AFRICANEWS-Sudan
A
monthly publication of AFRICANEWS
For
the period covering December 15, 2002 – January 14, 2003
Contents:
Part
II- Northern Uganda
1.
Chronology
Part
III- Horn of Africa
Part 1
– Sudan
December 16: A Sudanese government delegation left for
Washington for US-sponsored unofficial talks with the Sudan People's Liberation
Army (SPLA). Advisor Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani said the five-man delegation
would meet with an SPLA delegation to pave the way for a third round of
negotiations in Machakos, Kenya, next January.
17: Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa
Ismail said that several Western nations had contacted Khartoum after suspected
members of the al-Qaeda terror network and other groups had been picked up with
fake Sudanese passports, adding that local Sudanese embassies were checking the
documents.
17: Sudanese President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir urged Parliament to extend a controversial state of emergency for a
fourth year to fight instability in Sudan. The state of emergency empowers the
president to dissolve Parliament, nullify any law, extend detentions, decree
laws without the parliament's endorsement, and ban newspapers.
18: Sayed El Khatib, director of the
Center for Strategic Studies in Khartoum, told allAfrica.com in Washington that
Sudan's ruling National Islamic Front (NIF) has proposed the formation of a
political alliance with the SPLM/A. "We have offered [the SPLM/A], aside
from signing the agreement, that we [NIF] and you [SPLM/A] should form a
political alliance because we are the major parties," he said.
18: State Foreign Minister Najeib
al-Khair Abdel Wahab told visiting British envoy Alan Golty that Sudan
"looks forward to an essential and constructive role by Britain in
achieving peace, safeguarding the territorial integrity and upholding the
national texture of the Sudan."
19: Arab League Secretary General Amr
Mussa urged members of the Arab League to help the Sudan government develop
south Sudan economically so as to reduce the risk of south Sudan seceding. At
the same meeting, Sudanese foreign minister Mustafa Osman Ismail praised
continuing peace efforts for Sudan, saying that for the first time in two
decades there was no fighting between southern rebels and the government.
Ismail declared 2003 the year for peace and development in south Sudan.
19: Sudan security authorities
confiscated Thursday's editions of three independent newspapers: Al-Horriyah;
Al-Sahafa; and Al-Sahafi Al-Dawli, allegedly for publishing the day before a
statement by the animal resources ministry denying as baseless a rumour that
there was a livestock-related disease contracted by human beings from beef and
milk.
20: The politically influential Ansar
sect has chosen former Prime Minister Sadiq el-Mahdi as its spiritual leader,
consolidating el-Mahdi's position as leader of the opposition within Sudan to
the military-backed government.
20: In a statement released by the
U.S. State Department during their talks in Washington, the Sudan government
and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) said they would strive
to avoid "provocative" rhetoric before peace negotiations resume
early next year.
21: The Sudanese Human Rights Group
called for the Sudan government to release Omar Abdel Aziz Omar, a fourth year
medical student, who has been in police custody since Dec. 4 following a
political rally.
22: The ceasefire in the Nuba
Mountains area between the Sudan government and the SPLM/A has been extended
until July 19, 2003.
22: Sudan Foreign Minister
Mustafa Osman Ismail announced at an Arab League meeting in Cairo that the
Sudan government is hoping to sign a final peace deal with southern rebels by
mid-2003.
23: The Sudan Parliament unanimously
approved the extension of a three-year-old state of emergency for another year.
Amongst other things, the state of emergency grants police wide powers to ban
political gatherings and make arrests without charge.
24: A former university professor in Sudan launched a sex strike in an
attempt to bring to an end the 19-year-old civil war. "Women decided that
by withholding sex from their men they could force them to commit to peace -
and it's worked," said Samira Ahmed. She explained the strategy that
Sudanese women in the Upper Nile region of south Sudan use to end the war. It
is called alHair in Arabic, which means "sexual abandoning" of their
men.
24: The Sudan government has ratified
the International Atomic Energy Agency’s international treaty banning nuclear
tests, Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said.
25: After meeting with French
officials in France, Sudan peace advisor Dr Ghazi Salah- al-Din Atabani said
that the French government was considering nominating a peace envoy to Sudan.
25: SPLM/A leader John Garang
arrived in Nigeria for talks with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. The
leaders' talk focused on the crisis in Sudan.
26: Senior officials of the
Sudan government – Peace Advisor Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani, First Vice President
Ali Osman Taha, and Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail – headed to Nigeria for
talks with SPLM/A leader Dr. John Garang.
27: Meetings between Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) leader Dr. John Garang and Sudan First Vice
President Ali Osman Taha failed to materialize in Nigeria. Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo met separately Thursday with the two leaders at his farm on
the outskirts of Lagos, but Taha returned to Sudan on Friday without meeting
Garang. Officials declined to comment on why the meeting didn’t occur.
28: Two daily independent newspapers
– Al- Horriyah and Al-Sahafa – failed to appear on the newsstands because state
security officials had warned their editors that the editions would be
confiscated due to the publication of material criticizing the government, said
senior journalists at both papers.
28: Sudanese authorities closed down
the independent daily Al-Watan late Saturday. A newspaper executive said the
security personnel had demanded that staff leave the premises without giving
any explanation for the closure. The ban was ordered by the director general of
internal security "under the state of emergency law and for maintenance of
security and public safety.”
28: At a mass rally in the eastern
border town of Kassala, 400 kilometres east of Khartoum, Sudan President Omar
el-Bashir vowed to use the "barrel of the gun" to bring peace to
Sudan if ongoing negotiations fail. "If peace will not come through
negotiations in (the Kenyan town of) Machakos, we will bring it through the
barrel of the gun," he told the crowd.
29: As he arrived in Khartoum, Saudi
Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal promised to promote economic and political
cooperation with Sudan. "Although Arab concerns are high in every Arab
encounter, this visit will be wholly devoted to bilateral relations between the
two countries and means of development," he said.
30: Seventeen people were killed in
two raids by armed robbers in Southern Darfur state, western Sudan, a remote
part of the vast country where tribal clashes are common.
30: The SPLM/A said it would lodge a
complaint with regional mediators about Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s
statement that he would use force if talks failed to end Sudan’s 19-year-old
civil war. "What is happening is a breach of the agreement and harmful to
negotiations and to the procedures of confidence-building," said SPLA
spokesman Yasser Orman.
30: The Sudan government defended its
decision to close down the independent daily Al-Watan, saying it was involved
in a series of defamatory acts, blackmail, and undermined Sudan's relations
with other countries.
31: Talisman Energy Inc. said it is
taking longer than expected to complete the sale of its stake in a
controversial Sudan oil project to India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp., but sees
the deal closing before the end of January. The CAN$1.2 billion ($758 million)
deal for the 25 percent share of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co.,
announced in October, was subject to approval by Sudan and Talisman's partners,
including China National Petroleum Corp., Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas,
and Sudan's Sudapet.
January 1, 2003: In his
Independence Day speech, Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir promised to work
for a peace deal that ensured broad participation in decision-taking and
power-sharing in a country split by a long-running civil war. "The peace
that we seek...is a peace for all those in both North and South, a peace which
ensures the participation of all in the taking of decisions and the sharing of
power and wealth.”
1: The Indian government has
launched a top-level diplomatic initiative with the4 Sudan government to secure
a Sudanese oil field where ONGC Videsh Ltd's proposal to buy Canadian Talisman
Energy's 25 per cent stake for $720 million is facing problems from partners
Petronas of Malaysia and CNCP of China.
1: The SPLM said Sudan government
forces launched a large-scale attack with tanks and helicopters on rebel-held
positions in the oil-producing areas of Leir, Tam, and the area around the town
of Renk, about 420 km south of Khartoum, and had also bombed civilians. The
rebels said the attack against SPLA positions was a serious violation of a
cessation of hostilities agreement signed by both sides.
2: Gen. Mohamed Basher Sulieman
accused SPLA forces of launching an attack on the road between Ler and Bentiu,
a government-held oil town in the Upper Nile Province, some 750 km south of
Khartoum, killing three construction workers and injuring an unspecified number
of soldiers.
2: The SPLM/A announced that a third
round of peace talks aimed at ending Sudan's 19-year civil war are to start in
Kenya on January 15. "The regional Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) mediators fixed January 15 as the date for starting the
talks and this has been approved by the SPLA and the Government of Sudan,"
said SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje.
2: Nigeria has revived its peace
efforts in Sudan, pledging not to relent in its efforts to bring together the
two sides to the conflict, President Olusegun Obasanjo's spokesman Tunji Oseni
said in Abuja. He said Nigeria is convinced that the two sides are interested
in achieving peace.
3: The European Union issued a
statement saying that it was concerned about Sudan's respect for human rights
and asked its government not to carry out five executions and amputations set
for January 5.
3: The SPLA accused the government
of trying to capture an oil-rich region – Block 4, which covers parts of
Kordofan, Unity, and Bahr el-Ghazal states, and Block 5A, which lies primarily
in Unity State and northern Bahr el-Ghazal – in order to allow Austrian,
Chinese, Malaysian, and Swedish companies to go ahead with exploration plans.
3: The national oil companies of
China, Malaysia and Sudan, as well as the government of Sudan, are opposed to
Talisman Energy Inc.'s sale of its 25 per cent stake in a large oil project in
Sudan to a state-owned Indian oil company and want to unwind the deal, reported
Canada’s Financial Post. The conflict could delay the closing of the
CAN$1.2-billion transaction beyond a new Jan. 31 deadline.
4: Sudanese Justice Minister Ali
Mohammed Osman Yassin said that not even Sudan President Omar el-Bashir could
commute the death and amputation sentences imposed against five Sudanese
people, despite pressure from the European union to do so. Details about the
five were not available. He said that relatives of the criminal’s victims could
only issue a pardon, or if family members were paid “blood money.”
5: Sudanese authorities ordered a
curfew in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, to avoid a "bloodbath" after a
tribal chief was slain by a man from a rival tribe who was avenging his
brother's death.
5: Presidential peace adviser Dr
Ghazi Salah-al-Din said that the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
failed to notify the Sudan government that the peace talks set for January 6 in
Kenya had been postponed. He said the date was not confirmed in writing by the
IGAD secretariat, as has always been the case.
6: Ethiopia has decided to import
oil from the Sudan starting from this year, reported the Ethiopian News Agency.
The Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise was quoted as saying that purchasing
good-quality oil from Sudan could help Ethiopia save $US30 per metric ton.
6: Following heavy criticism from
the European Union, Sudan has postponed the executions of five convicted
criminals, said Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin. He did not give a
reason for the decision nor how long the postponement would last, but stressed
it was not due to foreign pressure.
6: Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail
accused the SPLM/A of failing to consult with Khartoum or the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) when it set the January 15
date for the resumption of peace talks in Kenya. SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje
said IGAD, the Sudan government, and the SPLM/A all agreed to that date.
7: Six people were killed and others
wounded in tribal clashes and riots in different parts of Port Sudan following
the stabbing to death of a tribal leader.
7: Career diplomat Mull Katende has
been appointed Uganda’s ambassador to Sudan, marking the restoration of full
diplomatic ties between the two countries that were broken off in 1995 after
each accused each other of backing rebel groups hostile to their respective
governments. Two months ago, Sudan confirmed the appointment of Mohammed
Sirajuddin as its ambassador to Uganda.
7: The US special envoy for Sudan
former senator John Danforth will next week visit Sudan, Egypt, Kenya and
Eritrea for talks on the peace process following discussions between
delegations from Khartoum and the rebels in Washington last month.
7: Sudanese Finance Minister Zubair
Ahmed Hassan and his Saudi counterpart, Ibrahim Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Assad signed
an agreement in which Saudi Arabia is lending Sudan $150 million towards the
construction of a $1.6 billion Nile dam project. The dam is planned in Merowe,
350 km north of Khartoum, near the Nile's fourth cataract.
8: The US Central Intelligence
Agency has accused Sudan, Libya, and Syria of quietly trying to acquire or
expand secret arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. The agency said that
Sudan "has been developing the capability to produce chemical weapons for
many years" and "may be interested in a BW (biological weapons)
program as well."
8: British authorities have granted
asylum to Mende Nazer, a Sudanese woman who claimed a Sudanese diplomat kept
her as a slave while he was posted to London. Nazer, 23, claimed to have
escaped from the house of the diplomat, Abdel al-Koronky, in 2000, and
subsequently applied for asylum.
8: Sudan plans to ask Arab foreign
ministers due to meet in Khartoum on January 13-14 to "discuss the
possibility of exerting efforts" to avert a US-led war on Iraq. Nine Arab
ministers are to attend the meeting scheduled to discuss setting up an Arab fund
for the reconstruction of southern Sudan, ravage by nearly 20 years of civil
war.
8: The Sudan government said it would
not discuss issues of central Sudan – which includes the Nuba Mountains, the
Blue Nile and Abyei, parts of which are under the control of the SPLA – until
progress is made on negotiations with the SPLM/A about the south. It rejected a
proposal by Kenyan mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo to hold a January 15 meeting on
the central region with the SPLM/A.
9: Ugandan and Sudanese defense
ministers met in Kampala to discuss how to enhance cooperation in the fight
against the Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
9: Sudan says it is waiting to
receive a C.I.A. report on countries that the U.S. believes is acquiring or
stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. U.S. suspicions that Sudan was trying
to produce biological, chemical and nuclear weapons led to a U.S. air strike on
a pharmaceutical factory at Shifa in 1998. Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa
Othman Ismail said Sudan has nothing to do with mass destruction weapons.
9: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
urged Sudan to find a quick and lasting solution to the conflict in the
southern part of the country. Museveni made the call when he was meeting
visiting Sudanese Defense Minister Bakri Hassan Salih in Gulu town, northern
Uganda.
10: Sudanese official announce that
Sudan plans to send its troops to the south of the country to occupy camps
formerly held by Uganda rebels, who have waged a 15-year insurgency against the
Ugandan government. The occupation of the camps is expected to prevent the
rebels, who have proved an elusive target for the Ugandan government forces,
from rebasing in southern Sudan.
11: The European Union "strongly
condemned" what it described as the tragic execution of prisoners in
Sudan, stressing that such actions harm relations between the EU and Sudan.
"The EU strongly condemns the executions of three persons recently
sentenced to death in Sudan," the EU said in a statement. A total of five
people had received the death sentence recently.
11: The foreign ministers of Sudan, Yemen, and Ethiopia, meeting in Khartoum, vowed to promote stability, security, and development in their countries and the Horn of Africa. Sudan's Foreign Minister, Mustafa Isamel said they also discussed the peace process in Sudan and Somalia.
11: Sudanese radio announced that
SLPA forces launched an attack on Sudanese soldiers safeguarding workers along
the Rabkona-Nuer road, considered to be one of the most important development
projects in western Nuer region in southern Sudan. It also attacked Sudanese
armed forces at Marmar area in the same region, the report said.
12: Sudan's government accused the
SPLM/A of violating a tenuous ceasefire by attacking three regions about 750 km
southwest of Khartoum in the oil-rich Unity State, but the rebel movement
swiftly denied the claim and charged that Khartoum was planning an attack. The
SPLA denied it had launched an attack.
12: The foreign ministers of Sudan,
Ethiopia, and Yemen called for regional cooperation to combat terrorism,
according to a joint communique issued Sunday at the end of two days of talks
held in Khartoum.
12: U.S. envoy to Sudan John C.
Danforth warned the country's feuding parties that Washington may stop
supporting peace talks if a settlement is not reached within six months. He
told reporters after meeting Egypt's foreign minister that the United States
might lose interest in the Sudanese peace process if the African nation's
Islamic-oriented government and southern rebels fail to agree within six months
on terms to end their two-decade-old civil war.
13: Presidential peace adviser Ghazi
Salah Eddin Atabani said Khartoum will not resume peace talks with southern
rebels planned to start January 15 in Kenya if they cover three disputed
regions – Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue Nile, and Abyei – in the centre of the
country.
13: Peace talks between Khartoum and
the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) will resume in Kenya this week
with a special session in Nairobi to discuss disputed areas in the centre of
the country, an SPLM/A spokesman said.
14: The Sudanese government will not attend peace talks with the SPLM/A because the government disagrees with the agenda laid out by the Kenyan mediator, said government spokesman Sayed Khateeb. Kenyan mediator Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo has said invitations have been sent for talks resume Jan. 15. He has said they would focus on administration over three disputed areas in central Sudan under northern control that are sought by southern rebels: the Abyei area of West Kordofan, the Nuba Mountains area of Southern Kordofan and the Angasana of Blue Nile province.
14: Sudan and Israel are reportedly
cooperating on irrigation and agricultural development projects, despite the
fact that the Islamic government of the east African state has no formal ties
with the Jewish state, the Israeli daily Maariv revealed.
ENDS
Officials and outside experts involved in on-going
peace talks between the Sudan government and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A) spent the weekend of January 18-19 discussing how to
move forward following an apparent stalemate in the talks.
Negotiations were supposed to resume in Nairobi on
January 15. However, only Sudan Ambassador Ali Abdelrehman Nimeri showed up
from the government side, with the message that the government would not come
back to the table.
He told the gathering that his government is “still
awaiting an invitation” from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
(IGAD), the body facilitating the talks, to formally resume talks where they
left off on November 18.
And, the Sudan government strongly disagrees with the
proposal by Kenyan mediator Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo to open the talks by
discussing issues in the disputed areas of the Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue
Nile, and Abyei, an agenda that was not included in the November 18 Memorandum
of Understanding that the two sides signed, said Nimeri.
Sumbeiywo then organized a weekend “symposium” during
which delegations from the Sudan government, SPLM/A, and European experts
discussed the three disputed areas and how to move forward on the talks.
A Sudan government spokesperson was quoted in the
press as saying the meeting would be a “brainstorming” session in which all
sides would “present positions.”
Sen. John Danforth, the U.S.’s special envoy to Sudan
who was in Nairobi “to help renew the momentum” of the peace talks, was
optimistic that the weekend’s meetings would chart the way forward.
“I think they were deadlocked yesterday [January 16];
I don’t think they are deadlocked today [January 17],” Danforth told the press.
“I believe that the next three months are critical
and there is a sense of urgency, and that there must be a sense of urgency,”
said Danforth. “I do not think that this should be allowed to drag on
indefinitely. We have high expectations that the peace process will go forward
and will be successfully concluded.”
In earlier interviews and statements, the Sudan
government said that, according the November 18 Memorandum of Understanding,
the issues of wealth and power sharing were supposed to be at the top of the
agenda of January 15’s meeting, followed by security arrangements.
The Sudan government and SPLM/A have repeatedly clashed
over the issue of the disputed areas. The SPLM/A says that the Nuba Mountains
of Southern Kordofan, the Abyei area, and Southern Blue Nile should be included
in the political boundaries of the south, while the government says they belong
to the north.
“The three areas, just like any other area in the
northern part of Sudan, fall out of the focus of the IGAD Initiative,” said
Nimeri, adding that the political boundaries of north and south were clearly
defined in the Machakos Protocol signed last year and earlier IGAD statements.
“The very fact that the question of the three areas
is now being projected as the main subject of negotiations, and also the very
fact that this meeting is being held despite repeated representations from the
government not to hold it, are proof enough that the atmosphere of trust is
seriously deteriorating,” said Nimeri.
But issues in these three areas need to be tackled
before a lasting peace can come to the war-torn country, says the SPLM/A. In
previous interviews, officials have said that the areas – parts of which are
controlled by the SPLM/A – have the same kinds of problems and experiences that
the south have and should therefore be included in the south.
“We cannot discuss security arrangements unless we
resolve the issue of the three areas,” SPLM/A spokesperson Samson Kwaje told
the press. “Otherwise, we may have peace between the south and the north, but
they’ll be fighting in Abyei, Southern Blue Nile, and southern Kordofan.”
Kwaje also denied that IGAD officials did not
formally invite the government to come back to the table. He said that “someone
in the [Sudan] embassy” in Nairobi had signed for a December 17 invitation
letter that IGAD had sent to the government and the SPLM/A. “They cannot accuse
General Sumbeiywo for not having invited them officially. This is not true.”
The Sudan government was also aware that the top
agenda item involved discussing the three disputed areas, claimed Kwaje. He
said that Gen. Sumbeiywo had, on December 26, sent all parties an agenda called
“Programme of Work” in which it described how, from January 15 to February 5,
the two sides would iron out issues concerning the three areas.
Kwaje said General Sumbeiywo, Kenyan Foreign Affairs
Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, Sudan Ambassador Nimeri, SPLM/A officials, and others
are meeting to plan the next step.
In a press conference about another subject one day
after the meeting, Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said: “There
is solid progress in the case of Sudan. What we were experiencing in Karen
[Nairobi] is a temporary set-back.”
At the January 15 meeting, Musyoka said he was
optimistic about the negotiations’ outcome. “I believe now the time has come to
reap the benefits of hard work and serious commitment,” he said, adding that:
“we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Despite the disagreement on the agenda, both the
Sudan government and the SPLM/A said they were keen to resume negotiations.
And, “both sides indicated to me a willingness to
work towards putting in place an expanded monitoring system to ensure that
military activities [would] not continue,” said Danforth, who also met with
Sudan President Omar el-Bashir and his peace advisor Ghazi Salaheddin.
However, there is cause for concern. Danforth said
that there has been recent government-instigated fighting in western Upper Nile
and a lack of humanitarian access in Southern Blue Nile and eastern parts of
the country.
The government of Sudan and the SPLM/A, which have
been at war with one another since 1983, have been meeting in Machakos, Kenya,
since the middle of last year. Last July, the two sides signed the historic
Machakos Protocol that laid the groundwork for a peaceful settlement to the
on-going civil war.
The protocol commits the Sudan government to confining
Sharia (Islamic law) to the north. It also grants south Sudan a six-year period
of administrative autonomy, after which the population can decide in a
referendum whether to stay in Sudan or secede.
Analysts hailed the agreement as a major breakthrough
in the war between the north and the south. According to the reports of scores
of human rights groups throughout the years, the Khartoum government has
violently imposed Islam and Arab culture on southern populations, which are
mostly followers of Christianity and traditional African religions.
There have also been bloody battles over the rich oil
reserves found in the south, particularly in Bentiu state, as well as human
rights abuses committed by the SPLA itself. Overall, the war has left an estimated
two million people dead.
ENDS
Part
II- Northern Uganda
1.
Chronology
December 25:
The Sudanese government has agreed to allow Ugandan soldiers to continue an
offensive against Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels inside Sudan, just a few
days after ordering them to leave. "There is a policy and principle of
allowing UPDF on Sudanese soil that will continue for as long as it takes to do
the job," said Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) spokesman Major Shaban
Bantariza.
27:
The Ugandan government signed a peace deal with over 2,000 former soldiers of
the exiled former president, Idi Amin, following five years of negotiations.
Under the terms of the agreement, about 700 of the ex-soldiers, who returned
from their bases in Sudan this year, would be integrated into the Ugandan army.
Others, who were not being integrated into the army, would exchange their
weapons for agricultural tools in the tobacco-growing West Nile region.
30: The leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony,
has reportedly telephoned a radio station in northern Uganda to say he is ready
to enter peace talks with the Ugandan government, according to news agencies.
"I want genuine peace talks with government. I initiated a ceasefire, but
it is government which seems to work against peace," the BBC quoted Kony
as saying on Saturday in a phone-in to Mega FM, a radio station based in the
northern town of Gulu.
ENDS
By Zachary Ochieng
In an attempt to bring
lasting peace and restore diplomatic relations between them, Sudan and Uganda
have agreed to flush out rebels operating in each other’s territory. For its part, Sudan plans to send its troops
to the south of the country to occupy camps formerly held by Uganda rebels, who
have waged a 15-year insurgency against the Ugandan government, officials said.
“The Sudan People's Armed
Forces (SPAF) will deploy in the former camps occupied by the LRA as soon as
possible," said a joint communiqué signed by the defence ministers of
Sudan and Uganda and issued to reporters on January 9. "The Sudanese
government reiterates its firm position against any contacts by SPAF units with
LRA," added the communiqué.
The ministers, Uganda's Amama
Mbabazi and Sudan's Major General Bakri Hassan Saleh issued the communiqué
after meeting Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.
The occupation of the camps
is expected to prevent the rebels, who have proved an elusive target for the
Ugandan government forces, from re-establishing their bases in southern Sudan.
Led by the self-declared
prophet Joseph Kony, the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is feared for
abducting children to use as soldiers and sex slaves and terrorising villagers
by cutting off their ears and padlocking their lips. In their most recent attack in a village dance hall in northern
Uganda, early this month, the LRA joined in the dancing for several hours
before hacking and clubbing five people to death.
Last month, the two countries
renewed an agreement that allows Uganda's army to pursue Ugandan rebels on
Sudanese territory, although Sudan had said in November it would not extend the
agreement.
Sudan withdrew its support
for the Ugandan rebels in 1999 and allowed the Ugandan army onto its territory
last March to flush the LRA from their bases in southern Sudan.
Sudan and its southern
neighbour Uganda have in the past traded allegations that each country was
allowing rebel groups to operate on their soil.
President Museveni, currently
in Gulu for the military operation to rout the rebels, has deployed at least
14,000 soldiers as well as tanks and artillery to smash the rebellion.
For his part, Museveni has
urged the Sudan to find a quick and lasting solution to the conflict in the
southern part of the country. Museveni
made the appeal as he welcomed visiting Sudanese Defence Minister Bakri Hassan
Salih in Gulu town, northern Uganda early this month.
Museveni and Saleh agreed
that for Uganda and Sudan to achieve meaningful economic growth, a peaceful
environment must prevail on both sides of the border.
The Sudanese minister arrived
in Uganda to discuss with his Ugandan counterpart further cooperation in the
battle against the LRA rebels, operating in the southern part of the Sudan.
On January 9, Sudan urged
neighbouring Uganda to clamp down on members of the rebel Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA) on its territory, and notably to prevent the group from
importing arms through Uganda, officials said.
The request for tougher
measures against the SPLA, which is fighting for self-determination of southern
Sudan, was made by a visiting delegation from Khartoum, which was led by Saleh.
"The proposal spells out
what the true status of the SPLA in Uganda should be," said Mohamed
Sirajuddin, Sudan's ambassador to Uganda, explaining the details of a request
put to Kampala by the Sudanese delegation.
"They (SPLA) should not
come into Uganda armed, they should not import arms through Uganda and they
should not carry out activities that are injurious to the security of the
region," Sirajuddin told reporters at Entebbe airport before the departure
of the Sudanese delegation.
On January 7, Uganda
appointed an ambassador to Sudan, marking the restoration of full diplomatic
ties between the neighbouring countries.
Diplomatic relations were severed in 1995 after both countries accused
each other of backing rebel groups hostile to their respective governments.
Kampala had accused Khartoum
of backing the LRA, a brutal group active in northern Uganda, which has rear
bases in southern Sudan, while Khartoum accused Kampala of supporting rebels of
the SPLA.
In December 1999, the two
countries signed an accord in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, under which they
promised to stop backing each other's rebel groups and to work towards resuming
diplomatic relations, which were restored at charge d'affairs level in 2001.
"We think that Sudan has
played its part by implementing its part on the LRA and we think it is now
Uganda's turn to implement its part," said Sirajuddin, adding that
Khartoum expected Kampala to treat all SPLA members based in Uganda as
refugees.
ENDS
Part III- Horn
of Africa
December 16:
Faction leaders attending the Somali peace talks in Eldoret, Kenya, agreed to
have a maximum of 300 participants after meeting with conference
chairman, Elijah Mwangale, Kenya’s special envoy to Somalia. The leaders
initially called for 400 participants, while the Inter-Governmental Authority
on Development (IGAD) - which is brokering the conference - said the numbers
attending phase two of the talks should be reduced to 287.
17: Ahmad
Haji Ali Adami, chairman of the electoral commission in the self-declared
republic of Somaliland, had described the December 15 local elections as a
success. Independent observers also described the polling as being peaceful.
However, there was no voting in the disputed Lasanod district following an
attack earlier this month on the visiting Somaliland leader, Dahir Riyaleh
Kahin.
17: Representatives of the private
sector and civil society groups criticized Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi during a December 15 public debate on policy issues. They slammed the
government's agriculture-based industrial development plan and called for
schemes whereby rural land could be privatised and under which farmers could
secure bank loans and adopt modern agricultural techniques. They also described
the current justice system as being "partisan.”
18: The European Commission announced that it would increase its
emergency aid to Eritrea - which is in the grip of a devastating drought - to over
15 million euros by the end of this year. The new contribution is equivalent to
about 40,000 mt of cereals, which will be available in the country starting
from March 2003. "This comes in addition to the food aid assistance
already provided during the last quarter of 2002 (€5.8 million or 15,000
mt)," an EC statement said.
20: The UN's World Food
Programme warned there would not be enough food supplies to care for about one
million Eritreans in the coming months. WFP said it had only received US $9
million of food and cash contributions against a request last month for US $105
million. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that 2.8 million Eritreans -
over half the population - were experiencing pre-famine conditions due to the
devastating drought currently gripping the country.
23: Angela Kane, a German national,
currently the Director of the Americas and Europe Division of the UN's
Department of Political Affairs, has been appointed a new deputy special
representative for the UN mission for Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), effective
January 15, 2003.
24: The Somali peace talks currently under way in Eldoret, Kenya, were
adjourned until after the Kenyan elections. They are scheduled to resume
December 30.
26: At least four students were killed and 15 others wounded when
heavily armed gunmen opened fire on a school bus in south Mogadishu on December
25. The incident took place in Wardigley district when the gunmen attacked the
bus shortly after it had picked up the students from the Ahmad Gurey School,
near Ali Kamiin junction. The motive for the attack is unclear, but is reported
to be related to infighting between two Hawiye clans - the Saleeban (Habar
Gedir) and Murusade.
30: The peace process between
Ethiopia and Eritrea is progressing steadily, despite difficulties and delays,
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a December 27 Security
Council report. Annan said that since the cease-fire agreement was signed
between the two countries in June 2000, Ethiopia had released all remaining
Eritrean prisoners of war, adding that he was encouraged by the fact that there
had been no ceasefire violations since the establishment of the Temporary
Security Zone.
30: More than 11 million Ethiopians are facing severe food shortages
following a prolonged dry spell leading to poor harvests in many parts of the
country, according to a joint report released by the UN Food and Agricultural
Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
January 2, 2003: With the deadline for the cessation of refugee status for
Eritreans expiring on December 31, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said thousands
are seeking continued refugee status in Sudan and other countries, while others
have asked to be taken home or have applied to remain as immigrants.
2: Fighting broke out around the villages of Jadid and Qararsoor in the
Qardho area, some 260 km south of Bosaso, the commercial capital of the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, according to local sources. The
fighting pitted forces loyal to Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad against those of Jama
Ali Jama, both of whom claim to be the legitimate president of Puntland. More
than 40 people were reported to have been killed.
3: Authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have
accused neighbouring Somaliland of supporting dissident forces, charges
dismissed by Somaliland.
6:
The Somali national reconciliation conference resumed in the Kenyan town of
Eldoret after a two-week break.
7: The UN’s Emergencies Unit for
Ethiopia has said relaxing border controls in the east may help struggling
pastoralists in their fight against the drought. Many pastoralists use the
borders for trading and will often cross with their livestock into either
Djibouti or Somalia. It often provides a lifeline in times of hardship.
7: With
the renewal of hostilities in parts of Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, the UN
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, called on all parties to the
Eldoret peace declaration to respect their commitments. He noted that despite
commitments made by the Somali leaders to cease hostilities, violence and armed
conflict in some parts of the country had escalated since the signing of the
agreement.
7: The offices of a local human rights group Isha [Somali for
"eye"] in the south-central town of Baidoa have been attacked by
armed militiamen, according to Mahmud Shaykh Ali, the deputy head of Isha. He
said the break-in, the second since 2000, "may have something to do with
our activities, but we are not sure yet. There are plenty of people who are
unhappy with what we do.”
8:
The UN Security Council has called on Eritrea and Ethiopia to ensure the smooth
demarcation of their common border, due to take place this year.In a statement,
members urged both countries to cooperate fully with the UN mission in the
region (UNMEE) and the independent Boundary Commission.
8: Somali political groups participating in the Eldoret peace talks have
called on Kenya's new president, Mwai Kibaki, to save the talks from collapse.
The leaders' committee alleged that the talks were being mismanaged and
conducted contrary to agreements. They also complained about the allocation of
extra seats over and above the agreed 300. They said the number of delegates,
which currently stands at 400, "should remain as already fixed and without
further change or increase.”
8: Tribal fighting is believed to
have left as many as 40 people dead in recent clashes sparked by the severe
drought in Ethiopia. The clashes, which occurred near Fentale in eastern
Ethiopia, broke out after Afar pastoralists moved into Kereyou territory to
graze their animals. According to one local source, dozens of Kereyou tribesmen
were killed in the fighting with armed Afar men.
8:
Eritrea's food crisis is expected to worsen quickly unless rapid action is
taken, and the number of drought-affected people is likely to increase this
year, the US government's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS) has
warned. It noted that 1.4 million people - over a third of the population -
were directly affected by drought and this number was set to increase this
year, and more than two thirds of the population required food and non-food
aid.
10:
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) launched the National UN Volunteer Scheme
aimed at using volunteers to tackle Ethiopia’s massive shortage of professionals.
The project will target skilled Ethiopians to try and get them involved in
development work in the country. It will allow organisations such as aid
agencies and government departments to tap into a massive pool of professionals
registered with the UN.
10: The UN’s peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea is facing a
cash shortfall the may delay border demarcation. The UN’s Mission in Ethiopia
and Eritrea (UNMEE) says that demarcation of the disputed border between the
two countries will cost around US $7.6 million. But up until a few days ago,
the Trust Fund - where money for demarcation is held - stood at US $3 million.
13: US military commanders have said counter-terrorism activities in the
Horn of Africa region over the last 30 days have "set the stage for
success.” A spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF),
Major Stephen Cox, said that the US was working with host nations to "deny
the re-emergence of terrorist cells and activities.” The force commander, Major
General John Sattler, said areas under particular scrutiny included Somalia and
coastlines across the Gulf of Aden. He stressed that the US was in a coalition
with regional states.
13: UN officials made their first visit to a troubled refugee camp in
western Ethiopia where more than 40 people were killed during ethnic clashes
two months ago. But the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said tensions in Ethiopia's
remote Fugnido camp still remained high.
13: One quarter of Ethiopia’s children could be orphaned by the
HIV/AIDS virus within eight years, experts warned during a conference on
HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, where it was also revealed that 2.2 million Africans
are dying of the virus each year.
14: A prominent Mogadishu-based faction
leader Muse Sudi Yalahow left the Eldoret peace talks because he is unhappy
over the progress of the meeting.
14:
Technical committees discussing core issues of the Somali conflict should
conclude their work this month, Kenya’s special envoy for Somalia Elijah
Mwangale announced. This means that the power-sharing phase of peace talks
should start early next month, he said.
ENDS