DTN News: Sudan Is Going Back In Chaos As North And South Are Arming For Eventual Conflict

DTN News: Sudan Is Going Back In Chaos As North And South Are Arming For Eventual Conflict *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) CAIRO, Egypt - December 26, 2009: North and South Sudan are sliding back towards war, a think-tank warned as a separate report said both sides were caught up in an "arms race" in defiance of global embargoes.Fighters of the Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) driving their armoured battle wagon at an unknown location on the Sudan-Chad border in northwest Darfur.

The oil-producing nation's north and south fought each other for more than two decades until a 2005 peace deal that promised national elections, due in April, and a referendum on southern independence in January 2011.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said relations between the two sides had since broken down and Sudan needed more time to prepare for a widely expected 'yes' vote for southern independence if it wanted to avoid a violent break-up.

Armies from both sides, and array of rebel groups and militias, are also stocking on weapons ahead of any conflict, despite arms embargoes imposed by the European Union and the United Nations said a report by the Small Arms Survey.

"Sudan is sliding towards violent breakup," said ICG Sudan adviser Fouad Hikmat in a statement.

"Unless the international community cooperate to support both CPA (the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement) implementation and vital additional negotiations, return to north-south war and escalation of conflict in Darfur are likely," the report from the Brussels-based group said.

Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers arming with new light and heavy weapons

The ICG publication, titled 'Preventing Implosion', said northern and southern leaders needed to negotiate a new agreement setting out how any transition to an independent south would be managed.

It also called on Sudan to delay its national elections to November 2010 to give it more time to pass a raft of democratic reforms and get a ceasefire in the separate Darfur conflict, to give that region's citizens a chance to vote.

The ICG urged the United Nations, the African Union and other blocs to agree on incentives and penalties to press Khartoum, and to appoint one mediator to keep the process going.

Arms deliveries reported by Sudan's government rose sharply from 2001 to 2008, the Small Arms Survey said, adding more weapons were getting through from neighbouring countries and other sources with the help of brokers, some of them European."Both the NCP and the government of Southern Sudan continue to acquire small arms and light weapons destined for their armed forces in what is taking on the character of an arms race," the Small Arms Survey report said.

Iran and China were the main suppliers to the north, it added, while the south was getting much of its weapons via Kenya and Ethiopia, with a transfer of tanks coming from Ukraine through Kenya documented in 2007 and 2008.

The report said Sudan's northern army had around 225 000 troops, armed with an estimated 310 000 small arms, while the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had around 125 000 men with 175 000 small arms.

Both armouries were dwarfed by the estimated 2 million weapons in the hands of Sudanese civilians, the report said.

Two million people were killed and 4 million fled their homes between 1983 and 2005 when Sudan's north and south fought over differences in ideology, ethnicity and religion.

Sudan: As You Sow So Shall You Reap - ICC

Sudan: As You Sow So Shall You Reap - ICC

(NSI News Source Info) March 6, 2009:The International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered the arrest of President al-Bashir for atrocities and war crimes in Darfur. The actual warrant does not accuse him of genocide and the prosecution request for a warrant had accused Bashir of leading a “genocidal” campaign against the Zaghawa, Fur, and Masalit ethnic groups. However, the warrant is does accuse him of involvement in murder, rape, torture, and forced displacement of civilians. When “forcibly displaced” civilians flee janjaweed militias en masse they die from exposure, hunger, and disease. This amounts to “slow” ethnic cleansing.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, center, flanked by his personal security guards, leaves after delivering a speech to thousands of supporters at the entrance of the presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan Thursday, March 5, 2009. Sudan's president, wanted by an international court on war crimes charges, danced and waved a cane defiantly in front of thousands of supporters Thursday, denouncing the tribunal, the U.N. and aid agencies as part of a new "colonialism" that aims to destabilize his country.

Bashir responded like he has responded since the ICC prosecutor asked for the warrant – with defiance and accusations that the warrant is “colonialism.” In a speech in Khartoum he attacked the United Nations. The government, responding to the ICC warrant, began kicking various non-governmental aid and relief organizations out of the country. If carried out, this will result in more deaths among starving refugees.

Meanwhile, the Arab world is at a loss how to deal with the arrest warrant. Many Arabs simply see it an another example of European colonialism, and an attack on Islam. But this sort of rationalizing is getting old, even in the Arab world, where there are growing efforts to get Sudan to stop attacking its own people. February 27, 2009: Former members of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) fought with a militia force loyal to the national government in the south Sudan city of Malakal, leaving around 50 dead. This appears to be another “border dispute” along the north-south frontier that has led to bloodshed.

Fighters loyal to militia leader Gabriel Tang (called the “Tangoinyang”) fought on the government side in the southern civil war and still serve as an ally of the national government. The Government of South Sudan (GOSS) recently accused the national government (North Sudan) of trying to start a new civil war. February 24, 2009: Two Sudanese who work for an international relief agency were murdered in South Darfur state when their vehicle was attacked by a group of armed men riding camels. February 22, 2009: The Government of South Sudan (GOSS) continues to face a budget crisis. In January the GOSS said the drop in oil prices threatened numerous development projects and basic services. Civil service jobs are some of the best jobs in the region and salaries will have to be cut. The GOSS gets well over 90 percent of its revenue from its share of Sudanese oil sales royalties. February 20, 2009: The national government said that 11 soldiers and 17 rebels died in a series of firefights in Darfur. The statement comes three days after the signing of a new peace initiative by the government and the JEM.

The biggest clash was a battle between government forces and the JEM in North Darfur state just 25 kilometers northwest of El Fasher (the capital of North Darfur). It also serves as the headquarters of UNAMID (UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur). JEM accused the government of launching air attacks on JEM positions using “NCP troops,” ie, National Congress Party.

World Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Sudan's Bashir / Arrest Warrant Will Harden Sudan Regime / Sudan Leader Appeals For Calm Ahead Of ICC Verdict

World Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Sudan's Bashir / Arrest Warrant Will Harden Sudan Regime / Southern Sudan Leader Appeals For Calm Ahead Of ICC Verdict

*Omar al-Bashir is the first sitting president to be indicted for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Critics worry the move could destabilize the country.

(NSI News Source Info) March 5, 2009: Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday became the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. At a press conference held at The Hague, Netherlands, The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced its indictment of Mr. Bashir for a range of crimes, including the deliberate attempt to destroy ethnic groups deemed to be supporting rebel factions in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. In this Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007 file photo, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, foreground left, gestures as he arrives for an EU Africa Summit in Lisbon. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday, March 4, 2009, for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state the court has ordered arrested. "He is suspected of being criminally responsible ... for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan; murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing, and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property," said ICC spokeswoman Laurence Blairon. The three-judge panel said there was insufficient evidence to support the more controversial charges of genocide, however. Nearly 300,000 Darfuris have died in the past six years of conflict, either in combat or through starvation and premature death due to displacement. The United Nations estimates that nearly 2.5 million Darfuris have been forced to flee their homes because of the fighting. Bashir's government denies ordering the deliberate murder of civilians in Darfur, and says that the death toll is much lower than the UN and the ICC estimates. "This is a significant step for the hundreds of thousands of victims of conflict in the past six years," says Ariela Blatter, senior director for international programs at Amnesty International in Washington. "The fact that the ICC issued an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state is a signal to Bashir that there is no 'get out of jail free card here.' " The indictment comes at a time of great political instability in Sudan. Darfur rebels are expanding their operations into neighboring states as the country prepares for crucial national elections this year. And relations between Khartoum and the semiautonomous southern portion of Sudan are coming under increasing strain. Campaigning for his National Congress Party (NCP) outside Khartoum on Tuesday, President Bashir discounted the importance of the ICC's looming decision, saying that the Court could "eat" the indictment. Vice President Salva Kiir, a former southern rebel leader who now shares power with Bashir in a coalition government, struck a more conciliatory line. "In the event of the court agreeing with the chief prosecutor," Mr. Kiir said on Tuesday, "the [Sudan People's Liberation Movement] will work with its partners in the NCP on how to politically and diplomatically handle the decision of the court." He urged the international community to remain engaged in Sudan, whatever the decision, warning, "The collapse of peace in Sudan shall not only hurt the Sudan itself, but shall also have serious repercussions in the region." Beset by a north-south civil war for nearly 20 years, which claimed millions of lives, Bashir ended it in 2003 by signing a comprehensive peace accord and agreeing to share power in a coalition government with the southern rebel movement, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army. Despite Mr. Kiir's reassuring words, some experts worry that the peace deal could be dealt a fatal blow, as well as similar peace talks with Darfur rebels, if SPLA leaders deem Bashir's government to be on its way out. For this reason, leaders of the African Union and the Arab League have been working furiously to persuade the United Nations Security Council to encourage the international court to delay its indictment and arrest warrant for at least a year. This, many African leaders believe, would give enough time for current peace talks with Darfur-based rebels to begin to bear fruit. But human rights groups insist the world should support the ICC's ruling. "The international community should affirm its support for the court and insist that Sudan and other countries cooperate with it as required by the UN Security Council," says Nick Grono, deputy president of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.