Joint Troika Statement on the Attack in Abyei Region

From Norway in South Sudan

Royal Norwegian Embassy in Juba

Dated Wednesday, 03 January 2024 | Juba - here is a full copy:

Joint Troika Statement on the Attack in Abyei Region, December 31, 2023

The Embassies of Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States condemn the latest attack in the Abyei Administrative Area in which Deputy Administrator Noon Deng Nyok and several of his colleagues were killed on Sunday, December 31, 2023.

The use of violence as a tool for political or economic competition perpetuates a dangerous cycle and must be universally rejected by all South Sudanese leaders. This attack and all other incidents of violence should be investigated, and perpetrators held accountable.

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View original: https://www.norway.no/en/south-sudan/norway/news-events/joint-troika-statement-on-the-attack-in-abyei-region-december-31-2023/

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Related

Sudan Watch - January 03, 2024

Sudan & S. Sudan: Fiji's Merelea Dileba Drotini will be the second female going for the UNISFA in Abyei

Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew congratulated ASP Drotini for her appointment and reminded her of the image of the Fiji Police Force.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/01/sudan-s-sudan-fijis-merelea-dileba.html

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Sudan Watch - January 02, 2024

Sudan & South Sudan: Six killed in disputed Abyei. MP calls for UNISFA to protect Abyei people in Abyei Box

“We are saying that the issue of Abyei and Twic is taking a different turn, it is like there are invisible hands behind the issue of land. We call on the South Sudan Government to swiftly form an investigation committee to probe the killing of the deputy administrator and the former minister,” Tabitha said. She further called on the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to protect the people of Abyei within the Abyei Box.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/01/sudan-south-sudan-six-killed-in.html

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United Nations UNISFA Press Release - December 31, 2023

UNITED NATIONS INTERIM SECURITY FORCE FOR ABYEI CONDEMNS KILLING OF DEPUTY CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR

Abyei - 31 December 2023 - The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) strongly condemns the killing of Hon. Noon Deng Nyok, the Deputy Chief Administrator of Abyei, along with five other people during an ambush by an armed group at Wunpeth, near Agok. 

The Deputy Chief Administrator was known for his dedication to community service and commitment to fostering unity and peace. UNISFA extends its deepest condolences to his colleagues, including the Chief Administrator and members of Abyei Administration, as well as his family, friends and the wider community who are deeply affected by this tragic loss.  

This act of appalling and senseless violence risks the gains that have been made towards resolving the difficult situation in Southern Abyei. It is also stark reminder of the ongoing challenges faced in securing and maintaining peace across the Abyei region.

UNISFA calls on all parties to exercise restraint and collaborate in bringing the perpetrators of this crime to justice. The mission reaffirms its commitment to supporting local authorities in their efforts to promote reconciliation, stability, and the rule of law.

As the Abyei community comes to terms with this loss, UNISFA calls for a renewed focus and commitment to the pursuit of sustainable peace in Abyei. In this regard, the mission will continue all efforts to deliver on its mandate to help create a secure and stable environment where all people can enjoy peace and prosperity.

View original: https://unisfa.unmissions.org/united-nations-interim-security-force-abyei-condemns-killing-deputy-chief-administrator

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Sudan & S. Sudan: Fiji's Merelea Dileba Drotini will be the second female going for the UNISFA in Abyei

UN peacekeepers risk their lives for people in countries far from home. They are well respected. Any attack on a peacekeeper constitutes a war crime. 

From FBC News, Fiji
By Ema Ganivatu
Dated Wednesday, January 3, 2024, 5:44 AM

ASP Drotini leaving for UN Mission

Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew (left), Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police Merelea Dileba Drotini 

[Source: Fiji Police Force/ Facebook]

Officer in Charge of Criminal Records Office, Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police Merelea Dileba Drotini will be the second female going for the United Nations Interim Security Forces in Abyei.

Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew congratulated ASP Drotini for her appointment and reminded her of the image of the Fiji Police Force.

Chew has also advised ASP Drotini to make the most of any training chances during her time in the mission areas.

ASP Drotini will be departing our shores for UNISFA this Friday.

View original: https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/asp-drotini-leaving-for-un-mission/

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Sudan & South Sudan: Six killed in disputed Abyei. MP calls for UNISFA to protect Abyei people in Abyei Box

STRADDLING an ill-defined border between Sudan and South Sudan, oil-rich Abyei has been claimed by both countries since Juba declared independence from Khartoum in 2011. 

Tabitha Chol, an MP representing Abyei in the Council of States, alleged of a systematic scheme, targeting of constitutional post holders from Abyei by elements from the neighbouring Twic County. She said a former minister from Abyei was also killed in a similar ambush in November last year. 

“We are saying that the issue of Abyei and Twic is taking a different turn, it is like there are invisible hands behind the issue of land. We call on the South Sudan Government to swiftly form an investigation committee to probe the killing of the deputy administrator and the former minister,” Tabitha said. She further called on the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to protect the people of Abyei within the Abyei Box.

Read more in the four articles here below.

From Reuters
Reporting by Waakhe Simon Wudu

Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Jan Harvey
Dated Monday, January 1, 2024, 9:39 AM GMT - here is a copy in full:

Six killed in disputed region bordering Sudan, South Sudan

JUBA, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Six people including a senior local administrator were killed in an ambush by armed men in the Abyei region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, local officials said.

The oil-rich region experiences frequent bouts of violence, where rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group - Twic Dinka from South Sudan's neighbouring Warrap State, and Ngok Dinka from Abyei - are locked in a dispute over the location of an administrative boundary.

Abyei Deputy Chief Administrator Noon Deng and his team came under attack along the road from Abyei to Aneet town when they were returning from an official visit to Rummamer county, where they were celebrating the New Year, government officials said.

"His driver and two bodyguards plus two people of national security were all killed," Tereza Chol, a South Sudanese lawmaker, told Reuters.

Bulis Koch, the information minister for Abyei Administrative Area, blamed the Sunday evening attack on armed youth from Twic County of Warrap State, and said the bodies had not been retrieved as of Monday morning.

His counterpart in the Warrap State William Wol said it was still early "to point fingers".

The incident is the latest in a region where dozens were killed in ethnic clashes in November.

Straddling an ill-defined border between Sudan and South Sudan, Abyei has been claimed by both countries since Juba declared independence from Khartoum in 2011.

It has a special administrative status, governed by an administration comprising officials appointed by both countries.

South Sudan erupted into civil war shortly after independence, which pitted President Salva Kiir and his allies against his Vice President Riek Machar.

A peace agreement signed in 2018 is largely holding, but the transitional government has been slow to unify the various factions of the military.

Reporting by Waakhe Simon Wudu; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Jan Harvey

View original: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/six-killed-disputed-region-bordering-sudan-south-sudan-2024-01-01/

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Related Reports

Radio Tamazuj - January 2, 2024 

Juba: MPs want inquest into Abyei administrator’s killing - here is an excerpt and map:

Tabitha Chol, an MP representing Abyei in the Council of States, alleged of a systematic scheme, targeting of constitutional post holders from Abyei by elements from the neighbouring Twic County. She said a former minister from Abyei was also killed in a similar ambush in November last year. “We are saying that the issue of Abyei and Twic is taking a different turn, it is like there are invisible hands behind the issue of land. We call on the South Sudan Government to swiftly form an investigation committee to probe the killing of the deputy administrator and the former minister,” Tabitha said. She further called on the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to protect the people of Abyei within the Abyei Box.

View full story: https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/juba-mps-want-inquest-into-abyei-administrators-killing

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Radio Tamazuj - January 1, 2024

Opinion piece by Morris Kuol Yoll - here are some excerpts and map:

Abyei Box is a distortion of the boundary between Sudan and South Sudan

The northern boundary, known as the “Kordofan-Barh el Gazal boundary,” refers to the boundary between the Sudan and South Sudan north of Abyei. This boundary separates Ngok and Messirya. The Southern boundary between Barh el Gazal and Kordofan, as of 1 January 1956, is known as the Kiir River and separates Ngok of Abyei and Twic County. 

The boundary between Twic Dinka of Barh el Gazal and Ngok Dinka of Kordofan, Sudan, was left as it is according to The Hague's arbitration awards ruling of 22 July 2009, as stipulated in the following document: “In respect of the ABC Experts’ decision that “[t]he southern boundary shall be the Kordofan – Bahr el-Ghazal – Upper Nile boundary as it was defined on 1 January 1956,” the ABC Experts did not exceed their mandate” (Report of International Arbitration Awards, P.413).

The Southern Sudan Boundary Background report recommends that the Southern boundary between Twic and Ngok be resolved after 2011 and recommends that physical landmarks be developed to help when the demarcation of this boundary comes forth in the future.

The ABC's "Southern Sudan Boundary Background" report does not refer to the map of the Sudan, which indicates the 1 January 1956 boundary running through the Kiir River, but another map (the current Abyei Box) that crossed the Kiir River with undefined physical boundaries, and a map with no "topography” or landmarks, a map that according to the ABC report could pose problems when the time to demarcate the boundary between Twic County and Abyei Special Administration arrives.

View full story: https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/opinion-abyei-box-is-a-distortion-of-the-boundary-between-sudan-and-south-sudan

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Sudan Watch - January 10, 2009

Former Wall Street banker Philippe Heilberg gambles on a warlord's continuing control of 400,000 hectares of land in South Sudan (Update 1) - here are two excerpts:

There are few regions in Africa as remote and undeveloped as southern Sudan. Unity state, where Philippe Heilberg says he has secured a huge tract of arable land, is inaccessible even by south Sudan's standards.

Jarch Management Group is linked to Jarch Capital, a US investment company that counts on its board former state department and intelligence officials, including Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador and expert on Africa, who acts as vice-chairman; and Gwyneth Todd, who was an adviser on the Middle East and north Africa at the Pentagon and under Bill Clinton at the White House.

View full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/01/former-wall-street-banker-philippe.html

ENDS

The sheer beauty of our Universe: amazing images from James Webb telescope, two years after launch

HERE is a reminder of the beauty of our Universe. These wondrous pictures, a great feat by mankind, seem to give an ethereal glimpse into the after life.

 

From BBC News  Science

By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent 

Dated Monday, 1 January 2024

Amazing images from James Webb telescope, two years after launch

ORION NEBULA

The famous star forming region can just about be seen by the naked eye as a smudge on the sky. It would take a spaceship travelling at light-speed a little over four years to traverse this Webb scene.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched to orbit just two years ago, but already it's starting to redefine our view of the early Universe.

Marvel at the extraordinary collection of James Webb pictures on this page - from the most distant reaches of the Universe to the nearby familiar objects in our own Solar System.

It's amazing to think that imaging isn't actually the telescope's majority workload.

More than 70% of its time is spent doing spectroscopy. That's sampling the light from objects and slicing it up into its "rainbow" colours. It's how you retrieve key information about the chemistry, temperature, density and velocity of the targets under study.

"You could think of Webb as a giant spectrograph that takes the occasional nice picture," joked Dr Smith.

Contributors

Written by Jonathan Amos with additional reporting by Rebecca Morelle, Alison Francis and Tony Jolliffe. Production by Mike Hills and Dominic Bailey, design by Kate Gaynor and development by Becky Rush. Images: NASA/ESA/CSA.

Full story and images: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-611525eb-3a0c-4a68-bf54-485df138b6f6

ENDS

Sudan: Herbal plant Alkhala with great advantages

HERE is something nice from Sudan for New Year’s Day and a reminder of the talent, skills, education, experience and lives lost due to senseless wars.

From Sudan Now Magazine

Dated 21 March, 2023 - here is a copy in full:

Northern herbal plant with great advantages

BY: ROGIA AL-SHAFEE

Khartoum, Mar.20 (Sudanow) - Alkhala is a type of herb, which belongs to the family. It grows naturally in rugged and wild areas and grows abundantly in the winter. Its leaves are long, and its flowers contain a large amount of seeds known as (Alkhalaseeds).

Experiments have proven successful cultivation in Merowe Dam area and Soba West project in Khartoum and five other states, namely the North, River Nile, Gadarif and North Kordofan. These were successful experiments that confirmed the distinction of the Sudanese production of this plant, and that a number of foreign companies submitted a request to buy this herbal plant, and due to the increasing of its global demand, Sudan can expand its cultivation as one of the strategic crops that interfered in the manufacture of many medicines after the world realized the importance of natural medical plants.

The seed of Alkhala have many therapeutic benefits due to the good properties that characterize them, such as containing vinegar, farrago, glycoside, protein, amides, and sterols; therefore, its seeds are used in the manufacture of various medicines, in the treatment of expanding blood vessels, relieving pain and contractions of renal colic. Calm the nerves relieve insomnia and stress. It also helps in cleansing and cleaning teeth and gums from bacteria, prevention of strokes, strokes and heart attacks. Prevention of muscle spasms, bone protection. 

Preventing high blood pressure and keeping it within normal levels. asthma and chest treatment, activating blood circulation in the body. treating some skin diseases, such as psoriasis and vitiligo, and hair loss treatment in addition to the prevention of some types of cancer.

Sudanow met Dr. Muhammad Othman,   Sidahmed, Family Medicine Specialist who said: the seeds of Alkhala are used in many medical treatments, but in Sudan it was closely associated with the treatment of fragmentation of kidney stones, infections and urine retention, as it is used by taking five tablespoons of it, then boiling it in a large cup of water, and leaving it soaked for five minutes And eat it in two or three batches per day, repeating this process for at least a week.

View original: https://sudanow-magazine.net/page.php

ENDS

Sudan: Video of how Khartoum sky looked as it welcomed a new year: explosions, raids, and the sounds of rifles and weapons, with a few fireworks

THIS New Year's Eve post at X/Twitter by @AlMigdadHassan0, translated by Google, says: "Latest updates from Sudan’s capital Khartoum 1st January 2024. This is how the sky of the capital looked as it welcomed a new year: explosions, raids, and the sounds of rifles and weapons, with a few fireworks. However, the hope is in God that these voices will be silenced forever, and that we will live in peace, security, prosperity, and development. Be well". 

Latest updates from Sudan’s capital Khartoum

هكذا بدت سماء العاصمة وهي تستقبل عاماً جديداً، انفجارات وغارات وأصوات البنادق والسلاح مع قليل من الألعاب النارية. إلا أن الأمل في الله بأن تسكت هذه الأصوات وإلى الأبد، وأن نعيش بسلام وأمان ورفْعةٍ ونماء.
كونوا بخير.

1st.January.2024 pic.twitter.com/roNLQNdj3w

— AlMigdad Hassan (@AlMigdadHassan0) December 31, 2023

ENDS 

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THIS New Year's Eve post at X/Twitter by @AlMigdadHassan0, translated by Google, says: "Explosions and sounds of gunfire along with the smell of gunpowder…. These are the celebrations to welcome this year in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum".

Note, Al is a correspondent for @AlArabiya @AlHadath Channels in Sudan and is a Khartoum University Pharmacy Graduate “Making Peace Possible”.

الانفجارات وأصوات إطلاق النار مع رائحة البارود …. هي الاحتفالات باستقبال هذا العام في العاصمة السودانية الخرطوم.

1st.January.2024

— AlMigdad Hassan (@AlMigdadHassan0) December 31, 2023

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THIS post at X/Twitter by @AlMigdadHassan0, translated from Arabic by Google, says: "Breaking News: 31 Dec 2023. Sudanese army fighters bombed several sites in the Rapid Support areas southeast of Khartoum a short while ago. 11:30 pm 9:34 PM · Dec 31, 2023 from Khartoum North, Sudan". 

Breaking News: 31.Dec.2023

مقاتلات الجيش السوداني تقصف عدة مواقع بمناطق الدعم السريع جنوب شرق الخرطوم قبل قليل.

11:30 pm

— AlMigdad Hassan (@AlMigdadHassan0) December 31, 2023

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