Showing posts with label Al Jazeera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Al Jazeera. Show all posts

Monday, February 05, 2024

What's behind the renewed violence in the disputed Abyei region along South Sudan's border with Sudan?






THE below copied Feb 1, 2024 post at X microblogging platform is by Akol Miyen Kuol @AkolMiyenKuol. Based in Nairobi, Kenya and popularly known as Akoldit, he has authored several books including @AbyeiStatus and is a poet, journalist, political analyst and peace advocate. He was born in the oil-rich region of Abyei in 1974 and has lived in Khartoum | Ex @BBC | Ex @NDI | Ex @UNICEF | #Sudan | #SouthSudan | #Abyei | amazon.com/Books-Akol-Miy… 
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VIDEO report from Aljazeera.com
By Inside Story
Dated Tuesday, 30 January 2024 - here is a copy in full:

What’s behind the renewed violence on South Sudan’s border with Sudan?

More than 50 people were killed in the violence along the border between Sudan and South Sudan.


The disputed Abyei region along the border between Sudan and South Sudan is under curfew after attacks by a South Sudanese rebel group.


More than 50 people were killed in the violence, including women, children and UN peacekeepers.


The area has been volatile for many years, with inter-communal conflict and competing claims by the neighbours.


International peace efforts have essentially stalled since the conflict in Sudan began last year.


South Sudan gained its independence in 2011, but quickly plunged into war.


A peace deal was reached in 2018.


Will this latest violence threaten that agreement? And what’s the effect on the people?


Presenter: Sami Zeidan


Guests: 


Kennedy Mabongo – Country director for the aid agency Norwegian Refugee Council in South Sudan

Douglas Johnson – Scholar on Sudan and South Sudan who served on the Abyei Border Commission

Joshua Craze – Researcher on Sudan and South Sudan who’s been in contact with parties to the conflict in Abyei in the past few days


Video: Duration 28 minutes 00 seconds


To view original and video click here: https://aje.io/ujsxxk


END

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Where does Sudan conflict stand after eight months?

HERE below is a video interview from Al Jazeera English Inside Story
Published at Al Jazeera English online Wed 20 Dec 2023 - copy of text:

Where does the conflict in Sudan stand after eight months?

Fighting shows no sign of ending and no political settlement on the horizon.


It’s been more than eight months since the lives of millions of Sudanese were plunged into conflict and uncertainty.


The paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces, has gained momentum in recent weeks, consolidating its grip on the vast Darfur region and seizing new territory, including the second-largest city, Wad Madani.


It’s been a major hub for people displaced from their homes.


The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) – a regional body which has been trying to spearhead peace talks – said last week that had it secured a commitment from the rival sides to implement a ceasefire and hold dialogue.


So how does this latest development in Wad Madani change the dynamics of the conflict?

See video interview:

Duration 28 minutes 30 seconds

Presenter: Cyril Vanier

Guests:

Hamid Khalafallah – Researcher and policy analyst specialising on Sudan’s constitution building

Alan Boswell – Horn of Africa project pirector at the International Crisis Group

David Shinn – Former US chief of mission in Sudan

Direct Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2023/12/20/where-does-the-conflict-in-sudan-stand-after-eight-months


ENDS

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Gulf states are mapping Khartoum’s future

Article from Chatham House, UK
Written by MOHAMED EL AASSAR
Senior Journalist at BBC Monitoring’s Middle East and North Africa team
Dated 29 July 2019
Gulf states are mapping Khartoum’s future
Fate of power sharing deal in Sudan rests in the hands of wealthy donors
Photo:  Sudanese deputy head of the Transitional Military Council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo
Since Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese leader, was forced to step down in April by pro-democracy street protesters, the governing Transitional Military Council has received strong backing from the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Bashir and Saudi Arabia have a long and tangled history. For many years, the two were sworn enemies. But since 2014, Saudi Arabia has co-opted Bashir to remove him from Iran’s sphere of influence. Money flowed in and Saudi lobbying helped remove United States sanctions on Sudan. Iranian cultural, medical and military facilities were closed and diplomats expelled.

In 2015, Sudanese troops joined the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Similarly, the UAE wanted to ‘turn’ Bashir from his Islamist roots, and thus deprive its long-term enemy the Muslim Brotherhood of a safe haven in Khartoum.

All this changed earlier this year. As the street protests began to threaten Bashir’s grip on power, the Saudis and Emiratis started to look to a post-Bashir world.

Despite the Gulf monarchies’ known aversion to Arab uprisings, Saudi and UAE media were uncharacteristically upbeat in their coverage of Bashir’s overthrow – in many cases even appearing to support the protest movement.

This contrasted with Gulf rival Qatar’s Al Jazeera, which depicted the crisis as a conflict between military and civilian rule, and warned of a ‘coup’ against Bashir.

This didn’t help the Sudanese president, however. A past master at playing Gulf rivals off against each other, this time he had suddenly lost his touch.

After Bashir                                                                             
At the height of the protests he visited his long-time Qatari patron to ask for Doha’s money and backing. He returned empty-handed. For its part, the UAE reportedly refused to extend further support until he purged his administration of Islamists. Something he refused to do.

After the fall of Bashir, Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced a $3 billion aid package to meet Sudan’s most pressing needs. At about the same time, Sudanese media were gripped by the return of Major- General Taha Othman al-Hussein to Khartoum. Once Bashir’s chief of staff, he had fallen out with his former boss and turned up in Riyadh as a Saudi royal adviser.

He returned to Khartoum at the head of an Emirati delegation. It is widely believed that he was the architect of Sudan’s participation in the Yemen conflict, having overseen the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as part of his earlier role at the presidency.

As well as playing a much-feared security enforcement role in Sudan, the RSF also provides the main component of the Sudanese forces fighting in the Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Sudanese are posted at Yemen’s volatile border with Saudi, have fought in battles for control of Yemen’s west coast and provide security in cities in the coalition-controlled south.

The Yemeni rebels call them ‘mercenaries’ and ‘Janjaweed’ – the latter a reference to the RSF’s role in laying waste to Darfur in the early 2000s.

The Sudanese media don’t like them much either. They too refer to the forces as Janjaweed and accuse them of terrorizing civilians and carrying out ‘barbaric and brutal assaults’ against peaceful protesters.

Their leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemeti, is loathed by the opposition. Facebook groups have branded him ‘a devil’ and the RSF the ‘Rapist Savage Forces’.

A former camel trader turned military leader, he was described by the influential pro-opposition website Dabanga as a man who has ‘never entered a military college, even for a single day, never trained or attended any military course, and never achieved any academic or any military awards’.

When Hemeti recently boasted about the large Sudanese contingent in the coalition in Yemen, another opposition website questioned why the lives of 30,000 Sudanese were being put at risk in a war in which Sudan has neither ‘a camel nor a mule at stake’. A column in the privately owned Sudanese newspaper Al-Jaridah said the Sudanese military ‘do not represent us and are not authorized to speak in our name when they say that Sudanese soldiers will remain in Yemen’.

Hemeti’s central role in the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the violent dispersal of protests have not helped improve the military’s popularity. In April, videos circulated on social media depicted the Sudanese army ‘protecting’ the demonstrators outside military headquarters in Khartoum. Now the media make little reference to Sudan’s armed forces.

Saudi changes tack                                                              
As negotiations between the opposition and the military leaders stalled, the Saudis shifted tactics.
Their media prominently featured veteran Sudanese opposition figure Sadiq al-Mahdi, who was calling for compromise between the opposition and the military.

Saudi-owned, Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV tried to present itself as an objective observer. It gave equal air time to opposition and pro-TMC voices and regularly hosted representatives of the Sudanese Professionals Association, the group that had spearheaded the protests.

To their credit, Al Arabiya’s Sudanese reporters regularly reframe loaded questions by anchors and question TMC accusations against the protest movement in their live two-ways.

In July, the military and the opposition finally signed an agreement on a joint sovereign council that will rule during a transitional period.

Whether or not this compromise deal holds, Sudan’s future will continue to be heavily influenced by Gulf rivalries – backed by huge amounts of Gulf cash.

AUTHOR: Mohamed El Aassar is a Senior Journalist at BBC Monitoring’s Middle East and North Africa team

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Sudan Army coup attempt in Khartoum could be under way

Al Jazeera English published a video news report at Google's YouTube Thur, 11 Apr 2019. Click on link here below to view the video. Here is a copy of a news report by Al Jazeera posted with the video:
Sudan Army says it will make important 'announcement'
The Sudanese Army has deployed troops around the defence ministry, on key roads and bridges in the capital Khartoum.

There are reports the head of the ruling party and the former vice president have been detained.

Thousands have flocked to the streets of the capital - and joined a sit-in outside the military headquarters. 

That protest has been taking place since Saturday.

Earlier, state television said the armed forces would make an important announcement, amid speculation a coup attempt could be under way against President Omar al-Bashir. It follows months of protests against his 30-year rule.

Al Jazeera's Hiba Morgan reports.
Al Jazeera is funded in whole or in part by the Qatari government.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Rising cases of meningitis reported in Garida and South Nyala in S. Darfur - Meningitis cases rise to 120 in W. Darfur

From SRS - Sudan Radio Service, Wednesday, 21 April 2010:
(Garida) – Rising cases of meningitis have been reported in Garida and South Nyala payams in Southern Darfur State.

Speaking to SRS from Garida payam on Tuesday, the Minister of Health in Southern Darfur state, Mohammed Haroun Ahmed, confirmed the cases.

[Mohammed Haroun Ahmed]: “Cases of meningitis had been discovered in Southern Darfur. In Nyala south we have discovered five cases. The Ministry of Health in the state in cooperation with other organizations such as UNICEF and WHO managed to vaccinate around 60 thousand citizens in South Nyala and at the moment things are under control. However we are still concerned about Garida because more cases have been discovered there. We are going to send a team there tomorrow to vaccinate the people there”

Northern Darfur State Minister of health, Khalid Ali Alfagiri told SRS that his ministry is adequately prepared to curb the break out state.

[Khalid Fagiri Arabic]: “We suspect that there could be some cases present in northern Darfur State. We have done some tests and we are yet to confirm when the results are out. For now, everything is under control. We have enough drugs that have been distributed all over and most of the hospitals are also ready just in case something happens”

Besides Northern and southern Darfur states, meningitis cases have also been reported in Al-Jazeera and Kasala regions.
Meningitis cases rise to 120 in West Darfur
From Radio Dabanga, Tuesday, 27 April 2010:
(El Geneina) - The number of meningitis cases in West Darfur has risen to 120, according to the health ministry. Jamal Ramadan, the state minister of health, told Radio Dabanga that there were 95 cases in El Geneina, the capital. He added that there is a campaign to combat the disease in all localities. People in the state have expressed fear of spread of the disease because of lack of health care.
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The Glass Test

Meningitis - The Glass Test

Spots or a rash will still be seen when the side of a clear drinking glass is pressed firmly against the skin

A fever, together with spots or a rash that do not fade under pressure, is a medical emergency.

What is meningitis?

Meningitis is inflammation of the meninges, the linings that surround and protect the brain. It can be caused by many different organisms including bacteria, viruses and fungi. Vaccines are the only way to prevent meningitis, and until we have vaccines to prevent all types you need to know the signs and symptoms to look out for and the action to take.

Septicaemia (blood poisoning) is caused when bacteria enter the bloodstream and multiply uncontrollably. Meningococcal bacteria can cause both meningitis and septicaemia. Together these are known as meningococcal disease.

Most cases of meningitis happen alone, but when there is a case of meningococcal disease, there is a small chance that further cases can happen. To reduce the risk of further cases people who have been in close contact may be offered antibiotics.

Photo and text courtesy of www.meningitis-trust.org
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Septicaemic rash on black skin

A septicaemic rash can be harder to see on dark skin, so check for spots over the whole body, especially on paler areas like palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, on the stomach, inside the eyelids (conjunctiva) and on the roof of the mouth (palate).

Source: www.meningitis.org/symptoms/young-people [Click into the link to see symptoms. Note, symptoms can appear in any order. Someone who feels really ill needs medical help even if they have no rash or a rash that fades. Not everyone gets all these symptoms. Septicaemia can occur with or without meningitis]