UK Foreign Office minister Malloch-Brown to stand down

A FOREIGN Office minister announced last night that he is to step down this summer for "personal and family reasons".

Lord Malloch-Brownsaid he still "greatly admired" Gordon Brown and his decision had "nothing to do with the political situation".

In a statement, he added: "I have always said that I would not do this job forever. And I have strong personal and family reasons for moving on at this time."

During his tenure in the Foreign Office, Lord Malloch-Brown attracted controversy, not least over his occupation of a grace-and-favour home in Whitehall. There were also persistent rumours of tensions with his direct boss, Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

It also emerged last night that all MPs have been invited by HM Revenue and Customs to discuss their tax affairs with officials in the wake of the revelations about their expenses.

Dave Hartnett, the department's permanent secretary for tax, also signalled that several would be required to discuss their position following the public disclosures. Source: Scotsman report, 08 July 2009 - Minister steps down 'for personal reasons' 

Malloch-Brown to quit Foreign Office role

Independent - Tom Peck - ‎51 minutes ago‎

The Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown has announced he is stepping down as a Government minister at the end of July. ...

Foreign Office minister Malloch-Brown to stand down

Reuters UK - Stefano Ambrogi - ‎1 hour ago‎

LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign Office Minister Mark Malloch-Brown, responsible for Africa, Asia and the United Nations, said on Tuesday he would resign at the ...

Malloch Browned Off?

Sky News - Jon Craig - ‎1 hour ago‎

Lord Malloch-Brown is the latest to quit the Government, for "personal and family reasons", he says. All a bit odd. A late-night announcement and just a few ...

AFP

Malloch-Brown announces will quit

AFP - ‎1 hour ago‎

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, the minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations and a former UN deputy secretary-general, said he was quitting at the end of ...

British Foreign Office minister resigns

The Associated Press - ‎2 hours ago‎

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch Brown says he will resign at the end of the month for family and personal reasons. ...

BBC News

Foreign Office minister resigns

BBC News - ‎2 hours ago‎

Lord Malloch Brown, the minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, is resigning from the government at the end of July. The minister said in a statement that he ...

Sudan's Safat-01 aircraft runs on car fuel

Here are two photos of the Safat-01 aircraft, a two-seater propeller plane produced at Sudan's state Safat Aviation Complex. It is Sudan's first home-manufactured aircraft -- a $15,000 training plane that runs on car fuel.



Photo:  Sudan's Safat-01 plane, the country's first home-manufactured aircraft, taxis down a runway at a launching ceremony in Khartoum, July 05, 2009. President Omar Hassan Al Bashir said on Sunday sanctions could not block development in his country.   Picture taken July 5, 2009. Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin. Full story: Reuters, July 5, 2009.



Photo: Safat 01 plane. (Source:  Sudan Tribune article 24 June 2009 - Sudan to begin aircraft production in July)



Photo: Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir waves to supporters at the launch of the Safat-01 aircraft, Sudan's first home-manufactured aircraft, a $15,000 training plane that runs on car fuel, in Khartoum July 05, 2009. Picture taken July 05, 2009. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin)

1. REPORT : ALSAFAT 0-1 THE FIRST LOCALLY MANUFACTURED PLANE IN THE ...

   He said that the settling of the airplane industry in Sudan is a right for the coming ... He also said that the cost of the plane 'Safat-01' is $15000. ...
   www.sunanews.net/.../2306-report--alsafat-0-1-the-first-locally-manufactured -plane-in-the-history-of-sudan-a-leap-towards-aviation... - 16 hours ago - Similar

2. World Bulletin [ Sudan makes first home-manufactured aircraft ]

   6 Jul 2009 ... President Omar Hassan al-Bashir spoke at the launch of the Safat-01 aircraft, a two-seater propeller plane produced at Sudan's state Safat ...
   www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=44452 - Similar

3. Sudan produce first airplane - SkyscraperCity

   16 posts - 11 authors - Last post: 28 Jun

   Sudan have managed to build the first plane ever. Its a light plane, built by SAFAT, there have been SAFAT 1, SAFAT 2, and now the final ...
   www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=894874 - Cached - Similar

4. Global Times - Local aircraft plant formally opened in Sudan

   6 Jul 2009 ... At the opening ceremony of the Safat Airlines Group, Sudanese President ...kinds of small aircraft, namely Safat 01, Safat 02 and Safat 03, ...
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5. President Al-Bashir to inaugurate SAFAT Aviation Complex on Sunday ...

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   He revealed that the Complex would produce SAFAT-01 Plane, of which 85% is from the localSudanese materials. He added that three assembled planes of the ...
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6. Embassy of Sudan - Home

   25 Jun 2009 ... Idriss added that the planes are Sudanese manufactured up to 80% with ...He also said that the cost of the plane 'Safat-01' is $15000. ...
   search.globescope.com/sudan/index.php?mact=News... - Cached - Similar

ICC launches a series of radio programmes in the Central African Republic (CAR)

From UN News Centre, Monday, 06 July 2009:
ICC begins radio series to explain activities to Central Africans

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today launches a series of radio programmes in the Central African Republic (CAR) as part of an outreach campaign aimed at informing the country’s population about the court’s mandate and activities.

The 13-episode series, which will be broadcast in the Sango language, is called “Understanding the International Criminal Court” and uses a question-and-answer format. At least 14 separate radio stations are expected to air the programmes.

The radio programmes are the result of some 50 outreach sessions held by the ICC in the Central African capital, Bangui, between January and June this year.

Individual episodes will be aired once a week, and the topics include the structure of the court, the rights of suspects, judgement and sentencing and the rights and responsibilities of witnesses and victims.

The situation in the CAR is one of four – along with Sudan’s Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda – currently under investigation by the Prosecutor of the ICC, an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Hat tip: UN Dispatch

Antonov cargo plane chartered by UNAMID crashed at Saraf Umra, nr El Fasher, N. Darfur, W. Sudan

KHARTOUM, July 6 (Xinhua) -- A Russian-made Antonov cargo plane crashed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur on Monday and a pilot was injured in the accident, a spokesman of the hybrid United Nations and African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping forces said.

Nureddin Mazani, a UNAMID spokesman, told Xinhua in Khartoum that the Antonov plane, belonging to a local airline company and chartered by the peacekeeping mission, crashed when landing at the area of Saraf Umra, about 250 kilometers from the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Mazani said an investigation was underway to identify the causes of the accident.

Source: China View, 07 July 2009 - Pilot injured in cargo plane crash in Sudan's Darfur

UN plane crash lands in Darfur

Independent Online - ‎7 hours ago‎

Khartoum - The pilot and co-pilot of a UN-contracted plane were injured when their aircraft crash landed in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region on Monday, ...

Darfur / UNAMID Daily Media Brief

Organisation de la Presse Africaine (Communiqué de presse) - ‎3 hours ago‎

The security situation in Darfur has been relatively calm. However, banditry activities targeting UNAMID personnel were reported in North, South and West ...

Goal's John O'Shea: 8 gunmen kidnapped two Goal aid workers in Kutum, nr El Fasher, Darfur, W. Sudan

UPDATE - 06 July 2009:  Sudan: Gangs seeking money kidnapped aid workers

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) - ‎13 minutes ago‎

AP KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - The kidnapping of two aid workers in Darfur was carried out by gangs seeking money said a Sudanese official on Monday, ...

- - -

From Sudan Radio Service, Monday, 06 July 2009:
Goal Aid Workers Held in Darfur

(Dublin) – Negotiations are continuing to try and secure the release of two aid workers kidnapped last Friday in Kutum, 100 kilometers from El Fasher. The two women work for Goal, the Irish aid organization.

According to the chief executive of Goal, John O’Shea, 8 heavily-armed men entered the organization's compound and kidnapped the two aid workers, Hilda Kawuki from Uganda and Sharon Commins from Ireland.

[John O’Shea]: “The ladies were kidnapped last Friday night from our compound. Along with them was one of our guards. He was released by the captors, 8 of whom had entered our compound heavily armed. He is being interrogated and interviewed as we speak. However, there is no indication yet which group these eight people are from. There is an Irish delegation on the ground, including a number of people who are well-equipped to deal with kidnappers and they are having discussions with Sudanese officials, army people, and police in El Fasher this morning. We are hoping that this meeting will provide some indication as to the identity of the kidnappers.”

John O’Shea says that no-one had yet been able to establish a motive for the kidnapping.

[John O’Shea]: “There is absolutely no idea, there is lots of speculation, but that doesn’t bring anybody nearer the truth. Goal has worked in the Sudan for 25 years; we have never turned away anybody from our feeding stations or clinics. So we shouldn’t have any enemies, but it’s a lawless area, so one cannot legislate for the mind set of certain people.”

That was the chief executive of Goal Ireland, John O’Shea, speaking to Sudan Radio Service on Monday from Dublin.

The abduction of Goal aid workers is the third case of kidnapping in Darfur since an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court against President Omar al-Bashir last March.

Note from Sudan Watch Ed: I am always wary and unsure of publicising news of kidnappings, hostage taking, etc., incase publicity is the objective of the perpetrators and encourages other hostage takers. I have decided to file this news story here today for the record as it contains news from a very good source, namely Goal's chief John O'Shea, who is working in the best interests of the kidnapped aid workers. Best of luck to all involved.
- - -

Ireland - MFA - Micheál Martin calls for the immediate release of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki. Ambassador and official team travelling to Sudan

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Micheál Martin, T.D. today called for the immediate release of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki, the two Goal workers who were abducted in Darfur yesterday, and pledged that the Government would do everything possible to bring this about.

Ireland’s Ambassador to Sudan and an official team headed by the Department of Foreign Affairs are travelling to Sudan on board an Aer Corps Ministerial Transport aircraft assigned by the Government. They will travel to Khartoum and Darfur where they will consult with the Sudanese authorities and representatives of the international community on efforts to secure the release of Ms Commins and Ms Kawuki.

Full story: ISRIA, Monday, 06 July 2009 - Ireland - MFA - Micheál Martin calls for the immediate release of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki. Ambassador and official team travelling to Sudan

Mystery over fate of kidnapped Darfur aid workers

AFP - ‎4 hours ago‎

KHARTOUM (AFP) — The identity of an armed group which snatched two foreign Darfur aid workers was shrouded in mystery on Monday as officials and diplomats ...

Irish team arrive in Darfur to help free aid workers

Reuters South Africa - ‎6 hours ago‎

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Irish negotiators arrived in Sudan's Darfur region on Monday to help free two female aid workers, one Irish and one Ugandan, ...

Irish officials seek release of Darfur aid workers

Ynetnews - ‎10 hours ago‎

The Irish government says senior officials have arrived in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to seek to negotiate the release of an Irish aid worker and her ...

Diplomats intensify efforts for aid workers

RTE.ie - ‎11 hours ago‎

A high-level team of diplomats and negotiators are continuing efforts to locate an Irish aid worker and her Ugandan colleague who have been kidnapped in ...

Efforts continue to secure release of Irish aid worker

Belfast Telegraph - ‎11 hours ago‎

A high-level diplomatic effort to secure the release of kidnapped Irish aid worker Sharon Commins is continuing in Sudan today. The 32-year-old Dubliner was ...

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CECAFA 2009 results: Hay El-Arab of Sudan make the quarters

From Sudan Radio Service, Monday, 06 July 2009:

(Khartoum) – Hay El-Arab of Sudan has qualified for the quarter-finals in the CECAFA club competition after beating Zanzibar’s Miembieni 2-0 on Sunday in Port Sudan in a match that was marked with drama and dangerous play. The game was cut short half way through the second half by the referee when Miembieni ran out of substitutes after losing four players due to injury.

Another of their players was sent off for arguing with the referee.

Hay El-Arab scored their first goal in the first six minutes of the match and the second came from a penalty kick just before the final whistle. The penalty was bitterly contested by Miembieni.

The quarter-finals begin on Tuesday with Sudan’s El-Merrikh playing InterStars of Burundi. DR Congo’s TP Mazembe managed to cruise to their place in the quarter-finals after hurling out Tanzania’s Prisons 3-0 in Khartoum on Sunday.

Mazembe will play Hay El-Arab on Tuesday. Kenya’s champions Mathare United will be playing fellow Kenyans, Tusker, while Uganda’s Kampala City Council will battle it out with Rwanda’s Atraco on Wednesday.

Click on tag label CECAFA (here below) to see latest footballing news reports here at Sudan Watch.

See Sudan Watch - Sunday, 05 July 2009:
CECAFA 2009 results: Sudan’s El-Merikkh wins all three matches to quarter finals



Photo: Mathare's Omogi shields the ball from Merreikh's Worgu



Photo: Sentogo opened the scoring for KCC with a diving header (BBC Sport)

From BBC Sport KCC make Cecafa quarters, 15:26 GMT, Sunday, 05 July 2009 16:26 UK:

KCC of Uganda sealed a quarter-final spot in the Cecafa club Championship in Sudan on Friday.

Robert Sentogo scored the fastest goal of the tournament after 47 seconds as KCC beat Prisons of Tanzania 3-1 in Group B.
Shaban Mtupah equalised for the Tanzanians after 13 minutes.

But the Ugandans secured the win with goals from Tonny Okello and Katongo in the 38th and 88th minutes respectively.

So KCC's place in the quarter-final is assured after beating TP Mazembe 3-2 in their opening match.

In the other Group B game, DR Congo's TP Mazembe made a spectacular comeback from their opening loss to KCC.

They trounced Benadir of Somalia 8-1.

There was another thrashing in Group C where Kenya's Tusker hit six goals past Miembieni of Zanzibar.

Tusker now have four points which secures them a place in the quarter-finals.

The other Group C game between Hay el Arab of Sudan and Burundi's Inter Stars ended 1-1.

SEE ALSO

KCC beat Mazembe at Cecafa
02 Jul 09 | African

Merreikh kick-off Cecafa in style
01 Jul 09 | African

Cecafa ready for kick-off
30 Jun 09 | African

Sudan to host Cecafa tournaments
25 May 09 | African

---

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KCC CRUISE AHEAD

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Click on tag label CECAFA (here below) to see latest footballing news reports here at Sudan Watch.

S. Sudan: 3,000 Lou Nuer flee to Ulang, Upper Nile state, from Akobo county, Jonglei state

From Sudan Radio Service, Friday, 03 July 2009:
Three Thousand Refugees Flee to Ulang from Akobo County

(Ulang,Upper Nile state) – The commissioner of Ulang county, Upper Nile state, James Duer Chol, says that 3,000 displaced people have come to Ulang from neighboring Akobo county in Jonglei state in the past week.

Speaking to Sudan Radio Service on Thursday, Duer said that the displaced Lou Nuer are scared of attacks by the Murle community during the rainy season.

[James Duer Chol]: “The situation has been good here recently, but in the past week, large numbers of Lou Nuer arrived here, fleeing drought and problems between Lou Nuer and Murle. A committee from Ulang community has been formed to know who the cattle rustlers in the area are. But for the time being the situation is difficult because of the presence of these displaced people. I have met with the government of Upper Nile State and Government of southern Sudan asking them to help these displaced people.”

Duer called upon international humanitarian organizations and their governments to intervene and assist the IDPs.

- - -

Murle

SUDAN BOYS by Artist Rob Rooker. Young Murle boys standing together. Often, when visitors arrive in a village in southern Sudan, the children are always the first to come and investigate what is going on. 

Nuer

APPREHENSION by Artist Rob Rooker. Painted on a wall in Maridi, Sudan. The image is of a young Nuer boy looking up among a crowd of people.

Rob Rooker - Profile
Nationality: US
Currently Living: Juba, Sudan and Nairobi, Kenya
Website: www.robrooker.com

Rob Rooker has lived in Southern Sudan and Kenya since 2001. He has been painting for the last ten years and has been drawing since he was a young child. He grew up in Texas and worked as a graphic designer until he volunteered as a logistician with a humanitarian agency in Southern Sudan. His inclination is to paint people and faces. He has documented images of Southern Sudan during a difficult political and socio-economic era. He demonstrates the use of shades of monochromatic color and his technique and style are quite unique.

Cards & prints available at Imagekind.com

- - -

UPDATE:  From Sudan Radio Service, Monday, 06 July 2009:
IDP Situation Worsens in Jonglei State

(Bor) – The newly-appointed commissioner of Akobo County says the humanitarian situation of thousands of displaced people in Akobo County in Jonglei state is worsening.

Goy Jock Yol spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Monday by phone from Bor.

[Goy Jock Yol]: “The situation of IDPs in Akobo is really precarious after the fighting between Murle and Lou in March and April. Thousands of people were displaced, mostly to Akobo. And then the attack on the barges in Nasir that happened in May exacerbated the situation and I am thankful that the UN took up the lead in providing food. But we still have a lot of challenges. We need to bring these communities together, although there is still rampant looting of cattle between Jikany and Lou and between Lou and Murle.”

The Commissioner said that the late arrival of the rains has complicated the situation in the area.

[Goy Jock Yol]: “The other thing that is really exacerbating the situation is the delay of the rains. Up to now people have not planted around Akobo and this has resulted in more people with cattle moving toward Sobat and that would answer why we have more Lou population around Nyading River and the Ulang area. But I would like to inform you that the new commissioner of Ulang has started as a good gesture to accommodate the Lou families around that river and I am in constant communication with him to provide security along the corridor so that people live in harmony and peace.”

Yol said that his priority will be to reconcile the neighboring communities.

[Goy Jock Yol]: “I would like to go to Akobo very soon. The first thing I would like to do is to go in and meet the chiefs so that we initiate a low level dialogue between Jikany and Lou. The main issue between them is not mainly cattle rustling but it’s the revenge killings that happened earlier this year. I believe in sitting down and talking about the issues. Then we can open the humanitarian corridor of Sobat so that we get some more food to Akobo. Right now, the community of Akobo is really in need of goods from Ethiopia and Nasir. But also we have realized that these communities were living together once and they have shown that they would like to sit down and talk about these issues.”

The Commissioner said that currently he is lobbying for deployment of more police to Akobo.

Botswana differs with AU over Bashir

Botswana yesterday distanced itself from a decision by African leaders to ignore the International Criminal Court order to extradite Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the foreign ministry said.

“The Government of Botswana does not agree with this decision and wishes to reaffirm its position that as a State Party to the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court (ICC) it has treaty obligations to fully co-operate with the ICC in the arrest and transfer of the President of Sudan to the ICC,” Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani said in a statement.

Source: Gulf Times, Sunday, 05 July 2009 -
Botswana differs with AU over Bashir

Rob Crilly’s book 'Saving Darfur: Everyone’s Favourite African War' will be published by Reportage Press in November

From the Irish Times, Monday, July 6, 2009
War crimes move upped level of risk for aid workers
By ROB CRILLY in Nairobi, Kenya
Shadowy armed groups with shifting aims make life in Darfur hazardous

DARFUR IS a hostile land.  A dry, desiccated country awash with guns and tribal enmities, it has always carried risks for the thousands of aid workers bringing food, water and medicine to the region’s aid camps.

Banditry and carjackings are rife, but until this year foreigners had not been targeted for kidnap.

That all changed in March when Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir was indicted on war crimes charges.

“It’s impossible to say how these things are connected, but there have been three kidnappings of westerners ever since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant – that can’t be a coincidence,” said one aid worker familiar with security conditions in Darfur.

Humanitarian officials and Sudanese security agents are still trying to establish contact with Sharon Commins’s kidnappers.

For now their motives remain unclear.

A diplomatic source in Khartoum said: “There are lots of rumours and theories flying around, but the truth is that no one knows anything until we hear from the kidnappers themselves.” Information is in short supply.

The government maintains a stranglehold on access to Darfur, making life difficult for journalists and aid workers trying to monitor security conditions.

Goal is one of the few organisations that works in and around Kutum, where their two staff were taken.

Darfur’s shifting array of rebel factions, tribal militias and bandits offers numerous possible motives.

Rebels could be flexing their muscles to show how the government has little control over its own territory.

So, too, the feared Janjaweed militias. Having been mobilised by the government in the capital, Khartoum, and used as a proxy army against Darfuri rebel groups, many Arab gunmen have become disillusioned with their government paymasters.

Islamic extremists in Khartoum have also tried to launch bomb attacks on Western embassies, and shot dead a US diplomat at the start of last year.

Alternatively, the lure of a ransom may have attracted armed criminals in search of an easy payday.

Four staff with Médicins Sans Frontières were kidnapped in March, days after the ICC indicted President Bashir. A previously unknown group calling itself the Eagles of Bashir claimed responsibility.

They released their hostages four days later after negotiations conducted by the local wali, or governor. Osman Yusuf Kibir said the gunmen wanted to show their support for the Sudanese president.

A French woman and a Canadian woman working for Aide Médicale Internationale were snatched during the following month by the Falcons for the Liberation of Africa.

They were held for three weeks, apparently in protest at a French charity which had tried to smuggle children out of Chad.

In both cases the groups emerged and then disappeared with their true identities and motives far from certain. Whoever they were, their involvement marked a new departure. In the past, aid agencies were not targeted for their western personnel but for cars and satellite phones.

Some 137 aid vehicles were hijacked in 2007, rising to 277 the following year, and 218 members of staff taken – mostly Sudanese drivers. Splintering rebel factions were often to blame.

Since then, agencies have swapped their expensive pick-ups for saloon cars. Some even use taxis to get around.

This year, political and security conditions have deteriorated across much of Sudan.

The two Goal workers were taken from the dusty town of Kutum, in north Darfur, close to areas where rebels had reported heavy bombing in recent weeks.

At the same time, concerns are growing that a deal to bring peace to southern Sudan and to hold countrywide elections next year is unravelling, with desperate implications for the whole of the country.

Fouad Hikmat, Sudan expert with the International Crisis Group, said hopes for peace in Darfur depended on finding a way forward in southern Sudan first.

“This is a recipe for the implosion of Sudan,” he said. “Everyone is now busy trying to advance their own agendas. This is the context against which we have to look at the kidnappings.”

No one operates in Darfur without recognising that the region is Sudan’s wild west: a dangerous, gun-ridden war zone.

For the band of international aid workers, the risks are getting greater every day.

Rob Crilly’s book Saving Darfur: Everyone’s Favourite African War will be published by Reportage Press in November

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times