QUESTION: A lot of ground has been covered since the Machakos protocol in July last year. But why did it take so long to reach this stage? 

ANSWER: I was in the Sudan peace process from the start up to 1998. When we came up with the DOP [Declaration of Principles in 1994], it was a diagnosis of the problem of Sudan. But the parties had assumed that it was the cure. I was not in the process in 1999 and 2000. When we came back to the process from October 2001, this time we tried to move the parties from the diagnosis to the curative stage. So we had the first technical meeting at Karen [Nairobi] from 2 to 5 May 2002 and we agreed on the agenda for the talks, except for two words - "transition" and "interim". But when we resumed, both parties were using the words interchangeably without even realising it. So we moved on, and in July, we signed the 
Machakos protocol.

Q: What is the role of the Machakos protocol?

A: This is a framework we established as the basis for negotiations. We follow it religiously, but it reached a stage where we broke off towards the end of last year, because of the events [elections] that were taking place in Kenya. When we resumed early this year, we started immediately with two very critical issues. The parties wanted to know what the security arrangements would be for them in order to consider the issues of power and wealth sharing. It took us 10 days to agree on the agenda for the three disputed areas [Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile which are considered as part of the southern problem]. It took us another three days to agree on the agenda for the security arrangements. The area of wealth sharing didn't present so much of a problem. That is when I decided to look at all the issues in the conflict. 

Q: At what stage are the talks currently?

A: We have completed session number five. We are going to start session number six. I don't believe in the term "round". I believe in "sessions" or "phases". During the next session, we need to have some serious people who can be included in the drafting of the final peace agreement.  After that, the parties can take a copy to the principal people for approval. But session six may not be the final one.  Modalities of the implementation of the agreement still need to be done. And there should be no cheating. We do not want another agreement like the Addis Ababa agreement of 1972. We want an agreement which can be guaranteed internationally, possibly by the UN, the African Union, and bilateral countries. We still need to get details on the security arrangements. 

Q: During the fifth session, we noted some changes in your mediation strategy. What are the reasons for these changes?

A: When you are a driver, you will not be good enough if you continue driving in the same gear from start to finish. Otherwise, it will be monotonous. I also come from a profession [military] where two principles are very important. Flexibility and an element of surprise. You also have to be able to read the situation, the mood and make sure you do not tire your forces by engaging them in a mission that is taking you nowhere.

Q: One of the new concepts you have introduced to the talks is the "holistic" approach. What 
does this entail? 

A: The holistic approach is about looking at everything in totality.  There are many areas in which the parties have not agreed on and we have bracketed some of these issues which might be used by the parties to trade off one thing for another. But they cannot agree to trade off without knowing what is in it for them in this context. Things are very critical at this stage and some of the issues of trade off are decided at a much higher level than on the table. 

Q: What is the next step?

A: The next step is to consult with the higher groups on both sides. I suspect they have their  own fears and aspirations. My feeling is that if I get the big ones, we might be able to know  where they have drawn their bottom line and which are the grey areas. That is why I will be  visiting Sudan to consult with the key decision makers on both the government and the [rebel]  SPLM [Sudan People's Liberation Movement] side. 
 

Q: Do you think this is the right thing to do at this current stage of the peace process?

A: We are taking advantage of the mood in the country. Sudan is pregnant with peace. They really want peace. By visiting the country, I will be able to detect the best way to proceed. It will also enable me to complete the draft agreement. 

Q: How far have you gone with the draft?

A:  We are still developing it.

Q: You have indicated that the parties should sign the final draft by the end of June. Do you hink this is a realistic deadline?

A: No, it is not me. In April, the leaders of the two parties, President [Umar Hassan] al-Bashir and [John] Garang were invited to a meeting in Nairobi. This was one of the pressure points by the Kenyan government. They were asked when they expected to sign the final ceasefire. Both of them said they were hopeful to get an agreement by the end of June. I was taking notes at the meeting and reported what the two leaders said. 

But yes, the wish to finish with the talks is there. I had a programme which was ending on 28 June. It was realistic until other factors came into the scene. I understand that the SPLM/A  delegation has been invited to the United States. I do not think they will make it back in time for us to finish by the end of June. 

Q: When then do you expect to complete the talks? 

A: My hope now is that by mid-August we should have a completed draft agreement. But it is up to the parties to decide to sign it. 

Q: But there is still the issue of building trust. What are you doing to ensure that the parties respect the agreements they have already signed and those that they will sign in the future?

A: We have already started a while ago by negotiating the MOU on cessation of hostilities and getting an addendum to that. We have also facilitated the operationalisation of the verification mechanisms through the verification and monitoring teams that left for Sudan this week. We learned the hard way in the sense that every attack by one side polluted the talks.

Q: What is the difference between this new monitoring team and the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) which is already on the ground?

A: The CPMT was basically for the protection of civilians and civilian properties. It did not stop the parties from fighting. The group going now is only going to the areas where we can monitor the activities of the parties. I think we will also achieve some confidence among the locals that someone is watching. 

Q: After the adjournment of the fifth session, Sudanese opposition groups met in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the peace process. They signed a declaration which called on the peace process to move beyond the current bilateral negotiations between the government and the SPLM/A towards a "national consensus". How does this demand fit into your plan?

A: In the Machakos framework, there is a provision for inclusivity. This was done with all Sudan's political forces in mind. There is no point in signing an agreement, only to start another war because some people were left out. All parties to the conflict should be included at some point.

Q: Egypt had expressed serious reservations about the Machakos Protocol, and in particular the provisions that allowed the people of southern Sudan to determine whether they wanted to secede or remain part of Sudan. Is this still a problem?

A: No. Egypt realised that it could no longer decide for the Sudanese people. The Sudanese themselves need to make their own decisions. I have been to Egypt four times to discuss this problem with them. And they are now fully supporting us. 

Q: What is your overall view on the future of peace in Sudan? 

A: This thing is in the hands of the parties. The most difficult part is to create a situation which both parties can live with. But one of the parties finds these conditions unacceptable. But with international pressure, I believe they will sign an agreement by August 2003. As mediators, we will continue to be persistent and consistent with the parties. But I don't think anyone can run away from the talks now.
 

Statements and correspondence claim the police chief authorised the offer to the Sudanese government. Selebi, who would have acted well outside his authority had he done so, this week failed to respond to repeated requests for comment.
 

Last September five security experts representing the private investigation company Associated Intelligence Network (AIN) and Palto, a "VIP protection" firm, flew to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. Their aim: to pursue negotiations for a multimillion-dollar contract to train specialist police and presidential protection units. A purported AIN proposal to the embassy in Pretoria specifies "VIP protection" skills to have been imparted - including military skills such as sniping, "special operations" and "underwater attack diving".

It also offers to supply the military equipment required for the training - plus a rented fleet of transport aircraft, choppers and fighter jets. Since 1998 South Africa has forbidden its nationals or foreigners operating from its soil to offer "military assistance" to any party involved in armed conflict, unless sanctioned by the Minister of Defence in consultation with the interdepartmental National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC).

The Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act - drafted in response to mercenary adventures abroad by firms like Executive Outcomes – bars even unapproved negotiations. In a two-stage process, the minister and the NCACC first have to authorise an "offer to render any foreign military assistance" and, subsequently, any actual assistance.

"Military assistance" has a wide definition, including "advice or training", "procurement of equipment" and "security services for the protection of individuals involved in armed conflict".

The AIN/Palto offer appears to contravene the act on all three points. NCACC representative Fred Marais this week confirmed that neither AIN nor Palto had "approached us at all in this regard"; they had not sought permission under the Act.

Sudan remains a country at war, despite advances towards peace. One of Africa's oldest and dirtiest conflicts, the war between the government-controlled Islamic north and rebels in the Christian and animist south has raged for two decades and has claimed about two million lives.

"The Sudanese government has targeted and bombed civilians and civilian objects, including relief distribution locations, churches and schools," Human Rights Watch said in a February briefing.

Dissent in the north continued to be punished by arbitrary detention and even torture, it said. A ceasefire was agreed to between the government and rebels last October - after the South Africans had visited Khartoum - but it has been breached.

AIN - controversial for the privileged access it reportedly gains to police resources by appointing former police officers - offered the training package last year in conjunction with Palto, a firm mainly of former police Special Task Force members, and Peter Otto, a businessman who says he used to belong to the old National Intelligence Service.
 

The Mail & Guardian and Rapport last month reported on an investigation
by former judge Willem Heath, now a private consultant, into allegations
that Palto serves as a police "front".

Neither AIN nor Palto had permission from the appropriate authority, Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota in consultation with the NCACC, to make an offer to Sudan. What is the evidence Selebi exceeded his authority to "sanction" the offer?

In a letter last September to Saleh Eldein Mohamed Saga, the first secretary at the Sudanese embassy in Pretoria, Otto wrote about AIN/Palto's coming visit to Khartoum: "Our delegation is authorised by the South African government as confirmed to you by police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in the meeting attended by yourself and me on 09/09/2002 to enter into negotiations and contracts for police and military training and supply of such equipment."

In an affidavit, Otto repeats the allegation: "I, Peter Otto, of Johannesburg, confirm hereby under oath that I was present at a meeting with National Commissioner Jackie Selebi where training to the police and army in Sudan was discussed."

He describes two meetings, the second including first secretary Saga. Selebi allegedly approved the plan at both meetings. AIN boss Warren Goldblatt has confirmed a meeting with Selebi. He said Palto, cognizant of the need for approval under the Act, had "approached Selebi for permission to quote".

Palto head Paul Stemmet confirmed meeting Selebi about the Sudan contract, but denied it had anything to do with the Act.

"Basically it was more of a thing of courtesy . and so that they know what we're doing." Saga this week confirmed meeting Selebi "to make bilateral relations" between the Sudanese and South African police. But he claimed the training was an issue purely between Selebi and his Sudanese counterpart and did not involve Palto or AIN. Nothing has yet come of the AIN/ Palto offer.
 

Ten people have died in an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in southern Sudan, the UN confirmed on Wednesday.
According to Ben Parker, spokesman for the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, there have been 178 confirmed cases of the disease which first broke out in the town of Ikotos, close to the Ugandan border. 
Scientists from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been to Ikotos and nearby Imatong to gather samples in order to identify the disease. The team of scientists is also training local people on how to deal with the outbreak.
Dr Sou Abdurahman, who heads the WHO office for southern Sudan, told IRIN on Wednesday the  experts were expected to return to Kenya in "two or three" days with the samples. These would then be taken to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) laboratories in Nairobi for further analysis. 
"Nobody knows if it is Ebola. But it is a severe disease because it kills," Abdurahman said. 
The NGO, Norwegian Church Aid, which operates in the area, first alerted WHO to the disease.
Nearly three years ago, an outbreak of the deadly Ebola fever in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu - some 45 km from Ikotos - killed over 120 people.

The United Nations is appealing for over US $200 million in the fight to eradiate polio from Somalia and Sudan, according to a statement issued on Tuesday by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to the statement, tremendous gains have been made in the fight against polio in the two countries. In Somalia since an outbreak of 46 cases was reported in 2000, only three cases have been reported to date. In Sudan, there have been no reported cases since 2001. 
The two agencies say they face significant challenges in both countries due to civil war and insecurity, and they have had "to create their own structures and partnerships". 
The key to the success of the polio programme has been creating strong links with the community and hiring national staff in every district, said Dr Elias Durry, the WHO Polio Eradication Coordinator for the Horn of Africa. 
The statement also quoted Robert Davis of UNICEF as saying that "we have reason to be optimistic, but not complacent".
"A lapse in funding for Somalia and Sudan would not only jeopardise the goal of stopping polio transmission, but could allow the virus to spread to other regions," the statement warned. 

 UN World Food Programme (WFP) this week said it had launched a new cost-effective way of providing humanitarian support to some 485,000 war affected people in southern Sudan, by using barges to transport emergency relief food along the Nile River.
The launch of the cross-line barge operation will drastically reduce transport costs by as much as 60 percent, compared with airlifts, WFP said in a statement. The operation follows last month's signing of an agreement between the UN and Sudan's warring parties, allowing the re-opening of river corridors for transporting humanitarian aid.
The UN agency said improved security in locations both under the control of the Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) had made it possible to launch the operation along the Nile from Malakal to Juba.
It said the use of barges along the river Nile corridor was a welcome development in "what remains one of the most expensive humanitarian operations in the world".
The use of barges along the Nile was suspended in 1998 following an attack in which three aid workers were killed and several injured. The current operation is expected to last until August.
WFP also appealed for further contributions, warning that its supplies would be exhausted by mid-July. 
It said although the ongoing peace talks facilitated by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) had heralded improved humanitarian access and greater peace prospects for Sudan, massive food aid was still needed to assist some 3.2 million people devastated by 20 years of armed conflict and a fourth consecutive year of drought.

Talks aimed at ending Sudan's long-running civil war resumed in the Kenyan town of Machakos on Saturday, with the signing of a partnership agreement on administrative arrangements for a transitional period. 
The accord, signed by the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) outlined specific measures necessary for building up the humanitarian, security and development needs of southern Sudan during the first six months of the transitional period.
Both sides have expressed confidence that the current round of talks - facilitated by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) - can bring about a final agreement to end the 20-year war, in which an estimated two million people have been killed and four million displaced.
SPLM/A chief negotiator Nhial Deng Nhial told the opening session that his movement supported the new "holistic" approach taken by the mediators.
The remaining sticking points revolve around the issues of power and wealth sharing, security arrangements, and the fate of three areas - Abyei, Nuba Mountains and the Funj Region - which although geographically situated in the north, have always identified with the southern struggle. 
"It is our hope that this session of negotiations will truly rekindle the spirit of the Machakos Protocol [signed July 2002] so that the parties negotiate with seriousness and commitment to resolve this long and intractable conflict," Nhial said. 
Khartoum also has reiterated its commitment to achieving a comprehensive peaceful end to the conflict. Presidential Peace Advisor Ghazi Salah El Din Atabani confirmed that the Sudanese government was keen to realise "comprehensive peace, development and services for all parts of the country", 'Al Ayam' Arabic daily said. 

A meeting of Sudanese opposition groups, which ended this week in the Eritrean capital Asmara, has endorsed Sudan's ongoing peace process, but warned that lasting peace could not be achieved without a broad-based national consensus. 
In a communiqué, the umbrella opposition group National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - which  includes the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) - stated that the meeting culminated with "sound visions" for realising the aspirations of the Sudanese people. 
It said although NDA leaders were in support of the peace talks, the "bilateral parameters" currently pursued by negotiators left out many political forces in the country. This risked throwing the conflict into "unrealistic dimensions" by presenting it only as a problem between north and south Sudan. 
"The NDA affirmed their willingness to conduct face-to-face negotiations with the government," the statement said. "The meeting exalted the stubbornness of the Sudanese people in rejecting all forms of absolutism."
The ongoing Sudanese peace process involves the Khartoum government and SPLM/A, under the facilitation of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and other international mediators.
SPLM/A leader John Garang, who attended the NDA meeting, said the IGAD peace talks had reached at a stalemate, but urged other opposition groups to "capitalise on the positive achievements" of the talks to seek their incorporation into the peace process. 

 The human rights organisations have condemned what they say are increasing cases of arbitrary arrests and torture by the Sudanese security forces in the Darfur state of western Sudan.
The London-based rights organisation Amnesty International cited the case of 24 people on murder charges who, it said, were tried by Special Courts whose procedures were "grossly unfair".
"The state has a duty to punish those who commit such crimes but they must be given a fair trial and not be sentenced to death," Amnesty said. "The government of Sudan must ensure that those sentenced are given a fair hearing during the appeal process."
The Swiss-based World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) said it was concerned by the increased arbitrary mass arrests and risk of torture directed against members of the Zaghawa tribe in Darfur. 
"OMCT is gravely concerned by this most recent wave of arbitrary arrests that have been carried out by the National Security Agency and the intelligence services," it said. "OMCT calls for their immediate release unless there are valid legal charges against them that are in line with the international law." 
Darfur has experienced increased insecurity in recent months, with rights groups accusing the Khartoum government of arming Arab nomadic tribes against indigenous sedentary agricultural groups. 
In response to the attacks, a group from the indigenous communities has taken up arms and formed a rebel movement, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A).
The Khartoum government has accused the Eritrean government and the southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) of supporting the Darfur rebel group, charges strongly denied by Asmara.

 The human rights group Amnesty International has urged the international community to send human rights monitors to the Darfur region of Western Sudan in the face of worsening security there. 
In a statement, the organisation said government forces and government-organised Arab militias had intensified attacks against civilians, forcing thousands of villagers to flee their homes.
In the latest incident, which occurred on 23 April, armed members of nomadic groups - some of whom were wearing uniforms and were said to be members of a government militia - attacked men around the mosque in West Darfur, Amnesty said. According to the organisation, they killed some 55 people, wounded at least 20 and took domestic animals. 
"The international community must not watch in silence while the choice of a military solution for human rights problems drags another area of Sudan into disaster," Amnesty said.
Human rights groups have accused the Sudanese government of arming nomadic Arab groups from Darfur to attack indigenous sedentary agricultural groups in the region, burning homes and looting cattle and goats. The recent formation of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) earlier this year by members of the sedentary groups has further complicated the situation in the region. 
"A conflict, which no one wants and which could be solved by clear recommendations and human rights protection mechanisms, must not be allowed to escalate," said Amnesty International. "The international community must act."
Darfur, which is geographically situated in the northern part of the country, is not included in the ongoing peace negotiations in Kenya.

 The United Nations has secured an undertaking by Sudan's warring parties to open a new corridor in southern Sudan that would not only allow enhanced humanitarian access to the region, but also drastically reduce the cost of transporting supplies.
The agreement - reached at a meeting hosted this week by the UN in Nairobi, Kenya, under the auspices of the Tripartite Committee on Access and Crossline Corridors - allowed the opening of the Nile River Corridor. This would enable the use of water barges which cost much less than airlifts and airdrops, the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan said in a statement. 
According to the statement, representatives from the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) reiterated their full commitment to allowing humanitarian access to all needy areas throughout Sudan. The UN was requested to send a barge convoy to deliver urgently needed food to the Kosti, Malakal, Bor and Juba regions along the river, by 12 May.
The meeting also agreed on the need to open more road corridors to enable more effective and efficient humanitarian delivery, the statement said.
Mukesh Kapila, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, hailed the agreement as an important step in bringing hope and help to the long-suffering people of southern Sudan.

 The food situation has deteriorated to alarming levels in several parts of Bahr El Ghazal province, southern Sudan, the organisation Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned. 
It said the food shortage was particularly critical in the areas of East-Aweil and Tonj and urged the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) to continue its food distributions to avert starvation. 
"The current situation is alarming," said Philippe Ribiero, MSF head of mission in South Sudan. "It could become even more serious if general food distributions are not organised quickly." 
The deterioration in the food situation has been attributed largely to the poor harvests following periods of dryness. 
"The situation is all the more worrying as the depletion of food stocks is occurring so early in the year, whilst the next harvests are not expected until September," MSF said.
WFP said it was monitoring the situation and would extend its emergency distribution in the areas to cover the month of April. 
WFP spokeswoman Laura Melo said the food agency had carried out assessments which had predicted the region would require interventions during the month of April. 
"We provided food in the areas in March," she told IRIN. "We realised that the food situation was a bit worse than earlier expected. So we are providing additional food in April."

The Sudanese government has described as "encouraging" remarks made this week by US President George Bush hailing the country's ongoing peace process.
In a report to the US Congress on Tuesday, Bush said he would not reimpose sanctions on Sudan because efforts to forge a peace deal with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) had been made "in good faith". 
"There is still much work remaining," Bush added. "It is now time to move the peace process to a new level where the actions of both parties replace promises as the measure of their commitment to peace." 
Negotiating in "good faith" was part of the conditions set by the Sudan Peace Act, established by the US government last October. 
Sudan's deputy ambassador to Kenya, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, welcomed the move and said the US had an important mediating role in the search for lasting peace in his country.
"In the past, the US has played a negative role," he told IRIN. "But the Bush administration has made a shift towards being even handed and playing a constructive role towards achieving peace in Sudan."
However, he urged the US government to repeal the Act, which he said was unfair because it was an obstacle to the peace process and gave preferential treatment to one party in the conflict. 
"We feel the United States government should also send a signal to the SPLM/A that it would also be punished it fails to negotiate in good faith," he said.
Bush's report follows an upgrading of Sudan's human rights status at the ongoing UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
"This is a recognition of the efforts that we have made over the years to improve human rights in Sudan," Dirdeiry said. "All the previous accusations have been dropped and Sudan has been exonerated. But we have to do even more."

Sudanese opposition groups, under the umbrella National Democratic Alliance (NDA), are meeting in the Eritrean capital Asmara this week to discuss Sudan's peace process.
Eritrean state media reported on Tuesday that senior NDA officials, including the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) John Garang, were attending the meeting.
The SPLM/A spokesman in Nairobi, George Garang, confirmed that the meeting was taking place. "They will be discussing current issues, including the peace process," he told IRIN.
According to Eritrean radio, Al-Amin Muhammad Said, the secretary of Eritrea's ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), told the meeting his country supported the search for comprehensive peace in Sudan, and would "make boundless efforts to that end".
However, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, told IRIN the Asmara meeting went against the spirit of the peace process organised by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
He said an agreement, signed last October, on the cessation of hostilities allowed for such a meeting to take place within Sudan and to involve Sudanese communities. 
"As we know, the international community is currently focusing its attention on the IGAD peace process to assist the parties and the Sudanese to solve their problems and bring them together," he said. "We are now in a period of tranquility. So the meeting should take place on Sudanese soil, so that it can be owned by all the Sudanese people. But unfortunately, this is not the case."
Relations between Sudan and Eritrea have continued to deteriorate over the past few months, with Khartoum accusing Asmara of supporting and arming its dissidents. Eritrea, for its part, accuses Sudan of sponsoring terrorist activities on its territory, including the recent murder of a British national.

Sudan has denied sponsoring Eritrean opposition groups to carry out operations inside Eritrea.
A press release, issued by the Sudanese embassy in Asmara, said claims by Eritrea that Sudan was linked to the death of a British geologist at the weekend were "completely unfounded".
Earlier this week, the Eritrean foreign ministry said the death of Timothy Nutt, who was working for the Canadian mineral exploration company Nevsun Resources, was the work of "a terrorist 'Jihad' group sponsored by the government of the Sudan". The Briton was murdered near Bisha, in western Eritrea, where Nevsun is mining for gold. 
"These allegations are completely unfounded, and the government of the Sudan refutes any attempts to link it to incidents involving the Eritrean government and groups opposing it," the Sudanese statement said. 
"In fact, the area where the incident is claimed to have taken place is far from the common border, and well inside Eritrea."
"It is unfortunate that, once again, old tactics of blaming internal problems on neighbours are being used," the statement said, adding that this would only raise tension in the region. 

Sudan's is Africa's longest running civil war. It is controversial not only because the humanitarian community has faced severe problems in securing free and unhindered access to affected populations but also because of persistent reports of the deliberate military targeting of non-combatants
Some two million people have been killed in the war and the number of Sudanese refugees, most of whom have fled fighting in the south of the country between the Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), has swelled to more than half a million.
Sudan also has the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world, about 4 million people having been forced from their homes, mostly by war or humanitarian emergencies exacerbated by violent conflict.
Numerous humanitarian, human rights and state parties have, over time, accused the Sudanese government of targeting or failing to protect civilians in the civil war, and for denying or restricting access by aid agencies to vulnerable populations, despite having formally endorsed the principle of unimpeded access.
The government, in particular, has been criticised for the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, restricting or endangering relief operations, and reportedly operating a "scorched earth policy" to clear oil production areas of civilian populations.
The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan, Gerhart Baum, in November 2001 condemned "the constant disregard by both parties to the conflict of their own commitments, and lack of observance of human rights principles and humanitarian law", and drew attention to the appalling conditions of the civilian population resulting there from.
But a series of positive developments arising out of peace negotiations being conducted under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has ensued in a relatively improved humanitarian outlook for the populations of most of Sudan's war-affected regions in recent months.
This improvement in the available humanitarian space began with the July 2002 signing of the Machakos Protocol between the government and SPLM/A, which placed the issue of civilian protection high on the agenda of those talks
A major breakthrough came in October 2002 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cessation of Hostilities, thereby undertaking, among other things, to take all necessary steps to facilitate the immediate voluntary return of the civilian population of western Upper Nile to their villages. Under the same MOU, the parties agreed to allow "unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas and for people in need, in accordance with the Operation Lifeline Sudan [OLS] Agreement."
The OLS agreement, signed in 1989 by the UN, government of Sudan and SPLM/A, was then considered a considerable achievement in the implementation of humanitarian principles towards securing a sound basis on which to deliver humanitarian assistance outside the traditional, bilateral framework.
On 5 February this year, the parties signed an addendum agreement that further strengthened the October 2002 MOU. It also announced the formation of a Verification and Monitoring Team (VMT), which would incorporate elements of the work of existing Civilian Protection Monitoring Teams (CPMTs) already working on the ground to verify reports of civilian violations.

Western Upper Nile 
Despite the signing of these agreements, a number of problems have emerged, especially in January, when a fresh wave of attacks by government troops and allied militia were reported in the oil-rich western Upper Nile.
The CPMT team sent to verify the situation laid the blame squarely on the Khartoum government. In its January report, it stated that thousands of civilians had been forcibly displaced from their villages by direct military attack. Most villages are now empty or completely destroyed along the Bentiu-Adok road, according to the CPMT.
It cited eyewitness accounts of military attacks and subsequent actions by soldiers and pro-government militia, in violation of the letter and spirit of the agreement on civilian protection.
Humanitarian observers insist that the militias attack villages with the full backing of the Khartoum government. "Nowhere in the world do militia use helicopter gunships and heavy artillery," one such source told IRIN. "So, by definition, these are groups operating under proxy of the government of Sudan - the government is supporting them. The militia must be seriously addressed in the peace process, and be dealt with as well."
There are clear signs that fighting is continuing in certain areas of western Upper Nile, despite commitment by both parties to the conflict to agreements on cessation of hostilities and civilian protection, according to humanitarian sources.
The oil factor in the region has in particular assumed critical importance in the Sudanese conflict, adding a dynamic that has brought even more severe humanitarian consequences to the region's civilians, who are routinely displaced from their homes to pave the way for oil exploration, a recent research jointly commissioned by the Nairobi based Africa Centre for Technological Studies and the South African-based Institute for Security Studies noted.
The research's findings, documented in a book entitled "Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa's Conflicts", revealed that oil had become the most valuable of Sudan's contested resources, rendering civilians in the western Upper Nile region and other oil-producing areas especially vulnerable.
[See IRIN Report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32857].
Senior Sudanese diplomats involved in the peace negotiations have admitted that the "skirmishes" in the western Upper Nile region were alarming, but deny any government policy deliberately targeting civilians militarily. 
"This is an area where a CPMT is operating," Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, the charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, told IRIN. "I don't think anyone would be justified in saying there is ethnic cleansing, because there is a team which is on the ground to monitor and verify the situation."
Dirdeiry, while admitting some responsibility on the part of pro-government militia, has also attributed the clashes in the region to the "absence of democracy" within areas controlled by the SPLM/A. "Some of the militia have a political agenda; others exist because of some economic factors," he said. "And some of these issues are not properly being addressed by the SPLM/A. This is the reason for the clashes from time to time."
He is, however, hopeful that this problem will be addressed through the verification process that began with the CPMT to ensure that each party became accountable for the militia it controlled. "One party will always be answerable on the issue of militia," he said. "In the meantime, we think this problem should also be addressed. The militia will also have to resign to the reality and accept the fact that they have to change their way of life."

Civilian protection monitoring
The existence of the CPMTs, which are on the ground to monitor alleged abuses against civilians in disputed regions of Sudan, is largely credited to the US special envoy, Senator John Danforth, who negotiated important humanitarian agreements as part of the confidence-building measures towards a comprehensive ceasefire.
The CPMT mechanism has been hailed for addressing one of the most significant components that had been missing in the Sudan peace process: human rights and humanitarian verification and reporting. The March talks held by the IGAD extended its mandate for another year.
Humanitarian observers said the CPMT had bridged a gap that could not have been filled by OLS, the UN-led humanitarian coalition, whose humanitarian nature would have been jeopardised by documenting and reporting on abuses.
Independent human rights organisations, on the other hand, had "had little influence on the policy making process, and their recommendations were easily disregarded by the warring parties," one observer told IRIN.
"To me, the CPMT is an incredible step," this observer said. "It has a reporting mechanism that can directly influence issues at the political level. Now we have a channel everyone can feed into." 
However, critics of the CPMTs argue that their mandate remains unclear and its progress has been slow.
According to Jamera Rone, a researcher with the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW), the CPMT process is short of personnel with knowledge and experience of Sudan, its peoples and history.
The CPMT had also ignored important investigations on civilian abuses in Khartoum, where there are extensive reports of forcible recruitment of southerners living in the city by a government militia leader, Rone told IRIN. "The CPMT has not utilised its capacity fully, particularly in the crucial area of gathering information from the civilian victims it is supposed to protect," Rone said. "Examination of shrapnel alone will never tell us how many civilians were injured or killed by a bomb."
The CPMT's strength, according to the HRW researcher, has been its logistical capacity and military analysis. "It has demonstrated to the government of Sudan and its militias, and to the SPLM/A, that it can gather hard military forensic evidence of what has really happened," Rone said. "It has shown that it has the capacity to cut through the propaganda war and the parties' exaggerations and untruths about what is really going on in remote areas of Sudan."
Peter Adwok, a Sudanese scholar, is also unimpressed with the work of the CPMTs so far. "I don't think they have done anything since the team was established last year," Adwok told IRIN. "The war on civilians continues, and they don't interfere. We are wondering what they are doing. They don't even go to the ground to look for information. They just get second-hand information."
There are also emerging concerns that confusion over the CPMT's mandate has led to increased restrictions on its operations. CPMT Director of Operations, Laney Pankey, told IRIN in April that the work of the two teams based in Rumbek and Khartoum, had been grounded for nearly a month. 
[See also: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33300]
The teams had since 7 March had been unable to make any visits to sites  to complete investigations or initiate new investigations into fresh reports of abuses, he said. "There is a lack of agreement between the government of Sudan and the team on their responsibilities," Pankey said. "We have only been able to conduct administrative flights to deliver supplies or relocate personnel," he said.
According to Pankey, normal procedure would involve the CPMT notifying the Sudanese foreign ministry of any planned investigations, which would in turn notify a military intelligence division. However, Sudanese military intelligence had since 7 March stopped processing these notifications.
Pankey emphasised, however, that the teams did not require any permission or authority to travel to conduct their investigations, but they did need "the full support and cooperation" from the military and local militias for reasons of safety and security. "We think the agreement is very simple, concise, clear and precise, in that they will facilitate and support our visits and investigations where required to," he said. "They are supposed to provide security protection and acknowledge what we are going to do," he said. 

Nuba ceasefire
The January 2002 Nuba Mountains ceasefire between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A has achieved a good measure of success, especially in allowing humanitarian access to the area, which had long been closed to relief agencies. In January 2003, the ceasefire was extended for another six months.
Brokered by the US and Swiss governments, the Nuba ceasefire was an undertaking by the Sudanese government and SPLM/A to end the abduction of civilians; allow international monitors to investigate attacks on civilians; and establish tranquillity to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid in the Nuba region of Southern Kordofan, south-central Sudan.
The ceasefire is being managed and monitored by a Joint Military Commission, comprising representatives from both the government and the SPLM/A and an international monitoring presence, including military and civilian staff.
The negotiated ceasefire, which came into force on 22 January 2002, curbed large-scale fighting in the Nuba Mountains and paved the way for large humanitarian operations, which helped avert what had been flagged as a potential famine looming in the region.
The region had been blocked to humanitarian access for over a decade by access denials - flying in the face of international humanitarian law - and intensive fighting.
A baseline study on the Nuba Mountains, carried out by the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan in November 2002, said the ceasefire had contributed to an improvement of people's lives and facilitated increased freedom of movement, as well as improved access to assets and resources.
In the words of Dirdeiry, the Nuba ceasefire is a "really remarkable" step towards development in the region. "For over a year, a monitored ceasefire is in place," he said. "In the past, there was concern in that area over humanitarian access. That has completely been addressed."
Dirdeiry said that as a result of the progress in Nuba, the parties were encouraged to move on towards negotiating a final peace deal for the region in the ongoing round of talks, which have also focused on the disputed areas of western Upper Nile and southern Blue Nile.
The Nuba Mountains ceasefire and its implementation may provide a model for the entire Sudanese peace process, particularly due to its historic interaction with both the north and the south, according to one analyst. "The ceasefire has held very well and may be very predictive of what may happen in the context of a final ceasefire," he told IRIN.
Despite the success of the Nuba ceasefire, analysts have stressed that the humanitarian agreements signed could not be implemented without a clear framework for enforcement of the recommendations of the monitoring teams. Some sources have said the success of the agreement depends on sustained pressure being brought to bear by the US on the Sudanese government, which it still lists among the world's leading state sponsors of terrorism.
"Khartoum is still very sensitive about the evil tag it got from the Bush administration as one of the leading state sponsors of international terrorism," one observer told IRIN. "They want to be seen to be cooperating in the peace process."

Access in Blue Nile
Another breakthrough regarding civilian protection in Sudan was achieved in March when the UN's leading humanitarian agencies began sending food relief to Blue Nile State, in the east.
The area was opened to aid agencies following lengthy separate bilateral negotiations between the UN, the Government of Sudan and the SPLM/A in mid-January, followed by a joint assessment of the humanitarian situation in the region.
The World Food Programme and United Nations Children's Fund announced on 19 March that they had started the first large-scale operation to deliver essential assistance to 115,000 drought and war-affected persons in the region.
The humanitarian assessment had indicated that over 90 percent of the total population were in need of food assistance, the statement said. The situation was worse for internally displaced persons, 60 percent of whom were children and women, whose survival was challenged by inadequate food and frequent illnesses.
The protracted conflict in the region has destroyed nearly all infrastructure and created large-scale humanitarian needs, according to recent humanitarian assessments. Until now, the southern Blue Nile region has been inaccessible to large-scale humanitarian operations carried out by OLS, due to objections by the Khartoum government.
Humanitarian programmes in the region have been limited to a few non-OLS relief agencies. Monitoring groups were only able to assess humanitarian needs in the region following the cessation of hostilities agreement reached during last year's Machakos negotiations.
Increased humanitarian access to southern Blue Nile has also been credited to a US government focus on Sudan, and increased US pressure on the Khartoum government, which had argued that southern Blue Nile was outside the area historically considered southern Sudan, and lay outside the OLS humanitarian mandate.
Recent assessments indicate that southern Blue Nile requires sustained emergency assistance, due primarily to prolonged insecurity. Global malnutrition levels have risen to more than 20 percent in the region, according to aid workers. "People are leaving in search of water and food. These people need assistance. It is getting too late," a relief worker told IRIN.

Humanitarian prospects
Although agreements for the Nuba Mountains and other disputed areas of Sudan have served to improve humanitarian access, analysts stress that, without efforts to arrive at a genuine settlement to the Sudanese war, this is superficial.
The March round of the IGAD talks focused on the administration of the three disputed areas of southern Blue Nile, and the Nuba Mountains and Abyei areas of Southern Kordofan. The talks also extended the mandate of the CPMTs to monitor and verify claims of attacks on civilians. IGAD ministers from Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda also agreed that member states should contribute personnel to the VMT, an IGAD statement said.
There have, however, been fears that concessions secured on the protection of civilians would be lost with the US government's preoccupation with its war on Iraq. Such fears appear to have gained credence with recent lapses in the Cessation of Hostilities, but are dismissed by Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who said they were based on exaggeration of the US input in the peace process.
"There is no parallel between the peace process and the war [in Iraq]. This is a regional countries' undertaking, which we must see through if we hope to have a stable community," Musyoka told journalists in Nairobi.
With new challenges emerging on the political front - especially in determining the future status of disputed areas of Nuba Mountains, Abyei and southern Blue Nile, which are not considered part of the south by the government, but where much of the population backs the southern rebellion - civilian protection will continue to be a key focus area in the ongoing peace process.
"Through the IGAD process, we have reinvigorated efforts to bring peace to Sudan," Dirdeiry told IRIN. "Civilian protection is one of the areas in which we have made significant progress."
In Sudan, a key problem will be moving from positive rhetoric and signed agreements - often delivered in the past - to establishing a culture of civilian protection and an end to impunity for violations of international humanitarian law.
In that light, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recently welcomed the creation by President Umar Hasan al-Bashir in February of a national commission on international humanitarian law, describing it as "a major step toward effective implementation of humanitarian law in Sudan".
The commission's task would be to advise and assist the government in spreading knowledge of and applying international humanitarian law, and thus meeting its international obligations, said the ICRC in Khartoum. The government, it said, "must adopt laws to ensure, for example, that prisoners of war, wounded and sick combatants and civilians benefit from the guarantees to which they are entitled".
Yet, barely a week after the release of the ICRC's statement, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) noted that, in continuing violation of agreements it had signed, the government and proxy forces were continuing attacks in oilfield areas of western Upper Nile, and that "the primary victims of the violence are civilians".
Calling for the political engagement that would support and copper-fasten peace agreements and improved humanitarian access, ICG Africa Programme Co-Director John Prendergast called on the international community to "immediately condemn the new and continuing attacks".
"The parties must be held accountable for agreements signed in the context of the peace process", he said. "Otherwise, neither the government, the SPLM/A nor the Sudanese people can be expected to take the process seriously."
*[This article is one of a series of reports and interviews that comprise a new Web Special on Civilian Protection in Armed Conflict. In it, IRIN explores International Humanitarian Law and principled humanitarian action, the provisions for civilian protection, the problems encountered in achieving this, and the prospects for the future. See web special at www.irinnews.org]
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

There was "considerable consensus" at a donor conference, held in the Netherlands last week, on how to begin reconstructing Sudan following a definitive peace agreement, according to Dutch Development Minister Agnes van Ardenne.
"The Sudanese delegations showed that as far as substantive issues, priority setting and timing are concerned, differences are small and will be easy to resolve," she said in a statement.
"The participation of the government of Sudan and the [rebel] Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) was of great importance," she said, adding it was the first time both sides had participated in such a meeting.
Sudanese foreign ministry official Dr Mutrif Siddiq told IRIN that the participants had agreed on a "quick impact" programme for the first six months of the transitional period. This would "reassure Sudanese, especially those affected by the war, that the international community is supporting them", he said.
He said the continuation of the humanitarian programme was a priority, as was rebuilding the infrastructure. The reintegration and demobilisation of soldiers was also a key issue, and would be discussed in detail at the current session of peace talks - focusing on security issues - which started in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday.
Siddiq said it had not yet been decided how the aid would be coordinated, and it was not yet clear how much money donors were prepared to donate to Sudan.
The government and the SPLM/A are to hold a further meeting in Nairobi in early May to discuss the details and make agreements regarding the division of labour and responsibilities. At that point, the donor community could make "concrete commitments", including the establishment of an international trust fund for donations, the Dutch foreign ministry said.

The Sudanese government has been accused of stepping up attacks against indigenous communities in Darfur, western Sudan, as part of its response to the recent formation of a new armed movement.
According to Muhammad Adam Yahya, chairman of the US-based Masalit Community in Exile, the attacks include the killing last month of a prominent religious leader of the indigenous Masalit community. 
In a statement, Yahya claimed government-sponsored Arab militias opened fire on Shaykh Salih Dakoro and four of his companions while travelling to West Darfur. 
He further accused the Khartoum government of exploiting the international focus on the current conflict in Iraq to escalate human rights abuses in western Sudan, an area not covered by the ceasefire between the government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
"In the past few months, the Sudanese government security forces and Arab militias have dramatically increased attacks against leaders of Masalit, Fur, Zaghawah, Tama and other non-Arab groups in Western Sudan," the statement said. 
The new rebel movement in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), was formed early this year. 
In a political declaration released in March, the movement's secretary general Minni Arkou Minnawi said it had taken up arms because the Khartoum government had "introduced policies of marginalisation, racial discrimination, and exploitation, that had disrupted the peaceful coexistence between the region's African and Arab communities".
George Garang, a spokesman for the SPLM/A in Nairobi, told IRIN that the rebellion in Darfur was an "uprising against injustice". 
However, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, said he had no information concerning the Darfur region.

Mediators in the ongoing peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels have been urged to include three disputed regions if any lasting solution to the country's long-running conflict is to be reached. 
The contested areas of Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile do not fall within the geographical definition of southern Sudan, but the indigenous people have historically been identified with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).
In an analytical paper, two independent Sudan researchers - Justin Corbett and Paul Murphy - said the ongoing peace process must focus on these areas where the indigenous population 
have "similar legitimate grievances", which are grounded in "clear historic realities".
"All evidence suggests that the people will continue to resist and fight unless their demand for the right to decide on their future is accommodated within the wider IGAD [regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development] framework for peace," the report said. 
"Given the intensity of resistance to date, there is every reason to predict that this will destabilise any wider peace agreements in the country."
"Treated effectively as 'second-class' citizens by the northern ruling classes, they have experienced systematic marginalisation and discrimination (socio-cultural, religious, political, economic) and a denial of their basic rights of self-expression and freedom of identity," it added.
The paper noted that the three regions were strategically placed, so that local conflicts would effectively destabilise wider areas, including recognised routes for displaced southerners returning from the north. 

The Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT), which was established under the framework of the Sudanese peace process to monitor attacks on civilians, says it has been grounded since 7 March and therefore unable to conduct any investigations.
"There is a lack of agreement between the government of Sudan and the team on their responsibilities," CPMT Director of Operations Laney Pankey told IRIN on Monday. 
Since 7 March the two teams, located in Rhumbek and Khartoum, had only been able to conduct administrative flights to deliver supplies or relocate personnel, he said. "There have been no visits to sites to complete investigations and no new investigations have been initiated."
Normally, the CPMT would notify the Sudanese foreign ministry of any planned investigations, which would then inform a military intelligence division. Since 7 March, Sudanese military intelligence had stopped processing the notifications which meant CPMT teams were unable to travel, Pankey said. "They [military] are supposed to provide security protection and acknowledge what we are going to do," he added.
Pankey emphasised that the teams did not require any permission or authority to travel to conduct their investigations, but they did need "the full support and cooperation" from the military and local militias for reasons of safety and security. The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) was also notified of any investigations, he said. 
The spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, told IRIN that the CPMT "thinks that it has been entrusted by the [regional body] Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to undertake the duties of the Verification and Monitoring Team (VMT)". 
The VMT was mandated in early February 2003 to monitor the cessation of hostilities agreement between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), but has not yet undertaken any missions. 
"This point is not agreed that the CPMT shall replace the VMT," Dirdeiry said.
He said that Sudanese intelligence had discovered that the CPMT was verifying alleged violations of the agreement on the cessation of hostilities, and the government had therefore "denied it permission to verify such violations". 
He added that the government was fully committed to fulfilling the "original mandate of the CPMT" and the issue would be "hammered out" when peace talks reopened in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday.
The US-led CPMT was mandated to monitor attacks on civilians and civilian facilities by a 31 March 2002 agreement between the government and the SPLM/A. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) has for the first time in 19 years delivered food to Karkar in the Nuba mountains in a convoy arriving from northern Sudan.
The first trucks, which contained 43 mt of food commodities, had left Kadougli in northern Sudan on 31 March and arrived in rebel-held Karkar on 1 April, WFP said in a statement.
The convoy travelled the 80 km journey under the escort of the Joint Military Commission in charge of supervising the ceasefire agreement for the Nuba mountains.
Following this trial, WFP would continue to transport food by road to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-held area, said the statement. "This reduced the cost significantly,"  a WFP spokeswoman, Lara Melo, told IRIN.

Sudan's human rights status should not be "upgraded" by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, said the Cairo-based Sudan Human Rights Organisation (SHRO)
SHRO said it was "deeply stressed" that the commission might "upgrade" 
Sudan's status from an item 9, which mandates a special rapporteur to the country, to an item 19, which provides UN technical assistance, such as  human rights training. The commission is due to take a vote on the matter on 16 April.
For the last 10 years, Sudan has been categorised as an item 9, which mandates a rapporteur - currently Gerhart Baum - to monitor and investigate human rights abuses.
A change of status would "free the regime from useful scrutiny at a time the rapporteur confirms that there has not been any improvement in the human rights situation in Sudan", the SHRO said. Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch told IRIN on Friday that human rights
groups were actively lobbying the commission members to uphold Sudan's current status. "We've been working hard to get the commission to agree to extend the mandate of the rapporteur," she said. "I think it's very close right now. We need to watch very closely and keep the pressure up."
On 28 March, Special Rapporteur Baum told a briefing at the UN Human Rights Commission that he had seen "no fundamental change" since his last visit to the country, in spite of further commitments by the government. 
"The country remains under the iron-tight grip of the omnipresent security apparatus, which continues to enjoy virtual impunity," he added. 

South African Catholic Bishop Kevin Dowling, known at home and abroad for his commitment to justice and peace, has been chosen to chair the Sudan Ecumenical Forum whose advocacy office, Sudan Focal Point, is based in South Africa. 
The forum, which brings together Sudanese churches and their international partners to work for peace in Sudan, held its annual assembly in South Africa this week to discuss the role of the church in peace efforts in Sudan. 
"I hope to build on the firm foundations already established by the worldwide church network to bring about a deepening of solidarity in the quest for peace, which will be the fruit of justice," Dowling said in response to his nomination. 
The forum featured presentations from several South African speakers, including Yasmin Sooka who shared the experience of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Farid Esack who led a panel discussion on the relationship between Christianity and Islam, and Molefe Tsele who highlighted the role of South African churches. 
As Sudan faces the prospect of a shaky peace for the first time in 20 years of devastating civil war, reconciliation between enemies and between different faiths will be a priority, the forum noted. 
Jesse Duarte, who addressed the meeting on behalf of the South African government, fielded questions on the role Pretoria can play in supporting peace, justice and democracy in Sudan, both directly and through the African Union. 
In a communiqué, the forum welcomed the progress made in peace talks on the Sudanese conflict, but expressed doubts about the commitment of the parties in view of cease-fire violations and other transgressions. 
The forum expressed concern about the lack of transparency and the prevailing culture of violence and impunity. 
It made recommendations for the expansion of the peace process to include civil society and other warring parties, and the need for credible international monitoring and guarantees. 
It called for the renewal of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Sudan, and reiterated the southern Sudanese demand that oil production and exploration cease until a comprehensive peace agreement has been achieved. 
The forum drew particular attention to the situation of the "marginalised areas" such as Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and the Funj Region. 

The London-based human rights organisation Amnesty International has hailed a recent decree issued by Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, ordering the appointment of a committee to bring Sudanese laws in line with international humanitarian law.
"The committee should be formed of independent experts in Sudanese law and humanitarian law," the organisation said in a statement. "The Sudanese government should act decisively and speedily to ensure that breaches of international humanitarian law are ended and that the civilian population is protected."
Bashir has also ordered implementation mechanisms to "execute the requirements" of international humanitarian law, Amnesty said.
Although Sudan ratified the Geneva Conventions in 1957, which outline the protection of civilians in conflict, government forces - as well as the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and militias allied to both sides - have frequently violated the provisions of all four instruments, the statement said.
For example, a recent report by the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) - set up last year by the US government with the agreement of both sides - found that the government and allied militias targeted civilians during January in attacks on number of oil areas of Western Upper Nile, the Amnesty statement said.
An estimated two million people have been killed in the Sudanese conflict, and four million displaced. "It is high time that the government of Sudan takes concrete and effective action to put an end to such illegal practices which up to now it has condoned or encouraged," Amnesty said. 
It urged the SPLM/A to take similar action to ensure that laws and practices in areas under its control were in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights standards.

The Sudanese government has denied the existence of a new rebel group in the country, which was this week reported to have seized a town in western Sudan.
AFP reported from Khartoum on Wednesday that a new rebel group, calling itself the Front for the Liberation of Darfur (FLD), had seized the town of Gulu in Jebel Marrah province, and installed its own administration. The region is not currently covered by ongoing peace talks to end the long-running civil war in the country.
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, described the reports as an "exaggeration". He told IRIN that the so-called rebel group was a "gang of bandits" who had been terrorising residents of the region and who had no political agenda. 
"These are not rebels but bandits," he said. "It is the first time we hear about them. To start by killing people and destroying their homes and villages is an indication of bandit activity." 
Dirdeiry however admitted that the group had taken over "some mountainous areas because they think the government could not handle the terrain". He said the Khartoum government was currently considering its next course of action, but added there was no chance of the incident jeopardising the ongoing peace process.
"Darfur is very big and very heavily populated. It is difficult for a group to just take it. Up to now, the matter is being taken care of by the police and local authorities. The army is not involved," Dirdeiry said.
The reports of a rebellion in the region come barely a week after the London-based human rights organisation, Amnesty International, petitioned the Khartoum government to investigate  deteriorating insecurity in the Darfur region. 

The US government has emphasised its commitment to a peaceful end to Sudan's long running conflict.
In a new report, Walter Kansteiner, the US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, said that bringing peace to Sudan was a key priority of President George Bush's administration. 
The report, entitled "Peace, Conflict and Mediation In Africa: An Historic Opportunity in Sudan", said bringing peace to Sudan was also in the national security interest of the US government. 
"I am pleased to be able to say that we have an historic opportunity to achieve peace. President Bush and Secretary [of State Colin] Powell are deeply committed to this effort," Kansteiner said.
He said a just settlement of the Sudanese conflict would contribute to regional stability in the strategic Horn of Africa, and help in the US global war against terrorism. 
The Khartoum government is on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. "We have made clear to the Sudanese government that we expect it to cooperate fully against terrorism," Kansteiner said. 
"Bringing about a peace settlement with a bill of rights which protects the fundamental freedoms of all Sudanese will contribute to the evolution of a more moderate Sudanese Government, and complement efforts to obtain cooperation against terrorism," he added. 
Sudan's civil war, fought largely in the south between the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Islamic government in Khartoum, is one of the longest-running conflicts in the world, in which an estimated two million people have been killed and four million displaced. The two sides are currently holding peace talks in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
"I am convinced that a peaceful, unified Sudan can have a prosperous future and become a lynchpin for stability in the Horn of Africa," Kansteiner said. "The prospect of peace remains a big if, but is now clearly within the grasp of Sudanese leaders on both sides if they can muster the necessary political will."
"We must all be hopeful that they will demonstrate the vision to seize this historic opportunity," he stressed. "If they do not, the world and we will have no choice but to walk away. That is not in our interest or theirs. Let us remember that millions of lives are at stake. They need our engagement and our prayers."

The United Kingdom-based human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI) has expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in the Darfur region of western Sudan, where armed bandits have in the past few months intensified attacks on civilians.
AI has urged the Sudanese government to set up an independent commission of inquiry into the situation in the region, with a view to preventing its possible escalation into another civil war similar to that fought between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the south of the country. 
According to AI, hundreds of civilians, mostly from sedentary agricultural groups like the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawah, have been killed or wounded, their homes destroyed and herds looted by nomadic groups over the past few years. Sometimes dozens of civilians had been killed in a single raid, AI noted.
Recently, bandits attacked government forces and the manager of the Jabal Marrah Development Project based in the region. "The situation must not be allowed to deteriorate further into another Sudanese war. Those who commit crimes, must be brought to justice, but international human rights standards of fair trial must be respected," AI.
According to the rights body, which in January sent a team of experts to Sudan to investigate human rights abuses in Darfur, the sedentary groups have complained that government forces have failed to protect them, and suggested that the attacks were an attempt to drive them from their lands. "Government responses to armed clashes have been ineffective and have resulted in human rights abuses," the AI statement said.
"We met leaders of the Fur who had been arbitrarily thrown into prison without charge or trial, and denied communication with the outside world for up to seven months. Leaders of nomad groups have been similarly treated. Special courts set up in 2001 have sentenced people to death without even the presence of a lawyer. Such abuses of human rights will only cause more bitterness," it added.
However, according to a Sudanese senior diplomat in Uganda, the government already set up a special commission to investigate insecurity in Darfur two years ago and is currently working on strategies to address the problems of insecurity in the region, which were found to be largely associated with poverty and underdevelopment. 
Siraj al-Din Hamid, the Sudanese ambassador to Uganda, told IRIN that the government in Khartoum had allocated a budget to address the basic needs of the population in the region. 
"This is a remote area. There is underdevelopment. All development in Sudan has been centred in the middle of Sudan and Khartoum," Hamid said. "But the country is so vast and resources are scarce. The suspension of external aid to the country for the last 13 years has aggravated the [problem]." 

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said that the 20-year civil war which has devastated Sudan is coming to an end. Bashir’s rather optimistic declarations were reported by the French Daily ‘Le Monde’, which met him on the sidelines of the Franco-African summit held in Paris. “I truly feel that peace is near”, underlined Bashir. “The important issues still to be resolved are the even distribution of riches, sharing of power and security measures which must be taken in the transition period”, added Bashir. Rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and Sudan's Islamist government are due to resume negotiations on March 1 in Kenya. The positive results reached in the beginning of last February during the third round of talks, justifies the present optimism. The delegations of the two sides defined procedures for the sharing of power and the division of proceeds from the exploitation of the immense oil resources of the nation. Khartoum and SPLA came to an agreement for the formation of a government of national unity that will guide the nation until the next democratic elections and also established the formation of a mixed commission to work on a draft constitution. In reference to the handling of oil, the central issue of the entire negotiation, the government and rebels agreed to create a joint commission that will have the duty of dividing oil proceeds. Initially, the ‘Oil Commission’ will be backed by experts of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF),that will closely follow the works. [BP] 

Humanitarian agencies in Sudan have identified pressing humanitarian needs in the Southern Blue Nile region of southern Sudan, where thousands of people are threatened by a combination of insecurity, water and food shortages. 
The agencies, which operate under the "Operation Lifeline Sudan" umbrella, said insecurity had displaced 30,000 people who now resided in camps.
In a report released on Thursday, OLS said a recent UN assessment revealed that the displaced camps were insecure and the priority was to move the population to safer areas. The assessment also found high rates of malnutrition and acute water shortages in the camps. 
"The shortage of water became critical following lower than normal rainfall last year," the report noted. 
The World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated the total food requirements for the displaced population at 2,259 mt until August or September this year, the report noted.
According to the report, both the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army have agreed to invite UN agencies to provide assistance to southern Blue Nile and other needy areas, following a ceasefire agreement reached in October 2002. 
"While intervention strategies are being finalised, it is important that relevant agencies prepare strategies for conducting proper assessments to obtain food security and general baseline data in order to improve the effectiveness of upcoming humanitarian interventions," OLS said.

Tens of thousands of Eritreans are reapplying for refugee status in Sudan, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). 
It said that more than a month after the 31 December deadline which ended refugee status for hundreds of thousands of Eritreans - most of them living in Sudan - dozens of legal teams are sifting through nearly 27,000 applications from Eritreans who want to remain in Sudan as refugees.
The applications - one per family - represent nearly 100,000 people living mainly in refugee camps and urban centres in Sudan. 
"Some Eritreans say they cannot return home for fear of persecution because of their political affiliations or religious beliefs. Others say their marriage to non-Eritreans, particularly to Ethiopians, will place them and their families at risk if they return home," UNHCR said. The legal teams recently completed screening applications in Gedaref and Wad Madani, and have shifted the emphasis to remote refugee camps in eastern Sudan before these are rendered inaccessible by the rainy season. 
Meanwhile, some 32,000 Eritreans who have registered to go home are still waiting for the return operation to resume. Repatriation was suspended last June due to the rainy season and was expected to start again in October. But this was delayed by the closure of the Sudan-Eritrea border. UNHCR says it is trying to negotiate with both governments to allow the stalled operation to resume. 
More than 100,000 Eritrean refugees have already returned home, some 50,000 of them with UNHCR assistance, the agency said. An estimated 223,000 Eritreans remain in Sudan, where many sought asylum more than 30 years ago. Some 92,000 of them are in refugee camps, while the rest are assumed to be in urban areas.

The US government, having studied a report by the Independent Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) operating in Sudan, on Tuesday condemned what it termed "unconscionable attacks and abuses against civilians" by the government there.
Richard Boucher, spokesman for the US Department of State in Washington DC, said government and allied militia forces had "deliberately targeted and displaced civilians" during operations in the oil-rich western Upper Nile (Wahdah State) region of southern Sudan in December and January 
Last week, the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) committed themselves to "effect the immediate voluntary return" of civilian populations displaced in western Upper Nile to their homes. A joint communique said the new measure would include those displaced within western Upper Nile, those displaced from there to neighbouring Bahr al-Ghazal, and all other civilians who had been displaced since the signing of the 17 October 2002 memorandum of understanding on a cessation of hostilities.
Boucher told reporters that the US "expects the government of Sudan to pursue peace in good faith" by adhering to the provisions of the 4 February addendum to the October 2002 cessation of hostilities agreement.
"The specific actions the government must take are clearly and unambiguously set forth in this addendum," he said, "and preliminary reports indicate that the government may be taking some steps to act in accordance with those provisions."
A preliminary report issued by the CPMT on Sunday said civilians had been targeted by the government and allied militia groups in a series of attacks around Mayom, Mankien, Tam and Leel in western Upper Nile.
Civilian men and boys had been abducted for military purposes, while women and children were taken to government-controlled towns, such as Mankien, Mayom and Bentiu, the report said. 
Multiple interviews with escaped abductees, both men and women, had revealed that the children had been held captive and the women forced to provide manual labour and sexual services.
The US-led CPMT was given its mandate to monitor such attacks by the 31 March 2002 agreement between the government and the SPLM/A to protect non-combatant civilians and civil facilities from military attack.

Civilians in Western Upper Nile (Wahdah State), southern Sudan, including women and children, have been targeted by the Government of Sudan and allied militia groups in a series of attacks since the new year, a new report has said.
A preliminary report issued on Sunday in Khartoum by the independent Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) stated that the attacks had occurred in villages around Mayom, Mankien, Tam and Leel.
Civilian men and boys had been abducted for military purposes, while women and children were taken to government-controlled towns, such as Mankien, Mayom and Bentiu, the report said. Multiple interviews with escaped abductees, both men and women, had revealed that the children had been held captive and the women forced to provide manual labour and sexual services.
Cattle and crops were reportedly looted from villagers and moved to Mankien, Mayom and Bentiu, the report said, while crops and personal possessions had also been looted from Lara.
The CPMT, based in Rumbek and Khartoum, had visited multiple sites in Western Upper Nile (WUN) on several occasions, the report said. The team had been alerted following media reports of attacks close to the oil field all-weather access roads south of Mankien. 
Attacks by militias on both sides had been reported in the Koch, Reang, and Mirmir areas along the Bentiu-Adok road in the east of WUN. Villagers had also been reportedly attacked and displaced by government-allied militias, supported by government forces, south of Mankien. "Multiple direct attacks" were reported in  Lara, Tam, and Nhialdiou villages.
The US-led CPMT was given its mandate to monitor such attacks by the 31 March 2002 agreement between the government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to protect non-combatant civilians and civil facilities from military attack.
Last week, the government and the SPLM/A committed themselves to "effect the immediate voluntary return" of civilian populations displaced in Western Upper Nile to their homes. A joint communique said the new measure would include those displaced within Western Upper Nile, those displaced from WUN to neighbouring Bahr el Ghazal, and all other civilians who had been displaced since the signing of the 17 October Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a cessation of hostilities.
They also agreed to allow a Verification and Monitoring Team "free access" to travel in and around areas where any complaints were filed by either side, and that any area captured would be "immediately restored" to the party that had control prior to the violation.

Peace talks between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), due to resume on 1 March, will focus on the three disputed areas of Southern Blue Nile, the Nuba Mountains (Southern Kordofan State) and Abyei (further south in Southern Kordofan), according to Muhammad Dirdeiry, the spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
"This is the first time to meet on the three areas," he told IRIN on Monday, adding that the talks would take place outside the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development negotiation process, which would resume on 16 March. 
The SPLM/A spokesman, Samson Kwaje, told IRIN he had not yet been informed by the mediators of either the date or the subject matter of the talks.
The disputed areas are key to an overall peace deal in Sudan. The government insists that because they are geographically located in the north (according to the 1956 colonial boundaries), they will not have the option of self-determination. 
In November 2002, however, the Nuba people held a convention in which they affirmed their wish to remain within SPLM/A-administered territory, and the people of Southern Blue Nile followed suit in December. The people of Abyei have not held a convention, but are also reported to favour remaining within SPLM/A territory, thereby to ensure their right to opt for self-determination.
The third round of peace talks, which ended on 5 February, saw "some progress" made on the issues of wealth and power-sharing, Kwaje told IRIN. "More progress was made compared with the previous round of talks in November 2002," he said.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed by both sides on 6 February, stated that "complete agreement" had been reached on some issues, including the constitutional review process, the independent and national institutions to be established, and the undertaking of a national referendum before elections in six years' time.
There had been "significant, but not comprehensive" agreement on the structure of the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, the government of national unity and the government and institutions at sub-national levels, the MOU stated.
Significant progress had also been made on wealth-sharing issues, including monetary and banking issues, and the establishment of a petroleum commission to divide up the oil wealth. Representatives from the World Bank and the IMF had proposed the text of the agreement, the statement said.
The fourth round of talks is expected to fine-tune the details on power and wealth sharing, including the powers of the presidency, and the make-up of the national assembly and civil service. 
The forthcoming talks will be building on the Machakos Protocol - an interim accord signed in Kenya in July 2002. Under that agreement, the people of southern Sudan will be allowed to vote on whether or not to secede from the north after a six-year interim period, during which both north and south will be under the control of a national unity government. 

A think-tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), has said much more attention needs to be paid to pro-government southern militia groups in Sudan in order for the peace process to work.
A report issued on Monday, entitled "Sudan's Oilfields Burn Again: Brinkmanship Endangers the Peace Process", notes the potential spoiler role that the militias can play in the peace process, if greater efforts are not made to encourage their reconciliation with the country's main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).
"If the peace process does not pay more attention to these local factors, it could easily break apart, even if a national-level agreement were to be signed under the auspices of IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on Development]," said ICG.
Militia leaders repeatedly referred to the SPLM/A's "exclusionary policy", arguing that they were not bound by the 10 October cessation of hostilities accord signed by the two main sides to the conflict, because those leaders had not been parties to its negotiations, said ICG. "We know that we are protecting the government, and southerners are dying as a result, but it is better than being ruled by [SPLM/A leader John] Garang," said one South Sudan Defence Force spokesman quoted in the report. 
The southern militias wanted to be included in the IGAD negotiation process, said ICG, but independent of the SPLM/A.
"...bringing at least a fair number of these 25 potential spoilers back into the fold should be the number one priority for the SPLA, as a united south would have both a stronger military and a stronger diplomatic position, which in turn could give the insurgency sufficient confidence to make the tough decisions still needed to conclude a peace agreement," said the report. For this to occur, however, the SPLM/A would have to make tangible changes to its governance, both internally and externally.
ICG added that the systematic attacks in western Upper Nile (Wahdah State) from late December 2002 until early February had also raised serious questions about the government's commitment to peace. 
To view the full report, click on: www.crisisweb.org

The government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army have committed themselves to "effect the immediate voluntary return" of civilian populations displaced in the country's main oil-producing area, Western Upper Nile (WUN), to their homes.
A joint communiqué issued on Tuesday said the new measure would include those displaced within Western Upper Nile, those displaced from WUN to neighbouring Bahr el Ghazal, and all other civilians who had been displaced since the signing of the 17 October Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a cessation of hostilities.
The agreement could lead to the movement of tens of thousands of people. 
Both sides to the conflict also appealed to the international community to address the "humanitarian crisis" in drought-stricken areas in Bahr el Ghazal and "other areas", likely to mean WUN and Southern Blue Nile.
An addendum to the MOU, agreed upon on Tuesday, stated that both sides agreed to notify the MOU Channel of Communications Committee of all troop movements in Sudan, and to provide information on the identity and location of their own forces, allied forces and affiliated militia groups.
They agreed to allow a Verification and Monitoring Team "free access" to travel in and around areas where any complaints were filed by either side, and that any area captured would be "immediately restored" to the party that had control prior to the violation.
Both sides agreed to suspend work in the Bentiu-Adok road until "the final, comprehensive peace agreement" was signed. They also agreed to take further measures to "freeze media wars and propaganda" against one another.
"The body of agreements signed since mid 2002 should create the best conditions since Operation Lifeline Sudan was formed 13 years ago, for the provision of sustained aid interventions in Sudan," OLS spokesman Martin Dawes told IRIN. 

The government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday to reaffirm their commitment to the total cessation of hostilities, spokespersons from both sides told IRIN.
The spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Muhammad Dirdiery, said the MOU provided, for the first time, for a verification mechanism to monitor all ceasefire violations. "In case of any violations, the party will have to surrender the area taken," he added.
The monitoring team would consist of representatives from the government, the SPLM/A, the US, the UK, Italy and Norway, and they would start "immediately", said Dirdiery. The existing US-led Civilian Protection Monitoring Team monitoring team would be incorporated into the new team, he added.
"This means that the war which has continued for 19 years has been brought to an end," said Dirdiery, adding that the ceasefire would cover the entire country. 
A spokesperson from the SPLM/A was not immediately available for further comment.
On 31 January a pro-government militia group in Sudan, the South Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SSLM/A), had captured the town of Akobo in Upper Nile State, Dirdiery told IRIN. 
The town had been under the control of the SSLM/A until 19 October, he added, when the SPLM/A retook it in breach of the previous MOU on the cessation of hostilities, signed by both sides to the conflict on 17 October. George Garang, an SPLA spokesman, confirmed to IRIN that the town had been taken by about 1,700 soldiers, who were assisted by helicopter gunships.

The rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has welcomed the opportunity to visit Sudan this month for the first time in 13 years.
"We had been approaching the government on a regular basis, but were not allowed in," Andrew Anderson, the director of AI's Africa programme told IRIN on Friday. He said the government, led by President Umar Hasan al-Bashir, had not allowed access to any human rights organisations. In 2002, however, efforts had been made "to show openness to dialogue", he added. 
A statement issued on Friday welcomed the "constructive dialogue" about human rights issues with the Sudanese government, but said AI still had concerns. Restrictions of freedom of the press and association persisted, child soldiers were still being forcibly recruited, internally displaced people in Sudan had urgent humanitarian needs, and the government had failed to publish a report on excessive force used by police against students of the University of Khartoum.
"In Khartoum, Bahr al-Ghazal and Al-Fashir universities, students were held in incommunicado detention for up to two months. Some were severely beaten in offices of the National Security. Then scores were dismissed in processes which were arbitrary and lacked transparency."
In addition, community leaders and political opponents had been held in incommunicado detention for up to nine months, then released without charge.
AI called on the government to repeal sections of the National Security Act, which provides for such detentions to take place without judicial oversight, while also providing immunity for security officers, the statement said.

While various attempts have been made in the past to bring an end to the civil war in Sudan, ongoing negotiations being held in Kenya under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), have been viewed by many as offering the best chance of bringing peace to Africa's largest country since the current phase of conflict began in 1983. 
With real progress in peace talks offering hope of an end to almost 20 years of war, aid agencies are beginning to see improvements in their operating environment on the ground, and many are looking forward to helping the war-torn Sudanese people to finally prosper in a peaceful Sudan.
In a new webspecial, IRIN reviews the progress made towards peace in recent months and how this has already had a positive impact on the humanitarian situation on the ground in Sudan. It also attempts to anticipate the obstacles which peace negotiators and humanitarian actors will face in the future, and how they might be overcome.
[For the webspecial go to: http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/sudan/default.asp ]

Breakthroughs made in peace and aid
A framework peace deal signed in July 2002 - the Machakos Protocol - surprised many Sudan watchers, who had become all too used to the depressing cycle of conflict in Sudan, and further steps towards peace were made during a second round of negotiations, held from September to October 2002. 
The major humanitarian breakthrough came in October when both the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which they agreed to allow "unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas and for people in need, in accordance with the Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) Agreement."
The humanitarian aspect of the MOU, which was initially to last until the end of 2002, but has been extended while peace talks continue, has been viewed by many as an enormous achievement, bearing in mind the long and troubled history of humanitarian flight denials that has effectively denied aid to many conflict-affected Sudanese.
"In the whole history of OLS, we have never had unfettered access," Ronald Sibanda of OLS said in a statement in October. 
The MOU signed by both parties in October at the site of peace talks in Machakos opened the door to a resumption of the all-important negotiations. Crucially, it also included an agreement to implement cessation of hostilities for the duration of talks, paving the way for further agreement on humanitarian access
OLS, the umbrella operation for UN agencies and NGOs working in Sudan, established in 1989, has been required to routinely submit at the start of each month to the government and the SPLM/A requests for humanitarian flight access to a number of locations in southern Sudan. 
In the past, this arrangement has meant that, on average, access would be denied OLS to 25 locations in southern Sudan each month, or about 10 percent of the requests, the UN said in April.
Freedom of access to vulnerable populations - an international humanitarian principle - is guaranteed under a beneficiary protocol of OLS, which established principles for the protection and provision of aid to war-affected populations in Sudan.

Access denied
However, a tightening of restrictions on humanitarian access at the start of April 2002 saw both flight access and general humanitarian access being denied to some 40 locations, cutting off assistance to parts of western Upper Nile, Eastern Equatoria and Bahr al-Ghazal. These heightened difficulties in gaining access continued for several months, and were only resolved with the signing of the October MOU. 
The situation appeared to have reached crisis point in September, when Khartoum imposed a ban on the airspace over two huge provinces of southern Sudan. The nine-day ban over both Eastern and Western Equatoria effectively stopped aid missions operating out of the OLS main logistics base at Lokichoggio in northern Kenya.
The move drew sharp criticism from aid agencies, led to heightened fears for the wellbeing of up to three million conflict-affected people across southern Sudan, and prompted speculation that government forces were about to launch a major offensive against the SPLM/A. 
"The international community, led by the United States and members of the OLS agreement, have a responsibility to ensure that all victims of this tragic war receive humanitarian assistance, without further interruptions," Ken Hackett, the executive director of the US-based aid agency Catholic Relief Services, said in October, prior to the signing of the MOU. "There must be a universal understanding that any political negotiations toward peace in Sudan must include and address humanitarian concerns."
The crisis in humanitarian access came at a time when peace talks at Machakos were stalled. Government negotiators had walked out on 2 September, saying the rebel seizure of the town of Torit, Eastern Equatoria, had "spoiled the atmosphere" of the talks. 
This breakdown in talks was particularly disappointing to many in the humanitarian community, bearing in mind the signing of a framework peace deal signed at Machakos in July, and the subsequent first face-to-face meeting between Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir and the SPLM/A leader, John Garang. 

Aid deliveries increase
In denying humanitarian access to specific locations in the south, the government and the SPLM/A had often cited security concerns related to the country's 19-year civil war. However, with the October agreement to cease hostilities and effect a military stand-down in place, the case for access denials was weakened, according to analysts. 
As a result of the MOU, a scaling up of activities has been possible in parts of the south which had been cut off from aid, in some cases for years. "The frequency and severity of security incidents has fallen dramatically since the October agreement to cease hostilities was signed," UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in December. 
For example, the Sobat River Corridor in Upper Nile had been accessed for the first time in three years, OCHA added.
The most significant impact of the agreement, however, had been in the fiercely-contested, oil-rich region of western Upper Nile (Wahdah State), OCHA said.
During mid-2002, when the Sudanese government tightened restrictions on humanitarian access into western Upper Nile, and said that all aid flights should pass through government-controlled territory rather than through the OLS logistics base in Lokichoggio, northern Kenya, fears were raised of a serious escalation in conflict in the area, and aid agencies warned of deteriorating humanitarian conditions. 
But with the signing of the MOU, the UN's World Food Programme was able to distribute in November over 600 mt of food aid, and some populations in the state received polio immunisations for the first time.
The UN has also been able to make separate, operational arrangements with both the government and the SPLM/A to supply relief assistance to the disputed border territory of southern Blue Nile, and to Kassala State, eastern Sudan, which both fall outside the mandate of the OLS agreement, the OLS spokesman, Martin Dawes, told IRIN recently. 
However, increased access would require additional funds, OCHA said, and a supplementary US $26 million would be required in addition to the annual appeal, to assist newly accessible populations for until the end of January 2003. 

Hopes of IDP returns 
Another important area of humanitarian action which could see important changes in coming months is that concerning Sudan's 4 million internally displaced persons - the largest such population in the world. A real peace agreement could mean that large numbers of people displaced by war, drought, and inter-ethnic conflict could start returning home.
The combined effect of militia attacks, bombing raids and mass evictions in the context of the war, often exacerbated during periods of drought, has been to create a state of chronic insecurity and poverty, particularly among rural communities in the south. Over the years,  millions of people have been forced to flee their homes, many heading north towards the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
In addition, government forces and their allied militias have frequently attacked civilian targets as part of an effort to weaken support for the SPLM/A, while the SPLM/A had relied on guerrilla tactics against the government, the International Crisis Group, a leading think-tank, said in a 2002 report.
A 2001 confidence-building proposal by US peace envoy to Sudan, John Danforth, for both sides to cease attacking civilian targets, and for an international monitoring team to be put in place to oversee its implementation, represented progress on the thorny issue. However, real progress on the ground was difficult while fighting persisted, and cycles of displacement continued.
A comprehensive peace deal, however, would mean the humanitarian community would be able to start preparations for a possible large-scale movement of displaced Sudanese back to their homes. 
Although the July 2002 Machakos Protocol signed by both the government and SPLM/A outlined the general terms of a peace settlement, and the October MOU allowed for freer humanitarian action, agreement has yet to be reached on the modalities of any programme of resettlement, or on arrangements for a permanent ceasefire - a key requirement if large numbers of IDPs are to be able to return to their homes safely.

Talks resume
After a two-month pause, a third round of negotiations began on 22 January in the Karen suburb of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. 
Top of the agenda for talks would be issues concerning power-sharing and wealth-sharing, the timing of future national elections, and the arrangements for governing Sudan during a six-month transitional period, an SPLM/A spokesman, George Garang, told IRIN recently.
There were also plans for separate talks to be held on the status in a post-conflict Sudan of the disputed border territories of southern Blue Nile, Abyei, and the Nuba Mountains in a post-conflict Sudan, Garang said.
Just prior to the resumption of talks, five major humanitarian agencies working in Sudan urged the Sudanese government, the SPLM/A and the international community to make "substantial progress" towards peace in coming weeks, and for the parties to respect the cessation of hostilities agreement.
"The GOS [government of Sudan] and the SPLM must make every effort to contain military action throughout the country at this critical time," Kees Groenendijk of the International Rescue Committee said in a statement. 

The European Commission has announced 20 million euro worth of aid (US $21,646,000) for its implementing partners in Sudan in 2003.
"This new Global Plan is a concrete expression of our commitment to help bring relief to people who have suffered enormously and are in desperate need of aid," said Poul Nielson, the European Commissioner in charge of Development and Humanitarian Aid in a press release issued on Tuesday.
The EC Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) had planned a response to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, covering 18 months from January 2003, the statement said.
Regardless of political developments in Sudan, ECHO would continue to cover the whole of the country according to needs, and in respect of internationally recognised humanitarian principles, the EC said. 
If the ceasefire agreement signed in October 2002 held, areas of the country which were previously inaccessible to aid workers would be opened up and increasingly large return movements of internally displaced people could begin. If, on the other hand, the process failed and fighting resumed, continued humanitarian aid would still be necessary.
The priorities covered by the Global Plan include health, nutrition, water and environmental sanitation, emergency preparedness and response, and food security.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) resumed peace talks on Tuesday with the government of Sudan following a protest walk-out the day before.
UN-led Operation Lifeline Sudan spokesman, Martin Dawes, told IRIN that the talks restarted in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, although the full SPLM/A delegation was not present.
On Monday, the SPLM/A issued a statement accusing the government of capturing the towns of Ler and Dablual in Western Upper Nile (WUN) the same day, and engaging in "aerial and artillery bombardment of surrounding villages". The statement said many civilians had been killed and injured, and that "heavy displacement" of local people had occurred. 
"Consequently, the SPLM/SPLA delegation to the peace talks in Karen, Nairobi, has today requested the mediators that the talks be put on hold for one day to allow the delegation to consult and wait for the outcome of the SPLM/SPLA Leadership Council Meeting," the statement said. 
The government denied the allegations, stating that the town had been under its control since 1996. Humanitarian sources confirmed to IRIN that the government had had a limited presence close to the airstrip in Ler for some time.
The SPLM/A also accused the government of engaging in land and air attacks on their bases and civilian targets in WUN since 31 December. Several villages had been burnt down, and five major towns prevously under SPLA control had been retaken, the statement said. Four of these - Reang, Koak, Leal, and Kwalkuony - had been reported in letters of protest to the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Violations Committee.
The US government said on Monday that any ongoing offensives in WUN, or related build-ups of military forces at garrison towns in the south, constituted "a flagrant violation" of the cessation of hostilities agreed to in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both sides to the conflict in Machakos, Kenya, on 15 October, 2002. 
"If these reports are true, Khartoum risks losing its credibility as a serious partner for peace with both the United Sates and the international community," the US statement said.
The US-led Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT), was en route to the scene of the reported attacks to conduct an investigation, it added. 

Heavy fighting tool place on Sunday between Sudanese government forces and the country's main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, in Western Upper Nile (Wahdah State).
"Intense fighting" had taken place between ground troops from both sides, south of the garrison town of Ler for about one hour (around midday) on Sunday, Arjan Hehenkamp, Head of Mision of MSF-Holland told IRIN on Monday. 
As a result, MSF-Holland had been forced to evacuate five staff members from projects in Thonyor and Dablual, located about 20-25 km (two hours' walk) from where the fighting was taking place. 
Around Dablual, MSF staff had seen internally displaced people who had fled fighting north of Ler on 24 January, Hehenkamp added. 
Humanitarian sources told IRIN that over the last four weeks, fighting in Wun (Wahdah State) had been concentrated in Mayom county and around the oil fields south of Bentiu. In Mayom county there appeared to be a deliberate attempt to attack relief sites, thereby cutting off local people from humanitarian assistance, said one source.
Around the oil fields, government forces appeared to have the intention of clearing a road - by pushing back the SPLA and local people - from Mirmir to Ler, and perhaps also from Ler to Adok, the sources said.

Recent claims by Sudanese rebels accusing the government of violating a peace agreement have raised fears of a resumption of hostilities between the two sides and cast a cloud over ongoing peace talks.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army on Tuesday claimed government soldiers and militia forces had launched surprise attacks on the rebel-held town of Tam in the Western Upper Nile region and on Reang, east of Koch in southern Sudan. It said the attacks were repulsed by the SPLA.
SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje also accused Sudanese President Umar Hassan al Bashir of "beating war drums" via the Khartoum media. 
Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in November at the end of the latest round of peace talks underway in Kenya, the parties agreed on a cessation of hostilities throughout the country. The agreement was to last until the end of March 2003. Peace talks are due to resume in the Kenyan town of Machakos later this month.
"This is again a violation of the truce, which contradicts article 6.3(a) of the MOU," Kwaje said in a statement. "Similarly, for the last few days, Umar al Bashir has stepped up hostile press propaganda against the SPLM/A and its leadership." 
Bashir reportedly