Showing posts with label Salah Abdallah Gosh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salah Abdallah Gosh. Show all posts

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Sudan appoints new director of general intelligence Ahmed Mufaddal, formerly deputy director - sources

Report at and by Reuters.com

Dated Saturday 27 November 2021

Sudan appoints new director of general intelligence - sources


KHARTOUM, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Sudans’s sovereign council has appointed a new director of the general intelligence service, official sources told Reuters on Saturday.


He is Ahmed Mufaddal, formerly deputy director.


Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Moataz Abdelrahiem; Editing by Nick Macfie


View original: https://www.reuters.com/article/sudan-politics-intelligence-idAFS8N2R101W

Monday, February 17, 2020

Sudan: Salah Gosh in Egypt, his ex-agents attempt Sudan coup - Army retakes intelligence buildings

NOTE from Sudan Watch editor: The following news from Reuters dated 14 January 2020 says Sudan's former head of intelligence Mr Salah Gosh is believed to be in Egypt. Also, the Sudanese army quelled an armed revolt in Sudan by Gosh's former security agents on 14 January 2020. Wondering whether Alex de Waal would class the 'revolt' as an attempted coup and add it, plus the one last July (see below), to his list of others in Sudan (see History of coups in Khartoum Sudan by Alex de Waal - Sudan Watch, 21 April 2019 https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2019/04/history-of-coups-in-khartoum-sudan-alex.html)

Copy of news report from Reuters.com
Publication date: Tuesday 14 January 2020, 11:27 AM 
By: Khaled Abelaziz, El Tayeb Siddig
Title: UPDATE 6-Sudan quells revolt of former spy service men after clashes

* Gunfire heard in capital, two oilfields shut down
* Sudan in middle of transition after ousting of Bashir
* Paramilitary head says will not accept any coup (Adds army retakes intelligence buildings, details)

KHARTOUM, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Armed ex-security agents linked to Sudan’s toppled ruler Omar al-Bashir fought soldiers in the capital Khartoum for hours until government forces quelled the revolt late on Tuesday, residents and a military source said.

The violence was the biggest confrontation so far between the old guard and supporters of the new administration, which helped topple Bashir in April after 30 years in power.

The former employees of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) also shut two small oilfields in Darfur in protest about their severance packages, a government source told Reuters. They had an output of around 5,000 barrels per day.

Late Tuesday, soldiers seized back control of all buildings where ex-NISS agents had hours earlier opened fire on government forces, a military source told Reuters.

The former NISS staff surrendered after negotiations, the source said.

Restructuring the once feared security apparatus blamed for suppressing dissent under Bashir was among the key demands of the uprising that forced his removal.

However, once dismissed by the new transitional government, many of the security agents returned to their barracks without being disarmed after leaving the ministries and streets they once controlled.

Residents said the clashes broke out at noon between the former security staff and forces loyal to the transitional government in a northern district of Khartoum where gunfire could be heard for hours.

In a second location next to the airport, ex-NISS staff seized a security building, which was then surrounded by government forces and where gunfire could also be heard, witnesses said.

Four people suffered gunshot wounds but were in stable condition, a doctors’ committee linked to the civilian government said in a statement.

Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s most powerful paramilitary group, which supports the new government, said while he would not consider Tuesday’s incident a coup attempt, any such action would not be tolerated.

“We will not accept any coup, we will not accept any illegal change. The only change will come from the Sudanese people,” he said before his troops helped end the revolt.

AIRSPACE CLOSED
Information Minister Faisal Mohamed Saleh said the gunmen were former employees angry at the terms they had been offered upon their dismissal.

Authorities closed Sudan’s airspace for five hours as a precautionary measure after the start of the shooting, a Civil Aviation Ministry spokesman said.

Dagalo said that former Sudan intelligence chief Salah Gosh and a member of Bashir’s old ruling party was behind the NISS unrest.

“This is a coordinated plan by Salah Gosh and another member of the National Congress party including some generals from intelligence service,” he told a news conference during a visit to South Sudan’s capital Juba on Tuesday.

“The person behind this shooting today is Salah Gosh. He has many generals active within the security sector with an aim to create confusion and fighting.”

Gosh, believed to be in Egypt, could not be immediately reached for comment. 

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, Eltayeb Siddig and Nayera Abdallah with additional reporting by Denis Dumo in Juba; Writing by Amina Ismail and Ulf Laessing; Editing by William Maclean, Alison Williams, and Marguerita Choy)

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Copy of news report by Reuters
Publication date: Tuesday 14 January 2020, 9:54 PM 
Title: Sudanese government forces retake all intelligence buildings in capital - military source
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese government forces managed late on Tuesday to retake all intelligence buildings in capital held by security agents in revolt, a military source said.

The security agents surrendered after negotiations with their leaders, the source said. They had opened fire to protest against their severance packages.

(Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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Report from The Guardian UK 
By AFP in Khartoum, Sudan
Publication date: Thu 11 July 2019 23.04 BST
Last modified on Thu 11 July 2019 23.27 BST
Title: Sudan's ruling militia says it's survived coup attempt
Photo: Gen Jamal Omar of Sudan’s ruling military council says 16 soldiers have been arrested. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty

Excerpts: Sudan’s ruling military council has foiled a coup attempt, a top general has announced on state television, saying that 12 officers and four soldiers have been arrested.
“Officers and soldiers from the army and national intelligence and security service, some of them retired, were trying to carry out a coup,” Gen Jamal Omar of the ruling military council said in a statement broadcast live on state television. “The regular forces were able to foil the attempt.” He did not say when the attempt was made.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Sudan: The last days of Bashir in the palace

  • On 30 August 2019 during the third trial session of Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir, the court in Khartoum indicted Bashir on charges of suspicious enrichment and illegal dealing with foreign exchange.  This follows charges in May with incitement and involvement in the killing of protestors during the demonstrations that led to his overthrow in April. 
  • According to the spokesperson of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Bashir’s 2009 arrest warrant for crimes against humanity under the ICC remains valid.  
  • “The court has and will continue seeking the compliance of Sudan with its obligation under international law and in relation to the resolution 1539 of the United Nations Security Council,” ICC Spokesperson Fadi el Abdallah told Ayin.
  • Bashir’s trial will resume tomorrow [07 Sep 2019] while a future trial at the Hague may become a reality if Sudan’s justice system cannot demonstrate a genuine national investigation and prosecution will take place, Abdallah added.  Full story:
Article from and by Ayin Network.com
Dated 06 September 2019 
The last days of Bashir in the palace, new days in court
The moment millions of Sudanese entered into the vicinity of the General Command of the Army Headquarters on 6 April [2019], the deposed former President al-Bashir was sitting on a chair with another set of empty chairs around him in the courtyard of his residence. Outside his presidential palace overlooking the Nile, protests against his rule intensified, eventually ousting him five days later.

Ayin conducted an exclusive interview with close confidants of the former president that worked within the presidential palace. The sources described to Ayin the scene they saw of the former president just days prior to his arrest. The names of these sources remain confidential for their security.

To curb stress, former president Bashir pulled tattered strings off his Muslim skull cap while three of his presidential aides entered the room. The conversation was stilted and everyone sat in awkward silence. To cut the tension, according to a witness, one of the two aides attempted to make small talk about Bashir’s cap, noting the colour and how it was the first time to see the former president wearing such a hat. Bashir responded by noting the skull cap was the “fashion of the day” and were worn among young people. Gaining access to the presidential palace and then Al-Bashir’s residence was challenging for the three presidential aides –loud protests calling for Bashir to step down could be heard all around them.

They were convinced that they must meet and console the former president in the palace at this difficult time, according to one of the aides. While driving tinted-window cars through the alleyways of central Khartoum to reach al-Bashir’s residence, the three aides could see the multitude of protestors and realised their days of employment were numbered. None of them could have predicted the turnout against the former president. The short distance from the presidential palace to the guest house where Bashir resided seemed longer than ever, the aide told Ayin. The short road appeared to represent the end of Bashir’s 30-year regime. 

The aides entered the former president’s residence at around 5 pm on 6 April where Bashir and his guards sat on full alert, covering the entrances, fearing an attack. A tear gas grenade could be heard outside from security forces in a futile attempt to disperse a crowd of millions in front of the army command post. Bashir could clearly hear the crowds chanting outside, calling for his ouster, according to the inside sources. 

Abdallah al-Bashir, the President’s brother, appeared with a number of Bashir’s bodyguards, and after the salute, he whispered in the president’s ear and called on the guards accompanying him to return to the palace. It turned out that he was accompanying them to the roof of the new palace building inside the general command of the army, where he was monitoring the masses outside and relaying what he saw to his brother. According to one of the former president’s aides, he had never seen Bashir appear so weak and distraught.

Another witness Ayin spoke to claims he saw the former head of security, Salah Gosh, speak to Bashir, allegedly promising to clear the area of the protestors outside his residence. But this never took place.
The break up that did not break
On 7 April, the security committee told President Bashir of their decision to break up the sit-in in front of the army headquarters. Bashir gathered his family and informed them of the decision and asked his relatives who were with him in the guest house to leave the palace and ordered his younger brother, Musaab, to stay with him, according to the two confidential sources that spoke to Ayin.

While waiting for the commencement of the security operation to break up the sit-in, Musaab and others went up to the roof of the palace to see the operation and how it was being carried out. Musab was accompanied by a number of the former president’s guards and security officers. Bullets could be heard. The source of bullets was not known to them before they learned moments later that an army force sided with the revolutionaries and exchanged fire with the security forces and even repulsed them to keep the sit-in going.

This was a difficult reality for those who planned to break up the sit-in and waited for the hour of victory to return directly from the top of their building to inform the former president that the operation had been successful. Instead, no genuine counter-attack against the protestors took place and Bashir would eventually find himself re-accommodated from a palace to a prison where he is currently facing trial. 

Sudan's Bashir 'took $90m from Saudi crown prince', corruption trial hears
[See tweet by Middle East Eye here:

On trial at home, possibly abroad
On 30 August during Bashir’s third trial session, the court indicted Bashir on charges of suspicious enrichment and illegal dealing with foreign exchange. This follows charges in May with incitement and involvement in the killing [https://3ayin.com/june-3-massacre/] of protestors during the demonstrations that led to his overthrow in April. 

Far from the glittery walls of the palace, the former president now sits in a cage in front of Justice Al Sadiq Abdul Rahman who refused a bail request, citing the law preventing such a measure for crimes that involve prison sentences that potentially exceed 10 years. 

But Bashir may face further trials in a different setting. According to the spokesperson of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Bashir’s 2009 arrest [https://www.icc-cpi.int/darfur/albashirwarrant for crimes against humanity under the ICC remains valid. “The court has and will continue seeking the compliance of Sudan with its obligation under international law and in relation to the resolution 1539 of the United Nations Security Council,” ICC Spokesperson Fadi el Abdallah told Ayin. Bashir’s trial will resume tomorrow [07 Sep 2019] while a future trial at the Hague may become a reality if Sudan’s justice system cannot demonstrate a genuine national investigation and prosecution will take place, Abdallah added.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Sudan’s ‘revolution’ was a military coup in disguise

Opinion piece from Middle East Monitor.com
By KHALIL CHARLES @khalilcharles
Published: July 4, 2019
Title: Sudan's 'revolution' was a military coup in disguise

Photo: Sudan's ousted President Omar Al-Bashir in Khartoum on 28 February 2019 [ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images]

According to well-informed sources, on the night of 22 February this year, as the invited guests in Sudan’s presidential palace gardens and television crews waited for the President to arrive and address the nation, the country’s former head of intelligence was also waiting. 

Enraged by President Omar Al-Bashir’s words, Major General Salah Abdallah, also known as Salah Gosh, made the snap decision to do everything in his power to depose him.

Just hours before, Abdallah had agreed with the President on the three points that he would later make in his own statement to the foreign media prior to Al-Bashir’s speech: The President would step down as head of the ruling National Congress Party; he would become a national figure independent of political parties; and he would not seek re-election next year.

Abdallah’s agreement with President Al-Bashir followed weeks of protests and civil unrest calling for the end of his 30-year rule. On the night of 22 February, the political pressure within the corridors of power as well as the tension on the streets made the agreed statement the most prudent course of action. However, as Al-Bashir walked out with the aid of his customary walking stick, the atmosphere had changed. He had arrived some six hours late. The delay only increased the anticipation and tension, but when Salah Abdallah asked quietly about the delay and the outcome of the leadership meeting, sources say that, “His impatience turned to seething rage.”

It transpired that Al-Bashir had been persuaded by the leadership of the National Congress, his close family and, indeed, some elements in the Army, neither to step down as leader, nor to declare himself a national figure and, crucially, not to announce that he would not be seeking re-election in 2020. The reaction to his speech was almost universal condemnation across Sudan and in the Sudanese diaspora. According to Sudanese journalist and activist Faisal Mohammed Salih, this was “one of the worst” speeches ever heard in Sudan. “I was appearing on satellite on Sky News Arabia,” he explained, “and seconds after the speech ended that is how I described it.”

The following morning, Abdallah put the wheels in motion to unseat the President. He gave strict orders to the security services not to intervene to stop the demonstrations from going ahead, despite the announcement of a state of emergency preventing movement after midnight and prohibiting gatherings in public places. Days after Al-Bashir’s announcement, public marches and protests intensified.
Photo: Sudanese demonstrators gather to protest demanding a civilian transition government in front of military headquarters outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan on 3 May 2019 [Mahmoud Hjaj/Anadolu Agency]

Abdallah then contacted his trusted confidante, Mohammed Hamdan Dalagu of the Rapid Support Forces [the former Janjaweed militias] and now Deputy President of the Transitional Military Council, as well as Taha Hussein, a Sudanese-Saudi national dismissed by Al-Bashir for siding with the Saudis against Qatar during the Gulf crisis. Hussein maintained close links with the United Arab Emirates, where the government was kept informed of Abdallah’s master plan every step of the way. The intelligence chief then met secretly with Sudanese army officers to galvanise support for the takeover.

According to the source, who spoke directly to Abdallah, he was fully aware of the level of discontent among high ranking officers. Having sought agreement to his plan he then cleared the way for protesters to change the direction of their marches towards the Army Headquarters rather than towards the palace.

All attempts to gather on the area in front of the palace had previously been repelled with great force by the security forces, but on the 6 April anniversary of the coup against former President Gaafar Numeri the crowds swelled to hundreds of thousands.

It is unclear whether or not President Al-Bashir was made aware of the full extent of the protests. However, Salah Abdallah deployed up to 15,000 security personnel among the protesters to agitate and support the protest against the President. “As ordered, I spent three nights outside the Army Headquarters calling for the fall of Al-Bashir,” said security officer Badderdeen, who doubles as a taxi driver during the day. “I only moved when I got word that the Rapid Support Forces had been given orders to break up the protests and I knew there would be bloodshed.” Indeed, Al-Bashir had ordered the streets to be cleared but Dalagu told audiences weeks later of his refusal to follow the order to kill innocent people. “In the end, Dalagu is part of the revolution,” Badderdeen added. “If it was not for him this revolution could never have happened.”

On the morning of 11 April, the fifteen bodyguards accompanying President Al-Bashir to the dawn prayer were surrounded by 90 soldiers who encircled the small mosque in Hai Al-Matar. At the end of the prayer, Al-Bashir was surrounded as he stood in the first row to the left of the Imam. Salah Abdallah’s preparations had finally paid off. Al-Bashir was led away without a struggle to the guest room of his home adjoining the Army headquarters. Eventually, he was transferred to Kober Federal Prison, along with dozens of prominent members of the ruling National Congress Party who had been arrested simultaneously that morning, where he was to be held in isolation.

The Transitional Military Council then set about the task of camouflaging its coup d’état with the euphoria of revolutionary sentiment but woefully misjudged the demands of the Sudanese people. The coup may have been successful as far as the military was concerned, but in the minds of the protesters, the revolution was never just about removing Omar Al-Bashir. His 30 years in power not only represented the worst excesses of corruption, oppression and mismanagement, but more than anything he also represented the illegitimacy of the military’s unwelcomed role in politics since Sudan’s independence in 1956. Sudan’s “revolution” was a military coup in disguise; the struggle for civilian rule continues.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Southern Sudan walks out of talks on secession

THE peaceful division of Sudan into two independent nations this summer appears in jeopardy after leaders of southern Sudan walked out of talks over what they say are plans by the northern government to install "a puppet government" in the oil-rich south.

The National Congress Party (NCP) dismissed the south's accusations as an attempt to deflect criticism over weeks of violence since a referendum in January that overwhelmingly approved separation.

The south's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) has accused the NCP of fuelling conflicts in southern Sudan as it plans to overthrow the region’s government.

Addressing the press on Sunday in Juba, the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) Minister of Peace and CPA Implementation Pagan Amum said the north has been supporting and financing militias to destabilise the region.

Full details below, followed by latest news from Sudan Radio Service (SRS). (Note: Click here to read Update Report No. 1 on Libya from the UN Security Council published Monday, 14 March 2011).

Southern Sudan walks out of talks on secession
From The Kansas City Star, USA - www.kansascity.com
By ALAN BOSWELL
McClatchy Newspapers
Published online Monday, 14 March 2011, 06:44 PM. Copy in full:
The peaceful division of Sudan into two independent nations this summer appears in jeopardy after leaders of southern Sudan walked out of talks here over what they say are plans by the northern government to install "a puppet government" in the oil-rich south.

Citing documents as hard proof of the allegations, the southern leaders broke off talks Saturday aimed at setting formulas for dividing northern and southern Sudan into two independent nations in July after 50 years of civil war.

The documents, which were obtained by McClatchy Newspapers on Monday but whose authenticity could not be independently verified, appear to be official internal communications within Sudan's northern government from 2009 to late 2010.

Some pages indicate that northern military leaders provided arms to key southern rebels within the last year, including George Athor, a renegade former senior general in the southern army who killed 200 civilians in an attack last month on a remote village and who launched another against a major provincial capital on Saturday that killed dozens.

The south's Sudan People's Liberation Movement has long maintained that the northern government has continued its wartime policy of arming southern dissidents even after a 2005 peace deal between the two sides. The north's National Congress Party consistently denies such claims.

"The National Congress Party is not interested in peace, it is not interested in cooperation. They are only interested in destabilizing Southern Sudan," Pagan Amum, secretary-general of the south's Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said Monday.

The public row began Saturday, when Amum unexpectedly announced that the SPLM was suspending participation in negotiations with the north over such sticky issues as how to split Sudan's oil industry, how to divide the nation's national debt and where to draw the disputed border.

The NCP dismissed the south's accusations as an attempt to deflect criticism over weeks of violence since a referendum in January that overwhelmingly approved separation. But the NCP has not reacted to the documents specifically.

"They will come back," said Salah Gosh, a northern official and a former Sudanese intelligence chief. "They have no other way rather than to sit down and solve the problem."

One of the documents appears to be a letter dated May 18, 2010, and signed by a military commander in the northern city of Kosti that reports that a delivery of weapons and ammunition had just been given to an Athor agent.

Another, dated Sept. 22, 2010, is from the head of northern military intelligence requesting permission to arm Lam Akol, a senior opposition figure, and other "friendly forces." A corresponding reply the next day grants the request.

Amum said the documents prove that the north hopes to overthrow the southern government and is possibly preparing for genocide against southern people.

The hostile rhetoric has put an end to a brief honeymoon period following the north's decision to accept the rebellious south's choice to separate from northern rule.

One of the biggest drivers of ongoing tensions is the disputed border region of Abyei, where more than 100 people died in a week of fighting beginning Feb. 27. At least three southern villages were attacked and burned by northern fighters. Although small in size and population, Abyei has a strong lobby within the SPLM and its local tribe holds a number of senior positions.

Mediation efforts by the United States, the African Union, and the United Nations have failed to find a political solution on Abyei. A White House statement last week condemned both sides for deploying troops in the area in violation of the 2005 peace deal.

Monday was the final day for southern security forces to withdraw before northern cattle herders move south into southern-inhabited Abyei land, said Al Dirdiri Mohammed Ahmed, the lead NCP negotiator on Abyei. The official said he expected a "lot of skirmishes" and deterioration of the situation in the coming days.

A senior southern official in Abyei, Charles Abyei, said that the remarks proved that the NCP is directing the northern attacks.

(Boswell is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent. His reporting is supported in part by a grant from Humanity United, a California-based human rights foundation.)
Note from Sudan Watch Editor
How to split Sudan's oil industry, how to divide the nation's national debt and where to draw the disputed border? I say, imagine this: Sudanese elders and youth organising the pooling of monetary wealth generated from contested area of Abyei to pay off Sudan's debts, pay for peacekeepers and pay for welfare, education and water systems for ALL residents of ALL age groups in Sudan (not forgetting the animals, birds, wildlife, plants, etc.) You may say that I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one...

P.S. There are two sides to every story and probably neither one is the truth. There's an information war and cyber war going on at the moment. Don't believe much of what's reported, except for here :-) This note is disjointed as I'm over-exhausted while staying up late to post this (now 2:53 AM). Friends of Sudan Watch would not believe what I've been going through here over past six months. Sorry if I owe you an email, it may take a few months or more.
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LATEST NEWS FROM SRS - SUDAN RADIO SERVICE - www.sudanradio.org

14 March 2011 – (Juba) – The SPLM has accused the National Congress Party of fuelling conflicts in southern Sudan as it plans to overthrow the region’s government.

Addressing the press on Sunday in Juba, the GOSS Minister of Peace and CPA Implementation Pagan Amum said the north has been supporting and financing militias to destabilize the region.

[Pagan Amum]: “Khartoum has become the headquarters of all the militia groups that are working to destabilized southern Sudan. You have followed what happened in Jonglei, Unity states, and a few days ago it happened in Malakal, Upper Nile state. All these are taking place and are happening as part of plans by the National Congress Party and its leadership to overthrow the government of southern Sudan before July and install a puppet government in southern Sudan that will be under the control of National Congress Party and this is to deny independence of southern Sudan.”

Amum further accused the NCP of arming border communities to carry out genocide in southern Sudan.

[Pagan Amum]: “The other plan is arming Janjaweed forces along the border from Umda–Fok up to the border with Sennar. They have been arming Arab tribes and creating Janjaweed along the border between the south and the north, especially from the Misseriya. Their plan is to make these tribes to confront southern Sudan so that they carry out genocide and destroy the south and the people of southern Sudan like what they have done in Darfur.”

Amum added that the SPLM leadership calls on the UN Security Council to investigate the alleged involvement of the NCP in destabilizing peace and security in southern Sudan.

Following these claims, the SPLM leadership suspended talks on preparations for southern independence with the NCP.
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14 March 2011 – (Khartoum) – Responding to the SPLM allegations, the advisor to the federal minister of information Dr. Rabie Abdullaati said the NCP has no hand in what is happening in southern Sudan.

He spoke to SRS on Monday from Khartoum.

[Rabie Abdullaati]: “This is a biased accusation. First President al-Bashir announced worldwide that we accepted the referendum results. We have implemented the agreements and we are discussing post-referendum issues. This coupled with the accusations by Pagan Amum; one can only conclude that it is only illusion or failure to meet the needs of southern Sudanese while preparing for an independent country.”

Abdullaati said southern leaders have failed to solve many internal problems and that is why they blame the north.

[Rabie Abdullaati]: “There are a lot of problems in the south that the Government of Southern Sudan has failed to solve. There is a problem between the SPLM and the rest of the opposition parties and there is tribalism. So Pagan Amum and the SPLM find themselves in a dilemma and there is no way-out unless they hung it to the north. This issue has no basis and such accusations come out of failure to accept responsibility.”

That was the advisor to the federal minister of information Dr. Rabie Abdullaati speaking to SRS on Sunday.
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14 March 2011 – (Juba) – Latest reports indicate that more than 30 people were killed and many others wounded in the recent clashes in Malakal Upper Nile state on Saturday.

A militia group led by commander Olony, said to be loyal to renegade General George Athor clashed with the SPLA in Malakal town on Saturday morning.

The SPLA spokesperson, Colonel Phillip Aguer Panyang confirmed the incident to SRS from Juba on Monday.

[Philip Aguer Panyang]: “The casualty on the side of the attackers in accordance with our first information was 23, but after some search, inside and around the town, the casualties of the rebels stood at 26. Also, one police soldier and one SPLA soldier were killed. 6 more SPLA soldiers were wounded 2 civilians were this morning reported to have died from the attack while 15 more civilians are wounded. Now the SPLA is in control of Malakal town and the situation is normal in Malakal.”

The Upper Nile state minister of information and communication, Peter Lam Both also told SRS on Monday from Malakal that there was no displacement of civilians following the attack.

[Peter Lam Both]: “No, people have not been displaced in Malakal. It was an incident that happened near the airport and in an area called Ray al Masri. What we have done as the government of the state is to put a very strong security in place. We have a curfew in place now and we want to make sure that anyone coming to Malakal is a civilian. We have introduced check points so that people who are armed will not enter the capital of Upper Nile state.”

That was the minister for Information and Communication in Upper Nile state, Peter Lam Both speaking to SRS from Malakal on Monday.
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14 March 2011 – (Wau) – More than three thousand Sudan Armed Forces elements in the Joint Integrated Units this week will leave Western Bahr el Ghazal state back to the north.

This is part of an agreement by the Joint Defense Council that all SAF-JIU forces should withdraw from the region by mid-April.

Our reporter Christina Jambo reports from Wau.

[Christina Jambo]: “Yes I visited the JIU headquarters known as Girinte in Wau. According to the management, three thousand soldiers will be transported today (Monday) using eight vehicles and the rest will travel on Wednesday by train to El Obeid in Northern Kordofan state. From there they will wait for orders for the next move. I have seen the trains ready to take the soldiers. The southerners in the JIU said they are not taking their families because they don’t know what is going to happen on their way to the north and also others said that they are just going for a short time to hand over and get their dues and they will be back so some are happy and others are really confused.”

The Council agreed that by 9th of April all the SAF-JIU forces should have withdrawn back to the north.
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14 March 2011 – (Kadugli) – The National Election Commission is conducting a two-day workshop on election laws in Kadugli, Southern Kordofan state starting on Monday.

The chairperson of the Southern Kordofan High Election Committee Mohamed Idris Mousa spoke to SRS on Monday from Kadugli.

[Mohamed Idris]: “The workshop in the parliament was organized by the Southern Kordofan High Election commission and it will discuss the election law, screening and appeals. The officials who came from Khartoum include General Abdulla Al Hardulo and the legal Adviser Joseph. The two-day’ workshop started today at 10:00 AM and will end tomorrow at 4:00 PM. About a hundred people are attending including the judiciary, security personnel, including police, the political parties and UNIMIS election department.”

Idris said that so far the election body has only received to applications for the post of governorship in the region; SPLM’s Abul Aziz Al Hilu and NCP’s Mohammed Haroun Run.
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14 March 2011 – (Kadugli) – The SPLM has presented it’s nominees for both gubernatorial and parliamentary elections in Southern Kordofan State on Saturday.

Elections in the region are scheduled for May 2011.

The S-P-L-M spokesperson in Southern Kordofan State, Mohamadain Ibrahim Omar spoke to SRS from Kadugli on Saturday.

[Mohamadain Ibrahim]: “The S-P-L-M has submitted names of all its candidates for the legislative and executive elections in Southern Kordofan state, and submitted the candidature of Lieutenant-General Abdul-Aziz Adam Al-Hilu for the position of governorship in Southern Kordofan state. Also we have submitted the candidature of thirty-two members for geographical constituencies and eight candidates for party list and fourteen members for women list. The total number of S-P-L-M candidates is fifty-five candidates for various positions. The total number of supporters for Abdul-Aziz Adam Al-Hilu the only S-P-L-M candidate for the governorship is more than twelve thousand. They collected signatures and presented them to the election commission.”

The S-P-L-M chairman in Gezira State Anwar Mohamed Al-Hajj expressed his support for the candidature of Abdul Aziz Adam Al Hilu who is currently the deputy chairman of the SPLM Northern Sector.
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Further news from SRS:

16-Feb-2011