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
There has been renewed fighting in Blue Nile. The US envoy to Sudan warned that the conflict-affected border states - Blue Nile and South Kordofan - are facing famine. Sudan has rejected any suggestion of an 'aid corridor' to allow international agencies into the region. The US is believed to be considering a unilateral aid operation.
Ethnic violence continued between the Murle and Lou Nuer in Jonglei, South Sudan. The UN said last week 120,000 people are in need of emergency aid because of the conflict, doubling the previous estimate.
The dispute over oil revenues continues. After Sudan said it had begun confiscating South Sudanese oil in compensation for unpaid oil transit fees, South Sudan says it is preparing to shut down oil production because the country "is not benefiting from oil". Chinese media report that South Sudan is planning to build a new pipleine through East Africa, bypassing Sudan. Sudan said a deal on oil was unlikely without first reaching an agreement on security and border issues.
News in detail
Abyei, Blue Nile, and South Kordofan
Reuters: New fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile border state 19 Jan: Sudan's army has clashed with rebels in Blue Nile state, which borders South Sudan and where fighting has been going on for five months, but the army denied on Thursday that rebels had shot down a helicopter. Read more
CNN: Sudan faces potential famine, US envoy warns 18 Jan: Half a million people will face an emergency bordering on famine by March if international humanitarian organisations are not allowed into areas of Sudan that are mired in conflict, United States envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman warned on Wednesday. Read more
AFP: Sudan rejects aid 'corridor' for war zone 21 Jan: Sudan on Friday rejected any plan for an aid "corridor" to war-torn southern states after the United States warned of a possible "horrific" famine affecting civilians in the area. Read more
Sudan Tribune: US mulling aid operation in Blue Nile and South Kordofan - report 19 Jan: The United States is considering taking a unilateral move that would aim at providing aid to hundreds of thousands of people who face the daunting prospect of famine in Sudan’s border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, according to a newspaper report. Read more
North-South Relations
Reuters: South Sudan says to shut oil production within 2 weeks 20 Jan: South Sudan said on Friday it was preparing to gradually shut down oil production within two weeks after Sudan said it had started seizing Southern oil to compensate for what it said were unpaid transit fees. Read more
Reuters: South Sudan to build crude pipe thru East Africa - Xinhua 21 Jan: South Sudan is planning to construct an oil refinery and a crude-oil export pipeline through East Africa with the help of international oil companies operating in its fields, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. Read more
Reuters: South Sudan says Khartoum loading more confiscated oil 17 Jan: South Sudan on Tuesday said Sudan had taken control of 2.15 million barrels of Southern oil at Port Sudan, loading oil onto vessels belonging to Khartoum, as both countries argue over how to share oil revenues. Read more
Reuters: Sudan says oil deal with South depends on security 18 Jan: Sudan will continue to take a share of oil from South Sudan to compensate for what it calls unpaid transit fees, and said an oil deal was unlikely without an agreement on border and security issues, its foreign minister said on Wednesday. Read more
Sudan
Bloomberg: Sudan human rights record deteriorating, rights group says 22 Jan: Sudan’s human rights record deteriorated in 2011 with the eruption of new armed conflicts and crackdowns on students, rights advocates and the media, Human Rights Watch said. Read more
South Sudan
Reuters: UN says 120,000 in South Sudan need aid after fighting 20 Jan: Tribal fighting in South Sudan has left 120,000 people in need of emergency food aid, twice the previous estimate, the United Nations said on Friday. Read more
Reuters: Russia likely to withdraw from UN's South Sudan force 18 Jan: Russia is likely to withdraw its military helicopters servicing the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan after voicing alarm at attacks on Russian personnel there, a Russian official said on Tuesday . Read more
Darfur
AFP: Nigerian peacekeeper killed in Darfur ambush - UN 22 Jan: Gunmen ambushed a UN-African Union peacekeeping patrol in Sudan's conflict-stricken Darfur region on Saturday, killing one Nigerian soldier and wounding three, the UN said. Read more
AFP: Monitors call for UN access in Sudan's Darfur 16 Jan: UN peacekeepers must have unrestricted access within Sudan's troubled Darfur region, international monitors overseeing a peace deal for the area said on Monday. Read more
