Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has faced weeks of protests against his three-decade rule, pledged to promote peace in the country’s war zones in an address to paramilitary units on Wednesday. “I assure you that the year 2019 will be the year of peace in Sudan,” the president told members of …
Read More »Sudan protests ‘will not change government’: Bashir
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Defiant Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said Monday that ongoing protests will not lead to a change in government, as he addressed a rally of cheering supporters in war-torn Darfur. “Demonstrations will not change the government,” Bashir told crowds of supporters gathered in Niyala, the capital of South Darfur state, where …
Read More »UN-AU envoy urges ‘stern action’ against Darfur rebel chief
United Nations, United States | AFP | A special envoy urged the UN Security Council on Monday to consider “stern action” against rebel chief Abdul Wahid Nur for resisting efforts to bring peace to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region. Jeremiah Kingsley Mamabolo, the special representative of the United Nations and African …
Read More »Militia chief arrest ‘dangerous moment’ for Sudan’s Darfur
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | By arresting Darfur’s powerful militia chief Musa Hilal, Khartoum has tightened its control over Sudan’s strife-torn region but analysts say it might open a new chapter of violence. Hilal, a former aide to President Omar al-Bashir, was arrested last week by Sudan’s counter-insurgency forces near …
Read More »Sudan’s Bashir pushes for Darfur arms collection
Nyala, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday pressed on with a government campaign to collect arms from tribes in war-torn Darfur where a devastating conflict has killed thousands and displaced millions. Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes related to …
Read More »Sudan has made ‘positive’ steps on meeting sanctions terms: US envoy
El Daien, Sudan | AFP | Sudan has made “positive” steps towards meeting Washington’s conditions for permanently lifting 20-year-old sanctions on the African country, the US envoy to Khartoum told AFP in an interview. Then-president Barack Obama eased the sanctions in January, but made their permanent lifting dependent on Khartoum’s …
Read More »Sudan’s Bashir pardons 259 rebels
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday pardoned 259 rebels captured in fighting with government forces, including dozens who had been sentenced to death, the presidency said. Bashir’s order came three days after a prominent insurgent group freed dozens of prisoners, mostly soldiers, it had captured in …
Read More »Sudan’s Bashir rejects Amnesty ‘lies’ about Darfur chemical attacks
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday accused Amnesty International of spreading “lies” that Sudanese government forces had used chemical weapons against civilians in war-torn Darfur. Last month, Amnesty said in a report that Sudanese forces had carried out more than 30 suspected chemical weapons attacks in …
Read More »Uganda, Djibouti censured by ICC for failure to arrest Bashir
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The International Criminal Court on Tuesday said it is referring Uganda and Djibouti to the UN Security Council after the two east African countries’ failed to arrest wanted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The Hague-based ICC’s judges said in a statement “the Republics of Uganda …
Read More »Give Darfur war a chance
By Andrew M. Mwenda I have increasingly grown sceptical of international humanitarian intervention. Although largely driven by moral reasons, it has often inflicted more harm than good on its intended beneficiaries. It is with this view that I went for a public lecture by Prof. Mahmood Mamdani at Makerere University …
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