UNAMID hands over land used by AU Mission in Sudan

UNAMID - Daily Media Brief,
EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, July 8, 2009 (via APO):

Security Situation in Darfur

The security situation in Darfur has been relatively calm.

UNAMID military conducted 89 patrols including confidence-building, escort patrols and nine night patrols covering 47 villages and IDP camps during the reporting period. UNAMID Police advisers conducted 137 patrols in and around the villages and IDP camps.

UNAMID hands over land used by African Union Mission in Sudan

UNAMID senior officials yesterday handed over to Sudanese Government officials in South Darfur the compound occupied by the former African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) until the transfer of authority from AMIS to UNAMID on 31 December 2007.

On behalf of the Mission, Senior Administrative Officer, Mr. Hassan Yusuf Mahmoud, expressed appreciation to the Government of Sudan, including the Ministry of Planning and General Utilities, for its cooperation with the Mission, in particular for providing land to the Mission.

He informed that the location will be used by the Nyala Technical College and the Women and Children Hospital.

The representative of the Sudanese Government, Mr. Elhadi Najm, expressed appreciation to UNAMID for its efforts and for its support to the peace process in Darfur. He reiterated the Government’s continued support and cooperation with the Mission to enable it to carry out its mandate, in accordance with the policies of the Government of Sudan for providing security and stability in Darfur.

UNAMID Military presents items to IDPs in South Darfur

UNAMID military in South Darfur yesterday gave food items to women and children of the Dereige internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp. They also provided educational assistance to ten orphans for the next two academic years. The children were also given food items and educational materials.

The ceremony was attended by senior military officials, police advisers and representatives of IDPs.

- - -

Other news

Kidnappers demand ransom for Darfur aid staff

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French Delegation Visit North Darfur

From Sudan Radio Service, Wed, 08 July 2009:
French Delegation Visit Darfur

(El Fasher) – A French parliamentary delegation visited El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur on Tuesday for talks with state officials, the joint peacekeeping mission and displaced people.

The delegation, headed by the French Ambassador to Sudan, Patrick Nicolozio, met UNAMID chief Rodolphe Adada, who briefed them on the work of the peacekeeping mission and the general security situation in Darfur, which he described as "calm but unpredictable."

UNAMID spokesperson Nouraddine Mezni spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Tuesday about the visit.

[Nouraddine Mezni]: “Mister Adada, the joint special representative of UNAMID received the French delegation. Mister Adada appealed to France and the international community as a whole to do everything possible to push forward the peace process. He stressed that UNAMID will continue its efforts on the ground to diffuse violence, protect civilians, in particular the internally displaced persons, and create an environment conducive to the success of the peace process. The aim of this tour is to prepare a report on the situation in Darfur to be submitted to French National Assembly in October 2009”.

The delegation also met different Sudanese government officials in Khartoum who urged France to press the Paris-based SLM leader Abdel Wahid Al-Nur to join the peace process in Doha. They also requested that the French authorities help to ease the current tensions between Sudan and Chad.

The delegation is expected to visit Juba in the coming days to meet with the officials of the Government of southern Sudan after their visit to Darfur.

Jonglei State, S. Sudan: UN Bases in Okobo and Pibor

From Sudan Radio Service 8 July 2009:
UN Bases in Okobo and Pibor

(Juba) – The United Nations says it has established two temporary operating bases in Jonglei state as part of its stabilization plan following tribal clashes in March and April this year.

The bases are in Pibor and Akobo counties and will house 120 civilian, military and police personnel.

The head of the United Nations Mission in southern Sudan, David Gressly, told a press conference on Monday that the military component of the base will withdraw soon, leaving behind its civilian component.

UNMIS unveiled the stabilization plan for Jonglei state after tribal clashes between the Murle and Lou-Nuer in March and April this year.

CEFACA Results Latest

From Sudan Radio Service, Wed, 08 July 2009:
CEFACA Results Latest

(Khartoum) – The Sudanese champions El-Merrikh trampled over Burundi’s InterStars 2-0 in CECAFA’s quarter-final match on Tuesday evening and qualified for the semi-finals. The match began in a dull mood but heated up in the second half with El-Merrikh’s Nigerian star Indahor Indurance scoring the first goal in the sixty-first minute. He was later substituted by fellow Nigerian striker Klechi Osunwa who scored the second goal in seventy-second minute of the second half.

Sudanese striker Faisal Ajab was injured in the second half and will miss the next match of the semi-final on Friday against TP Mazembe of DR Congo.

Mazembe had earlier trounced Sudan’s Hay El-Arab 6-1 in a match that saw the locals making a slow start in the first half. Mazembe’s striker Bendi Benza shot a long range ball from left center of the field which skewered its way into the Hay El-Arab net, registering the first goal for the guests in the twenty-fourth minute. Hay El-Arab’s coach, Ahmed Sari, immediately re-arranged tactics and his boys retaliated with a goal through striker Magdi Abdel Majid in the thirty-fourth minute. The Congolese managed to hammer in their second goal before half-time and later slotted in four goals, instantly qualifying them for the semi-finals against El-Merrikh.

Off the pitch, the CECAFA organizing committee has banned Zanzibar’s Miembieni from the competition for five years. The decision by the committee was issued on Tuesday following bitter exchanges between Miembieni club officials and the referee of Sunday’s match in Port Sudan. According to a statement by CECAFA Secretary-general Nicholas Musonye posted on CECAFA’s website, a report from the referee and the match commissioner in Port Sudan found Miembieni to have flouted competition rules before abandoning the match midway in the second half.

The ban includes fining the club 20,000 USD and excludes them from all CECAFA-related activities. Their coach, Bushiri Ali, will not be allowed to participate in the competition for the next five years.

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

US sanctions on Sudan are far reaching and must be lifted

Photo: Andrew Heavens is a reporter and photographer who has worked with Reuters since 2005, first from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and now Khartoum, Sudan. His African career followed 10 years of reporting for newspapers in Britain and the United States. (Reuters)

In the following story, he recounts his experience of U.S. economic sanctions on the country whose president Omar Hassan al-Bashir is accused of masterminding human rights abuses in Darfur.

WITNESS: Battling to borrow money in sanctions-hit Sudan

By Andrew Heavens, 04 July 2009

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The United States achieved at least three things when it stepped up economic sanctions on Sudan: it banned most trade between the two countries, froze Sudanese assets and closed the door on my British mortgage.

Trade sanctions are presented as sophisticated instruments -- ways of forcing change in foreign governments without resorting to war. But in today's inter-connected world, economic penalties designed to hit one country can quickly spread beyond their original target.

"We can't open a mortgage account with your address in Khartoum," the officer from Bank of Scotland International told me over the crackling phone line. "It's on our list of sanctioned countries."

A journalist from Britain, I was trying hard not to sound too desperate. We had already been turned down by two other lenders without explanation. My family's dreams of buying a little semi-detached corner of England -- somewhere to spend our holidays back home from Khartoum -- were fading.

"But I'm British and I want to buy a house in Britain," I told the bank official, with the slightest note of pleading in my voice. "We haven't imposed any trade sanctions on Sudan. It's only America."

The bank official was sympathetic, but there was nothing he could do. "If there are sanctions imposed from another country, from a risk point of view we can't get involved either."

FALL FOUL

The key word there was risk.

In theory, the United States and its organs only have the power to stop U.S. citizens and companies doing business with another country.

In practice, non-U.S. companies can still fall foul of the sanctions administered and enforced by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Take the tale of Lloyds TSB, part of the London-based group which also owns one of the banks that turned me down, Bank of Scotland International.

In January Lloyds agreed to forfeit $350 million to U.S. authorities in connection with charges its staff had faked records so clients from Sudan and other sanctioned countries could do business with the U.S. banking system.

According to a research note from international law firm Cleary Gottleib, it was the first case of its kind, involving the U.S. Department of Justice punishing sanctions violations by "a non-U.S. person."

Lloyds spokeswoman Sara Evans confirmed Bank of Scotland had a policy of not providing mortgage accounts to customers who live in Sudan, and other banks have been quick to follow the precedent.

An OFAC report in January said it was aware of a number of "third country" banks that had started cutting ties with Sudan and shutting down accounts of customers living in Sudan.

"Sudan also is facing apprehension from foreign firms about staying in the country under the threat of further U.S. and multilateral sanctions and the growing influence of divestment campaigns," read the report to the U.S. Congress.

NO VISA

On the ground in Khartoum, the effects of the restrictions have been frustrating, if sporadic.

The worst hit are the millions of "ordinary" Sudanese citizens who have had nothing to do with the alleged human rights abuses that sparked the main wave of U.S. trade sanctions in 1997, or the Darfur conflict, which provoked tougher restrictions in 2006.

Everything from getting hold of dollars to wiring cash abroad is a grind. Day-to-day transactions are handled with big bundles of bank notes -- Visa and other U.S. electronic payment companies do not operate in Sudan.

Back to my own sorry financial affairs, there was the time I was trying to clear a cheque from a U.S. account to a bank in Malaysia. (Don't ask -- life can get very complicated here.)

The accountant had attached a brief explanatory note to the transaction: "Payment for Sudan rent."

The cheque was blocked.

Then there was the payment a South African newspaper wanted to send me, again with "Sudan" in the transaction details. The British bank I have used for more than 25 years refused to accept it.

And then, again, there was my mortgage. Well, reader, I eventually got one. But I won't tell you who ended up agreeing to the deal, in case they're prompted to take another closer look at my personal records.

(Editing by Catherine Bosley and Sara Ledwith)

Some citizens leaving Abyei in fear of violence following boundary ruling

From Miraya FM Wednesday, 08 July 2009:
Ashraf Qazi: Abyei Road Map has reached critical stage

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, has said that the Abyei Road Map has reached a critical stage ahead of the anticipated ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on Abyei. Qazi has visited to Abyei and met with the joint administration of the area and the local authorities and discussed the final arrangements and necessary precautions for assuring the safety of citizens after the ruling.

Meanwhile, the head of Abyei's administration, Brigadier Arop Moyak, has expressed concern over what he described as the irresponsible actions that may be carried out by some citizens whom may no be pleased by the court's ruling.

Meanwhile, Miraya FM's Correspondent in Abyei has assured that caution is looming over the area and some citizens have started leaving the town in fear an outbreak of violence following the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on Abyei.

Further reading

Apr 24, 2009 - Sudan Watch: Final judgement on Abyei boundary issue within 90 days

May 30, 2006 - Sudan Watch:  Interview with Dr Douglas H Johnson, expert on the Abyei Boundary Commission - Hofre Nahas area; part of Bahr El Ghazal transferred to Darfur in 1960s

Aug 16, 2005 - Sudan Watch:  Sudan: Abyei Boundary Commission report

Click on Abyei label here below for further reports on Abyei.

JEM rebels openly driving through Oure Cassoni camp in Chad for Darfur refugees

A JEM spokesman told the BBC his group had permission from the Chadian authorities to enter Oure Cassoni camp in Chad near Sudan's border for supplies and to get vehicles fixed.

Source: BBC News Tuesday, 07 July 2009
Sudan rebels 'use Chad's camps'

JEM dismisses a report by the BBC that their troops are moving around refugee camps in NE Chad

From Sudan Radio Service Tuesday, 07 July 2009:

(London) – The Darfur anti-government group, the Justice and Equality Movement, has dismissed a report by the BBC that their troops are moving around refugee camps in north-eastern Chad.

The report said that a BBC investigation discovered that JEM fighters have been seen - armed and unchallenged - in Oure Cassoni, a refugee camp in north-eastern Chad.

JEM has described the report as baseless.

A senior JEM official, Dr El-Tahir el-Fakie, spoke to Sudan Radio Service from London on Tuesday.

[El-Tahir El-Fakie]:” JEM is completely responsible and respects international law and the situation of the IDPs and the refugees. This report is nonsense and baseless.

First of all, the refugees are in Chad, JEM has no presence in Chad, they are inside Sudan. JEM has a presence in Sudanese territory around Umbaru, Furawiya, and Kornoi, so JEM does not need to go to the refugee camps and enter Chad, so this is baseless talk. 

They are saying the same thing now that was said before, a month ago, the ICRC contacted us, asking about some people who had entered the camps and abducted some refugees, but it appeared that those people had no link with JEM. It could be some other parties, but JEM has nothing to do with this issue.”

Dr El-Tahir el-Fakie was speaking to Sudan Radio Service on Tuesday from London.

ICC chief prosecutor in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to meet AU panel on Darfur

Excerpt from a report by AFP, Tuesday 07 July 2009 (ADDIS ABABA):
AU, ICC 'working together on Darfur crisis': prosecutor

The African Union and the International Criminal Court "are working together" to resolve the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo insisted Tuesday.

"Now it is time to stop the crimes. The AU is working (to stop the suffering of people in Darfur), the court is working, and we are working together," Ocampo said.

"Peace and justice are working together in Darfur," insisted the prosecutor, who was behind the ICC arrest warrant against Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir for crimes against civilians in the war-torn, western Darfur region.

His comments came after the AU on Friday said it would not cooperate with the warrant and again appealed to the United Nations to delay the case.

But Ocampo insisted Tuesday: "Mr Beshir will face the charges. It will take time, it is a process.

"Arresting a head of state is a process, it is not a police operation."

Ocampo was speaking on a visit to Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to meet an AU panel which focuses on the crisis in Darfur.

The prosecutor added he was in Ethiopa at the invitation of the AU panel.

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

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Malloch Browned Off?

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Malloch-Brown announces will quit

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British Foreign Office minister resigns

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Foreign Office minister resigns

BBC News - ‎2 hours ago‎

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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)

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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

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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

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Diplomats intensify efforts for aid workers

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Efforts continue to secure release of Irish aid worker

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