Know any good forum or blogs to track this?
JEM seizes Wadi Saidna AFB?
Fighting prompts Khartoum curfew, al-Jazeera English, 11 May 2008.
More coverage (and some pictures) at the Sudan Tribune website.A curfew has been imposed on Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, after government forces clashed with fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) in an area north of the city.
The Jem website said on Saturday that its fighters had taken control of Wadi Saidna air force base, just north of Khartoum, although this has not been verified.
All kinds of curfews in place now. Friend in the UN has been told to restrict all movement in Khartoum. Active fighting is taking place in several areas. That was sent out this morning.
Last I heard the government was rooting out some of the JEM guys from Omdurman, but this sounds a bit more widespread. Brief review of news sources show nothing more.
Interesting little article from NY Timeson the reasons behind the rebel attack and press coverage.
After a Quixotic Attack in Sudan, a Question Lingers: Why?
And also this from the TimesOnline
Analysts said that Jem had achieved its aim of undermining Khartoum's reputation as an impregnable fortress, exposing opposition and fear within the capital.
John Prendergast, of the Enough Project which campaigns against genocide, said: “There were more soldiers on the inside than there were soldiers who ventured all the way from Darfur, which should be very worrisome for the Government.”
They're rounding up the usual suspects.
KHARTOUM: Human Rights Watch voiced concern on Tuesday at mass arrests in Khartoum after an attack on Sudan's capital by Darfur rebels and said it feared some people had been tortured or killed.
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/...DAN-DARFUR.php
Chad closes its border with Sudan
Chad closes its border with Sudan
I have to admit I am mainly posting this because I love the title so much - it is the idea that Sudan has some control over its boarder that is so hilarious.
I find the idea that Chad has any control over its border with Sudan equally amusing...Originally Posted by JJackson
Yes, sorry that was a typo on my part but it works equally well both ways as you point out. I just hope they oiled the padlock well incase they need to open it again soon - that dust and sand gets into everything.
Here is a typical desert "highway" in Sudan that runs west into Chad. It is actually on some maps as an improved road
I am sure that the Sudanese-Chadian border is equally well demarcated.
Demarcation is pretty clear to me. Right of the bush and across the sand to that other bush.
By the way,
Activist Call in Response to Recent Attacks in Khartoum
Please join ENOUGH Co-Chair Gayle Smith and Advisor Omer Ismail tomorrow Wednesday, May 14th at 12:30 p.m. (E.D.T.) for a special conference call to discuss the weekend rebel attack on a suburb of Sudan's capital Khartoum. The call will provide an update and analysis on the volatile situation .
If you would like to be a part of the call, please register and fill out the form below.
The call in number is 1-866-682-6100
Please ask to be placed in the "Sudan Activist Call"
sign in at http://www2.americanprogress.org/t/8...p.jsp?key=1763
It is indicative of the appalling mess that 'New Sudan' is melting into. Juba is a bloody dangerous place to be these days. Armed gangs roam the town at night and deliberately target the compounds of the UN and NGOs. Following the money. The levels of corruption are epic. Almost every commodity is imported through Atiak having been dragged all the way from Mombasa via Busia or Mbale then on through Kampala or Lira, Gulu, Kitgum and over the border. Its a trip of about 2000kms. The economist and friend-of-Bob Geldorf, Jeffery Sachs recently had his minions calculate ht e average speed of an ISO container over the route, 5kph. Cost of journey (according to a local Indian businessman, $10k. And they intend to build a capital city. The roads from the Kenya/Uganda border mostly look and feel like they have been cluster bombed. As each day goes by, with convoys of huge over-loaded trucks, the roads get worse. The journey from Lira to Kampala used to take me 4 hours in 2005, it now takes six. They are rebuilding the Yoweri Museveni Memorial Highway and Regional Bombing Range, between Nakasongolo and Luweero, but it is being destroyed even as its being repaired. The railway line between Kisumu and Kampala fell in the water last week, about the same time as the Government announced that the bridge over the Owen's Falls at Jinja is badly cracked and will have to be rebuilt asp. It is the MSR for Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan and E Congo. The Chinese, who are here in hordes, are on a promise to build a railwayline from Kampala to Juba .... some day.
My favorite Sudanese cluster-fug of the moment is at: www.normeca.com/normeca/news/ Southern%20Sudan%20Hospital%20Project_mail.pdf -
It will no doubt be Sudan's equivalent of the Millennium Dome.
The cost of building this 'folly' is in excess of EU 20m
The estimated monthly running costs are EU 5m
There is currently a major crisis because GOSS haven't paid any running costs yet.
Shame for all those expat docs and nurses sitting around the pool drinking cold beers, whilst the locals [Taposa pastoral nomads] have to have a shower before they are allowed in the hospital. This is supposed to be a sustainable project, yep, but who is going to sustain it? And the deal is they will build 9 more, a bunch of mobile clinics and two hospital ships on the Nile! I swear!! Assuming they can attract enough expats to man these white elephants, the monthly running costs will total about $100m a month. Meanwhile 37 nurses were sacked in Juba Referral Hospital ( they only have 50) for walking out because the administration failed to pay them.
Tom: I am back. I wrote the paper on CIMIC and also a shorter article for a magazine. If you instruct me as to where and how I post its URL, i will do so. You were all a great help, thank you. If there is anyone out there who is current on the Dyncorp story, i would be interested. And in anything else S Sudan. Kony is still wandering around the woods in either Congo or CAR, but the people have got bored and gone home. There are some great stories about resettling IDPS in northern Uganda if you think it would start a string. I also have a good friend who is commanding AMISOM in Mogadishu, I could ask him if he wanted to join and offer thoughts, he is desperate for new ideas.
Just send it t the editors here and we will be happy to look at for the blog, the magazine, or perhaps both.Tom: I am back. I wrote the paper on CIMIC and also a shorter article for a magazine. If you instruct me as to where and how I post its URL, i will do so. You
Welcome back,
tom
Tom
Here is a URL with a copy of the article.
Bob
http://www.hfncenter.org/cms/Leitch
Sudan is a complicated in almost every category one can name. Ethnic cleansing or perhaps genocide by starvation is ongoing in Darfur, yet it seems the international community can do little.
Just back from Southern Sudan/Juba..as mentioned as part of the training and advisory mission to the SPLA..my comments are included in the threads as above.
I wanted to comment briefly how the overall situation is going in Juba..the capital of Southern Sudan. The international community is ever present; the restaurants and bars for ex-pat's are beginning to crowed the dust filled roadways. While white UN vehicles and other NGO vehicles move from place to place with the windows up and the A/C on...while people walk by what would be considered upscale dining establishments..the local community residents have no running water, nor sanitary...and eating is the day's fulfillment.
Also, one can readily see the SPLA leadership or those connected driving in Mercedes or other. All this time, the locals see little for them.
I asked my friend "M" about the corruption within the SPLA..He responded with several examples including the ID card machine which cost the SPLA (or donors..) nearly one (1) million US dollars...I asked..how could that be..one million dollars for a ID card machines..
"M" responded that a number of generals who "ordered" the equipment also took a large portion of the proceeds..and so did the alleged attractive Ethiopian female who sold the equipment. "M" was at one time Dr. John Garang's body guard (I have the last picture of Garang in Uganda the day of his death..) and when asked..."What would Garang do if he saw such corruption?" "M" response was..."he would of killed them all..."
Remember, war can be big business for many..we all know that. But, even in Sudan..one tribe will "sell" another in terms of inflicting starvation or other for money...knowing full well, the international community will quickly fund any differences.
Is there a resolution? Well, so far, the war, the ethnic cleansing and genocidial intent in Sudan continues...until a resolution which is a model of reconciliation in Africa..these types of "wars" will continue..and the international community will continue to fund...
rh
UN/AU mission in Darfur
UN fury at Darfur militia ambush, BBC News, 9 July 2008.
If it was the Janjaweed, and if the attack was in the numbers and with the firepower reported (40 attacking vehicles with mounted MG/AA/RCL), it would seem to be the Sudanese sending signals to UNAMID, whether about ICC prosecution or generally to deter the mission from showing too much operational ambition.UN chief Ban Ki-moon has condemned an ambush which left seven members of the joint UN-African Union peace mission to Sudan's Darfur region dead.
Twenty-two others were injured, seven critically, in one of the deadliest assaults on UN forces in recent years.
The UN says its peacekeepers fought for over two hours to repulse suspected Janjaweed fighters, who were armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
UN soldiers attacked
I note the BBC website does not indicate which contingent was attacked. I recall AU patrols have been ambushed, even disarmed (including a South African unit). The Sudanese state has played a very astute role throughout the Darfur crisis. Will the ambush discourage AU / UN nations contributing? I suspect so.
davidbfpo
UNAMID casualties
According to AFP, one Ugandan police officer was among those killed. Also:
UN officials in Sudan said a Ghanaian was among the dead, and that 17 Rwandan peacekeepers, and others from Ghana, Senegal and South Africa, were among the wounded. Some of the victims are in intensive care.
The Rwandans will not put up with this crap. Look for a retaliation.UN officials in Sudan said a Ghanaian was among the dead, and that 17 Rwandan peacekeepers, and others from Ghana, Senegal and South Africa, were among the wounded. Some of the victims are in intensive care.
Tom
well, this would explain it...
This would certainly explain why Sudan might want to up the ante against UNAMID:
Sudan Leader To Be Charged With Genocide
Peace Efforts in Darfur Could Be Hampered, Some U.N. Officials Fear
By Colum Lynch and Nora Boustany
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 11, 2008; Page A01
It will also be a massive test case for the ICC, with profound repercussions for its future.UNITED NATIONS, July 10 -- The chief prosecutor of the Internationals Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant Monday for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity in the orchestration of a campaign of violence that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in the nation's Darfur region during the past five years, according to U.N. officials and diplomats.
Headlines like 'UN Fury' bring to
mind 'Hans Brix' offering the North Korean leader a 'very stern letter' in that scene from Team America .
That scene forever skewered in place in my mind the image of the impotence of the UN in bringing recalcitrants to bay if none of the UNSC permanent five are willing to act.
On another note, I cannot for the life of me understand why the lives of various Sudanese ethnic factions are worthy of protest and attention by the same elements of Western society who willingly advocate abandoning elements of Iraqi society to equally violent fates.... Guess it pays to belong to an 'at risk minority' that captures Hollywood's 'concern'.
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