Sudan has begun to block the oil exports of newly independent South Sudan in a move aimed at changing negotiating dynamics to its favor. The decision has prevented a total of 1.6 million barrels of oil from being exported to two buyers and comes as talks in Addis Ababa between the two countries’ ruling party representatives are taking place
The Satellite Sentinel Project followed up its November 11 report showing Sudan Armed Forces increasing air attack capacity near the border of Sudan and South Sudan with another report today that confirms evidence of bombings in Guffa and Yida refugee camps in South Sudan.
Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast and Policy Advisor Omer Ismail discuss the Nov. 10 2011 bombing of a refugee camp in South Sudan by Sudanese military aircraft. Ismail just returned from the region, where he heard accounts of refugees from Blue Nile State.
The Satellite Sentinel Project, or SSP, has released new imagery corroborating reports that the Government of Sudan has bombed two refugee camps in South Sudan. DigitalGlobe satellite imagery captured 14 November and analyzed by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative for SSP reveals the Government of Sudan’s military aircraft at its El Obeid airbase in North Kordofan – including Antonov planes consistent with those eyewitnesses described as bombing the Guffa and Yida refugee camps across the border in South Sudan on 8 and 10 November.
The Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, attacked a refugee camp in South Sudan at 2:53 p.m. local time today. Enough Project sources indicated that no one was killed or injured in the attack, contrary to initial estimates from the Unity state government. However, casualty figures remain unconfirmed.
Relations between Sudan and South Sudan have sunk to the lowest level since the South declared independence in July 2011. “We tell our brothers in the south that if they want peace, we want peace. If they want war, our army is there,” said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in the Blue Nile capital of Damazine earlier this week in an event to declare the “liberation” of the former rebel stronghold of Kurmuk. Bashir’s remark about Khartoum’s readiness to return to war is troubling considering the regime’s recent tendency to choose armed force as the method for solving outstanding political disputes.
Four months since independence, the South Sudan government is still attempting to exert control over its territory, warning militias are going to intensify attacks in the border states. At a press conference in Juba yesterday, government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin called for United Nations to increase presence of peacekeepers in affected areas to protect civilians.
Our guest contributor has been doing relief and development work in South Sudan since the mid-1980s. He observes that what can be done meaningfully to promote peace changing in tandem with the evolving situation in South Sudan. The current moment, on the heels of the country’s independence, could be one of the most promising opportunities to establish peace among South Sudan’s rival groups, he suggests.
A South Sudan official has accused the North of providing support and training camps for the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, to enable cross-border attacks into South Sudan. At a press conference recently in Juba, the South Sudan minister of interior Alison Manani Magaya said that Sudan is looking for all possible ways of destabilizing South Sudan.
South Sudanese police dramatically flouted the concept of respect for human rights in a recent attack on a senior U.N. official – the head of the human rights division, no less. On August 20, the U.N. human rights chief in South Sudan, Benedict Sannoh, denied police access to search his belongings at a hotel in Juba, which Enough sources said contained U.N. reports.
The nation of South Sudan has come into existence with many unresolved issues threatening the stability of the new state. One of the greatest of these is the continued activity of seven South Sudan rebel militias, in addition to the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA.
Within its first month of independence, South Sudan was named among the top five countries in the world where terrorist attacks are most likely to occur. Further attempts toward destabilization by militias are therefore imminent and are, in fact, likely still happening in the field.
A new U.N. report published last month caused a few tremors in an already politically precarious region of East Africa. The Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, which was charged with examining compliance with arms embargoes on the two countries, submitted a meticulously documented 417-page report that sheds light on official Eritrean complicity in an expansive network of illicit activities, ranging from arms trafficking, to people smuggling, to support of armed groups in neighboring countries, and raises questions of Eritrea involvement in the new state of South Sudan.
The partition of Sudan creates a major opportunity for a re-set in U.S. policy toward both Sudan and South Sudan, the Enough Project said in a new paper. The urgent human rights crisis in the Nuba Mountains, the continuing emergency in Darfur, the successful secession of the South, and the political reforms sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East provide unprecedented entry points for the U.S. and other interested parties to finally address the root causes of Sudan's cyclical conflicts.
Last night, Enough Co-Founder John Prendergast appeared on “The Colbert Report” to talk about how the new nation of South Sudan arrived on the world stage, and the obstacles the country now has to overcome.
There was a myriad of events in Washington last Thursday that focused on South Sudan’s newly-gained independence, all attempting to answer one question: Now what? The lineup of Sudan-focused events included a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, a White House conference call, and panels at the United States Institute of Peace, or USIP, the Society for International Development, and the Heritage Foundation. While the panels and individuals represented different organizations and ends of the political spectrum, they all reached a strikingly similar chord on what was at stake in the two Sudans.
On Saturday, July 9, more than 160 students, activists, and Sudanese community members gathered at Diversey Harbor in Chicago, IL to raise funds to support Darfuri refugee education and celebrate the independence of South Sudan. The students of Youth United for Darfur, the Chicagoland coalition of high schools and colleges working together for peace and education for the people of Darfur, organized the inaugural Walk with Darfur, which raised over $1,000 to support our Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program’s efforts at Ali Dinar A school in Djabal refugee camp in eastern Chad.
After decades of war and struggle, South Sudan became the world's newest nation on July 9, 2011. After the celebrations, the country faces major obstacles and much must be done to bring a permanent peace between both Sudans.
Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng, back in his native South Sudan for the country's independence, reflects on his life, basketball and his country, after giving a clinic to young players.
“South Sudan Oyee!! South Sudan Oyee!” The joyful call and response of cheers for the world’s newest nation filled the entire Washington, D.C., street last Saturday morning. Members of the South Sudan community and diaspora gathered in front of the new Embassy of the Republic of South Sudan for a morning full of dancing, clapping, singing, and widespread embraces to welcome their new nation.