Sudan parties reach agreement on Southern Kordofan

The Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Sudan signed an agreement aiming for a full ceasefire in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan on Tuesday 28th June.

 

"In South Kordofan there was an agreement on general principles on cessation of hostilities the intention is to arrive to a ceasefire," SPLM minister for cooperation Deng Alor told AFP.

There has been heavy fighting in Southern Kordofan since 5th June between Sudanese government forces and northerners allied with the ruling party in the south, the SPLM.

The deal sets the framework for political and security arrangements in the two border states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan and is part of an ongoing mediation effort by the African Union (AU), led by former South African president, Thabo Mbeki.

The framework agreement stipulates that the National Congress Party (NCP), the ruling party in the north, will recognise the northern contingent of the SPLM as a “legal political party in Sudan.” NCP officials have previously said they will not allow the SPLM-North to exist after 9th July, when the South becomes a separate state, as it would mean the SPLM-North was an extension of a foreign party.

Under the agreement, fighters aligned with the SPLM in Southern Kordofan will “be integrated, over a time period and with modalities to be agreed, into the Sudan Armed Forces.”

There were two major catalysts for the current outbreak of violence in Southern Kordofan. The first was the election of NCP candidate Ahmed Haroun as governor of the state, in what the SPLM called a rigged election. Haroun is wanted be the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Darfur, which borders Southern Kordofan.

Haroun beat SPLM candidate Abdel-Aziz Al-Hilu, who is also the leader of the Nuba, a non-Arab ethnic group who lives in the region.

The second catalyst was the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) announcement in May that the SPLM-North should disarm by 1st June, or else the SAF would do it by force.

The agreement signed in Addis Ababa on Tuesday will result in the two forces being combined eventually, although the actual mechanisms by which this would occur have not yet been decided.

It did specify that the NCP and SPLM-North would form a joint political committee to ensure that "the issue of governance in Southern Kordofan shall be discussed and resolved amicably…within 30 days.”

The two sides have also agreed to start working on a cease-fire agreement and to allow humanitarian access into the state.

Many people within Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states fought alongside the south in Sudan's decades-long civil war, fighting against repression and marginalisation by Khartoum.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brought the civil war to an end in 2005, set out the process that will on 9th July lead to the independence of South Sudan (although this was not the aim of the CPA), but very little was promised to the indisputably northern states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile except ill-defined 'popular consultations' on their future constitutional status.

In recent weeks there have been reports of 'ethnic cleansing' by northern troops in Southern Kordofan and Al-Hilu has said that over 3,000 people have been killed or have disappeared due to their ethnicity or political affiliation.

Southerners voted overwhelmingly to split from Sudan in a January independence referendum, but the period since has been marred by violence in a number of border states, including the oil-rich Abyei region, which is claimed by both sides.

South Sudan will become Africa's newest state on 9th July.

The UK's Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham said South Sudan's independence was "incredibly exciting".

"It is an historic moment for Africa and the world, the creation of a new country," he said, speaking from Malabo, which is to host an AU summit later this week.

"But we don't want the great celebrations of this new country to be undermined and marred by what's happening in Abyei and South Kordofan."

Sources: BBC News, Business Recorder, Sudan Tribune

UN votes for Abyei peacekeepers as Southern Kordofan violence continues

The UN has voted to deploy peacekeepers to Abyei

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to send a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to the disputed Sudanese territory of Abyei, in line with the agreement signed between Khartoum and Juba on 20th June.

The force will monitor the withdrawal of Sudanese troops from Abyei, who occupied the region's main town on 9th June after being attacked by groups with links to the south.

The resolution establishes a new UN peacekeeping force, which will be called the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). It will have a mandate to protect civilians and “to protect the Abyei area from incursions by unauthorised elements,” according to the BBC.

Sudan's UN Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said northern troops would be withdrawn as soon as the Ethiopian troops had been deployed.

Abyei has been a crucial sticking point between the north and south as the country gets ready to split on 9th July. Oil-rich Abyei straddles the border and is claimed by both sides.

It was meant to have a referendum in January over whether it would join the south or remain with the north, but the vote was put off indefinitely due to disagreements over voter eligibility.

The southern Sudanese voted overwhelmingly to split from the north in a January referendum, established as part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which brought Sudan's decades-long civil war to an end.

The US's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the passage of the Abyei resolution, but expressed deep concern at the continuing violence in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan.

"Tens of thousands of people have been driven from their homes, and there are reports of very serious human rights abuses and violence targeting individuals based on their ethnicity and political affiliation," Clinton said.

Heavy fighting broke out in the border state three weeks ago, and renewed violence began last Wednesday, 22nd June in Southern Kordofan's Nuba Mountains, home to Sudan's indigenous non-Arab Nuba people.

Many Nuba fought on side the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during Sudan's civil war. While the civil war is usually categorised as a north-south battle, the fact that the Nuba, whose territory clearly lies within the north, fought on behalf of the south shows the situation to be far more complicated than it is often portrayed.

According to the Guardian, 16 people were killed and at least 32 injured in an aerial attack on Sunday 26th June in the Nuba mountains.

The aerial strikes, which have happened almost daily for the past three weeks, are said to have been carried out by Sudanese planes.

Senior Sudanese officers have told the African Union panel on Sudan, headed by former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, that the strikes are intended to prevent the SPLA from resupplying the Nuba.

But others say the air strikes and other attacks have targeted individuals due to their ethnic or political affiliation, and some have called the situation 'ethnic cleansing'.

Nuba leader Abdel Aziz al-Hilu told the AU panel that over 3,000 people had disappeared, “either killed or their whereabouts are not known, either because they are Nuba or they are SPLA.”

The UN peacekeeping force in Sudan, UNMIS, has been ordered to withdraw from Southern Kordofan by 9th July, the date South Sudan will declare independence.

UNMIS bases have been attacked and on 17th June, a UN patrol was detained by government troops and subjected to a mock firing squad in the state capital, Kadugli. They were allegedly told "leave South Kordofan... we will kill you if you come back here.”

The latest report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the situation in Southern Kordofan had calmed in recent days.

But the report also suggested that northern authorities were forcing some of the thousands of displaced people to return to Kadugli against their will.

A “combination of incentives through assistance and intimidation was used to exert pressure on the displaced people to return to Kadugli,” the OCHA report said.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, a variety of insidious methods have been used, some of which have been detailed in an internal UN report. Sudanese intelligence agents pretending to be Red Crescent workers allegedly entered an UN-protected camp and ordered the displaced people to go to a stadium.

Humanitarian agencies movements have been restricted and facts are hard to verify, but reports of forcibly moving populations bears worrying resemblance to many of the well documented allegations made against Khartoum's actions in Darfur.

Indeed, one of the catalysts for the current problems in Southern Kordofan was the election of Ahmed Haroun as governor of the state in mid-May. Haroun is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Darfur, and his election was protested heavily by the South's ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir is also wanted by the ICC, which has created considerable difficulties in arranging the ceremony marking the secession of South Sudan, due to take place in under two weeks.

The US's President Barack Obama has said he will only attend South Sudan's independence ceremony if Al-Bashir is not there.

Al-Tayyar Arabic daily newspaper in Khartoum has said this is the case with a number of world leaders.

“A number of European heads of state, including the French President Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister as well as the US President Barack Obama, have in principle welcomed the invitation to attend the South's independence ceremony, but they conditioned their appearance in Juba on the non-attendance of the president of the republic Omar Al-Bashir, pointing to the crimes with which he is charged by the International [Criminal] Court,” the paper quoted an anonymous southern official as saying.

Whether Al-Bashir will attend is not yet clear.

Sources: AFP, BBC News, Christian Science Monitor, the Guardian, Sudan Tribune

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

Sudan leaders agree to "full demilitarisation" of Abyei

Thabo Mbeki (L), South Sudan's Salva Kiir and Sudan's Omar Al-Bashir in April, 2011

Leaders from north and south Sudan signed an agreement pledging to end fighting in the disputed border region of Abyei, on Monday 20th June.

 

The agreement was reached after days of mediation by former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, in the Ethopian capital of Addis Ababa.

 

The deal requires both northern and southern troops to leave Abyei, to be replaced by Ethiopian peacekeepers, in an agreement that Mbeki has said will provide for the "full demilitarisation" of Abyei.

 

Both Sudan and South Sudan claim the oil-rich border region of Abyei, and northern forces seized the town last month, causing over one hundred thousand people to flee, mostly to the south.

Violence in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan has also led to 60,000 people being displaced.

Some 4,000 Ethiopian troops are expected to be brought in after the Sudanese army has left, although the UN will determine the exact troop numbers and their mandate.

With South Sudan planning to declare independence on 9th July, 2011, Mbeki said in his announcement of the deal, it was crucial that the peacekeepers were brought in as soon as possible. He urged the UN Security Council to authorise their deployment without delay.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement and pledged “the full support of the United Nations to the parties in facilitating its implementation.”

Ban also urged the two sides to resolve "all outstanding issues related to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and post-secession arrangement, and to reach an immediate cessation of hostilities in Southern Kordofan State and provide their full co-operation to humanitarian agencies in meeting the needs of the affected population."

The violence, which started on 5th June, continues in Southern Kordofan state. US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice, spoke of reports that alleged that forces aligned with the north had “searched for southern forces and sympathisers, whom they arrested and allegedly executed.”

Mbeki said political leaders from Southern Kordofan would be arriving shortly in Addis Ababa to hold talks on ending the conflict.

Violence broke out after residents in the state's Nuba Mountains, many of whom fought for the south during the country's decades-long civil war, were ordered to disarm by the new Khartoum-allied governor, Ahmed Haroun, who has been indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court.

South Sudan voted overwhelming in favour of independence in a January referendum, prescribed by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which brought civil war to an end.

 

Abyei was meant to have its own referendum on whether it would stay in the north or join the south, however the vote was postponed indefinitely over disagreements on voter eligibility, to do with the nomadic, Khartoum-backed Misseriya Arab tribespeople.

Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states are clearly in the north, however many of their residents fought with the south during the civil war, and tension has been high as the South prepares to separate.

Sources: BBC News, the Guardian, RTT News

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

 

Southern Kordofan fighting spreads into South Sudan's Unity State

South Sudan is due to separate on 9th July

South Sudan has accused the northern military of bombing its territory in Unity State on Monday 13th June, after fighting in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan spread across the border.

The northern army has been fighting southern-aligned troops in Southern Kordofan since 5th June, causing more than 50,000 people to flee the state, according to UN estimates.

Aerial bombardments and heavy artillery attacks were reported on Friday and Monday in Unity State, while fighting continues to rage in Kadugli, Southern Kordofan's state capital.

Ruling parties in north and south Sudan have blamed each other for the fighting in Southern Kordofan, the north's largest oil producing state.

The Southern Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM) has said fighting began when the northern army tried to disarm fighters. The northern army has blamed southern-aligned armed groups for provoking the clashes. They also said Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA) forces attacked a local police station and stole a number of weapons.

South Sudan voted to separate from the north in a January independence referendum, required by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which brought decades of civil war to an end.

But the situation is more complicated in a number of border states, such as Southern Kordofan, which is clearly in the north, but whose residents often sided with southern-based rebels during the war.

Another issue of tension is the oil-rich Abyei state, which is claimed by both sides. Abyei was due to have its own referendum in January on whether to join the north or the south, but it was postponed indefinitely, due to disagreements over voter eligibility.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) took over Abyei town on 21st May, after an ambush by SPLA forces, and has occupied it since.

According to the Sudan Tribune, an African Union-sponsored summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on June 12-13th has resulted Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir agreeing to withdraw his troops from Abyei, although this has not been confirmed.

An unnamed diplomat was quoted as saying, “President Bashir has agreed to pull his troops out before 9th July with Ethiopia sending two battalions as peacekeepers. They will be deployed under the UN flag.”

The meeting was between al-Bashir and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir. It was mediated by former South African president Thabo Mbeki and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Human rights groups have warned that southerners are being targeted by pro-northern forces in Southern Kordofan state. Amnesty International's Tawanda Hondora was quoted by the BBC as saying “We think this is the start of what might be ethnic cleansing of South Kordofan, Unity State and Abyei, with the precise purpose of ensuring that, come independence, the areas will not have people who are perceived to be sympathetic to the south.”

South Sudan is due to separate from the north on 9th July.

Sources: African Union, BBC News, Reuters, Sudan Tribune

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

North and South Sudan agree to demilitarised border zone

North and South Sudan have agreed to set up a jointly patrolled demilitarised zone along their border, however both sides are already expressing scepticism on whether it will hold.

The African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) for Sudan, which mediated the deal, released a statement on Tuesday 31st May saying that an agreement was reached during talks on Monday in Addis Ababa to form a common zone along the 1,300 mile border.

The zone will follow internal borders from 1956, the year Sudan became independent from Britain, and will encompass six miles on either side of the border line.

Khartoum's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Media Secretary Ibrahim Ghandour downplayed the significance of the agreement, arguing that what was signed was simply one plan that could form the basis of a framework agreement.

He stressed that proposals are still being discussed.

The Southern-ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) also expressed doubt that such an agreement could be upheld.

SPLA spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer was quoted in the New York Times as saying “The question is, whether the Khartoum army and intelligence implement it? We doubt it very much.”


Disagreement over the border has proved to be one of the most problematic issues as South Sudan readies itself for independence in July.

Southerners voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north in a January referendum outlined by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which, in 2005, brought decades of civil war in Sudan to an end.

The CPA also arranged for a referendum to be held in the disputed border region of Abyei on whether its residents wanted to join the north or the south, but the vote was postponed indefinitely after disagreements over voter eligibility.

Both sides claim fertile and oil-rich Abyei, and it has been the site of numerous clashes in recent months.

On 21st May, northern forces took over Abyei, causing some 80,000 people to flee, mostly to the south.


The international community has called on Khartoum to withdraw from Abyei, however northern president Omar Al-Bashir has said he will not pull out.

On Thursday 26th May, the north bombed and destroyed the bridge across the Bahr el Arab, called the River Kiir by southerners, which forms part of the 1956 border in the Abyei area.

Northern troops have also been deployed in two other areas along the border, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, and Khartoum has demanded that all southern-allied soldiers in the areas disarm by Wednesday.

What will happen if they do not, is not yet clear.

Sources: BBC News, Guardian, New York Times, Sudan Tribune

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

Sudan threatens to occupy two more border states

The northern Sudanese Army is planning on seizing two more areas on the north-south border, just weeks before the south is set to become an independent country.

According to a letter from the Sudanese military's high command, the northern army plans to take over Blue Nile and South Kordofan states in the next few days.

A letter, dated 23rd May, which the New York Times is in possession of, said the northern Sudanese army will “redeploy its forces to all areas north of the 1/1/1956 borders starting from 1 June 2011.”

The letter is from the chief of staff for the Sudanese military, Ismat Abdul Rahman Zain al-Abideen.

Blue Nile's Governor Malik Agar said on 29th May that northern forces had moved "dangerously close" to the bases of southern-allied fighters.

The Voice Of America reported on 30th May that the north Sudanese government has given the south until Wednesday, 1st June to withdraw its troops from the two states.

On 21st May, northern Sudanese forces took over the disputed border region of Abyei.

South Sudan held an independence referendum in January, in which an overwhelming majority of people voted to secede.

Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended decades of civil war in 2005, Abyei was meant to have its own referendum to decide whether to join the north or the south, but it was postponed after disagreements on voter eligibility.

Blue Nile and South Kordofan were supposed to have “popular consultations” on their future, however the process was poorly defined, and southerners say it has not be completed.

South Kordofan is the north's only oil-producing state.

Many fear that border disputes could lead the country back into civil war, although southern political leaders have said that will not happen.

“It is not our priority now to get involved in a war”, information minister for the government of South Sudan, Barnaba Marial Benjamin was quoted in the New York Times as saying.

Analysts however say the situation may be more difficult than that. Firstly, there are many more southern-allied troops in Blue Nile and South Kordofan than there were in Abyei.

Secondly, there would be no easy way for fighters in these states to flee south, even if they wanted to. Perhaps most importantly, Blue Nile state is clearly part of northern Sudan, according to boundaries established before Sudan became independent in 1956.

The issue of Blue Nile and South Kordofan states shows the difficulties in characterising the conflict in Sudan as simply a north-south fight or an ethnic fight. It is far more complex than that, and resentment of Khartoum was shared by a variety of groups throughout the country.

Many in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states joined the Southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the fight against Khartoum, but did not gain the same right to secession as those in the south.

A northern government spokesman, Rabie A Atti, said on 29th May that like Abyei, “Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan are part of the north, and nothing else.”

On the issue of Abyei, neither side appears willing to compromise on its claims to ownership; they did, however, agree on 30th May to establish a joint committee to try to defuse tension.

South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar said he and his northern counterpart Ali Osman Taha had the political will to resolve the dispute, and said that the south would never return to war with the north.

"During the meeting we have reiterated the SPLM position calling for withdrawal of the Sudanese army from Abyei. We have reiterated our commitment not to return to war and demanded that the UN peacekeepers remain in Abyei and the popular consultation areas in Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains," Machar told reporters in Khartoum.

The northern government has given conflicting statements about their intentions in Abyei. Some have said the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) will stay until new security arrangments have been reached, while others have said they will be there until the long-delayed referendum takes place.

South Sudan is set to become independent on 11th July, 2011.

Sources: Bloomberg, New York Times, Sudan Tribune, VOA

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

Abyei burning as Sudan situation deteriorates

According to the UN, the town of Abyei has been set on fire on Monday 23rd May.

 

North Sudanese forces seized the town on Saturday 21st May, and earlier today, the UN Security Council called on North Sudan to immediately withdraw its armed forces from the region.

 

It appears the situation has since deteriorated, with reports of looting and violence spreading throughout the region.

Abyei was granted a special status under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the two decade civil war between the north and the south. Terms under the agreement stipulate that both sides have to keep their troops out until a referendum to determine Abyei's future.

The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) released a statement saying it "strongly condemns the burning and looting currently being perpetrated by armed elements in Abyei town".

UNMIS emphasised that the north's troops were "responsible for maintaining law and order in the areas they control", and urged Khartoum to "intervene to stop these criminal acts".

Speaking about the situation in Sudan, French ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, said the North army's military operation “threatens to undermine the mutual commitment of the parties to avoid a return to war.”

The army, however, remains defiant and has vowed to hold territory it seized in the disputed region, directly ignoring UN's calls for withdrawal.

Sources: BBC News, KBC, AFP, Reuters

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

North Sudanese forces seize Abyei town

North Sudanese forces have taken over Abyei town in the disputed border region on 21st May, in what South Sudan has called an 'act of war'.

UN diplomats were on a tour of Sudan at the time, and they called for Khartoum to 'withdraw immediately' its troops from the region.

South Sudan is due to separate from the North on 9th July 2011, after voting overwhelmingly for independence in a January referendum.

Abyei, which lies on the border of the north and the south, was due to have its own referendum on whether to join the north or south, but it was indefinitely postponed after disagreements over voter eligibility.

There have been a number of deadly clashes in Abyei in recent months, but Saturday's events appear to be the most serious.

A UN spokeswoman said some 15 tanks, belonging to the northern army had been seen in the town, and that mortars had hit a UN base, although noone was injured.

The North said it acted in self-defence, after 22 of its men were killed in a southern ambush on 19th May.

This was supported by the UN, who said the northern troops who were ambushed were being escorted out of Abyei by UN peacekeepers, and have called the incident a 'criminal attack'.

Washington said the attack was 'in direct violation' of the agreement made by the north and south to remove troops from Abyei.

South Sudan has denied responsibility for the incident.

South Sudan's army spokesman Philip Aguer said a small group of southern army troops fought four battles on 20th May, but were overpowered by the north Sudanese army. They withdrew on 21st May.

Aguer said the north had attacked the area with 5,000 troops, killing civilians and southern soldiers. The majority of the town's population had fled the town, most heading south.

UN envoys arrived in Khartoum just hours before the north took the town, and they have now cancelled their visit to the troubled region.

Gerard Araud, France's ambassador to the UN and one of the envoys, read out a statement on behalf of the UN in Khartoum. He said the Sudanese army's military operation "threatens to undermine the mutual commitment of the parties to avoid a return to war."

US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said “Now [Sudan] is on a course of escalation that is quite dangerous.”

Oil-rich Abyei is one of the main unresolved issues remaining between the north and south before the latter secedes in July.

The capture of Abyei has raised fears that the two sides could return to war.

Sources: BBC News, Bloomberg, New York Times

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.