Sudan Watch (July 2012 onwards)
Moderator's Note
This is a new thread and in a moment I will move a small number of 2012 only posts from the Sudan Watch thread to here. There is a separate thread for South Sudan.
This new thread and today's post are a response to the timely FP article 'Why we’re ignoring the revolution in Sudan', with for once a few good comments:http://transitions.foreignpolicy.com...ution_in_sudan
(ends)
Let's hear it for Open Source.
Quote:
BOSTON — The Sudan army is preparing a major assault against the Nuba people who live in Sudan’s southern state of South Kordofan, according to new imagery from George Clooney's Satellite Sentinel Project.
New satellite images released Wednesday show that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) has cut off the main evacuation routes from the area, encircled the remaining local civilian population in the last rebel strongholds of the Nuba Mountains, and is building roads and lengthening the closest airstrip within striking range.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches...preparations-a
The legacy of peace, more war
A BBC report that opens with:
Quote:
Largely hidden from the world's media, a conflict is raging in the border area between Sudan and the new nation of South Sudan. The BBC's Martin Plaut reports from the border on the plight of the thousands who have fled their homes and the rebels' motives.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17276865
Why? This is offered:
Quote:
The rebels who are taking on the government in Khartoum are the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North).
They see themselves as continuing in the footsteps of the movement from which they sprang, the SPLM of the late John Garang, which now runs the newly independent state of South Sudan. When independence came in July last year, many SPLM forces in Blue Nile and South Kordofan were left stranded in Sudan. These areas were supposed to have been allowed a vote to choose autonomy, but this was blocked by Khartoum.
Sudan 2012: turbulent place off the radar?
This is a new thread and in a moment I will move a small number of 2012 only posts from the Sudan Watch thread to here.
This new thread and today's post are a response to the timely FP article 'Why we’re ignoring the revolution in Sudan', with for once a few good comments:http://transitions.foreignpolicy.com...ution_in_sudan
Interesting chap the author, see his bio:http://eldahshan.com/about/
The diary of a former UN sanctions buster
This is a historical account, affecting both South Sudan and Sudan; he starts with:
Quote:
The author resigned his UN mandate as one of the experts charged with administering the Sudan/Darfur sanctions agreed under the "Responsibility to Protect". The sanctions against individuals could not work, and indeed, the UN knew this and violated its very own sanctions in trying to bring peace to the region. But the UN's need to preserve the pretence of a common international response to war violence forces it to deviate from the important tasks required for peace. The Responsibility to Protect should not be instrumentalised like this
The author is not bitter:
Quote:
We can only conclude that in the case of Sudan, they never really wanted to act and have been happy to maintain the illusion that the UN is acting. When action fails, they can blame - and eventually even sanction - the local players for a mess that is in fact in part of their own making.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/j%C3%A9...nctions-buster
Sudan in shock: internal disunity
A rare article on Sudan by Reuters, hat tip to Enduring America:
Quote:
Sudan was unstable even before the south seceded. Now Khartoum has lost three-quarters of its oil, and inflation at 45 percent is causing pain for ordinary Sudanese. Activists encouraged by revolutions in neighboring Libya and Egypt have staged small but regular protests against the government, though Sudanese security forces have so far kept them down.
More crucially, the loss of the south has exacerbated political splits within the government of Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who came to power in a coup in 1989. The country's rulers, who ushered in a hardline religious state, are struggling to keep competing factions happy. Religious preachers feel Bashir, 68, has abandoned the soul of his coup, citing as evidence the secession of the Christian-dominated south. Mid-level and youth activists in Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) want a louder voice. And army officers feel the president is still making too many concessions to the south.
Link:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...&dlvrit=354887
Nothing like keeping Western friends happy, with organised protests and inactive policing.
Sudan: African Sequel to the Arab Spring?
Sudan: African Sequel to the Arab Spring?
Entry Excerpt:
--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
Sudanese president urges UNAMID to leave Darfur
Probably not unexpected by those who know and watch. Apparently the UN has been considering an exit too:http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article53188&utm_