Khartoum Votes to Extend State of Emregency

September 12, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese parliament on Monday endorsed the extension of the state of emergency in the border state of Blue Nile and also approved the military campaign undertaken by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) against the fighters from the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N).

The chairman of the national assembly's special session Ismail al-Haj Moussa announced the decision by the legislative body concurring with president Omer Hassan al-Bashir's imposition of emergency law this month.

Moussa said the parliament called on the government to continue the “military resolution of the insurgency irrespective of any talks”.

But MP Mohamed Al-Hassan al-Amin from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) objected to the indefinite extension of the emergency state saying it is unconstitutional.

Al-Amin said that article 211 of the constitution states that the state of emergency can only be extended for a specified amount of time.

However, he was countered by the parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir who said that his objections were raised after the resolution was already adopted.

Fighting broke out this month in the Blue Nile state between SAF and SPLM-N but circumstances regarding who started it remain unclear.

The Blue Nile governor Malik Agar who is also the head of SPLM-N was removed by Bashir and declared a fugitive by other Sudanese officials.

This follows fighting in South Kordofan last June between government forces and SPLM-N units led by former deputy governor Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu.

Bashir rejected a framework agreement on cessation of hostilities in South Kordofan that was mediated by an African Union panel despite being signed by one of his key aides.

The Sudanese parliament expressed its total rejection of any foreign interference and urged the government not to bow to any pressure» exerted to stop the military campaign.

Meanwhile the defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein told the national assembly that the SPLM-N forces have sustained heavy losses in the Blue Nile. He said that the SPLM-N lost around a 100 fighters including seven officers as well scores of injuries and POW's.

He also disclosed that SPLM-N made several attempts to take over the town of Geissan most recently a few days ago with the participation of a battalion from the Republic of South Sudan. Hussein stressed that SAF is imposing a blockade Kabbanat region where he said SPLM-N units have assembled.

At today's session MP's shouted slogans describing Agar as a “traitor” and vowed not to negotiate with him.

Last week the United States special envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman said the situation in the border States is “very dangerous”.

"The two sides are not still talking to each other. That means the situation remains very dangerous. Fighting is going on," Lyman said after meeting Sudan's Foreign Minister, Ali Ahmed Karti, and other officials.

Lyman also criticized Khartoum's decision to close down SPLM-N offices.

"If there is going to be a discussion and political talks, who are you going to talk to? Of course you are going to talk to the SPLM-North. It's a major political party in Sudan. Closing down offices does not help," he said.

The US official also warned Sudan that the normalization of ties process is in danger given the humanitarian situation in the two states.

Tensions have mounted in Blue Nile and other territories along Sudan's poorly-defined border with South Sudan since the south declared independence in July.

The territories are all still home to tens of thousands of people from ethnic groups that sided with the south during decades of civil war that led up to independence.

The Rest @ Sudan Tribune

Sudan's Muhammad Ali Al-Jazouli -Attack America Everywhere

Sudanese Sheikh Ali Al-Jazouli: 'Each and Every One Of Us... Must Believe In the Necessity of Attacking the U.S. – Its People, Its Economy, Its Military Forces and Its Civilians All Over the World';With $180 HP Printer, Osama's Army Made UPS, FedEx Lose $70 Billion

-Friday sermon delivered by Sudanese cleric Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Ali Al-Jazouli. The sermon aired on the Internet on May 29, 2011.

Dr. Muhammad Ali Al-Jazouli is imam of Al-Mi'raj mosque in Khartoum, and the director of the Cognitive Development Center for Identity Studies and Strategic Research in Sudan. He appears frequently on TV and writes for Alintibaha newspapers

-The Rest @ MEMRI

Gagdafi Accused of Supporting Sudan Rebels

March 28, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The chairman of Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA) slammed the beleaguered Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and accused him of being the top supporter of the rebel groups who took arms since 2003 against the central government.

• West Darfur governor Al-Shertai Ga’far Abdel-Hakam who is also the TDRA head told a forum organized by the National Union of Sudanese youth that Gaddafi provided money and weaponry to rebels in the region as well as the East and the South.


• He provided no details to back his claims. However, he is the first high ranking Sudanese official to go on the record with these allegations that his peers made privately for years.

• A failed by attempt by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in May 2008 to take over the capital was blamed on Libyan and French backing.




• Sudanese media quoted government sources at the time as saying that the financing of the operation was made through the Libyan Sahel-Saharan bank.

Libya is currently hosting JEM leader Ibrahim Khalil after being refused entry by the Chadian authorities last year where he was based. Sudan has sought without success to have Libya expel him. However, it was Gaddafi that pushed the African Union (AU) to grant Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir immunity from arrest in the continent despite an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his alleged role in Darfur war crimes. Gaddafi is fighting an armed rebellion that initially started as a popular uprising in mid-February. The Libyan opposition managed to control most of the Eastern side of the country. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) this month authorized a No-Fly Zone over Libya and using all necessary means to protect civilians. Diplomats at the UN told Reuters last week that Sudan has quietly granted permission for coalition aircraft to use its airspace for enforcement of the No-Fly Zone. BASHIR HEADS TO DOHA The Sudanese president is heading on Tuesday to Qatar for talks with the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. The Arab Gulf state is hosting peace talks between Khartoum and Darfur rebels for several years but so far little progress was made. Diplomats tell Sudan tribune that Qatari officials are frustrated with what they see as Khartoum’s willingness to offer meaningful concessions for a final peace accord. Specifically the rebels have asked for unifying the three Darfur states as one and giving a Darfuri the post of Vice president something which was categorically rejected by the Sudanese government. A proposal by Khartoum to hold a referendum before May on Darfur’s administrative status, and how it should be governed came under fire from rebels who said it will make negotiations pointless. The Rest @ Sudan Tribune

The Arab League Provides Cover Dafur Atrocities

The Arab League is hurting Darfur
كُتب يوم 18.03.2011 بواسطة jem

Jimmy Mulla*
September 21, 2006 — The Arab League charter says the organization is a voluntary association of independent countries whose peoples are mainly Arabic speaking. The league’s stated purposes are to strengthen ties among these states, coordinate their policies, and promote their common interests.But when it comes to the Western Sudan region of Darfur, the Arab League uses its charter only to promote the interest of Sudan’s National Congress Party and its proxy militias.

The Darfur conflict is viewed by the Arab League as the conflict of an Arab member state verses a foreign entity within its borders. The league has all along sided with Sudan’s Arab-dominated government, against the Darfur people of African origin who speak Arabic (the same scenario as that of Southern Sudan). The Arab League is, by its preferential treatment of Khartoum, assisting in destruction of Darfur.

Since the latest conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region started in 2003, more than 300,000 people have died and over 2.5 million have been displaced.Although these staggering statistics are comparable to or higher than those affecting other Arab or Muslim people, the Arab League has been silent, or downplayed the seriousness of the situation.

Unlike other conflicts in the Middle East, major Arab media have not focused on the crisis in Darfur. Scenes of the human catastrophe never shows up on TV screens regularly, nor do reports on the conflict surface on major newspaper headlines, as has been the case with the recent war in Lebanon, the war in Iraq or other related conflicts in the Middle East. The Arab League continues to deny that any massacres have taken place in Darfur. It objects to any outside help for the people of Darfur under the pretext that the genocide taking place is an “internal” affair of an Arab country.

The Arab League continues to provide diplomatic cover and to deter or hamper progress being made by the international community to end the crisis. It has continued to support Khartoum’s diplomatic propaganda without questioning its merits. In 2004, the Arab League’s Commission of Inquiry produced a report condemning the human rights violations by pro-government militias in Darfur, but after protest from the government of Sudan, the league decided to sweep the findings under a rug.

Since the UN Security Council began to weigh options for a possible UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, diplomatic foul play was adopted as policy by the league. In March 2006, in the Khartoum summit, Arab leaders worked against a plan to transform the African Union (AU) Mission in Darfur into a United Nations protection force with a mandate to protect civilians.Instead, the league came up with a plan for extending the AU mission that was not feasible at the time.

Earlier this month, a resolution passed by the Arab League’s Council of Foreign Ministers called for the UN Security Council to give the Sudanese government more time to implement its “plan to improve conditions and preserve security” in Darfur. Now, with the UN set to send peacekeeping forces to Darfur under Resolution 1706, the Arab League is engaged in behind-the-scenes witch hunting efforts.

According to the Arab League psyche – that of Arab/Islamist domination – although the people in Darfur are Arab-speaking, and living in Sudan – an Arab country — the fact that they are of African origin disqualifies them from any consideration under the charter. As it wrestles with ways to implement resolution 1706, the international community should be aware of the bias against black, African Arab-speaking people by the Arab League. The Arab League views the people of Darfur not as victims of Khartoum’s genocide, but as foreigners with no right to their own land. This bigotry is a tremendous obstacle in the path of implementing Resolution 1706. It is Killing Darfur


The Rest @ SudanJEM by Jimmy Mulla

JEM Captives Being Tortured by Sudan Government

Today, January 25, 2011, 13 hours ago SudanTribube.com
January 24, 2011 (NAIROBI) – The Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said on Sunday that its members captured earlier this month by the Sudanese authorities in western Darfur are being subjected to cruel torture, threatening the government of reprisal attacks against individuals implicated in the process.

Logo of Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement
On January 11, forces of the Sudanese government and its allied militias ambushed and captured a 12-strong unit of JEM in an area close to El- Geniena, the provincial capital of West Darfur State. The most high profile captive is Ibrahim Al-Maz Deng, who is JEM's secretary for coordination with southern Sudan.

North Sudan government accuses south Sudan, which is on its way to becoming a fully independent state, of giving sanctuary and support to some Darfur rebel groups. Minni Arkoi Minawi, the leader of the only rebel group to sign a peace accord with the government, defected from the northern government and relocated to south Sudan.

A press release undersigned by JEM's general commander Suliman Sandal and seen by Sudan Tribune said that the group's “reliable” sources in Khartoum had informed that the captives were being subjected to the “cruelest forms of torture” under the direct supervision of Brigadier-General Abdul Hafiz Ahmad Al-Bashir, the head of the interrogation department at Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

JEM's statement said that the captives were being interrogated under duress to elicit confessions in “a blatant violation not only of international and regional laws and conventions, but also of the provisions of the interim constitution and national laws.”

According to JEM, its prisoners were being transferred on daily basis from their cells at Kober Federal Prison in Khartoum North at 7 pm local time to a place known as the “oven” at the NISS headquarters and returned to their cells at 7 am the next morning.
The movement further claimed that the group's leader Ibrahim Al-Maz was being subjected to “special torture techniques departing from disgusting racist grounds.”
JEM warned the government that it had detailed information on the individuals involved in the torture process and would not hesitate to avenge the torture of its captives.

The Sudanese government already has a number of high-profile JEM members in custody, including the half-brother of the group's leader Khalil Ibrahim, who were arrested after JEM staged an attack on the capital Khartoum in May 2008. Sudan sentenced a large number of JEM prisoners to death but none has been executed, and the government uses prisoners as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations with the rebel group.

Rebel groups in Sudan's western region of Darfur rebels rose against the central government in 2003, accusing it of marginalizing the region in terms of development and wealth-sharing. A subsequent counterinsurgency campaign by Khartoum led to the death of 300,000 people and displacement of more than 2 million, according to UN figures.

The Rest @ Sudan Tribune