded by Khartoum, while more than 9,000 others have crossed over to South Sudan, fleeing militia raids and aerial bombardment. On Friday, the U.N. refugee agency said nearly 2,000 Sudanese refugees had arrived in western Ethiopia over the past four days and more were expected. Mostly women, children and the elderly, they said they fled bombings and the fear of being bombed by Antonov planes. Living alonside the Nuba, are the Arab cattle-herding Hawazama and Missirya tribes who have been forced from SPLA-controlled areas in as yet unknown numbers due to cattle-rustling and reprisal attacks and arrests, Pax Christi said. Arabs who usually migrate south with their animals in the dry season fear armed opposition from the SPLA-N if they attempt the move this year, the report said. "A deadly combination of war, late rains, the humanitarian blockade of SPLM-held areas, and a government ban on all international involvement in relief work - including needs assessments - is expected to leave 400,000 Nuba civilians without any food in the next few weeks," Pax Christi said. It said that conditions were already declining fast as the 'hunger period' before the next harvest in December-January reaches its peak. "Most of the displaced lack adequate shelter, food, clean water and medicine, and are being re-displaced as host communities themselves run short of food," it added. Not only has aerial bombardment stopped farmers from tending to their crops, but in several areas Pax Christi researchers visited a further deterrent has been the detention by government forces of groups of people working in the fields. "Relatives say the seizures (of people) are part of government strategy to use food as a weapon of war," the report said. It noted that without immediate humanitarian access, infant and elderly deaths from malnutrition would increase sharply. http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/dry-season-offensive-feared-in-sudans-troubled-areas-report END2 3. Students stage anti-government protest in east Sudan Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:49pm GMT KHARTOUM Oct 30 (Reuters) - Hundreds of students staged an anti-government rally in eastern Sudan on Sunday, protesting against poverty and rising food prices, witnesses said. Protests are rare in the African country but anger has been building up over a severe economic crisis with spiralling food prices. Several small anti-government protests took place in the capital Khartoum in the past few weeks. Hundreds of students took to the streets in the eastern city of Kassala late on Sunday, several witnesses told Reuters. "They were chanting 'people are hungry' and 'people want the overthrow of the government," one witness said, declining to be identified. There was no immediate comment from the government. Kassala lies in an underdeveloped region near the border of Eritrea where anger has been simmering for a long time. Opposition activists said a protest was held in Kassala two weeks ago when students initially demanded better study conditions. Since then anger has been building up over high inflation and a lack of economic development. Last week, Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir visited Kassala to unveil government projects in the region. Sudan has been struggling with an economic crisis since its former civil war foe South Sudan took away much of the oil production when it became independent in July. The lack of oil revenues -- the dominant source of state income -- has driven up inflation as Sudan imports much of its food needs. The government is trying to diversify the economy but analysts say little has been achieved due to a U.S. trade embargo, corruption and lack of planning. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL5E7LU0LC20111030 END3 ______________________ 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. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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