SUDAN TRIBUNE 14/05/2004

Friday May 14th, 2004


Latest news :


Janjawid militia in western Sudan appears to be out of control
NDJAMENA, May 14, 2004 (IRIN) -- The Arabic-speaking Janjawid militia groups fighting alongside Sudanese government forces against rebels in Sudan's western Darfur province have been blamed for a series of ceasefire violations within Darfur and have now begun terrorising villages across the border in eastern Chad.

Sudan govt,rebels close to peace deal: US official
NAIROBI, May 14 (Reuters) - Sudan's government and southern rebels are close to signing an accord paving the way for a peace deal to end Africa's longest civil war, but they need to make tough political decisions, a top U.S. official said on Friday.

U.N. says 120,000 Sudanese in Chad, needs more funds
GENEVA, May 14 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Friday more Sudanese refugees fleeing conflict in Darfur had arrived in Chad and appealed for funds to move them further away from cross-border militia raids

Sudan will not disarm militias while rebellion rages: foreign minister
CAIRO, May 14 (AFP) -- Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said Friday pro-government militias in strife-torn Darfur region would not be disarmed as long as weapons remained in the hands of rebel forces.

Sudan rights body differs with reports on Darfur crisis
KHARTOUM, Sudan, May 13, 2004 (PANA) -- The Khartoum-based Advisory Council for Human Rights has lamented what it claimed were subjective reports by some international organizations concerning the human rights situation Sudan`s troubled region of Western Darfur.

Sudan's election to UN rights watchdog seen as African response to US policies
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14, 2004 (CNSNews.com) -- The election of Sudan to the top U.N. human rights body despite its documented history of human rights abuses, including slavery, was likely the result of an African "rebellion" against U.S. policies, according to a regional legal expert.

Tens of thousands of displaced returning to Bahr al-Ghazal
NAIROBI, May 14, 2004 (IRIN) -- An increasing number of southern Sudanese who were displaced to northern Sudan by decades of war are returning south in advance of a peace agreement, rebel officials say.

Sudan's FM says peace deal with SPLM within days
CAIRO, May 14, 2004 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Foreign Minister Mostafa Othman Ismail has revealed that the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) will sign a peace deal within days in Nairobi, Kenya, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported on Friday. Ismail made the remarks in an interview with Kuwaiti daily AL- Siyasa, which published Friday, according to MENA.

Sudan sells cement factory to UAE firm
ABU DHABI, May 14, 2004 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government has sold 77.8 percent of its shares in Rebek cement factory for an estimated 15 million US dollars to an United Arab Emirates (UAE) company, Stiar, the official WAM news agency reported here Friday.

US's top African diplomat arrives in Kenya for Sudan peace talks
NAIROBI, May 14 (AFP) -- The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Charles Snyder has arrived in Kenya to assist Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in their final phase of peace talks, the US embassy in Nairobi said on Friday.

African leaders to meet in Mali Saturday; terrorism on agenda
BAMAKO, Mali, May 13, 2004 (AP) -- African leaders are expected to discuss terrorism and the continent's crises at the Mali-hosted Saturday summit of a regional bloc launched by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, with heads of state focusing on Sudan 's war-wracked Darfur province.

Sudan to modernise its army with Russian equipments
PARIS, May 14, 2004 (TTU/ST) -- Russia and Sudan have signed recently an agreement for military cooperation that will help Khartoum modernise its army.

International community fails to stop Darfur atrocities
TERBEBA, Darfur, May 14, 2004 -- Ten years after the genocide in Rwanda, the international community has been examining its dismal record in failing to prevent the slaughter there. What, it is asking, could it have done to stop it? What should it have done?

President Al-Bashir addresses meeting of Darfur leaderships
KHARTOUM, May 13, 2004 (SUNA) -- President of the Republic Gen. Omer Al-Bashir has affirmed the government's keenness to realize a lasting solution for Darfur issue.
Analysis

Why the International community have to intervene in Sudan and how
BRUSSELS, May 14, 2004 -- The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has called it ''ethnic cleansing.'' President George W. Bush has condemned the ''atrocities, which are displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians.'' Others are starting to use the word genocide. Whatever you want to call what is going on today in Darfur, in western Sudan, the time for forceful outside intervention is unmistakably approaching.