Category: Uncategorized

By Michael Atit

October 07, 2020 05:58 PM

KHARTOUM, SUDAN – Leaders of a group of protesters in Sudan’s Red Sea state that had blocked the main road linking Khartoum to oil facilities in Port Sudan town for two straight days called off the protest on Wednesday. 

The protest leaders released a statement Tuesday saying all roads, oil facilities and ports would be reopened after Sudan’s security and defense council met and agreed to send a delegation headed by Sovereign Council member General Ibrahim Jabir to the area to meet with leaders of the Beja community and resolve their issues. 

The protesters rejected what’s been called “the eastern track” of the recently signed Sudan peace deal between the government and armed rebel groups in Juba. 

Protesters killed a police officer on Monday at oil field facilities in Haiya town, some 208 km from Port Sudan, according to eyewitnesses. Armed with spears, knives and sticks, the protesters attacked several oil facilities in the area, forcing oil companies to shut down operations. 

The protesters said the peace deal signed on Saturday does not protect their rights. 

The Beja Congress of Eastern Sudan was one of nine rebel groups that formed an umbrella group called the Revolutionary Front, which took part in the Sudan peace talks. 

Abdallah Obshar, an intellectual with the Beja tribe and a protest organizer, accused supporters of ousted president Omar al-Bashir, whom he said were of Eritrean origin, of trying to use the agreement to take over their land. 

“The eastern track signed in Juba is a clear encroachment to the Beja tribe because the group which represented eastern Sudan during the negotiations have not had any relationships with the area whatsoever. They are a group of individuals which had been receiving support from the previous administration to change the demography of the Beja area,” Obshar told South Sudan in Focus from Port Sudan. 

The Beja people are an ethnic Cushitic nomadic people who inhabit Sudan, Egypt and neighboring Eritrea. The Beja people primarily live between the Red Sea coast and the River Nile in Sudan. 

Obshar said the group representing eastern Sudan at the talks had no historical or geographical ties to eastern Sudan and do not even speak the Beja language. 

“Our area has been witnessing marginalization and exclusion since the independence of the country; it is still being practiced against our people, and the worst is now they are trying to change our demography and do away with our identity. This is one of the dangerous series of plans that is facing the people of eastern Sudan,” Obshar told VOA. 

The deal mediated in Juba by South Sudan President Salva Kiir ends years of conflict in eastern Sudan, Blue Nile and Sudan’s western region of Darfur. 

Deteriorating living conditions have contributed to the escalating violence that led up to this week’s protests, said Port Sudan resident Ibtisam Mohammed Saleh. 

“I went to the southern port to finish some of the customs clearance of my goods, and it closed. The road leading to the port was blocked, and I could see total paralysis in the port. I have to drive back home. Yesterday there was a series of protests demanding that the current transitional government should be removed,” Saleh told South Sudan in Focus. 

https://www.voanews.com/africa/sudans-red-sea-state-oil-facilities-reopen-after-protests-end
 

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Written by: Sudan Correspondent
Article source: morningstarnews.org

In another sign that Islamist elements hostile to Christianity in Sudan could be reined in, the minister of religious affairs has reiterated that Christian properties confiscated under the previous regime would be returned.

Acknowledging that Christians were persecuted and endured “very bad practices” under the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir, Minister of Religious Affairs Nasr al-Din Mufreh on Sunday (Nov. 3) was quoted in International Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat as saying property stolen from Sudanese Christians would be returned through court proceedings.

Mufreh also had told media in September that confiscated church properties should be returned.

In Sunday’s article in which he invited expelled Jews to return to Sudan – as he had in September, drawing criticism from Muslim hardliners – Mufreh said that Christians and people of other beliefs are free to practice their faith in Sudan.

“They [Christians] are Sudanese, and their religion is heavenly with its values and beliefs,” Mufreh told Asharq Al-Awsat, saying that Christians have such a presence in Sudan that they should not be described as a minority.

Sudanese Christians hope the comments mark a sea change from the Islamist campaign of Bashir, ousted by the army on April 11 after widespread protests began in December 2018. Following the secession of South Sudan in 2011, Bashir had vowed to adopt a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) and recognize only Islamic culture and the Arabic language. Church leaders said Sudanese authorities have demolished or confiscated churches and limited Christian literature on the pretext that most Christians have left the country following South Sudan’s secession.

In April 2013 the then-Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments announced that no new licenses would be granted for building new churches in Sudan, citing a decrease in the South Sudanese population. Sudan since 2012 has expelled foreign Christians and bulldozed church buildings. Besides raiding Christian bookstores and arresting Christians, authorities threatened to kill South Sudanese Christians who do not leave or cooperate with them in their effort to find other Christians.

After Bashir was deposed, military leaders initially formed a military council to rule the country, but further demonstrations led them to accept a transitional government of civilians and military figures, with a predominantly civilian government to be democratically elected in three years.

Christians are expected to have greater voice under the new administration. In September pastor Mobarak Hamaad, former head of the Sudanese Church Council, demanded that the transitional government return all church buildings, lands and properties wrongfully confiscated by the former regime.

Religious Affairs Minister Mufreh told Asharq Al-Awsat his ministry would fight terrorism, extremism and takfiri notions – punishments for leaving Islam. He said Islamic State (IS) had no cells established in the country while acknowledging that members had likely entered.

“The Sudanese Islamic Movement project has been defeated in political and community life thanks to the glorious revolution,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat, while acknowledging that a number of Islamist elements have begun trying to spread extremist ideas in Sudanese mosques.

“We will besiege these mosques with a serious discourse calling for moderation and the fight against extremism,” Mufreh told the Arabic-language news outlet.

Mufreh previously worked as a leader in the Al-Ansar Mosque in Rabak, south of Khartoum.

New Era?
The new government that was sworn in on Sept. 8, led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, an economist, is tasked with governing during a transition period of 39 months. It faces the challenges of rooting out longstanding corruption and an Islamist “deep state” rooted in Bashir’s 30 years of power.

Bashir, who came to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, faces charges of illegal acquisition and use of foreign funds. In Khartoum’s Kobar prison, he is charged with “inciting and participating in” the killing of protestors. In March 2009, the International Criminal Court indicted him for directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur.

Hamad, the former chairman of the Sudan Council of Churches, has said that the government should recover all properties confiscated under the previous regime, including the Catholic Club and another building belonging to the Sudan Interior Church.

The Catholic Club, strategically located near the Khartoum International Airport, was turned into the headquarters of Bashir’s National Congress Party. The Sudan Interior Church building, used by the Khartoum International Church and other Christian organizations, was turned into offices for the notorious National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).

On July 29, Chairman of the Military Council Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan issued a decision to amend the name of NISS to General Intelligence Service. The measure also froze Article 50 of the Law of Security Service, which had given NISS  broad powers of inspection and detention without cause, widely misused against Christians and political opponents.

Sudan fought a civil war with the south Sudanese from 1983 to 2005, and in June 2011, shortly before the secession of South Sudan the following month, the government began fighting a rebel group in the Nuba Mountains that has its roots in South Sudan.

Due to its treatment of Christians and other human rights violations, Sudan has been designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department since 1999.

Sudan ranked sixth on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

https://joynews.co.za/religious-affairs-minister-in-sudan-signals-freedom-of-religion-in-new-era/

On 2 October 1999, a group of people from South Africa prayed in Port Sudan. This was part of a prayer journey to Sudan. To coincide with this, an International Day of Prayer for Sudan was called for. Back home, a group of people prayed from 6 am to 6 pm on Saturday, October 2, 1999.

Right now, every Friday for six weeks, from 4 to 6 pm Sudan time, believers from various nations engage in ABIDING in Christ prayer. This six weeks runs from August 28, to October 2, 2020.

The fact that those 2 October dates, exactly 21 years apart, prompted the organizers of the Sudan Prayer Network to call for a Day of Thanksgiving for God’s mercies over the Sudans.

A ZOOM link will be posted in this article for those who would want to attend the online prayer meeting(s) on October 2, 2020. The meeting will be scheduled as follows:

• 4 to 6 pm – Thanksgiving prayer
• 6 to 7 pm – The standard weekly online Sudans Prayer meeting
• 7 to 9 pm – Thanksgiving prayer and committing to the road ahead.

In this article we’ll post a few memories from the tonnes of things God has done during the past 21 years in the Sudans and among it’s peoples.

The power of Sudan’s protest movement has sustained the prime minister in office – but its trust in Abdalla Hamdouk has ebbed of late. This week’s peace agreement gives him the chance to win it back. 

Sudan’s transitional government signed a peace agreement with key rebel groups in late August. This was a significant step towards resolving deep-rooted conflicts from the time of former dictator Omar al-Bashir. But the real potential of the peace agreement lies not, in fact, in bringing an end to Sudan’s long-running civil wars – but in the chance to put Sudan’s transition back on stable footing.

In 2017, dramatic economic decline fuelled the demonstrations that pushed Bashir and his National Congress Party from power after 25 years in control of Sudan. At that moment, a fleeting alignment of protesters and military combined to unseat Bashir, and the transitional government that took over institutionalised this unusual union. What emerged was a civilian-led government on one side, under the prime minister, Abdalla Hamdouk; on the other, the military. The international community breathed a sigh of relief over the accord and the further bloodshed it prevented. But they and many Sudanese pinned their hopes on the civilians gaining the upper hand, seeing in them the promise of completing the peaceful transition to a new, liberal, Sudan that the protests had started to usher in.

But that vision is now under threat from an unexpected quarter – and not from a revanchist military. Instead, the threat comes from strains within the civilian camp itself, especially between the protestors and Hamdouk. To understand this, the civilian camp needs unpacking. Roughly it can be divided into “Base”, “Party”, and “Prime Minister”.

The “Base” is the protest movement, which is the truly unique element to emerge from the Revolution, in the sense that Sudanese political parties have long functioned under the fiction of having mass representational power. The protesters are organised into grassroots Local Revolutionary Committees and constitute the missing ingredient of popular democratic power that the Revolution unlocked. But the protesters have also intentionally rejected creating any formal structure for themselves, and rejected affiliating to political parties. They believe such a structure would make them vulnerable to hijacking from within; and they distrust the extant political parties, believing that the Revolution’s demands transcend party politics. The closest thing the Base has to an affiliation is with the prime minister.

The “Party” element is an amalgamation of parties, with a sprinkling of civil society actors, grouped under the umbrella of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC). The FFC emerged along with the Revolution, but the core was not new: traditional leftist and Arab nationalist political parties, veterans of Sudanese politics. When Bashir fell, the FFC took on the role of representing the Revolution including in negotiating the transition with the military.

This bestowed it with power in the transitional government’s formative period. It nominated the civilian ministers of the government including the prime minister. Thereafter its governing mandate technically ended – but the FFC took on some government functions as it saw fit, inserting itself into areas of particular interest such as the peace negotiations. As the transition stumbled, in part due to the perceived self-dealing of the FFC’s traditional political parties, the protest movement’s support for the FFC declined apace.

The result is that the FFC political parties cannot claim the mass representational power of the protest movement. This in turn calls into question the governance powers they have arrogated unto themselves. Still, international policymakers tend to make the mistake of conflating the Base and the FFC’s traditional parties, treating the latter like a traditional governing party that represents the Base.

The prime minister is a separate actor, because of the way the protest movement view him. From the outset the protesters harboured reservations about the FFC, the military, and even the entire transitional constitutional arrangement.

As the transition period has sputtered, their antipathy towards all of these has grown. But Hamdouk is in a category apart. Firstly, because as the linchpin of the civilian component of the government, were the protest movement to make him the target of their demonstrations, the military would have grounds to oust him, claiming the loss of his popular mandate.

Secondly, he is in a category apart because of his character: he has managed to convince the protest movement of his ‘genuineness’, particularly in contrast to the traditional political parties within the FFC. Since the overwhelmingly dominant political force in the country is the protest movement, the connection between prime minister and the protesters is life-sustaining for the former. It makes him untouchable by the military (or even the FFC) for fear of the popular backlash that would be released.

But amid growing tensions around the plummeting economy this link recently strained to near breaking. A misstep by the prime minister did more to threaten that bond then any governing shortcomings to date, imperilling the ‘genuineness’ that endears him to the street. On 17 August 2020, Sudanese protesters marched to deliver demands for reform to Hamdouk.

Though not the first protest march since the Revolution, it was novel in that the prime minister declined to meet them for the politically symbolic reception of their pleas, which is his usual gesture of respect and equality. A second precedent followed, adding insult to injury, when the security forces turned aggressive, tear-gassing the demonstrators and dispersing them with force. Gone was the restrained tolerance that has characterised the post-Revolution response to protests.

Sensing an opportunity, the military made a bid for the allegiance of the protest movement in a speech by General Burhan, the head of the military component of the transitional government. Sudanese read these statements with alarm as paving the way for a dramatic move from the military. The gambit duly backfired, as the protesters, despite their anger towards the prime minister, reflexively doubled down in their support for him to rule out any ambiguity about their attitude towards a military coup.

The economy itself was always shaky but has now begun a steeper slide, as seen with the fall of the Sudanese pound’s US dollar exchange rate, continuing fuel scarcity, and the resultant dramatic increase in the cost of living. In parallel, the security situation is fraying around the edges with old rivalries breaking out with new virulence. Unchecked by the distracted central state’s military organs, hundreds of dead are strewn across Sudan’s peripheries. In short, on an objective scale, conditions now are worse than those that birthed the protests undoing Bashir.

The difference between then and now is the constancy of the protesters’ support for the prime minister. This faith bought the government time and space to right the listing ship of state in the trying period following the Revolution. While this faith endured its most recent test, it may not survive further trials.

But this week’s peace agreement could help guide the ship to port. The agreement incorporates Sudan’s armed movements into the transitional government, which is a much-needed success for the prime minister. More importantly, the next steps it envisages create an opportunity to reorganise Sudanese politics along lines that better reflect the true political forces in the country.

A national constitutional conference is envisaged as the next stage in the peace process. Approached correctly, it could serve as a new way of incorporating the protest movement into some form of renewed national compact. Moreover, it might address the paradox at the heart of the protest movement: that it is both the most representational political force but also unwilling to engage in party politics. Were it a political party, it would eclipse the extant parties and dominate elections. Instead, the protest movement creates momentum that other, established forces then surf upon. Addressing this paradox is the real key to securing the civilian character of Sudan’s transformation.

The prime minister should therefore make leadership of this process a personal priority with an eye to using it to bind the protest movement closer. If left to others to lead, it will devolve into yet another political football between government factions.

Interested international partners do not need to lead this mediation. Indeed, the protest movement’s caution extends towards foreign intervention. But the transitional government, and the prime minister, are live to what key international partners say and do. At the outset, the minimum required is a clear, unified position supporting Sudanese-led efforts and allowing Sudanese to prioritise the national constitutional conference as a prerequisite to strengthening the national political foundation upon which all subsequent reforms will need to rest.

[The European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. This commentary, like all publications of the European Council on Foreign Relations, represents only the views of its authors.]

https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_sudan_peace_agreement_what_it_really_means_for_the_countrys_tran

Haitham Nouri , Wednesday 9 Sep 2020

Some 100,000 homes damaged, 500,000 persons displaced, 100 dead, 46 injured, 43 schools damaged, more than 2,000 health centres lost at a time when they are crucial, and the grim reminder that there is more to come this month. Sudan has been ravaged by floods since late July due to heavy seasonal rainfall.

The water level of the Nile River rose to about 17.5 metres in August, the highest it has been in close to a century, according to the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation. With weather forecasts predicting above average rains throughout September, Sudan may reach unprecedented levels of flooding. Some citizens were reluctant to leave their homes after braving many floods over the years. However, with the water being knee-high, or in some cases neck high, all were forced to abandon their houses.  “In previous years, we would leave our house for two months to live with friends, but this year that was impossible, because water had entered their homes too,” said Ahmed, who was caught in the flooding.  

Army troops have been deployed to aid citizens in evacuating their homes, building barricades in an attempt to keep the water at bay, and distributing food and supplies to those displaced. Access to clean water has become limited after the flooding destroyed 2,000 sources of clean water. Other utilities, such as electricity, are also experiencing unprecedented outages.  As of last week, the Sudanese government has declared a three-month long state of emergency.  

The flooding has, also, been threatening to damage two archaeological sites that house two pyramids that were built around the 7th century BC, which are invaluable historically and the source of much tourism in Sudan. “The situation is currently under control, but if the level of the Nile continues to rise, the measures taken may not be sufficient,” Marc Maillot, head of the French Archaeological Unit in the Sudan Antiquities Service said.  

The United Nations has been providing humanitarian aid in the form of food, medical supplies and emergency shelter. On 7 September, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi sent two military aircrafts containing provisions and rain-resistant tents. Despite the aid, it may not be enough, with the UN urging the international community to send help as aid stocks have been “depleted rapidly”.  

This crisis begs the question of whether or not Sudan can continue to endure these yearly floods, and whether Sudan can withstand a potentially similar, or more serious flood, in the event of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam malfunctioning.  If anything, this crisis stresses the importance of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia cooperating in order to ensure that a crisis of that proportion never happens to Sudan or Egypt in the future. 

*A version of this article appears in print in the 10 September 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/50/1203/379652/AlAhram-Weekly/World/Sudan-floods-to-persist-through-September.aspx

In a country already facing multiple crises, record floods and heavy rains have killed 100 and displaced 500,000 people.

by Farah Najjar21 hours ago

Sudan imposed a three-month state of emergency and declared the country a natural disaster area as record floods killed 100 people and inundated more than 100,000 houses [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]

Wading through waist-deep water, residents of the al-Shigla neighbourhood in Omdurman, twin city of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, tried to rescue what was left of their possessions as they floated by.

Others stood by in despair, observing the aftermath of days of torrential rains that brought record-breaking flash floods to the country where the Blue and White Niles join to become the Nile River.

Pieces of furniture, broken tiles, damaged vehicles and more were washed away by this year’s rain that fell profusely and continuously for nearly two weeks.

The rain and flooding exceeded records set in 1946 and 1988, killing more than 100 people and forcing the government to declare a three-month state of emergency this week.

To many Sudanese like Amna Ahmed, seasonal rains, in and of themselves, are nothing new. The food vendor is usually prepared for the country’s rainy season, which lasts from June to October.

Despite losing “everything”, the 63-year-old is thankful that the devastating floods did not also take her life. This year, she is one of the thousands of people who lost their homes.

“We lost everything. We lost our homes, furniture, clothes, and we were even about to lose our lives,” the mother of four told Al Jazeera.

According to her, the Nile’s water levels increased drastically over the past few days, reaching a peak on Friday night. Since then, it has been overflowing, “demolishing everything” from homes to trees and cars.

Last week, a committee tasked with dealing with the ramifications of the floods, warned that the country may face more rains, adding that the water level in the Blue Nile rose to a record 17.58 metres. 

Experts say climate change is a large part of the problem.

‘Critical situation’

On Monday, authorities in Sudan declared a national state of emergency and

designated the country a natural disaster zone.

The floods have so far impacted more than half-a-million people and caused the total and partial collapse of more than 100,000 homes in at least 16 Sudanese states.

Sudan’s Khartoum, Blue Nile and River Nile states are among the hardest-hit, while damage has also been reported in the Gezira, Gadarif, West Kordofan and South Darfur regions, according to the United Nations.

“We are in very critical situation. The government’s efforts to save us are nothing comparing to the size of the actual damage,” said Ahmed, who now sleeps in front of her destroyed house.

“What we now need is shelter, food, medicine and vaccines for the children,” she said.

The desperate cries are reflected in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, where tents have been put up to accommodate the displaced.

While the government managed to evacuate residents of 43 affected villages across the country, thousands of families in Khartoum were left to hold on to whatever they could save as they wait for the floods to subside.

Some families have been sleeping on whatever dry patches of land they can find, on sidewalks and in front of demolished homes.

‘No one came to help us’

Meanwhile, Sudan’s civil defence force has been attempting to dig a drainage channel meant to reduce Nile water levels, but that has so far been unsuccessful.

Ezz Aldin Hussein placed the blame squarely on the government.

“The government still does nothing for us,” Hussein, whose home in the badly hit al-Lamab neighbourhood in south Khartoum was partially destroyed, told Al Jazeera.

“The rainy season is known to come every year, but we don’t see the government seriously prepare for it,” the 56-year-old engineer said.

In failing to “save our lives and belongings”, Hussein believes the country’s new transitional government does not differ from former strongman President Omar al-Bashir’s regime.

Hussein was among the millions in Sudan who risked their lives and protested against al-Bashir’s oppressive 30-year rule that ended last year.

Unemployment, deeply rooted corruption and economic sanctions were the main drivers behind the mass protests that toppled al-Bashir.

What followed was the rise of a fragile power-sharing government that is now working to achieve a democratic transition in Sudan amid acute economic woes.

But to Hussein, these challenges should not have hindered the state’s ability to respond to Sudan’s latest crisis.

When the walls of his house fell on his car parked in the driveway, Hussein reached out to the police and civil defence authorities, but said “no one came to help us”.

“I had no option but to call my neighbours to help me pull my car from under the wall,” he said.

The Sudanese people have relied on a tradition of social mobilisation for immediate relief.

“Nafeer” – an Arabic word meaning “a call to mobilise” – is seeing people turn to each other to seek and offer support. The youth-led initiative brought together thousands of people earlier this month to help each other in battling the crisis.

In Hussein’s neighbourhood, youths gathered to organise people, build structures to assist displaced families and load trucks to distribute food and other items.

Ahmed Abul Motaal, a 22-year-old volunteer, said he joined the initiative because he wanted to participate in the Sudanese tradition after seeing his fellow citizens lose their homes and suffer in the floods.

“We are organising ourselves in different neighbourhoods to help our people,”

Motaal said, adding that the initiative’s objective is to also “fill the gaps that are outside the hands of the government”.

“We saw the houses collapse and the elderly and children [stranded] … We had to do something.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/lost-thousands-homeless-sudan-battles-floods-200909102451318.html

Wednesday, 2 September, 2020 – 05:00

The Saudi cabinet reiterated on Tuesday the Kingdom’s support for the peace deal signed between Sudan and five armed factions.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired the virtual government meeting from Neom.

The cabinet added that the peace pact was a “significant step forward in achieving the aspirations of the fraternal Sudanese people and their just hopes for peace, development and prosperity.”

The ministers also reviewed the latest local and international developments related to the novel coronavirus pandemic. They covered the measures adopted to ensure the return of all public sector employees in Saudi Arabia to their offices after the lockdown imposed by the outbreak.

Acting Media Minister Dr. Majid al-Qasabi told the Saudi Press Agency that the ministers congratulated students and teachers on the beginning of the new school year. Learning will be temporarily carried out remotely due to the pandemic. He stressed the importance of family members in ensuring that students take their learning seriously while at home.

The ministers addressed Saudi Aramco’s discovery of two oil and gas fields in the al-Jof and northern border regions. They hailed the Energy Ministry and Aramco for their efforts in drilling and production in this field.

The government reviewed the latest regional and international developments, reiterating the Kingdom’s condemnation of the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen for deliberately launching armed drones and ballistic missiles at Saudi civilian targets.

https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2483381/saudi-arabia-reiterates-support-sudan-peace-deal

A peace agreement between Sudanese authorities and key armed movements from Darfur could provide a path to national unity, the head of the joint UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said on Monday.

Sudan’s transitional Government initialled the deal alongside the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) and Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi (SLM/MM), at a ceremony held in neighbouring South Sudan.

Determination, courage and commitment

“I would like to congratulate Sudanese people on this significant step and commend in particular the signatory parties for their determination, courage and commitment to lasting peace in Sudan”, said Jeremiah Mamabolo, the UNAMID Joint Special Representative, who attended the ceremony.

It is expected that the peace agreement will end 17 years of often brutal conflict in Darfur.

Fighting between the forces of former President Omar al-Bashir, backed by allied militia, and various rebel movements, left around 300,000 dead, according to UN estimates, and millions displaced.

President al-Bashir was overthrown in April 2019 following unrest that began in December 2018.

“We hope that this agreement is perceived as the start of a process that includes all in a positive move towards peace, justice and national unity. This includes the full realization of the hopes, dreams and aspirations of all the people of Sudan, including Darfuris”, said Mr. Mamabolo.

Praise for South Sudan mediation

At the ceremony, the UNAMID chief conveyed greetings from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki.

He also applauded the South Sudanese mediation team for facilitating the negotiation process amidst challenges.

Mr. Mamabolo hoped that those parties who remain outside will soon join the peace process to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the Sudanese people and the objectives of the December 2018 Revolution.

“To that end, the United Nations and the African Union remain committed to supporting this process to the very last day of UNAMID’s mandate”, he said.

Read the original article on UN News.

https://allafrica.com/stories/202009010401.html

TUESDAY, 25 AUGUST, 2020

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo departed from Israel Tuesday morning, following a series of meetings with high-level Israeli leaders.

Pompeo met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday, followed by meetings with Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz.

The Secretary of State is slated to visit Sudan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Sovereign Council Chairman Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Burhan. Tuesday’s flight to Khartoum is the first official direct flight from Israel to Sudan.

An official who greeted Pompeo as he boarded the flight said “You are now on a historic flight.”

Pompeo will also visit Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, where he will meet with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/285875

Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted : ‘ Happy to announce that we are on the FIRST official NONSTOP flight from Israel to Sudan! ‘

Khartoum — On Thursday, (August, 20), the rate of the Sudanese Pound on the Khartoum parallel market fell to its lowest level. According to Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, the biggest threat to the country’s economy is the widespread smuggling of goods, in particular gold.

The Pound reached 170 against the US Dollar on Thursday, amid concerns that the forex rates on the parallel market will continue to rise in the coming days.

After investigations into the forex and gold trade, a number of people have been arrested, the Ministry of Finance reported in a statement on Thursday.

The devaluation of the Pound against foreign currencies is “an act of organised sabotage against the economy” of Sudan, the Ministry stated. It accused “elements of the former regime” of pumping large amounts of, often forged, Sudanese banknotes into the country, by buying hard currency and gold at high prices, with the aim of sabotaging the economy.

Smuggling

On Friday, PM Abdallah Hamdok said that the biggest threat to the Sudanese economy is the widespread smuggling of goods in the country, which covers about 40 percent of the country’s economy.

He said in an interview with Radio Omdurman that the Emergency Committee set up by the government to fight smuggling operations has succeeded, in a short period of time, in curbing the smuggling in gold. Because of these actions, Sudan has been able to export four tons of gold recently.

Hamdok described the rise in the forex rates and gold prices during the past two days, as “systematic and economically unjustified sabotage operations.

“It is inconceivable that people buy gold for more than 10 per cent of the international price,” he said.

Gold export regulated

For years, the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) was the sole institution legally allowed to trade in gold. The bank that had a monopoly on exports, bought gold in Sudan at fixed prices at collection sites in the country, which led to illegal trade. In January, Sudan decided to permit private traders to export gold, in a bid to stop the recurrent smuggling of gold, and to attract foreign currency.

Six months later, Sudan started to export gold in a regulated way, after a gold stock market was established in May to level the price of the precious metal in the country with the international tariff.

The Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported on Wednesday that the High Committee for Economic Emergencies decided to form a mechanism to monitor the production, transport, sale, and export of gold. Measures have been taken as well to combat gold smuggling via Khartoum International Airport.

Radio Dabanga’s editorial independence means that we can continue to provide factual updates about political developments to Sudanese and international actors, educate people about how to avoid outbreaks of infectious diseases, and provide a window to the world for those in all corners of Sudan. Support Radio Dabanga for as little as €2.50, the equivalent of a cup of coffee.

Read the original article on RadioDabanga.

https://allafrica.com/stories/202008240443.html