♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ 'UN displacement figure inaccurate, end of Jebel Marra attacks': Sudan

March 1 – 2016 GOLO / KHARTOUM The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed reports by the UN on the number of people who have been displaced by the fighting between the army and rebel forces in Darfur’s Jebel Marra since 15 January. OCHA, the coordinating office of the UN’s humanitarian affairs, reported on Thursday that more than 90,000 people from Jebel Marra are estimated to be displaced by the conflict as of 21 February. ‘This includes 87,500 new internally displaced persons in North Darfur, according to aid organisations, and 2,750 displaced in Central Darfur’, OCHA’s weekly news bulletin read.

The spokesman for the Ministry, Ali El Sadig, said that those figures are “based on verbal and hearsay information” from persons who are not able to reach inner Jebel Marra. According to El Sadig's press statement on Monday, the number of displaced people by the fighting has reached 73,000. He claimed that most have returned to their home villages after the end of the military operations, and that government authorities have provided much humanitarian aid to these returnees. The spokesman added that Khartoum has denied international aid agencies access to the people in the affected areas in order to ensure “the safety of the workers operating at the UN and the humanitarian activists”.

The government’s military operations against the rebel SLM-AW stronghold in Jebel Marra have not yet come to an end, although for the first time since 15 January, no Sudanese aircraft were reported above west Jebel Marra for a full day on Sunday. The following morning, residents in the western part of the mountains woke up to loud explosions around Golo, one of them told Radio Dabanga.

Tens of thousands of people who have fled their villages remain trapped in Jebel Marra’s mountain top and caves, and the health situation continues to deteriorate. “There is no adequate supply to treat the newly displaced. More and more children suffer from malnutrition,” a witness from west Jebel Marra said. Diseases such as diarrhoea, flu, and malaria are becoming common. Another concern is that displaced students are unable to sit for their final exams. Travelling to schools in Nierteti is dangerous because of the closed roads. Militiamen in Golo assaulted and robbed a number of school boys of their belongings on Monday, as they were on their way to sit for the basic stage exams. Several of them have gone missing, their parents told Radio Dabanga on Monday.

♦ Journalists on hunger strike in Sudan

March 1 – 2016 KHARTOUM / EL FASHER The planned hunger strike by 30 journalists against the decision to indefinitely suspend El Tayar daily started on Tuesday afternoon in the office of the newspaper. “We will not lift our strike until the newspaper returns to the press and until all forms of censorship on newspapers stop,” Khaled Fathi, editor-in-chief, told Radio Dabanga on Monday.

The journalists will not eat, but are allowed to drink water, during the strike that will continue day and night in the office. According to Fathi, they will tie their hands with chains as a symbolic expression of the restrictions on the freedom of expression in Sudan. Doctors, in support of the protest, said they will conduct medical check-ups among the strikers.

No reasons were given for the indefinite suspension of El Tayar on 15 December, but editor-in-chief Osman Mirghani pointed out that his editorials sharply criticised the Finance Minister’s proposal to lift subsidies on wheat, flour, fuel and electricity in 2016. Sudanese throughout the country now face high food prices, shortages of flour, and difficulties to obtain cooking gas because of the lifted subsidies.

Ranked 174th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, Sudan is notorious for hounding its news media and journalists, Reporters said. Arbitrary arrests, seizures of newspaper issues and forced closures are all often used to control news and information. Journalist Ibrahim Bagal Siraj, for example, has been detained and transferred to the North Darfur capital since 9 February for unknown reasons. After suffering from severe blood sugar imbalance on Thursday night, the diabetic Siraj was rushed to the hospital in El Fasher under heavy guard. The Darfur Journalists Association (DJA) called upon the authorities to either release Siraj or bring him to a fair trial that gives him the right to defend himself.

Other highlights from Dabanga Sudan:

Nine raped, including minors, near North Darfur camp

March 1 – 2016 EL FASHER Gunmen raped nine displaced women from Zamzam camp in North Darfur on Saturday 27 January. Among them were four minors. The camp coordinator in El Fasher locality told Radio Dabanga that a group of gunmen riding…

Darfur lawyer, displaced decry South African exit from Unamid

February 29 – 2016 DARFUR Lawyer and human rights expert, Saleh Mahmoud, considers the decision by South Africa to withdraw its troops from Unamid as “an individual decision, in the context of the special relationship with the Sudanese government, which means…

Khartoum queues for bread as flour shortage bites

February 29 – 2016 KHARTOUM The citizens of Khartoum must queue for hours at bakeries, some of which have been forced to close in the wake of an acute flour shortage. The weight of a loaf of bread has witnessed a remarkable decrease…

South Kordofan rebels ‘kill dozens of soldiers’

February 28 – 2016 DELLING The rebel SPLM-N has reports another attack on Sudanese military forces on the road in Delling, South Kordofan. They claim to have killed at least 53 soldiers. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North destroyed…

Fire, hospital fees affect Darfuri refugees

February 28 – 2016 EASTERN CHAD CAMPS Donors from the USA have visited one of the refugee camps in eastern Chad, where Sudanese refugees report they have to pay a fee in the health centre to receive treatment. A large fire in another camp…

Parties join human trafficking monitor in eastern Sudan

February 26 – 2016 PORT SUDAN More political parties in Sudan's Red Sea State joined an initiative to monitor the issue of human trafficking and their root causes in the area, that will kick-off in the coming days. The Sudanese Congress Party…

'Millions registered to vote in Darfur': referendum team

February 26 – 2016 KHARTOUM The number of people in Darfur who registered to vote in the administrative referendum, scheduled for next April, has amounted to about 3.5 million people, according to the referendum commission. “All other…

'US turn blind eye to gross HRs violations in Jebel Marra': Darfur Bar

February 24 – 2016 KHARTOUM In a statement on Tuesday, the Darfur Bar Association (DBA) criticises the US statement of 18 February that holds the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) responsible for the outbreak of the fighting in Darfur's…

This digest is an excerpt from the weekly Darfur & Sudan News Update. Subscribe to the newsletter here