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The leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan Musa Hilal and Chadian president Idriss Deby (R)
December 30, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Chadian president Idriss Deby is engaged to the daughter of the notorious Darfuri Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, according to a news report.
This has significant implications to the border relations between Darfar and Chad...Please comment with your thoughts...
-Shimron Issachar
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Leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan Musa Hilal (L) and Chadian president Idriss Deby (R)
The privately-owned al-Sudani newspaper said that Deby became engaged to Amani Musa Hilal during his most recent visit to Sudan, which took place last month.
Africa Alyom newspaper, quoting informed Chadian sources, said that Deby paid a $26 million dowry of which $25 million was paid to Musa Hilal and the rest to his daughter in the form of gold and jewelry.
The wedding is set to take place on 10 January 2012 at Rotana hotel in Khartoum, al-Sudani reported.
Hilal stands accused by many human rights groups of leading a terror campaign against the African tribes Sudan's western region of Darfur.
The leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan has denied any wrongdoing and told Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a videotaped interview in 2005, that he only recruited militias on behalf of Sudan's central government.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when an ethnic minority rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which then was accused of enlisting the Janjaweed militia group to help crush the rebellion.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed travel and financial sanctions on Hilal and three other individuals in April 2006. However, unlike other individuals including Sudan's president he is not wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Showing posts with label Sudan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sudan. Show all posts
Saturday, January 07, 2012
President Bashir of Sudan Offers to Help Libya Form a National Army
Sudanese President Bahshir, wanted for War Crimes in the Hague has actuall offered to Help Libya create a national Army....He says he has experience "integerating rebels" into the army....
-Shimron Issachar
(Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, said on Saturday he has offered to help Libya integrate its dozens of militias into the country's armed forces.
"We have an experience in integrating rebels in a national army," said Bashir, whose visit to Libya drew criticism from human rights groups.
"We have offered to help our brothers in Libya in building a national army that includes the components of the Libyan revolution. Our experts are available and our officers are available," he said.
Bashir also said he had offered the new Libyan government help from Sudanese troops in protecting Libya's southern borders during the war that ended Muammar Gaddafi's rule but that his offer was declined.
Libya's new rulers are struggling to include thousands of former rebels who helped oust Gaddafi in a military and police force or in civilian jobs.
Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, warned this week that Libya risks sliding into civil war unless it cracks down on rival militias which filled the vacuum left by Gaddafi's downfall.
The militias are vying with each other for influence, and believe that to ensure they receive their due share of political power they need to keep an armed presence in the capital.
Abdul Jalil, who visited Khartoum in November, has said Sudanese weapons and ammunition helped Libya's former rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi last year and take control of the North African country.
Relations between Khartoum and Tripoli were strained during Gaddafi's rule because of his support for rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region and in South Sudan, which gained independence in July under a 2005 peace deal.
Bashir said that the ousting of Gaddafi was "the best piece of news in Sudan's modern history."
"We came here to thank the Libyan people for the gift they offered to the Sudanese people by removing Gaddafi," he said.
RIGHTS GROUPS' CRITICISM
Bashir's visit was criticised by rights groups.
"Welcoming Bashir ... raises questions about the NTC's stated commitment to human rights and the rule of law," Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
"Following the end of decades of brutal rule in Libya, it is disturbing if Tripoli hosts a head of state on the run from international arrest warrants for grave human rights violations."
Mohammed al-Keelani, who heads a group of 50 Libyan civil society organizations, said Bashir was not welcome in Libya.
"For us, Omar al-Bashir is the Gaddafi of Sudan," he said. "We have reservations against this visit because he's a tyrant who oppresses his people and his policy contradicts our principles."
Bashir is under increasing pressure at home after his country lost much of its oil production to the south.
The Rest @ Reuters
-Shimron Issachar
(Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, said on Saturday he has offered to help Libya integrate its dozens of militias into the country's armed forces.
"We have an experience in integrating rebels in a national army," said Bashir, whose visit to Libya drew criticism from human rights groups.
"We have offered to help our brothers in Libya in building a national army that includes the components of the Libyan revolution. Our experts are available and our officers are available," he said.
Bashir also said he had offered the new Libyan government help from Sudanese troops in protecting Libya's southern borders during the war that ended Muammar Gaddafi's rule but that his offer was declined.
Libya's new rulers are struggling to include thousands of former rebels who helped oust Gaddafi in a military and police force or in civilian jobs.
Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, warned this week that Libya risks sliding into civil war unless it cracks down on rival militias which filled the vacuum left by Gaddafi's downfall.
The militias are vying with each other for influence, and believe that to ensure they receive their due share of political power they need to keep an armed presence in the capital.
Abdul Jalil, who visited Khartoum in November, has said Sudanese weapons and ammunition helped Libya's former rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi last year and take control of the North African country.
Relations between Khartoum and Tripoli were strained during Gaddafi's rule because of his support for rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region and in South Sudan, which gained independence in July under a 2005 peace deal.
Bashir said that the ousting of Gaddafi was "the best piece of news in Sudan's modern history."
"We came here to thank the Libyan people for the gift they offered to the Sudanese people by removing Gaddafi," he said.
RIGHTS GROUPS' CRITICISM
Bashir's visit was criticised by rights groups.
"Welcoming Bashir ... raises questions about the NTC's stated commitment to human rights and the rule of law," Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
"Following the end of decades of brutal rule in Libya, it is disturbing if Tripoli hosts a head of state on the run from international arrest warrants for grave human rights violations."
Mohammed al-Keelani, who heads a group of 50 Libyan civil society organizations, said Bashir was not welcome in Libya.
"For us, Omar al-Bashir is the Gaddafi of Sudan," he said. "We have reservations against this visit because he's a tyrant who oppresses his people and his policy contradicts our principles."
Bashir is under increasing pressure at home after his country lost much of its oil production to the south.
The Rest @ Reuters
Saturday, October 08, 2011
LRA Crisis Tracker Brings Technology to Track the Lord's Resistance Army Terrorist Group
Uganda LRA rebel tracking technology unveiled
A new system of radio links has been developed to try to counter a rebel movement whose attacks have plagued vast areas of Central Africa.
Funded by US charities, it will allow remote communities to warn each other.
So far this year around 140 civilians have been killed and more than 600 abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army.
All the incidents will now be displayed on the LRA Crisis Tracker website which can also be used by Congolese and Ugandan troops fighting the rebels.
"Through these series of high frequency radios, communities can now be able to connect and communicate with one another, letting each other know where this rebel group is moving, being able to broadcast security reports, and then being able to defend themselves from LRA attacks," Adam Fink of the US-based charity Invisible Children, which helps fund the operation, told the BBC.
According to the San Diego-based charity, the device was developed in response to a massacre in December 2009, where 321 civilians were killed by the LRA in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Despite the scale and brutality of the "Makombo massacre", the international community did not learn of the incident until March 2010 - three months later.
LRACrisisTracker.com now gives an immediate update on the current situation.
The LRA has brought misery to villages across the region for more than two decades.
The rebel group originated in Uganda 20 years ago and initially claimed to be fighting to install a theocracy in the country based on the Biblical 10 commandments.
But the rebels now roam across parts of Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR), as well as north-eastern DR Congo.
LRA leader Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), and now lives an itinerant life, crossing between Sudan and the CAR.
In 2008, he was about to sign a peace deal, negotiated by South Sudan, but at the last minute he refused to lay down his arms.
Last year, the US government unveiled a strategy to work with regional governments to protect civilians from LRA attacks
By Martin Plaut
The Rest @ BBC
A new system of radio links has been developed to try to counter a rebel movement whose attacks have plagued vast areas of Central Africa.
Funded by US charities, it will allow remote communities to warn each other.
So far this year around 140 civilians have been killed and more than 600 abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army.
All the incidents will now be displayed on the LRA Crisis Tracker website which can also be used by Congolese and Ugandan troops fighting the rebels.
"Through these series of high frequency radios, communities can now be able to connect and communicate with one another, letting each other know where this rebel group is moving, being able to broadcast security reports, and then being able to defend themselves from LRA attacks," Adam Fink of the US-based charity Invisible Children, which helps fund the operation, told the BBC.
According to the San Diego-based charity, the device was developed in response to a massacre in December 2009, where 321 civilians were killed by the LRA in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Despite the scale and brutality of the "Makombo massacre", the international community did not learn of the incident until March 2010 - three months later.
LRACrisisTracker.com now gives an immediate update on the current situation.
The LRA has brought misery to villages across the region for more than two decades.
The rebel group originated in Uganda 20 years ago and initially claimed to be fighting to install a theocracy in the country based on the Biblical 10 commandments.
But the rebels now roam across parts of Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR), as well as north-eastern DR Congo.
LRA leader Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), and now lives an itinerant life, crossing between Sudan and the CAR.
In 2008, he was about to sign a peace deal, negotiated by South Sudan, but at the last minute he refused to lay down his arms.
Last year, the US government unveiled a strategy to work with regional governments to protect civilians from LRA attacks
By Martin Plaut
The Rest @ BBC
Friday, September 16, 2011
Gaddafi Loyalsts Flee in Vast Numbers and May Destabilize Niger, CHAD, Sudan
- More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert.
- Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.
- Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim has returned to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.
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Long bedevilled by coups, rebellions and other home-grown troubles, Libya’s African neighbours have been landed with a new set of woes imported fresh from someone else’s war.
The arrival in Niger of 32 fleeing Muammar Gaddafi loyalists - including one of the ousted Libyan leader’s sons - in recent days is already a diplomatic headache for the government.
Yet that may just be a precursor to developments that would scare off foreign investment and further unsettle a region that is already a base for Al Qaeda-linked militants.
- Lacking the military might and technology to secure its northern borders, Niger this week warned that the Libyan conflict could turn into the next security and humanitarian crisis to afflict the drought-prone former French colony."We need your help and support on both scores,” Prime Minister Brigi Rafini appealed to local ambassadors during talks in the capital Niamey this week.
- More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert.
- Nigeriens and other sub-Saharan Africans have for years sought work in oil-rich Libya, where average income per head is 20 times Niger’s.
- Among them are gangs of local Tuareg nomads who were hired to fight on Gaddafi’s side and which in the past weeks have been spotted returning to their encampments in northern Niger.
- While the numbers so far are small, Niamey’s main worry is that a final capitulation of Gaddafi forces will drive thousands more of his Tuareg fighters back over the border to a country where they have for years led a string of rebellions.
“The Sahelo-Saharan strip is already insecure, with the activities of terrorists and drug traffickers. Now we seeing the return of young men with no source of employment but who know how to handle weapons,” said Ahmet Haidara, a parliamentarian in Niger’s north, said.
“We didn’t want this war but now we have to deal as best we can with the negative consequences,” said Haidara, who heads a Tuareg committee in contact with Libya’s new National Transitional Council rulers.
Aside from arms coming back with the Tuaregs, governments in the region believe trafficked weapons from Libya have fallen into the hands of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) allies behind a series of kidnappings of Westerners and other crime.
“Businesses operating in the region will face increased criminality and insecurity in the coming months as a result of the influx of arms and armed individuals or groups,” forecast Roddy Barclay, Africa analyst at London-based Control Risks.
That would not only make humanitarian work tougher, but be bad news for companies such as Areva, whose uranium mines in the northern town of Arlit supply France’s nuclear sector. The target of an AQIM hostage-taking a year ago, Areva began returning its expatriate workers to northern Niger in July under tightened security. Citing the increased measures, an Areva spokesman said the company was ready for all eventualities.
Neighbouring Mali, where AQIM is thought still to be holding a group of four French hostages from the Arlit kidnappings, faces the same set of concerns as Niger.
It too is seeing a recent respite from a rebellion launched on its soil by Tuaregs, whom one senior military source linked to new signs of a trade in weapons trafficked from Libya. Others fear an opportunity for AQIM.
“The influx of arms into the region cannot but strengthen AQIM,” Burkinabe parliamentarian Melegue Traore said at talks on regional security and other issues in Niamey this week.
“It’s a golden opportunity for them - I’m sure the West didn’t think it would be like this,” he added.
Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.
But their main concern is the return of Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.
“Chad, which has a non-aggression pact with Sudan, has put its troops on alert in case Sudanese rebels try to enter Chad,” said one of the security sources.
Events in Libya over coming days could well determine how big an impact is seen on stability in the fragile region.
For now, the hand-wringing in Niamey over what to do with the Gaddafi loyalists - including his son Saadi - highlights the challenges facing governments which had learned how to live with Gaddafi’s mix of irksome meddling and erratic generosity.
Niger has stressed the Libyans are under surveillance rather than detention, as they are not being sought for arrest and so are being granted refuge on humanitarian grounds.
That stance might appease the local politicians who have sampled Gaddafi’s generosity, but would be tested if Libya’s new leaders and the West push for the fugitives to be handed over - particularly given Niger’s reliance on foreign aid.
While many African states have only begrudgingly recognised Libya’s National Transitional Council, whose members are largely unknown south of the Sahara, some analysts argue they will fare better after Gaddafi’s fall.
“With the Gaddafi regime no longer playing regional governments off against each other, co-operation on issues such as border control, counter-narcotics and the creation of a regional task-force should face less disruption,” argued Control Risks’ Barclay. – Reuters
By Mark John/Niamey, Niger
The Rest @ Gulf Times
Monday, August 29, 2011
New Mass Graves found in South Kordofan Sudan
South Kordofan lies just across the border from newly independent South Sudan and has been the site of clashes between government troops from Sudan's Arab north and black tribesmen aligned with the south's Sudan People's Liberation Movement. Many inhabitants of South Kordofan fought for the south during the country's two decades-plus civil war against the north and are ethnically linked to the south.
A report released this month by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said Sudanese security forces allegedly carried out indiscriminate aerial bombardments in South Kordofan that killed civilians in the weeks before South Sudan became independent on July 9. It also alleged that Sudanese forces executed prisoners accused of belonging to the south's Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement before burying them in mass graves.
"The evidence against the Sudanese government continues to compound and has now become impossible to dismiss. It is time for the international community to take serious action and execute its responsibility to protect innocent lives in Sudan," said John Prendergast, co-founder of the activist group the Enough Project.
The Sudanese Red Crescent Society has said that it buried 59 bodies in marked burial sites in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, between mid-June and mid-July.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it supplied body bags, rubber boots and cameras to SRCS teams tasked with the management of dead bodies, according to spokeswoman Anna Schaaf. The ICRC is not on the ground in South Kordofan.
The satellite group in July reported the first three mass graves as excavated areas measuring about 26 meters (yards) by 5 meters (yards) visible near a school in the town of Kadugli. The group said that an eyewitness reported seeing 100 bodies or more put into one of the pits on June 8.
Sudan said last week that it will allow six U.N. agencies to take part in a government-organized mission to South Kordofan, where the U.N. human rights office has called for a probe into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Khartoum's U.N. Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said the joint mission will be sent to South Kordofan "to assess the situation of human rights there and the humanitarian needs."
Sudan President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday announced a two-week cease-fire in South Kordofan.
The Rest @ Huffington Post
A report released this month by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said Sudanese security forces allegedly carried out indiscriminate aerial bombardments in South Kordofan that killed civilians in the weeks before South Sudan became independent on July 9. It also alleged that Sudanese forces executed prisoners accused of belonging to the south's Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement before burying them in mass graves.
"The evidence against the Sudanese government continues to compound and has now become impossible to dismiss. It is time for the international community to take serious action and execute its responsibility to protect innocent lives in Sudan," said John Prendergast, co-founder of the activist group the Enough Project.
The Sudanese Red Crescent Society has said that it buried 59 bodies in marked burial sites in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, between mid-June and mid-July.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it supplied body bags, rubber boots and cameras to SRCS teams tasked with the management of dead bodies, according to spokeswoman Anna Schaaf. The ICRC is not on the ground in South Kordofan.
The satellite group in July reported the first three mass graves as excavated areas measuring about 26 meters (yards) by 5 meters (yards) visible near a school in the town of Kadugli. The group said that an eyewitness reported seeing 100 bodies or more put into one of the pits on June 8.
Sudan said last week that it will allow six U.N. agencies to take part in a government-organized mission to South Kordofan, where the U.N. human rights office has called for a probe into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Khartoum's U.N. Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said the joint mission will be sent to South Kordofan "to assess the situation of human rights there and the humanitarian needs."
Sudan President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday announced a two-week cease-fire in South Kordofan.
The Rest @ Huffington Post
Friday, August 26, 2011
Al Qaeda's Africa Express-Three arested
On the trafficking route from Sudan to Somalia, three Low level gun runners have been arrested in Moroto, Uganda. They may know the logistician running the supply chain.
Read more: http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story., Kenyaphp?s=36280#ixzz1W9HtmSUl
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Italian Aid Worker Kidnapped in Darfur, Sudan
Aug 16, 2011 (2 days ago)
Italian aid worker kidnapped in South Darfur
by SudanTribube.com
Italian aid worker kidnapped in South Darfur
by SudanTribube.com
August 15, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — An Italian aid worker has been abducted yesterday in the capital of South Darfur state by an unidentified group of armed men, the UNAMID and Italian government said today.
The logistics specialist was kidnapped on Sunday while he is was in the rout to the airport with two Sudanese colleagues, the UN hybrid mission said Monday. The abductors who were dressed in plain clothes took Francesco Azzara after stoping the car.
The Italian foreign ministry said concerned services are already working with the Sudanese authorities and the aid group Emergency.
The Italian medical aid group Emergency said Francesco, 34-year, was on his second visit to Nyala where it operates a pediatric center.
Abductors used to demand ransom and talks take time as the authorities used to convince them to release the hostages unharmed.
The UN Security Council on 29 July expressed its "deep concern" over the deterioration of security conditions in Darfur, including among others, the attack on aid workers.
However Khartoum denounced the resolution saying it distorts the image of the country and urged UN body to relay on verified reports.
The logistics specialist was kidnapped on Sunday while he is was in the rout to the airport with two Sudanese colleagues, the UN hybrid mission said Monday. The abductors who were dressed in plain clothes took Francesco Azzara after stoping the car.
The Italian foreign ministry said concerned services are already working with the Sudanese authorities and the aid group Emergency.
The Italian medical aid group Emergency said Francesco, 34-year, was on his second visit to Nyala where it operates a pediatric center.
Abductors used to demand ransom and talks take time as the authorities used to convince them to release the hostages unharmed.
The UN Security Council on 29 July expressed its "deep concern" over the deterioration of security conditions in Darfur, including among others, the attack on aid workers.
However Khartoum denounced the resolution saying it distorts the image of the country and urged UN body to relay on verified reports.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Decisions for the Anglican Church in the Sudans
AFRICA/SUDAN - In October the Sudanese Bishops will decide whether to form two distinct Episcopal Conferences for the North and the South
Khartoum (Fides Service) - The Sudanese Bishops will meet in October in the Diocese of Wau (Southern Sudan) to decide whether to form two distinct Episcopal Conferences, after the separation between north and south Sudan (which officially became an independent state on July 9 ).
Khartoum (Fides Service) - The Sudanese Bishops will meet in October in the Diocese of Wau (Southern Sudan) to decide whether to form two distinct Episcopal Conferences, after the separation between north and south Sudan (which officially became an independent state on July 9 ).
This is what is said by a source of the Sudan Catholic Radio News.
Currently there is only one Episcopal Conference with two independent Secretaries in Juba (the capital of southern Sudan) and in Khartoum.
This decision is likely to be affected by how the situation in the Church in northern Sudan will evolve.
- The number of faithful in the north is declining, as reported by John Ashworth, Consultant of the Church in Sudan to CISA Agency in Nairobi, since many Catholics living in the north, but born in the south, have been forced to return to their places of origin after the separation.
- "Others will likely be forced to do so in the coming months because of problems related to the granting of citizenship, as well as for the real possibility that the cultural and religious minorities in the Republic of Sudan (north) are subjected to harassment.
- This is why some churches and Catholic schools have had to close down. If Khartoum grants citizenship rights to the southern Sudanese, then the situation might improve, but it all depends on how the southerners and Christians are treated ", Ashworth said to CISA.
Friday, July 01, 2011
SPLM NCP Sign a Framework for discussions in Sudan
29 June 2011—(Khartoum) — The SPLM and the NCP on Tuesday signed a frame work agreement, in an attempt to resolve their differences and find a lasting peace in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
The agreement, signed in Addis Ababa, is to pave way for comprehensive political and security arrangements in the two areas.
A Sudanese intellectual and political analyst said that the accord between the two parties is a positive move towards peace and stability in the warring regions.
Doctor Omar Ahmed El-Garrai spoke to SRS from Khartoum on Wednesday.
[Omar al-Garrai]: "I think it is a good agreement and the talks were successful. It falls on the interest of all Sudanese people. I think the SPLM stance is strong in these talks, because the talks with the NCP come following the armed aggressions by the government on southern Kordofan state. In addition to that, the fear by the government that southern Kordofan might turn to an area of accountability such as what has happened in Darfur."
The NCP had earlier vowed not to negotiate with SPLM/SPLA in the north, and instead threatened to clear the SPLA forces in southern Kordofan.
Al-Garrai however said that the NCP’s move to sign the agreement is a show that the party is aware of the intensity of the atrocities committed in the area, and the price that the perpetrators are likely to pay in the end.
[Omar El-Garrai]: "For the NCP, if these talks succeed, it will be a big success for them, I think they will succeed in hiding a big crime that occurred in Southern Kordofan, whereby hundreds of people were killed and thousands fled their homes. It is better for the NCP to stop the political statements and threats and as well insistence of using force and rejecting to withdraw from Abyei and southern Kordofan. They had better reconsider their position and try to win in the diplomatic round after they tried the military round and did not even gain a tangible military win."
The agreement also stipulates that “any disarmament to the SPLA forces in the north shall be done in accordance with agreed upon plans and without resorting to force."
The SPLA from the two states are to be integrated into the northern army "over a period of time and with modalities to be agreed upon," or demobilized.
The agreement which was facilitated by the chief African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki, was signed by the chairman of the SPLM in the north Malik Agar and the presidential advisor Doctor Nafi Ali Nafi.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
South Sudan's Five Challenges
South Sudan finds itself at a complex crossroads, and Alex Thurston has written the most accurate and succinct analysis of the situation I have seen so far. Here it is.
- Shimron
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Attention is turning from South Sudan’s referendum on independence, which yielded a nearly unanimous “yes” vote, to South’s Sudan’s future. Here are five challenges the new country will face:
1. Borders
Even though North Sudan appears resigned to the South’s secession, the two countries will still have to agree on the precise border that divides them. One major piece of that puzzle is Abyei, an oil-rich region that was supposed to hold its own referendum and decide whether it would secede along with the South or remain with the North. Due to disagreements between North and South Sudanese leaders, Abyei’s referendum was postponed indefinitely. Verbal and physical conflict in Abyei (between the largely pro-secession Ngok Dinka farmers and the largely pro-unity Misseriya Arab pastoralists) punctuated the voting earlier this month.
Now that the voting is over, Abyei remains a “potential tinderbox.”
On the southern side, the secretary general of the ruling party, the Southern People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Pagan Amum, has said that if the Abyei referendum is not conducted, the only remaining option is for Abyei to be transferred to the south by presidential decree. On the northern side, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said he will not accept Abyei being part of the south.
The Ngok Dinka say they fear that if they do not make their declaration before the votes are counted in the southern referendum, they will miss their chance to join the south.
The Ngok Dinka were ready to make their declaration before voting started on Jan. 9. But two high-level officials from the SPLM persuaded them to hold off.
The officials said a declaration before the referendum would give the north “an excuse to disrupt” the vote, said Juac Agok, deputy chairman of the SPLM in Abyei.
The SPLM is now asking them to wait until after July 9, when southern independence would formally begin.
But Agok said, “I don’t think it will be possible for me to convince the people of Abyei to wait.”
The seriousness of the situation in Abyei is so great that one analyst calls it “the key to South Sudan['s] stability.” Without a solution that both governments and the people of Abyei can accept, violence may escalate.
2. Oil
Oil is the primary driver of Sudan’s economy. The US Energy Information Administration says, “In 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund, oil represented over 90 percent of export earnings. For South Sudan (Juba), oil represented 98 percent of total revenues for the year compared to Khartoum at 65 percent.” The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 (which provided for the referendum) established a 50-50 revenue-sharing agreement between North and South, but now the two countries will have to negotiate a new agreement on revenues. Addressing issues like transparency, a report released in early January argued, will be key to establishing trust and peace between North and South, who must rely on each other when it comes to oil: Three-quarters of the oil is in the South, but the North has the pipelines and refineries.
In addition to this challenge, South Sudan has its own internal challenges when it comes to oil revenues: accusations of government corruption and continued poverty in the midst of rising government income threaten to increase public discontent with the Government of South Sudan. Fast growth has led to income inequality and a sense of chaos in Juba. South Sudan will have to use oil revenues carefully in achieving development and building a unified society.
3. Integration and Citizenship
Who is a citizen in South Sudan? With refugees and members of the diaspora returning from near and far, and with everyone in the new country pondering its political future, South Sudan will need to develop a basis for national integration, citizenship, and unity that relies on more than just opposition to the North. Maggie Fick captures this problem poignantly:
A Southern Sudanese told me that “the referendum is the only thing that united us southerners.”
He believes that one of the hardest tasks of the southern government in the coming years will be to create the idea of being a Southern Sudanese citizen—an idea that will arguably be foreign to many ofthese citizens.
After my friend made the above comment, he proceeded to give me an extensive history lesson on “the struggle,” speaking with pride and deep knowledge about the causes of the south’s two post-independence rebellions against regimes in Khartoum. He drew upon stories of battles fought in areas of the south that he has never visited but that appear vividly in his oral retelling of years of bloody conflict that eventually led to the south gaining the chance to decide its own destiny in a self-determination vote.
If this isn’t pride for a nation and in a group of people than I don’t know what is.
But the new Southern Sudan will be about more than the struggle of the past, and it will be a new struggle for the new country’s leaders to forge a path that includes not only those groups who fought in the war but also those people who were born in refugee camps in East Africa, who grew up in Nebraska, who studied at Oxford and who drive motorcycle taxis in Juba.
Picking the country’s name (it may well remain “South Sudan”), national anthem, flag, and emblem is a first step, but crafting national unity and integrating newcomers will take a long time.
4. Political Reform
This point is related to the last point. Along with building a sense of one nation, South Sudan will face the challenge of allowing multiple voices to speak. South Sudan will face international and internal pressures to move beyond the one-party model that allows the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to dominate.
The International Crisis Group’s Zack Vertin ably explains the issue:
The rebel movement turned governing party — the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement — dominates the political arena. Since the end of the war, opposition voices have suppressed grievances and taken a back seat to the SPLM so as to preserve the goal shared by all southerners — self-determination. But now that the vote has been cast, that common denominator is gone. When the jubilation of last week’s vote subsides, the political environment will slowly begin to transform. The current leadership must respond accordingly, recognizing that a genuine opening of political space is both necessary and in their long-term interest. They must find a way to equitably manage the South’s own diversity, lest they simply duplicate the sort of autocratic regime they’ve finally managed to escape.
Allowing political pluralism means more than just who wins at the ballot box – it also means addressing human rights issues (h/t Rob Crilly), managing dissent, and promoting positive relations between ethnic groups. None of that will be easy.
5. Development
South Sudan’s development challenges are wide-ranging and stark. A Reuters report from 2010 puts South Sudan’s predicament bluntly: “By many yardsticks, it is the least-developed place on earth: 70 percent of its people have no access to any form of healthcare, one in five women die in childbirth and one in five children fail to make it to their fifth birthday.” UNDP provides alarming statistics on education, disease, sustainability, and other issues in South Sudan. These problems are not just economic – they also threaten to undercut political stability. The worst outcome, as Rob Crilly says, would be for South Sudan, burdened by economic crisis and political failure, to join the world’s failed states.
*********************************
This list is not comprehensive, and I hope commenters will weigh in on these issues and others. What have I missed? What challenges do you see ahead for South Sudan?
The Rest @ Sahel Bog
- Shimron
***************
Attention is turning from South Sudan’s referendum on independence, which yielded a nearly unanimous “yes” vote, to South’s Sudan’s future. Here are five challenges the new country will face:
1. Borders
Even though North Sudan appears resigned to the South’s secession, the two countries will still have to agree on the precise border that divides them. One major piece of that puzzle is Abyei, an oil-rich region that was supposed to hold its own referendum and decide whether it would secede along with the South or remain with the North. Due to disagreements between North and South Sudanese leaders, Abyei’s referendum was postponed indefinitely. Verbal and physical conflict in Abyei (between the largely pro-secession Ngok Dinka farmers and the largely pro-unity Misseriya Arab pastoralists) punctuated the voting earlier this month.
Now that the voting is over, Abyei remains a “potential tinderbox.”
On the southern side, the secretary general of the ruling party, the Southern People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Pagan Amum, has said that if the Abyei referendum is not conducted, the only remaining option is for Abyei to be transferred to the south by presidential decree. On the northern side, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said he will not accept Abyei being part of the south.
The Ngok Dinka say they fear that if they do not make their declaration before the votes are counted in the southern referendum, they will miss their chance to join the south.
The Ngok Dinka were ready to make their declaration before voting started on Jan. 9. But two high-level officials from the SPLM persuaded them to hold off.
The officials said a declaration before the referendum would give the north “an excuse to disrupt” the vote, said Juac Agok, deputy chairman of the SPLM in Abyei.
The SPLM is now asking them to wait until after July 9, when southern independence would formally begin.
But Agok said, “I don’t think it will be possible for me to convince the people of Abyei to wait.”
The seriousness of the situation in Abyei is so great that one analyst calls it “the key to South Sudan['s] stability.” Without a solution that both governments and the people of Abyei can accept, violence may escalate.
2. Oil
Oil is the primary driver of Sudan’s economy. The US Energy Information Administration says, “In 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund, oil represented over 90 percent of export earnings. For South Sudan (Juba), oil represented 98 percent of total revenues for the year compared to Khartoum at 65 percent.” The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 (which provided for the referendum) established a 50-50 revenue-sharing agreement between North and South, but now the two countries will have to negotiate a new agreement on revenues. Addressing issues like transparency, a report released in early January argued, will be key to establishing trust and peace between North and South, who must rely on each other when it comes to oil: Three-quarters of the oil is in the South, but the North has the pipelines and refineries.
In addition to this challenge, South Sudan has its own internal challenges when it comes to oil revenues: accusations of government corruption and continued poverty in the midst of rising government income threaten to increase public discontent with the Government of South Sudan. Fast growth has led to income inequality and a sense of chaos in Juba. South Sudan will have to use oil revenues carefully in achieving development and building a unified society.
3. Integration and Citizenship
Who is a citizen in South Sudan? With refugees and members of the diaspora returning from near and far, and with everyone in the new country pondering its political future, South Sudan will need to develop a basis for national integration, citizenship, and unity that relies on more than just opposition to the North. Maggie Fick captures this problem poignantly:
A Southern Sudanese told me that “the referendum is the only thing that united us southerners.”
He believes that one of the hardest tasks of the southern government in the coming years will be to create the idea of being a Southern Sudanese citizen—an idea that will arguably be foreign to many ofthese citizens.
After my friend made the above comment, he proceeded to give me an extensive history lesson on “the struggle,” speaking with pride and deep knowledge about the causes of the south’s two post-independence rebellions against regimes in Khartoum. He drew upon stories of battles fought in areas of the south that he has never visited but that appear vividly in his oral retelling of years of bloody conflict that eventually led to the south gaining the chance to decide its own destiny in a self-determination vote.
If this isn’t pride for a nation and in a group of people than I don’t know what is.
But the new Southern Sudan will be about more than the struggle of the past, and it will be a new struggle for the new country’s leaders to forge a path that includes not only those groups who fought in the war but also those people who were born in refugee camps in East Africa, who grew up in Nebraska, who studied at Oxford and who drive motorcycle taxis in Juba.
Picking the country’s name (it may well remain “South Sudan”), national anthem, flag, and emblem is a first step, but crafting national unity and integrating newcomers will take a long time.
4. Political Reform
This point is related to the last point. Along with building a sense of one nation, South Sudan will face the challenge of allowing multiple voices to speak. South Sudan will face international and internal pressures to move beyond the one-party model that allows the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to dominate.
The International Crisis Group’s Zack Vertin ably explains the issue:
The rebel movement turned governing party — the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement — dominates the political arena. Since the end of the war, opposition voices have suppressed grievances and taken a back seat to the SPLM so as to preserve the goal shared by all southerners — self-determination. But now that the vote has been cast, that common denominator is gone. When the jubilation of last week’s vote subsides, the political environment will slowly begin to transform. The current leadership must respond accordingly, recognizing that a genuine opening of political space is both necessary and in their long-term interest. They must find a way to equitably manage the South’s own diversity, lest they simply duplicate the sort of autocratic regime they’ve finally managed to escape.
Allowing political pluralism means more than just who wins at the ballot box – it also means addressing human rights issues (h/t Rob Crilly), managing dissent, and promoting positive relations between ethnic groups. None of that will be easy.
5. Development
South Sudan’s development challenges are wide-ranging and stark. A Reuters report from 2010 puts South Sudan’s predicament bluntly: “By many yardsticks, it is the least-developed place on earth: 70 percent of its people have no access to any form of healthcare, one in five women die in childbirth and one in five children fail to make it to their fifth birthday.” UNDP provides alarming statistics on education, disease, sustainability, and other issues in South Sudan. These problems are not just economic – they also threaten to undercut political stability. The worst outcome, as Rob Crilly says, would be for South Sudan, burdened by economic crisis and political failure, to join the world’s failed states.
*********************************
This list is not comprehensive, and I hope commenters will weigh in on these issues and others. What have I missed? What challenges do you see ahead for South Sudan?
The Rest @ Sahel Bog
Sunday, January 23, 2011
North Sudan Reports Alignment in South Sudan Defense Forces
By Ngor Arol Garang
January 21, 2011 (ABYEI) - A top military officer from South Sudan's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), on Friday denied media reports that they have signed an agreement with an armed militia group in the regional capital of Juba earlier this week.
On Wednesday, the Khartoum-based Arabic daily, Al Ahram, reported that a political agreement was inked on in Juba between the SPLA and the militias of South Sudan Defense Forces, saying the latter was represented by Ashwang Arop.
However, colonel Phillip Aguer Panyang, spokesman of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in an interview with Sudan Tribune from the regional capital of Juba on Friday denied knowing any armed group called south Sudan defensive with which they have signed an agreement.
"No, we did not sign any agreement with any armed group this week. I am also not aware of the existence of any armed group called South Sudan Defense Forces. Who did they say was their leader?," asked Aguer.
The military officer said there are media in the north accustomed to manufacturing false information and conflicting reports against the Government of South Sudan, since it was formed in 2005.
He called on the media to be responsible and seek clarifications on unclear information and reports from concerned authorities before rushing it out to the public.
"There seems to be no responsible media in the north. They appear to have lost ethnics. Their reporting does not show any sense of responsibility. They are always bias in their reports about South Sudan and particularly when it comes to issues concerning SPLA," said Aguer.
The officer said a responsible media should always conduct proper verifications of any information obtained from their sources. "A responsible media must conduct proper verifications of any information they received from their sources before publishing it."
In 2006 the SPLA and SSDF signed the Juba declaration incorporating the SSDF into the SPLA, which under the peace deal was the only legal army in the south.
As part of the deal Paulino Matip became the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA.
The Rest @ Sudan Tribune
January 21, 2011 (ABYEI) - A top military officer from South Sudan's army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), on Friday denied media reports that they have signed an agreement with an armed militia group in the regional capital of Juba earlier this week.
On Wednesday, the Khartoum-based Arabic daily, Al Ahram, reported that a political agreement was inked on in Juba between the SPLA and the militias of South Sudan Defense Forces, saying the latter was represented by Ashwang Arop.
However, colonel Phillip Aguer Panyang, spokesman of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in an interview with Sudan Tribune from the regional capital of Juba on Friday denied knowing any armed group called south Sudan defensive with which they have signed an agreement.
"No, we did not sign any agreement with any armed group this week. I am also not aware of the existence of any armed group called South Sudan Defense Forces. Who did they say was their leader?," asked Aguer.
The military officer said there are media in the north accustomed to manufacturing false information and conflicting reports against the Government of South Sudan, since it was formed in 2005.
- The SPLA became the south's official army as part of a 2005 peace deal, which ended decades of civil war between north and south.
- As part of the deal the south has just completed a referendum, which is expected to see the south separate from the north to form a new nation by July.
- Many in the north are not happy that the oil-rich south is separating.
He called on the media to be responsible and seek clarifications on unclear information and reports from concerned authorities before rushing it out to the public.
"There seems to be no responsible media in the north. They appear to have lost ethnics. Their reporting does not show any sense of responsibility. They are always bias in their reports about South Sudan and particularly when it comes to issues concerning SPLA," said Aguer.
The officer said a responsible media should always conduct proper verifications of any information obtained from their sources. "A responsible media must conduct proper verifications of any information they received from their sources before publishing it."
In 2006 the SPLA and SSDF signed the Juba declaration incorporating the SSDF into the SPLA, which under the peace deal was the only legal army in the south.
As part of the deal Paulino Matip became the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA.
The Rest @ Sudan Tribune
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Darfur - 3 UN Helipcopter Crews Kidnaped
KHARTOUM — Three Bulgarian helicopter aircrew working on a UN contract were kidnapped in Sudan's troubled Darfur region on Thursday, the United Nations and the Bulgarian foreign ministry said.
The trio, seized by unidentified gunmen, were reportedly well.
"A crew of three Bulgarian nationals, working for a Bulgarian airline company operating flights on a UN contract, were kidnapped in north Sudan," the foreign ministry said in Sofia.
UNAMID, the joint UN-African Union mission in Darfur, said the three were working on a World Food Programme (WFP) mission when seized at Um-Shalaya southeast of El-Geneina in West Darfur.
"The incident occurred as the crew landed their helicopter at approximately 10:35 hrs and were subsequently met by unknown armed men," said a statement from UNAMID. It said no other details were immediately available.
The three work for the UN Humanitarian Air Service, which is managed by the WFP.
Bulgarian foreign ministry spokeswoman Vesela Cherneva told national radio: "We have confirmed their identities but cannot disclose any details at this stage."
The executive director of Bulgarian company Heli Air Sau confirmed to Focus news agency that their helicopter and its three Bulgarian aircrew had been kidnapped.
"It is our helicopter and crew," he was cited as saying. "We have information that our employees are well... The information is indirect but at least we have it."
Amor Almagro, WFP spokesperson in Sudan, said the three "were abducted this morning at 10:30 by armed men in the landing field of Um-Shalaya, 60 kilometres (36 miles) southeast of El-Geneina, in West Darfur."
"We don't know who they are," Almagro added, referring to the kidnappers.
Since 2003, Darfur been gripped by a civil war that has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN figures. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died in the conflict.
A wave of kidnappings for ransom has plagued Darfur since March 2009, when the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the region.
Thirty people, including 26 foreigners, had already been kidnapped there since the indictment, with all the hostages released unharmed a few days later.
Just last week Istvan Papp, 56, a Hungarian civilian working for UNAMID in Darfur, was released.
He had been abducted by gunmen along with two colleagues from a compound in El-Fasher in October, and had been the last remaining hostage in the war-torn region.
Meanwhile, retired US general Scott Gration, Washington's special envoy for Sudan, on Thursday wound up a two-day visit to Darfur, a UNAMID statement said.
Accompanied by US senior adviser on Darfur Dane Smith, Gration met the leadership of the peacekeeping force to be briefed on the latest developments in the peace process, as well the current security situation in Darfur
The Rest @ AFP
The trio, seized by unidentified gunmen, were reportedly well.
"A crew of three Bulgarian nationals, working for a Bulgarian airline company operating flights on a UN contract, were kidnapped in north Sudan," the foreign ministry said in Sofia.
UNAMID, the joint UN-African Union mission in Darfur, said the three were working on a World Food Programme (WFP) mission when seized at Um-Shalaya southeast of El-Geneina in West Darfur.
"The incident occurred as the crew landed their helicopter at approximately 10:35 hrs and were subsequently met by unknown armed men," said a statement from UNAMID. It said no other details were immediately available.
The three work for the UN Humanitarian Air Service, which is managed by the WFP.
Bulgarian foreign ministry spokeswoman Vesela Cherneva told national radio: "We have confirmed their identities but cannot disclose any details at this stage."
The executive director of Bulgarian company Heli Air Sau confirmed to Focus news agency that their helicopter and its three Bulgarian aircrew had been kidnapped.
"It is our helicopter and crew," he was cited as saying. "We have information that our employees are well... The information is indirect but at least we have it."
Amor Almagro, WFP spokesperson in Sudan, said the three "were abducted this morning at 10:30 by armed men in the landing field of Um-Shalaya, 60 kilometres (36 miles) southeast of El-Geneina, in West Darfur."
"We don't know who they are," Almagro added, referring to the kidnappers.
Since 2003, Darfur been gripped by a civil war that has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN figures. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died in the conflict.
A wave of kidnappings for ransom has plagued Darfur since March 2009, when the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the region.
Thirty people, including 26 foreigners, had already been kidnapped there since the indictment, with all the hostages released unharmed a few days later.
Just last week Istvan Papp, 56, a Hungarian civilian working for UNAMID in Darfur, was released.
He had been abducted by gunmen along with two colleagues from a compound in El-Fasher in October, and had been the last remaining hostage in the war-torn region.
Meanwhile, retired US general Scott Gration, Washington's special envoy for Sudan, on Thursday wound up a two-day visit to Darfur, a UNAMID statement said.
Accompanied by US senior adviser on Darfur Dane Smith, Gration met the leadership of the peacekeeping force to be briefed on the latest developments in the peace process, as well the current security situation in Darfur
The Rest @ AFP
Friday, December 24, 2010
What will Happen Next in Sudan
Sudan's Referendum will happen on January the 9th, 2011, as scheduled. If it is a clean election, the South will vote to become a separate country. Whether it is clean or not, the results will be challenged. During the challenge, the allies of each side will emerge.
Expect the usually Islamist suspects to rise up, namly, the Muslim Brotherhood, everywhere in the world. China is a major player, and since it has oil perchase contracts with the North, It is likely they will side with them. The south will ask for whatever help they can get, mostly western sources. The civli rights watchers who nmonitor the Darfur criminals will fall into the south's camp.
When the time of challenges is over, if the south has succeeded in the separation efforts, the North will act. They will act on three fronts, Political, Public Opinion, and Military.
Political.
Expect the usually Islamist suspects to rise up, namly, the Muslim Brotherhood, everywhere in the world. China is a major player, and since it has oil perchase contracts with the North, It is likely they will side with them. The south will ask for whatever help they can get, mostly western sources. The civli rights watchers who nmonitor the Darfur criminals will fall into the south's camp.
When the time of challenges is over, if the south has succeeded in the separation efforts, the North will act. They will act on three fronts, Political, Public Opinion, and Military.
Political.
- They will use what ever diplomatic relationships they have to try and delay implementation of the separation as long as possible.
Public Opinion
- Expect them to borrow a page from the Palestinian book. You will find a cadre of attractive, empassioned sudanese giving press conferences to the press all around the world talking about how the est is trying to pull their country apart.
- Expect al Aqaeda and other islamist groups to begin to recruit using Sudan as another front for the global jihad.
Military
- While using the actions of unsactioned "militia groups" to commit attrocities, The North created almost universal global condimnation in Darfur, a section of NOrth West Sudan, they were tactically very succesfull. The North is already planning series of attacks in the south by "unscantioned malitias.
- Look for Eritria, Somalia, and Ogaden islamist mujahadeen to participate
- Look for al Aqeda trainers and leaders to be active in the mix.
I don't know how the UN, the AU, and the west will respond, but it is likely the South Sudan has been preparing and arming for defense. I see that it is likely that the civil war will be reignighted.
-Shimron Issachar
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Audio: Richard Downie and Brian Kennedy on the 2011 Sudan Referendum | Center for Strategic and International Studies
Sudan Reforendum , Januray 2010 less than month away: A summary of the issues
Audio: Richard Downie and Brian Kennedy on the 2011 Sudan Referendum Center for Strategic and International Studies
Audio: Richard Downie and Brian Kennedy on the 2011 Sudan Referendum Center for Strategic and International Studies
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Monday, September 06, 2010
Christopher Legget Executed Because He was A Chritian
25/06/09
Al-Qaida's North African branch has claimed responsibility for the killing of an American aid worker shot dead this week in Mauritania's capital, Al-Jazeera TV reported Thursday.
The Arab satellite TV station aired an audio statement purportedly issued by al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb spokesman Salah Abu Mohammed, who said the group killed 39-year-old Christopher Ervin Leggett on Tuesday because he was allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
"Two knights of the Islamic Maghreb succeeded Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. to kill the infidel American Christopher Leggett for his Christianizing activities," the statement said.
The statement's authenticity could not be independently verified.
Mauritania's Interior Ministry said Thursday it was investigating the death and security forces were doing "all they can to catch the criminals."
In neighboring Senegal, U.S. Gen. William "Kip" Ward, head of the U.S. military command responsible for Africa, denounced the attack during a press conference in the capital, Dakar. Ward called Leggett's slaying "deplorable." He said the American response to the terror group's activities was focused on increasing the capacities of partner nations to deal with such threats, in part through military training.
The U.S. ambassador to Senegal, Marcia S. Bernicat, called the killing "regrettable" and said such violence shows al-Qaida's Algeria-based North Africa branch "has been getting stronger."
"It's a very troubling trend," she said. But "they're operating in a very difficult part of the world to manage."
U.S. officials have long expressed concern over the vast, lawless patches of little-policed desert in North Africa which criminals and now some terrorist networks have used as smuggling routes.
Story continues below
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Extremist violence in Mauritania, a moderate Muslim nation, has increased in recent years. In 2007, a group of French picnickers was killed. The gunmen were believed to be linked to al-Qaida's north Africa branch and the incident prompted organizers of the famous Dakar Rally to cancel the trans-Sahara car race.
Al-Qaida-linked militants in Algeria have claimed responsibility for an ambush that killed 10 people this week but denied they deliberately targeted the two teachers who were among the victims.
A statement released on the Internet by al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, claimed the militants killed 100 people in 17 attacks through the months of May and early June. The dead included British hostage Edwin Dyer, who the militants announced they'd killed in neighboring Mali on Tuesday.
Leggett was shot several times by at least two unidentified gunmen who rushed up to him on a Nouakchott street, witnesses said. An AP correspondent at the scene saw officials from the U.S. Embassy arrive as the body lay on the pavement. U.S. officials have so far declined to comment.
Leggett grew up in Cleveland, Tennessee, and taught at a center specializing in computer science and languages in El Kasr, a lower-class neighborhood in Nouakchott, according to his neighbors in the United States.
The Rev. Jim Gibson, co-pastor of First Baptist Church of Cleveland, said Leggett was a church member and attended on return trips, but worked independently ihn the African nation. Gibson said Leggett had lived for six years in Africa with his wife and four children.
___
Associated Press writer Todd Pitman contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.
______
The Rest @ Huffington Post
Al-Qaida's North African branch has claimed responsibility for the killing of an American aid worker shot dead this week in Mauritania's capital, Al-Jazeera TV reported Thursday.
The Arab satellite TV station aired an audio statement purportedly issued by al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb spokesman Salah Abu Mohammed, who said the group killed 39-year-old Christopher Ervin Leggett on Tuesday because he was allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
"Two knights of the Islamic Maghreb succeeded Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. to kill the infidel American Christopher Leggett for his Christianizing activities," the statement said.
The statement's authenticity could not be independently verified.
Mauritania's Interior Ministry said Thursday it was investigating the death and security forces were doing "all they can to catch the criminals."
In neighboring Senegal, U.S. Gen. William "Kip" Ward, head of the U.S. military command responsible for Africa, denounced the attack during a press conference in the capital, Dakar. Ward called Leggett's slaying "deplorable." He said the American response to the terror group's activities was focused on increasing the capacities of partner nations to deal with such threats, in part through military training.
The U.S. ambassador to Senegal, Marcia S. Bernicat, called the killing "regrettable" and said such violence shows al-Qaida's Algeria-based North Africa branch "has been getting stronger."
"It's a very troubling trend," she said. But "they're operating in a very difficult part of the world to manage."
U.S. officials have long expressed concern over the vast, lawless patches of little-policed desert in North Africa which criminals and now some terrorist networks have used as smuggling routes.
Story continues below
Advertisement
Extremist violence in Mauritania, a moderate Muslim nation, has increased in recent years. In 2007, a group of French picnickers was killed. The gunmen were believed to be linked to al-Qaida's north Africa branch and the incident prompted organizers of the famous Dakar Rally to cancel the trans-Sahara car race.
Al-Qaida-linked militants in Algeria have claimed responsibility for an ambush that killed 10 people this week but denied they deliberately targeted the two teachers who were among the victims.
A statement released on the Internet by al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, claimed the militants killed 100 people in 17 attacks through the months of May and early June. The dead included British hostage Edwin Dyer, who the militants announced they'd killed in neighboring Mali on Tuesday.
Leggett was shot several times by at least two unidentified gunmen who rushed up to him on a Nouakchott street, witnesses said. An AP correspondent at the scene saw officials from the U.S. Embassy arrive as the body lay on the pavement. U.S. officials have so far declined to comment.
Leggett grew up in Cleveland, Tennessee, and taught at a center specializing in computer science and languages in El Kasr, a lower-class neighborhood in Nouakchott, according to his neighbors in the United States.
The Rev. Jim Gibson, co-pastor of First Baptist Church of Cleveland, said Leggett was a church member and attended on return trips, but worked independently ihn the African nation. Gibson said Leggett had lived for six years in Africa with his wife and four children.
___
Associated Press writer Todd Pitman contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.
______
The Rest @ Huffington Post
Friday, March 12, 2010
Last Post for a While
I have been writing this blog since 2006. It began when I was doing business intelligence work, gathering information about one of the technical industries in some East Africa Countries. What I came across was information leading to a conclusion that I still hold, and that that al Qaeda has a clear and specific strategy targeting Africa.
It was not new. Bill Moyers sums it up as well as anyone:
"When the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in early 1989, bin Laden and Azzam decided that their new organization should not dissolve. They established what they called a base (al Qaeda) as a potential general headquarters for future jihad. However, bin Laden, now the clear emir of al Qaeda, and Azzam differed on where the organization's future objectives should lie. Azzam favored continued fighting in Afghanistan until there was a true Islamist government, while bin Laden wanted to prepare al Qaeda to fight anywhere in the world. When Azzam was killed in 1989, bin Laden assumed full charge of al Qaeda. " - Moyers Journal
What I am saying is that their was, and is, a specific Islamist plan for Africa, with the al Qaeda as the tip of the spear.
In 2006 no one was really looking at Africa and the Islamist Agenda, so I began to track the movement of key people and groups working this agenda. Frankly I was surprised at the transparency and sophistication of the plan, how open they were about their agenda, and how ignored by the Western World they were. Their moneymaking activities, their large business and in some cases Royal funding supporters were very obvious.
It is clear now that their are many, many western eyes on Africa and the Islamist agenda, both in Africa and around the world, and so I am no longer needed. I want to give one, mostly final, summary for the analysts out there.
First, I think the Long War is almost half over. The West currently has the upper hand as can be seen in Pakistan, but it will eventually move to Africa in less than a year.
Somalia is still in a stalemate. Somaliland will soon be recognized, and the corrupt TFG group will be abandoned, since they seem to be inherently incapable of caring for their own people in a peaceful without tribal lenses. This does not mean that war will stop in Somalia. The Middle East will continue to fund psalmist groups, who will tray and export the Islamist war into Ethiopia and Kenya. The West will continue to find ways to fight them.
The next place for the war to spring up will be in South Sudan, which will vote to secede in less than a year, and is preparing for the inevitable attack from the North when this happens. Both sides are even now arming for this war. This event will be the fulcrum that shifts the focus of the war from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq into Africa.
West Africa's local wars (Morroco, Algeria, Mauritania, etc) will continue to fight, and they will continue to take money from the al qaeda or whoever else will fund them. . AQIM's network of recruiters can be hunted down and stopped. However, the purchase (some call it recruitment) of suicide bomber children from poor west african families, will be attempted again.
The Islamist Agenda will ultimately fail in Africa, but not because of any Western power, but because African's will never fully accept the Salafiyya Dawa. The Sufi's will never submit, the Christians will continue to grow, since it's aims are clearly peacfull, but the Sunni missionary work, which sends islamist agents in to establish relationships with local Muslim leaders, are even now carefully watched by every African country's intelligence service.
US ( AFRICOM) UK, French and Russian agendas are already in play, but China will try their hand at mediation, since the buy the Majority of Sudan's oil exports.
China: the Great Asian Father
China 's investment in Africa has grown exponentially in the last four years. They are spending lots of money, but they are very new and still significantly imperialistic in their approach. They are simply buying as many raw materials as they can from Africa. They are soon to discover that Africans expect more than money for their resources, they see them as the new "White Father"
Human and Weapon's trafficking will continue until Africa, Unless Africa herself comes to believe she can stop it. Local wars, currently the Congo will continue to spring up. The UN now has more troops in Africa than they ever had, and I see no end in site.
Dough Farah, Creeping Sharia, the Long War Journal, Global Security,keep up the good work, I will keep reading your stuff. Also thanks to the brave journalists in Somalia who keep writing , and keep paying the price.
Shimron Issachar
On Twitter
It was not new. Bill Moyers sums it up as well as anyone:
"When the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in early 1989, bin Laden and Azzam decided that their new organization should not dissolve. They established what they called a base (al Qaeda) as a potential general headquarters for future jihad. However, bin Laden, now the clear emir of al Qaeda, and Azzam differed on where the organization's future objectives should lie. Azzam favored continued fighting in Afghanistan until there was a true Islamist government, while bin Laden wanted to prepare al Qaeda to fight anywhere in the world. When Azzam was killed in 1989, bin Laden assumed full charge of al Qaeda. " - Moyers Journal
What I am saying is that their was, and is, a specific Islamist plan for Africa, with the al Qaeda as the tip of the spear.
In 2006 no one was really looking at Africa and the Islamist Agenda, so I began to track the movement of key people and groups working this agenda. Frankly I was surprised at the transparency and sophistication of the plan, how open they were about their agenda, and how ignored by the Western World they were. Their moneymaking activities, their large business and in some cases Royal funding supporters were very obvious.
It is clear now that their are many, many western eyes on Africa and the Islamist agenda, both in Africa and around the world, and so I am no longer needed. I want to give one, mostly final, summary for the analysts out there.
First, I think the Long War is almost half over. The West currently has the upper hand as can be seen in Pakistan, but it will eventually move to Africa in less than a year.
Somalia is still in a stalemate. Somaliland will soon be recognized, and the corrupt TFG group will be abandoned, since they seem to be inherently incapable of caring for their own people in a peaceful without tribal lenses. This does not mean that war will stop in Somalia. The Middle East will continue to fund psalmist groups, who will tray and export the Islamist war into Ethiopia and Kenya. The West will continue to find ways to fight them.
The next place for the war to spring up will be in South Sudan, which will vote to secede in less than a year, and is preparing for the inevitable attack from the North when this happens. Both sides are even now arming for this war. This event will be the fulcrum that shifts the focus of the war from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq into Africa.
West Africa's local wars (Morroco, Algeria, Mauritania, etc) will continue to fight, and they will continue to take money from the al qaeda or whoever else will fund them. . AQIM's network of recruiters can be hunted down and stopped. However, the purchase (some call it recruitment) of suicide bomber children from poor west african families, will be attempted again.
The Islamist Agenda will ultimately fail in Africa, but not because of any Western power, but because African's will never fully accept the Salafiyya Dawa. The Sufi's will never submit, the Christians will continue to grow, since it's aims are clearly peacfull, but the Sunni missionary work, which sends islamist agents in to establish relationships with local Muslim leaders, are even now carefully watched by every African country's intelligence service.
US ( AFRICOM) UK, French and Russian agendas are already in play, but China will try their hand at mediation, since the buy the Majority of Sudan's oil exports.
China: the Great Asian Father
China 's investment in Africa has grown exponentially in the last four years. They are spending lots of money, but they are very new and still significantly imperialistic in their approach. They are simply buying as many raw materials as they can from Africa. They are soon to discover that Africans expect more than money for their resources, they see them as the new "White Father"
Human and Weapon's trafficking will continue until Africa, Unless Africa herself comes to believe she can stop it. Local wars, currently the Congo will continue to spring up. The UN now has more troops in Africa than they ever had, and I see no end in site.
Dough Farah, Creeping Sharia, the Long War Journal, Global Security,keep up the good work, I will keep reading your stuff. Also thanks to the brave journalists in Somalia who keep writing , and keep paying the price.
Shimron Issachar
On Twitter
Monday, September 14, 2009
Badr Airlines...Viktor Bout 's Sudan Connection?
Badr Airlines seems to be putting up a new website. TBDA suggests that there is Romanian interest in whether Viktor Bout is still connected to Badr...
UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan use aircraft operated by (Sudan's) Badr Airlines even after the UN Security Council recommended an aviation ban be imposed on the carrier in response to arms embargo violations
Khartoum Airport
Tel: +249120920101
VHF frequency 131.5
Ticket and reservation (24hrs):
Khartoum AirportMobile: +249912307444
International Office:
SAIFE ZONE
Sharjah International Airport
United Arab Emirates
Tel +971 6 557 36 88
Fax +971 6 557 36 89
Station Manager +971 50 633 54751
shj@badrairlines.com
UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan use aircraft operated by (Sudan's) Badr Airlines even after the UN Security Council recommended an aviation ban be imposed on the carrier in response to arms embargo violations
Khartoum Airport
Tel: +249120920101
VHF frequency 131.5
Ticket and reservation (24hrs):
Khartoum AirportMobile: +249912307444
International Office:
SAIFE ZONE
Sharjah International Airport
United Arab Emirates
Tel +971 6 557 36 88
Fax +971 6 557 36 89
Station Manager +971 50 633 54751
shj@badrairlines.com
Monday, August 31, 2009
Swedish Hagglund BV206 APCs Sold to Sudan
LONDON [MENL] -- Sudan was said to have secretly acquired combat vehiclesfrom Britain.
A British executive and former aide have been prosecuted for sellingmilitary vehicles to Sudan. The two men, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, weresaid to have illegally sold 15 Swedish-made Hagglund BV206 armored personnel carriers to the Khartoum regime.
The Rest @ Middle East News Line
A British executive and former aide have been prosecuted for sellingmilitary vehicles to Sudan. The two men, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, weresaid to have illegally sold 15 Swedish-made Hagglund BV206 armored personnel carriers to the Khartoum regime.
The Rest @ Middle East News Line
Monday, May 04, 2009
Troops Massing on Sudan-Chad Border
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon3 May 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his concern today at reports of the recent build-up and movement of armed elements on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border, and called on the two countries to ease tensions.
“In this context, the Secretary-General welcomes the discussions towards the normalization of bilateral relations between the Governments of Chad and Sudan held this week in Doha,” Mr. Ban''s spokesperson said in a statement issued today.
The Secretary-General, in his most recent report on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), stated that “the security situation along the Sudan-Chad border continued to be tense and unpredictable” during February and March of this year.
Last week in a briefing to the Security Council, Rodolphe Adada, the Joint African Union-UN Special Representative for Darfur and head of UNAMID, cited the state of relations between Sudan and Chad as an important factor with regard to the ongoing conflict in Darfur.
An estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million have been forced from their homes in Darfur since fighting erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen.
The Rest@ UN.org
Darfur: blue helmets scaling up protection of civilians, official says
“In this context, the Secretary-General welcomes the discussions towards the normalization of bilateral relations between the Governments of Chad and Sudan held this week in Doha,” Mr. Ban''s spokesperson said in a statement issued today.
The Secretary-General, in his most recent report on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), stated that “the security situation along the Sudan-Chad border continued to be tense and unpredictable” during February and March of this year.
Last week in a briefing to the Security Council, Rodolphe Adada, the Joint African Union-UN Special Representative for Darfur and head of UNAMID, cited the state of relations between Sudan and Chad as an important factor with regard to the ongoing conflict in Darfur.
An estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million have been forced from their homes in Darfur since fighting erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen.
The Rest@ UN.org
Darfur: blue helmets scaling up protection of civilians, official says
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