Sunday, February 04, 2024

Sudan & South Sudan: Peacekeepers and civilians killed, burning of houses & Abithouk Market in Abyei

GOD help the people of Sudan and South Sudan. Continuing intercommunal clashes in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan have left more than 50 people dead including two peacekeepers, the UN said on Monday. NRC's Will Carter says Abyei came under heavy attack today killing civilians, burning of houses and Abithouk Market. Read more below.

Related Reports (Update 1: Mon 5 Feb 2024 01:28 GMT added AP report)


From UN News

Dated Monday, 29 January 2024 - here is a copy in full:


Peacekeepers and civilians killed during clashes in disputed Abyei region

UNISFA A medical member of the UNISFA Pakistan Battalion provides treatment and medicines to the local community in Um Khae, Abyei (file)


Continuing intercommunal clashes in the disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan have left more than 50 people dead including two peacekeepers, the UN said on Monday. 


Armed youth from rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group have been battling over the location of an administrative boundary in the oil-rich region, claimed by both countries, according to media reports.


The UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) reported that clashes erupted on Saturday in the Nyinkuac, Majbong and Khadian areas, leading to casualties and the evacuation of civilians to its bases. 


Refuge from violence 


UNISFA is engaging with local authorities to verify the numbers of those killed, injured and displaced, noting that 52 civilians have lost their lives while 64 others are said to be gravely wounded. 


The Mission has allowed all persons in imminent threat of danger to seek refuge in some of its camps, in line with its mandate to protect civilians.


Peacekeepers under attack 


On Sunday, peacekeepers were transporting affected civilians from a UNISFA base to a hospital when they came under heavy fire. A peacekeeper from Pakistan was killed, and four uniformed personnel and a local civilian were injured.


The incident happened one day after the Mission repelled an attack on the UNISFA base in Agok during which a Ghanaian peacekeeper was killed, prompting it to call for “a swift and thorough investigation”. 


UNIFSA issued a statement on Monday strongly condemning the attacks against civilians and peacekeepers, stating that violence against “blue helmets” may constitute a war crime under international law.


Call for investigation


“The Mission is making every effort to restore calm, including proactively and robustly protecting civilians, and reiterates its call for a swift investigation so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” according to a statement.


UN Secretary-General António Guterres is deeply concerned about the violence that occurred in Abyei over the weekend, his spokesperson said in a statement later on Monday. 


“The Secretary-General condemns the violence and attacks against UNISFA and calls on the Governments of South Sudan and Sudan to swiftly investigate the attacks, with the assistance of UNISFA, and bring the perpetrators to justice,” it said.  


Mr. Guterres conveyed his deepest condolences to the Government and people of Ghana and Pakistan and to the families of the deceased civilians.


UN in Abyei 


UNISFA was established by the UN Security Council in June 2011 in response to renewed violence, escalating tensions and population displacement in the Abyei region, as southern Sudan was preparing to formally declare independence from Sudan the following month.


The weeks prior to the Council decision were marked by deadly clashes that forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes.


The war between rival military forces in Sudan has compounded the challenges in Abyei, according to senior UN officials who briefed the Council last November. 


They said the conflict has interrupted encouraging signs of dialogue between Sudan and South Sudan and talks over the disputed region have effectively been put on hold. 


View original: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1146007

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From AFP News via The Barron’s Daily

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Dated Sunday, 4 February 2024 - here is a copy in full:


Inter-Sudanese Clashes Leave 19 Dead Over Weekend


Nineteen people, one of them a humanitarian worker, were killed in ethnic clashes over the weekend in the Abyei region straddling the border between Sudan and South Sudan and claimed by both, local authorities said.


Violence between the two countries is common in the oil-rich territory, with 54 people killed last week alone, including two UN peacekeepers.


Another 64 people were injured in fighting last week between two tribes of the main ethnic Dinka  -- the Abyei-based Ngok and their Twic rivals from the neighbouring southern state of Warrap.


Both sides have sought to press their own claim since the South gained independence in 2011, whereupon the area was placed under UN protection.


"The attacks on civilians culminated in the loss of life, setting the market ablaze, property looting and raiding livestock," the Abyei Administrative Authority (AAA ) said.


The AAA said the fighting over the weekend "contravenes the presidential order that calls for a peaceful settlement of the communal conflict between Ngok Dinka and Twic of the Warrap State."


The Authority stated one person was killed and another three abducted on Saturday.


It said that on Sunday 18 people, including "four women and three children, as a well as a humanitarian aid worker from Doctors without Borders," were killed in another attack by Twic youths and armed militiamen.


The conflict between the tribes began in 2022 over land claims in an area located on the southern edge of Abyei and the state of Warrap.


In January, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir called for a ceasefire, months after at least 32 people were killed in November clashes between the two groups. 


str-sva/cw/gv The Barron's news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This article was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com. © Agence France-Presse


Source: https://www.barrons.com/news/inter-sudanese-clashes-leave-19-dead-over-weekend-2c5e69fd

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From Associated Press (AP)

By Deng Machol

Dated Monday, 5 February 2024, 12:43 am GMT - here is a copy in full:


37 people killed in disputed oil-rich African region of Abyei in fighting linked to spiritual leader


JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Thirty-seven people were killed over the weekend in fighting apparently tied to a land feud in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei, an official said Sunday. The bloodshed came a week after 52 people died in a land dispute in the same region.


Information Minister Bolis Koch in Abyei, which is claimed by South Sudan and Sudan, said the fighting erupted in Rum-Ameer, Alal and Mijak counties with an attack by armed youth from South Sudan's Warrap state who were backed by fighters loyal to spiritual leader Gai Machiek from the country's Unity state.


Koch said the fighting left 19 people dead and 18 injured Saturday and claimed the lives of 18 more people Sunday, including four women and three children. He said 1,000 head of cattle also were stolen.


“The Abyei Special Administrative Area strongly condemns the terrorist attacks, the heinous killings of innocent civilians, the burning of local markets and residential areas,” Koch said in a statement.


Ethnic violence has been common in the region, where Twic Dinka tribal members from Warrap are contesting for land with Ngok Dinka people in Abyei's Aneet area, located at the border.


Although land is seen as the major driver of the conflict, officials allege the armed Twic young people are being incited by Machiek, an ethnic Neur spiritual leader who has been accused of formenting conflict. He also was blamed for the attack a week ago that killed 53 people, including two U.N. peacekeepers.


Machiek has denied any wrongdoing in interviews with local media.


Sudan and South Sudan have disagreed over control of the Abyei region since a 2005 peace deal ended decades of civil war between Sudan’s north and south. Abyei's status was unresolved after South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011, though it is under control of South Sudan.


The region’s majority Ngok Dinka people favor South Sudan, while the Misseriya nomads who come to Abyei to find pasture for their cattle favor Sudan. An African Union panel proposed a referendum for Abyei but there was disagreement over who could vote.


View original: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/37-people-killed-disputed-oil-004350997.html

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From BBC News

By Ian Wafula
Africa security correspondent, BBC News, Nairobi

Dated Tuesday, 30 January 2024 14:32 - here is a copy in full:

Bodies of UN peacekeepers killed in Abyei flown home

 Reuters Copyright: Social media footage captured locals gathering 

at a UN peacekeeper camp following deadly attacks.


The bodies of two UN peacekeepers killed in the disputed region of Abyei along South Sudan's border with Sudan have been flown back home.


The Ghanaian and Pakistani peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (Unisfa) were killed in separate incidents following recent intercommunal clashes, according to the UN.


On Saturday, 52 people were killed including the Ghanaian peacekeeper when armed youth launched attacks in different parts of Abyei. The UN said another 64 people were seriously wounded in the process.


Later on Sunday, a convoy transporting some of those injured in Saturday's attack was ambushed killing the Pakistani peacekeeper.


A ceremony attended by the leaders of the nine chiefdoms of Abyei was in held in honour of the two before their bodies were flown home.


Unisfa said it condemned the attacks on their peacekeepers and that this could constitute a war crime under international law. 


There have been continued clashes between local communities in Abyei over land and resources with fears that the ongoing war in Sudan could spill into the region.


A local resident told the BBC that there is tension following recent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Babanusa, a town 260km (160 miles) north of Abyei.


He added that should either of the warring sides in Sudan advance to Abyei, they might clash with the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces personnel who have set camp in parts of the region.


Both Sudan and South Sudan have claimed the oil-rich Abyei but agreed on temporary administrative arrangements in a 2011 deal.


However, the two sides have been accused by human rights activists of going against the agreement.


Abyei currently remains under the protection of UN peacekeeping troops.


Click here to view original. 


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Saturday, February 03, 2024

Sudan: University of Nyala, South Darfur looted - Al-Qandul Initiative to remove books from the library

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This copy of a Feb 3 post at X microblogging platform says (translated from Arabic by Google): "University of Nyala... The Tatars of the era (the Janjaweed) were here... they wreaked havoc... searching for democracy in the corridors of libraries and classrooms... they looted everything and left the books on the ground". 

A reply says (translated from Arabic by Google): "A scene that tears the heart. Compensating homes and notables is one thing, but compensating legacies and sciences is another matter. What is even more painful is that there is an upcoming generation that has lost the path of the sound educational ladder related to age and stage. How many children lost years of their lives between Hemedti, Hamdok, and Burhan..10:42 AM · Feb 3, 2024".

A sample of comments are noted here below along with photos from the post and a Jan 25 report published nine days before the Feb 3 post at X containing undated news. They are documented here as an example of misleading news on social media. The widely shared post has attracted thousands of responses across the world. At first glance it is not easy to tell whether or not the post is propaganda designed to sow seeds of disharmony.

Note that the report says "Nyala University faced looting and vandalism by unknown assailants at the onset of the conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April last year" and that "Nyala University holds significance as one of the largest libraries in the Darfur region".

Also, Nyala youths are "to join the Al-Qandul Initiative in voluntary work to contribute to the restoration of institutions in Nyala impacted by war, emphasizing the collective effort required ... Samira Suleiman, another member of the initiative, called on the university authorities to relocate the salvaged books to a safer location than their current one".

Media studies ought to be taught in all schools worldwide. Right now, one hopes the university authorities will work in the best interest of the people of Darfur and investigate who is behind the Al-Qandul Initiative to remove the books and restore the institutions of Nyala, South Darfur. It is important to ensure that Darfur's educational materials are not interfered with and disappeared in plain sight. Curiously, Darfur's important library and its books were not torched. The books must be kept safe in the right hands.

“Ok, what is their interest in entering the library?

To plunder it” 

عبودي ماكس @Abdoalraashdy

“Because they are actually mercenary thieves” 

Abdelrahim0409 @abdelrahim0409


"Ignorance is a disaster"

9:07 AM · Feb 3, 2024

“Maybe they don't know what a library means and what a book means” 

Mohieldin @mohimg


“Boko Haram”

6:45 AM · Feb 3, 2024

"The University of Nyala was looted by citizens living near the university, specifically the Musiyah neighbourhood. A committee was formed from the youth of the Musiyah neighbourhood, and they informed the people in the mosques that anyone who removed anything from the university should return it. The attempt failed, and they tried again for the second time, searching almost all the houses adjacent to the university. They were able to return 50 percent."

8:24 AM · Feb 3, 2024

"That's horrible, I'm so sorry." 

Larky McRory @LMcRory

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Report at Radio Tamazuj
Dated 25 January 2024 - here is a copy in full:

Youth initiative restores Nyala University library

(SOUTH DARFUR) In Nyala town, South Darfur state, a group of young individuals has launched an initiative to restore the Nyala University library, which fell victim to vandalism during the ongoing war in Sudan.


Members of the Al-Qandul Initiative, led by Mohammed Al-Tahir Mohammed, are actively collecting and organizing books and references in the central library of Nyala University, located in the Musiya suburb.


Nyala University faced looting and vandalism by unknown assailants at the onset of the conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April last year.


Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Al-Tahir described the extensive destruction suffered by the university and highlighted the significant efforts made by the youth in the Qandul Initiative.


He stated, “Through the collective endeavours of our youth, we’ve successfully gathered and arranged books and references from the university library. However, there is still substantial work ahead to restore it to its former state.”


Al-Tahir urged the youth of Nyala to join the Al-Qandul Initiative in voluntary work to contribute to the restoration of institutions in Nyala impacted by war, emphasizing the collective effort required for this endeavour.


Samira Suleiman, another member of the initiative, called on the university authorities to relocate the salvaged books to a safer location than their current one.


Nyala University, situated in the Musiya suburb southeast of Nyala, approximately ten kilometers from downtown, holds significance as one of the largest libraries in the Darfur region.


Khalid Mursal emphasized the library's status as a knowledge treasure trove and stated, “Enhancing its appearance signifies progress on the path to recovery.” The restoration efforts are seen as crucial for the revival of this educational institution.


View original: https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/youth-initiative-restores-nyala-university-library


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