♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

05/07/2017 07:00 DABANGA SUDAN

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

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

 

♦ UN decides to downsize peacekeeping mission in Darfur

June 30 – 2017 NEW YORK / KHARTOUM On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved a major reduction of peacekeepers in Darfur, amid pleas from Sudanese refugee associations and international activists. More than a third of the nearly 19,000 troops and police officers of the joint UN and AU peacekeeping mission will be withdrawn.
 
The UNSC renewed the mandate of Unamid until 30 June next year, however, restructures the mission “in two six-month phases while closely monitoring the situation on the ground”, the UN said on Thursday. Britain’s deputy ambassador Peter Wilson said: “There were still troubling events on the ground, but there was no question that the situation had changed”.
 
The Sudanese government, pushing for the exit of all Unamid forces for years, thanked the Council for its decision. “The resolution is a direct practical step confirming the Security Council's recognition that Darfur has turned the page of conflict, and entirely moved towards peace, reconstruction, development and construction,” a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs read on Monday.
 
According to Omer Ismail of the Enough Project, a Washington-based advocacy group, the withdrawal of peacekeepers “will make several key areas unsafe for humanitarian operations, likely leading to closures of programmes upon which tens of thousands of conflict-affected people rely”.
 
Displaced leaders in Darfur have warned for the consequences of the downsizing of the number of troops. “The UN Security Council did refer the case of Darfur to the International criminal court for a good reason.”

♦ Sudan army attacks Darfuris after killing of rapist

July 3 – 2017 ZALINGEI Sudanese soldiers of the military garrison in Golo, Central Darfur, raped a group of women who were drawing water from a well near the town on Thursday 29 June. People in the area came to their rescue, and beat the rapists with sticks and stones. They killed one of them, and wounded several others. “People in the area rushed to the scene and beat the rapists with sticks and stones, killing one of them, and wounding others,” the Central Darfur camps’ coordinator, El Shafi Abdallah, told Radio Dabanga. “The army troops then besieged the area, and terrorised the people with a barrage of missiles and bullets.” During the attack villagers were robbed of their belongings. Those who were able to escape sought shelter in mountain caves and valleys.
 
The Displaced people and Refugees Secretariat in Central Darfur has called on the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid) to provide urgent aid to the victims of army attacks in Rokoro locality. “We informed the mission of the poor humanitarian situation facing the people sheltering in mountain caves and in the valleys after attacks by government forces on Thursday,” Abdallah told this station after a visit to the mission in Zalingei.
 

More news from Radio Dabanga:

Cholera spreads in Darfur camps
July 4 – 2017 NYALA / SHEARIA / TENDELTI The state Ministry of Health placed medical tents to combat the spread of cholera in the overcrowded Kalma camp for displaced people in South Darfur.  Five…

East Darfur capital bans South Sudanese because of cholera
July 3 – 2017 ED DAEIN / TABIT  On Wednesday, the Commissioner of Ed Daein in East Darfur has ordered the evacuation of South Sudanese refugees from the town within 48 hours, to prevent the spread…

Violence in Darfur: Farmer killed, two herders abducted
July 3 – 2017 FANGA / UM DUKHUN On Saturday, a farmer was killed at his land west of Fanga in North Darfur. The situation in Central Darfur’s Um Dukhun has become tense after the abduction of two Misseriya…

Rains destroy 1,500 homes, five schools in Central Darfur camps
July 3 – 2017 ZALINGEI Torrential rains caused the collapse of about 1,500 homes and five schools at the camps for the displaced near Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur, on Saturday evening. El Shafee Abdallah…

Sudan extends ceasefire for four months
July 2 – 2017 KHARTOUM Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir officially extended the unilateral ceasefire on all military operations, starting today. Al Bashir's presidential decree, which he signed today…

More newly displaced families reach Kutum camp
July 2 – 2017 KASSAB / EIN SIRO Hundreds of families – more than 2,000 people – fled the recent attacks in Ein Siro and have arrived in a camp for displaced people in Kutum. Military confrontations…

New SPLM-N leader visits South Kordofan
July 2 – 2017 DELLING The acting chairman of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Abdelaziz El Hilu, arrived to the rebel-held areas in South Korodfan on Thursday…

USA urges Sudanese govt. to improve human rights
June 30 – 2017 KHARTOUM The United States remains very concerned about Sudan’s human rights record, including the continued closing of political space, and restrictions on religious…

Egypt screens Sudanese arrivals for cholera
June 29 – 2017 CAIRO / EL GEDAREF / NYALA / EL TADAMON  Egypt's Cairo airport has started screening passengers arriving from Sudan for signs of cholera because of the reported outbreak. Activists…

Nine Sudanese Congress Party activists held during seminar on cholera
June 28 – 2017 OMDURMAN Security agents detained nine members of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) in Omdurman on Tuesday. “While holding a seminar in Umbadda about way to combat…

 

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