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------Original message------ From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> To: "Group" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, January 3, 2012 10:08:28 AM GMT+0300 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Sudan's civil wars With all the attention on South Sudan's inter-communal conflict in Jonglei, Sudan's full-blown civil wars in Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur should not be forgotten. BEGIN 1. Sudan’s rebels urge opposition parties to join struggle for regime change January 1, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A group of allied rebel forces in Sudan has called on mainstream opposition parties to join its quest to overthrow the government and establish a democratic system. The Sudanese Revolutionary Forces (SRF), an umbrella group comprising the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), two factions of the Darfur rebels Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), on Sunday addressed an open letter to Farouk Abu Eissa, chairman of the National Consensus Forces (NCF), a group of center-based opposition parties including the National Umma Party (NUP) and the Popular Congress Party (PCP). In its letter, the SRF conveyed its readiness to work jointly with the NCF in order to topple the regime through combining means of armed struggle with popular uprising in the center. SRF’s call comes across as an attempt to bridge the gap between its forces and the largely pacifist NCF. Since its inception in late November last year, the SRF adopted the radical option of toppling the regime through armed struggle. SRF forces are fighting government forces in the regions of Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur. Meanwhile, NCF forces have been divided over the way forward. Whereas the NUP of former Prime Minister Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi promised to lead “responsible opposition” and criticized armed struggle, other groups, most notably the PCP of Islamist leader Hassan Al-Turabi, continue to call for a popular uprising modeled on the Arab Spring. The SRF’s letter urged NCF forces to distance themselves from calls for dialogue with the government, the pursuit of constitutional reforms or the pretext of adopting a third way other than toppling the regime. In an attempt to counter allegations by the government that the SRF is an ethnic alliance of the Nuba in South Kordofan and the Zagawa in Darfur, the SRF said that “the biggest ethnic institution is the Khartoum regime.” It went on to assert that the SRF was “a democratic organization whose goals are represented in restructuring the Sudanese state and laying down the pillars of a state based on equal citizenship rights, democracy and social justice.” The SRF called for establishing a strategic relationship between Sudan and South Sudan, saying that this particular goal cannot be achieved unless through toppling the regime and finding an alternative system that guarantees cohabitation with South Sudan and other neighboring countries. South Sudan is accused by Khartoum of aiding SRF rebels, a charge Juba has denied. The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) is hyper sensitive to any potential cooperation between opposition parties and the SRF. Authorities in Khartoum have recently arrested two senior PCP members upon their return from a visit to the Republic of South Sudan and Uganda, where most SRF leaders are based. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-s-rebels-urge-opposition,41150 END1 2. Sudan Issues Arrest Warrant for Malik Agar, Yasir Arman and 15 Others Sudan Vision, By Al-Sammani Awadallah, 1st January 2012 Khartoum – Prosecutor of Supreme Tribunal of the Blue Nile State, Abdul Fatah Suleiman Abdul Fatah, issued an arrest warrant for Malik Agar, Yasir Arman and 15 former members of the Blue Nile State Government and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Saturday. This is in accordance with his powers under Article (78) of the Criminal Procedures Act, 1991. The Prosecutor said the accused undertook specific roles in the crimes perpetrated in the Blue Nile State for which measures were taken in accordance with the Criminal Act by an inquiry committee based on an order from the Minister of Justice. He said he came to know that the accused have fleed to prevent the execution of the warrant of arrest issued against them, calling on the accused to surrender themselves to the nearest police station within a period not later than a week from the issuance of this notice. The warrant of arrest is issued for: Ali Bandar Al-Sisi, Former Cabinet Minister; Zaed Eissa Zaed, Former Minister of Agriculture; Mamoon Hamad, Former Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly; Ahmed Al-Umda John, Maj. Gen. ,commander of Division (10); Al-Jundi Suleiman, Brigadier, commander of joint forces; Mohamed Younis Babikir, Brigadier, SPLA; Joseph Teka, Maj. Gen., second commander of the Division; Al-Samani Agar Eyre, Col., SPLA; Abdullah Ibrahim Abbas, Secretary General of the SPLM; El-Tayeb Bakouri, Major, SPLA; James Tut, Commander, brigade (2); Obeid Abu Shutal, Former adviser to Khartoum State governor; Farajallah Hamid Jadool, SPLM and Samuel Jok, SPLM and Yasir Saeed Arman, SPLM. http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=204193 END2 3. Dutch group's Radio Tamazuj targets Sudan "conflict areas" Text of report by the Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) Programme Distribution department, via the Radio Netherlands Media Network blog, on 29 December A new radio initiative of [Hilversum-based] Free Press Unlimited has started test transmissions today [29 December]. Radio Tamazuj will carry special programming for people in the conflict areas between North and South Sudan, such as Abyei, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Tamazuj means "across the border". Since November 2011 they have produced half an hour per week within the Radio Dabanga [Dutch-based shortwave radio for Darfur] time slot. But from 5 January 2012 they will produce half an hour a day from 0400-0430 UTC before the existing Radio Dabanga transmissions. Until that time, test transmissions, which started today, will be broadcast at 0400-0430 UTC on 7315 (Issoudun [France]), 11940 (Madagascar) and 13800 (Dhabbaya [UAE]) kHz. Reception reports are welcomed via this address [[email protected]]. We really would welcome reception reports from within Sudan! A website will be launched shortly at radiotamazuj.org Source: Radio Netherlands website, Hilversum, in English 29 Dec 11 END3 4. Sudan’s Bashir appeals for peace, warns rebels Posted by AFP on January 1, 2012 Capital FM Kenya KHARTOUM, Jan 1 – Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir appealed on Saturday for rebel groups to join a peace process with the government but vowed that those who forcibly resist will face the might of the state. He spoke at a ceremony for Sudan’s 56th Independence Day on Sunday, just over a week after government forces said they killed Khalil Ibrahim, who led the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the region’s most heavily armed group. Bashir said Ibrahim had received “his sentence” but that anyone else who came to the government in peace would “find our doors open and our hearts also.” “We are open, in peace, to anyone who does not depend on foreigners,” he told officials, diplomats and other guests, including Gaza’s Hamas premier Ismail Haniya, who has been on an official visit to Sudan since Tuesday as part of a regional tour. “Any group or movement that tries to use weapons against the government, I want them to know: They are not more powerful than the state,” Bashir said at the presidential palace. Bashir is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide allegedly committed in Darfur, in Sudan’s west. JEM announced on December 25 that Ibrahim had been killed by an air strike two days earlier. Sudan’s military said the rebel chief was wounded and died later from a clash with Khartoum’s troops in Umm-Gozain, an area of North Kordofan state near North Darfur. His killing has created uncertainty as to the future of JEM, which in November formed with other rebel groups the new Sudanese Revolutionary Front dedicated to “popular uprising and armed rebellion” against the National Congress Party regime in Khartoum. Factions of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) of Darfur, headed by Minni Minnawi and Abdelwahid Nur, also joined the alliance, along with the SPLM-North rebel group, which operates elsewhere in Sudan. SLA and JEM refused to sign in July the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, which Khartoum inked in Qatar with an alliance of rebel splinter factions, the Liberation and Justice Movement. The head of the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur said on Friday that increased insecurity in the region has restricted peacekeepers’ ability to work. “Our ability to monitor and respond has… been restricted in the past few days due to the heightened insecurity in parts of North and South Darfur,” said Ibrahim Gambari, who leads UNAMID, the joint African Union-United Nations mission to the region. He repeated a call for all groups to join the Darfur peace process. http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2012/01/sudans-bashir-appeals-for-peace-warns-rebels/ END4 5. Sudan: Khartoum University’s students hold massive protest against police, administration December 29, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A massive student protest took place on Thursday inside the campus of Khartoum University against the background of last week’s events in which the Sudanese police entered the university twice and cracked down on students. The genesis of the crisis dates back to Thursday, 22 December, when police forces entered the university and fired teargas to disperse a protest held inside by students affiliated to Al-Manasir, a riverine population displaced by the construction of a government dam upcountry, and others belonging to anti-government groups. In protest of Thursday’s crackdown and a subsequent university administration’s resolution authorizing the police to enter the campus, the students refused to sit for exams and held a sit-in on Sunday, prompting new clashes with police forces which broke in again and arrested over 70 students. Around 5,000 students toured the university’s campus on Thursday and delivered a strongly-worded memo to the university’s administration, calling for the resignation of its director Sidiq Haiati on the grounds of what they termed as acts of “administrative collusion” which allowed police forces to invade the campus and arrest students. The memo also called for holding police forces accountable and receiving an apology from the ministry of interior as well as compensating the students who were affected by the incidents. Sudanese authorities accuse opposition political parties of standing behind the unrest in Khartoum University. The chief of police in Khartoum State this week said that their forces were ready to continue fighting the protests. Sudan has largely survived this year’s wave of popular uprisings which swept across the Middle East and toppled long-ruling autocratic regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. But public discontent is growing due to worsening economic conditions created by the departure of oil-producing South Sudan as well as the eruption of wars in the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-Khartoum-University-s,41132 END5 6. Death of Darfur rebel leader sparks student brawl in Sudan’s capital December 28, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – At least twelve students have been injured when violent clashes erupted at a Sudanese university on Wednesday between supporters of Darfur rebels and those of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). Eye witnessed told Sudan Tribune that students affiliated to the Darfur rebels, Justice and equality Movement (JEM), whose leader Khalil Ibrahim was killed over the weekend, clashed with NCP’s students at Sudan University in downtown Khartoum, leading to a police crackdown in which teargas was heavily used. According to the witnesses, the story began when JEM’s students held a gathering in which they denounced the Sudanese authorities for using force to disperse a mourning pavilion setup by the slain leader’s family in southern Khartoum. They added that the confrontation started when NCP students responded by accusing Khalil of being a traitor. As the clashes spiraled out of the university campus, police forces intervened and fired teargas to break up the altercating factions. The sources reported that twelve students sustained injuries while others fell on the ground due to the teargas. The death of Khalil Ibrahim and the wave of anti-government protests witnessed recently in some universities have evidently alarmed the authorities in Khartoum State whose governor last week announced the formation of a new security-monitoring unit comprised of 33 groups tasked specifically with countering “riot activities” in the capital. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Death-of-Darfur-rebel-leader,41122 END6 7. Sudanese activist arrested days after heckling ruling party official January 1, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A young Sudanese activist has been arrested few days after becoming an idol in the eyes of oppositionists following his public confrontation with a fearsome government official. Mohamed Hassan Alim Boshi, a fresh graduate of engineering, was snatched at gun point on Monday’s afternoon from his house in one of Khartoum’s eastern suburbs, according to his lawyer Wagdi Salih, as cited by the BBC. Boshi’s arrest happened few days after the emergence and wide-dissemination of video footage showing him berating the presidential assistant and deputy chairman of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Nafe Ali Nafe, in public during a symposium organized by NCP-affiliated students at Khartoum University. In the video, the young activist described Nafe as the “worst human being and violator of rights.” He further warned the powerful government official that the Sudanese masses would soon rise and overthrow the government. Boshi’s spunk has thrust him into the hearts of anti-government activists. A Facebook-based group created to praise him now boasts of over 900 fan members, and his photo continues to feature prominently in cyberspace activities of anti-government groups and individuals. Speaking to the BBC, his lawyer said that Boshi remained incommunicado since his arrest, and appealed to Human Rights organizations to demand that the Sudanese government discloses the whereabouts of the young activist. The lawyer further held the Sudanese responsible for his safety from torture and return to his family. “We know why Boshi was arrested. He committed no crime except telling the truth in the face of a man holding a public position,” the lawyer said. A petition calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Boshi was extended to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday. The petition argues that Boshi’s arrest contravenes Sudan’s constitutional obligations and the international conventions that the government has agreed to. Sudan has witnessed an increase in dissent since the eruption last year of popular revolts in some Arab countries and the decline of economic conditions following the secession of South Sudan. But the government has managed to contain several small protests, and its officials continue to voice confidence that Sudan is unlikely to experience a popular uprising. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudanese-activist-arrested-days,41152 Link to the video of Boshi’s public criticism against Nafe Ali Nafe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOxa2dt0Plw END7 8. Sudan shuts Islamist paper in media crackdown Mon Jan 2, 2012 8:39pm GMT KHARTOUM Jan 2 (Reuters) - Sudan shut the newspaper of the country's largest Islamist opposition party on Monday, the latest step in a growing crackdown on independent media in the large African country. Security forces raided offices belonging to the daily al-Rai al-Shaab newspaper run by the Popular Congress Party of Hassan al-Turabi. They told staff that publication would be halted and the paper's assets confiscated, the party said. "They haven't given us any reason for the decision. They are now occupying the newspaper's building," said party spokesman Naji Dahab. "We think it's because the government cannot handle press freedom." Journalists in Sudan complain of increasing pressure and harassment by security forces if they criticise the government or cover sensitive issues such as Sudan's severe economic crisis since the south split to become an independent state last July. On several occasions in recent months, security forces have confiscated entire editions of independent newspapers, editors say. Al-Rai al-Shaab, a regular critic the government, had only resumed publication in October after a previous government-ordered shutdown lasting several months. The Sudanese Media Center (SMC), a state-linked news website, said the paper had been closed because it had violated professional and ethical standards. The SMC added that security services were calling on national media not to violate national security by exploiting Sudan's press freedom. In July, two female journalists were both sentenced to one month in prison for writing about an alleged rape case. One day before the independence of South Sudan in July, Khartoum suspended six newspapers because southerners were among their publishers or owners. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Ben Harding) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL6E8C21NL20120102 END8 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South 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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