Sudan orders two US aid agencies to withdraw from Beja area, northeastern Sudan near Eritrea border

March 5, 2006 Associated Press says the Sudanese government has ordered the only two international charity groups to withdraw from the Beja area. No reason given.

Update 8 Mar 2006 (Reuters) Aid agency denies reports it was expelled from Sudan.



Photo: Beja people collect water in the rebel-controlled area of eastern Sudan, near the border with Eritrea June 4, 2005. (Reuters). The Beja Congress is an exiled group representing numerous eastern Sudan tribes. Last year, an alliance signed an accord with the Sudanese government to end its 16-year low-intensity conflict and support a separate peace deal that ended the 21-year southern civil war. The Beja group, however, rejected the accord, saying it failed to meet its demands for a share of wealth and power in the northeastern region.

Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute

March 5, 2006 Strategy Page Someone Is Eventually Going to Lose says: "No good news here. Ethiopia is still mired in ethnic and political disputes that cannot be settled peacefully. Neighboring Eritrea has become a police state, and is demanding that Ethiopia back off in a border dispute. Neither nation can afford another round of warfare over the disputed border town of Badme. But the governments in both countries have pledged their political futures to getting Badme. Someone is eventually going to lose."

Further reading:

Mar 1 2006 Britain to host talks in London re Ethiopia and Eritrea border dispute

Mar 1 2006 Lift ban on helicopter flights, Annan tells Eritrea

Mar 3 2006 Feb 2006 UN report says Eritrea, Libya, Chad supply arms to Darfur rebels