Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Darfur tribal leaders agree with Sudanese Sheikh Musa Hilal to lead initiative to stop war in Sudan

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: As soon as I saw this report it jumped out of my screen. Over the last year I've been on the lookout for news of Sheikh Musa Hilal because he has the skills and experience to stop war in Sudan.


In the Janjaweed, Hemeti a 3rd grade school dropout and camel herder humiliated Hilal by getting him and sons handcuffed and jailed. Hemeti is trembling in his flip-flops knowing Sheikh Hilal of North Darfur is back.


Reading between the lines of the report, Sheikh Hilal has not been on the side of Hemeti. Sheikh Hilal has attracted Darfur tribal leaders to lead a national initiative to stop war in Sudan. Now there is hope for Sudan.

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Report from Radio Dabanga Arabic website

Dated Wednesday, 14 Feb 2024, 17:20 - full copy, translated from Arabic:


Darfur tribal leaders agree with Musa Hilal to lead initiative to stop war in Sudan

Musa Hilal (Archive)


(Nyala) - A civil delegation of tribal leaders in Darfur states announced that it has agreed with the head of the Revolutionary Awakening Council, Sheikh Musa Hilal, to lead a national initiative to stop the war between the army and the Rapid Support.


The delegation, which included the principals of the tribes of Tarjum, Fallata and Rizeigat and notables of a number of tribes in the states of South, East, Central and West Darfur, visited Sheikh Musa Hilal in the suburb of Mistriha in North Darfur state, and the delegation spent about a week during which he held several meetings with notables of the region.


The head of the committee, Mohamed Yaqoub, told Radio Dabanga that the visit to Damra Sheikh Musa was for the purpose of searching for ways to bring peace to Sudan, and pointed out that it was agreed to form a mechanism headed by Musa Hilal to meet with all the parties to the war and tribal leaders in Sudan, and pointed out that what is happening now of alerts is a danger to the country and must be stopped.


For his part, a member of the delegation, the director of the Fallata tribe, Mohammed Al-Fateh Al-Sammani, told Dabanga Radio that the visit was for the purpose of coordination and reflection on the crisis in the country and the search for visions to get the country out of this predicament, and pointed out that a committee led by Sheikh Musa Hilal was formed to conduct internal reconciliations between the tribes of Darfur as well as communicate with the parties to the conflict to lead the project to stop the war in Sudan. Al-Samani stated that the native administration in the Darfur region united around the project to stop the war in Sudan, and appealed to the parties to the  War to support this mechanism under the leadership of Sheikh Musa Hilal in order to put an end to this war and reach internal peace.


Radio Dabanga contacted the spokesman for the Revolutionary Awakening Council to comment on the agreement on the leadership of the head of the council for the national initiative to stop the war between the army and the Rapid Support, but said that the council will discuss this matter at its meeting on Thursday and then make statements about it.


View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/ar/all-news/article/زعماء-قبائل-بدارفور-يتفقون-مع-موسى-هلا

Related

Sudan Watch - October 06, 2023

Sudan: Chief of Arab Rizeigat Mahameed clan to mediate between warring tribes in South Darfur

“Sheikh Musa Hilal will lead the initiative as head of the council and native administration* leader, along with other native administration notables and community figures from Darfur and some other states of Sudan”. A Revolutionary Awakening Council spokesperson said that “the root causes of the clashes need to be defined and addressed, to stop them forever”.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/sudan-chief-of-arab-rizeigat-mahameed.html

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Sudan Watch - August 11, 2023

Sudanese Warlord Sheikh Musa Hilal of North Darfur: Lynchpin of Arab Janjaweed Militia Recruitment

Sheikh Hilal is a respected Arab tribal leader and old time warrior who rules over large swathes of Sudan using benevolence. He commands a huge loyal following. If news of his return to the battlefield is true, and I hope it is, Hemeti (if he's alive) will have sleepless nights and tremble in his flip-flops at the thought of Hilal seeking revenge while fighting onside with SAF. 


If the news is true, in my view, it is a big game changer. Can't wait to find out more and what kind of deal SAF made with Warlord Hilal to induce him to side with SAF like he did when Sudan was led by President Bashir.


Musa Hilal is featured in the first blog post here at Sudan Watch. In the archives there were many great photos of him in full Arab regalia riding magnificent championship quality horses. Sadly, the photos were among 3,000+ Flickr deleted overnight, without warning, from this site's paid Flickr account. I helplessly watched in horror as each photo and thousands of hours of my work evaporated. Someone wanted them gone. 


Here is the first photo of Hilal published online. It is from the BBC captioned "The rebels started the war - Musa Hilal". The report dated 14 Nov 2004 entitled "Janjweed 'leader' denies genocide" is still online.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudanese-warlord-sheikh-musa-hilal-of.html . . .

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Scroll down to see a copy of an article from and by Radio Dabanga.org

Dated 27 November 2017 - MISTERIYA / KHARTOUM

Musa Hilal, Revolutionary Awakening Council leadership arrested in Darfur

Musa Hilal, former janjaweed leader and chairman of the Revolutionary Awakening Council, as well as his sons, brothers, entourage, and senior members of the Council’s leadership, were arrested on Sunday and arrived today in Khartoum. … The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reports that the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemeti), has affirmed that Hilal was arrested on Sunday at Misteriya area, North Darfur. Gen. Hemeti, says that Musa Hilal was “involved in a plot against Sudan which has external dimensions”.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/08/sudanese-warlord-sheikh-musa-hilal-of.html

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END 

VIDEO: Sky's Yousra Elbagir visits Omdurman, Sudan

HERE is footage posted to X by Sky News (@SkyNews) February 13, 2024. It shows Sky's reporter @YousraElbagir treading through debris in an empty street with ruins on each side in Omdurman where Sudan's largest street market was destroyed. She reached the city in a battered armoured vehicle. 

Omdurman in Khartoum State is Sudan's most populous city. It is approximately 11 kilometres, a 15 minutes drive, from the country's capital Khartoum. Gunshots can be heard in the background of the video. 

Since fighting broke out last April, Port Sudan is for now the capital of Sudan. Port Sudan is a city and port on the Red Sea in eastern Sudan, and the capital of Red Sea State. Port Sudan is Sudan's main seaport and the source of 90% of the country's international trade. Read more at Wikipedia.

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Article by Africa correspondent @YousraElbagir 
Tuesday, 13 Feb 2024, 03:30, UK - here is a copy in full excluding photos:

Destruction of Sudan's most iconic street market is a massacre of memory and communal life

Africa correspondent Yousra Elbagir gives her personal reflections on what has happened to Sudan's famous street market through this year's conflict.


Souq Omdurman was the beating heart of our mother city. It was a traders' paradise, a meeting point and a lifeline.


A market where more than money exchanged hands. Agreements, ideas and jokes were yelled across its avenues and as visitors passed through, they were either beckoned into the shops or scoffed at for interrupting the banter.


Every trip was an excursion.


My friends and I went for the silver, antique records and leather. Our mothers went for spices, kitchenware and gold. Their mothers went for that and more, and their mothers before them too.


Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers went for different goods in a different era but at the same market with the same streets at the same iconic spot.


"All our memories are in Souq Omdurman. Our entire childhood was in Souq Omdurman - then we got older and bought our wedding things from there too," my mother tells me on the phone from Cairo.


She lost her home in Khartoum overnight and now, the home of her founding moments.


After standing for more than a century, the market has been desecrated and destroyed.


Looted and pillaged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the early days of the war and then shelled, punctured with bullets and burnt to black in their ensuing battles with the army.


The cupboards of the gold shops were still open when we arrived. An emptied ring tray flattened on the ammunition-covered ashen ground.


At the corner facing the bullet-hole-ridden bus stop, the front of a wedding shop is littered with broken incense holders in traditional Sudanese scarlet synonymous with brides.


A nearby unexploded mortar round sat slanted on the debris and an upside-down fuschia couch blocked the road with dystopian absurdity.


It was there that I wept - out of disbelief and grief - as gunfire rang out a few hundred metres away.


Sounds, sights and smells I would never attach to this place had assaulted my senses all at once.


The loss is generational. Livelihoods and legacies shattered like the store-front glass.


An agony felt most by the shop owners and residents that once lined the streets, radiating outwards to all that walked them.


The heart of our city has stopped beating. The veins have emptied and the pulse has flatlined.


The destruction of Souq Omdurman is a massacre of memory and communal life. A casualty that even peace will struggle to restore.


View original including photos:

https://news.sky.com/story/destruction-of-sudans-largest-street-market-is-a-massacre-of-memory-and-communal-life-13070430

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Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Civilians suffer as ‘perfect storm’ of war, disease and displacement grips Sudan. WHO reports: 10,000 cholera, 5,000 measles, 8,000 dengue, 1.2m malaria

ACCORDING to the World Health Organisation over 10,000 cases of cholera, 5,000 cases of measles, about 8,000 cases of dengue and over 1.2 million clinical cases of malaria, have been reported in Sudan.

The alarming rise comes against the backdrop of over 80 of the 503 health facilities operated by aid organisations either not or only partially functioning due to insecurity and lack of medical supplies or medical personnel.


Read more in UN News report dated Tuesday, 13 Feb 2024 entitled Civilians suffer as ‘perfect storm’ of war, disease and displacement grips Sudan.

© UNICEF/Annadjib Ramadane Maha A Sudanese mother and her children displaced from their home due to the conflict. (file)


Full report: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146502


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Monday, February 12, 2024

NetBlocks: Major internet disruption in Chad, severed fibre optic cable supplying Chad from Cameroon

THIS copy of a post at X by NetBlocks date stamped 6:19 PM Feb 12, 2024 says “Confirmed: A major internet disruption had been registered in Chad; real time network data show connectivity falling down to 41% of ordinary levels; The incident is attributed to severed fiber infrastructure supplying Chad from Cameroon #Tchad pic.twitter.com/dsq8ltHBtO” 

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EU aims to further strengthen relations with Chad

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This report is translated from French using Google translate. If memory serves, in 2003-4 200 French troops were swiftly dropped into Chad by helicopter when news broke of war in Darfur. I blogged about it at the time because I was surprised at France being the first to send troops to land near Sudan on a mission to provide humanitarian aid.  

Report from LE N'DJAM POST
Dated Wednesday, 7 February 2024 in Chad
Cooperation: EU aims to further strengthen relations with Chad

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chadians Abroad, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, received in audience, on February 7, 2024, the Special Representative of the European Union for the Sahel, Emanuela Del Re. The objective was to discuss the relations between Chad and the European Union and the crucial role that the Chadian government plays within the Sahel region.


The discussions during this meeting focused on topics related to the promotion of peace and stability in the Sahel. It is in view of the many challenges facing Chad and the subregion that the two stakeholders intend to strengthen their cooperation to eradicate these problems.


Thus, the EU Representative for the Sahel, Emanuela Del Re, took the opportunity to congratulate and encourage Chad for its efforts and contribution to the search for durable solutions. She did not lose sight of the ongoing transition process in Chad and welcomed the commitment of the Chadian government to the reception of thousands of Sudanese refugees in the east of the country.


View original: https://lendjampost.com/cooperation-lue-entend-renforcer-davantage-ses-relations-avec-le-tchad/


Source: Hat tip and thanks to Cameron Hudson @_hudsonc

https://twitter.com/_hudsonc/status/1755506600242979283 


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Sunday, February 11, 2024

BBC HARDtalk: Abdalla Hamdok Former PM of Sudan

THANKS to a Sudanese reader in England for sending in a link to this interview aired on 1 Feb 2024. Let's hope Dr Hamdok stays strong and well. He is a thoroughly decent man with the calmness and patience of a saint. Sudan needs more great humanitarians and peacemakers like him.


BBC TV interview

HARDtalk

Abdalla Hamdok - Former Prime Minister of Sudan


Zeinab Badawi speaks to the former prime minister of Sudan Abdalla Hamdok. He is at the heart of the negotiations to bring peace to the country after ten months of conflict in which thousands have died and millions have been displaced. Can his efforts succeed?


Click here to see the full interview, free of charge:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001vypz/hardtalk-abdalla-hamdok-former-prime-minister-of-sudan

Duration 25 mins

First shown 1 Feb 2024

Available for 11 months

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POSTSCRIPT from Sudan Watch Editor


The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster with a royal charter. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in London, England, United Kingdom.


Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state with its current name on 1 January 1927. 


The oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, the BBC employs over 21,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 17,900 are in public-sector broadcasting.


The BBC is funded by the British people. Every household, company and organisation in the UK pays a compulsory Licence Fee. Currently, a household Licence Fee averages £13.25 GBP per month. All households with people over 75 are entitled to a free TV Licence paid by the BBC.

Photo: The new extension to the BBC's Broadcasting House, completed in 2012. Source: Wikipedia


The BBC proudly belongs to the nation and ensures that the BBC's radio, television and online services are made freely available, without commercial advertising, to anyone, anywhere in the world including free access to its unrivalled databases of news, reports, interviews, discussions, education, podcasts, dramas, films, documentaries, music, entertainment and catch-up. 


The BBC World Service is an international news service available on radio, television and online. It provides impartial news reports and analysis in English and 40 other languages including ArabicPersian and Pidgin. Click here to read about BBC World Service radio and how to receive it. 


Click here to get the BBC's news in your language. Note that emergency radio services are offered and provided by the BBC to countries where there is war and/or little radio, television, telecoms, internet infrastructure.

Photo: Television pioneer John Logie Baird (seen here in 1917) televised the BBC's first drama, The Man with the Flower in His Mouth, on 14 July 1930, and the first live outside broadcast, The Derby, on 2 June 1931. 

John Logie Baird FRSE (13 August 1888 – 14 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first live working television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the first publicly demonstrated colour television system and the first viable purely electronic colour television picture tube. Source: Wikipedia

Photo: BBC Scotland building, BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow, Scotland which was opened in 2007. Source: Wikipedia

Photo: A statue of George Orwell by the British sculptor Martin Jenning was unveiled on 7 November 2017 outside Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC, in  London. Source: Wikipedia

Photo: The main entrance to Broadcasting House in 2019. Source: Wikipedia

Read more at Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC

UPDATE Mon 12 Feb 2024: added last lines to intro, changed Saint to saint.

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