China has promised to join UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ismail is currently in Vietnam after visiting China. He told the press today China has promised to join the UN peacekeeping force in southern Sudan.

[It would be interesting to know what John Garang thinks of such news. A few months ago, his team hotly objected to troops from any countries with commercial interests in the Sudan as they are bound to be onside with Khartoum.

News reports are emerging once again about French energy giant Total pursuing its legal right to explore oil in southern Sudan - the same area of land that Dr Garang's team signed over to fledgling White Nile, a UK-based shell company that has no experience of oil exploration but provides an entry to the prestigious London markets.]

Recent posts re oil in South Sudan and Darfur:

March 28, 2005: Sudan signs $400m contract with Sudanese White Nile Petroleum for oil field development in southern Sudan
April 18, 2005: White Nile must provide another document to relist shares
April 16, 2005: Sudan says oil discovered in impoverished Darfur
April 3, 2005: Sudan Watch: Oil found in South Darfur - Oil issues threaten to derail Sudan hopes for peace
Use search bar at top of this page for key words, ie oil, China, White Nile.
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Egyptian parliament approves sending troops to Darfur

The Egyptian People's Assembly (PA),the lower house of the parliament, approved Monday (May 23) a decision by President Hosni Mubarak on sending peacekeeping forces to Darfur, the official MENA news agency reported.

The PA said under the request of the UN, Mubarak has proposed to send peacekeeping forces to Darfur for a period of six years, adding that Sudan's security has much to do with Egypt's security.- via SudanTribune May 23, 2005.
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Sudan to set up criminal court to try war crimes in Darfur

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ismail said Sudan will set up a court to try Sudanese citizens accused of war crimes in Darfur within the next three months at the latest.

The UN Security Council in March referred Darfur war crimes suspects to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. But it also left the door open for Sudan to hold its own trials provided these were credible, saying the ICC should encourage such domestic efforts.

Speaking to the press in China, the minister said that Khartoum is cooperating with the AU in this respect and that a Sudanese committee, headed by the minister of justice, would shortly announce the setting up of the court and name the general prosecutor.

Ismail promised the trials would be public and under the supervision of the AU adding that the ICC should encourage such local efforts. Full Story via Sudan Tribune May 22, 2005.



Photo: A special judge, sits in court in Nyala Sept 30, 2004 to try six Sudanese men accused of belonging to the Janjaweed, who killed 24 people in the southern Darfur region in Oct 2003. (Reuters).
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Security police censor English-language daily

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today (May 23) at the action of the Sudanese state security police in banning an entire issue of the English-language Khartoum Monitor newspaper in the earlier hours of 21 May after the editor refused to withdraw a report and an editorial, and then returning the following evening to scrutinise the content of the next day's issue.

[Note, IFEX covers the same news story and points out that Article 19 promotes free expression in peace process.]

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa Egypt China Censorship