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 told a mass rally in the eastern Sudanese border town of Kassala at the weekend that he would use the "barrel of the gun" to bring peace to the war-torn country, if the ongoing negotiations failed. 
In response to Kwaje's statement, the Sudanese authorities said the SPLM/A's accusations themselves constituted a violation of the MOU, which expressly prohibits the use of media campaigns by both sides. 
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, told IRIN on Thursday a communications committee had been set up in Machakos during the talks, through which such grievances could be channelled and discussed.
He said he could therefore not comment on the issues raised by the rebels as that would be tantamount to violating the MOU. "We had agreed not to continue media campaigns about each other. We have channelled our responses to all the allegations through the committee," Dirdeiry said. 
South Sudan has been the scene of fierce fighting between the Khartoum government and the SPLM/A since 1983. An estimated two million people have been killed and four million displaced as a result of the war, which has been complicated by ethnic rivalries and issue of oil. 

Sudan's parliament on Monday approved the extension of a state of emergency for a fourth year, news agencies reported.
Despite being imposed for an initial period of three months, the state of emergency has been in effect continuously since its original imposition in December 1999, when Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir also sacked Islamist leader Hasan al-Turabi as speaker of parliament, Reuters said.
The state of emergency has been criticised by human rights groups, who claim it has been used to suppress opposition to the ruling National Congress party.
In a recent report, Gerhart Baum, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Sudan, said the state of emergency had allowed the establishment of Special Courts in Darfur, western Sudan, which were of "deep concern" and not in keeping with international standards.
The Sudanese government says the continuation is necessary as a result of security concerns, including those arising from the country's 19-year civil war. 
"The decision was taken in Monday's session after parliament ratified reports explaining security justifications which require extending the state of emergency," Reuters quoted the Sudan News Agency as saying.
Peace talks between the government and the southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) are scheduled to resume in Kenya in January, with both sides agreeing to cease hostilities at least until the end of March 2003.

The Sudanese government and southern rebels have extended for the second time a ceasefire agreement in the Nuba Mountains region until mid-2003, according to news agencies.
"This is indeed a great moment for all the people of the Nuba Mountains... The Nuba people have for years been in the front line of the war and without adequate humanitarian support," Jan Erik Wilhelmsen, chairman of the international Joint Military Commission, the body charged with overseeing the ceasefire, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-Nuba (SPLM/A-Nuba) originally signed the renewable six-month ceasefire in the 80,000 sq km Nuba Mountains region of Southern Kordofan State, on 19 January this year, following a proposal made by US peace envoy John Danforth.
Formal peace negotiations between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government designed to bring an end to the country's 19-year civil war are scheduled to resume in Kenya in early January. A broad framework for a peace deal - the Machakos Protocol - was agreed in July, but agreement has yet to be reached on key issues such as the sharing of power and wealth in a post-conflict Sudan. A general cessation of hostilities has also been agreed, and is scheduled to last until the end of March 2003.
The Nuba Mountains, however, is considered as a "transition area" between northern and southern and Sudan, and its status in any peace deal has yet to be decided upon. While the SPLM/A have claimed the region as part of the south, Khartoum says it has been part of the north for administrative purposes since independence in 1956, and should not take part in the southern self-determination process. 
Meanwhile, the US State Department said on 20 December that further progress had been made towards peace during meetings between the two sides held in Washington last week. A joint statement from SPLM/A and government representatives issued after the meetings said they had agreed, among other things, to "avoid provocative rhetoric unhelpful to the peace process".
"The two sides take this opportunity to reaffirm their strong commitment to achieving a just and comprehensive peace settlement as quickly as possible," the statement said.

The next phase of Sudanese talks, scheduled to begin in early January, must make substantial progress or risk collapsing under the pressure of hardline constituents and the domestic politics of the warring parties, an international think tank has warned. 
The latest phase of negotiations between the Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement /Army (SPLM/A) ended in the southern Kenyan town of Machakos on 18 November, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on power sharing. They also extended an earlier agreement on a countrywide ceasefire and agreed on unimpeded humanitarian access to affected populations.
However, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned there are still many obstacles surrounding the issues of power and wealth-sharing which hardline elements on both sides could take advantage of. 
"The peace process is nearing the decisive point, and when the parties return to the table next month, it will be time for historic decisions, compromises, and political courage," ICG said in a new report released on Thursday.
The report, entitled "Power and Wealth Sharing: Make or Break Time in Sudan's Peace Process" said the MOU was not indicative of how close the parties were to reaching a more comprehensive agreement on those issues. 
"This is not necessarily negative as both sides want to be certain of the implications of what they sign," the report said. 
However, it added that both parties must put forward realistic negotiating positions in order to sell agreements reached to their respective constituents. "The last days of the round [of talks] revealed hesitancy by both parties to tie themselves to a binding framework at this stage."
"By putting forward unrealistic negotiating positions, holding onto dogmatic rhetoric and making rigid demands, the parties provide openings for the more extreme elements in the other camp thereby hardening positions and making the eventual implementation of an agreement more difficult," the report said. 
ICG however praised efforts by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for its recent successes in spearheading the Sudanese peace process. "The partnership between IGAD and the observer countries is solid and working.  The chief mediator, Gen.Lazarus Sumbeywo, is indispensable - an excellent negotiator with good instincts about the parties' intentions and requirements," the report stated 
The ICG's comments follow reports this week to the effect that Sudan's ruling National Islamic Front (NIF) had proposed the formation of a political alliance with the SPLM/A, the AllAfrica.com website reported on Thursday. 
But the SPLM/A said it had not received the Khartoum proposal. Spokesman George Garang told IRIN that Khartoum's earlier objections to the concept of a political partnership had forced negotiators to remove the proposal from the MOU. 
"It would be interesting to see this new proposal and study it," he said. "There had earlier been a proposal on power sharing during the talks but they [Khartoum] rejected it. To us, there is no difference between a partnership, which was earlier proposed, and an alliance." 
David Mozersky of the ICG expressed caution over Khartoum's latest proposal. "I wouldn't put too much weight on it," he told IRIN. "The statement is not necessarily indicative of anything." 
However, he conceded that a "partnership of sorts" would emerge after the signing of a final peace agreement. 

The Sudanese government has agreed in principle to a proposal by the African Union (AU) that the Khartoum government meet its Asmara counterpart, according to Sudanese radio. The radio said on 6 December that the AU had invited the two governments to meet and discuss ways of reducing bilateral tension, which has been high for the past two months following accusations by Sudan that Eritrea was backing rebel forces fighting the government of President Umar al-Bashir.
Eritrea has not yet responded to the AU's invitation, issued earlier this month, but has repeatedly denied backing anti-government rebels in Sudan's 19-year civil war. Several Arab journalists who visited eastern Sudan shortly after a rebel offensive in October reported no evidence of any Eritrean presence in the area. 
Sudan accused Eritrea of being behind that offensive, a charge which led the Arab League to adopt a resolution last month calling on Eritrea to desist from interfering in Sudan's internal affairs. Eritrea, which subsequently dismissed the resolution as "unnecessary", for its part accused Sudan of threatening war, and of backing Jihad, an Eritrean hardline anti-government group.
Subsequently, in an address to the AU's mechanism for the resolution of disputes, the Sudanese ambassador to Ethiopia, Uthman al-Sayyid, repeated his government's accusation that Eritrea was backing rebels, and called on the AU to investigate alleged Eritrean aggression along Sudan's eastern border. He also requested the AU to send observers to the border to monitor the situation. 
Khartoum's tentative acceptance of the AU proposal comes in spite of the fact that last month Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il ruled out the possibility of Egyptian mediation between his country and Eritrea to cool the war of words between them.

Sudan's warring parties have accused each other of arming and supporting the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an insurgent group which is waging war against the Ugandan government from hideouts inside Sudan.
On Monday, the Sudanese government said it had information that the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) was supplying weapons to the LRA, Uganda's independent 'Monitor' newspaper reported. 
"SPLA is actually providing LRA with arms. This is not an allegation. We have evidence. We are compiling the information and a report will be out very soon," the paper quoted Sirajudin Hamid, the Sudanese ambassador to Uganda, as saying. 
However, the SPLM denied the accusations. "That is preposterous," spokesman George Garang told IRIN on Wednesday. "What people know is that it is Sudan which is arming, harbouring and supplying assistance to the LRA."
He reiterated earlier SPLM/A claims that the LRA had helped Sudanese forces to recapture Torit, a key southern garrison town, which fell to the rebels on 1 September.
The latest accusations follow the extension of a military protocol signed in March between Sudan and Uganda, which allows the Ugandan army to hunt down the LRA in southern Sudan. 
The Ugandan authorities have said they are looking into the allegations. 
"We have a mechanism in place. We will use official channels to handle these suspicions," Shaban Bantariza, the Ugandan army spokesman, told IRIN on Wednesday. 
He said the SPLM/A was trying to antagonise Kampala and Khartoum because it was unhappy with the latest extension of the military protocol.
"The latest protocol says we are not to harbour support for SPLM/A," Bantariza said. "I think the SPLM/A is trying to antagonise us along with Sudan, just to give the impression that we are having an alliance with the wrong people."

Uganda and Sudan this week agreed to extend by two months the military protocol authorising the Ugandan army to flush the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from its hideouts in southern Sudan. 
The Sudanese ambassador to Uganda, Siraj al-Din Hamid, told IRIN on Tuesday that his government had agreed to extend the protocol for a further 60 days to the end of January. 
He said the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF) would be allowed access to Sudanese territory as far as "four degrees latitude north", thereby defining a region which is also subject to agreements on humanitarian access between the Khartoum government and the United Nations.
Any military operation north of this area could only be mounted in close coordination with the Sudanese army, Hamid said. "If there need be [such an operation], it will require very close coordination between the Sudanese and the Ugandan governments." 
The military protocol was first signed between the two governments in March. 
Hamid said the latest extension had brought in a number of aspects providing for broader coordination between the two governments, establishing observation points, and enhancing the monitoring system by military experts from both countries to ensure ample access to the border areas. 
"I think this time it will succeed, because it may involve the Sudanese army," he said. "There will be a lot of coordination between the two sides." 
Meanwhile, the Ugandan army has offered a reward of US $11,000 for information leading to the capture or killing of LRA leader Joseph Kony. 
According to the government-owned 'New Vision', the army however noted it would still respect any rebel surrender under a presidential amnesty declared in 2000. 

A plan by the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to introduce a new currency in the territories it controls will hurt the country's peace process, a senior Sudanese diplomat has said. 
The SPLM/A recently announced that it was planning to introduce its own currency for southern Sudan in December. 
The currency, known as the "New Sudan Pound", is part of a plan to introduce a suitable secular financial system for the non-Muslim southern part of the country, as opposed to the Islamic Sharia system being utilised in the north, SPLM/A spokesman George Garang told IRIN. 
"We need a financial system that is not Sharia based," he added.
Sirajudin Hamid, the Sudanese ambassador to Uganda, however described the SPLM/A decision to introduce the new currency as a "naive move which has no bearing on reality".
He told IRIN that it was technically impossible for the rebel group to introduce a currency into a territory that was not internationally recognised as a state. "You can't have a currency if you don't have a central bank or even a state recognised by the international community," Hamid said.
Hamid said the move was a tactic used by the SPLM/A to exert pressure for more concessions from the Khartoum government at ongoing peace talks in Machakos, Kenya. 
"This is not a wise move. It is not helpful to the peace process. It is not going to work," he said. 
However, according to Garang, the new currency is in line with the Machakos Protocol, an agreement reached in Kenya in July which recognised three entities in Sudan - the south, the north and the central regions. 
Garang insisted that the new currency did not affect the peace process in any way. "This is not an issue of international recognition," he said. "Having two currencies has worked in many countries. We can have two currencies and still remain within Sudan." 

Sudanese warring parties are expected to visit the United States in mid-December at the invitation of President George W. Bush's government, according to official sources. 
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, told IRIN that a number of representatives of both the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, had been invited to attend a "brief" meeting in the US, and both sides had accepted. 
They would brief US government officials on the progress of the latest round of peace talks held under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which this month wound up in Machakos, Kenya, according to Dirdeiry. 
During the talks, which ended on 18 November, the parties agreed on a broad set of principles, which included the extension of a countrywide ceasefire and humanitarian access to vulnerable populations in disputed regions of southern Sudan. The parties however failed to reach a deal on key wealth- and power-sharing proposals. The talks are expected to resume in January, but a date has yet to be set.
Observers view the US invitation as part of its role as a key player in the Sudanese peace process, and in which Washington is expected to push the parties towards a comprehensive ceasefire. However, State Department officials declined to give details regarding those who would  represent the Sudanese parties or the Bush administration during the meeting, but said US diplomats would take part along with American technical experts on the issue of the Machakos talks, Voice of America reported. 
Dirdeiry however said no negotiations would take place during the trip. "This is not about negotiations. We are right on track in the talks. There is no need of opening another forum. IGAD is the best forum. The two days can't solve the remaining difficult issues in the talks," he said. "But we feel this will give us the opportunity to explain to the United States that we are engaged in peace-making in Sudan," he said. 
The US officially joined the Sudanese peace process in 2001 when it appointed Senator John Danforth as its special envoy to Sudan. Danforth negotiated a successful truce and humanitarian access in the Nuba Mountains region, which had suffered severe humanitarian crises as a result of the war. 

Women must play a pivotal role in bringing an end to wars that have ravaged the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia's minister for women said on Monday.
Gifty Abasiya, Minister of State in Charge of Women's Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, pointed out that the victims of war were women and children. She was speaking at a conference sponsored by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN).
"It is well-known that our sub-region has, in the last decade, faced all sorts of man-made natural calamities," she told delegates at the UN's Conference Centre in Addis Ababa.
"Coupled with the overall political insecurity - chaos, disorder and conflicts ravaging the sub-region have victimised the women of our region," she said. "It will not be an exaggeration if I say that conflicts in our region have had the most negative effects on our development."
According to research by IGAD, some 80 percent of refugees and internally displaced people due to conflict are women and children.
"Although the involvement of women is considered to be vital for ensuring sustainable peace, women have so far been marginalised and do not participate fully in decision making of conflict prevention and resolution as well as peace initiatives," she stated.
Bakoko Bakoru Zoe, Uganda's Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, said women have always had to carry the burden of war.
"Women suffer from the disease and poverty that war also brings and yet we are not allowed to be involved in the process of conflict resolution," she said. "All the ministry of defence officials and ministry of foreign affairs are men. These are the people who started the war, yet we are excluded."

The Sudanese government has agreed to allow Ugandan soldiers to continue an offensive against Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels inside Sudan, just a few days after ordering them to leave.
Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza told IRIN on Monday that Khartoum had agreed to allow the UPDF to continue to operate in southern Sudan for as long as it took to wipe out LRA bases there.
"There is a policy and principle of allowing UPDF on Sudanese soil that will continue for as long as it takes to do the job," he said.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il said last week the agreement had not been renewed because Uganda had not given a time limit for the operation or specified where it would be operating, local media reported.
"The Sudanese government took the decision (not to renew the protocol) due to the failure of the Ugandan government to answer some questions concerning the limit of time needed for Uganda troops to remain within Sudanese territory," the Ugandan government-owned 'New Vision' quoted Isma'il as saying at the time.
The reports triggered diplomatic activity between the African neighbours and a visit to Kampala by Sudanese envoy Mubarak al-Fadl al-Mahdi. 
However, Bantariza told IRIN that Ugandan government representatives, including Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi, had been told at a meeting with Sudanese envoy in Kampala that the operation would be allowed to continue. A discussion between the two countries over the future of the agreement had been "misconstrued by the media", he added.
"We were told by the Sudanese that they had not even changed their minds," he said.
The Ugandan army in March launched 'Operation Iron Fist' in an attempt to destroy LRA rear bases inside south Sudan. However, the operation has widely been viewed as having forced many LRA elements back into northern Uganda, where they have escalated attacks against civilian targets. 
The bilateral protocol which allowed Ugandan soldiers to operate in southern Sudan was originally intended to last for just one month, but has been extended several times, with the most recent extension expiring on 14 September.
According to Muhammad Ahmed Dirdeiry, charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, the original memorandum of understanding which, among other issues, outlined the permitted areas of operation for the UPDF in southern Sudan, would still be in effect. He added that a time limit for the operation had been agreed on, but that he was unable to say when that limit would be reached.

The Sudanese government has withdrawn its permission for a Ugandan army offensive against Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in south Sudan.
The charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, Muhammad Ahmed Dirdeiry, confirmed to IRIN on Wednesday that the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) would not be allowed to continue its 'Operation Iron Fist' against LRA targets on Sudanese territory. "They have been given enough time to do this job," he said.
The Ugandan army in March launched the offensive in an attempt to destroy LRA rear bases inside south Sudan. However, the operation has widely been viewed as having forced many LRA elements back into northern Uganda, where they have escalated attacks against civilian targets. 
"The LRA are right now operating in northern Uganda. We haven't heard of them operating much in south Sudan for two months," Dirdeiry said.
The bilateral protocol which allowed Ugandan soldiers to operate in south Sudan was originally intended to last for just one month, but has been extended several times. The most recent extension expired on 14 September, and the two governments have been in consultations over the arrangement since.
"Following the capture of [LRA leader Joseph] Kony camps [in south Sudan] the Sudanese were making the point that we needed to re-define our area of operation. They were saying it was not necessary for us to be deep inside their territory," Ugandan Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi was quoted as saying by the government-owned 'New Vision' newspaper. 
Mbabazi added that he had not yet received official communication form Khartoum on the issue.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries came under scrutiny last week after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni threatened to sever diplomatic ties with Khartoum over allegations that certain elements within the Sudanese government had resumed support for the LRA. 
Sudan has denied supporting the LRA either directly or indirectly.
The start of Operation Iron Fist marked a thaw in relations between the two neighbours, and in April they agreed to re-establish full diplomatic ties. Relations had been severed in 1995, with Uganda accusing Sudan of providing support to the LRA, and Khartoum accusing the Ugandan government of backing the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army.
According to Dirdeiry, diplomatic relation between Uganda and Sudan were still "okay" despite Khartoum's decision to withdraw permission for the anti-LRA offensive. 
The LRA, a group whose beliefs are rooted in Christian fundamentalist doctrines and traditional religions, has been fighting President Yoweri Museveni's government since 1987, with the aim of establishing its own rule based on the Biblical Ten Commandments. 
The group has typically attacked villages in the north, forcing over 500,000 people to live in very poor conditions in camps for the internally displaced. 

The chance that a lasting peace agreement between the Sudanese government and southern rebels could be struck in early 2003 means humanitarian actors should be prepared in case an "enormous humanitarian undertaking" is needed, the United Nations said on Tuesday as it launched its US $255 million appeal for Sudan.
While a peace deal would not immediately end Sudan's chronic "humanitarian disaster", it would make "new opportunities to support the people of Sudan and create the welcome challenge of moving from humanitarian relief to rehabilitation and rebuilding," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for 2003. 
Peace talks being held in Kenya under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have raised hopes among aid agencies that Sudan's 19-year civil war could soon come to an end. The Sudanese government and the southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on Monday agreed to extend a cessation of hostilities agreement until the end of March 2003, and also signed an accord outlining the broad principles on which a post-conflict government would be based.
Following a possible peace agreement and associated ceasefire arrangements, a transitional assistance programme would be required to support: agricultural recovery and food security; community peace-building; and large-scale support to key social services such as education and health, OCHA said. The Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) detailed in the appeal document provides a framework for undertaking key interventions, and outlines the most important elements of a first-phase transitional strategy. 
The 2003 appeal comprises 64 projects totalling US $255 million form nine UN agencies, the International Organisation for Migration and nine nongovernmental organisations.
The projects are designed to meet four key objectives in 2003: saving lives and reducing human suffering; provision of essential basic social services; building capacity and resilience; and strengthening protection and grassroots peace-building mechanisms.
Some US $274 million had been requested for this year under the 2002 Consolidated Appeal (and revisions), which was 45 percent funded as of mid-November. "Insignificant funding" had been cited by all agencies as the most significant operational constraint, OCHA said. 
Funding of food aid had fallen significantly in 2002, and there were currently insufficient stocks to sustain operations beyond a four-month period to meet minimum daily requirements of the most critically affected populations and to provide a buffer for early 2003, the report warned.
In addition, the water and sanitation and health sectors, which were normally assigned high priority for donors, remained "dangerously under-funded" at 33 percent and 14 percent respectively, OCHA said.
The 2003 appeal is targeted at interventions in 12 sectors, including: food (US $126 million); agriculture (US $19 million); education (US $9 million); health (US $24 million); mine action (US $7 million); and multi-sectoral programmes (US $32 million). 
"Helping the people of Sudan to rebuild will therefore be an enormous challenge and responsibility for the international community, which must give its full support to this process," OCHA said.

The Sudanese government and southern rebels agreed on Monday to extend a cessation of hostilities agreement until next March, but failed to reach full accord on the sharing of power and wealth.
A statement from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional body overseeing peace talks, said both sides had agreed to extend the "Memorandum of Understanding on the Cessation of Hostilities" until 31 March 2003, and to continue scheduled meetings designed to ensure implementation of that MOU.
Both the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) originally agreed in October to cease hostilities for the duration of talks, which were at that time scheduled to last until the end of the year. 
Mediators had hoped to strike a comprehensive power-sharing deal before talks adjourned on Monday. However, the parties will now return to the negotiating table in January to work out the structure of a government of national unity, and also to discuss the thorny issue of wealth-sharing, including the distribution of Sudan's growing oil revenues.
Although government and rebel negotiators failed to reach specific agreement, they did sign a deal which sketched the broad outlines of a post-conflict government, and provided a basis for future talks.
According to the IGAD statement, both parties had in principle agreed to: a bicameral national legislature with equitable representation of the people of south Sudan; ensure that civil service and cabinet posts be representative of the people of Sudan; and to hold free and fair elections during a six-year interim period. 
The current talks are building on the Machakos Protocol - an interim accord signed in Kenya in July. Under that agreement, the people of south Sudan are allowed a vote on whether to secede from the north after a six-year interim period, during which time both north and south will be under the control of a national unity government. 

Relations between Sudan and Uganda have come sharply into focus following recent claims that the Sudanese government has resumed support for the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group active in northern Uganda. 
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni last week threatened to sever diplomatic ties with Khartoum over allegations that certain elements within the Sudanese government had resumed support for the LRA. Since June this year the rebel group has stepped up attacks in northern Uganda, creating a severe humanitarian crisis in the region. 
Sudan and Uganda first broke off diplomatic relations in 1995 at the height of mutual suspicion, with each accusing the other of arming and supporting the other's rebels. Full diplomatic ties were only restored this year. 
On Monday, a local government official in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu told IRIN the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF) had established that LRA leader Joseph Kony was trying to seek support from among some commanders in the Sudanese army. He claimed they had been using Kony to fight the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the rebel movement which occupies territories in southern Sudan. 
"It seems Khartoum doesn't know what the commanders are doing. They {Sudanese commanders] have been using the LRA as mercenaries to fight for them while they relax in the barracks. Kony was a blessing for them," he said. 
Khartoum has however denied supporting the LRA either directly or indirectly.
Sirajudin Hamid, the Sudanese ambassador in Kampala, told IRIN on Monday that such claims were "unsubstantiated sheer nonsense". He said they were engineered by elements either inside Uganda or in the region who benefited from the conflicts in Sudan and Uganda to undermine the improving relations between the two countries. 
"These are lies. The government undertook a thorough investigation and there was nothing on the ground to supplement such reports," he said. 
"The army in Sudan is very disciplined, it has its regulations and contraventions.  It is a serious offence to go around alone without informing superiors especially on matters related to state security," he said. By opening its borders to the Ugandan military, Hamid said, Sudan had become a target of the LRA. 
He added that Sudanese President Umar Hassan al-Bashir would send a high-level delegation to Uganda, led by Mubarak al-Mahdi, the leader of Sudan's largest opposition party UMMA which recently joined the government. 
"We are hoping that this delegation will reassure President Museveni," he said. 

The international community should make every effort to ensure the Sudanese government and southern rebels agree to permanent, unhindered humanitarian access to Sudan's war-affected populations, a leading think-tank said in a new report.
"Warring parties and international aid providers in Sudan have an historic opportunity to bring to an end what is perhaps the most extreme and long-running example in the world of using access to humanitarian aid as an instrument of war," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Friday. 
Manipulation of humanitarian assistance has been an "integral part" of the strategies of both warring parties throughout Sudan's 19-year civil war, ICG said in its report: 'Ending Starvation As a Weapon of War in Sudan'. 
The Sudanese government in particular, according to ICG, has been responsible for hindering humanitarian efforts by denying flight access to conflict-affected people in south Sudan, and has "burdened the relief process with new layers of bureaucracy". 
Representatives of Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 15 October signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) providing for a cessation of hostilities and unimpeded humanitarian access through to the end of 2002, prior to the resumption of peace negotiations in Kenya. 
Chief mediator in the talks, Kenyan General Lazarus Sumbeiywo, has said he expects to achieve an extension of the MOU - both a cessation of hostilities and the removal of humanitarian access restriction - for a further three months until the end of March 2003. 
However, both parties had broken agreements on humanitarian access in the past, meaning there was "every reason to be sceptical" that the current agreement would produce a lasting improvement in access, ICG said. 
It was, therefore, vital for the international community to maintain pressure on both the government and the SPLM/A to provide unimpeded access on a permanent basis. "Failure would mean more deaths, and putting Sudan's fragile peace process at risk," ICG warned.
Peace talks being held under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) were scheduled to adjourn at the weekend until January. However, the negotiations were still continuing on Monday in an attempt to strike a deal on the key issues of power-sharing and wealth-sharing, Kenyan media reported on Monday. 

After suffering decades of civil war, recurrent drought and widespread inter-ethnic conflict, Sudan now hosts the largest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world - some 4 million people. 
The main cause of this unparalleled level of displacement has been, and continues to be, the civil war which has been fought since 1983 between the Khartoum government and southern rebels, including the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
Not only are civilians caught in the crossfire between warring parties, but in more recent years "the military strategies embraced by both the government and the SPLA have often placed civilians directly in the firing line," the think-tank, International Crisis Group (ICG), said in a recent report.
Government forces and their allied militias have frequently attacked civilian targets as part of an effort to weaken support for the SPLA, while the SPLA relies on guerrilla tactics against the government, according to ICG.
In addition, bombing raids by government aircraft, such as the one in February on a relief distribution site at the village of Bieh, western Upper Nile (Wahdah State), widely condemned by aid agencies, governments and the UN, have wreaked havoc in some parts of southern Sudan, and forced civilians to flee into the bush seeking cover from aerial bombardment.
The combined effect of militia attacks, bombing raids and mass evictions, often exacerbated during periods of drought, is to create a state of chronic insecurity and poverty, particularly among rural communities in the south. Over the years, this has led to a chronic population drain from the south towards the transition zone between north and south, and further north to the capital, Khartoum.

Displacement in the north
Khartoum and its surrounding area hosts an estimated 1.8 million IDPs, making up some 40 percent of its population, according to the Global IDP Database [see: <a href="http://www.idpproject.org" target="blank">www.idpproject.org</a>]. The IDPs in Khartoum include large numbers of southerners who have fled conflict and drought in southern and south-central Sudan since the latest phase of civil war began in 1983, with others displaced by drought in the west.
Only a minority - some 220,000 people - of Khartoum State's IDPs are housed in four official camps, located on the barren outskirts of the city where it merges with the Sahara Desert. Most of the remainder - over 1.5 million people - live in 15 unofficial 'squatter areas' in the eastern part of the city, according to the US Committee on Refugees (USCR).
While residents of the official IDP settlements are considered to be comparatively well provided for, and have access to supplementary food supplies, water, and essential medicines, there is generally much less social provision in the squatter areas. 
Several reports have described a "bleak humanitarian situation" for the latter category of IDPs, including regular outbreaks of disease, chronic food insecurity, and limited access to safe drinking water.

The Guiding Principles and Shari'ah
Despite the massive numbers of long-term IDPs living in close proximity to the seat of power, there is not yet an official government policy dealing explicitly with the treatment of IDPs, humanitarian sources told IRIN.
In addition, the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement have not been officially endorsed by the government's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC). Despite being based on the Geneva Conventions, the Guiding Principles are not binding, and it is up to individual governments to choose whether or not to apply them.
Indeed, the Guiding Principles would not be ratified by the Sudanese administration until they had been endorsed by the UN Security Council, Hasabo Muhammad Abud al-Rahman, a HAC official, told IRIN recently.
According to Hasabo, however, at least half of the Guiding Principles were already covered under Shari'ah (Islamic law). 
With this in mind, research is under way to find ways of integrating fully as much of the Guiding Principles as possible into Shari'ah, humanitarian sources told IRIN recently. Despite significant overlap of the Guiding Principles with some parts of the national law, integration of the concept of rights as laid out in the UN document into Sudanese law could be a stumbling block, according to legal experts. 
Despite the problems, initial efforts have been made to promote the main aspects of the Guiding Principles in both the north and the south of Sudan, including separate seminars with government officials and SPLM/A representatives. It is also hoped that officials of Sudanese indigenous NGOs will play a key role in educating IDPs on the Guiding Principles, and the protection they aim to offer.

Southern cycles of displacement
Between 1.5 million and 2 million people are believed to be internally displaced in the south, including about 300,000 in government-held towns, and an estimated 80 percent of southern Sudan's five million people have been displaced at least once during the latest phase of war, according to USCR. Many displaced families in the south have fled from place to place during the war, living outside camps in destitute conditions, often indistinguishable from the local poor. 

Forced displacement in oil region
In recent months, attention in the south has been focused on the oil-rich region of western Upper Nile, where an escalation of fighting in 2002 has heightened fears that the already grave levels of displacement could worsen.
Religious and human rights groups have accused government forces of provoking mass displacements of civilians in order to secure areas for oil exploration. Khartoum, however, has consistently denied targeting civilian populations in oil areas, saying it is attempting to make the areas safe for oil operations, and has accused the SPLM/A of escalating military operations and causing the deterioration of humanitarian conditions.
Although reliable estimates of the numbers and condition of displaced people in western Upper Nile have been difficult to arrive at because of fighting, and government of Sudan humanitarian access denials to a number of locations on the area, anecdotal evidence from the field paints a worrying picture. 
In an April report on the health situation in western Upper Nile, the international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) quoted the testimony of Nyageai, a southern Sudanese woman in her early thirties. She had been forced to leave her village in July 2000 as a result of fighting between rival rebel groups. 
Once the fighting had subsided, she returned, with fellow villagers, to find that their tukuls (huts) had been burned to the ground, and their cattle - their main source of wealth - stolen. They spent two days and nights walking through the bush to the government-controlled town of Bentiu, but had to move on again after six months. 
MSF quoted Nyageai as saying as she sat in a small shelter in a cattle camp north of Nimne, 20 km east of Bentiu: "We have no hope when we are sitting in this place. We have no hope where help will come from. We have no hope." 

Peace deal signed
Despite the Nyageai's pessimism, there may be some hope for Sudan's IDPs. In July, the government and SPLM/A signed a framework deal, which outlined the broad principles of a future peace settlement, and raised the prospect of mass IDP returns. 
Further moves towards peace were made in October, when both sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities for the duration of talks, and the loosening of restrictions on humanitarian access, at least until the end of 2002. 
Agreement has yet to be reached, however, on the modalities of any programme of resettlement, and on arrangements for a permanent ceasefire - a key requirement if large numbers of IDPs are to be able to return to their homes safely.

Local agreement shows the way
A local ceasefire agreed in the Nuba Mountains region of south-central Sudan, a "transition area" straddling the traditional lines of conflict between north and south, could point the way forward. 
Intense conflict between government and rebel forces over the course of the war had forced some 170,000 people into the perceived sanctuary of government-controlled "peace villages", with thousands more displaced living in SPLM/A-held territory, predominantly in the rocky, mountainous parts of the region, where access to farmland is scarce and food security poor. 
However, a confidence-building initiative by US Special Envoy to Sudan John Danforth resulted in a ceasefire agreement coming into effect in the region in January this year. 
The agreement, extended for a second six-month period in July, is being overseen by a Joint Military Commission, part of whose mandate is to build confidence in the ceasefire with a view to allowing the free movement of the Nuba people throughout the region.
Perhaps the Nuba peace deal will point the way to a lasting peace in Sudan, thereby ending the cycles of displacement, and a return for many of the millions of displaced civilians forced to live in chronic insecurity with little or no prospect of a return home. 
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

The Eritrean foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a resolution adopted by the Arab League warning Eritrea against interfering in Sudan's internal affairs was "unnecessary", and did not reflect Eritrea's positive contributions towards the Sudanese peace process, according to Eritrean state radio.
On Sunday, the Arab foreign ministers called on Eritrea not to interfere in the internal affairs of Sudan and expressed concern over US policy towards Khartoum. In the resolution, the council of the Arab League asked Eritrea to "respect the sovereignty and security of Sudanese territory and regional security". All the ministers of the 22 member-states signed the resolution.
Relations between Eritrea and Sudan deteriorated swiftly after the Sudanese government accused Eritrea of being behind a major offensive in Kassala State in northeastern Sudan in early October, in the course of which rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army took several key towns and a number of government garrisons.
The Eritrean government has repeatedly denied backing rebels in Sudan embroiled in the 19-year civil war, and several Arab journalists who visited Kassala shortly after the rebel offensive reported no evidence of an Eritrean presence in the region. Last week, the Sudanese government said Eritrean troops were no longer present there.
On Monday, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il ruled out the possibility of Egyptian mediation between his country and Eritrea to calm down the war of words. The Egyptian government had extended the offer in anticipation of a visit by Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki, who arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Tuesday for three-days of high-evel talks with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak.

Talks between Afewerki and Mubarak will focus on conflicts in the region, especially those in Sudan and Somalia.

Three years ago, Arab raiders kidnapped Akwal from her home in southern Sudan along with her four children. During her captivity, she lived through frequent beatings and ill-treatment. "Sometimes we had no food for two days," she recalls
The first time she tried to escape, Bak received severe beatings which tore her upper lip. In spite of this, she did eventually manage to escape with two of her children and find her way home. "If they had caught me the second time, they would have killed me," she said. 
Elsewhere, Elizabeth Henry, 19, considers herself to be lucky to be alive. She is among over 36,000 people who were expelled from their homes in the western Upper Nile region (Wahdah State) of southern Sudan, where oil concessions operated by consortiums of Sudanese government and foreign oil companies are sited. 
Western Upper Nile has been the scene of fierce fighting between government troops and those of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The government has been accused of deliberately depopulating the area in order to make way for oil exploration and extraction. 
"There was bombing all the time, and those who survived were shot by government soldiers coming on foot," Henry, who now lives in neighbouring Bahr al-Ghazal narrates. "Even my husband was killed. I have been going on foot for three months carrying my two-year-old daughter," she adds. 
The stories of Bak and Henry are captured by Mary Anne Fitzgerald in her new book "Throwing the stick forward: the impact of war on southern Sudanese women".
The book, published on 25 October by Operation Lifeline Sudan - the United Nations body under the umbrella of which UN humanitarian agencies and NGOs out relief work in disputed regions of southern Sudan - chronicles the extent of hardships southern Sudanese women face as a result of the 19-year civil war. 
The book, sponsored by the UN Children's Fund and the UN Women's Development Fund with some funding from the Royal Dutch government, contains detailed accounts of the abductions, rape, displacements and fear women affected by the civil are regularly exposed to. It documents Sudanese women's daily fight for survival in a harsh environment.
Southern Sudanese women, the author notes, have one of the poorest quality of life indices in the world - one doctor for every 222,000 people, a 90-percent illiteracy level and one of the highest maternal mortality rates globally. This means that women are more often weakened by anaemia, inability to do sums, as well as loss of self-esteem resulting from cultural bias against their participation in community activities. 
The author also laments the scanty involvement of women in the ongoing Sudanese peace process, even though the war has left them with many tasks usually reserved for men, most whom are involved in the fighting. 
And yet if peace comes and development follows, the women of southern Sudan would be expected to overcome their acute trauma and contribute in new ways to the future of heir communities, she adds. "All but a handful of those sitting around the table discussing the future of Sudan are men. Yet women in many of the cultures in southern Sudan have a traditional role as peacemakers, and it is the women who have suffered some of the worst forms of abuse during the course of this terrible war," Fitzgerald notes. 
The book seeks to find a way forward, within the context of the culture and circumstances shaping southern women's perspectives, and to establish a platform from which their voices can be heard, according to the author. Women have been and could again be a positive force for improvement, but they face many obstacles, according to Fitzgerald. 
The impact of war on southern Sudanese women has not only eroded women's status but is also undermining their participation in critical decision-making. Despite avowals made on paper, the participation of women in the decision-making structures of the SPLM/A, which controls large swathes of southern Sudan, is minimal, according to the book. "Women's associations only work with the county commissioner, who has no mandate to promote women's issues," it notes. 
In both the Muslim-dominated north and the more Christian and animist south, women outnumber men in various disciplines, mainly because men have to go and fight. In the north, for example, women have ample representation in politics, the judiciary, in universities and in diplomacy,  according to Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, the Sudanese charge d'affaires in Kenya.
There was also one woman member of the Sudanese government delegation currently in Kenya negotiating peace with the SPLM/A, Dirdeiry  added. "Islam is understood as a religion which discriminates against women. This is because of extremist groups like the Taliban. But in Sudan, women are not discriminated against. In some ministries, women even outnumber men," he said. 
However, according to Fitzgerald, extraordinary demands on women in the south resulting from the war are affecting girls' education more disproportionately that boys'. "There is no doubt that the war has penalised women when it comes to the division of labour. Military conscription has twisted cultural practice to free men from traditional obligations and chained women to a greater number of household and food-security chores," the book notes. 
This new situation appears to have translated itself into a cultural norm to the extent that even where men are present, they do not make themselves available to support the women. Women's work is made even more tedious by the scarcity of boreholes from which they can fetch water, and of grain-grinding mills. "The women do three-quarters of the work. We are oppressed," a woman from  Upper Nile told the author.
"If you have only sons, then you do all the work. If any of the tasks is not performed, the man will fight you. Men are meant to cut wood and smear mud on the walls. Now they leave the work and tell us to do it. Women are now even fishing. We are now making fishing nets. That used to be the work of men. Men go to the forest, thatch the roof. Their other job is to meet with ladies and produce children. The rest is done by the women," she adds. 
The book cites enormous disparity in school enrolment between males and females. An 11-year-old girl quoted in the book noted that she was lucky to be one of two girls in a class with 106 boys. Her sisters were not in school because her father forbade them to go.
As refugees, southern Sudanese women, particularly from the pastoralist Dinka community, have to fight against sexual violence and the constant threat of abduction by family members seeking to marry them off in exchange for cattle. "We flee the Sudan and our problems follow," a woman living in the Kakuma refugee camp, in northern Kenya , whose name is given as Mary Nyadier, said an interview. 
Among others things, the book urges authorities in both northern and southern Sudan to break this culture of impunity by strengthening their administrative and legal systems to ensure that those who commit such crimes against women and girls get punished. 
Samson Kwaje, the SPLM/A spokesman in Nairobi, Kenya, however, defends the movement against accusations that it has no women delegates participating in the ongoing peace process in Kenya. "Women have been very active in all aspects of the struggle. We are also empowering them. There are many NGOs run by women. We also have women delegates in the talks," he told IRIN. 
According to Kwaje, SPLM/A has at least five women delegates listed as delegates to the ongoing peace talks, sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). However, the movement did not have funds to enable the women to travel to Kenya for the current round of talks.
But Fitzgerald also notes that the lives of southern Sudanese women are not all about woes and tribulations. In many crisis-prone areas, women have shown determination to be part of the decision-making process leading to peace. They are spearheading local peace initiatives. "Despite their precarious situation, these women demonstrate clarity of purpose and vibrant, logical thinking when articulating their aspirations," the author notes. 
This attitude is summed by Elizabeth Otieno of the New Sudan Conference of Churches. "Women are fed up with the war. They don't even know why it's going on. They are always asking the men to stop it. The women are coming out and talking. They have even stood up and said they won't bear any more sons if they are going to be sent to the front lines," she said.
In some relatively stable regions in southern Sudan, women are coming together with the help of local and international NGOs to participate in income-generating projects such as tailoring, soap-making, baking and catering. 
Moreover, some refugee women in Kenya have formed support groups in which they can learn income-generating skills, although they lack formal education and face difficulties accessing credit facilities. "We came together so we would not fight in a strange land as our husbands are fighting. It doesn't matter who our husbands are. We share the same problems. When working together, the strangest love affairs develop. We do not speak evil of our men," notes Pauline Riak, who heads the Sudanese Women's Association, based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. 

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

A dramatic increase in the potentially fatal liver disease, kala azar, is threatening southern communites already weakened by the country's 19-year civil war, the international organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned. 
"The state of these patients is appalling. They are being carried on stretchers for days to make it to the clinic. They look pale and thin and are extremely anaemic," Jose Antonio Bastos, MSF Operational Director, said in a statement on Friday.
Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is a parasitic disease transmitted by the sandfly, which attacks the liver and the spleen causing fever and severe weight loss. The disease is very often fatal if left untreated.
In Lankien, eastern Upper Nile, MSF said it had received over 100 kala azar admissions each week for the last six weeks, and in Malakal, also eastern Upper Nile, over 200 patients were currently being treated.
Weakened by years of conflict, much of the southern population had been left "extremely vulnerable" to disease, and reports from neighbouring areas suggested that prevalence rates would be high there as well.
Although the disease is endemic in parts of Sudan and usually peaks at this time of year, the current outbreak was at an "exceptional" level, and showed a dramatic increase compared to previous years, the statement said.
"Insecurity, malnutrition and poor access to health care lower the people's natural resistance to diseases and make for an environment where outbreaks like the current one occur," Batsos said. "There is a clear overlap of those areas where kala azar is endemic and areas of conflict." 
However, a cessation of hostilities agreement signed between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in October, prior to a resumption of peace talks, has paved the way for easing restrictions on humanitarian access in the south. 
"The ceasefire agreement may mean that we can soon get into areas that we have not been able to reach until now," Bastos noted.

The Ethiopian, Sudanese and Yemeni foreign ministers have agreed to enhance their common security in the region, the Ethiopian foreign ministry announced on Friday. The move comes after high-level talks were held by the countries' leaders at a two-day summit in Yemen.
"The three foreign ministers held extensive discussions on ways and means of further enhancing the multifaceted relationship among the three countries in the economic, political, security, cultural and other fields of mutual interest," the foreign ministry statement said. It said all three countries were keen to promote closer ties so as to ensure "peace" in the Horn of Africa.
The statement made no reference indicating the representation of Eritrea at the meeting. Earlier talks between the three leaders had also focused on Eritrea and its role in the region. Ethiopia accused the tiny Red Sea state of trying to destabilise the Horn. This sparked anger from the Eritreans, who described the three countries as forming an "axis of belligerence".
The Ethiopian foreign ministry's statement said the ministers had agreed to set up three subcommittees respectively to examine issues relating to politics and information, peace and security, and economics, business and culture.
It went on to say that "the ministers have, in their assessment of matters of mutual concern, reached a common understanding on a number of issues". They had stated that all three countries were keen to ensure the success of the peace processes in Sudan and Somalia.
Their next meeting is expected to be held in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in mid-December.

Ongoing peace talks in the Kenyan town of Machakos between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), and a recent agreement opening up access to war-affected populations, have raised hopes that Sudan could be about to see real improvements in its dire humanitarian situation.
In a recent visit to north and south Sudan, CARE International Assistant Secretary-General Howard Bell, and CARE USA President Peter Bell, met with key representatives of the government and the SPLM/A, in an effort to advocate for an equitable peace agreement, and continued, unimpeded humanitarian access. Here they tell IRIN about their impressions of the peace process.

Question: From your meetings with government and SPLM/A representatives, how would you describe their current approach to the peace process?

Peter Bell: I last visited Sudan three years ago and there's been a marked change over those three years. There is considerably more focus on peace now than there was then. When I last went to the north, to the authorities, even talking about peace was very sensitive. But on this visit every single person in authority talked about their commitment to arriving at a just and lasting peace. From the conversations we have had so far in the south there also seems to be a considerable interest in peace and a commitment to moving toward peace.
I would just make one cautionary comment. And that is that the size, the complexity, the diversity of Sudan, and the history of all these years of warfare give reason for pause. It will not be easy and there will be many, many difficulties along the road.

Q: What role do you think CARE and other NGOs can play in the peace process bearing in mind they are not formally involved in the Machakos talks?

Peter Bell:: The strength that we bring is our experience working at the grassroots with hundreds of poor communities in the north and the south, and seeing the continuing harm the war causes to people, seeing their desire for peace, and their desire for a better future. I think it's that perspective that we can bring together with a sense of the hard practicalities and realities of making a peace in principle work in practice.
The inclusion of unimpeded humanitarian access in some of the more recent agreements was in part a result of some very strong lobbying by CARE and some other NGOs. That's an example where we've had some influence. Also NGOs like CARE have some influence back in our home countries as independent voices advocating for peace and for access.

Howard Bell: One of the concerns that has been expressed by a number of people we've talked to is the notion of inclusivity within the peace process and how to ensure that the implementation of the process is as inclusive as possible. It's organisations like CARE with our contacts on the ground, with our association with Sudanese partners that will allow and promote that inclusivity.

Q: Have CARE staff seen any major improvements in the ease with which they are able to operate since the ceasefire came into operation?

Peter Bell I cannot say that there's been a dramatic change yet. But I think there is more of an inclination both in the north and the south to link the importance of our work in relief and development to the advancement of peace. 
We have for some years now advocated very strongly for humanitarian access to all parts of the country, and now I think there is an appreciation that establishing greater humanitarian access in turn helps to advance the peace process. On the other side, a framework for peace and an actual peace settlement will help to ensure humanitarian access.

Q: Do you have a message to the parties regarding the cessation of hostilities agreement, which is due to expire at the end of the year?

Peter Bell: It's tremendously important that the cessation of hostilities agreement be maintained both in principle and in practice. The maintenance of the cessation of hostilities is a concrete sign of the commitment on both sides to bring the war to a close and it is a way of building confidence and trust on both sides. Of course what we would hope is that by the end of the year the two sides would be sufficiently close to a broad framework for peace that they would want to keep the cessation of hostilities. 

Q: Do you have any comments on the allegations made by both the government and the SPLM/A, that each side has already has violated the cessation of hostilities agreement?

Peter Bell: We know that ultimately any peace agreement has to depend first and foremost on the goodwill of the belligerent parties, but strong verification measures are also important. When we go to Machakos later today [Monday] one of the things I hope we will be able to discuss with some of the participants is precisely how humanitarian agencies and NGOs in particular can be helpful in verification, particularly on the question of humanitarian access. I think that we can play a constructive role there, but it needs to be first and foremost a combination of the parties on both sides supported by formal verification procedures and capacities. We also believe that is true on questions of human rights, and on questions of harm to civilian populations.

Q: What sense do you get that the parties are actually tackling the outstanding issues, such as the sharing of wealth, and the disputed border territories?

Peter Bell: My impression is that step by step they are tackling the key issues. Some of these issues have been discussed in the past and others they are tackling newly, but my impression is that they are making progress. 
The process for making peace a reality will be fitful, difficult, uneven but it's tremendously important to continue with the process. This is truly an historic moment for Sudan, and if the peace process fails Sudan will return not just to the status quo ante, but will be further behind than when the process began, and it would be an enormous tragedy with untold consequences. I don't know when Sudan would have another opportunity to get to a settlement.
I would also like to mention the critical importance of the international community in drawing together support for this process. There's been a lot of support within the international community over the last year or two in coming to a more concerted, unified support for the process. It's important that the attention of the international community be maintained and that kind of unity be maintained. 

Howard Bell: We have appreciated the continued leadership of the UN and OLS [Operation Lifeline Sudan], and we think that the next few months will be a critical period for the UN and OLS in terms of continued leadership. Particularly if there is peace and we need to move into different modes to cement that peace on the ground.
(IRIN, Nairobi, Nov 05, 2002)

Eritrea – Sudan : Refugee agency unaware of forced repatriations

The UN refugee agency UNHCR has said it is not aware of plans for the forced repatriation of Eritrean refugees from Sudan following assertions by Asmara that Eritreans are being "relocated" by the Sudanese authorities.
According to the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC), the Sudanese authorities have "started deviating" from agreed procedures on the repatriation of Eritrean refugees. In a statement, it said ERREC officials were "unjustifiably expelled" from Sudan and life for many Eritrean refugees in Sudan was "becoming increasingly unbearable". 
"On top of that, the Sudanese authorities have decided to relocate Eritrean refugees from Kassala region further inland," the statement said. "According to the Sudanese authorities, the relocated refugees will again be 'repatriated' to Eritrea." 
It accused Sudan of taking a "unilateral" decision to repatriate refugees, in violation of a tripartite commission agreement between Sudan, Eritrea and UNHCR.
Tension has been increasing in Sudan's eastern Kassala state following fighting in the area between government troops and rebels. The Khartoum government has also accused Eritrea of involvement in the rebel attacks, charges which Asmara denies. 
The governor of Kassala has called for moving urban refugees into camps, but UNHCR says these refugees are "self-reliant" and should not be put in a position where they would again become dependent on humanitarian aid. 
UNHCR spokesman Jonathan Clayton told IRIN on Friday that the agency's representative in Khartoum would be meeting the governor of Kassala state to discuss the issue. "In addition, we would prefer that the [urban] refugees be given some time to decide whether they want to repatriate or not," he said.
Clayton said the agency was closely monitoring the situation and discussions were still ongoing. He said the UNHCR representative would try and negotiate a "humanitarian corridor" for repatriating refugees from Kassala. 
UNHCR confirmed that the governor of Kassala has also announced the relocation of an entire refugee camp situated near the border with Eritrea.
The repatriations have been put on hold, firstly because of the rainy season, and then because of the deteriorating security situation which led to the closure of the border between Sudan and Eritrea.
UNHCR also confirmed that 45 Eritrean refugees have been detained by the Sudanese authorities - reportedly for suspected links with Sudanese rebels - although some have been released. The agency is trying to gain access to those still detained. 
It also said UNHCR staff and ERREC officials were expelled from the camps in Kassala. "However, this was due to security concerns, given the prevailing situation at the time," Clayton said.
Tens of thousands of Eritreans began fleeing war at home some 30 years ago. Earlier this year, UNHCR announced the cessation of refugee status for Eritreans, saying that conditions no longer warranted it. Refugees have until the end of this year to register to return home. Since the repatriation programme began in May 2001, over 50,000 Eritreans have gone home out of an estimated 90,000 camp-based refugees.

US President George Bush has extended an order imposing bilateral sanctions against Sudan, citing continued concern over the alleged activities of terrorist groups in the country.
"These actions and policies are hostile to US interests and pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," Bush said in a notice on Tuesday extending the order.
The sanctions, originally imposed under the Clinton administration in 1997, criticise the government of Sudan, for alleged "support for international terrorism; ongoing efforts to destabilise neighbouring governments; and the prevalence of human rights violations, including slavery and the denial of religious freedom".
The order imposes a trade embargo against Sudan and a total asset freeze against the government of Sudan, according to the US Department of Commerce website. Criminal penalties for violating the order range up to 10 years in jail, $500,000 in corporate, and $250,000 in individual fines. 
Although Washington has said the government in Khartoum has cooperated with US efforts to combat international terrorism, Sudan remains on a list of seven countries the US accuses of sponsoring terrorism. 
Khartoum says the US contention that it supports terrorism is erroneous, and that restrictions placed on Sudanese companies result from "pressure by groups hostile to Sudan".
Bush last week signed legislation calling for additional sanctions against the Sudanese regime if it failed to act in good faith in peace talks with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).
The legislation empowers the US administration to suspend diplomatic relations with Khartoum, to oppose loans and assistance from international financial organisations, to take steps to deny Sudan oil revenues, and to seek a UN resolution for an arms embargo against the Sudanese government. 

Canadian oil company Talisman Energy on Wednesday announced the sale of its Sudanese oil interests, saying it would end uncertainty over their future. 
"Shareholders have told me they were tired of continually having to monitor and analyse events relating to Sudan," Talisman president and chief executive officer, Jim Buckee, said in a statement.
Talisman's 25 percent share in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) would be sold to ONGC Videsh Ltd, a subsidiary of India's national oil company, for US $758 million, and would be completed by the end of the year, the statement said.
Talisman has come under fire from human rights groups, which have argued that the company's four-year involvement served to support the forced displacement of people to make way for oil exploration, and that oil revenues have been used by the Sudanese government for arms purchases. 
They have also alleged that oil infrastructure has been used by the Sudanese military to prosecute the 19-year war against southern rebels. 
According to Buckee, however, corporate responsibility policies implemented within the GNPOC as a result of Talisman's advocacy efforts would "continue to influence the operations of the consortium for years to come." 
"We have long argued that Talisman's presence in Sudan has been a force for good and we have taken steps to ensure the benefits created through our involvement will continue to benefit the people of Sudan both now and in the future," he added.
The GNPOC is 40 percent owned by the China National Petroleum Corporation, Malaysia's Petronas claims 30 percent, with the Sudanese government oil company, Sudapet, owning 5 percent. 
Recent months have seen an escalation of fighting around the main oil fields of western Upper Nile (Wahdah State), with aid agencies reporting the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians as a result of the fighting. 
While Khartoum has declared its intention to double oil production from the current level of about 240,000 barrels per day, the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has repeatedly said that oil installations are legitimate targets in the war, and that it intends to halt oil extraction completely. 
"Selling our interest in the project resolves uncertainty about the future of this asset," Buckee said.
Ongoing peace talks between the government and the SPLM/A, and the signing of an agreement to cease hostilities for the duration of talks has raised hopes of an end to the conflict, and an improvement in the country's dire humanitarian situation. 
However, the parties have yet to reach agreement on the controversial issue of wealth-sharing, including the distribution of oil revenues. 

Human rights systems in Africa need to be strengthened, the African Commission on Human and People's Rights last week stressed in a communique that capped its 32nd ordinary session, held on 17-23 October in Banjul, The Gambia.
Addressing the 216 participants, Commission Chairman Kamel Rezag-Bara urged all the actors to ensure the entry into force of the Protocol to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and the preparation of the Draft Protocol on Woman's Rights in Africa. 
Representatives of national human rights institutions and NGOs expressed concern over the situation of human and peoples' rights prevailing in many African states. 
The Commission granted affiliate status to the South African Human Rights Commission and the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria. 
It also granted observer status to 12 NGOs from various countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Republic of Congo, Seychelles, South Africa,  Sudan and Zimbabwe.
It further considered and adopted a resolution on the Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment or Treatment in Africa also known as the Robben Island Guidelines [http://www.apt.ch/africa/rig/Robben%20Island%20Guidelines.pdf .
The Commission also considered and adopted a draft declaration on the principles of the freedom of expression in Africa. It decided to hold its 33rd Ordinary Session in Niamey, Niger, from 5-19 May, 2003 on the invitation of Niger's government.

Continued abuses by both the government and rebels means there has been no overall improvement in the human rights situation in Sudan, a UN report says. 
In his report to the UN General Assembly last week, Gerhart Baum, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Sudan, said he had "continued to receive information pointing to the perpetration by all parties to the conflict of numerous serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law [IHL]".
Among the main issues of concern were those related to the continued state of emergency, the "virtual impunity" enjoyed by the security services, the persistence of press censorship and the limited room for the political activities of opposition parties, the report said.
The state of emergency had allowed the establishment of Special Courts in Darfur, western Sudan, which were of "deep concern" and not in keeping with relevant international standards, it said.
Despite being imposed for an initial period of three months, the state of emergency has been in effect continuously since December 1999, and was extended for an additional 12 months at the end of 2001.
Several reported cases were cited in the report, including that of 14 prisoners charged with armed robbery and sentenced to death by a Special Court in Nyala in July. The prisoners were reported not to have received legal representation during their trial.
A second case, also conducted in Nyala, involved 88 persons sentenced to death by hanging or crucifixion, after what was reported to be an unfair trial. Two of them were reported to be 14-year-old boys.
Ongoing inter-ethnic conflict in Darfur over land and pasture exacerbated by drought has led to the destruction and depopulation of villages, and high levels of displacement, the report noted. 
The Special Rapporteur expressed hope that ongoing peace talks between the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), underway in Kenya, could provide an opportunity to bring an end to war-related human rights abuses.
For peace to be sustainable, however, it was paramount that the issue of human rights and democratisation was put at the heart of the talks, being held under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The Special Rapporteur called on the rebels to develop genuine democratic structures, and urged  them and their allied militias to do their utmost to prevent human rights violations. 
All parties to Sudan's 19-year civil war were called upon to use their influence to put an end to violations of human rights and IHL. 
"The burden represented by the war cannot provide any justification for human rights abuses," Baum said in his report.

About 17,000 Sudanese refugees remained in hiding on Monday, having fled ethnic violence last week in a refugee settlement in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 
Rebels of the Congolese Patriotic Union/Popular Rally (UPC-RP) had moved into the Biringi refugee settlement, about 80 km west of the town of Aru on the Congo-Ugandan border, prompting most of the population to flee, Kitty McKinsey, regional public information officer with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told IRIN on Monday.
This latest round of fighting erupted on 21 October when the rebels, believed to be supporters of the Hema people, began withdrawing northwards, UNHCR reported. Lendu fighters blocked the rebels; thereby sending them into the Biringi settlement and surrounding areas, causing panic among the refugees who fled into the bush.
Fighting between the UPC and Lendu intensified on Thursday and Friday, McKinsey said. "A handful of refugees" who had fled from Ayamba, an area about 11 km from the centre of Biringi where fighting had taken place, briefly returned to their homes on Monday to see if their houses remained standing and to gather some food, she said. Some other refugees, who had not witnessed the fighting, but had fled when they heard gunfire, were reportedly returning to stay, she added.
"There have been no reports of any casualties among the refugees or the civilian population, but UNHCR remains concerned about their safety," she said.
UPC, led by Thomas Lubanga, is a dissident faction of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani-Mouvement de liberation.

The Sudanese government, the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the United Nations system on Saturday signed an historic agreement allowing unimpeded humanitarian access to hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan. 
"In the whole history of OLS we have never had unfettered access. Some places we know are facing dire conditions and we can expect the demands to be extraordinary," Ronald Sibanda, of the UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), said in a statement.
The arrangement would last from 1 November and until the end of 2002, when peace talks being  held in Kenya under the aegis of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) are scheduled to end.
"We hope the agreement will continue beyond the current time frame and that this is a start of a new reality," Sibanda said.
The World Food Programme estimated the agreement would enable the UN food agency to provide food aid to an additional 558,000 people, on top of the 3 million people already targeted for assistance.
Agreement on unfettered access would also allow a polio immunisation campaign due to start on Monday to go ahead as planned, the OLS statement said.
A previous agreement, signed on 15 October between the government and the SPLM/A to cease hostilities for the duration of talks, has opened the door to greater access to conflict-affected populations in the south, analysts said.
The Sudanese government had in recent months increased humanitarian access denials to locations in south Sudan, and in October banned UN relief flights over two huge regions of the far south, effectively cutting off air access from the main OLS logistics base in northern Kenya to the south.
"The people of Sudan have suffered terribly. We now have a chance to make a dramatic change for the better," Sibanda said. 

The Eritrean government has protested to the Sudanese authorities over the "mass arrests" of Eritrean citizens in the country. 
The Eritrean News Agency (Erna) quoted the foreign ministry as saying Sudanese security forces on Monday "illegally entered" the compound of the Eritrean Community Centre in Khartoum "and arrested many Eritreans, including two members of the Eritrean embassy in Khartoum". 
"Apart from this, the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed that the government of the Sudan has started mass arrests of innocent Eritreans all over the Sudan," the news agency said. 
The foreign ministry summoned the Sudanese ambassador in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and handed him an official memorandum of protest, demanding the immediate release of all arrested Eritreans. It also called on the Sudanese government "to refrain from such irresponsible acts". 
Sudanese government officials were not immediately available for comment. 
Meanwhile, Khartoum has denied allegations by Eritrea that the governor of Sudan's eastern Kassala region has called on the UN refugee agency UNHCR to "move all Eritreans in the administrative region of Kassala to Eritrea within one week". 
"The allegations are totally unfounded," a statement from the Sudanese embassy in Asmara said. It said Sudan was committed to the tripartite agreement signed with UNHCR and Eritrea on the return of refugees. 
"We are in fact in the process of co-ordinating efforts to transport those who wish to return to their homeland in spite of the closure of the common border as a result of the recent Eritrean aggression," the statement added. Khartoum has accused Eritrea of involvement in recent attacks by rebel Sudanese forces in eastern Sudan, charges strongly denied by Asmara. 
"To protect refugees against any hazardous acts by the invading forces, they will be moved to camps away from the border area," the statement said. "This operation is being carried out in full co-ordination with the concerned authorities."

The Sudanese government has claimed southern rebels have violated an agreed truce, putting in doubt the future of peace talks to bring an end to the country's 19-year civil war.
"If the GOS [Government of Sudan] troops are compelled to intervene or [are] thus drawn in any new fighting over there, this could do away with the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] altogether," a statement from the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi said. 
According to the statement, the forces of a rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)-allied militia on Thursday morning attacked the towns of Koch and Thorken in western Upper Nile (Wahdah State). 
No comment was immediately available from the SPLM/A.
Western Upper Nile is at the centre of the Sudanese oil industry, and has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent months, with the SPLM/A saying it considers oil installations to be legitimate targets in the war. 
"This is a dangerous attempt to interfere with the military positioning in a highly sensitive area where a delicate balance currently exists," the government statement said.
The government delegation to the peace talks in Machakos, Kenya, has made an official complaint about the attack to the special envoy of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is coordinating the talks.
Peace talks between the government and rebels resumed last week after a six week suspension. Government negotiators walked out of the meeting on 2 September, after rebel forces seized the strategic southern town of Torit, Eastern Equatoria. Government troops have since recaptured the town.
In the MOU, signed prior to the resumption of talks, both sides had agreed to a cessation of hostilities for the duration of talks. 
However, even before Friday's allegations, both sides had accused each other of violating the truce. Just ten minutes after the cessation of hostilities came into force, the SPLM/A said government forces had launched an attack in eastern Sudan. 
And Khartoum has already complained to IGAD over the SPLM/A capture of the southern town of Akobo, Jonglei State, from the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM), an armed group allied to the Sudanese government. 

US President George Bush has approved legislation calling for sanctions against the Sudanese government if it fails to act in good faith during negotiations with southern rebels. 
"The Government of Sudan must choose between the path to peace and the path to continued war and destruction," Bush said in a statement released by the White House on Monday. 
The legislation empowers the US administration to suspend diplomatic relations with Khartoum, to oppose loans and assistance from international financial organisations, to take steps to deny Sudan oil revenues, and to seek a UN resolution for an arms embargo against the Sudanese government. 
If the Sudanese government "makes the right choice, that course will mean improvement in the lives of all Sudanese, better bilateral relations with the United States, and the beginning of its reacceptance into the community of peace-loving nations," Bush said.
Under the Sudan Peace Act, passed by an overwhelming majority in both houses of the US Congress earlier this month, the US government must certify every six months that both Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) are acting in good faith in efforts to bring an end to the country's 19-year civil war. 
However, the Act makes no provision for direct sanctions against the rebel group, merely saying that if it was not conducting talks in good faith, any sanctions imposed on the government would then be dropped.
The Act also authorises the payment of US $300 million over three years to assist "areas outside government control to prepare the population for peace and democratic governance", including support to civil administration, education, health, and agriculture.
The Sudanese government has strongly criticised the Act, saying it reflects a return to "failed and imbalanced policies" by the US administration. The Act was "hostile, biased and religiously motivated", according to a statement released by the Sudanese embassy in Washington earlier this month. 
A previous attempt by US lawmakers to pass similar legislation stalled over a proposal to impose capital market sanctions on both US and foreign companies doing business with Khartoum. The current legislation does not include the contentious proposal.
Khartoum suspended peace negotiations in Kenya on 2 September, saying the SPLM/A had spoiled the atmosphere of talks by launching an offensive in the south, and by making demands which fell outside the scope of a framework deal agreed in July.
In a memorandum of understanding, signed prior to the resumption of talks last week, both parties agreed to suspend hostilities for the duration of negotiations being held under the aegis of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
However, both sides have already accused each other of violating the truce. Just ten minutes after the cessation of hostilities came into force, the SPLM/A said government forces had launched an attack in eastern Sudan. 
And Khartoum this week said it would make an official complaint to IGAD over the SPLM/A capture of the southern town of Akobo, Jonglei State. 

It was now "time to move from vision to action" in implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), African finance ministers agreed at the weekend.
The ministers had reached consensus on many "issues of critical importance in accelerating Africa's progress and development and in meeting the challenges of implementing NEPAD", at the conference held in South Africa. 
In a statement released on Monday, finance ministers from throughout the continent said they had agreed "on the overall vision for Africa's development as enshrined in NEPAD: to bring the continent into a new age of peace, security, stability, economic growth, and prosperity ... [and] setting the stage for growth through regional integration, by putting in place sound macro-economic policies, improving trade policies, and attracting more foreign capital". 
Among the priorities agreed upon for the implementation of NEPAD were: "pursuing sound economic policies, unleashing the private sector for poverty reduction, enhancing capacity building for deeper integration into the global economy, embracing the African Peer Review mechanism, and transforming our partnerships with donors through mutual accountability," the ministers said.
"And given the prominence of AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases as threats to African development, combating them must be part of the [Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper] PRSP process. Greater attention must also go to formulating gender-sensitive policies for health, education, and other services," they agreed.
The ministers also undertook to improve public expenditure management systems in their respective countries and enhance "transparency in the use of resources".
"Especially urgent is providing duty-free, quota-free access for products originating from African countries. We also call for simplifying and harmonising rules of origin to help ensure that African countries benefit from the market opportunities granted, particularly in value-added production," the ministers noted.
Debt relief was also high on their agenda.
"It is also clear that the HIPC [Highly Indebted Poor Countries] initiative is not working well enough. Only six African countries have reached their completion points, and for some of them the debt remains unsustainable. Several proposals are on the table for moving beyond HIPC to greater debt relief. What is needed is to move faster to increase relief, to align it with the pursuit of the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals], and to free up more resources for development. We also recognise the need to attend to the debt burden of non-HIPC countries," the statement said.
The conference was held under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
ECA spokesman Peter da Costa told IRIN the conference was a "tremendous success because for the first time NEPAD has moved from the high level of heads-of-state and foreign ministers to the level of the practitioners, finance ministers, who will implement the initiatives. They're the ones on whom the success of NEPAD depends".
Another notable benefit of the conference was that African ministers appeared to have embraced the peer review mechanism. "Initially the fear was that there would be conditionality upon conditionality [placed on acceptance of the peer review mechanism] ... but the ministers discussions were extremely encouraging," Da Costa said.
ECA agreed with the ministers that "a new way of addressing debt that actually works" needed to be found. The organisation called on African ministers to "do more to articulate an African position on debt relief ... they need to engage the international community more on that," Da Costa said.

Eritrea on Monday again denied involvement in the fighting in eastern Sudan, saying the Sudanese government was making such accusations as a "pretext" to scuttle ongoing peace negotiations with Sudanese rebels.
A Sudanese government statement on Friday reiterated its commitment to a cessation of hostilities agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) signed with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) last week during resumed peace talks in the Kenyan town of Machakos. But, it said, fighting in the east, launched by "an unprovoked military attack by Eritrean forces" in the Rasai area earlier this month, was not necessarily covered by the Memorandum.
The agreement "does not preclude the government of Sudan's [right] to repulse the Eritrean aggression", the Sudanese statement said.
However Eritrea's deputy ambassador to Kenya, Teweldemedhin Tesfamariam, told IRIN his country had no war with Sudan. "Eritrea has nothing to do with the fighting in Sudan and Khartoum knows this full well," he said.
"It is fighting against its opposition forces with whom it has been holding peace talks," he added. "The government of Sudan cannot accept that it is losing the current battles against the [opposition] NDA so it is looking for a perceived external enemy and it is unfortunate it has decided on Eritrea to be the one."
The SPLA makes up the biggest component of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is based in Asmara.
The Sudanese statement said the government had filed a complaint with the UN Security Council against Eritrea which, it said, was "notorious for attacking its neighbours". It said Sudan had notified the Security Council of "its intention to exercise its legal right of self-defence" under the UN charter.
Teweldemedhin said Sudan was accusing Eritrea of aggression as a "pretext for scuttling the Machakos talks".
"The government of Sudan knows the SPLA cannot be expected to accept such violations of the Memorandum signed in Machakos while the NDA forces are being attacked in the east and government attacks continue in the south," he said. "If they [rebels] pull out of the talks - as the Sudan government wants them to do - then it can blame the rebels for their failure. This is an intricate deception." 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has been mandated to develop a UN policy framework on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The first of a series of international workshops coordinated by OCHA was held in Pretoria, South Africa from 15 to 17 October to examine the issues and provide input to the UN Secretary-General's next report to the Security Council. IRIN spoke to Mark Bowden, chief of OCHA's Policy Development and Studies Branch, who is leading the consultative process.

Question: This workshop is part of a process, what is the end product?
Answer: Part of the process is to get greater understanding of the concept of protection of civilians within regions, but also to get their [participants] feedback as to what are the main issues they see as particular threats to the security of civilians, and for them to be able to feed this back into the Security Council report and other reports on the protection of civilians that we do. One of the main aims of the workshop has been to take the concept of protection of civilians outside the Security Council to the UN's general membership to get a greater understanding of member states' responsibilities, and to identify the problems that they have in providing better protection for civilians which we see as having been seriously threatened over the last decade or so.

Q: The issue of developing a legal framework is all well and good, but if we look at the particularities of conflict in Africa we have the issue of trying to identify combatants, we have the issue of the motivations that drive conflicts, do you find any problems in trying to reconcile the practical with the theory?
A: One of the interesting things to come out of the conference is that despite the fact that this [Africa] is an extremely complex environment where I think there's more confusion between civilian status and combatant status than many other parts of the world, it is still possible to apply standards and principles when dealing with the problems of protection. Some of these things are actually very straightforward and practical issue to adopt, for example on refugees - to ensure that refugee camps are 50-km away from an international border is a practical measure that doesn't necessarily cost, it isn't an issue of capacity, it's primarily an issue of political will ... 
Again with IDPs [internally displaced persons], what was demonstrated very clearly in this meeting was that where the government feels it needs to move people out of the war zone to enable it to conduct its military operations, this doesn't mean they should ignore international standards for the treatment and care of that population. And again, there are very practical measures that can be put in place to get better implementation and compliance with those standards, including the government themselves introducing or legalising those international standards. So I think one of those things that will come out of this meeting is a very much more practical and focused approach to what actually can be done within the constraints that governments face, and indeed organisations face, that would make an appreciable difference to the protection and safety of individuals.

Q: When as a government you are up against an opposition that doesn't hold those standards, the onus always seems to be on the government to act better than the rebels ...?
A: I think that one of the salutary sides of the discussion here is the inability of [actors] in the region, so far, to have any meaningful engagement with armed non-state groups, by which we mean rebel groups. The dialogue has been very difficult or non-existent throughout the region as a whole. This has made it far more difficult to get acceptance of international norms and standards which apply to those groups just as much as they apply to the government. It is one of the more difficult problems this region has in dealing with the protection of civilians. 

Q: What do you think is behind this move towards international standards and architecture which means certain actions can no longer be tolerated?
A: I think there's been a sea change in Africa and I thinks that's really quite important. Really, what's significant about NEPAD [New Partnership for African Development] and the African Union [AU] is that they are operating on a very different basis as regards to standards than the OAU [Organisation of African Union] did. There is a system of peer review which is a way of checking that standards are being upheld and there is a commitment, within the new African Union, to look at intervention in states that are not living up to their responsibilities towards their civilian populations. So in Africa there's been a very important change and I'm not sure how far this has been recognised internationally ... it's going to be very interesting to see how they [the AU] do this, it's a challenge for them, they are taking on a tremendous task. I'm sure there's still many sensitivities in Africa as a whole as to how these will be addressed, but at least there's been a shift in thinking in Africa which I think we need to recognise and acknowledge. 
In terms of the international community as a whole, I think with the concept of the war against terrorism there's less of an interest now in dealing with the root causes of conflict and that, I think, will have a great impact on the protection of civilians. Because unless we try to address the root causes, to look at issues of justice and reconciliation, ... [recognise] issues of social equity behind many of the conflicts, we'll provide no security in the longer term for civilians. I worry that internationally, to some extent, conflict prevention is slipping off the agenda, and with that a large element of the way civilians can be afforded protection.

Q: How will findings from this workshop be incorporated into the Secretary-General's report?
A: What I hope will come out of the workshop are two main things. First of all, a real sense of what are the issues that affect the region so that we can incorporate this into the Secretary-General's report to give some sense of the concerns that exist in the region about protection of civilians, where the emphasis should be and how that can be handled. What we also hope to get out of it is what areas we may have missed when looking at the aide memoir [a practical guide on protection issues prepared by OCHA for the Security Council], there are some issues here that strike one as fundamental to the protection of civilians that are not actually addressed by the aide memoir and the work of the Security Council. One example of this is the issue of property rights. 
That maintaining the respect of the property rights of displaced people, for example, is the key to their effective return and reintegration. There are other areas that may come out of this process as well that we haven't addressed. The other particular emphasis in the region are the links that exist here between the proliferation of small arms, organised crime, and insecurity of civilians. These are more particular to this region than many other parts of the world. We should be able to better reflect them in the report of the Secretary-General.

A row between Sudan's warring parties over the terms of a temporary ceasefire they signed on Tuesday has plunged the Sudanese peace talks, which opened in Kenya this week to end the country's 19-year civil war, into uncertainty.
The row began on Thursday when the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)  claimed that the Sudanese government had violated the countrywide ceasefire only 10 minutes after midday, local time, when it became effective. 
The agreement, which became effective at midday on Thursday, committed both parties to cease hostilities throughout Sudan for the duration of the ongoing talks, and to ensure a military stand-down of their respective forces, including their supporting militia groups.
Samson Kwaje, the SPLM/A spokesman in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, confirmed the fighting, which had taken place in the east and lasted three hours, as Sudanese troops attempted to recapture significant towns the Eritrean-based opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - of which SPLM/A is the biggest component - seized on 3 October. 
Kwaje said continued fighting in the east would be a violation of the temporary ceasefire.  However, he said, he could not tell whether it would affect the ongoing peace talks in Kenya. "Of course our forces will fight back. But we can't say now how this will affect the talks. We will examine [the matter] case by case," he said. 
Khartoum has not officially responded to the charge, but has insisted that the fighting in in the eastern part of the country was a result of Eritrean aggression, and was not covered by the temporary ceasefire it signed with SPLM/A. This position was reflected by the presidential peace adviser, Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani's comments, in which he stated that although the truce covered "all parts of Sudan", government forces might continue fighting on the eastern front, according to AFP. 
A source in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, told IRIN on Friday that it appeared that the government "would continue to fight on in the east irrespective of what was agreed upon in Kenya". 
According to the source, who chose to remain anonymous, the NDA's capture of major eastern government strongholds were a "major blow", and  Khartoum would "not rest" until they were recaptured. "The government stand is wrong. In any case, the ceasefire is not about people, it's about ending hostilities through out the country," the source said.
As a result of Sudan's complaints, the Ethiopia-based African Union last week said it would send a fact-finding mission to verify Eritrea's involvement or otherwise in fighting in eastern Sudan. The accusations have increased tension between Khartoum and Asmara, despite Eritrea's denials. 
Kwaje also denied any support from Eritrea for NDA. "They [Sudanese government] always look for scapegoats. When we are fighting in the east, they say  Eritrea is involved. When we fight in the south, they say the Ugandan government is involved," Kwaje told IRIN. 
"Libyan independent journalists even visited the area and found Eritrea is not involved," he added.

A temporary ceasefire agreement between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) came into force at midday on Thursday, a source close to the peace talks taking place in Machakos, Kenya, told IRIN.
He confirmed that every unit of soldiers on the rebel side had been ordered to observe the ceasefire except in self-defence. "Unfortunately there is no monitoring system in place, but any violations will be reported immediately to the mediators of the peace talks," he added.
The memorandum declaring the ceasefire, signed on 15 October, committed both parties to suspending hostilities throughout Sudan for the duration of the latest round of talks, and to ensuring a military stand-down of their respective forces, "including allied forces and affiliated militia," Samson Kwaje, an SPLM/A spokesman, told IRIN on Tuesday.
Formal peace negotiations are due to resume next week. On Wednesday, the mediators at the talks had given both delegations in Machakos a draft protocol on power-sharing, with two days to provide a written response to it, a source told IRIN.
Sudanese government officials were unavailable for comment.
This is the first politically motivated ceasefire agreement signed between the government and rebels in 19 years of civil war.

Sudanese rebels said on Tuesday they had signed a truce agreement with the government of Sudan for the duration of peace talks due to start on Wednesday in Machakos, Kenya.
Samson Kwaje, spokesman for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) told IRIN that the signed memorandum committed both parties to cease hostilities throughout Sudan for the duration of the talks, and to ensure a military stand-down of their respective forces "including allied forces and affiliated militia".
Both sides would send messages to their respective forces, which would come into effect at midday on Thursday, he said.
The text of the agreement also committed both sides to maintaining a "conducive atmosphere" throughout the negotiations until "all outstanding issues in the conflict were resolved", he said. 
Wednesday's talks will kick off with the issue of power-sharing, he added. 
Kwaje said the SPLA was satisfied with the agreement which implicitly included the opposition grouping National Democratic Alliance in the term "allied forces", and covered the entire country including the eastern front which, he said, the government originally wanted excluded from the deal. 
"We could not have had a partial cessation of hostilities ... both sides could have shifted to the eastern front, so what would have been the point?" Kwaje said.
Sudanese government officials were not immediately available for comment.
This is the first politically motivated ceasefire agreement signed between the government and rebels in 19 years of civil war.

Sudan's government and rebel movement failed to reach agreement on Monday on the terms of a temporary ceasefire agreement, to be signed before the official resumption of peace talks in Machakos, Kenya.
The bone of contention concerned the eastern front, along the Eritrean border, which the government delegation was keen to see excluded from the agreement, Samson Kwaje, spokesman for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) told IRIN on Tuesday. 
"Our argument is that an agreement should include all of Sudan," he said. He added that the two delegations were close to agreeing on the issue, however. 
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, told IRIN that the government had expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on Monday afternoon, after which peace negations would resume immediately. The first items on the agenda for discussion, in order of priority, were power-sharing arrangements, wealth-sharing, and a comprehensive ceasefire. 
The talks were expected to last until 16 November, he added.

The African Union is to send a mission to Sudan and Eritrea to try and defuse tension between the two countries.
A statement released on 11 October urged the authorities of both countries to cooperate with the AU delegation and "appealed urgently" to their leaders to "exercise restraint and refrain from all acts that would heighten the tension" between them. 
It expressed "grave concern" about relations between the two countries over the last few days, and about "the threats of the situation to peace and security in the region". 
The decision to send the delegation was taken by the AU's Conflict Resolution body following a meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Friday.
Tension has been increasing between Sudan and Eritrea after Khartoum accused Asmara of involvement in recent rebel attacks in eastern Sudan. Eritrea has strongly denied the accusatio