Category Archives: Sudan

Mercenaries flock to Libya raising fears of prolonged war

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Hundreds of fighters from Sudan joining anti-government Libyan National Army

A new wave of mercenaries from Sudan is fighting in Libya, deepening concerns that the conflict in the north African state has descended into an intractable international war that could destabilise much of the region.

Leaders of two different groups of Sudanese fighters active in Libya have told the Guardian that they had received hundreds of new recruits in recent months. Both groups were fighting with the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar against the internationally recognised government in Tripoli.

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Ex-Sudan leader Omar al-Bashir sentenced to two years for corruption

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Deposed president convicted of corruption, receiving illegal gifts and possessing foreign currency

Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, has been sentenced to two years in detention after being found guilty of corruption, receiving illegal gifts and possessing foreign currency.

Bashir has been in prison in Khartoum since being forced from power in April when security forces withdrew their support for his repressive regime after months of protests.

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Sudan will never prosper while it is on the US terrorism blacklist

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If Washington wants to be on the right side of history, it must open the way for Sudan to receive economic support

Over the past year, the Sudanese people have staged a near miraculous revolution, overthrowing the 30-year dictatorship of President Omar al-Bashir.

Following mediation led by the African Union and Ethiopia, a transitional government consisting of civilians and military generals is headed by Abdalla Hamdok, a veteran economist untainted by the decades of corruption and misrule. It is the best compromise: the army, and especially the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, are simply too powerful to be removed from politics in one fell swoop.

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Egypt and Sudan in talks to defuse tensions over Ethiopian dam

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Nile basin countries fear for their future water supplies as the Grand Renaissance hydroelectric project reaches completion

A new round of high-level talks has started in Cairo between three Nile basin countries aimed at resolving disputes over Ethiopia’s controversial Grand Renaissance dam, which is set to become Africa’s biggest hydroelectric power plant.

Analysts fear that Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia could be drawn into conflict if the dispute is not resolved before the $5bn dam begins operating next year.

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Sudan dissolves ex-ruling party and repeals law targeting women

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Activists welcome passing of key demands of protest movement that toppled Bashir

Activists in Sudan have welcomed a decision by the transitional government to dissolve the former ruling party and repeal a public order law used to regulate women’s behaviour under the former president Omar al-Bashir.

Bashir has been in detention since being forced from power in April, when security forces withdrew their support for his regime after months of protests in which more than 100 people were killed.

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Facebook removes Africa accounts linked to Russian troll factory

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Fake networks in eight nations are connected to man allegedly behind disinformation empire

Facebook has taken down accounts linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin – the businessman allegedly behind Russia’s notorious troll factory – which were actively seeking to influence the domestic politics of a range of African countries.

The company said on Wednesday it had suspended three networks of “inauthentic” Russian accounts. The Facebook pages targeted eight countries across the continent: Madagascar, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sudan and Libya.

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End violence against female aid workers | Letter

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Rosalind Crowther of CARE International on the need to protect humanitarians

Around the world, humanitarian aid workers operate in dangerous and difficult environments and here in South Sudan we know that many aid workers and peacekeepers have lost their lives while trying to protect and assist South Sudanese communities.

Among them have been women who play a vital role in every aspect of crisis response, and particularly in preventing, responding to, and working with survivors of gender-based violence.

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Deposed Sudan president to face corruption charges in court

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Omar al-Bashir faces long jail term if convicted as country’s military leaders pave way for civilian rule

Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, will appear in court on Monday for the first day of a high-profile corruption trial that could end in the deposed autocratic ruler being jailed for many years.

Bashir was forced out of power in April when security forces withdrew their support for his regime after months of popular protests. He is now in prison and will be charged with possessing foreign currency, corruption and receiving gifts illegally.

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Sudan opposition and military sign final power-sharing accord

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Deal paves way for transitional government after overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir

Sudan’s main opposition coalition and the ruling military council have signed a final power-sharing agreement, paving the way for a transitional government following the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

Stability in Sudan, which has been grappling with an economic crisis, is seen as crucial for a volatile region struggling with conflict and insurgencies from the Horn of Africa to Egypt and Libya.

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Sudanese military and protesters reach full agreement on power-sharing deal

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Constitutional declaration follows the arrest of nine paramilitaries for killing four schoolchildren

Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders have reached an agreement to usher in a new period of transitional government, the African Union said.

The agreement came after prolonged negotiations between Sudan’s ruling military council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change, which has been leading the protest movement across Sudan for months.

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Four teenage protesters killed by security forces in central Sudan

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Rapid Support Forces opened fire on peaceful protest against shortages in El-Obaid

At least four students were killed when security forces opened fire on a protest in central Sudan on Monday. The oldest was 16, the youngest 14, locals said. The death toll is expected to rise.

Witnesses described how militia from the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fired on teenagers, many of whom were wearing school uniforms and carrying school bags, as they marched peacefully in protest at shortages of water, electricity and public transport in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state. There were also reports of at least one adult casualty.

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Sudanese military and protesters sign power-sharing deal – video

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Sudan's ruling military and the pro-democracy movement signed a political document on Wednesday which is part of a power-sharing deal meant to end the country's deadlock after weeks of stalled talks. The signing comes after months of street protests and violence after the military ousted the dictator Omar al-Bashir

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UK agencies played key role in Italian mistaken identity case

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Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe wrongly arrested based on tipoffs from NCA and GCHQ

The acquittal of Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe by an Italian court of being a human trafficking kingpin is a major embarrassment for Britain’s National Crime Agency and the GCHQ intelligence service.

Berhe’s arrest in 2016 was trumpeted as a major coup in the battle against international people-smuggling, but unbeknown to them at the time, the Italian and British authorities had mistaken the Eritrean for one of the world’s most-wanted human traffickers, Medhanie Yehdego Mered, aka the General.

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Eritrean man released from jail in Italian mistaken identity case

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Judge acquits Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe of being a human trafficking kingpin

A Palermo judge has acquitted an Eritrean man of being a human trafficking kingpin, confirming he was the victim of mistaken identity when he was arrested more than three years ago in a joint operation between Italian and British authorities.

The arrest of Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe in 2016 was presented to the press as a brilliant coup by Italian and British authorities, who mistook him for one of the world’s most-wanted human traffickers, Medhanie Yehdego Mered, aka the General.

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Sudan’s ruling military council reports it has survived coup attempt

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Top general says plotters were trying to disrupt recent truce between army and protesters

Sudan’s ruling military council has foiled a coup attempt, a top general has announced on state television, saying that 12 officers and four soldiers have been arrested.

The announcement late on Thursday closely followed the ruling military and civilian protesters agreeing to end a political impasse, after the army ousted longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April on the back of a popular uprising.

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Scores of protesters wounded and seven dead on Sudan’s streets

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Security forces block roads and fire teargas in Khartoum in first protests since army crackdown

Seven people have died and nearly 200 have been wounded during huge demonstrations in Sudan, the first large-scale protests since a crackdown on a camp early in June left at least 128 people dead.

Tens of thousands took part in protests across the country. In Khartoum, the capital, protesters demanded that the ruling transitional military council (TMC) hand over power to civilians, as security forces fired teargas at them.

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Congo abuses drive global rise in sexual violence against women

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Study identifies DRC, India and South Sudan among countries where women are at greatest risk of attack

Sexual violence is on the increase both inside and outside of wartime contexts and women remain the primary victims, warns new research.

In their report, researchers from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled) analysed data gathered from 400 recorded sexual violence events that occurred between January 2018 and June 2019.

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Former Manus Island detainee tells UN ‘human beings are being destroyed’

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Abdul Aziz Muhamat delivers a plea for urgent action to the Human Rights Council

Since Abdul Aziz Muhamat left Manus Island for the last time, he has climbed a mountain in his new home of Switzerland, and then returned to advocating for the resettlement of the hundreds of men and women he left behind.

The Sudanese refugee spent more than six years in Australia’s offshore processing and detention system in Papua New Guinea, before he was granted residency in the European nation earlier this month.

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Arab world turns its back on religion – and its ire on the US

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Survey of 25,000 people in Middle East and North Africa also shows 52% of 18- to 29-year-olds are thinking about migrating

The Arab world is turning its back on religion and on US relations, according to the largest public opinion survey ever carried out in the region.

A survey of more than 25,000 people across 10 countries and the Palestinian territories found that trust in religious leaders has plummeted in recent years.

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In Moscow, Riyadh and Washington, this is the age of the shameless lie

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As David Miliband argues in his Fulbright lecture, world leaders have found they can lie with impunity. We must not be complicit in their mendacity

Truth or consequences, a parlour game in which players are penalised for dishonesty or wrongdoing, is mostly fun – but it also reflects a broad moral consensus about the unacceptability of lying. This long-held belief is deeply rooted in popular culture. Truth or Consequences was the title of a postwar American TV quiz show whose success was so great that a New Mexico town was named after it. Put simply, and as a general rule, most people expect that if you tell whoppers, you get punished.

Why, then, do so many modern leaders seem to think they can lie and get away with it? A propensity to deny, dodge or disown the consequences of political actions is spreading globally like a toxic virus. There was a time, as David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, argues in this year’s Fulbright Lecture, when public accountability was on the rise. Not any more. In what he calls the age of impunity, “those engaged in conflicts around the world believe they can get away with anything, including murder”.

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