The Nuba Mountains Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement which  was signed in Burgenstock, Switzerland, this year and brokered by the Government of the USA and the Swiss Federation was meant to facilitate delivery  of humanitarian assistance to the  Nuba Mountains. October Flight Denial List indicates that all areas in the Nuba Mountains controlled by the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement must now be serviced only from Khartoum-controlled areas (i.e., El Obeid in Kordofan Province).  This is a direct violation of the explicit terms of the Nuba Mountains Cease fire, which has been touted by many as a model of how peace can be extended in Sudan.  In fact, what Khartoum's actions of today show is that the regime is simply unwilling to uphold the terms of agreements negotiated, even under the auspices of the US Special Envoy.  This is a sobering  reminder of how extremely difficult it will be to obtain a meaningful peace agreement in Machakos, and just  how vigorous international guarantees and guarantors will have to be if agreements negotiated at Machakos are to be honoured by Khartoum.

This agreement binds all OLS sectors namely the Southern Sudan sector which operates from Kenya; and the Northern sector from Khartoum, not to hinder the ferrying of humanitarian assistance to the people of the Nuba Mountains.  It is obvious the ban serves no other useful purpose except to reveal the government's nefarious attitude towards the Sudanese people it pretends to care for.

The SPLM/SPLA, being led by responsible leadership, is deeply concerned with the behaviour  of those in-charge over the affairs affecting the Sudanese people.  It is time the government demonstrates some responsibility and behaves in a civilized manner by respecting treaties, agreements and conventions it enters into with other nations.

George Garang 
For:   Commissioner for Information and Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA 
3rd October 2002  - Nairobi
 

“This situation of paralysis leads our people to death”. Bishop of Rumbek, once again denounces with sorrowful tones the dramatic fate of which a great part of the population in South Sudan face due to the recent measures adopted by the Islamic regime of Khartoum. The humanitarian aid flights from overseas, which guaranteed aid to many poor people, have in fact been forbidden. Theoretically the aid flights should be substituted by similar humanitarian operations organised in the Sudanese territory, but the recent measure has put a stop to all kinds of support for vast areas throughout the country. “The lack of rain has produced terrible famine – explains Bishop Mazzolari – and the consignment of food provisions from overseas is an absolute necessity. Over 60 localities are unable to be reached, where the food situation has become a total emergency”. An aspect that profoundly hurts Bishop Mazzolari is that of indifference, which seems to encompass this event. “Deathlike silence has been cast upon this situation, better still, has taken many to their grave” says Bishop of Rumbek. The irony of Mazzolari is bitter and does not conceal the anxiety and pain for a future which appears evermore doubtful. “The international community cannot remain staring cannot continue to remain silent in front of this terrorist and inhuman behaviour of the Sudanese government”.

Rebels on Wednesday claimed to have destroyed a Canadian-operated oil rig in southern Sudan, cutting off the flow of oil, but oil company completely denied the report. 
In a statement issued in neighboring Nairobi, Kenya, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army claimed their commandos attacked and seriously damaged the main rig in the Unity oil fields near Heglig, 750 kilometers (465 miles) south of Khartoum. The attack was carried out Sept. 29, the statement said. 
"Initial reports indicate that it will take considerable amount of time to restore this facility to full operation," the statement, signed by George Garang, said. 
"The gallant commando units are poised to strike again to shut down exploration of oil which has resulted in massive human misery to the people of Southern Sudan and other marginalized areas," it added. 
But officials with the Talisman Energy Corp., based in Calgary, Canada, said the rebel reports were "completely false." 
"There was no attack; there was no battle," Ralph Capeling, the Khartoum general manager of Talisman, said. "Production and drilling are going as normal." 
He would not comment on why the rebels would make such a claim, which rebel officials insisted was true. Past rebel claims of damaging oil rigs in southern Sudan have been found to be exaggerated. 
Government officials were not immediately available for comment. 
Talisman operates the oil fields in southern Sudan and the oil leases are owned by Talisman and a consortium of state oil companies from Sudan, China and Malaysia. 
The SPLA has been fighting for autonomy for southern Sudan from the Islamic government in Khartoum since 1983, demanding religious freedom for southerners who follow mainly traditional beliefs or Christianity. The war is also about control of the region's resources, including the oil fields located along the dividing line between north and south. 
Critics of Sudan's government say it is using the oil revenues, estimated at $500 million last year, to build its military and persecute non-Muslims. 
Talisman officials have denied fueling the civil war in Sudan, which has left more than 2 million people dead from war, disease or hunger. They have set up aid programs to help people living near the fields. 

On Sunday 5th August 2001, the Sudan  People's Liberation Army (SPLA) forces of the Western Upper Nile (WUN) Command and special elements from the SPLA General Headquarters attacked and destroyed the main oil installation at Heglig.  The town of Heglig is the main nerve centre of the Greater Nile Petroleum Company (GNPC).  The GNPC is a consortium of four oil companies. These are Talisman Energy of Canada (25%), Petronas of  Malaysia (30%), China National Petroleum Corporation (40%) and the state owned Sudapet Limited (5%).  The raid which took place at 6.00am SLT was very successful as the flow of oil has now been disrupted.  The main oil installation building including offices and stores have been  badly damaged.  However, more details including casualties will follow.
While the attack at Heglig was in progress, SPLA forces in the area simultaneously raided Wangkai government military garrison as well as Bentiu town.  In both attacks Government of Sudan (GOS) suffered heavy losses in men and material.
The Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army  and the Sudan  Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLA/SPLM) Leadership congratulates Commander Peter Gadet, officers, NCOs and men of WUN command as well as Commander Bior Ajang of SPLA Headquarters and all the units under him who took part in the execution of these successful operations. 
The attack on Heglig is only the start  of the Movements' effort to stop exploration, development and export of oil until a final political settlement of the Sudan conflict is reached.  These operations will continue until this objective is achieved.
Finally, the Movement once again takes this opportunity to reiterate its earlier warning to oil companies that their investments whether in form of installation or otherwise, remain legitimate military target should they remain in the area.  Although the Movement does not target oil personnel, we call upon the oil companies to heed the voice of prudence  and seriously consider evacuation as these companies will be solely responsible for any collateral damage.

Dr. Samson L. Kwaje 
Commissioner for Information and
Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA

The SACBC said it was worried that "by negotiating new concessions in areas that have not been 'cleansed' of communities regarded by the Khartoum government as disposable", Soekor would "contribute to the escalation of the conflict in Sudan". 

"Oil is key to the war in Sudan. During our visits to Sudan, we saw for ourselves the results of the forced removal and displacement of tens of thousands of southern Sudanese to make the oilfields and pipeline safe from attack," said Cardinal Wilfred Napier, President of the SACBC, in a press statement.

"We are convinced that oil is at once a major cause of the war and a means used by Khartoum to increase its military capacity," he added. 

South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs told IRIN on Monday that it had no disagreement with Soekor or the Department of Mineral Affairs and Energy. Roger Ballard-Tremmer, Director for its North Africa Desk, said the department had briefed Soekor about the situation in Sudan, which was normal procedure, especially in sensitive situations like Sudan.

"We briefed them about the political and the economic sitiation. We are not prescriptive and we cannnot dictate to companies as to where they do business... all we can do is advise them," he said.

Ballard-Tremmer said that no decision was taken by Soekor about their plans for Sudan during that meeting, and that Foreign Affairs would, of course, continue to keep an eye on the situation. 

Soekor was formed in 1965 by the South African government and falls under the Department of Mineral Affairs and Energy. Its main purpose is to reduce the country's dependence on imported oil, and it explores for oil and gas off the South African coast as well as abroad, with a particular focus on Africa and the Middle East.

Earlier this month, a high-ranking delegation from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) visited Sudan. South Africa's deputy minister for minerals and energy, Susan Shubangu, was part of that delegation - officially as a party member and not in her capacity as deputy minister.

The South African bishops said their concern over Soekor's intentions had been confirmed by Shubangu's comments in Sudan, which stated the South African government's commitment to "developing relations with Khartoum in the areas of oil extraction and mining".

Cardinal Napier called on South African Mineral and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka "to intervene to stop this overt support for a party to the Sudan conflict that is seriously alleged to have committed serious violations of human rights".

In another development, the Russian-Belorussian oil company, Slavneft, announced on 20 July that it had signed a joint venture agreement to develop an oilfield in Sudan, and was now awaiting a production sharing agreement by the end of the year, Reuters reported. Slavneft said that analysis of data from the ninth oilfield and gas block in central Sudan had suggested the possible existence of several oilfields, the report said.

Slavneft had earlier said it was offered data from the ninth and 11th blocks, in central Sudan, and the 15th block on the Red Sea. The company said it was also considering a stake in the international consortium - which includes Gulf Petroleum of Qatar; the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and the Sudanese state oil firm SUDAPEC - exploring the Melut Basin in southern Sudan, Reuters reported. 

Most of Sudan's crude oil is currently produced in the 225,000 barrel-per-day Unity (Wahdah)/Western Upper Nile oilfield operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, comprising CNPC (which owns 40 percent), Malaysia's Petronas (30 percent), the Canadian firm Talisman Energy Inc (25 percent) and SUDAPEC (5 percent), it added. 

International oil companies operating in Sudan have come under fire from human rights organisations and church groups, which allege that Sudanese government troops and pro-government militias have been conducting rights abuses and depopulating oil concession areas to make way for oil production.

As recently as Saturday, US Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Andrew Natsios said he had raised as a particular concern the issue of government attacks on the Nubah Mountains. He cited reports from aid workers who had alleged that the army was displacing populations to clear the way for oil drilling, and said that military attacks in May had displaced 40,000 to 50,000 people. 

Meanwhile, Sudan on Sunday warned Kenya that it may stop importing Kenyan tea and coffee if the government there banned Sudanese oil imports. 

Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il said it was natural for Sudan to export oil to Kenya, and that any Kenyan government hindrance of the trade would have an adverse impact on both countries, AFP reported. Sudan imported US $150 million worth of Kenyan tea and coffee each year, leaving the balance of trades between the countries in Kenya's favour, he added.

On Wednesday 18 July, Sudan issued a press statement in which it defended the announcement by Kenya a week earlier that the country's oil companies had been given official permission to import oil from Sudan at zero tariff. 

Khartoum said that, in allowing the importation of goods without tariff, Kenya was merely fulfilling its duty under the terms of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), of which it was a founding member
.
Kenya came under pressure from human rights groups - and the US government, according to Sudanese news reports - to rescind that decision, and Isma'il's comments came in response to media queries about an alleged measure by the Kenyan authorities barring delivery of a Sudanese oil shipment to Kenya.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Sudanese Anglican Church living in Kenya said at the weekend that the country's role as a mediator of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development peace process would be compromised by its importation of oil from the Sudan.

At a church service in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, church leaders accused Khartoum of displacing more than two million people in southern Sudan in its quest for oil, and said that if Kenya imported oil from the regime, then it could not be trusted as a mediator in the Sudanese conflict. 

Financial Times; May 16, 2001
By David Bichan

Last year, the Foreign Office took the unusual step of publicly asking a British company to abandon one of its largest investments abroad. The company was Premier Oil and the country was Burma. The UK government argued that so oppressive was the local military dictatorship that no foreign investment that might prop it up should be allowed. 

Premier took the equally unusual step of ignoring its government's advice - and today goes part of the way towards explaining why. 

Its "social performance report", to be presented at the company's annual general meeting today, is hardly a resounding rebuff to the Foreign Office. It does not directly answer the UK government's point that Premier's presence in Burma gives the regime a badge of respectability and economic assistance through tax revenue. But it helps the case for constructive engagement in Burma, at least for the communities surrounding Premier's 70km pipeline, which transports the gas from the Andaman Sea into neighbouring Thailand. 

"It's not our company's role to question the money going to the government or what use it makes of it but rather to understand what our local impact is and to ensure it is as beneficial as possible," says Richard Jones, Premier's corporate responsibility manager. "This social performance report just measures social performance but it is our way of showing we are socially responsible." 

However, Mr Jones still believes the report to be a landmark. "No other extractive sector company of our size has undertaken such a thorough investigation of its status in relation to corporate social responsibility," he claims. Relative to other oil groups, Premier is tiny: 750 employees worldwide and a turnover last year of Pounds 115m. So far it is mainly high-profile oil companies such as Shell and BP that have felt impelled to produce corporate social responsibility reports, audited by their regular financial auditors, to account for their activities in tricky places such as Nigeria and Colombia. 

The only close parallel to Premier's dilemma in Burma is that of Canada's Talisman Energy in Sudan. Talisman has just produced a corporate social responsibility report to justify its involvement, along with Chinese and Malaysian oil companies, in an oil project at the centre of Sudan's long-running civil war and to ward off allegations of complicity in abuses by security forces and in displacing local people. 

PwC, auditor of the Talisman report, has been criticised by human rights groups for its limited verification of Talisman's claims, with auditors sticking to the oil concession areas and failing to take in the views of displaced refugees in southern Sudan. The issue has acquired particular sensitivity in the US. Some congressmen are demanding that the Securities and Exchange Commission suspend trading in Talisman shares. The SEC has not gone that far but is planning to demand additional disclosure from foreign companies listed in the US but doing business in countries, such as Sudan, embargoed by the US. 

Premier, by contrast, started to act earlier and a bit differently. It began preparing its social performance audit in late 1999, several months before the Foreign Office made its demarche. And because of its limited resources it got EQ Management, a social responsibility consultancy with former Body Shop executives among its founders, and Alyson Warhurst, professor of strategy and international development at Warwick University, to frame the scope of the report; Compass Research, an Australian-owned market research agency in Burma, to ask the questions; and Warwick University's corporate citizenship unit to do the auditing. 

Contracting out the study has the virtue of making it look more independent. "In the audit of Shell's report on Nigeria, KPMG goes out to verify the data given to them. We, on the other hand, have got outsiders to gather as well as verify the data," says Mr Jones. 

The data in this first Premier report, which covers only the views of employees, local communities and shareholders, contain little that is pipeline, but are not employed by the company, complain about a rise in local prices, which they cannot afford. That is a common feature of oil money flowing into undeveloped areas. Some Burmese, evidently worried about the gas pipe exploding even though it is buried, also say they would like more technical information from Premier. Evidently this is the sort of information their military rulers would not give them. 

Premier's future social audits may be more controversial, because the company says it will cover not only business partners and sub-contractors but also aid agencies and "displaced communities" in Burma. The latter two groups may have views more along the lines of Her Majesty's government.  For the moment, however, there is almost an agreement to disagree between Premier and the Foreign Office. British diplomats stressed last week that it is not Premier's business practices in Burma that are suspect but the fact that it is there at all. Yet the company's presence has been useful to the UK government for the release of James Mawdesley, a human rights activist, from his Burmese jail cell last year. "We were uniquely positioned as a passer of messages (between London and Rangoon)," says Mr Jones. 

For its part, the Foreign Office now seems disposed to let Premier subscribe to a code of security principles that the UK and US governments drew last year for oil and mining companies to follow in unstable countries. Last December, Premier was excluded from joining BP, Shell and others as initial signatories because of its presence in Burma. This could change when the code is reviewed later this year. 

Certainly Premier is keen to join. It may also be able to pass on to others what it has learnt. Petronas, the Malaysian state oil company, has been sounding out Premier on the issue of social responsibility. This is scarcely surprising. Petronas owns 25 per cent of Premier and is the company's partner in Burma. But Petronas also happens to be Talisman's partner in Sudan. 
 

By Cathy Majtenyi

A minimum of 42,000 people living in the Nuba Mountains of central Sudan may face starvation later this year unless emergency food and other supplies are flown into the area, a team of food security experts has recently warned.

Poor rains, soil erosion, loss of soil fertility, aerial bombardment of the area by the Sudanese government, and a lack of access to the fertile lowlands because of the on-going war are the major factors for this food shortage, concludes a report released in mid-April by the Nairobi-based Nuba Mountains Food Security Working Group.

The report, titled "Food Security in the Nuba Mountains 2001 - Situation, Needs, and Recommendations," calls for the provision of 200 metric tonnes of donated grain; 21 metric tonnes of dressed seed; six two-wheeled mini-tractors complete with fuel, basic spare parts, and tools; an array of essential livestock drugs; and US$450,000 to pay for transportation costs.

"If these additional interventions can be implemented in time. The assessment concludes that not only will the risk of hunger-induced mortality/migration be minimised but also that agricultural production for this coming season could be safe-guarded," says the April 18 report.

The report follows two months of investigation by a team of seven Nuba and expatriate food security experts. They walked 500 kilometres, surveying households using rapid rural appraisal and household budgeting techniques. They concluded that a minimum of 42,000 people need help. The Nuba Food Security Working Group, which consists of six non-government organisations, is now looking at ways to cope with the impending famine.

But that is no small task. To begin with, since 1992, the Sudanese government has sealed off the Nuba Mountains from all contact with the outside world, in part to flush out forces of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M).  The United Nations has been unable to negotiate access through its Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) initiative; all access to the Nuba Mountains is illegal.  According to an agreement signed in 1989 between Khartoum and the OLS, the Nuba Mountains are considered to be a part of northern Sudan and is therefore ineligible to receive food and other aid.

The UN did receive permission to send an assessment mission into the Nuba Mountains in 1998, says Waren Awad, assistant food security program officer with the Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation, and Development Organisation (NNRDO), which is a member of the food security working group. "But so far no aid has been given to the Nuba Mountains," he says.

The ramifications of this isolation for the people on the ground, as well as the fall-out from the internal displacement and the food insecurity situation, are enormous, says an aid worker who prefers not to be identified. "The choices [for the people] are either to move to the peace villages in government-held areas or to suffer the indignity of starvation.

"The vast majority of people who stay in the SPLM-held territories have made this conscious decision to stay, because they very much fear that the whole Nuba culture is going to be wiped out. Because they make that choice, they suffer as a consequence," said the aid worker. 

And the random bombing of the area by the Sudanese government makes it all but impossible to even investigate the situation. For instance, the head of the food security team was sitting in a small aircraft on the Kauda airstrip on the morning of April 17 on his way back to Nairobi when an Antonov swooped down and dropped 14 bombs around the airstrip. On the ground were several hundred people - including Bishop
Max Macram of El Obeid, Africanews correspondent Stephen Amin, and Koinonia President Fr. Renato Kizito Sesana - to see the aircraft off and to welcome another in-coming airplane loaded with food and other supplies. Both airplanes managed to escape; two Nubans were killed on the ground.

If the Nuba Mountains Food Security Working Group is able to dodge the flight ban and the bombs and actually deliver the food and other aid, it will be the first time that such a large-scale relief intervention will be introduced into the Nuba Mountains, says Awad. And that may have unintended, negative spin-offs unless it is handled properly, he says.

For instance, since last year, the NRRDO has been working with the Nuba Economic Commission (NEC) on a programme called the Commodity Injection Pilot (CIP), designed to build up economic markets in the Nuba Mountains as a way of ensuring self-sufficient economic development and food security.

Before that, households had been receiving cash in an earlier programme called Cash Injection/Local Purchase. The idea was that people who needed food could purchase surplus food from farmers, which would form the beginnings of a market. However, people also used the cash to buy salt, soap, thread, batteries, and other supplies from Jellaba Arab traders from outside the Nuba Mountains; hence, the money left the area.

In this newest project, the NEC purchases commodities from outside and re-sells them to local traders, who then sell them to consumers. Prices are cheaper than those that the Jellaba traders charge, and cash stays in circulation in the Nuba Mountains.

But a large injection of food supplies might distort the fledgling market, says Awad. "Grain would be flown from outside the area. I think it would be a matter of relief rather than providing an occasion for running this food security programme. Generally in the Nuba Mountains, relief is not a good thing.

"It would be much better if the grain was produced locally," he says. "We need some aid, but only that people could be able to produce for themselves next year. By nature, Nuba people produce their own grain."

According to a press statement by the Sudanese foreign ministry following a meeting between Sudanese officials and European Union (EU) ambassadors in Khartoum, Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin explained steps taken by his government and UNICEF for putting an end to the practice of abduction of children and women by "local tribes" in Bahr el-Ghazal. 

Yassin called upon the EU to back efforts for "eradicating this phenomenon" and invited the EU representatives to offer "practical proposals" for that purpose. 

The minister answering questions raised by the EU side about abduction, the Public Order Act and freedom of belief and worship, the statement added. 

In response to a question on the infamous Public Order Act, Yassin said his ministry was the first to criticise this act and the human rights violations carried out by the Public order Police. 

The law, which applies only to Khartoum state, was discussed by the Council of Ministers which formed a committee under the chairmanship of the justice ministry for studying the Act with a view to replacing it with a nation-wide one that "is fair and free of human rights violations," Yassin added. 

The United Nations human rights investigator for Sudan called on Thursday on foreign oil companies to ensure that their operations in the war-torn country do not abet violations including forced evictions. 

Gerhart Baum, who took up the independent post three months ago and visited Sudan from March 9 to 17, accused the Islamist government of bombing civilians in the rebellious south and forcibly uprooting local populations to allow oil exploitation. 

The German lawyer, in a speech to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, said both government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the main rebel group in the 18-year civil war, continued to kill, abduct, rape and starve civilians.

But Baum stopped short of calling on Western and Asian oil companies -- which include Canada's Talisman Energy Inc and Sweden's Lundin -- to suspend oil activities. 

Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who remains a member of parliament and serves as U.N. envoy to the Balkans, is a key board member of Lundin. He said last week that the foreign presence brought Sudan possibilities for peace and development. 

Rights groups say that revenue from crude exports that began in 1999 is helping to pay for the war waged by the Arabic-speaking north against rebels seeking autonomy for the black African, non-Muslim south. Last week, a Sudanese opposition group called on firms to suspend oil operations. 

"During my visit I gathered further evidence that oil exploitation leads to an exacerbation of the conflict with serious consequences on civilians," Baum told the main U.N. rights body, holding its annual six-week session in Geneva. 

"...I received information whereby the government is resorting to forced eviction of local population and destruction of villages to depopulate areas and allow for oil operations to proceed unimpeded," he said. 

Baum declared: "While the main responsibility for stopping this forced displacement is with the parties to the conflict, I appeal to all oil companies operating in Sudan to fully comply with their corporate responsibilities with a view to minimising any negative impact of their operations, particularly before planning new ones." 

Government officials had informed him of the "social benefits" linked to oil exploitation and had assured him that "displaced individuals are compensated accordingly", he added. 

Asian oil firms also active 

The U.N. envoy said that he would continue to monitor "the link between oil exploitation and human rights abuses". 

Baum told reporters that he hoped to visit the oil areas in the autumn at government invitation. He noted that Chinese and Malaysian oil companies were active in Sudan's nascent industry. 

Talisman ran into a storm of criticism after taking a 25 percent stake in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), a consortium producing nearly 200,000 barrels per day of oil from Unity state in southern Sudan. Its partners are Chinese, Malaysian and Sudanese state oil companies. 

In January, Talisman's general manager in Sudan, Ralph Capeling, told Reuters that the firm was making a "significant contribution" by providing schools, clinics and water wells. 

Rather than heed U.S.-backed calls for divestment from Sudan, Talisman shareholders last year backed the principle of monitoring compliance with an international code of ethics for Canadian business and voted for an independently audited report on its operations in Sudan to be completed within a year. 

Baum also met seven opposition politicians, arrested in December while meeting a U.S. diplomat, whom he said had been held in solitary confinement in a Khartoum prison for 75 days. 

They face trial next week on charges of spying and plotting to overthrow the government. 

Gerhart Baum, who visited Khartoum and Nairobi from March 9 to 17, told a news briefing here that Sudan was trying to improve its international image. 

He said the situation had gotten better, although he said serious violations continued. "During my visit I gathered further evidence that oil exploitation leads to an exacerbation of the conflict and bears consequences to civilians," he said. 

He was speaking before presenting a report to the 53-member UN Human Rights  Commission, currently holding its annual session here. 

Baum said he had received information that the authorities were resorting to the forced eviction of people and destruction of villages to depopulate  areas. 

He said the main responsibility for stopping displacement was for the parties in the conflict. But he added: "I appeal to all oil companies operating in Sudan to fully comply with their corporate responsibilities with a view to minimize any negative impact of their operations." Arbitary arrests, the kidnapping of women and children and bombings remain major concerns for the German rapporteur, who hopes to visit Sudan again later in the year. 

First: At about 4:00 p.m. today Wednesday, March 28,2001, more than twenty armed Security Forces elements in four pick up cars raided "Abdel Majeed Imam Cultural Centre" at Safia of Khartoum North. 23 individuals including 4 ladies were at the centre at that time and all were arrested.

Second: All the detainees were taken to the Security Offices north of Faroug Cemetery where they are severely beaten and tortured. They are also filmed using a video camera. A citizen named Ahmed Aljinaih was especially targeted during the torture. Up to 11:00 p.m. only Miss Sumaia Mubarak, the centre administrator, is released.

Third: All the centre assets including the furniture, a library, and original paintings were confiscated and instantly removed. A store belonging to the landlord, Ambassador Ahmed Yousif Altinai, was broken and searched. A hunting rifle belonging to the landlord was also confiscated.

Fourth: Abdel Majeed Imam Cultural Centre is an institution licensed and registered with Sudan Ministry of Culture.

Fifth: Arresting and torturing these citizens, and, confiscating the assets of the above mentioned centre violates the rights to life, personal and property safety, the freedom of expression, and the freedom of association as provided for by the Constitution of the Republic of Sudan (1998) and the international conventions ratified by the Government of Sudan in 1986. 

The Sudanese Human Rights Group (SHRG)

March 28, 2001
 

Roger Gallaway, one of three members of parliament to have visited Sudan earlier this month on a trip partly financed by Talisman Energy, said he was shocked by media reports of comments made by Secretary of State for Africa and Latin America David Kilgour. 

“That company (Talisman) is behaving in a way that is unacceptable to any fair-minded, knowledgeable Canadian." Kilgour was quoted as saying. "Canadians who hold shares in Talisman should sell them." 

Quizzed on this in parliament, Kilgour did not confirm or deny that he made those remarks. "The government of Canada does not call for the divestiture of shares in any company, including Talisman," he said. 

"The government of Canada is very concerned about the incalculable suffering that is going on among the people of southern Sudan and we call on all companies involved in Sudan to make sure they do everything they can to bring that tragedy to an end." 

Gallaway said Kilgour should "retract his statements or, in fact, do the honourable thing" and resign from the cabinet if the statements attributed to him were accurate. Gallaway said he had not contacted Kilgour to verify the statements. 

Gallaway, another Liberal MP and a member of the opposition Canadian Alliance, visited Egypt and Sudan earlier this month. Gallaway said the trip was financed by the National Council on Canadian-Arab Relations. 

That group is largely financed by Talisman, a member of the controversial Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company consortium, along with Chinese and Malaysian partners, producing oil in the war-ravaged south of the country. 

Human-rights activists have accused the consortium of helping finance the Sudanese government's efforts to crush the rebellion in the south. 

Gallaway also agreed at the press conference that he and his fellow MPs had flown from Khartoum to Southern Sudan on board a private plane owned by the consortium and that the members of parliament had not contributed to the costs   of the flight. 

But he strongly denied that he had been influenced by what a New Democrat (left of centre) member of parliament described as "a junket paid for by Talisman." 

Gallaway, who said he met with human-rights and church groups as well as members of the Sudanese opposition, claimed Wednesday: "Every individual and group met stated conditions would be worse in the terms of the environment and human rights if Talisman were to withdraw. 

"In fact, we could find no one who would say that Talisman should get out of Sudan. Some complimented Talisman for their community development initiatives, while some said they could do more." 

The New Democrat MP, Svend Robinson, who was not on the trip to Sudan (and Egypt), said after Gallaway's press conference: "What we have witnessed is a complete, blanket whitewash of Talisman following a junket paid for by Talisman." 

Robinson insisted there was clear evidence of "Talisman's complicity in this bloody war." 
 

Washington, March 28 – 2001 (AFP) - US lawmakers on Wednesday, accusing oil companies of indirectly supporting the war in Sudan, said the oil firms operating in that African country should be banned from borrowing money on US capital markets.

"Given the connection between oil development and the Sudan government's prosecution of the war, we recommend that foreign companies engaged in the development of Sudan's oil and gas fields be prohibited from raising money in US capital markets," said congressman Donald Payne.

Payne's call, made at a congressional hearing, came a week after Sudanese opposition similarly appealed to foreign oil companies to freeze their activities in Sudan, saying the Islamist government in Khartoum was using the revenues to finance its war in the south.

The British-based charity Christian Aid earlier this month also called on oil companies to suspend operations in Sudan because of atrocities it blamed on the Sudanese government and "sponsored militias".

The charity said that tens of thousands of civilians have been killed or displaced in a policy to drive them from oil fields in Sudan.

A growing number of foreign firms have become involved in developing Sudan's oil fields despite a raging 18-year civil war between successive Islamist governments in Khartoum and the mainly Animist and Christian south.

With reserves estimated at more than one billion barrels and current production at 200,000 barrels per day, Sudan became an oil exporter in September 1999.

Crude output is expected to rise to 400,000 barrels a day, according to estimates from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

An increasing number of oil companies are involved in oil prospection and production in Sudan. They include CNPC of China, Petronas of Malaysia, Talisman of Canada, Gulf Oil of Qatar, OMV of Austria, and Lundin of Sweden.

British Petroleum holds shares in PetroChina, whose mother company is CNPC, and the French firm Total has a broad concession in Sudan where it cannot prospect because of the fighting.

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney told the hearing that airstrips and roads being built by oil companies were being used to attack civilians in the brutal war.

"People are being bombed and strafed with the knowledge and complicity of Talisman energy," she accused.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has undertaken a review toward US policy on Sudan and is being urged by lawmakers to appoint a special envoy to deal with the country and its Islamic government, said last week he continued to assess the situation there.

But McKinney took President George W. Bush's administration to task for its apparent lack of decisions. "Does Africa even exist in the Bush administration?" she asked.
 

Repeating its view that Sudan is "the world's most violent abuser of the right to freedom of religion and belief," the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today called on the Bush administration and Congress to step up efforts to help end that country's 18-year civil war. The fighting has killed some 2 million people and displaced 4 million others.

In a series of recommendations, the Commission called for the appointment of a prominent special envoy to work for an end to the war but urged the President not to name an ambassador to Sudan at this time.  It also recommended increasing the amount of food aid to be delivered outside channels that the Khartoum government can veto and stepping up assistance to southern Sudan and the opposition National Democratic Alliance.  Other recommendations include diplomacy to pressure Sudan's government into stopping its slave raids and its air raids on civilian and humanitarian targets; strengthened economic sanctions; and a new requirement for foreign companies doing business in Sudan to disclose those activities to American investors when raising funds in U.S. capital markets.

The recommendations follow up on those the Commission made in its first Annual Report delivered May 1, 2000.  "The government of Sudan continues to commit egregious human rights abuses ? including widespread bombing of civilian and humanitarian targets, abduction and enslavement by government-sponsored militias, manipulation of humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war, and severe restrictions on religious freedom," the Commission found.  "While the Clinton Administration did take some steps to address the situation ? its actions fell well short of the comprehensive, sustained campaign that the Commission believes is commensurate with the Sudanese government's abuses.  The Commission urges the Bush administration to mount such a campaign."

Commissioner David Saperstein, speaking for the Commission at a press conference, urged the following:

1.   The U.S. government should appoint a nationally prominent individual who enjoys the trust and confidence of President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell and who has appropriate authority and access whose sole responsibility is directed to bringing about a peaceful and just settlement of the war in Sudan and an end to the religious freedom abuses and humanitarian atrocities committed by the Sudanese government.  The U.S. should not appoint an ambassador to Sudan at this time.

2.   The U.S. government should continue to increase the amount of its humanitarian assistance that passes outside of both Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) and should press OLS to deliver aid wherever it is needed, especially the Nuba Mountains, with or without the approval of the Sudanese government.

3.   The U.S. government should increase its assistance to southern Sudan and the opposition National Democratic Alliance.

4.   The U.S. government should launch a major diplomatic initiative aimed at enlisting international pressure, to stop the Sudanese government's bombing of civilian and humanitarian targets; ground attacks on civilian villages, feeding centers, and hospitals; slave raids; and instigation of tribal warfare.

5.   The U.S. government should strengthen economic sanctions against Sudan and should urge other countries to adopt similar policies.  The U.S. should prohibit any foreign company from raising capital or listing its securities in U.S. markets as long as it is engaged in the development of oil and gas fields in Sudan.  The U.S. government should not issue licenses permitting the import of gum arabic from Sudan to the United States.

6.   Companies that are doing business in Sudan should be required to disclose the nature and extent of that business in connection with their access to U.S. capital markets.

7.   The U.S. government should intensify its support for the peace process and for the Declaration of Principles, and make a just and lasting peace a top priority of this administration's global agenda.

8.   The U.S. government should work to increase human rights and media reporting on abuses in Sudan, including supporting, diplomatically and financially, the placement of human rights monitors in southern Sudan and in surrounding countries where refugee populations are present. 

Commissioner Laila Al-Marayati issued separate concurring opinions regarding Recommendations 3 and 5.

The complete text of the Commission's latest report on Sudan can be obtained on its Web site at www.uscirf.gov, or from the communications office at (202) 523-3240, ext. 27.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to give independent recommendations to the executive branch and the Congress.

The Khartoum regime's drive to become a major oil producer is systematically killing Sudan's Southern citizens and destroying their homes. Backed by Western and Asian companies, this is proceeding apace, despite a growing but ineffectual chorus of international condemnation. Khartoum's current dry season offensive is distinguished from others by an intense focus on oil, as the National Islamic Front government fights to extend the investors' grip on installations and concessions, and its own grip on power. (Though the NIF now calls itself the 'National Congress', with Hassan Abdullah el Turabi's 'Popular National Congress' as the 'opposition', Sudanese still call the whole thing, the Jebha' (Front), including 'El Turabi's faction', AC Vol 41 No 4).
The Western oil companies, if not the Asian ones, are working overtime on their images. Talisman, lead company in the consortium now pumping out some 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), is Canada's largest independent energy supplier. It has hired United States' public relations firm Hill and Knowlton (once champion of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International) and has created a social responsibility unit to demonstrate its good intentions. Now it has launched a newsletter, 'HOPE', which proclaims how Sudan pipeline project staff get human rights training, and parades an upcoming ethical audit. A casual reader might infer that Talisman is more interested in building schools and clinics than in extracting oil in a war zone.

Corporate contributions to peace and development

Sweden's Swiss-based Lundin Oil, which operates in war-torn Congo-Kinshasa, also touts its social responsibility. 'We believe that contributing, to the economic development of the area improves the chances of peace and the conditions of the local population,' says Ian H. Lundin, son of founder Adolf Lundin. 'Our presence has provided employment opportunities, mobility and access to fresh water. We also plan to, establish medical and educational facilities for the local communities.' But, as a series of independent reports confirms, most of the local people have been driven away or killed, so the beneficiaries are government-approved migrants. Some 'safe' areas are fast being settled by farmers from the North (as happens in Nuba areas).
Dinka and Nuer people around the Heglig and Unity fields north of Bentiu came under heavy attack in the mid 1980s and the 1990s. Unity is Block 1, Heglig is Block 2. A 1,600 kilometre pipeline from Heglig to the Red Sea was completed in September 1999 opening the way for exploration in Nuer Western Upper Nile, which bas been devastated ever since. The latest onslaught is directed against a wide swathe of Eastern Upper Nile, where a new consortium headed by the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) began exploration in Block 3 this month.
The concession covers 72,400 square km., mainly of the Upper Nile region, where government backed militias controlled by Commander Biel Chuol from Longochok have driven off tens of thousands of southerners in recent months. United Nations' officials and southern church leaders fear a catastrophic famine this year as a result. The UN said 600,000 people face starvation; others say double that number are threatened.
The offensive in Eastern Upper Nile reached new heights in January. Government militias coming from Adar, where there is an operational oilfield, attacked Dhowanyawa village near Guelguk. In the .South, militias can consist of the government's People's Defence Forces (PDF); press ganged youths and Islamist zealots; the Southem forces of politicians coopted by Khartoum, often temporarily; and the government paid Murahileen, Arabic speakers from the north-south border areas out for booty and adventure. Local chiefs say that the villages of Tenykak, Mangok and Kolegit were then attacked and their people chased towards Udier by militiamen. The chiefs said the attacks began at night and that government forces, some on camels, avoided the barracks of Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon's Sudan Popular Defence Forces (SPDF), now again at odds with the NIF government, in order to target civilians. Tenykak lost at least 57 people in the attack.
The UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan has put the area off-limits; a relief worker outside the OLS described the attack: 'Parents who had fled the shooting and in the ensuing chaos could not find their children, children running and not finding their parents, people who arrived naked having been stripped and beaten, people who were caught and tied up in a hut which was set on fire.'
Relief officials and chiefs agreed that the aim of the offensive was to drive civilians from the Guelguk area, to allow oil exploration to proceed unimpeded. OLS sources, not allowed to speak out, privately say they believe the offensive also aims move out the relief agencies who might report the atrocities (a tactic used in the Nuba Mountains).
Government militias attacked Mading, north east of Nasir, and buried anti-personnel mines inside the compound of one non governmental organisatio, outside the Primary Health Centre and at a water point. At Uleng, militiamen sprayed the empty compound of a US refugee agency, the International Rescue Committee. with machine gun and rocket fire, shouting: 'We're going to take UN workers!'
Taban Deng Gai was the elected governor of Unity State (ex-province) but fled for his life under threat from the army last year. He told Africa Confidential that the government had budgeted US $ IO million dollars for militias in the current offensive. A Nuer from Upper Nile, Taban Deng became Minister of State for Roads in the national government when he left Unity. He said he had asked for southerners to benefit from the oil through jobs and roads but was refused. Soon after his defection, two of his regional ministers, Louis Keah Madut (Engineering Affairs) and Chuoc Dekier (Social and Cultural Affairs, a Muslim) were killed, reportedly on the orders of a senior minister. Taban claimed that before defecting from Khartoum in January, he had attended a meeting at military headquarters, when it was decided to pay each militiaman 50,000 Sudanese pounds ($20, well over a month's income in rural areas) for every operation in which he participated and £Sud 700,OOO compensation if his horse or camel were killed. He said oil money made such payments possible. The real prize was booty. 'Any cattle is his. Any child fallen captive is his.' This helps explain the current revival of the slave trade.
Campaigners against foreign investment in Sudan's oil industry say that some of the money financing the war in Eastern Upper Nile could come indirectly from British Petroleum, now joined with the USA' s Amoco. BP Amoco, which is the first oil company to sign the UN Declaration of Human Rights (after being, criticised in Colombia), has announced investment of $1 billion in PetroChina, a subsidiary formed by CNPC as a vehicle for raising money on international stock markets. Now CNPC has taken a 23 per cent stake in the concession in Eastern Upper Nile. PetroChina is an important source of funds for its operations. So BPAmoco now is under pressure to sell its shares in PetroChina but it has told the campaigners there is a 'firewall' between PetroChina and CNPC. In fact the heavy control of information about Chinese state companies such as CNPC makes drawing any conclusions problematic.
Southern opposition to the government's oil offensive has been weakened by factional fighting. Just as it has fuelled northern divisions in the National Democratic Alliance, the NIF has split southerners along ethnic lines, especially among the Nuer of Upper Nile Bahr el Ghazal. The SPDF's Peter Parr gets his guns through the government militia of General Paulino Matip; Peter Gadet, a former commander under Matip, fights in the anti government Sudan People's Liberation Army. The fend between them dates back to 1999, when Gadet was blamed by the SPDF for devastating Leer, Rick Machar's home town. Last year, in Block 5a south-east of Bentiu government troops and militias cleared the way for a 100 km road between Lundin Oil's supply base at Rub Kona and its wells at Thar Jath. Parr's forces in the area resisted and forced Lundin to suspend its operations in February 2000, citing 'logistical difficulties' but failing to mention the war. Sources in the SPDF have told us Matip offered Parr ammunition for the fight against his old enemy Gadet. With Parr beaten back, the government won a double victory: opposition to Lundin's oil road melted away and fighting between Nuer factions continued to drive people out of oil rich Western Upper Nile.
Gadet told Africa Confidential he had sought reconciliation with Parr. He said he had sent two commanders with a 50 man escort to talk to Parr, within weeks of his defection from Matip in 1999 but Parr's forces killed them all in the SPDF controlled village of Koch. A European aid agency says its members saw the bodies. Gadet said he ordered a second peace delegation to turn around in mid journey some months later, after being warned of another trap. The blood feud is now beyond control. Senior SPLA sources say that their Chairman, Colonel John Garang de Mabior, contacted Gadet by radio to urge him to cease his attacks on Parr but Gadet cut the radio connection.

Redrawing the map

Lundin Oil has completed its Rub Kona-Thar Jath road, which offers government forces a new route into inaccessible areas of Western Upper Nile. Local chiefs have reported segments of pipe being transported south to Thar Jath, which needs an extension to the Heglig Port Sudan pipeline. Having depopulated the route in a year long offensive (documented by Christian Aid in a new report on the war, The Scorched Earth), Khartoum is now changing the map. Confirming Lundin's discovery of a new field with a proven capacity of 4,620 bpd, Hassan Ali el Tom, Under-secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mining, said last week that the new field was 'in northern Sudan, on the border with the south.' In fact the field, south of Lundin's original wells at Thar Jalh, lies deep in Southern territory where Nuer ownership was never disputed until oil was discovered.
Christian Aid has called on foreign companies to suspend investment and involvement in oil immediately. It said the companies were complicit in the NIF's war, crucially because they rely on security forces responsible for human rights abuses and have failed to investigate those abuses. It said this failure encourages the government to believe it enjoys impunity. Belatedly, the opposition umbrella, the NDA, echoed these calls on 21 March. In February, the Presbyterian Church of the United States joined others in recommending divestment from Talisman. Ottawa's concern is growing - unlike, it would appear, most European governments, whose companies are doing well out of the oil boom. Euro-governments argue the war is another reason for ‘constructive engagement' with the NIF.
So the oil campaign comes, mainly from Western NGOs but it is growing. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, currently in the media spotlight in Macedonia as UN Special Representative to the Balkans, is on Lundin's board. Last week, pressed by journalists, he acknowledged that reports of abuses surrounding oil exploitation in Block 5a were 'partially correct'. Then citing an issue 'of principle', the head of the Consular Department of Stockholm's Foreign Ministry (and foreign policy advisor to Bildt when he was Premier), Jonas Hafström, resigned from the board of Rostock Oil, which Swedish media say is Lundin's Russian operation. Lundin sent Christine Batroch, an investigator whom it said had human rights credentials, to Block 5a. As we went to press, it was due to hold an emergency board meeting to review the situation.
Khartoum is determined to press ahead, however. It has sold oil concessions across the south, as far as the Ugandan border, in opposition controlled areas. This will only exacerbate the war and its human cost.

Foreign companies benefiting from the oil bonanza include:

The pipeline: built by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the line consists half of Chinese pipe, half of pipes supplied by the Euro-pipe Consortium (mainly Germany's Mannesmann, British Steel (now Chorus) and a French company). Denim Pipeline Construction Limited and Roll'n Oil Field Industries, both of Calgary, Canada, contracted for some oilfield and pipeline work.

Pumping stations were manufactured by Weir Pumps of Glasgow, which was retrenching until this work came along. Weir's first contract, in January 1998, was estimated to be worth around US $ 50 million. Weir hints that the second contract was far less valuable. The new pumping stations could boost the line's capacity, now about 250,000 barrels per day, or serve a new parallel line if output reached 400,000 bpd.

Equipment and operational support from Britain's Rolls Royce PLC (not to be confused with the car maker, now German). Allen Diesel, part of the same group via Rolls Royce Power, has supplied '34 diesel engines to pump oil along the national pipeline and for power generation purposes'. Rolls Royce also says it supplies 12?20 expatriate engineers at any one time. Its local partner is DAL Engineering.

Firefighting equipment is courtesy of Britain's Angus Fire.

The Port Sudan Marine Terminal (Beshayir) gave work to Argentina's Techint International Construction. 

Concessions: 

Blocks 1 and 2 (Heglig and Unity) are operational. They involve CNPC 40%, Malaysia's Petronas Karigali 30%, Talisman 25%, Sudan National Petroleum Co. (Sudapet) 5%.

Block 3, Adar Yale (operational, expanding): Gulf Petroleum Corporation Sudan: Gulf Oil (Qatar) 46%, CNPC 23%, Thani Corporation (United Arab Emirates) 23%, Sudapet 8%.

Block 5a, south east of Bentiu (testing): International Petroleum Corp./Lundin Oil 40.375%, Petronas 28.5%, Austria's OMV 26.125%, Sudapet 5%.

Block B and the 'Papyrai' block in Bahr el Ghazal (suspended since 1985) held by TotalFinaElf (France, Belgium).

Lundin (Adolf Lundin holds 25 per cent) operates as Lundin Sudan Ltd. OMV's wholly owned subsidiary is OMV (Sudan) Exploration GmbH. Royal Dutch Shell (Britain, Netherlands) has refined and sold fuel since colonial times. It's now under NGO pressure for selling it to the Sudanese armed forces: it says it doesn't 'discriminate between customers'. Army and government spokesmen boast that local oil boosts military purchases and helps their war effort.

Sudanese government military aircraft continue to bomb civilian and humanitarian targets throughout southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains. 
On March 8 and 9 Sudanese government planes bombed Kauda, in the Nuba Mountains.  This is the same locale where a school was bombed last year, killing 14 children and injuring 18 others.  Two days ago, on March 14, the Sudanese government bombed Mankien with as yet unknown casualties. 
The total number of bombings confirmed this year by the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) stands at 20.  This is almost certainly an understatement of the frequency of actual bombing by the Sudanese government as it often takes weeks to confirm bombings in remote locations, particularly where the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan is not present.  For example, an additional 10 bombings in Blue Nile Province have been reported since February 1, but have not yet been adequately confirmed by USCR and sources in the field. 
The presence of UN or other humanitarian agency relief personnel is no deterrent to Sudanese government bombing.   On February 22, for example, Padit in Upper Nile Province was bombed while the World Food Program (WFP) was preparing an aerial food drop there.  Such food drops attract civilians, who are the targets of Khartoum's bombing campaign.  In this instance, three bombs reportedly struck the food-drop zone and a fourth fell within 50 meters of a WFP compound. 
"Only one side in Sudan's conflict has planes:  the Khartoum government," said Roger P. Winter, executive director of USCR.  "Khartoum's bombing is meant to kill, maim, displace, and terrorize civilians caught up in the midst of the world's worst humanitarian nightmare." 
Winter added, "We applaud the editorial board of the Washington Post for today calling on the Bush Administration to make “a serious, high-profile attempt to pressure Sudan's oil partners” to bring the Sudanese government to the peace table." 
"The UN says little and does nothing about this.  Most Western governments, including Canada, turn a blind eye.  America and the Bush Administration appear to be their last, best hope." 
The U.S. Committee for Refugees is a private, non profit humanitarian organization that works for the protection and assistance of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons around the world. 
For more information, visit our web site at www.refugees.org 
 

Oil companies operating in Sudan are complicit in the systematic depopulating of 
large areas of the country and atrocities against civilians, tens of thousands of whom 
have been killed and displaced from the areas around the oil fields, according to a 
report to be published today. 

Christian Aid, in a searing report on the consequences of Sudan's new oil bonanza, 
accuses the oil companies of deep involvement in the government's war machine 
against southern civilians. 

The companies are protected by government forces and allow their airstrips and roads 
to be used by the military, while the revenues from oil are funding expansion of the 
war, the report says. 

The report includes dozens of eyewitness accounts from villages where people have 
been driven out by bombing and ground attacks. 

"Oil has brought death," said one Nuer chief, Malony Kolang. "When the pumping 
began, the war began. Antonovs and helicopter gunships began attacking the villages. 
All the farms have been destroyed, everything around the oil fields has been 
destroyed." 

Christian Aid's report calls on foreign oil companies - from Canada, Sweden, China, 
France and Austria - to suspend their operations in Sudan. It also calls for BP and 
Shell to divest their shares in firms whose parent company is involved. 

The report accuses the oil companies of trying to distance themselves from the 
catastrophe of southern Sudan by claiming they are not responsible for the behaviour 
of companies in which they are shareholders. 

BP said last night it had no intention of disposing of its interests in PetroChina 
"because there is no reason why we should". The Chinese company, in which BP 
bought a $578m stake 12 months ago, is not active in Sudan, although its parent 
group, China National Petroleum Corporation, (CNPC) is. 

Toby Odone, a spokesman for BP, insisted there was no operational connection 
between PetroChina and CNPC. "When PetroChina did its IPO [listing on the US 
stock market] it assured the Securities & Exchange Commission that it had no 
interests in Sudan because of the sanctions issue," he explained. 

A Shell spokesman said it had no exploration or production interests in Sudan either 
directly or through its Chinese partner Sinopec. Dave Stuart said: "Although Sinopec 
did at one stage control interests in Sudan as a result of the restructuring of the 
Chinese state oil industry, that stake was moved back to CNPC during 1999." 

He said Shell would not agree to Christian Aid demands that it withdraw from its 
shareholding in Sinopec because there was no connection between Sinopec and 
CNPC. 

Rolls Royce admits it provided 34 diesel engines to help pump oil along a 1,000-mile 
pipeline from Sudan's oil fields to an export terminal on the Red Sea. 

Martin Brody, a Rolls Royce spokesman, said the company always took advice from 
the British government on where it could do business but also had its own criteria. He 
added: "As a supplier of equipment we always take a responsible view of our actions. 
We gave a lot of information to Christian Aid and will need to look at its report in 
more detail." 

Glasgow-based Weir Group is also being criticised for a £20m contract to provide 
equipment for pumping stations on the same pipeline. Emrys Inker, a spokesman for 
Weir, confirmed its involvement in Sudan but said all the work had been done with 
the approval of the Department of Trade and Industry and the British government. 

Weir had no comment on accusations that it is complicit in human rights abuses, or 
on speculation that it is involved in a second contract to supply pumps. 

The report gives harrowing details of the lives of refugees from the oil areas who 
have walked hundreds of miles to very precarious areas of southern Sudan, already 
wracked by decades of civil war. 

"All the villages along the road have been burned," said John Wicjial Bayak, a local 
official driven from a village close to the main road built for access to the oil fields. 
"You cannot see a single hut. The government doesn't want people anywhere near the 
oil." 

One man described fleeing the bombing with six of his grandchildren to hide in a 
forest. "We dug a hole for the children and put a blanket on top," he said. "We stayed 
20 days in the forest eating wild fruit." 

Systematic attacks on the villages began in March 2000, according to village chiefs. 
One was bombed 10 times before government troops finally burned out the residents. 

Across southern Sudan life is on a knife-edge and the government's strategy of 
banning aid flights to Upper Nile is fanning fears of a new famine tragedy similar to 
that of 1998, in which tens of thousands died. 

The government yesterday challenged a new campaign aimed at urging foreign companies working in the area of oil industry to leave the country, alleging that there is a government policy to terrorize the citizens and force them to vacate their places of residence in the areas of oil investment. 
The ruling National Congress [NC] described the talk by some Western quarters of fabricated wars in the oil areas with the aim of displacing the population as an attempt to affect the investors in the area of oil and prevent them from coming to Sudan. 
The [NC] secretary-general, Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Umar, pointed out that oil was being produced by a consortium of Chinese, Canadian and Malaysian firms, along with the government. He added that fabrication of war in such a situation was impossible. Umar said some quarters supporting the rebel movement had become apprehensive of the expected development due to the successful investment in oil industry. 
The Sudanese organization for human rights strongly criticized the allegations by the British charity Christian Aid that the government was pursuing a systematic policy to empty the oil rich areas of its population. 

I am battling to focus or concentrate while images of life in Sudan constantly replay in my mind dehydrated and homeless children arriving in poor physical condition having fled fighting, sick and disease ridden people without access to medicine, women running through the bush for safety, women and children hiding in fear without food or water, displaced and homeless people who have lost all their possessions in raids and attacks, the smouldering ashes of what was some ones home, the wounded men, women and children, many with gunshot wounds, a woman sitting on her own in front of her destroyed home not waiting for some news of her family, a young boy lying in the dirt in front of his burnt home having lost his family. Just days ago we were evacuating war wounded people, people that had been shot in the head, mouth, face, even a 12 year old girl who had been shot in the back, loading them onto our plane to get them to a hospital in Kenya for treatment, the Red Cross would not fly to this village because it was declared a no go area by the UN. The village was attacked, burnt down and destroyed along with another village that we were trying to reach during the past two weeks while we were in Sudan. Innocent people have become victims in a bloody and savage war being fueled by a government and its Western allies in its desperate efforts to control and profit from an oil rich region "which was home for these innocent people". 

The victims should have been enjoying the benefits and profits from oil, instead of facing death, bloodshed, suffering and displacement! The stories that came out as these homeless folk fled for their lives, were horrific. Parents fleeing the shooting and in the ensuing chaos could not find their children, children running and not finding their parents, an old woman who was not quick enough and was hit by a bullet and died, "there was nothing we could do for her" related one distraught villager, one evangelist, James, who was shot through the leg, those that arrived naked having been stripped and beaten and then those that were caught and tied up in a hut which was then set on fire. Walking through the deserted and burnt out village was a traumatic experience, one young boy, James 12 years old, was lying in the dirt outside the remains of his burnt home, he had been on the run for 3 days without food and was in bad shape, he did not know what had happened to his parents or what he was going to do next

Sitting in front of another destroyed home was Kamissa, a 25 year old mother who did not know where her husband or children were. Another young boy, Bol, 14 years, could not speak he was so traumatized, his feet cut, suffering from dehydration, he had been running for 3 days, his body was shaking badly and no parents to take care of him. Smouldering remains of what was a Church with the earthen pews protruding is now a pile of ashes. We managed to help save one young baby but 3 others died. 

These are just a few stories of human suffering from just one area in Sudan,  there are thousands of others that have not been told across the length and breadth of Sudan....the continued aerial bombing, the raping, kidnapping of women and children, the murders, the massacres, the orphans. For how much longer will the West stand by as an observer allowing innocent women and children to perish! On behalf of the innocent women and children in Sudan.

``The time has come for the United States, in league with others, to make a strong push to end Sudan's war,'' said the report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to be released Monday. 

Also compiled with participation from a number of non-governmental groups, the report suggests asking Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom or others to help press Sudan's warring sides into ``serious and sustained talks.'' 

It urged the Bush administration to fully staff the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum to help execute a ``hard-nosed strategy,'' including ``diplomacy, heightened engagement ..., punitive measures.'' 

Although it didn't recommend specific measures, it suggested mounting an international campaign against companies operating Sudanese oil fields. 

``In the past two years Sudan's rising oil production has shifted the balance of military power in the government's favor,'' the report said. 

``The surrounding region is in flux in its relations to the Sudan conflict, and it has become clear that competing regional peace initiatives hold no promise.'' 

It acknowledged the suggested U.S.-led multinational initiative would not be easy, saying: ``The Sudanese themselves, along with their neighbors, have grown indifferent, cynical or actively resistant'' to outside peace efforts. 

Since 1983, the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army, the main rebel group, has been fighting for autonomy for the largely Christian and animist south from the predominantly Muslim north. Nearly 2 million people have died in the civil war and famines. 

The report said the Clinton administration policy of isolation and containment had ``made little headway in ending Sudan's war.'' 

The Clinton administration started to give some aid to independent charities -- making it more directly available to rebels -- instead of giving it to a United Nations program that is often constrained by negotiated agreements with Khartoum. The government dictates when and where the U.N. program may deliver aid. Sudan also has been under sanctions since 1997; the U.S. government believes it is a sponsor of international terrorism.

(AP, Washington, 23-02-2001)
 

This comes amid accusations that leaders of the congress had conspired to form secret squads and a military group to carry out political assassinations, including plans to carry out assassinations by using lethal poison, some of which begin to act after three months and others after six months. 

The headquarters of [Hasan] al-Turabi's party [PNC] was put under close surveillance yesterday and so was the party's newspaper Ra'y al-Sha'b, which did not publish yesterday... 

(Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, in Arabic 23 Feb 2001) 
 

Over 2,000 refugees from Kirwa, Mongalatore and Kansuk camps for the internally displaced persons in southern Sudan have crossed over to Uganda due to food needs resulting from suspension in food distribution, said Malik. 

"The UNHCR has received the latest information that the Norwegian People's Aid, which is the organization handling food distribution in the three camps in southern Sudan, has started the process of distributing food from February 18, 2001," she said. 

Malik said the UNHCR hopes the refugees will return to the camps since the food distribution has already started. 

Meanwhile, she said, the UNHCR will continue to monitor the situation closely. 

A total of 2,041 Sudanese refugees, after entering northwestern Uganda, have been transported to the Imvepi Refugee Settlement and the Rhino Refugee Settlement in the northern Ugandan district of Arua, according to Malik. 

The UNHCR responded immediately by going to the arrival area and providing the people with dry rations such as biscuits and milk, she said, adding that registration has been undertaken and assistance extended to the refugees after they settled down in the camps. 
The group of new arrivals consists of mainly women, young girls and children, she said. 

(XINHUA, 23-02-2001)
 

IHA/728 
GENEVA, 23 February (OCHA) -- The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Kenzo Oshima, today expressed deep concern about the very poor response so far of the international donor community to a critical humanitarian situation developing in the Sudan, as a result of continuing conflict and the onset of severe drought. 
Mr. Oshima noted that, in addition to the pressing survival needs of several million persons from displaced and vulnerable communities affected by war and conflict, widespread drought was now threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of others with possible further displacement. This included pastoralists and farmers in central, western, and southern Sudan. 
The Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for the Sudan, launched almost three months ago and recently revised to take account of the drought in central and western Sudan, had called for an amount of $244 million in food and other assistance to meet the emergency needs of these war- and drought-affected communities. More than 600,000 of a total targeted population for the appeal of more than 3 million are assessed as being at immediate risk. This will require urgent funding of at least $60 million. 
Mr. Oshima noted that the response so far from the donor community amounted to little more than 1 per cent of this amount, and carry-over funds and supplies from the previous year were fast running out. The World Food Programme (WFP) will have no food supplies to assist populations in need after March, with the critical hunger period beginning in April/May. The United Nations Children's Fund will be unable to continue for much longer with present levels of emergency intervention in water/sanitation and health sectors. A vital seeds distribution programme planned by the Food and Agriculture Organization is also threatened. 
The Government of the Sudan was itself taking a lead in responding with available resources to a worsening humanitarian situation in respect of drought. But the potential scale of the emergency was such that the assistance of the international community was imperative if a human disaster were to be averted. 
For further information, please contact: Phyllis Lee, Tel. (212)963-4832 in New York, or Donato Kiniger-Passigli, Tel. 9172653 in Geneva.
 

``The oil-rich area of Sudan has seen a great deal of population displacement and in fact is currently one of the most insecure areas in Sudan,'' Nicholas Siwingwa, deputy country director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said in a statement. 

Siwingwa was clarifying WFP's position following a Reuters report from Khartoum earlier this month which quoted a WFP spokesperson as saying the agency was not aware of forced displacements in the oil concession area around Bentiu. 

WFP, which provides food aid in locations that include the government-held towns of Bentiu and Rubkona, reported a growing number of internally displaced people needing food assistance. 

``These are indeed people forcibly removed from their homes due to war. They did not choose to flee for their lives. 

``Their numbers have increased from 29,230 at the beginning of 2000 to the current figure of 36,539, and with 28 percent malnutrition rates as reported by our field monitors.'' 

Intense controversy surrounds the role of oil in Sudan's 18-year-old civil war, which has claimed an estimated two million lives in fighting and war-related famine and disease. 

Critics of the Islamist government in Khartoum say oil revenue earned since crude exports began in 1999 is helping to pay for the Arabic-speaking north's war against rebels seeking autonomy for the black African, non-Muslim south. 

TALISMAN TARGETED 

They accuse the government and its militia allies of conducting a deliberate scorched-earth campaign aimed at driving civilians out of the oil concession areas to protect companies working there and facilitate military operations. 

Canada's Talisman Energy Inc (TLM.TO), which holds a 25 percent stake in the consortium with concessions in Unity State, has come under fire from those who say its presence fans the war and provides cover for government human rights abuses. 

The government denies the allegations. Talisman says it is monitoring human rights abuses and promoting community development in the areas where it operates. 
Government restrictions make it very hard for reporters to visit Unity State, some 770 km (480 miles) south of Khartoum. 

Siwingwa said populations were being displaced ``almost continually'' due to the protracted civil war, complicated by inter-factional and inter-tribal fighting and militia activities. 

He stopped short of laying the blame at one party's door. 

``It is entirely possible and feasible that oil interests in this area have exacerbated the uprooting of people from their homes,'' he said, noting that the Canadian government and other parties had been investigating precisely how this happened. 

``At this point in time, however, there is unfortunately far too little information available,'' he added. 
(Alistair Lyon, Reuters, 23-02-2001)

Turabi, 69, was flown by the government to a secret location from Khartoum's Cooper Prison where he had been jailed since Wednesday, said a source from Turabi's Popular National Congress (PNC) party.

The source added around 95 PNC officials have been arrested in Khartoum and the provinces while another 19 PNC members are still being hunted by the authorities.

Turabi's wife, Wisal al-Mahdi, also told AFP her husband had been flown out of the capital and that she was worried.

No government or ruling party official was available to comment.

She said around 400 of Turabi's followers had gathered at her home on Thursday night to be briefed on a deal the PNC signed Monday with south Sudanese rebels who have waged a 17-year civil war against Khartoum.

Mahdi, who is also a member of the PNC's consultative council, said PNC Information Secretary Mohamed al-Amin Khalifa was among those who have been detained by the government's security forces.

Turabi provoked Beshir's wrath when the PNC signed a memorandum of understanding in Switzerland with the Southern People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel group of southern Sudanese Christians and animists at war with Sudan's Muslim-Arab north since 1983. The pact called for peaceful resistance against Beshir.

Khalifa had delivered a sermon at Friday midday prayer service at Khartoum University mosque, defending the deal with the SPLA, a witness said.

Mahdi said Khalifa was taken into custody immediately after the prayers.

During his sermon, while security surrounded the mosque, Khalifa said the deal was aimed at halting the civil war which the SPLA has been waging against successive governments for 17 years in a$sn fon to building trust between northerners and southerners.

"We are doing this for the sake of Islam rather than power," he said as quoted by the witness.

Beshir has called the pact "a violation of the law" and warned the government would "not tolerate such acts."

Turabi, who helped Beshir seize power in a 1989 bloodless military coup, crossed his onetime ally when, as parliamentary speaker in 1999, he sponsored legislation to curb presidential powers.

In response, Beshir dissolved parliament, purging Turabi from power and forcing him into the opposition.

(AFP, c/o Sudan-Net, 23 – 02-2001)
 

Bashir had dissolved parliament when Turabi was serving as its speaker, in December 1999, two days before pro-Turabi lawmakers were set to vote on curbing Bashir's presidential powers. Eight months later, Turabi set up his own political party, the Popular National Congress, after stepping down as secretary-general of the ruling National Congress party, which had previously been led by Bashir. 

But then Turabi reportedly signed a "memorandum of understanding" with the the SPLA. Authorities went to his home on Wednesday night and arrested him.

The MOU came as a surprise to many because Turabi, a conservative Islamist, had previously advocated a more hard line stance against the Christian-Animist SPLA. Turabi's critics are now likely to accuse him of being an insincere proponent of peace and multipartyism as a means to gain power since falling out with Bashir.

Turabi has a large following among students and shopkeepers and he has warned in the past of the potential for a popular uprising in Sudan.

"Nobody can impose tyranny on Sudan as the tide of Islam will react," AFP quoted him as saying in May last year at a point when he anticipated arrest but was left untouched. The pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Thursday that Turabi "had expected to be detained this week"  for his dealings with the SPLA.

"They are now detaining anyone who leaves my house, even if it's just family come to say hello," the newspaper quoted him as saying in an interview shortly before his arrest. "They arrested two traders because they were neighbours of mine."

This isn't the only time 68-year-old Turabi has been detained, but it is the first time he has been arrested under Bashir, the man who was once his protege but whom he later came to call a power-hungry military dictator.  Turabi had been imprisoned for seven years after a leftist coup in 1969, and was jailed again in 1985 until the fall of the regime of Jafar Nimeiri later that year. 

From 1979 to 1982 he had served as attorney general under Nimeiri and remained a presidential adviser on legal and foreign affairs until he was imprisoned. In 1988, the National Islamic Front, which Turabi founded and was later renamed the National Congress, joined the government of Sadiq al Mahdi, where he served as attorney general, minister of justice and minister of foreign affairs. 

Western nations are unlikely to raise much protest over Turabi's arrest, despite his pro-democracy stance. Dubbed in the past by the Western media as the "pope of terrorism," Turabi had laughed at the United States for its pursuit of Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden, saying that by hunting him international authorities were turning the terrorist into a hero. The United States accuses Sudan of sponsoring terrorism. Khartoum, however, has adopted a less militant stance since Turabi, the main idealogue behind the Bashir government, was sidelined in 1999. The government has since mended ties with neighboring countries, especially Ethiopia and Egypt, which used to accuse Sudan of "exporting Islamic extremism".

Turabi was born in Kassala, eastern Sudan, in 1932 to a family with a long tradition of Islamic learning and the mystical Islamic practice of Sufism. He studied law at Khartoum University, the University of London and the Sorbonne in Paris. 
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
(IRIN, Nairobi, 22-02-2001)
 

The officials of Turabi's Popular National Congress (PNC) were arrested over the deal the PNC signed Monday with southern rebels in Switzerland, PNC Information Secretary Mohammed al-Amin Khalifa told AFP.

The arrests took place in the capital Khartoum and in provincial towns, Khalifa added.

Turabi was arrested at his home late Wednesday by security forces of President Omar al-Beshir, who denounced the deal with the rebels as a violation of the law.

There was no immediate official comment on the reported arrests. Newspapers in Khartoum earlier reported that at least five PNC officials had been arrested.

(AFP, 22-02-2001)
 

Many of these commissions seemed to be geared more towards deflecting international criticism of their human rights records than to addressing rights abuses, it said. The United Nations and donor countries, who were actively encouraging the creation of these institutions, often failed to ensure that they actually did something to protect victims and combat human rights abuses, and should be wary of giving legitimacy to commissions that served merely as "window dressing", it added. 

"Millions of Africans are being displaced, tortured or killed. Yet the sad truth is that human rights commissioners in Africa often turn a blind eye to these abuses," said Binaifer Nowrojee, primary author of the report, in a Human Rights Watch (HRW) press statement.

Many commissioners - such as those of Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Liberia and Sudan - failed to publicly denounce abuses "either from fear of retribution or out of hope of government favour," it said. In Algeria, Togo and Tunisia, commissioners downplayed their government's abuses, it added.

However, the report praised Ghanaian, South African and Ugandan commissioners who, it said, "have not been afraid to speak out strongly when confronted with government abuses." It said these commissions were deserving of increased and continuing support, not least by the international community, and that the Ghanaian and Ugandan institutions could serve as an example and a resource for other government commissions in their regions. [for full report, with country-by-country analysis of national commissions, go to http://www.hrw.org]

The secrets of success

In a two-year study, Human Rights Watch found the most significant factor in the success of these state bodies was "the courage and integrity of commission members". The more successful tended to have a clear mandate, a constitutional basis, strong powers, and a commitment of purpose in the light of criticism from the executive or other branches of government, according to the HRW report. It also highlighted the need for adequate funding and the impossibility of progress on human rights without political will. 

In Ghana, the study showed that the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), headed by a dynamic commissioner, Emile Short, could investigate corruption as well as rights complaints against state and non-state actors. It had strong enforcement powers, had not shied away from tackling more sensitive issues and had held its ground against other government agencies that had sought to silence it. The Commission had highlighted particular issues, from jail conditions to harmful practices against women and girls, and "positively contributed towards a stronger human rights culture".

The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) had broad, quasi-judicial powers, a collaborative working relationship with local and international human rights NGOs, and a courageous, capable leader in Margaret Sekaggya. It, too, had tackled sensitive issues, such as rights abuses by state security forces, and had a real impact in highlighting prison conditions, police brutality and arbitrary arrests - despite limited resources, the report stated.

The courage to take unpopular stances was also exemplified by the South African Human Rights Commission, one of the best funded and active state commissions on the continent, in its outspoken stance on xenophobia [intense dislike or fear of foreigners], Human Rights Watch stated. The SAHRC had benefited from a generally supportive political environment and a strong human rights community to become an important institution but, for these reasons, it could have achieved more in this field, it added.

Nonetheless, the SAHRC had the potential, especially as it developed regional offices, "to make a concrete difference to individual lives as well as to the development of national policy", according to Human Rights Watch. 

A recipe for failure

In some cases, the study found a national rights body's potential was seriously stymied by external controls. In the West African state of Cameroon, for instance, Human Rights Watch found the credibility and autonomy of the National Commission of Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF) to be "greatly hindered by strong presidential control over its appointment and operations". Its weak powers and silence on major abuses by the government "tarnishes its claim to be a credible or representative force for human rights", according to the report.

Similarly, Liberia's Human Rights Commission was paralysed by the government of Charles Taylor "through its flawed legislation, inadequate funding and political pressure", it said. The Commission had remained virtually silent in the face of growing evidence of abuse by Taylor's government and showed "the utter impotency of a human rights commission which depends entirely upon a government that is not committed to improving human rights". 

In Kenya, the Standing Committee of Human Rights was a body formed at the discretion of President Daniel arap Moi, with members appointed by him and reporting only to him, action decided by him and members removable by him, HRW stated. Kenya's national rights mechanism was "tightly circumscribed by executive control" and had questionable legal status under the constitution, it said.

The Sudanese government continued to commit "serious human rights abuses" and had created a human rights entity to mitigate such criticism, Human Rights Watch reported. The Advisory Council for Human Rights had no autonomy, was established by presidential decree and dissoluble by the president. The Council's functions were "little more [than] to coordinate submissions due to various UN agencies, and monitor the activities of various human rights investigators who are allowed to visit the country".

The Nigerian National Human Rights Commission established in 1995 was also "clearly designed as an attempt to head off international criticism of military rule", was still constituted under military decree and lacked many of the powers and guarantees of independence, the report stated. 

Stages on a continuum

Cases such as that of Benin, where a strong Constitutional Court had improved the human rights climate - despite, rather than because of the support of the "inactive complacency" of the Commission Beninoise des Droits de l'Homme (CBDH) - posed the question of whether a national rights commission was needed if other institutions of the state were affording protection, according to Human Rights Watch.

The situation of Togo, too, was complex, with the Commission Nationale des Droits de l'Homme (CNDH) having swayed, over time, from being "a catalyst for fundamental democratic change" to being "an apologist for government abuses", according to the report. In its current phase, the Commission continues to have substantial formal powers and independence but "appears to be more concerned with defending itself and the national authorities than protecting and protecting human rights in Togo", HRW stated. 

On the other hand, the Malawian and Senegalese state commissions showed early promise, the former benefiting from excellent enabling legislation and broad powers despite problems with political will, and the latter having established clear and strong links with civil society and activist NGOs, according to Human Rights Watch. The Zambian body had also shown itself to be serious about protecting human rights despite serious government limitations and self-imposed political limitations, it stated.

In Ethiopia, although the government held a broad, donor-funded consultative process on the establishment last year of its National Human Rights Commission, it had "largely excluded local and international human rights NGOs", HRW reported. This was "a worrying sign at this stage" and it was "somewhat surprising that the international community so readily provided substantial funding to the government for this endeavour", it said. 

Most of the human rights commissions in Africa were formed by governments with poor human rights records and weak state institutions generally, and many were underfunded, according to Human Rights Watch.

The report acknowledged that government commissions had the potential to put a stop to state abuses, get remedies for victims and support local human rights activities under attack for their work.

However, according to Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch: "African countries are jumping on the human rights bandwagon, but they don't seem truly interested in helping victims."
(IRIN, Nairobi, 22-02-2001)
 

Two delegations representing the Popular National congress and the SPLM held a series of meetings in Geneva from February 17th to 19th 2001 considered to be the first of its kind in the conduct of free and open dialogue on fundamental Sudanese issues, between two essential ideological and political trends within the Sudanese political arena, and in a manner that transcends the atmosphere of previous negotiations with the regime. The meeting deliberated on all the issues pertaining to the national crisis and the current political situation and arrived at the following:
1. The two sides examined the political experiences of our country ever since independence as well as the present political situation and agreed that a one-dimensional perception of rule and the lack of a consensus based national program are the causes of the ever deepening national crisis that has placed the country on the verge of collapse under the regime’s totalitarian and high handed approach. This was further aggravated by the decision of Dec 12th 1999 and the regime’s persistence in not recognising the existence of the national crisis and the search for peaceful solutions thereto.
2. In order to arrive at a just peace agreement and build true democracy that protects basic freedoms and rights and permits the peaceful transfer of power, especially in the face of the regime’s assault on fundamental rights, means of peaceful popular resistance must be stepped up so that the regime gives up its totalitarian disposition and give the national alternative endorsed by the people of the Sudan and all its political forces, a chance.
3. The two sides affirm that Sudan is politically pluralistic, religiously and culturally diverse and there ought to be found a mutual consensus on a new Social Contract that does not permit discrimination among citizens on the basis of religion, culture, race, gender or region.
4. The two sides affirm that the right to self-determination is a legitimate Human Right and the unity of Sudan should be based on the voluntary will of its people. The two sides condemn the regime’s latest attempts to wriggle out the right of self-determination after having declared its commitment to it in previous initiatives and agreements.
5. The two sides affirm that the ”Military Coups” trend has only exacerbated the national crisis and failed to propel Sudan towards a lasting and comprehensive National solution. The two sides further agrees that the principle of accountability for corruption and crimes committed is legitimate and essential to the future of public life and must be enforced.
6. The two sides agree that given the nature of Sudanese plurality, diversity and size, it cannot be administered centrally and that there is need for a formula of Decentralised Rule to end the hegemony of the center over the periphery and to accommodate the need of the Regions for self-administration by their own citizens, meanwhile the center performs its national duties and external obligations.
7. The two sides agree that a National Sudanese program to end the war and a just Peace Agreement to build true democracy, will place the country at the threshold of stability which is based on regional co-operation, good neighbourliness, international co-operation, non-interference in the Internal affairs of others coupled with respect for their choices and regional and international stability.
8. The SPLM/A remains committed to the resolutions and institutions of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and welcomes the desire of the popular National congress to hold a constructive dialogue with the rest of the political forces in search of a common ground.
9. The two sides demand the repeal of laws restrictive of freedoms and the non-enactment of new ones, the lifting of the state of emergency, the acceptance of political activity, press freedoms and freedom of expression, and the release of all political detainees. The two sides further support the stand of the political forces against repression and human rights violations.
10. The two sides agree on a joint program for achievement of the goals set out in this Memorandum of Understanding and in accordance with a mechanism for implementation and follow-up.

SPLM     Popular National Congress
Pagan Amun    Omer Ibrahim Al Turabi
Yassir Arman    Al Mahboub Abdel Salam Al Mahboub
 

Life is very harsh in the Nuba Mountains and all over central and Southern Sudan, where the Muslim Sudanese government in the north is waging a war against Christians and followers of traditional African religions in central and southern Sudan in what is called a "Holy War." But life is particularly unbearable for the children, innocent victims caught in the middle of war and poverty.

"Nobody knows about the Nuba children," says Ramathan.

We heard Ramathan's story last Christmas, when a group of Jubilee pilgrims consisting of people from Kenya and several European countries visited Kauda and other villages in the Nuba Mountains. We went there to share our experiences and prayers in solidarity with the children of the Nuba mountains.  The children basically have no bright future and hope for their lives in the war-torn area, controlled by the SPLA (Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army).

The name "Sudan" itself simply means "black people."  The name was given by the Arabs to the strip of land south of the Sahara. After independence in 19xx, the name Sudan has come to mean the "Republic of Sudan." The country has a surface area of 2,506,000 sq. km. There are 30 million people belonging to 570 ethnic groups - Nuba being one of them - who live in Sudan. There are approximately 110 languages that are spoken in the country.

The Nuba Mountains lies in the centre of Sudan. The place is hilly and contains 99 mountains that according to the Nuba people represent their communities or tribes. The people are excellent farmers whose homestead used to be surrounded with the fields of sorghum, millet, maize, groundnuts etc.

Most of the children in the Nuba Mountains spend their time in military barracks, undertaking military training and drills. This is because they have to defend themselves against the Khartoum-based government, which has been very hostile to the entire community. The children are taught how to fight for their rights regardless of their age and maturity, as old people advise them that the future of the country lies in their hands and belongs to them. The children are always terrorised and tension mounts as the sound of the Antanov is heard from far away.

The rebels loot villages, and villagers and children are taken to "Peace Camps," which are forced labour camps managed by the government. Women and children are treated as slaves. In most cases, children see their mothers being taken away from them and forced to become wives to the Islamic soldiers.

As the sun rises bright and early in the morning around 5 a.m., children usually wake up for their normal activities to take place. Actually, in their minds, there is no activity planned for them; everything seems to be part of a routine. They spend most of their time in the maize fields, fetching water along the dry riverbanks. Some of the children help their old parents by walking hundreds of kilometres in search of food. The only source of food is the nearby airstrip where some humanitarian organisations and Catholic missionaries deliver food and clothing, which is not very often. They can only receive donations once or twice in a week because of security reasons.

Even though children are the only hope and future of the Nuba community, they do not have access to medical attention and there are no recreational and other social amenities such as hospitals, schools, and community centres. There are no educational facilities, teachers, writing materials, etc. The school building seems to be like and old monuments uses as a museum in some developed countries since they were shuttered down by the bombshells. Apart from learning from the formal school, children spend most of their time at homes trying to learn from their parents, they follow their customs and traditions instilled by their parents and relatives very strictly.

The absence of the international agencies such as United Nations (UN) and other humanitarian organisations has allowed the crisis in the Nuba mountains to continue unreported, they are isolated completely from the international community and only left in the hands of the Khartoum government which doesn't care or offer any humanitarian assistance to them.

Religion also varies, the majority of the Nuba community are Muslims because the whole country is controlled by the Muslim government, Christianity also plays a major role even though they still practice their local African traditional religion whereby they still offer sacrifices to their gods and ancestors and also during the time of celebrations such as harvesting period, rainy seasons etc.

The best part of the day comes when the children engage themselves in their traditional wrestling! This is not a violence game according to them, they regard it as one way of socialising informs of interacting, showing their physical fitness interms of competition. They do invite their fellow age groups from different parts of the so-called 99 mountainous community, the famous Nuba Mountains.

As the hope and future of the Nuba people of the Southern Sudan is reflected on the children, it seems to be a big burden and a dream which will never come true or fulfilled for the poor children who have no education, they are not in touch with the present world in which the communication is made much more easier with the introduction of the (www) "World Wide Web" which made the world to be a small global village, this might sound abit technical, but basically these poor children of the Nuba mountains needs basic education, love, medical attention, food and caring from the entire world communities.

The Nuba children will never be considered as the only hope for their community in the Southern Sudan if their rights and demands are not fulfilled at all. In spite of these serious obstacles of  life, they have tried to show their beautiful smiles and friendship to us as we paid them a visit last Christmas.  I feel that this is one of the greatest gift they offered us, which has no cost or any demand to pay later inform of a debt. 

(Africanews, By George Otieno Nairobi, February 2001)
 

Voting was not taking place in the three southern states because they are under the control of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army. SPLM/A's Nairobi spokesman, Samson Kwaje, told IRIN on Tuesday that this area "constitutes 45 percent of the country's total territory". It also included the east of the country, and although the SPLM/A was not controlling Kassala, the town was now "deserted". 

Agencies noted that none of the main opposition groupings were participating in the elections. Kwaje told IRIN that the eight parties brought together by the umbrella National Democratic Alliance, together with the Ummah Party of Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi (who was the prime minister of the government Bashir overthrew in 1989) and the Democratic Unionist Party of Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani, "represent 90 per cent of the electorate in Sudan". The fact that the elections involved the remaining 10 percent rendered them "meaningless", according to Kwaje. 

SVTG has received confirmation that the Security Forces arrested 7 members of the NDA political leadership secretariat, and an American Diplomat in Khartoum yesterday, 6 December at 4pm, from number 27 street Al A’mart extension. The NDA members were attending a meeting of the secretariat with the American diplomat and were arrested by the security forces who burst into the meeting, and confiscated the minutes of the meeting. 

Those arrested are as follows:

Ali al-Sayyid – DUP
Tijani Mustafa - Baath 
Mohd. Mahjoub – SCP
Joseph Ukello – USAP
Mohd. Wida Ala - NDA spokesman
Dr Mohd. Suleiman - Trade Union Alliance
Stance Jimmy - USAP
Glenn S Warren – American Diplomat

Glenn Warren was released later the same day but the NDA leaders remain under arrest. The government issued a communiqué in which it said that the arrest were on the grounds that NDA  members  were part of a conspiracy, planning to incite a popular uprising,  disrupt  national security and support  the rebel movement with American logistical support. The pro government media has intensified hostile propaganda against the NDA, accusing it of being an agent of the United States working towards the destruction of Sudan. 

Although the government claims to support freedom of association, the government made these arrests before and during a peaceful meeting, and these individuals are being held without valid charge.

SVTG is extremely concerned about the mental and physical well being of these individuals as torture and ill- treatment are well documented in Sudanese secret locations of detention.  None of their families or parties know their present whereabouts nor has any of them been able to make contact with their homes not even to have their medication brought to them, and at present are totally deprived of their legal and constitutional rights.

SVTG calls upon the Sudanese government to: 

- Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of these individuals and identify their whereabouts.

- Order their immediate release if they are being held without charge or, in the event that they will be charged, ensure his right to a fair and impartial trial  and guarantee his right to legal counsel at all times.

- Put an end to the harassment of political activists by security forces.

- Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards.
 

Former Sudanese prime minister Sadek al-Mahdi, who returned from four years of exile last week to a spectacular welcome from tens of thousands of his followers, hás an important role to play in the search for an end to Sudan's  political crisis, Sudanese commentator Abdelwahhab al-Effendi writes in  pan-Arab al-Quds al-Arabi.

Over the past four decades, he notes, Mahdi has faced an astonishing array of adversaries, some from within his Umma Party and Ansar religious sect, and many from without. Nevertheless, he has succeeded in retaining a central role in Sudanese politics, often commanding a broad consensus of support both inside Sudan and abroad. This makes him unique, whether one agrees with him or not. 

The bizarre position in which Mahdi finds himself to a large extent embodies the essence of the political crisis in Sudan, and at the same time points the way out of it. Mahdi's predicament highlights both the factors that tear apart the Sudanese body politic and those that unite it. At times, he has been a force for uniting the Sudanese, and at others a force for dividing them. 

Top of the list of Mahdi's "natural" adversaries are the radical leftists and liberals. To them, he represents "religious reaction" and the interests of the traditional tribal/religious aristocracy. They deride Mahdi as someone who was born to privilege, who never held a job in his life before he became prime minister, and has delusions of grandeur and thinks Sudanese politics should pivot around himself. When the radicals took over power in May 1969, they took it out on Mahdi, who was arrested and exiled and subjected to harsh and constant criticism by the government media. 

But neither has Mahdi been spared the slings and arrows of the Islamists, who have often accused him of failing to champion the faith, of having secularist leanings, and of opportunism. They accused him of failing to stand up to dictator Jaafar Numayri in the 1970s, and of opposing Islamic shari'a in the 1980s. And when the Islamists seized power in 1989, they launched ferocious political and media campaigns against Mahdi, and singled him out for mistreatment exceeding that to which they subjected their traditional Communist enemies. 

While Mohammad Othman Mirghani, leader of the Khatmiya sect and the Democratic Union Party (DUP), was released after a brief spell in jail and given a diplomatic passport on which to travel, Mahdi was subjected to prolonged imprisonment and mistreatment, and was frequently rearrested after his release. He was not allowed to travel, and had to flee Sudan in secret without the knowledge or permission of the authorities. 

Internationally, the Western powers, and especially the U.S., were highly critical of Mahdi during his latter term of office in 1986- 89, describing his administration as a disappointment for its economic performance, failure to end the civil war and reluctance to abrogate Numayri's Islamic shari'a laws. 

He was also subjected to fierce criticism from the major Arab countries because of his close ties with Iran and Libya at a time when the former was at war with Iraq and on bad terms with Egypt and the Gulf states, and the latter's ties with Egypt and most of the Mashreq states were extremely tense. 

The traditionally chilly relationship between the Umma Party and Egypt worsened as a result of Mahdi's abrogation of the cooperation agreement with Egypt and his demand for the extradition of Numayri from Cairo, which sparked anti-Egyptian demonstrations in Sudan. 

Effendi says southern Sudanese were also hostile to Mahdi because his first stint in office in 1966-67 witnessed an escalation in the southern war and because he opposed the 1972 Addis Ababa peace agreement. Some southerners saw Mahdi's return to Sudan in 1977 and his reconciliation with Numayri as a major blow to the peace agreement, and some southern ministers resigned from Numayri's cabinet in protest. 

During his second government he was blasted by southerners inside and outside Sudan. Southern rebel leader John Garang refused to recognize him as prime minister, and some blamed him for the failure of peace efforts and the escalation of the war. 

But perhaps the strangest enmities are those Mahdi encountered within his own party. In the 1960s, he earned the hostility of Umma prime minister and veteran politician Mohammad Ahmad Mahgoub when he, as party leader, insisted on taking Mahgoub's place as head of government. 

He did replace him, but in the process made an enemy of his uncle, who was leader of the Ansar sect. This led to a split in the Umma Party and the removal of Mahdi from government in favor of Mahgoub. The party was reunified in 1969, but Mahdi is still frowned on by some Ansar leaders, notably his uncle and former ally Ahmad al- Mahdi. 

But this is not the full picture as far as Sadek al-Mahdi is concerned, Effendi notes. The majority, if not all, of those who fell out with him were forced at one stage or another to align themselves with him. 

The leftists who reviled him frequently joined forces with him over the decades. His Islamist critics also aligned themselves with him in the 1960s, jointly forming the National Front, and participated in his government in the 1980s. 

Numayri, who jailed Mahdi at the beginning and end of his rule, reconciled with him in between. The Western powers that criticized him and expressed disappointment in him were always obliged to deal with him, and used to resort to him whether in or out of power when promoting their policies. 

So what made Sadek al-Mahdi both the main enemy and irreplaceable ally of so many forces and currents? Effendi asks. 

First, there is the "reality on the ground": Mahdi is the leader of Sudan's biggest political bloc, represented by the Umma Party and the Ansar sect, and has succeeded in both assuming sole leadership of that bloc and preserving its unity, despite disputes and rifts. 

That being the case, Effendi writes, the fact that it is impossible to ignore the Ansar/Umma bloc means it is impossible to ignore Mahdi. 

The British, in the early part of the last century, the leftists in the 1970s, and the Islamists in the 1990s, tried to weaken, destroy or co-opt that bloc. To that end they employed violence, repression, temptation, and divide-and-rule tactics, but achieved little. 

Another factor is Mahdi's conservative and conciliatory leadership style, which has made his bloc a force for balance and stability in the country, prompting many external powers to favor dealing with him. Although Mahdi has often opted for confrontation -- when he split the Umma Party in the 1960s, led the opposition to Numayri in the 1970s, and stood up to the present government -- he has always shown a preference for conciliatory and compromise solutions. 

Ever quick to seek reconciliation with his enemies, within the party and outside it, he moved toward reconciliation with Numayri in 1977 to criticism from his allies in the opposition, and he is doing the same thing now. 

Mahdi has also taken care to give his political and ideological stances a centrist appeal, Effendi notes. In the 1960s, he presented himself as a force for modernization in the Umma Party, the most traditionalist of all Sudanese parties thanks to its religious nature and largely rural membership. Many intellectuals at the time were convinced he was playing a pioneering role, and the leftists and Islamists saw him as a spearhead for ending the political domination of traditionalist forces. 

And when the left was in the ascendant and socialism and one- party rule were in fashion, Mahdi raised socialist slogans and came up with the idea of the "dominant party" as a compromise between full pluralism and a single-party system. 

As regards Islam, Mahdi put forward a formulation of "moderate Islam" which set him at odds with the Islamists. The liberals, leftists and secularists rallied round Mahdi's opposition to Numayri's Islamic legislation, and helped him win the 1986 national elections. And his "moderate" stances also appealed to the Arab world and the West, who saw him as a counterweight to "Islamist extremism," especially given his impeccable religious background. At the same time, he took care to win over the Islamists by speaking of alternative Islamic laws that would dispense with Numayri's excesses and reflect Islam's tolerant nature. 

While such stances attracted rival forces to Mahdi's camp, they also triggered backlashes. For example, the local and external forces that backed him in the 1980s expected his "moderate" brand of Islam to lead to the complete abrogation of Islamic shari'a laws and the adoption of a fully secular system. 

Conversely, the Islamists backed him in the 1960s and 1970s in the hope that he would implement a program for Islamization and implementation of shari'a. 

Mahdi was bound to disappoint one camp or the other, for "moderation" by its nature avoids taking sides fully. And while Mahdi always thought that his compromise positions met the requirements of all sides, in fact he ended up doing the opposite -- disappointing all sides. 

So, does the problem lie in the uncompromising and polarized nature of Sudan's political structure? Or does it lie with Mahdi himself and his failure to formulate genuine compromises, and his tendency to compensate for that with an illusory centrism coupled with an over-estimation of his own qualities as the pivot of Sudanese politics? There is an element of truth to both, Effendi writes. 

The Sudanese political scene is marked by an acute polarization, which has turned violent. The warring parties do not want to hear of compromises. Mahdi was subjected to fierce criticism from the rest of the opposition merely for holding talks with the government, without his critics even considering the substance of the talks. 

It is also difficult to reconcile the views of the various parties. It is hard to imagine a compromise that satisfies both the Islamists who call for the implementation of Islamic shari'a, and the advocates of Africanism among the southerners who oppose any mention of Arabism or Islam in the country's constitution. And it is impossible to reconcile the demands of southern separatists with advocates of Sudan's unity. 

Between those extremes lie a host of ideological, political, ethnic and tribal rivalries that frustrate all who try to tackle them. 

But while those undeniable challenges would put the most astute politicians to the test, the performance and prescriptions of Sudan's politicians -- Mahdi included -- have been clearly below par. 

As far as Mahdi is concerned, his unique position as Umma Party leader is both his strength and his weakness. His domination of the party and his astonishing confidence in his mental and political capabilities and the correctness of his line has weakened the collective role of the party leadership. 

Although Mahdi takes care to go through the motions of internal party consultation and stress the institutional nature of the party, his powerful control serves to weaken party institutions. When charismatic figures dominate political movements, they invariably weaken their institutions, even if they are full of talented cadres capable of renewing them. 

This was the case with the Communist Party under Abdelkhaleq Mahgoub and the Moslem Brotherhood under Hassan Turabi. But the Umma Party faces the additional problem of being unable to renew its cadres because of the flight of young people and intellectuals from it, even those from Ansar families, and the domination of the party machinery by the Mahdi family and members of its allies in the tribal/ religious aristocracy, regardless of competence and qualification. 

This serves not only to weaken the party, but also threatens with its eventual demise once it loses Mahdi's strong leadership. 

But despite all these criticisms, Effendi concludes, no one can ignore the pivotal role of Mahdi and his party in restoring balance to the Sudanese political scene, bringing people together and containing conflict. This role is not attributable only to the Umma Party's size and influence, but also to the conciliatory and centrist positions taken by its leadership. 

This being the case, Mahdi's many critics might be advised to stop attacking him and concentrating on his weaknesses, and instead help him to overcome them, given the importance of his party's role at this juncture for all Sudanese. 

IGAD SUMMIT: Another Sudanese columnist, Mohammad al-Hassan Ahmad, says the present Sudanese regime was given a major boost by hosting last week's summit of heads of state of members of IGAD [Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda] -- the regional association ostensibly formed to address problems of drought and development but also overseeing the stalled peace process between Khartoum and the southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). 

Writing in the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat, he says that the mere convocation of the meeting was a triumph for Khartoum's efforts to overcome American-led efforts to isolate it. 

The U.S. appears to have tried to prevent the summit from convening, and was partially successful in ensuring the absence of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni and Kenya's Daniel arap Moi, both key players in the search for a solution to the Sudanese crisis. 

Khartoum hit back by preventing the American charg d'affaires from coming to attend the conference from his temporary base in Nairobi, in protest at the way U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice visited SPLA-controlled areas of southern Sudan without the government's permission, and her resounding denunciations of the Khartoum government. 

Indeed, she went as far as charging that the slave trade was active in southern Sudan, going beyond accusing the government of violating human rights to falsely accuse the people of northern Sudan of practising slavery, a travesty which caused widespread offense. 

Indeed, a host of other problems arose which could have thwarted the summit and destroyed IGAD as an association. 

Ethiopia, angered by attacks on it from Somali territory by Islamist-backed rebels, objected to the presence of the head of state of Somalia so long as he did not recognize the opposition (i.e. the self-declared state of Somaliland). Ethiopia had just concluded an agreement with the president of Somaliland regarding the use of the port of Berbera, effectively recognizing that state proclaimed in 1991 and still not recognized by any other country, and questioning the legitimacy of the newly-revived state of Somalia. 

This inevitably prompted Djibouti, which played a key role in bringing about reconciliation in Somalia and reviving the state there after a decade of mayhem, to threaten to stay way from the IGAD summit if the Somali president was excluded. Djibouti also has its problems with Eritrea. 

Some members also objected to Sudan assuming the presidency of IGAD, and other procedural problems were raised about the participation of Somalia before the association had formally unfrozen its membership. 

These problems and others almost dashed Khartoum's hopes of hosting the summit, and Khartoum worked extremely hard to ensure that the summit would convene and thus help break its isolation -- especially given the presence along with the summiteers of a UN representative alongside the foreign ministers of South Africa, Egypt and Libya and a Nigerian delegate. 

But what did the summit actually achieve? 

Regarding the purposes for which it was ostensibly set up, it achieved little, says Ahmad. But the little it did achieve was nevertheless commendable, given that since its inception IGAD has been preoccupied with politics and has paid little attention to development and combating drought and desertification.

At the summit, agreement was reached on forming a regional center for monitoring human rights in the states of the region, and also an early-warning center to alert member states of impending natural disasters, droughts and famines. 

The summit also looked into the question of aid and cooperation with donor states. Small and belated steps given the purposes for which the association was ostensibly set up in the first place and the grave environmental problems facing it. 

On the political front, IGAD's main achievement, other than to keep itself in existence as a regional club, was to consider merging its Sudanese peace initiative with that jointly proposed by Libya and Egypt. The Egyptian and Libyan foreign ministers took care to emphasize in their speeches that the two initiatives were complementary and to avoid arousing African sensitivities. They do not appear to have encountered objections from the conferees, who seemed to approve of what they had to say. 

Bilateral meetings were also held on the sidelines. The Sudanese and Eritrean presidents met to discuss strengthening bilateral relations and Eritrean mediation between Khartoum and the opposition National Democratic Alliance. 

The Sudanese government did well to ignore demands -- coming, above all, from Hassan Turabi's camp -- to take a stand against Eritrea for its alleged support for the recent opposition offensive against Kassala. 

Eritrea and Ethiopia also avoided bringing the tension prevailing between 
them to bear on the summit. Instead, they both praised Algeria's role in 
ending last year's ruinous war between them, reflecting the steps they are 
currently taking to re-establish peace, despite the fact that their border 
dispute remains unresolved. 

As regards the civil war and struggle for power in Sudan, the summit saw the Italian foreign minister -- addressing the meeting in his capacity as spokesman for the "Friends of IGAD" group of countries -- announce his country's intention to host a fresh round of talks between the SPLA and the Sudanese government in the new year, and stress that negotiations are the only route to peace. 

These talks promise to be of special importance in addressing the disputes between the two sides, notably that regarding the relationship between religion and state. 

It is not clear whether these negotiations will precede the proposed steps to integrate the IGAD initiative with the Egyptian- Libyan one, or whether those steps will result in changes in the two sides' positions. Whatever the case, talks on ending the Sudanese civil war and crisis of government appear to have assumed a higher priority after a decade of going nowhere. 

Meanwhile, efforts have resumed to reconcile Sudan and Uganda, an absolutely critical step given Uganda's location and its role in supporting the SPLA. 

Sudan as a state has gained from hosting the IGAD summit in Khartoum, and from the efforts it exerted to make that possible, Ahmad writes. 

On the downside, it may have lost an important friend in Kenya's Moi, who unceremoniously stayed away and yet is in charge of handling the Sudan dossier for IGAD. This could prove damaging for Khartoum, given that the U.S. is the major player in the region, holding the keys to the blocking of economic and humanitarian aid, and maintaining ties with all the players. Washington is unlikely to pass up the opportunity to retaliate for the blow that Sudan dealt it. 
 

The attacks began on Friday in Twic county, when 14 bombs were dropped in three raids, hitting the Panlit missionary school. Two classrooms were demolished and most of the 700 children at the school fled into the bush in panic or returned to their villages. A spokesman for the Sudan Production Aid (SUPRAID) non-governmental organisation, which works in the area, told IRIN the children were slowly trickling back from the bush, but they were too afraid to resume classes. In another raid, a herd of 73 cows was killed instantly.

On Saturday, more bombing raids took place near Turalei, causing mass panic. One old lady died of shock, but no other casualties have yet been reported. People are afraid to venture towards Turalei centre, and bush shops remained shut. The Nuer inhabitants of a displaced people's camp fled and have not returned. SUPRAID said many of them were returnees from Western Upper Nile, and had probably gone back to that area. 

The spokesman added this was the first time Twic county had been bombed consecutively two days in a row, and regional observers pointed out that the raids were probably a prelude to the "fighting season". The local population is reported to be very nervous about the current situation in the area. 

The Islamist government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) remain deeply divided over the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law, and more than two years of talks have yielded little progress. 

"Any peace talks are due to fail as long as they insist that sharia, the Islamic law, will remain the supreme law of the land,'' SPLA leader John Garang told Reuters. 

State Governor Badawi al-Khayr Idris told Sudanese state-run television that the riots began when students demonstrating against mandatory military service were joined by scores of unemployed. They began burning government cars, the local government-run radio station, the state office building, banks and police stations, according to an AP report on Sunday. Idris accused "instigative sides" of provoking the violence - a veiled reference to followers of the Popular National Congress (PNC) party, an opposition group headed by Islamic ideologue Hasan al-Turabi, the report said. 

Sunday's clash follows two other riots last week.  One woman was killed and 16 people injured in the western city of Al-Fashir in a protest over delays in the start of classes, while in another protest, five people were injured in the eastern city of Port Sudan when hundreds of students rioted against an attempt to require them to pay damage deposits on textbooks. 

In a report by Sudanese newspaper 'Al-Ra'y al-Amm' on 15 September, Hasan al-Turabi, secretary-general of the opposition PNC, predicted more unrest in the country. 

The SVTG received confirmation that the Security Forces has started wave of arrests against opposition groups in different towns in Sudan.  In addition to the detention of individuals, the Sudanese government is continuing with its policy of short-term detentions where individuals are ordered to  report daily to the Security Headquarters and are often detained for long hours.
The information received by SVTG confirmed that 58 members of People's National Congress (PNC) party of Hassan AlTurabi the former speaker of National assembly, the leader of National Islamic Front (NIF) and the former sectary general of the current government party (NC) were arrested in Alfashir western Sudan, Port Sudan Capital of Red Sea State and Alobied capital of Kordofan state 
The security Forces accused The PNC for inciting riots Wednesday September, 13 in Eastern Sudan and Monday September, 11 in Alfashir where a female student was killed. The detainees were accused by the government of inciting demonstration in Alfashir against schools failure to reopen, and shortage in water and electricity.
The Government also accused the PNC of being the hidden hand behind student demonstration protesting against the imposition of school fees in Port Sudan. 
SVTG received the names of the following detainees

1.-.Idiris Omer Alnour
2.-.Abd Alla Bilal
3.-.Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed
4.-.Amin Shanan
5.-.Abd Alla Bilal Hassan Mohamed Nour
6- Amin Shanan
7.-.Hassan Mohamed Nour
8.-.Mouaya Abd Algadir
9- Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed
10.-.Mukhtar Hamza (student)
11-Rashid Abd Algadir ( malatia man)
12.-.Majdi Awad (student)
13.-.Waleed Ali Karoum
14.-.Mouaya Abd Algadir
15.-.Amin Shanan
16.-.Abd Alla Bilal
17.-.Hassan Mohamed Nour
18.-.Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed 
19.-.Ahmed Abd Alrahman (student)
20.-.Naf''I Mohamed Omer 
21.-.Osama Jalal
22.-.Mohamed Ali Mohamed Osman
23.-.Haythim Abd Almajeed
24.-.Abdeen Ali Hassan
25.-.Hassan abd Alla
26.-.Adham Osman 
27.-.Hatim Sati Abd Algadir
28.-.Ali Shamar Abd Alla. Head of PNC in northern Darfour
29.-.Almin Ahmed Alshaiekh
30.-.Khalid Aldaw Haj Zian (student leader in alfashir)
31.-.Abd Alhadi Fadal Al moulal
32.-.Maki Hamid Balila
33.-.Ibrahim Salih Sharief (PNC leader in alfashir) 
34- Abd Alla Adam Ali (student)
35.-.Adam Jouma Abu 
36.-.Adam Ahmed Saad
37.-.Abd Alla Ibrahim Haroun 
38.-. Isam Aldin Yagoub
39.-.Ahmed Sharief 
40 - Mohamed Mahmoud
41.-.Mohamed Suilman
42.-.Faisal Abd almajeed
43.-.Alhaj Adam
44.-.Abd Alnasir Abkar Shougar
45.-.Abd alla Biraima Fadl
46.-.Mohamed abd Alrahim Fadl alla
47.-.Osman Mohamed Ibrahim
48.-.Jawhar Suliman ali
49.-.Mosadag Mohmed Ali
50- Abd Alrasoul abd Alla Abd Alrasoul
51.-.Suliman abu baker Mohmed
52.-.Hamza Alhadi
53.-.Idam Abu Baker Ismail
54.-.Ahmed Abd Alrahman
55.-.Altigani Sineen

The Security sources claimed that (they are in possession of evidence about a plot by certain group targeting the country's unity, social structure and citizen's safety) 
The Crimes against the State section of the Attorney General’s office claimed they started investigating the incident.  SVTG can confirm that as of today September, 18.The Crimes against the State Section of the Attorney General’s Office has not yet decided whether there is a case to be submitted to the Court.

SVTG calls upon all governments, human rights organisations and concerned individuals to urge the Sudanese government to;
- Ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all the detainees
- Order their immediate release if they are held in detention without valid charges or in the event that they have been charged, ensure their right to a fair and impartial trial and guarantee their right to legal counsel at all times.
 

Garang's comments follow last week's conference in neighboring Eritrea of the national democratic alliance, an umbrella for Sudanese opposition groups including Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army. 

An alliance statement said a "political solution is the best way to end the war." Garang, in an interview with Qatar's al-Jazeera television monitored in Cairo, went further:" people are suffering a lot.... I am personally ready to meet El-Bashir if Khartoum wants that."

El-Bashir said Saturday he was ready to meet with the rebels to secure an end to the war, in which the Christian and animist south is seeking autonomy from the largely Muslim northern government. El-Bashir hasn't met Garang since being installed as president in a 1989coup. 

The next move, Garang told al-Jazeera, was up to the government.

"If the Sudanese government is serious about negotiations, we in the national democratic alliance are ready to meet, "he said. 

Josephine Bakhita, a one-time slave and now symbol of faith and unity for suffering Sudan, will be canonized by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 1. 

Josephine was born in the region of Darfur (North-West of Sudan) in 1869. She was kidnapped and enslaved at age 7 by Arab traders, and given the name Bakhita, which means "fortunate" by her captors. She was bought and sold five times, until 1882, when she was purchased by Calisto Legnani, an Italian consular agent who took her to Italy. 

There, she worked as a nanny, heard about Christianity, and was baptized in 1890. Three years later, she entered the Congregation of the Cannosiana Religious, and lived in a convent in Schio, Vicenza, in Northern Italy, where she carried out the most menial tasks, and very quickly gained a reputation for sanctity. When she died Feb. 8, 1947, for several days a long line of mourners filed past her coffin for a final goodbye. 

Sudan's persecuted Christian minority identifies with Bakhita's simple and profound faith. 

"Devotion to this saint is strong and widespread,".…."for all of us, Bakhita is a symbol of suffering and hope," "People who even today experience the drama of slavery, incursions, bombings and want, identify with Bakhita, the girl who was enslaved and deported from El Obeid; very many fugitives, close to 4 million, relive the drama of enforced exile from their land. However, they also recognize the great strength of spirit, tenacity to overcome difficulties, and humility in placing oneself at the service of others. They find protection and help in her," said Bishop Menegazzo, apostolic administrator of El Obeid diocese.

``Until Saturday night over 50 members of the party have been arrested,'' Ali al-Haj Mohamed, PNC deputy secretary-general, told the privately owned al-Sahafi al-Douli. 

Mohamed said the government had seized PNC buildings and forcefully evacuated them. 

Government officials could not be reached for immediate comment on the report. 

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government has blamed the party for student protests last week against high fees and threatened to take unspecified action against it. 

The PNC, headed by former Parliament Speaker Hassan al-Turabi, denied party involvement in the demonstrations. 

``The PNC is with just demands of teachers, students and citizens but it rejects subversive behaviour,'' Mohamed said. 

The independent al-Ayam newspaper reported on Sunday that students at Kordofan University protested against deteriorating services on Saturday in the Northern Kordofan state capital of El-Obeid, 350 km (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum. 

It said that secondary school pupils also joined in the demonstrations. 

Al-Ayam quoted acting Governor Hajo Gism al-Seed as saying that the protests were peaceful although a small group of students attempted trouble. ``Police...dispersed all of them with no casualties,'' he said. ``There were no arrests.''

"Women in the private and public sectors who were prevented by the governor's decree from working should continue to work in their places until a final decision is taken on the case" 

Governor Mazjoub al-Khalifa, citing Islamic sharia law, last Sunday barred women from working in petrol stations, hotels and cafes in a move which angered women's and human rights groups.

The constitutional court was responding to a petition against the decree by the Sudanese Women's Union.

Human Rights Watch, a Washington-based group, criticised the ban as a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights signed by Sudan's Islamist-led government.

"It's outrageous that the governor wants to prevent women from doing work they have done for decades, just because they are women," Regan Ralph, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Women's Rights Division, said.

She said the ban, which would exclude women from working in hotels, fuel stations, restaurants and other public places came just days after she had visited Sudan to urge the government to ratify the UN-sponsored Convention of Eradication of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Speaking in a telephone interview from the UN Millennium Summit in New York, she told IRIN: "I learned about this decree just yesterday (Tuesday) and I have contacted our office in Khartoum to get further information." 

Governor Majzoub Khalifa of Khartoum issued the decree on Sunday, saying it was in line with Islamic Sharia law and aimed to honour women. The governor said women should not be employed in the public service sectors, such as fuel stations, hotels and restaurants, where they would have direct contact with men.

Sham Poo added: "I feel it is of course extremely unfortunate that the governor of Khartoum has issued this decree. Many of these working women simply have no other options. It is very unfortunate too, especially because it comes at a time I have opened a very good dialogue with the government of Sudan on the rights of women and asked them to sign the CEDAW convention.  UNICEF is taking measures to raise this ban at the highest level and to seek its immediate cancellation." 

News reports said most public places in Khartoum had adhered to the decree and told women in public places to quit their jobs. Human rights and women's groups in Sudan, including the pro-government General Women's Association (GWA), also condemned the decree. "This is a violation to the constitution and the human rights of women," said a statement by the Sudanese Human Rights Groups, lead by opposition lawyer Ghazi Suleiman. The statement carried by news agencies added: "We appeal to all organisations in and outside Sudan to stand in the face of this faulty decision and to act for its abrogation." 

The GWA also expressed its "total" rejection of the banning order as "a violation" of the constitution. It said that at an emergency meeting held on Tuesday night the association decided to send the governor a memorandum, demanding that the order be rescinded.

"Mixing religion with politics is not conducive to the unity of Sudan," former vice president Abel Alier said during a panel discussion at the University of Khartoum. 

"The Sudanese are pious by instinct and do not need to practice religion within politics," said Alier, adding that this would "inevitably lead to separation (of the South), as there are non-Muslim groups." 

Alier, who was vice president in the 1970s, said the major prerequisites for Sudanese unity were an end to the civil war, restoration of democracy, resolution of the state-religion question, respect for human rights and fair participation by people in the "marginalized regions." 

Alier added that fighting in the South has damaged the environment with troops on both sides felling trees and destroying farms. 

In another development, a columnist is due to stand trial next Thursday on a charge of defamation.
The independent Al Rai Al Aam daily Monday said its columnist, Osman Mirghani, was ordered to appear before the Khartoum criminal court on a complaint by the Ministry of Justice.

Mirghani last month criticised the way in which the ministry had addressed a longstanding case of individuals who had made down-payments to buy public transport cars and and who neither received the cars nor were duly repaid.
The authorities have also recently interrogated three journalists -- Nour Eddin Medani of As-Sahafa, Mahjoub Urwah of Al Rai Al Aam and Mohamed Taha Ahmed of Alwifaq independent dailies -- for writing about corruption in the banks.

No charges were filed in those cases, said Medani.

Governor Majzoub Khalifa said his decree, issued late Sunday, was in line with Islamic sharia law. "This is to honor women, uphold their lofty status and put them in the appropriate place that respects the values and observes the tradition of our nation," he said. 

The governor told businessmen that those "women should not be harmed but should be employed in areas other than the ones mentioned in this decree." 

A tour in downtown Khartoum on Tuesday showed that the decree was being observed in most public service places where women, usually university students, used to work to earn a living in a country whose economy has been hit by 17 years of civil war and famines. 

The news came as a surprise for many Sudanese women. 

Nejla Abdul-Rahman, 24, went to work as usual at a gas station. 

"My boss came in and told me I no longer have a job," said Abdul-Rahman, who is single and helps support her family with her $25 monthly check. 

"I am angry. The governor should give us logical justifications," added Abdul-Rahman, who graduated from law school in June. "I have to work as an attendant here because I cannot find work in my field. What more do they want?" 

Abdul-Rahman said that she and a group of women friends would work to appeal the governor's decree. 

A United Nations official visited Sudan two weeks ago and urged its government to sign a 20-year-old treaty promoting equal opportunities for women. 

Karin Sham Poo, deputy executive director for UNICEF, discussed with Sudanese officials Sudan's ratification of the U.N.-sponsored Convention of Eradication of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, already signed by a number of Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, and Bangladesh. 

Sudanese officials believe that some articles in the CEDAW contradict the Islamic and social values and norms of the Sudanese society where laws are derived from the Islamic sharia which says the man is the head of the household and does not consider men and women equal in all aspects. 

Women in Sudan's other 25 states still work jointly with men in agricultural farms and some work in restaurants and hotels or other jobs that have direct contact with men. 

In an interview with Kenyan television on 3 September, Garang defended the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development(IGAD), saying that the IGAD "has been accused of being too slow - that it is not moving. But that is an unfair criticism in my view. Things are not moving in terms of a solution to the Sudanese conflict not because of the slowness of the IGAD, but rather because of the intractability of the issues." 

Speaking more specifically, Samson Kwajje, spokesman for the the SPLM in Nairobi, told IRIN on Monday that "three times the government of Sudan has changed the timetable for the peace talks, first indicating that they would attend, and then [that they would] not." 

He added that the two fundamental reasons for the stalling of the peace talks were, firstly, the government's outright refusal to include religion on the agenda by saying "Sudan is an Islamic country" and, secondly, what he called the government's "lack of seriousness on the issue of self-determination" for people living in the south of the country.  He reiterated that both these issues were critical to the success of any future peaceful solution to the conflict.

In Garang's interview on Sunday, the SPLM leader called for a one-track peace initiative.  Speaking on behalf of his movement, he said: "Whereas we recognise the Egyptian-Libyan initiative, we cannot negotiate on two tracks." 

Regarding his movement's position on what he called "multiple-negotiation diplomacy", he added: "Until that one track is evolved we will continue to negotiate in the IGAD initiative, because the IGAD initiative was primary - it came first, and it has an international dimension."  He called for the two peace initiatives to converge their efforts into one track "within the context of the IGAD declaration of principles." 

Meanwhile, on 2 September, the official Sudan News Agency (Suna)in Khartoum reported that the Sudanese government had agreed to a new round of negotiations between the government and the SPLM to commence on 21 September in Nairobi. 

The UN humanitarian affairs coordinator here said in a statement that the World Food Programme, German Agro Action and the Sudan Council of Churches are providing food for the people who have been displaced by renewed fighting between south Sudanese factions in the state's areas of Koch, Leer and Adok. 

"Given the continuing influx of displaced persons, the UN and partners have pre-positioned additional supplies but would need more resources to meet the increasing needs," the statement said. 

The statement said the UN and other agencies have identified an alarmingly high rate of severe malnutrition among infants and toddlers, averaging 13.4 percent, and cooperated to provide them with high-energy and protein-rich food. 

The relief efforts includes immunising 4,000 children against diseases; providing tents and rolls of plastic sheeting as well as non-food household necessities including blankets, mosquito-nets, jerrycans, clothing and utensils; distributing 8,700 mosquito nets to curb malaria; vaccinating 53,000 cattle and ensuring water facilities, according to the press release. 

It added that while the German agency is distributing fishing equipment, seeds and tools to support household food security for about 3,000 households, UNICEF has released teaching, learning and recreational materials to support approximtely 1,000 children. 

Meanwhile, fighting between south Sudanese pro-government groups and rebel factions over petroleum-rich areas is continuing in Unity State, according to the Akbar Al Youm daily Sunday. 

The newspaper quoted a pro-government group as saying it had recaptured the town of Mamken and driven rebel forces to the state's border with Bahr al-Ghazal. 

WHEN Talisman bought a chunk of oil rights in Sudan two years ago, Jim Buckee, the Canadian company's chief executive, talked of its "spectacular potential". Spectacular it has been, but not always in ways that pleased Mr Buckee. The Heglig field lies across all the fault lines that have caused Sudan's civil war: political, religious and ethnic. Like Shell in Nigeria, Talisman has found itself in the middle of a war and under fire from activists back home.

The Greater Nile Oil Project, which is 25% owned by Talisman, Canada's largest independent oil- and gas-exploration firm, could transform Sudan into a medium-sized oil producer. But history suggests otherwise. The very discovery of oil contributed to the renewal of the war in 1983 and, when oil first started flowing in June last year, the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) pledged to stop it. They blew up the oil pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea three times.

Problems on the ground are matched by a row in Canada, where human-rights activists have demanded that Talisman withdraw and that Canada impose sanctions on Sudan, whose government, they say, has enslaved its southern peoples. America has already imposed sanctions on Sudan, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Under pressure, the Canadian government sent a mission to investigate conditions in Sudan, and Talisman's shares promptly fell by 15%. But the company has fought back. To comply with American laws, it built a financial firewall between its Sudan operations and the rest of its business, to ensure that no American citizens were involved in its C$800m investment. Then Mr Buckee tried to head off criticism in Canada by arguing that oil would increase Sudan's wealth and help bring peace. He spoke of Talisman's "positive engagement", bringing "western values". Talisman even signed the International Code of Ethics for Canadian Business.

Implementing this has proved difficult. Sudan's war is nearly 50 years old and nasty. Since 1983 it has killed an estimated 2m people and displaced a further 4.5m. In the area just south of Talisman's Heglig field there are at least five armed bands roaming around, including the government forces and the SPLA rebels. Others are militia bands led by warlords who tend to fight for the highest bidder. Into this violent chaos Talisman is trying to introduce human-rights monitoring. It has designed a form for monitors to record violations in its area and it is even offering to give human-rights training to the government soldiers designated to protect the oil installations.

Talisman is also offering "development" in the form of water-wells, roads, schools and hospitals in its area. When some 50,000 displaced people arrived last month in Bentiu, the oil town where Talisman is based, it was able to fly in emergency help.

The company is also looking for partners for development, but all the NGOs in the area have so far turned up their noses. The other foreign partners in the Greater Nile consortium, the state oil companies of China and Malaysia, are reported to be wryly amused by their partner's earnest efforts to observe human rights. The UN will not even use the oil company's tarmac airstrip at Bentiu for fear of being compromised.

Nor is the Sudanese government particularly interested in Talisman's problems. It is resentful of the company's political activists. Awad al-Jaz, the oil minister, insists it is not Talisman's business "to talk about human rights", adding ominously that Sudan does not need Talisman to extract oil.

Talisman claims to have convinced the government to set up a fund to help war-ravaged areas, an idea the government claims as its own. But, even if the fund is set up and oil money is used for it, there is still plenty to spend on weapons.

That is the crunch for Talisman. Sudan's government finances are obscure but, according to one minister, Sudan's top priority is to refurbish the army. Some of the estimated $300m the government will get from oil this year is already being spent on weapons. For all its concern for ethical business, human rights and development, the ugly truth is that Talisman is helping the government extract oil, and oil is paying for the war.

He said negotiations between the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had become bogged down over a dispute over the date of the meeting and that the disagreement had now been resolved.

The SPLA in June ended a boycott of the peace talks that began the previous month after accusing the government of bombing civilian targets in the southern Sudan.

The rebel movement has been in fruitless negotiations with Khartoum since 1993 in talks sponsored by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a group of seven east African nations. Kenya chairs an IGAD committee trying to end the Sudanese conflict.

The last round of the tortuous peace talks in Nairobi in April ended with no agreement on the two key issues discussed – the separation of state and religion and the administrative setup of the country.

Sudan's civil war is set against a background of resistance by the mainly animist and Christian south to the Islamic regime in Khartoum.

But since 1983, control over resources, including humanitarian aid, has taken an increasingly important role in the conflict.

Regarding relations with Washington, Mustafa Osman Ismail said: “The US is still not neutral. But there are signs of reciprocal understanding. The US has attempted to destabilise us for a decade and helped the SPLA to continue the war. Now the SPLA is combating against the international community, disturbing humanitarian efforts, impeding NGO’s from working even in the South if they do not first sign an accord, boycotting the IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority for Development) without reason. Even Europe has begun to take different positions, on UN sanctions for example. In substance, the US is being isolated, it attacked the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical company and was condemned by the international community. If they want democracy and stability in Sudan, they must first stop the war. The only way to do this would be to either destroy Garang or convince him to negotiate. Everyone is convinced that Garang is void of a peaceful mentality”. 

In regard to the ban on building Churches in the Sudanese capital, the Minister stated: “While in the South and various other states the construction of churches is consented, in Khartoum it is a problem. We admit it: no permits have been issued for the last thirty years. The issue is a top priority also in discussions with the European Union. More than 600 churches were built in Khartoum without permits. What to do? Clearly we cannot destroy them. If we did, we would have to replace them. In reality we need to evaluate which are in reality churches. We have appointed a commission to address the problem. In any case it is obvious that Christians should be authorised to build their places of prayer”.

The clergymen's stand came hot on the heels of a nod from the UN to Khartoum's request to monitor aid operations staged in Kenya and represented an official and open criticism of a UN decision that has elicited much condemnation from behind the scenes.  A recent statement signed by Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail and UN special envoy Tom Eric Vraalsen, quoted the latter as saying that the UN had no objections to Khartoum's proposal and encouraged the government to raise the matter directly with the government of Kenya. 

Under a tripartite agreement effected in 1989, the UN and several NGOs operating under the Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) consortium, stage their operations from the northern Kenyan town of Lokichoggio with the blessings of Khartoum. However, outside the OLS, are several NGOs and the Churches with massive development and relief operations in the region devastated by a 17-year-old civil war.  OLS membership has reduced drastically since its inception as a result of some members being disenchanted with regulations governing the consortium's operations. 

Analysts believe that Sudan government's monitoring of the operations at Lokichoggio would adversely affect if not ground the Churches' and non-OLS organisations' operations since the latter operate without Khartoum's blessings. Khartoum insists that relief flights originating in neighbouring countries are providing military assistance to rebels. Consequently, Khartoum has demanded to monitor the operations at Lokichoggio, or relocate the base to a government-controlled area altogether.

Whereas some of the affected NGOs may choose to pull out or seek affiliation with the OLS should Khartoum's demand be granted, the Church has no option but to fight for a more mutually accepted arrangement as their position has been that they are divine and indigenous institutions whose operations cannot be subjected to regulations governing non-indigenous institutions. 

The Bishops' statement, signed by Rt. Rev. Macram Max Gassis, the Bishop of El-Obeid, who is also the vice-chairman of the SCBRC, demanded that the GOS recognise the legitimacy of humanitarian operations of non-OLS organisations and the churches. "Above all," added the statement, "it should not disrupt the Churches' spiritual and humanitarian services by making them military targets in any way."

The Bishops also took issue with a recent move to give Sudan a seat at the UN Security Council. They said Sudan's nomination was unacceptable "since GOS itself is a major cause of insecurity to its own people".

Since the beginning of this year, the GOS has intensified bombardment of civilian targets with an unprecedented vigour. Schools, churches, market places, hospitals and NGO compounds have all borne he brunt of the bombs dropped by the Russia-made Antonov aircraft. Last February, an aerial raid on a primary school at Kauda in the Nuba Mountains killed 14 pupils and their teacher. Last July, there were at least 250 air raids on 33 civilian targets in the rebel territory. 

About the Sudanese ceasefire that has been violated for the umpteenth time, the Bishops demanded that the UN take the responsibility of monitoring and assessing future deals to averts incidents of violations, which have had serious consequences on the civilians. 

They further appealed to all nations and multi-national corporations involved in the exploitation of Sudan's oil to immediately cease their operations until a just peace is attained and a system of equitable distribution of the gains from the oil is put in place. Sudan last August began exporting oil following the completion of a 1, 650 km pipeline constructed by Canada's Talisman Corp in partnership with Chinese and Malaysian companies. The pipeline runs from Unity State in the South to Port Sudan. 

Khartoum, 23rd August: The government of Sudan and the United Nations secretary-general's special envoy for humanitarian affairs for the Sudan, Ambassador Tom Eric Vraalsen, issued a joint statement [on] Wednesday [23rd August] at the conclusion of the special envoy's visit to Sudan, which began on 19th August.

Following, the Sudanese news agency (Suna) publishes [the] text of the joint statement:

"The minister of external relations of the government of the Republic of the Sudan, Dr Mustafa Uthman Isma'il, and the UN secretary-general's special envoy for humanitarian affairs for the Sudan, Ambassador Tom Eric Vraalsen, issued the following joinô statement at the conclusion of the special envoy's visit to the Sudan from 19th-23rd August, 2000.

During his visit to the Sudan, the special envoy met with the first vice-president, HE Mr Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, the ministers of external relations, social planning, and information and culture, the state minister of social planning, and the president's adviser for peace.

The special envoy welcomed the reaffirmation from the government of the Sudan of the importance it attaches to the aims and objectives of Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), and its support through this humanitarian assistance programme to the protection of the people of the Sudan suffering from the ravages of war and instability. The special envoy welcomed in particular the unequivocal commitment of the government to assisting the most vulnerable citizens of the Sudan, whether in government or rebel [Sudan People's Liberation Movement]-controlled areas, and to working closely with the UN in doing so.

The special envoy, on behalf of the UN, emphasized that organization's strong support for the humanitarian programme including OLS, and the UN commitment to working with the government for the benefit of the people of the Sudan. As partners in the planning and implementation of the programme, both the UN and the government of the Sudan confirmed their adherence to the universal humanitarian principles of transparency, impartiality, neutrality and accountability.

The government of the Sudan emphasized the importance it attaches to the establishment of a presence in Lokichokio, northern Kenya. The special envoy stated that the UN had no objections to this proposal, and encouraged the government to raise the matter directly with the government of Kenya. As OLS is a joint operation, the government sees a greater role for the UN to lead this issue.

The special envoy and the government took particular note of the increasingly fragile situation in Unity State, where fighting among rebel groups had led to further displacement of people in large numbers, to areas controlled by the government and elsewhere. 

It was agreed that a UN assessment mission be facilitated to selected locations in Unity State, to update the findings of a similar mission to the region in March 2000.

Both parties noted the need for an agreed formula, which would combine the safety of delivery mechanisms, including flights, with efficiency, timeliness, and flexibility for response. 

The government proposed that all relief supplies and services should be delivered from within the Sudan. The special envoy and the government noted that cost-effectiveness should remain a primary consideration in the deliveries of such supplies and services into all areas of the Sudan. Optimum use would continue to be made of road, river and rail corridors, as allowed for under the provisions of the agreements and protocols reached under the auspices of the technical committee on humanitarian assistance (TCHA), at meetings in Rome (November 1998), Oslo (May 1999), and Geneva (December 1999).

The UN agreed on the desirability of continuous joint assessment of the humanitarian relief programme for the Sudan, to ensure the most effective use of scarce resources including funds from the donor community. Other means would be explored, outside the OLS context, to enhance the capacity of the government to play a more effective role in humanitarian and rehabilitation activities.

The special envoy and the government of the Sudan endorsed the ongoing mutual objective of identifying those life-sustaining activities, which would assist populations in moving from extreme vulnerability towards rehabilitation and recovery.

The special envoy noted with appreciation the reassurance of the government of the Sudan in respect of the safety and security of UN staff and facilities, and the government's affirmation of its primary responsibilities in ensuring the safest possible operational environment for humanitarian assistance personnel, including requisite radio communications facilities."

Sudan’s ambassador to the U.N. told Suna: “The charges made by those hostile to Sudan, be they the U.N. or NGOs are without bases.”

Is Khartoum avenging its incapacity to win back Gogrial, a garrison town in Southern Sudan and Hamash Koreib in the East from the Opposition? In spite of the promise Beshir made on 19 April to stop aerial bombardments except in self defence and where there are active military operations, his Antonovs are launching massive attacks against civilian targets in both regions.

In SPLA held zones the particular targets were several facilities of Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), the umbrella group covering U.N. agencies and NGOs, that offer relief aid to millions of Sudanese throughout the country. This organisation works with Sudanese government consent and besides is not allowed to go everywhere.
- End of June : 32 bombs on 4 localities (residential areas)
- July:  364 bombs on 32 localities. Among the targets: an MSF France (Doctors without borders) health centre, in spite of a clearly identifiable MSF flag; International Red Cross which had a clinic and a plane damaged.
- Up to 22 August : 111 bombs on 16 localities. Mapel  was attacked three times and Tonj twice. Mapel, South West of Wau is a U.N. base for OLS. A bombardment of the airstrip took place while a U.N. plane, cleared for a aid flight by the Sudanese government, was taking off. According to the WFP its relief facilities were attacked by a low-flying plane. M.S.F. Belgium is also present at Mapel. Many of these bombing raids caused relatively few casualties in terms of dead and injured but according to the SPLA the August attack on Tonj hit a school and a market killing 12 people and wounding 100. Two days later a bomb fell in the Catholic Mission compound. In another attack the Norwegian Relief Centre was hit.

These attacks have taken place during the very difficult annual ‘hunger gap’ period when food from the previous year’s crops has all been consumed and the current year’s is not ready for harvesting. Even when the bombing raids cause few casualties in dead and injured they are very harmful to the population, either because they cause the people to flee, thus increasing the number of displaced persons, or because the people are afraid to go to the clinics and relief centres that are targeted. The result is always a greater famine.

In the hilly Red Sea region to the East of Sudan near the Erithrean border (in the North) some Koranic schools have been hit. A Sudanese Opposition party, member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Beja Congress, accused the government on 18 August of having bombed the town of Hamash Koreib and the surrounding area. Hamash Koreib is a religious centre. The Beja Congress speaks of continuous aerial bombardments during the week 6-13 August : “We have photos”. He adds that Hamsh Koreib, is in a demilitarised zone and that opposition military forces are stationed outside its boundaries. According to the same source a government patrol seriously wounded three civilians. Remember that the oil pipeline crossed the Beja region.

After having been bombed, on August 8 the UN halted all relief operations in Southern Sudan and evacuated its staff, to the detriment of the population. Sudan gave odd explanations. 
On the one hand it accuses OLS of providing assistance to the SPLA, and accuses its staff of being “virtual enemies of the State”; Sudan further says that the SPLA has violated the ceasefire in Bahr el Ghazal (this is true, but is not a reason) and suggests as the only solution to the problem: to force Garang to respect the ceasefire (that expired on 15 July!). 
On the other hand it said first of all it knew nothing of the bombing of civilians by the government in Southern Sudan. (Who else owns Antonovs?), and would make investigations, before denying everything and then giving assurances for the safety of OLS operations and requesting it to resume its activities. This was on 16 August. The logic of all this is far from clear. The disorganization caused by the bombing raids and the halting of relief operations has surely caused many deaths.

The Security Council, the U.S. as well as Canada condemned the government’s attitude. The U.S. Committee for refugees advised that Southern Sudan be declared “a special humanitarian zone” with automatic right of access for relief operations. The European Union’s commentary came late was as discreet as it could possibly be.

Bombing goes on, but OLS is safe for the time being.
 

Calgary, Alberta -- At first glance, fast-growing Talisman Energy Inc. ought to be celebrating.

It says this year's net income should be nearly four times last year's. All told, it expects to pump more crude oil and natural gas this year than any other company in Canada. It would thus finally snatch the crown that Imperial Oil Ltd., the Canadian subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp., has held for more than half a century.

But there is a big catch: In many circles, Talisman has turned into a pariah. Influential church and humanitarian groups charge that oil-production earnings in Sudan are exacerbating a brutal civil war there and that Talisman's participation in the country's $1.4 billion Greater Nile Oil Project is part of the problem.

Talisman's share of the project's output accounts for only about 10% of the company's total production. But the uproar shows how an investment thousands of miles from home can create havoc for a company.

Largely because of the Sudan cloud, Talisman's stock languishes at only 10.3 times this year's earnings as projected by First Call/Thomson Financial, compared with Imperial's 12.9 times. Jonathan Wolff, an analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in New York, says Talisman's stock trades at a 6% discount to net asset value, compared with a 20% premium before its Sudan involvement. Talisman's critics have mounted a well-organized divestment campaign, and some institutions are dumping the stock.

Only two years ago, the Sudanese investment seemed a bargain. Talisman paid only $190 million in stock to acquire Arakis Energy Inc., a struggling Calgary oil concern whose major asset was its 25% stake in Greater Nile. The oil and pipeline project, whose other partners are Chinese, Malaysian and Sudanese state oil companies, started pumping crude last year, and recently achieved record production of 208,000 barrels a day.

But the U.S. bombed a suspected terrorist site in Sudan just days after Talisman announced its deal to buy Arakis. The raid drew international attention to Sudan's internal woes and reinforced its status as a "pariah state" in the eyes of U.S. policy makers and others.

Talisman's critics, including U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, insist that Sudan's Islamic government, based in the country's Arab-dominated northern capital, Khartoum, is using oil revenue, and Greater Nile's service roads and airstrip, to wage war against black Christian and animist rebels in southern Sudan. They say Sudan's government forcibly displaced southern villagers to make way for oil production and that Talisman is profiting from human suffering.

In November, Talisman hired public-relations firm Hill & Knowlton Inc., New York, to help pick up the pieces. But the task hasn't been easy.

In May, Natalina Yoll, a Sudanese refugee living in Calgary, told Talisman's annual meeting that she learned to hide in the bush when soldiers periodically raided her southern Sudanese village for crops, cattle and women. In tears, she said marauding government soldiers had tied up her ailing father and eldest brother, then thrust them into a hut with other men to be burned alive. She pleaded with Talisman: "Please stop supporting the genocide of my people."

James Buckee, the company's outspoken president and chief executive, told the meeting that Talisman aims to help impoverished southern Sudanese villagers by funding community programs and providing employment. The company also ensures that its operations and business practices comply with Canada's International Code of Ethics and tries to persuade Sudan's government and its Asian partners to respect human rights, the executive added. He said he strenuously objected to the Sudanese government's use of Greater Nile's airstrip and that the practice has stopped. To help villagers in its oil-concession area and create goodwill, Talisman has built everything from hospitals to watering ponds for cattle. But critics say it isn't enough.

To be sure, the furor over Sudan hasn't entirely blinded investors to the company's achievements elsewhere. Mr. Buckee points to Talisman's expanding natural-gas-drilling program in western Canada, its recent acquisition of more North Sea oil properties and its plans to expand a big natural-gas project in Indonesia.

Lately, the company has pumped record crude and natural-gas volumes from four continents. Mr. Buckee predicts Talisman's net income will reach a record 690 million Canadian dollars ($465 million) this year from C$177 million in 1999. Talisman's stock is up 40% since April, but because other oil shares have fared even better, Talisman is vulnerable to a takeover, some analysts say.

Pressure on the stock continues. Several U.S. institutions dumped it last year; there was further selling after an advisory panel to the Clinton administration recommended in May that Talisman should be banned from raising money in the U.S. Recently, some Canadian members of Parliament have promoted a proposal that would force Canada's national pension plan to sell its large position in Talisman.

So far, Parliament hasn't acted and the Canadian government has declined to impose trade sanctions on Sudan. But a January government report concluding that Sudan's new oil production is fueling armed conflict adds to Talisman's woes.

The European Union is deeply concerned at the recent bombings, carried out by Sudanese aircraft, which hit civilian installations, in particular the bombings close to a large UN base at Mapel on 7 and 8 August. 

The European Union welcomes the new Sudanese security guarantees that have allowed flights for Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) to resume. It hopes that the Government of Sudan will scrupulously honour its undertakings to the UN. It appeals to the warring parties to comply with the principles of international humanitarian law, particularly those relating to the safety of UNpersonnel, as laid down in the Convention of 9December 1994, and to free access for NGOs to civilian populations in distress. 

The European Union deplores the failure to renew the humanitarian cease-fire which ended on 15July, and the offensive launched by the SPLM two months ago. It appeals to the parties to negotiate a new cease-fire quickly and to resume, without any hidden agenda, the peace talks begun under the auspices of the IGAD. 

The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union, the associated countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, and the EFTA countries, members of the European Economic Area align themselves with this declaration.

August 17, 2000

We note that the United Nations resumed humanitarian relief flights to southern Sudan yesterday, with assurances from the government of Sudan that the flights will operate in a safe environment.

Last week, the United States condemned again repeated attacks by the government of Sudan against civilian targets and international relief assets, which had no military purpose and resulted in more civilian casualties. The targeting of relief planes endangers the international humanitarian relief effort and increases the risk of starvation for tens of thousands of Sudanese civilians. We note that the government of Sudan has given its commitment to protect Operation Lifeline Sudan, and we call on the government to honour its April 19 pledge to end the bombing campaign in the south once and for all.

We join the Secretary-General of the United Nations in calling on the government of Sudan and other parties to the conflict to ensure the safety and security of relief workers who are addressing the urgent needs of the civilian population in southern Sudan.

Government of Sudan continues massive bombing campaign against civilian targets 

In a gross violation of international law and humanitarian norms, the government of Sudan continues to engage in a massive bombing campaign of civilian targets in southern Sudan.  The government's air force bombed more than 33 targets in southern Sudan in July.  The bombings by Sudanese planes typically have targeted humanitarian relief centers, schools, hospitals, and market places in a country that has already suffered more than 2 million war related deaths and has more than 4 million people uprooted by the conflict. The pace of recent bombings is increasing and has seriously endangered humanitarian relief operations.

The intensified bombing campaign appears to be an orchestrated effort by the Sudanese government to force international aid workers out of southern Sudan and to shut down humanitarian relief programs that provide life-saving support to hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians.

Just back from the region, USCR executive director Roger Winter noted the insidiousness of the campaign, "Ten days ago, when I was in south Sudan, pilots of humanitarian relief planes reported to me that they heard Sudanese government radio transmissions between the radio tower at Juba (a major government-controlled town in south Sudan) and Antonov bomber pilots tracking a Red Cross plane. They followed the plane and then bombed the site after the Red Cross plane landed."

US Government fails to take action to stop the bombings 

"The Clinton Administration, skulking toward increasing its diplomatic relations with the Sudanese government, is studiously ignoring these intensified bombings even though many of the programs targeted by the aerial attacks are supported by U.S. aid programs and private international relief agencies.  These bombings are clearly deliberate.
The Sudanese government is targeting southern Sudanese civilians and relief workers who seek to save the lives of those civilians by providing food and medical services. It makes a mockery of President Clinton's often-repeated promises to respond seriously to African humanitarian issues.
The Clinton Administration should act through the UN Security Council now to force an end to these escalating atrocities," said Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees in a recent press statement

Take action to help the people of Sudan 

The bombings continue in the month of August and recent reports cite incidents in eastern Sudan including the Hamesh Khoreb region in addition to those throughout the south.

USCR fears that the Sudanese government is attempting to take advantage of policy makers inattention to international events during the traditional August vacation season in North America and Europe as well as American focus on upcoming U.S. elections.  Contact President Clinton, your Senators and Representative and urge them to take action to save the lives of innocent men, women, and children in Sudan.

Recent bombings have created logistical limitations for MSF teams accessing remote populations

MSF staff in Nairobi have expressed expressed shock over the bombing on August 7 of the Mapel town in the Sudan, and said it has made it extremely difficult for MSF staff to access remote populations in the area. There were no reports of casualties or injuries from the bombing.

There was a second recent bombing on Mapel on August 9. On August 8, there was a bombing on Ajep.

MSF staff, a team of five, are remaining active on the ground and there are no immediate plans to evacuate them as they feel safe in their present locale. Remaining present also provides MSF an opportunity to monitor the situation in regard to potential emergencies (displacement, wounded, nutrition, epidemics). The team in Ajep (four persons) remains present as well.

However Leen Verstraelen, an MSF spokesperson in Nairobi, said the bombing campaign in Bahr el-Ghazal has put civilians and humanitarian staff in a dangerous situation. 

MSF is seeking more details about the bombing, which fell close to the present health structure used by MSF in Mapel. However no MSF structure was hit. 

MSF is operating in locations throughout southern Sudan, including Ajep, Akuem, Marial Lou and Mapel, although the organisation was forced to pull out of northern Bahr el-Ghazal recently because of the bombing campaign.

The MSF team in Marial Lou was recently reduced from 22 to seven. The remaining team is in the process of re-scaling its activities to a minimum. All activities in the outskirts of Marial Lou have stopped. The main focus now has been placed on the Marial Lou hospital where there is a potential reduction in beds.

Marial Lou has not yet been the target of a bombing session.

Recent air raids by Sudanese government planes against rebel-held towns narrowly missed U.N. installations, causing the temporary suspension of U.N. air operations.

"Members of the council urged the Sudanese government and all others concerned to live up to their obligations to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian operations," council president Hasmy Agam of Malaysia said in a statement after closed-door consultations.

He said U.N. and nongovernmental organisations should be allowed "full, safe and unhindered access to vulnerable civilians in need of humanitarian assistance."

Relief work is carried out under an arrangement, called Operation Lifeline Sudan, between the United Nations, the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA).

The United Nations said it continues to deliver relief aid via barges and overland routes.

A senior U.N. humanitarian official, Kevin Kennedy, told the Security Council during a closed-door briefing that, if relief flights remained suspended for long, "the impact will be serious and life threatening. Easily a million people will be at risk."

Kennedy's remarks were taken from his briefing notes made available after the briefing.

The flight suspensions followed an Aug. 8 government air raid in which some 18 bombs fell in the vicinity of U.N. facilities at Mapel. A U.N. relief plane that had been cleared by the government for takeoff was parked on an airstrip at the time of the raid.

"It's a war going on, we understand that. But it's more difficult to understand bombings on airfields when our flights have been cleared," Kennedy later told reporters.

In his printed remarks to the council, Kennedy said the suspension affected both government-held and rebel-controlled areas "and comes at a critical time for many agricultural and health programmes."

The repeated bombing of civilian targets by government warplanes over the last few weeks has forced aid agencies to suspend their operations in southern Sudan. 

"The bombing by government forces of humanitarian aid operations will only kill and displace more innocent Sudanese civilians," Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said in a statement. 

"I am particularly shocked by the military's systematic targeting of civilians and relief organizations, which will only increase the number of casualties in this conflict and compound the suffering of the Sudanese people." 

Axworthy also condemned the decision by Sudanese rebels to break a humanitarian cease-fire in the Bahr al-Ghazal region. 

Reports of continued aerial bombing of civilian targets in Southern Sudan 

We have followed with great concern recent reports of the government of Sudan's renewed bombing of civilian targets in southern Sudan. The targets of these bombings have included runways where aircraft carrying humanitarian relief supplies were parked. These aircraft were operating as a part of the U.N.'s Operation Lifeline Sudan and had clearance from the government of Sudan. These attacks follow weeks of public criticism of the international humanitarian relief effort by the government of Sudan and contradict the Sudanese president's April 19 statement that he would end the bombing of civilian targets in the South.

The United States condemns all government of Sudan attacks against civilian targets. These attacks have no military purpose. The targeting of relief planes endangers the international humanitarian relief effort and increases the risk of starvation for tens of thousands of Sudanese non combatants. The United States urges the government of Sudan to immediately halt these bombings and cease any activities which interfere with relief operations in Sudan.

We note the Secretary-General of the United Nations has issued a statement expressing his deep concern over these events. We join with him in calling upon the parties to the Sudanese conflict to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers in Sudan and to permit them to carry out their mission.

(U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman)
 

Following aerial bombardments, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended its operations in Akuem (South of Sudan).

Following the bombing of the village of Akuem by governmental forces on July 28, 2000, MSF has been forced to suspend its activities in this area north of Bahr-El-Ghazal (South of Sudan). The centre of Akuem comprises of approximately 100 residences and a dispensary around an airstrip.

An aircraft dropped three bombs which landed around 200 metres from the runway where an MSF plane used by MSF medical team, was situated. Thirty minutes later the same craft returned to the vicinity and released another three bombs which landed 500 metres from the health centre. The centre was clearly identifiable by a large MSF flag.

Immediately after the bombardments, the MSF medical team evacuated from Akuem. 

On 27 and 28 July, three other villages (Billing, Malual Kon, Yangshiek) came under aerial attack. Aircraft participating in the transport of humanitarian aid were based in all three of these villages.

Since 1999, MSF has run a medico-nutritional operation in Akuem, aiding a population of at least 20,000 inhabitants. Food insecurity is among the most serious problem in this region. Through their programme, MSF is treating children suffering from severe malnutrition. Malaria is rife in this area and tetanus is a significant preoccupation for our nurses and doctors caring for the numerous injured. In recent weeks, 1,300 displaced persons have arrived in Akuem, fleeing from the intensified fighting in the region.

At present, it is of great concern to us that our transport aeroplanes, and humanitarian aid in general, are becoming the target of bombardments. The only method to dispatch aid in Southern Sudan is by air. The resurgence of hostilities has caused population displacements in Bahr-El-Ghazal and the Western Upper Nile. The impossibility for us to reach these zones risks having extremely serious consequences for the civil population in the coming weeks. 

Government of Sudan continues massive bombing campaign against civilian targets 

In a gross violation of international law and humanitarian norms, the government of Sudan continues to engage in a massive bombing campaign of civilian targets in southern Sudan.  The government's air force bombed more than 33 targets in southern Sudan in July.  The bombings by Sudanese planes typically have targeted humanitarian relief centers, schools, hospitals, and market places in a country that has already suffered more than 2 million war related deaths and has more than 4 million people uprooted by the conflict. The pace of recent bombings is increasing and has seriously endangered humanitarian relief operations.

The intensified bombing campaign appears to be an orchestrated effort by the Sudanese government to force international aid workers out of southern Sudan and to shut down humanitarian relief programs that provide life-saving support to hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians.

Just back from the region, USCR executive director Roger Winter noted the insidiousness of the campaign, "Ten days ago, when I was in south Sudan, pilots of humanitarian relief planes reported to me that they heard Sudanese government radio transmissions between the radio tower at Juba (a major government-controlled town in south Sudan) and Antonov bomber pilots tracking a Red Cross plane. They followed the plane and then bombed the site after the Red Cross plane landed."

US Government fails to take action to stop the bombings 

"The Clinton Administration, skulking toward increasing its diplomatic relations with the Sudanese government, is studiously ignoring these intensified bombings even though many of the programs targeted by the aerial attacks are supported by U.S. aid programs and private international relief agencies.  These bombings are clearly deliberate.
The Sudanese government is targeting southern Sudanese civilians and relief workers who seek to save the lives of those civilians by providing food and medical services. It makes a mockery of President Clinton's often-repeated promises to respond seriously to African humanitarian issues.
The Clinton Administration should act through the UN Security Council now to force an end to these escalating atrocities," said Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees in a recent press statement

Take action to help the people of Sudan 

The bombings continue in the month of August and recent reports cite incidents in eastern Sudan including the Hamesh Khoreb region in addition to those throughout the south.

USCR fears that the Sudanese government is attempting to take advantage of policy makers inattention to international events during the traditional August vacation season in North America and Europe as well as American focus on upcoming U.S. elections.  Contact President Clinton, your Senators and Representative and urge them to take action to save the lives of innocent men, women, and children in Sudan.

Urge your leaders to stop the bombing now

(http://www.refugees.org/help/sudanaction.htm#letters)

Inform others about this problem, complete a Sudan Peace Pak
http://www.refugees.org/news/crisis/sudan.htm

Aerial bombardment of civilian targets by government of Sudan during July 2000 

Date       Location    # of Bombs

07/01/00   Cueibet        5
07/01/00  Buot           5
07/01/00   Agangrial
07/02/00   Cueibet        6
07/02/00   Liethnom       10
07/02/00   Lunyaker       20
07/02/00   Rumbek         2-3
07/07/00   Thiet          24
07/08/00  Rumbek         6
07/12/00   Akon           19
07/14/00   Akon (twice)   3 + 17
07/14/00   Adet           12
07/15/00   Gok Macar
07/15/00   Nyamlel        4
07/15/00   Chelkou        14
07/16/00   Chelkou        12
07/16/00   Gok Macar      4
07/17/00   Nyamlel        8
07/17/00   Akon
07/19/00   Near Wanding
07/20/00   Liethnom       12
07/20/00   Buokagok       6
07/20/00   Ajiep          8
07/22/00   Nyamlel        24
07/25/00   Wanjok         3
07/27/00   Billing        12-15
07/28/00   Malualkon
07/28/00   Akuem          6
07/28/00   Riangaketh
07/29/00   Marial Baai
07/30/00   Adior
07/30/00   Yei            6-18

Source:  Concern Worldwide
(http://www.refugees.org/news/press_releases/2000/080900.htm)

Members of the United Nations Security Council today called on the parties to the conflict in the Sudan to resume their humanitarian ceasefire and allow the UN access to all civilians in need. 
Speaking to the press on behalf of Council members, Council President Agam Hasmy of Malaysia expressed their concern over the recent and repeated aerial bombings around UN and other civilian humanitarian operations. Those operations were temporarily suspended on Tuesday in response to the violence. 
Council members stressed the importance of the Sudanese Government's assurances that the bombings would not recur, and urged it to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian operations. The Government was also urged to allow UN and non-governmental organizations "full, safe, and unhindered access to vulnerable civilians in need of humanitarian assistance." 
Ambassador Hasmy's statement followed a closed-door briefing on the Sudan, and he told reporters that the Council had requested further briefings "until it is clear that the UN and other humanitarian operations have been able to resume their activities in the Sudan, unhindered." 
In his briefing to the Council, Kevin Kennedy, Chief of the Emergency Liaison Branch of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned that if the suspension of aid remains in place for long, the impact will be life-threatening. "Easily a million people will be at risk," he said. 
Affecting both Government and rebel-held areas, the suspension comes at a critical time for agricultural and health programmes. "Malaria and diarrhoeal diseases are rampant, particularly among children, and drug stocks need to be replenished on a regular basis," Mr. Kennedy said. 
At a press conference following the briefing, Mr. Kennedy was asked who was responsible for the bombings. "The aerial bombing is being carried out by planes belonging to the Government of Sudan," he replied, adding, "To our knowledge, the rebels have no air force." 
According to Mr. Kennedy, humanitarian relief operations in the Sudan "continue to be among the most difficult, expensive and dangerous operations of their kind in the world." He noted that this year alone, two relief workers have been killed, three wounded and numerous others taken hostage. "While these tragic events pale in comparison to the toll taken on the innocent civilians caught up the war, they illustrate the environment in which the humanitarian community operates," he observed.

Speaking at a ceremony to see off about 250 university students who volunteered to go and fight the rebels, the sources quoted Beshir as saying his government "will not earn Allah's wrath to please America and will not let the banner of Islam fall down."

The Islamist students apparently volunteered to fight in southern Sudan in response to an appeal by Beshir last month for mobilisation, in view of the escalating conflict.

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) is reportedly expanding its military activities, especially in Bahr el-Ghazal region, wresting control of a number of towns from the government.

"The Sudan has sacrificed too many lives to abandon its Islamic orientation and to relinquish the jihad just to earn the satisfaction of others," said Beshir, according to sources, as he bade farewell to the 'mujahideen' unit code-named Ansar Allah (Supporters of God).

"Thousands of students have been martyred and now we are sending the most beloved ones amongst us for victory or martyrdom" Khartoum students union secretary general Mussa Ibrahim was quoted as saying at the ceremony.

He said the students were not being driven into the jihad by any political motives but, rather "by their faith in Allah".

Khartoum, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Sudan on Tuesday accused aid groups of providing funds and supplies to rebels fighting the Khartoum government and said it had asked the United Nations to move its relief operations from Kenya to southern Sudan.

The independent al-Ayam newspaper reported that Gutbi al-Mahdi, minister of social planning, had on Monday "notified the U.N. representative in Khartoum on the government's wish to transfer the activities of the southern sector (of Operation Lifeline Sudan) which is launched from Lokichokio in Kenya to within Sudan."

Operation Lifeline is a United Nations-led relief effort operating out of Kenya and Khartoum, and supplies aid to civilians in both government and rebel-held areas in war-ravaged southern Sudan.

"They have undertaken financing operations for the army of the rebels and have provided all their supplies," he was quoted as saying in the independent al-Sharia al-Siyassi on Tuesday.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir last week accused aid groups of helping the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and threatened to end their operations. An SPLA statement on Saturday denied the claims, repeated by Mahdi.

The independent al-Rai al-Aam quoted Mahdi saying the SPLA did not cultivate areas under its control because of food, military and logistical assistance from aid groups.

Over 1.5 million people have died in conflict and war-related famine and disease in Sudan's 17-year-old civil war, which has broadly pitted the Moslem and Arab north against the mostly animist and Christian south.

U.N. official Ruth Mountain is in Khartoum for talks with government officials on what they called "violations of relief agreements by non-governmental organisations."

The official Sudan News Agency SUNA said the United Nations had agreed there was a need to review relief operations in south Sudan. There was no immediate comment from U.N. officials.

The United Nations said in March it would tighten flight procedures after it ferried pro-government militia leaders on a relief plane, triggering a week-long hostage crisis.

Mahdi said Sudan wanted to forge a new relationship with Operation Lifeline based on "respect for national sovereignty and transparency," al-Rai al-Aam reported.

Press Release    May 30, 2000

Sudanese Victims of Torture Group, (SVTG) can confirm that Mohamed Mahgoub MohamedAli, member of the National Democratic Alliance Secretariat in Sudan and the Representative of the Communist Party to the NDA was arrested on the morning of Sunday, May 28, 2000 at his home.
Mohamed Mahgoub Ali has been order to report to the Sudanese Security Offices on a daily basis over the last two weeks, previous to his arrest. Mohamed Mahgoub Ali decided not to report the last two days before his arrest, since he was neither interrogated nor charged.
Mohamed Mahgoub Ali was released on Monday 29, May 2000.
SVTG calls upon the Government of Sudan to;
-- Stop the practise of ‘part- time detention’ where activists are order to report to Security Offices on a daily basis. 
-- Stop the harassment of political opposition figures in Sudan. 

Federation's leaders vote to divest stake 

STEVEN CHASE
Alberta Bureau

Calgary -- The leadership of Ontario's 144,000 teachers has voted to lobby their powerful retirement fund to divest its $191.5-million stake in Talisman Energy Inc. because of the Calgary oil company's controversial Sudan operations.
"For us, we need to make sure we are no longer a part of this," said Barbara Sargent, president of the Ontario Teachers Federation (OTF), whose members' retirement funds are managed by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board.
Talisman has been criticized by human rights groups since it first took a 25-per-cent stake in a lucrative Sudanese oil venture in 1998 alongside the Sudanese government and the state oil companies of China and Malaysia.
Critics say oil money from the venture is prolonging a bloody civil war between the Islamist government in Khartoum and Christian and other minority groups in the south of the country. In February, a Canadian government probe also concluded that oil revenue from the venture is helping fuel the war.
Ms. Sargent said the pro-divestment decision was taken in a vote of OTF executives last week after it concluded Calgary-based Talisman wasn't doing enough to ameliorate conditions in civil-war-torn Sudan.
"We didn't feel there was enough being done and they were actually putting enough effort into it," she said of Talisman.
The OTF executive has sent a copy of its pro-divestment motion to the four directors it appoints to the nine-member pension plan board, asking them to begin divesting Talisman shares. However, neither these directors, nor the other four appointed by the Ontario provincial government, are bound to act on the orders of the OTF.
But Ms. Sargent said there's been a lot of pressure on the board in the past couple of years when it comes to "ethical investment issues," and she believes they are "getting the message."
"One would hope they have heard the message and they are going to do what their clients . . . feel is necessary," she said.
If successful, such a divestment would be a public relations setback for Talisman. Board officials said Teachers holds about 3.8 million shares, worth about $191.5-million at yesterday's closing market prices. That's approximately 2.7 per cent of Talisman's stock and market value.
Pension Plan Board spokeswoman Lee Fullerton said she is "a little surprised" the OTF is pushing for divestment given that Talisman has adopted a code of ethics for businesses operating abroad and is moving to set up independent monitoring of its compliance with this code.
Ms. Fullerton said the board has "never divested . . . for social or political reasons," adding that it's not certain the board even has the authority to do this.
She said the OTF request is the first one of its kind the board has received, adding that she expects the request will be raised at the next board meeting in June.
Talisman spokeswoman Jackie Sheppard said most shareholders are pleased with the company -- whose shares have gained 44 per cent in the past two months.
"It's unfortunate [Ms. Sargent] would reach her conclusion. However, I think our share price has had a very nice rebound here and we see a lot of market support behind us at this point."
Talisman closed at $50.40 yesterday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down $1 from the previous close. The stock is still far ahead of a low of $35 it hit March 24.
Ms. Sargent said the OTF executive realizes it could take some time for the board to dispose of its shares, but she thinks it's important to start the ball rolling now.
But Ms. Sheppard said Talisman has adopted an international code of business ethics for operating abroad "in a very comprehensive way that is going to be setting new heights for companies."

Journalist and Media Officer Arrested and Under Possible Threat of Torture
The Sudanese Victims of Torture Group, (SVTG) can confirm that on Sunday, May 28, 2000, Mr Mohamed Fatih El A’lim was arrested at him home in Althawra Omdurman, and his house was searched by Security Officers who confiscated his documents and other personal belongings.

Mohamed Fatih is an environmental activist and a member of the Sudanese Environmental Conservation Society. Mohamed Fatih previously worked for the National Council for Research as a journalist and is now working as a media officer for the British NGO, HelpAge in Khartoum. He is also a freelance broadcast journalist specialising in environmental issues. Mohamed Fatih had recåntly returned from a mission with HelpAge to Daufour.

Mohamed Fatih was taken to an unknown place and his family or lawyer has not been allowed access to him. SVTG is extremely concerned about the mental and physical well being of Mohamed Elamin Fatih as it is torture and ill- treatment is well documented in Sudanese secret locations of detention.

SVTG calls upon the Government of Sudan to;
· Identify the whereabouts of Mohamed Elamin Fatih 
· To give access to Mohamed Elamin Fatih’s family and lawyers. 
· Order the immediate release of Mohamed Elamin Fatih since he is held in detention without valid charges or, in the event that he will be charged, ensure his right to a fair and impartial trial and guarantee his right to legal counsel at all times. 
 

Tell us about your arrest.

Mine was not an individual case. We were a group of 26, two of us priests. Five of the group died of torture in prison. For us who survived, the case had a happy ending. We were granted a reprieve by the President on December 6, 1999. But for me, as a priest, my release did not end the suffering.

Why do you say this?

Because the Church in Sudan continues to suffer: she is abandoned by the world, she is not included in the plans of great international movements. The interests of the great nations seem to be more important than our suffering. Our life is the continuation of the Cross. In some cases the result of this suffering is extreme and ends with death; sometimes, as in my case, there is providential intervention, and release from prison. But the suffering remains. For 20 years, as the Church's representative for dialogue with Muslims and contact person between the Catholic Church and the government, I lived the terrible situation of a people which suffers and is abandoned.

Your release did not come with the recognition of your innocence.

Yes that it correct: there was no statement of not guilty. They simply came and took us from the prison, we were called to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir who told us: "We will forget the past. In this climate of peace and lessening of political and religious tension, I give you your freedom."

By dissolving parliament and striking Turabi, the President would seem to want to eliminate fundamentalism. Is this positive?

It is not good for Sudan and her peoples. It may be good for the powerful in their struggle for power. But their battles are not concerned with the good of the people or of believers. This has gone on for forty years now. Khartoum's political battles are not for the people they are for power. And then, Turabi still has great influence and can move his followers as before.

Has there been some improvement in recent months?

The situation will never improve it we wait for things to happen on the inside. In forty years the Sudanese have been unable to reach peace and I doubt if they will for the next 10. As long as Khartoum continues to look towards the Middle East and not at Africa, and consider itself first Arab and then Africa, it will be against Christianity and its problems will never be solved. Perhaps the government, now a military one, can begin to address some of the problems, but what is needed is help from outside the nation.

What sort of help?

First of all no arms must be given to Sudan. What is needed is a United Nations or Organization for African Unity force. The force must be armed because when I see two people fighting each other they must be stopped. Unfortunately many Western countries think of their own interests and they are not interested in Sudan's problems which the Sudanese government cannot solve.

Do you plan to return to Sudan?

It is difficult at the moment. But as I priest I am longing to return.   (Fides 25/5/2000)
 

London (Amnesty International, May 3, 2000) - Massive human rights violations by Sudanese security forces, various government allied militias and armed opposition groups, are clearly linked to foreign companies' oil operations, Amnesty International stated as it released its report Sudan: The human price of oil today. 
"The civilian population living in oil fields and surrounding areas has been deliberately targeted for massive human rights abuses -- forced displacement, aerial bombardments, strafing villages from helicopter gunships, unlawful killings, torture including rape and abduction," said Maina Kiai, Amnesty International's Director for Africa. 
"Foreign companies* are turning a blind eye to the human rights violations committed by government security forces and their allied troops in the name of protecting the security of oil-producing areas," Amnesty International said. "Respect for human rights should be the central issue for any company which is involved in a war-torn environment such as southern Sudan -- the silence of powerful oil companies in the face of injustice and human rights violations is not neutral." 
Around the town of Bentiu, government troops reportedly cleared the area using helicopter gunships, some allegedly piloted by Iraqi soldiers, and aerial cluster bombardment by high-altitude Antonov planes. 
In addition, government troops on the ground reportedly drove people out of their homes by committing gross human rights violations; male villagers were killed in mass executions; women and children were nailed to trees with iron spikes. Reports from other villages claim that soldiers slit the throats of children and killed male civilians who had been interrogated by hammering nails into their foreheads. 
Rebel forces have also carried out attacks and raids on civilians in attempts to gain control over oil-rich areas. A former commander stated that these forces had summarily executed scores of civilians, raped and abducted women and burned and destroyed homesteads. 
Military tactics such as the destruction of harvests, looting of livestock and permanent military occupation of the area, are being used to prevent the return of the displaced population. The risk of famine to displaced civilians is heightening since no harvests can be expected. 
- Chinese workers were apparently involved in the displacement of civilians during the construction of the pipeline. Sudanese civilians who escaped attacks reported that the Chinese workers were armed and appeared willing to use their guns. 
Mujahedin fighters from Afghanistan and Malaysia have been reportedly used to protect the staff and property of companies involved in building the oil pipeline. Helicopters flown by foreign pilots have been used to ferry armed opposition troops to areas in which fighting was taking place; these troops are alleged to have subsequently carried out atrocities against civilians. 
"Companies are responsible for the impact of their operations on the local community," Amnesty International said. The alleged involvement of security firms, as military advisors and trainers for the troops of the government-allied South Sudan Defence Force (SSDF) raises further questions as to the extent to which the involvement of the oil companies is directly or indirectly contributing to the conflict, the organization said. 
- There is increasing evidence that child combatants are being used in the conflict. A former commander of a rebel force, employed by the government to protect oil installations, informed Amnesty International that child combatants are commonly used as fighters. 
Children are also being taken from the streets of Khartoum and forcibly recruited to the Popular Defence Force, without their parents' knowledge and most of them are sent to the frontline. - There is a clear connection between the new-found oil wealth and the government's ability to purchase arms. Polish tanks arrived in Sudan on the day of the first export shipment of oil. 
Further arms transfers to Sudan from China and Bulgaria have also been reported. Amnesty International does not condemn companies that work in countries where there is a high level of human rights violations, but it asks that they: 
- ab ensure that their operations do not contribute to human rights abuses and promote respect for human rights; 
- ab raise with the Government of Sudan the conditions for the return of those civilians forcibly displaced from their homes in Western Upper Nile and Unity States; 
- ab to ensure adequate human rights training for any security personnel they employ to protect its staff and business interests and to ensure that all security personnel adhere strictly to international human rights standards; 
- ab to give guarantees that the company's infrastructure will not be used for military purposes that would result in human rights abuses. 
In particular the organization invites the many foreign companies operating in Sudan to engage in a positive dialogue to promote human rights, including *Lundin Oil AB (Sweden), Petronas (Malaysia), OMV-Sudan GmbH (Austria), Sudapet (Sudan), Talisman Energy (Canada), Agip (Italy), Elf-Aquitainei (France), Gulf Petroleum Company (Qatar), National Iranian Gas Company (Iran), TotalFina (France), Royal Dutch Shell (The Netherlands) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). CNPC is in turn owned by the People's Republic of China. 
In addition, Denim Pipeline Construction Ltd (Canada) and Roll'n Oil Field Industries (Canada) which have been involved in construction work in the oilfields and on the pipeline. The UK-based companies Weir Pumps Ltd and Allen Power Engineering Ltd have contracts to provide and maintain the oil pumps. 
The main part of the 1,600 kilometre-long pipeline was built by companies from the People's Republic of China, who were sold the pipeline tubing by the Europipe consortium. German-based Mannesmann (which holds one third of Europipe consortium shares) supplied more than 500km of pipes. 

For further information, contact Amnesty International, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ,+44-71-413-5500 ,+44-71-956-1157. Email: amnesty@amnesty.org . Web: http://www.amnesty.org/ . You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. 

At the same time as the fighting here, opposition forces captured the town of Hameshkoreb, 60 miles to the north-west, in a stunning show of force that seemed to catch Khartoum off-guard.

Sudan's barren north-eastern corner, bounded on one side by Eritrea and on the other by the Red Sea, is the newest battlefront in the country's civil war, which was once confined to the south.

Because of this area's strategic importance - threatening the country's vital road and rail links to the coast, its new oil pipeline and other key economic installations - the outcome of this protracted war may eventually be decided here.

Heavy fighting

Both sides are gearing up for heavy fighting during the coming months, while they manoeuvre for political leverage in competing peace initiatives.

The government's goal is to push the rebels across the border into Eritrea and then seal the frontier. Opposition forces are hoping to carve out an enclave from which to launch attacks throughout the north. A tour of their mountain bases suggests that they will be hard to dislodge.

The rebels are building a network of camouflaged supply depots, training facilities and military camps in a warren of volcanic hills where the government's superior armour and aircraft are ineffective. They also have mobile units of their own, using captured military vehicles and converted pick-up trucks.

This is changing a regional contest between north and south into a national revolt that could threaten the Islamist regime that seized power here in 1989.

Intermittent civil war has wracked Sudan almost from the moment it gained its independence from Britain and Egypt in 1956. Much of its southern third is now under the control of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which also holds pockets of territory in central and eastern Sudan, in the Nuba mountains and the Inghessina hills.

But in the north-east, the SPLM is one of seven opposition armies. The others run the political gamut: from the traditional Islamic sect-based movements shouldered aside by the ruling National Islamic Front to the Communist party and a new group led by disaffected military officers, the Sudan Alliance Forces.

Until recently, these disparate forces managed little more than sporadic ambushes and small surprise attacks, often fleeing east into Eritrea when pursued. Today, they are fighting for the first time under a single command. Their increased effectiveness is readily apparent.

This was accomplished after two events which, at first, appeared to be setbacks. Last year, as a result of Eritrea's border war with Ethiopia, relations between Asmara and Khartoum thawed. As a result, the National Democratic Alliance - a coalition of Sudanese opposition groups – were ordered to close their bases in Eritrea and move into Sudan.

This led rebel leaders to agree to combine their forces in one division under a unified command structure. The SPLM augmented these forces by redeploying almost 8,000 soldiers from the south to what they call the "eastern front".

Also, in March the largest northern group in the NDA coalition, the Umma party of the ousted former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, left the coalition, saying that they would challenge the Islamist government of General Omar al-Bashir from within.

Many here view the defection as a blessing after years of internal wrangling that paralysed the NDA. A spurt of armed actions have doubled the size of "liberated" territory in the last six weeks alone.

Now, what started as a conflict between the Arabised, Islamic north and the non-Muslim African south is becoming a fight between a fundamentalist Islamic movement at the centre and a diverse alliance challenging it from the periphery.

Famine toll

Up to 2m people have died from war- and famine-related causes since the fighting resumed in 1983 after a decade-long truce. What is at stake is the country's identity: whether it is to be strictly Arab-Islamic or loosely multi-ethnic and secular - and whether it can exist as one or the other within a single national boundary.

The potential for the fighting to spill over into a wider regional conflict has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity. Two initiatives – one promoted by Libya and Egypt, the other by members of the East Africa-based Intergovernmental Authority for Development - are on the table. Neither one has reached the stage of serious negotiations.

The SPLM leader, John Garang, is calling for the consolidation of the two initiatives. So far, the government has declined to do so, preferring to deal with the opposition parties one at a time.

Under these circumstances, it is likely that fighting will intensify in one of the worst drought-affected areas of Sudan. Many civilians are trekking to refugee camps in Eritrea, which are taking the place of the opposition military bases dismantled just months ago.

Dan Connell is the author of Against All Odds: A Chronicle of the Eritrean Revolution (Red Sea Press, 1997). He is currently working on The Road to New Sudan (Red Sea Press, 2001).

Five decades of conflict

1956 Sudan gains independence under an Arab-dominated, northern regime; north-south civil war breaks out

1972 War ends under an agreement brokered by Ethiopia that grants cultural freedom and political autonomy to southern Sudan

1983 Autonomy is rescinded and Islamic law is imposed throughout the country; army units in the south mutiny, form the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)

1989 On the eve of a new peace agreement, the army seizes power on behalf of the National Islamic Front, which escalates the war and the campaign to push Islamic and Arabic influence onto the Christian and animist African south

1995 The SPLM joins northern opposition groups in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), calling for separation of religion and the state and self-determination for the south; the war spreads northward

1999 The former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi breaks with the opposition to resume dialogue with the regime; the NDA forms a unified command for its seven remaining armies and escalates the war in the north-east; competing peace initiatives promoted by East African states and by Libya and Egypt fail to halt the fighting

Q: A William Safire article claims that Iraq and North Korea may now be working together building a new ballistic missile plant in Sudan, and this was a topic on the Sunday shows with Trent Lott saying, if that's true, the US should be prepared to take military action. And even former UN Chief Inspector Richard Butler says, in fact, it could be true. He didn't say it is true, but he says it could be true. Do you have any reaction?
MR. FOLEY: I'm not sure Mr. Safire says more than that either. I read the article.
Q: But even the Senate Republican leader --
MR. FOLEY: We take all such information extraordinarily seriously. And if, obviously, we had information on this subject, it's not something that lends itself to public discussion because it would be based on intelligence matters. But as I said, we take seriously reports of transfers of proliferation concern and we investigate them thoroughly. And we have consistently stated that North Korea's missile proliferation activities are of serious concern to the United States. We continue to press vigorously for restraints on North Korea's production, deployment, testing and export of missiles and missile technology. And those issues indeed will be central to the next round of US-DPRK talks.
Q: (Inaudible) the pressure is going to be on North Korea side if they're collaborating with Iraq? I mean we don't have much --
MR. FOLEY: You are postulating something that I'm not agreeing to. I'm saying that we follow these kinds of issues of reports or concerns about proliferation very seriously. We monitor them. We follow them. We don't talk about intelligence. We can't publicly, so I can't comment on the report specifically.