By Wasil Ali

May 12, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — A leading Islamist opposition party leader arrested briefly by Sudanese authorities denied any links with a Darfur rebel group that launched an attack on the capital over the weekend.

Hassan al-Turabi “The Justice and Equality Movement [Darfur rebel group] have no relation with the Popular Congress Party (PCP). It is true that many of JEM members used to be part of us back in the days, but they broke with us to create their own party” Hassan al-Turabi told Sudan Tribune today by phone following his release from prison.

The powerful Islamic leader was arrested in the early morning hours of Monday, and four members of his party, by Sudanese security agents as he was returning from a PCP gathering in Sennar town on the banks of the Blue Nile in southeastern Sudan.

Al-Turabi said he expected his arrest by the government so he was not surprised.

“I was telling people who accompanied me on my way back to Khartoum that I have a feeling that I am going to be detained by Sudanese security” Al-Turabi said.

Sudanese authorities said that they have obtained documents and testimony from rebel captives that could implicate Al-Turabi in the failed attempt by JEM to take over Khartoum.

Darfurian rebels staged a bold attack and fought fierce battles with the Sudanese army on the outskirts of the capital. However the Sudanese government said it repulsed the attack and accused Chad of backing the assault.

Al-Bashir said in a televised statement that he holds Chad responsible of the foiled attack by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) troops against the Sudanese capital. He also announced that diplomatic relations with Chad have been broken.

The Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail speaking to Al-Jazeera Arabic TV earlier today denied that Al-Turabi was arrested saying he was “summoned” for questioning.

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Juba, May 13, (Bloomberg) - Southern Sudan will use African pouched rats to hunt for landmines planted in the country during its two-decade civil war, the head of the anti-landmine group said.

The rats, which are prized for their acute sense of smell, are being trained in Tanzania to search for the weapons, said Sam Apiliga, chairman of the Southern Sudan Anti-Landmine Organization.

"A rat can de-mine 100 square meters in 20 minutes," Apiliga said. "A landmine expert can do the same work in two days."

Southern Sudan was recognized as a semiautonomous state in 2005 following a peace agreement that ended 20 years of civil war in which at least 2 million people died.

The system of using rats to search for landmines was developed by Apopo, an Antwerp, Belgium-based organization.

"We train the rats to detect landmines," Anne Geni, an official from Apopo, said in an interview today. "They are not used to detonate the devices."

The technique has been used successfully in Mozambique, where mines were laid during that nation's 1975 to 1992 civil war.

African pouched rats, so called because of their cheek pouches used to carry food, can grow up to 1 metre in length.

May 7, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese investigators have completed the gruesome task of sifting through the wreckage of the Beech 1900 that crashed last week and started preparing their technical report.

Salva Kiir Mayardit (R) and Vice-President Riek Machar (C) stands on May 6, 2008 in Juba during a burial ceremony for South Sudan’s late Defence minister Dominic Diem Deng (AFP) Due to technical failure a plane of South Sudan Air Connection came down on Friday May 2, 375 kilometers from Juba, killing everyone on broad including South Sudan army minister Dominic Dim Deng and Justin Yac Arop, GoSS presidential Adviser for Decentralization.

The deputy director of the Sudan Civil Aviation Authority and member of the technical investigation team, Mohamed Saleh al-Kenani said the investigators had visited the site of the accident, 15 km east of Rumbek, and returned to Khartoum carrying the black box, which should explain why the Beechcraft crashed.

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By James Gatdet Dak

May 7, 2008 (JUBA) – The population and housing census in Southern Sudan officially ended on Tuesday, May 6, unsuccessfully according to reports from various states in the region.

The Chairperson for the Southern Sudan Census, Statistics and Evaluation Commission, Mr. Isaiah Chol Aruai, in a press statement he issued on Tuesday, estimated that about ninety to ninety-five percent (90% to 95%) of South Sudan population has been counted.

Aruai blamed a number of challenges for not achieving a 100% headcount. He said insecurity in the South coupled with heavy rainfalls in some states were among the obstacles to the success of the census. The Census Chairperson however concluded that the exercise went on well.

Sample reports from various states such as Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Eastern Equatoria, Upper Nile and Lakes states dispute the census results, saying many more areas have not been reached and counted in the region.

For instance, Census Field Coordinators in Aweil, Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, reported that several villages near to the North-South border have been counted to the northern population by enumerators from Southern Kordufan while dozens of villages more were not mapped in the census mapping and therefore could not be located for the count.

A similar report came out of Rumbek where about twenty-eight villages and many more cattle camps were not counted because they were not included in the census mapping. Some villages, although mapped, could not be accessed because of insecurity in the area, the report added.

Census Field Coordinators also complain about lack of transport, saying in some situations two Counties had to share only one vehicle for the enumeration exercise and without means to communicate.

There is also a wide range of complaints by enumerators that promises by respective state census offices to make them sign contracts in order to get paid after the exercise have not materialized, leaving enumerators confused and worried whether they would get paid or not.

The Sudan Population and Housing count is the most important mechanism in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) meant to determine how power and wealth should be shared between North and South in accordance with the census results.

The results of the Census will also be used for determining political constituencies prior to the conduct of the country’s general elections in 2009.

This will also be used by the government in planning for distribution of basic services across this vast country.

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By James Gatdet Dak

May 4, 2008 (BENTIU) – Governor of Unity State, Taban Deng Gai has lost the SPLM state election for chairperson to his rival Dr. Joseph Minytuil Wiejang who overwhelmingly won the votes as the results were officially announced yesterday.

Dr. Wiejang is currently the Minister of Health in the Government of Southern Sudan. The position for deputy-chairperson was won by Mr. Samuel Lony Geng while the position for Secretary is yet to be announced later today. The elections were conducted under direct supervision of Dr. Theophillus Ochang Lotti, an Advisor to the President of the Government of Southern Sudan.

Present during the state congress formation were GOSS and SPLA senior officials and officers that hail from Unity state. These included Dr. Riek Machar Teny, Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Madam Angelina Teny, State Minister of Energy and Mining in the Government of National Unity, Lt. General Paulino Matip Nhial, SPLA Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Major General Peter Gatdet Yaka and a number Parliamentarians.

In another news development, Lt. Gen. Paulino Matip Nhial urged the Government of Southern Sudan leadership to remain calm and courageous following the tragic plane crash on Friday near Rumbek town that claimed the lives of Dr. Justin Yaac Arop, Presidential Advisor on Decentralization and Lt. Gen. Dominic Dim Deng, Minister for SPLA Affairs and 19 others.

Gen. Matip said the incident is a great lost and sadly reminds the people of Southern Sudan about the tragic plane crash that claimed the live of our late leader, Dr. John Garang de Mabior.

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to extend the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan and called for demarcation of the contested oil-rich border region between the north and south.

Some 10,000 U.N. peacekeepers are enforcing a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war between the ethnic African south and Sudan's Arab-dominated government in the capital Khartoum -- but peace remains fragile.

The disputed region in southern Kordofan province, where four days of fighting between south Sudanese troops and Arab tribesman ended Tuesday, is claimed by north and south, like the nearby oil rich region of Abyei. Both have become potential flashpoints that could wreck the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

In a report to the Security Council earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said recent clashes and tensions in
the Abyei area "represent a potential threat to the agreement" and to the national unity government in Khartoum that now includes members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement which led the war in the south.

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By James Gatdet Dak

April 30, 2008 (BENTIU) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) State Congress formations began yesterday throughout the ten states of Southern Sudan.

Riek Machar Participants are drawn from all Payams of each state to form the party’s state congresses and elect their respective leaderships.

Speaking to the press yesterday in Bentiu town, the capital of Unity state, the Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan and Deputy Chairman of the SPLM, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, urged all the SPLM members who are constitutional post holders in Southern Sudan to actively participate in the SPLM Congress formations in the ten states.

Dr. Machar said the current exercise of the SPLM State Congress formations is the first of its kind in the Movement and the beginning of the real democratic transformation of the SPLM into a political party.

He added that the exercise will strengthen democratic institutionalization of the Party structures.

Unity state kicked off its SPLM Congress formation on Tuesday, April 29, at Rubkona County, the SPLM state headquarters, in which the current state Governor Brig. Taban Deng Gai will contest for the Party’s state chairmanship in the election against his challenger, Dr. Joseph Minytuil Wiejang, the current Minister of Health in the Government of Southern Sudan.

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By Philip Thon Aleu

April 30, 2008 (BOR, Jonglei) – Child abduction, that resumed in Bor county last month, is not by Murle tribesmen or if any; then there is no official reports, commissioner of Pibor County has said here Tuesday April 29. The commissioner however says he can not rule out an element of trust in the claims. Bor dismissed the denial.

“I can not deny the fact that child abduction might have started, but I do not have that information,” Commissioner Akot Maze Adikir told reporters at Diam-Diam hotel, (Bor town) when summoned to explain circumstances surrounding Murle tribesmen’s brutal behaviors in Jonglei state. Two trips of two children were drove out

Adikir however, says last year’s atrocities may resume should the Luo Nuer, who he said attempted cattle raiding there last month, fail to desist. “I do not rule out any resumption of atrocities this year, but my people will not start,” he said adding that Murle may respond in revenge if continuously attacked as Luo Nuer tried in March 2008.

Communities in Jonglei have been engaged in tribal conflicts since peace deal – commonly known as the compressive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended South-North civil war was reached three years ago. But all neighbors of Murle community jointly said they (Murle) are responsibly for the insecurity. SPLM Jonglei state leaders, who converged here Tuesday failed to accuse one tribe as being in charge of the suffering as well as admitting the arms littering at the hands of cattle keepers as the cause.

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By Isaac Vuni

April 27, 2008 (JUBA) — More than six hundreds Christians from Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS), led by Rt. Rev. Nataniel Garang Anyieth, Provincial Dean of ECS and Bishop of Bor Diocese, last Friday held prayer for peace and unity within SPLA officers in the military headquarters in Juba.

Section of congregation of ECS mobile prayer group in SSLA premisses in Juba on 25 April 2008. (By I. Vuni - ST) Rev. Anyieth made these comments during a prayer service at SSLA premises organized by mobile ECS revival groups currently visiting Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan.

The Bishop noted that southern Sudanese people are participating and managing for the first time Sudan national population and housing census, since creation of the Sudan. Therefore it’s important to commit their services to God the almighty for better result and future planning for the development of war ravaged southern Sudan.

The Rt. Rev. Anyieth emphasized that it’s the responsibility of SPLA forces to guarantee and protect the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that has ushered the right to be counted by sons and daughters from Southern Sudan, and to the election and referendum in 2011.

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KHARTOUM (AFP) — Around 95 people have been killed in ethnic clashes in south Sudan that have also targeted equipment and facilities used in a historic nationwide census, local press reports said on Friday.

Clashes broke out on Tuesday in the southern Lakes State between two rival branches of the Dinka tribe after a dispute over cattle, the daily Al-Sahafa reported, adding that dozens were left dead in the streets.

Tribal clashes, often provoked by cattle theft, are frequent in southern Sudan but rarely reach such deadly intensity in the semi-autonomous part of Africa's largest country.

Martin Manil Wol, who is supervising the nationwide census, said the attackers torched all of the census facilities, including 12 boxes of questionnaire forms.

Sudan on Tuesday began its first census in 15 years, a milestone in the peace deal that ended Africa's longest civil war, but it has been overshadowed by disputes.

The two-week census is crucial to prepare constituencies for national elections and confirm or adjust the wealth- and power-sharing ratios in central government.

Sudan's undeveloped south has refused to be bound by the results and Darfur rebels have boycotted the count, as both accuse the Arab north of manipulating the census to maximise its control and marginalise the African majority.

By Wasil Ali

April 23, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — A senior US official today criticized the Chinese government and accused it of being insensitive to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

Richard S. Williamson, new US special envoy to Sudan “Speaking from my responsibility I continue to be disappointed that China doesn’t have greater concern about the people suffering in Darfur and are not proactively helpful to us” the US special envoy to Sudan, Richard Williamson told the Senate foreign relations committee.

Williamson was testifying before the US Congress for the first time since his appointment in December of last year. The hearing was held on the topic named “The Continuing Crisis in Darfur”. The other speakers at the hearing included Jane Lute of the UN Department of Field Support and assistant administrator for Africa at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Katherine Almquist.

The soft spoken envoy told the US senators that China continues to protect the Sudanese government from international pressure and slowing down UN efforts in Darfur as a veto wielding member.

“Yesterday there was a discussion in the UN Security Council (UNSC) about benchmarks; put more pressure for rapid deployment [of peacekeepers to Darfur]. The Chinese position was twofold. Yes it would be good to have more rapid deployment but no let’s not put pressure on them. They said benchmarks are counterproductive” he said.

Williamson’s remarks are a clear departure from those of his predecessor Andrew Natsios who often argued that the Chinese government is doing ‘behind the scenes’ work to pressure the Sudanese government on making concessions.

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KHARTOUM, April 22, 2008 (AFP) - Sudan on Tuesday shuts down for its first census in 15 years, a milestone in the peace deal that ended Africa's longest civil war but clouded in dispute threatening to undermine the accord further.

In the 2005 agreement signed by the former warring north and south, the two-week census is crucial to prepare constituencies for national elections and confirm or adjust the wealth and power-sharing ratios in central government. But the undeveloped south has refused to be bound by the results and rebels in Darfur will boycott the count, both accusing the Arab north of manipulating the census to maximise its control and marginalise the African majority.

Khartoum, assisted greatly by the United Nations, says it has prepared the most comprehensive population count ever held in Sudan, a country almost constantly engulfed in civil war since independence from Britain in 1956. Around 60,000 enumerators and 200 observers are to deploy for the population count costing Sudan and the international community 103 million dollars.

"The census begins at one minute past midnight (2101 GMT Monday)," Yasin Haj Abdin, director of the central bureau of statistics, told AFP. "The planning and field work in the south has been the best possible... They have every enumerator in place and (we have) the international resources to get best possible census in the south and all of Sudan," Abdin said.

But discontentment and disillusionment run deep in the south, where the legacy of the war that killed two million people and displaced another four million, is keenly felt despite a flood of refugees returning for the count.

"The level of preparedness was very low and even if counting takes place (Tuesday) its not going to produce the desired results," south Sudan information minister Gabriel Changson Chang told AFP.

His government said it was unlikely to accept the results after the north insisted the survey go ahead --delayed for the fourth time last week when the south complained that ethnicity and religion were not included.

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April 21, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — Democratic White House contender Barack Obama said he is “deeply concerned” over reports that the Bush administration is negotiating with Sudan over normalizing ties.

 US Senator Barack Obama (AP) “This reckless and cynical initiative would reward a regime in Khartoum that has a record of failing to live up to its commitments” Obama said in a statement made available today.

Last week the New York Times (NYT) obtained a series of documents exchanged between the Washington and Khartoum on a series of steps to normalize relations between the two countries. The documents were leaked by an unidentified US official described as being “critical of the administration’s position”.

The report said that the Bush administration could remove Sudan from an American list of state supporters of terrorism and normalize relations if the Sudanese government agreed, among other steps, to allow Thai and Nepalese peacekeepers as part of the peacekeeping force.

The newly appointed US special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson met in Rome last week with a high level Sudanese delegation to discuss normalization of ties. The meeting adjourned late Friday and will be resumed “within a month” according to Sudan official news agency (SUNA).

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April 21, 2008 (JUBA) — South Sudan hopes to begin the long delayed demobilisation of tens of thousands of former rebel fighters in May but many could return to violence without jobs or enough money, a government official said on Monday.

SPLA soldiers smoke cigarettes in a military barrack in Nabanga, near the Sudan-Congo border, Western Equatoria, April 12, 2008. (Reuters) South Sudan’s army — which one U.N. official estimates at about 140,000 strong — is a massive strain on the budget of the semi-autonomous region, struggling to build a nation from the war ruined but mineral rich south.

"To start the process and then get stuck on the way would be a disaster," the south Sudan Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) Commission head Arop Moyak Monytoc said.

"Many know no life but behind a gun. To do demobilization without sustainable reintegration...these people will go violent definitely," he said.

Sudan’s north-south war killed some 2 million people and forced another 4 million from their homes before a 2005 peace deal. Under the peace deal the south can vote for independence in 2011.

Soldiers leaving the army will initially get food, household goods and some cash to last six months.

But after that their future is bleak. Jobs are not guaranteed and the United Nations has not agreed to give enough money to help them rejoin society, he added.

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By Isaac Vuni

April 20, 2008 (JUBA) — The First Vice president of the republic and president of the government of southern Sudan, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, has today, called upon the newly enthroned Archbishop of the Episcopal church of the Sudan, Most Revered Daniel Deng Bul to unite the Anglican Church of the Sudan that got divided during the 21 years of liberation struggle.

President Salva Kiir addressing congregation at All Saints Cathedral in Juba on ocassion of Enthronement of Archbishop Deng of ECS (I Vuni, ST) Speaking at the enthronement ceremony of Archbishop elect Daniel Deng at All Saints Cathedral in Juba, President Kiir noted that the Episcopal Church of the Sudan was so much divided during the war time and called upon the new Arch bishop Daniel Deng Bul to unite the Anglican Church under his administration for effective delivery of services and development of the war-torn southern Sudan.

He appealed to churches in the Sudan particularly southern Sudan to support government in promoting southern Sudanese cultures particularly for the youth who are so possessed of embracing foreign cultures they might have been assimilated to during the liberation struggle period.

President Kiir hailed the positive role Sudanese churches together with their counter parts in the neighboring countries played during SPLM/A liberation struggle that led to signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005.

He called upon all people of southern Sudan to fully participate in the fifth Sudan national population and housing census that kicks off from Tuesday 22nd April 2008.

Kiir said the presidency of Sudan have agreed on the issues of ethnicity and religion that was omitted from the questionnaires to be addressed separately soon after the census is concluded.

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JUBA, Sudan, April 16, 2008 (AFP) - South Sudan said on Wednesday it was unlikely to accept the results of a national census after its northern former enemy insisted that the survey, crucial to a fragile peace agreement, go ahead.

"We are not bound by the outcome of the census if it is carried out by the presidency," south Sudan Information Minister Gabriel Changson Chang told AFP after President Omar el-Beshir ordered that the survey go ahead despite southern doubts.

Chang said on Monday that the census, originally due to take place on April 15, had been deferred until later this year, but Beshir subsequently issued a decree insisting that it proceed next week.

Cash-flow problems and logistic headaches have dogged preparations for the repeatedly delayed population count, a crucial part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.

Chang said that it is "a very difficult if not impossible proposition" for the north to address southern objections to the way the census is being prepared before it starts on April 22.

Southern concerns focus on the repatriation of internally displaced and refugees to the south, making funds available for security and adequate provision of census forms in the appropriate language.

"I don't know what credible results will come out of that," Chang said, complaining about "a lot of discrepancies" over forms in Arabic going to areas where Arabic is not properly spoken and in English to Arabic-speaking areas.

The census is to prepare for voter registration for elections due in 2009. Its results will also redraw or confirm the ratio of power-sharing between north and south in the central government.

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April 15, 2008 (PARIS) — The US efforts to boost efforts in the war ravaged region of Darfur took an unprecedented turn Tuesday with a senior official holding a rare meeting with a rebel movement in France.

US special envoy for Sudan Richard Williamson is seen in Khartoum in February 2008 (AFP) The US special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson met with a high level delegation from Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to discuss the resumption of peace talks and cessation of hostilities in Darfur.

JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein told Sudan Tribune from Paris that the meeting was supposed to include Khalil Ibrahim leader of JEM but said that “logistical difficulties due to his presence in Darfur” prevented him from attending.

However Hussein disclosed that that Williamson had phone conversation with Ibrahim earlier today and that the latter will meet with the US envoy “very soon” to discuss ways of “bringing about a comprehensive and sustainable peace in Darfur”.

The meeting is the first of its kind since the US administration imposed sanctions on Ibrahim for his role and accused him of “activity aimed at further destabilizing the situation on the ground [in Darfur]”.

Last year a US state department official speaking to Sudan Tribune said that “Ibrahim’s agenda is that of Hassan Turabi, the head of the Popular Congress Party and an ex-ally of President Al-Bashir”.

The official elaborated by saying that it is clear to the US administration that Ibrahim is focused on Khartoum and not on the crisis of his people in Darfur.

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April 14, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — China will build a large-scale hospital in the Blue Nile State in south-eastern Sudan, a local official announced on Monday.

Blue Nile state minister of health, Ali Mohamed Idriss, said that the construction of the hospital, which is to occupy an area of 20,000 square meters and will have nearly 100 beds, would start at the beginning of next year and would last for about one year.

He said that the hospital would be named "the Hospital of the Chinese Sudanese Friendship.", the Chinese Xinhua reported.

"This is a precious present from China to the local people in the Blue Nile State, and we express our extreme thanks and appreciation for the Chinese government’s donation," the Sudanese official said.

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KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has reversed a decision by the regional government of South Sudan to indefinitely postpone a population census in that part of the country.

The president's press secretary Mahjoub Fadul Bedry says the development came after the president and his two vice presidents discussed Sunday the decision taken earlier during the weekend in South Sudan that the census would be indefinitely postponed there.

Bedry says that the presidency decided the census would still go on, although it would begin April 22, a week later from the initial starting date.

The census is a key step before Sudan is to determine how political power, oil and other natural wealth should be shared within the country.

April 13, 2007 (JUBA) — The Ugandan President Youri Museveni will pay a one day visit to the capital of southern Sudan for talks with the President of southern Sudan government on the peace talks with the rebel LRA.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni (R) shakes hands with south Sudan’s leader Salva Kiir in Kampala August 19, 2006. (Reuters) Museveni’s visit comes following the rejection of the final text of peace agreement by the leader of Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony who asked mediators to clarify the document and to probe the causes of process failure.

Kony also fired his top negotiator David Mastanga, who was accused of collaboration with the Ugandan government.

As, the north Ugandan rebel movement announced its commitment to the peace process, Slava Kiir is expected to ask Museveni to accept the continuation of southern Sudan government mediation to reach a peaceful solution for the two decades conflict.

Ugandan International Affairs Minister Okello Oryem said President Yoweri Museveni is still willing to move the peace process forward including finding a new mediator or a new venue.

The chief mediator and Vice President of southern Sudan, Riek Machar, remained on the remote Congo border on Saturday to try to salvage a final deal with fugitive rebel leader Joseph Kony.

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JUBA, Sudan, April 12, 2008 (AFP) - Self-governing south Sudan reportedly announced on Saturday that a crunch census scheduled nationwide next week, had been delayed in the south, citing a raft of complaints with the Arab north.

The information minister in the southern government, Gabriel Changson Chang, said the census would instead be conducted "in the course of the year" but declined to specify a date, the UN Mission in Sudan's Radio Miraya reported.

Cash-flow problems and logistic headaches have dogged preparations for the already repeatedly delayed census, a cornerstone of the fragile peace agreement in 2005 that ended two decades of civil war between north and south.

Among the reasons for the latest delay, the southern minister reportedly listed disputes with the north over border demarcation, the north's veto of ethnicity and religion on the census questionnaires, and security concerns.

Chang also said two million southern Sudanese are living in the north and awaiting to be repatriated to the under-developed south, Miraya said.

In the south, there is a pervasive belief the population is far bigger than reflected in previous counts which would have huge implications, particularly for a planned referendum in 2011 in the south on whether to become independent.
 
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April 10, 2008 (RI-KWANGBA) — Uganda’s fugitive rebel commander Joseph Kony will not sign a final peace deal with the government on Thursday, the chief mediator said.

"It looks like we are not going to have a signature today," South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar told Reuters, adding the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) told him he was ready to sign, but wanted clarification on two issues.

They are the alternative justice mechanisms that Uganda’s government plans to use to deal with crimes committed during the civil war, in place of prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued warrants for Kony and two deputies.

"I have dispatched a team of elders to go and explain it to him, and I will also hold a brief meeting with him later today or tomorrow morning," Machar said.

Kony’s 22-year rebellion killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 2 million more in northern Uganda and also destabilised neighbouring parts of southern Sudan and eastern Congo.

ICC prosecutors accuse LRA commanders of multiple war crimes including rape, murder and the abduction of thousands of children. The rebels have vowed never to disarm until the indictments are scrapped.

KHARTOUM, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - The African and UN envoys on Tuesday blamed escalating hostilities and deteriorating relations between Chad and Sudan for what they admitted were stalled political efforts to solve the Darfur conflict.
"We have unfortunately not been able to move the political process forward in the last few months because of developments largely beyond our control," UN envoy Jan Eliasson told a news conference in Khartoum.

Renewed fighting broke out in February pitting the Sudanese army and Khartoum-backed militias against ethnic minority rebels in west Darfur, which borders an increasingly unstable eastern Chad.

Relations between Chad and Sudan have continued to deteriorate with each accusing the other of violating their latest peace agreement.

"The escalation of hostilities (in west Darfur) has made it difficult for us to move the political process forward," Eliasson said, admitting that substantive talks that should have already started "have been delayed".

Eliasson said normalising the relationship between Chad and Sudan was "crucial" in creating a credible political process for Darfur and urged all nations with influence "to do their utmost" to improve their ties.

He and his counterpart from the African Union, Salim Ahmed Salim, said they were now concentrating on the possibility of security talks as the best means of obtaining a cessation of hostilities and getting back on track.

Salim said the date and venue of any such meeting had not been decided.

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By Philip Thon Aleu

April 7, 2008 (MAKUACH, Jonglei) – Armed gunmen abducted two children and wounded another man at Aliang, in Jale Payam about 40 miles north of Bor town Friday, Bor county commissioner said Sunday April 6 at Makuach Boma, 20 miles east of Bor town. It is the fisrt occurance in four months.

Commissioner Abraham Jok Ariing, at his briefing to SPLM members, at county congress convection, said the two children’s abduction occurred in the middle week and the abductors over powered an attempt to recover them (children).

Mr. Ariing attributed the abduction to Murle tribesmen.

"They (Murle) have started the abduction," he said stressing that it is time Bor community prepare to depend her territory. The commissioner cautioned Bor citizens on foreign land invasion which, he says, is uncultured.

Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) minister of legal affairs, Justice Makuei Lueth – a born from Bor, blamed the GoSS of not following his advice. "I told them to restrains the notorious son and ask the discipline one to stop fighting," Justice Makuei said referring to Bor and Murle clans as discipline and notorious sons respectively. Both leaders argued Bor citizens to remain calm as they push forward with GoSS disarmament speed.

Bor community lost thirty-seven (37) children in 2007 to cattle raiders, believed to be Murle tribesmen, and many more died in cattle raiding attacks, child abduction and ambushes launched by Murle, Bor community leaders revealed while briefing villagers at the congress. The leaders promised an end to Murle atrocities.

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KHARTOUM, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Sudan has granted UN peacekeepers access to the contested oil-rich area of Abyei, where north and south are locked in a war of words over escalating troop numbers in violation of a fragile peace deal.

Tensions have risen in Abyei since a prominent south Sudan politician, Edward Lino, arrived late last month on a mission that the north condemned as a unilateral appointment of a local administrator without presidential approval.

"Because of the tensions that have arisen... (both sides) lifted their restrictions for a period of 14 days," UN force commander Lieutenant General Jasbir Singh Lidder told a news conference in Khartoum on Monday.

Government forces previously prevented access north of Abyei town and the Sudan People's Liberation Army impeded access from the south, denying the UN a "coherent picture," the commander added.

Former warring enemies, the Sudanese military and SPLA have been locked in a political standoff, accusing each other of shipping extra troops into the area in violation of the agreement that ended their civil war in 2005.

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April 6, 2008 (GADARIF, eastern Sudan) — Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, asked the government of southern Sudan to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of religious rights for Muslims in the south.

Ali Osman Taha In a speech delivered at the opening session of the second conference of the National Congress Party in Gadarif State, Taha said that freedom of belief and religious practices of Muslims in southern Sudan are breached in spite of the fact that the respect for freedom of faith is clearly stipulated the texts of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

"Muslims in South Sudan are subjected to many practices which contravene Shari’a, contravene the Constitution, and contravene the Peace Agreement, in addition to violating the people’s right to belief and to practice religious rites."

Khartoum press reported, during the last weeks, some cases of Muslims mistreating in Juba. Also it said that the governor of Lakes State had prevented Muslims from constructing a mosque.

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JUBA, Sudan, April 3, 2008 (AFP) - A prominent south Sudan politician whose arrival in the contested oil-rich border area of Abyei has stoked tension with the Arab north, on Thursday accused the army of mobilising to attack.

Edward Lino (eds: correct), the local chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said 222 soldiers entered Abyei town on Tuesday and that more forces deployed north of the area's presumed border on Wednesday.

"I am in Abyei and yesterday they brought more troops. We think they are planning to attack," he told AFP by telephone. "They are reinforcing troops in addition to those brought on Tuesday. They are amassing in both directions."

The interim commander of the Sudan armed forces in Abyei denied the claims.

"No, no, no. This is wrong," Brigadier General Muntasir Sabier told AFP by telephone. "We have some forces that were deloyed to protect the oil fields only and now they are starting to go back," he said.

"We signed a peace agreement; we have no intention to (attack)," he said.

Lino said shipping extra troops into town violated a fragile, three-year-old peace agreement that ended two decades of devastating civil war between north and south Sudan.

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By Philip Thon Aleu

April 3, 2008 (BOR, Jonglei) – State authorities have closed the only full English secondary school in Bor town and detained eleven students for striking two weeks ago.

Nile Progressive Secondary School was closed by State Director general for high education Abel Manyuon, following a misunderstanding between his ministry and students body over class room allocation.

"Till April 10 or any further notice, this school is closed," Mr. Manyuon declared on March 17 2008 at the school.

The students, at Bor Police station, told Sudan Tribune on Monday March 31 that "the strike was exaggerated" and now being "detained longer than expected."

"Why should you close school for one class problem?" the students demanded.

The students accused the authorities of not doing enough to solve what they labeled ’simple problems’. "They (authorities) refused to give us a class room to learn in and continuously tells us to be patient," a student who requested unnamed told Sudan Tribune at the prison.

The school operates at Bor Secondary school’s premises alongside Malek SS. Classes are thus distributed according to the number of students rather than the three schools’ tittles hence, complicating matters pertaining different language learners (Arabic and English).

Ministry of Education issued a decree following students’ poor behaviors. "How can you break the store and carry out property without anyone’s notice!" an official from education ministry wondered. The students forcefully broke into a class room, turned a store by the state authorities, demanding being their class room.

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April 3, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders should shun the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony unless China does more to stop bloodshed in Sudan’s Darfur region, activists said on Thursday.

 The umbrella group of Darfur organizations said it was not advocating that countries, athletes or corporate sponsors boycott the Aug. 8-24 Games. But it said host China’s close ties to Sudan undercut the spirit of the opening ceremony.

"Beijing should not be allowed to bask in the warm glow of peace and brotherhood associated with the opening games if China is still underwriting atrocities in Darfur and still has not done what it should to bring peace and security to Sudan," said the group in a statement from Washington.

"We call on world leaders not to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics," it said.

The group — from Save Darfur Coalition, ENOUGH Project, STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, Genocide Intervention Network and Dream for Darfur — vowed to continue their call for a ceremony boycott until Sudan accepts deployment of a hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Only 9,000 of the planned 26,000 international troops and police have been deployed in Darfur. Western governments have blamed Khartoum for dragging its feet in approving the composition of the force and creating other obstacles.

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By Manyang Mayom

March 31, 2008 (RUMBEK) — The governor of Lakes state Lt. General Daniel Awet Akot revealed that there are 1,000 Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers on their way to Rumbek to carry out disarmament in this territory of Eastern county.

4,000 guns displayed to traditional authority on Friday by Lakes State governor ( M. Mayom ST) Akot who was addressing the opening ceremony of Pacong trinity parish in Rumbek, said the SPLA units were needed because there are about 18,000 machine guns in the hand of cattle keepers.

The governor praised the church and recounted the difficulties facing the religious institution during the civil war years.

“In 1995 we opened 25 churches built with grass while there was still fighting with enemy going on in other part of the church, so church had not been so easy to us” he said.

“Well done Good Samaritan purse people for building this first concrete church in Pacong, this church will play a great role to this Pacong community. There is more land for you Good Samaritan purse to build more churches and we are still giving you land to build as well as enough” Akot added.

The Lakes State official called on churches to play a role of awareness to cattle keepers, so that they disarmament could take place smoothly in an area which was marked to be the centre of insecurity in the state.

He also issued a stern warning to those who resist the SPLA disarmament.

“The coming of 1,000 SPLA soldiers into this county is destruction into violence and ignorance by those who do not give their gun to the soldiers” he said.

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By Philip Thon Aleu

April 1, 2008 (BOR, Jonglei) – Jonglei government has assured citizens and the census officials today April 1 that ’insecurity is not a threat to the forth coming census’ exercise at Bor "A" primary in Bor town despite last week’s incident at Ayot (about 200miles north of Bor town) where a census official was killed.

Jonglei SSCC director speaking to reporters at Bor "A" primary school. (P. Thon ST) The state director for South Sudan Census Commission (SSCC) launch a week training of over 1300 enumerators at the state headquarters Bor town where two hundred and sixteen (216) enumerators for Bor county are being trained.

An officer was gunned down last week in a car carrying SSCC officials but the director denied any connection between the death of his colleague to the resistance to census exercise while briefing local reporters today.

"They (gunmen) were cattle raiders driving cattle stole from Toch (area between rivers used to graze cattle in dry season) but did know who was in the car," said state Director of SSCC, Thiong Akuei stressing that "they were not targeting our officials."

The commissioner of Bor county also witnessed the opening ceremony of his county’s census officials and called for carefulness while counting. "In the 1983 population census, Bor county had 208000 people counted and any figure below this should be considered inaccurate," said Bor county commissioner Abraham Jok Ariing adding that "I trust your creditability."

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March 31, 2008 (JUBA) — Ugandan gunmen killed some 20 south Sudanese, kidnapped others and stole thousands of cattle in a cross-border raid on a remote area in early March, southern Sudanese officials said on Monday.

Officials in the area blamed the attack on the UPDF (Ugandan People’s Defence Force), "but the Ugandan authorities said no, it might be (Ugandan) game wardens," South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar told Reuters.

The semi-autonomous southern administration is investigating the attack but details remain unclear, he said, adding that cross-border and inter-tribal attacks were common where south Sudan shares a porous border with Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Machar is the chief mediator in peace talks between the Ugandan government and the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which have agreed to sign a peace deal next week after almost two years of negotiations.

Machar said that after the Ugandan accord had been signed, a conference was planned in south Sudan’s capital Juba for all four countries to try to end the insecurity in the border region, devastated by civil war in south Sudan and north Uganda.

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United Nations (Reuters) - The US is offering to normalise relations with Sudan gradually if the government settles such issues as the Darfur crisis and carries out elections next year, US and Sudanese diplomats said on Friday.

Sudan would have to remove obstacles to the deployment of a UN-led peacekeeping force, stop violence against civilians in Darfur, release US shipping containers stuck in customs and carry out the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan, including elections in 2009, officials said.

Sudan's ambassador to the UN Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem called it "a strategic shift" and said Sudan's "exemplary" cooperation on terrorism matters encouraged Sudanese officials to seek regular relations.

"Each side is exchanging papers on each aspect," he said on Friday. "The biggest reward would be normal relations with the US."

Richard Williamson, the US envoy to Sudan, confirmed that he had discussed incentives and requirements with President Omar Al Bashir on President Bush's direction. In a meeting with Sudanese officials in Khartoum in late February, Williamson discussed specific benchmarks and rewards that included full restoration of diplomatic ties, the lifting of US sanctions on Sudan and Sudan's removal from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

"There needs to be progress on the humanitarian and security side before there can be progress on other issues of concern to both sides," Williamson said. "And we try to be very clear and be specific about the timing and what sort of things that are required."

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