South Kordofan ceasefire declared by Sudan’s Bashir
Sudan’s president has announced a two-week ceasefire in South Kordofan state where fighting since June has displaced some 70,000 people from their homes.
Fighting in South Kordofan has forced people in the Nuba mountains to go into hiding
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“I declare a unilateral two-week ceasefire,” AFP quotes Omar al-Bashir as saying on state radio.
The conflict began when the authorities tried to disarm ethnic Nuban fighters after elections in the state that borders newly independent South Sudan.
Khartoum denies accusations of ethnic cleansing against pro-southern Nubans.
A spokesman for the Sudanese armed forces said fighting had reduced in South Kordofan this month because of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The BBC’s James Copnall in the capital, Khartoum, says it has been extremely difficult to get accurate information about what is going on in South Kordofan, as journalists and diplomats are barred from the region and the UN faces restrictions on its movement.
‘Bombing and shelling’
Mr Bashir’s ceasefire announcement, made during an unannounced visit to the state’s capital Kadugli, caught his own military – and the rebels they are fighting – by surprise, our correspondent says.
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A senior rebel told the BBC he was in favour of a temporary cessation of hostilities, to deal with humanitarian issues, but he would not accept a ceasefire, as the underlying political issues were still unresolved
Mr Bashir also said that foreign organisations would not be allowed into South Kordofan and that any aid would be delivered only through the Sudanese Red Crescent organisation, Reuters news agency reports.
A UN report published this month warned that war crimes may have been committed in South Kordofan.
It said that atrocities had been committed on both sides, but the army’s actions were “especially egregious” – referring to summary executions, aerial bombardments and the shelling of neighbourhoods.
Many people in South Kordofan, especially residents of the Nuba mountains, fought with southern rebels during the two decade north-south war but now find themselves in the north.
When South Sudan split from the north on 9 July, the new country’s leader, Salva Kiir, said he would work with Mr Bashir to ensure the rights of former southern rebels in the north were respected.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14632513
Sudan Declares Two-Week Ceasefire in Southern Kordofan
Sudan’s president has called for a two-week, unilateral cease-fire in Southern Kordofan state, where government forces are accused of committing atrocities against civilians.
President Omar al-Bashir declared the truce on Tuesday ahead of a fact-finding mission by United Nations agencies to assess the humanitarian situation in the region.
Khartoum organized the mission after the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into possible war crimes in Southern Kordofan.
The U.N. says it has received reports of indiscriminate killings, widespread looting and massive civilian displacement in the state. It blames most of the violence on Sudan’s army, police and allied militia.
Sudan has rejected the claims.
Fighting between government forces and the state’s ethnic Nuba rebels began escalating in June, about a month before South Sudan split from the north and declared independence.
The Nuba fighters sided with the south during Sudan’s 21-year north-south civil war.
The Khartoum government has ordered former southern fighters in the border state to move into South Sudan.
The U.N. mission is set to arrive in Southern Kordofan on Saturday.
Sudan’s Bashir Orders Cease-Fire in Southern Kordofan, State TV Reports
Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir announced today a unilateral cease-fire in Southern Kordofan and banned any foreign organization from entering the oil-producing state, Sudan’s state TV reported.
Forces loyal to the government in Khartoum have clashed since June 5 with insurgents from the northern sector of South Sudan’s ruling party.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights called in an Aug. 15 report for an investigation into possible crimes against humanity and war crimes in the state, allegedly committed mainly by government forces.
The Sudanese government rejected the UN report as “baseless,” the state-run SUNA news agency reported on Aug. 15, citing Foreign Ministry spokesman Al-Obaid Murawih. Government officials previously denied that their forces violated human rights in the state.
Both al-Bashir and his governor in Southern Kordofan, Ahmed Haroun, are wanted by theInternational Criminal Court over allegations they were involved in war crimes in the western region of Darfur, where insurgents took arms against the government in 2003.
Fighting broke out in Southern Kordofan a month before South Sudan’s July 9 independence, which was the culmination of a 2005 peace agreement that ended a two-decade civil war between the north and south.
Clashes and airstrikes by the Sudanese army in Southern Kordofan forced more than 73,000 people to flee their homes, according to the UN.
Southern Kordofan is Sudan’s only oil-producing state, accounting for 115,000 barrels a day, according to Sudan’s minister of state for oil, Ali Ahmed Osman.
To contact the reporter on this story: Salma El Wardany in Khartoum atselwardany@bloomberg.net; Maram Mazen in Khartoum at mmazen@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
Warrap parliament stages backbench rebellion against hunger accounts
Sudan Tribune
August 22, 2011 (JUBA) – As the government of South Sudan’s Warrap state continues to deny the prevalence of hunger, food shortages and malnutrition in some areas, the state parliament has warned that the executive must accept the truth and assist the …
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