Following the independence of South Sudan, Insight on Conflict will be producing a weekly round-up of the news. To subscribe to receive the updates via email, please contact joel@insightonconflict.org or complete the form below.
News roundup
- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has rejected a proposal for UN-mediated talks on Blue Nile. The UN estimates that 25,000 people have fled Blue Nile to Ethiopia. The International Crisis Group has warned that the violence in Blue Nile and South Kordofan could spiral out of control and lead to a wider civil war in the North.
- South Sudan has said the North has 'no intention' of withdrawing troops from Abyei. At the beginning of September the two countries agreed to withdraw all of their troops from the contested region.
- The head of the Justice and Equality Movement, the largest rebel group in Darfur, has said he is working with other rebel groups to overthrow the government of North Sudan.
- In Khartoum, police and protesters clashed at a demonstration over rising food prices.
- The UN has warned South Sudan faces severe food shortages next year. The cost of food has jumped drastically since independence, with a 64% increase in August. The UN has expressed concern over the rise in cattle-raid violence.
- South Sudan has launched a national disarmament campaign aimed at demobilising 150,000 combatants from the national army, the SPLA.
News in detail
South Sudan
VOA: South Sudan President Vows to End Conflicts 26 Sept: In an interview at the United Nations on Saturday, South Sudan President Salva Kiir said armed conflicts in the new nation are sponsored by ‘’enemies of South Sudan.’’ Read more
Sudan Tribune: S. Sudan: High food prices push inflation rates to 57% 27 Sept: Annual inflation levels in Africa’s newest nation hit 57.1 percent in August due to a jump in the rise in cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages estimated at 63.9 percent, South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics (SSNBS) said in its September report. Read more
Reuters: South Sudanese find their way home slow going 28 Sept: Four months after Paula Lodo left her Khartoum slum to head back to South Sudan, she finds herself in yet another makeshift home south of the Sudanese capital. Read more
Guardian: South Sudan facing severe food shortages, UN agencies warn 29 Sept: UN agencies are warning that newly independent South Sudan will face chronic food shortages next year due to internal and border insecurity, erratic rains and a huge influx of returnees from the north. Read more
AFP: Cattle-raid violence threatens to engulf South Sudan - UN 29 Sept: The United Nation raised the alarm on Wednesday over violent cattle raids in South Sudan that have left around 1,000 dead since June, calling it a crisis that threatens to engulf the fledgling nation. Read more
Sudan Tribune: South Sudan launches national disarmament campaign 29 Sept: South Sudan launched an official national Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration strategic plan on Wednesday, days after the cabinet passed a resolution allowing the removal of 150,000 combatants from the new country’s rebel group turned national army the SPLA. Read more
Blue Nile
AFP: 25,000 flee Sudan's troubled Blue Nile to Ethiopia 27 Sept: Some 25,000 people have fled Sudan's troubled Blue Nile state to Ethiopia in the last three weeks amid fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. Read more
AFP: Sudan's Bashir rules out UN-supervised rebel talks 29 Sept: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir claimed on Wednesday that the army would soon capture the rebel stronghold of Kurmuk, in Blue Nile state, insisting there would be no UN-supervised negotiations. Read more
North Sudan
AFP: Sudan conflict may spiral out of control: ICG 27 Sept: The conflict in Sudan is spreading, and the government's efforts to crush the rebels in its southern border region could spark a wider civil war for control of the country, a report warned on Monday. Read more
AFP: Iran, Sudan united against 'pressures': Ahmadinejad 27 Sept: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that Iran and Sudan stand together as "defenders of Islam" in the face of pressure from Western governments. Read more
AFP: Sudan shuts down independent paper: editor 28 Sept: Sudanese security officers on Tuesday shut down the independent Al-Jarida newspaper, its editor told AFP, in what rights groups say is the latest sign of increasing political repression. Read more
AFP: Sudan police disperse latest food demo: witnesses 28 Sept: Sudanese riot police on Tuesday used tear gas to disperse youths demonstrating in Khartoum against unaffordable food prices, witnesses said, in the second incident of its kind in just two days. Read more
Reuters: Sudan's Bashir rejects mediation in talks with South 02 Oct: Sudan wants to end all conflict with newly-independent South Sudan through dialogue but without any foreign mediation, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Saturday ahead of a visit by his southern counterpart. Read more
Abyei
AFP: Sudan has 'no intention' to withdraw from Abyei 01 Oct: Sudan on Friday failed to meet an agreed troop withdrawal deadline for the contested Abyei region and is blocking the return of displaced southern residents, a senior South Sudanese official charged on Friday. Read more
Darfur
AFP: Returned Darfur leader says working to topple regime 02 Oct: A top Darfuri rebel leader, back from Libya, told AFP he is working with other armed groups to topple the Sudanese regime and that UN reports of violence subsiding in Darfur are inaccurate. Read more
