South Sudan

[Ropey]

I knew the North would not just let the South have all that oil to itself, it sounded too good to be true to begin with. Sudan wins by keeping the South a poor poverty stricken shit hole, if the South becomes succesful it makes the North look bad. As far as your question about which Muslim country has minorities and treats them fairly, I really can't think of one right now and that is sad. Countries like Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan had a chance to show on the world stage how Muslims treat their minorities and they fucked it up.

This is just a method to keep the region under some form of control until the next Hegemonic war. It comes. China is supporting both Shia and Sunni for the Middle East War as well as supporting armed action in Africa. Turkey is gearing up to expand borders. Iran is doing the same. New military blocs are being formed for the purpose of this upcoming war. The ramp up is seen in the countries that are too small to hide it.

 

[High_Gravity]

I knew the North would not just let the South have all that oil to itself, it sounded too good to be true to begin with. Sudan wins by keeping the South a poor poverty stricken shit hole, if the South becomes succesful it makes the North look bad. As far as your question about which Muslim country has minorities and treats them fairly, I really can't think of one right now and that is sad. Countries like Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan had a chance to show on the world stage how Muslims treat their minorities and they fucked it up.

This is just a method to keep the region under some form of control until the next Hegemonic war. It comes. China is supporting both Shia and Sunni for the Middle East War as well as supporting armed action in Africa. Turkey is gearing up to expand borders. Iran is doing the same. New military blocs are being formed for the purpose of this upcoming war. The ramp up is seen in the countries that are too small to hide it.

I was hoping for a change in the South Sudan because the people in charge of running that country all grew up in war, they have been fighting an insurgency against the North for decades, and it looks like they will be in a war footing for a while still. Its a shame because South Sudan has the resources to actually succeed, this is not a barren land with nothing like Somalia or the Congo. Hopefully the South can get some Military help and training from the US and Israel than because the North is defnently getting that and more from the Arabs and the Chinese.

 

[Ropey]

I knew the North would not just let the South have all that oil to itself, it sounded too good to be true to begin with. Sudan wins by keeping the South a poor poverty stricken shit hole, if the South becomes succesful it makes the North look bad. As far as your question about which Muslim country has minorities and treats them fairly, I really can't think of one right now and that is sad. Countries like Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan had a chance to show on the world stage how Muslims treat their minorities and they fucked it up.

This is just a method to keep the region under some form of control until the next Hegemonic war. It comes. China is supporting both Shia and Sunni for the Middle East War as well as supporting armed action in Africa. Turkey is gearing up to expand borders. Iran is doing the same. New military blocs are being formed for the purpose of this upcoming war. The ramp up is seen in the countries that are too small to hide it.

I was hoping for a change in the South Sudan because the people in charge of running that country all grew up in war, they have been fighting an insurgency against the North for decades, and it looks like they will be in a war footing for a while still. Its a shame because South Sudan has the resources to actually succeed, this is not a barren land with nothing like Somalia or the Congo. Hopefully the South can get some Military help and training from the US and Israel than because the North is defnently getting that and more from the Arabs and the Chinese.

The US will not go in there until the Hegemonic war begins as the last thing they want is more boots on the ground when they are trying to remove the boots on the ground for the upcoming war. They will support by armament, but the North is militarily powerful.

 

[High_Gravity]

This is just a method to keep the region under some form of control until the next Hegemonic war. It comes. China is supporting both Shia and Sunni for the Middle East War as well as supporting armed action in Africa. Turkey is gearing up to expand borders. Iran is doing the same. New military blocs are being formed for the purpose of this upcoming war. The ramp up is seen in the countries that are too small to hide it.

I was hoping for a change in the South Sudan because the people in charge of running that country all grew up in war, they have been fighting an insurgency against the North for decades, and it looks like they will be in a war footing for a while still. Its a shame because South Sudan has the resources to actually succeed, this is not a barren land with nothing like Somalia or the Congo. Hopefully the South can get some Military help and training from the US and Israel than because the North is defnently getting that and more from the Arabs and the Chinese.

The US will not go in there until the Hegemonic war begins as the last thing they want is more boots on the ground when they are trying to remove the boots on the ground for the upcoming war. They will support by armament, but the North is militarily powerful.

I don't think we should put Troops into South Sudan just yet but I would like to see us bring their Military over for training and provide them with weapons, like we do with Ethiopia and Kenya.

 

[High_Gravity]

Dominic Deng Diing, a refugee in the U.S., educates 3,000 children back in South Sudan

Dominic Deng Diing's first teachers were his uncles, who sang the ABCs to the then 6-year-old as they undertook the painstaking walk from Sudan to Ethiopia in the mid-1980s.

Sudanese 'Lost Boys' in US, men now, look homeward to new nation Signs point to northern Sudan's targeting of civilians in border region Obama calls for South Sudan cease-fire Fighting rages in Sudan's Southern Kordofan South Sudan's worst enemy: its own armed forces? Mr. Diing's brief foray into education was cut short when his uncles and brothers died of starvation during the trek, along with thousands of other "Lost Boys of Sudan," children who fled on foot from the civil war that raged for nearly 20 years.

But the significance of the early lessons stuck with Diing, now a resettled refugee living in Buffalo, N.Y. He earned his high school degree in Kakuma, a refugee camp in Kenya, and later completed undergraduate and master's programs in western New York. He's currently working toward a doctorate degree in education.


"He realizes that without education you have nothing," says Vince Angello, Diing's former business professor at Niagara University.

Diing is trying to spare more than 3,000 children in South Sudan from his experience. They now attend the two-year-old New Hope Primary School, a project of Diing's Buffalo-based nonprofit group Aid and Care for Africa.

Just 21 teachers and five administrators preside over the school. Students from 22 villages in Diing's home state of Aweil walk miles to reach the school, often with empty stomachs and the fear of meeting wild animals in forests they must cross through.

"We told parents that this is a dangerous situation, that their children could end up being attacked by lions," Diing recalled. "But the parents say, 'My kids staying in the village without education will be just like that, anyway – death.' "

Some 55 percent of the students are orphans, living with foster families. They include 10 of the 34 children Diing sponsors himself and his mother looks after. The remaining 24 live with two of his sisters in Kenya and Uganda, where they can receive care for various ailments.

In total, Diing supports about 50 people aside from his mother, including his deceased father's seven other wives.

"I live a simple life here," says Diing, speaking at a buffet restaurant near his tiny apartment just north of Buffalo's downtown. "But it's the same as my friends do – the little amount we make, we share."

Diing allocates 15 percent of his monthly income to support Aid and Care, for which fundraising has been difficult. He hopes to construct a sister secondary school by 2015 and is aiming to raise $400,000.

Dominic Deng Diing, a refugee in the U.S., educates 3,000 children back in South Sudan - CSMonitor.com

 

[High_Gravity]

Sudan Border Violence: 73,000 Flee, U.N. Says

KHARTOUM, June 22 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Wednesday 73,000 people had fled violence in Sudan's Southern Kordofan border state after more than two weeks of fighting between the northern army and southern-aligned troops.

Sudan's south will become an independent country on July 9, but fighting along the ill-defined border has raised tension ahead of the split. North and south have yet to resolve issues such as how to manage the oil industry and divide debt.

Fighting broke out in earnest on June 5 in Southern Kordofan -- a northern oil state that borders the south -- and has escalated to include artillery and warplanes as the north has tried to crush what it calls an armed rebellion.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the state capital of Kadugli and the surrounding area had been generally calm from Sunday through Tuesday, although some smaller clashes were reported across the state.

"At least 73,000 people were initially displaced throughout central and eastern localities of the Southern Kordofan state as a result of fighting," it said, citing figures from the Sudanese Red Crescent, Humanitarian Aid Commission and U.N. agencies in Kadugli.

"Some of these people have now returned to their homes".

Separately, the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said six of its national staff members had been arrested by the Sudanese military at Kadugli airport on Wednesday, which it called a violation of an agreement that guarantees its staff immunity.

"The parties to the conflict must uphold their commitment to protect civilians and ensure freedom of movement for U.N. staff regardless of their religious, ethnic, or political affiliations," spokesman Kouider Zerrouk said.

A spokesman for the northern military was not immediately available to comment, but UNMIS said security forces had accused its staff members of participating in illegal activities.

Sudan Border Violence: 73,000 Flee, U.N. Says

 

[High_Gravity]

Providing air defense for South Sudan not ideal, but best available option

In a recent post for Think Progress, guest blogger Lauren Jenkins raises some salient concerns about the provision of air defense capabilities to the Government of South Sudan, an idea that Rep. Don Payne, Democrat of New Jersey), proposed during last week’s hearing on Sudan. Given that Enough endorsed this approach in a press release that same day, it’s worth taking a moment to address some of these concerns.

Providing air defense capabilities to the South Sudan government is neither an ideal response to the rising violence in Sudan, nor a step that should be undertaken rashly. But the chilling reports coming out of the Nuba Mountains suggest the wider potential for mass violence in the region and demand a consideration of all the options available to protect civilians from further harm, consistent with the international Responsibility to Protect doctrine, which is premised on the idea that the international community must act when a government abdicates its own responsibility to protect its citizens and commits atrocities.

Unfortunately, the options available are not good. Strengthening UN peacekeepers in the region sounds appealing, but the fact is that the Government of Sudan has been dropping bombs near UN bases in South Kordofan and some of the Egyptian peacekeepers in the region have been accused of siding with the Sudanese army and have lost the trust of local populations. Moreover, in response to mounting violence in Abyei, and to fighting between the SPLA and militias in South Sudan, the UN response has been to stay out of the way. A deal to get a robust Ethiopian peacekeeping force into Abyei is a welcome development, but it should be clear that UN peacekeepers have proven themselves unable to credibly protect the most vulnerable of Sudanese civilians at present.

What about a no-fly zone? Jenkins notes the controversy this proposal generated when it was endorsed by Hillary Clinton in 2007, but the more recent example is Libya, where the UN imposed a no-fly zone and authorized the much more significant military action currently underway. In Darfur, the problem with a no-fly zone is that it would have threatened humanitarian access to the millions of displaced persons in the region. Today in South Kordofan, humanitarian access has been almost completely blocked by the Sudanese Armed Forces, such as through the bombing of the airfield at Kauda, which would have been essential to getting aid into the region. But the fact is that even if a no-fly zone could help deter further bombing, there is little prospect for international authorization, especially with Russia and China ready to block any such action because of their perception that Western governments have taken a civilian protection mandate in Libya and used it to pursue regime change. The deadlock at the Security Council has not just taken a no-fly zone off the table, but also blocked additional measures that could be considered, such as an expanded arms embargo on the Sudanese government, to say nothing of direct military action.

Providing air defense for South Sudan not ideal, but best available option - CSMonitor.com

 

[Ropey]

Israel and South Sudan have begun full diplomatic talks. This means political, financial, administrative and militarily.

 

[High_Gravity]

Israel and South Sudan have begun full diplomatic talks. This means political, financial, administrative and militarily.

 

[High_Gravity]

Germany's Westerwelle urges more compromise in Sudan

Khartoum - Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle urged Thursday a quick settling of disputes between the two parts of Sudan as their legal separation approaches in two weeks' time.

Germany will occupy the Security Council presidency for the month of July when the sensitive handover to independence takes place.

The separation of the future state of South Sudan must not fail 'just before the finishing line,' he said amid talks in Khartoum.

Both sides had to settle their remaining disputes to that the 'independence process proceeds fairly peacefully,' he said. 'It must not lead to new conflicts,' Westerwelle added.

The German minister made no appointment to see Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for allegedly ordering crimes against humanity in Darfur province.

Westerwelle's schedule included meetings with Vice President Ali Taha and Foreign Minister Ali Karti.

In a referendum, 99 per cent of the southern Sudanese voted at the start of this year for independence from the Arabic-speaking north.

The United Nations will supervise the handover on July 9. Outstanding issues include border disputes. Both sides agreed only a few days ago to demilitarize one contested region, Abyei. The redistribution of oil income and sovereign debt is also in dispute.

Germany is to top up its relief appropriation for refugees in Sudan by 1 million euros (1.4 million dollars) to 4.2 million euros, Westerwelle said during the visit. He appealed for relief groups to be allowed free access to the South Kordofan conflict area.

The minister's schedule included a visit to Darfur, where the death toll since 2003 in fighting between rebels, the army and pro-government forces is estimated at 300,000. More than 3 million people are displaced there.

Germany's Westerwelle urges more compromise in Sudan - Monsters and Critics

 

[High_Gravity]

New nation of South Sudan needs a hand up

As the United States prepares to celebrate its 235th birthday, a new nation is being formed half a world away in East Africa. South Sudan is scheduled to officially become a new, independent country — the world's 196th — on July 9, just days after our own Independence Day celebrations.

This is a truly historic event, the creation of a nation after 50 years of devastating civil war, and I hope all of us in the U.S. and around the world will celebrate this occasion with the people of South Sudan. After all, this is not just a victory for the South Sudanese; this is a victory for everyone who believes in the right of people to determine their own destiny, free from oppression and violence.

Yet, let us also remember that the challenges ahead are immense. South Sudan is starting with an infrastructure severely weakened from years of neglect and further strained by hundreds of thousands of refugees from areas such as Darfur who are pouring over the border in hopes of a new life. The sad reality is that South Sudan is hardly able to take care of its own; the health system is crippled; many clinics are closed or without medicine. Reports vary, but most agree there are fewer than 500 South Sudanese doctors, most of whom don't have advanced degrees, and fewer than 100 specialists, leaving many in need of health care with no place to go.

My organization, IMA World Health, recently collected data in two of South Sudan's 10 states, where we are leading health recovery efforts. It revealed that less than 20 percent of all children are vaccinated against routine diseases such as tetanus and measles; nearly 90 percent of expectant women deliver at home without any assistance from a trained midwife or doctor. Clearly, we have much work to do to ensure the success and health of this new nation.

President Barack Obama and our government — along with the international community as a whole — need to continue to be thoroughly committed to promoting lasting peace, a necessary foundation for progress. We as individuals also have the responsibility to become personally involved in meeting the needs of others: those in our own communities as well as distant neighbors. We can do this by actively learning about the history and current situation in South Sudan; supporting organizations that are working alongside the South Sudanese; and contacting our elected officials to make sure that the needs of the country are not forgotten.

I was in Juba last December and discussed with the Ministry of Health the challenges it faces. As a Maryland-based health nonprofit, we know how to efficiently provide basic supplies, properly train health care workers, develop a functioning health system knitting remote rural clinics to larger hospitals, and devise plans for the provision of a basic package of health services that are essential for the health of this young nation.

We and other organizations like ours are committed to providing this assistance as much as we can in our respective fields, but it is ultimately up to the people of South Sudan to make their vision for their nation a reality. This work is not about handouts; it's about empowering people to own the solutions and the work themselves — even if it means a longer process. South Sudan greatly needs our expertise, resources and support to be a catalyst for its long-term development.

New nation of South Sudan needs a hand up - baltimoresun.com

 

[High_Gravity]

Weeks Before Independence, South Sudan Teeters

South Sudan is gearing up for its independence celebrations, but for the United Nation's newest country, formidable challenges lay ahead. Weeks before it formally breaks off from Sudan, the south is already under attack while its substantial oil resources hold out the promise of wealth but the threat of waste and corruption.

The city of Abyei, control of which is disputed by the north and south, has been occupied by 5,000 Sudanese soldiers for the past three weeks, forcing its 20,000 residents to flee. Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir is threatening to block the pipeline carrying oil out of South Sudan unless it hands over half of its oil revenue.

Armed militias backed by Al-Bashir are wreaking havoc across South Sudan, which Jack Kalpakian, a political scientist at Al-Akhawayn University in Morocco and a native of Sudan, said is the most immediate threat to the south's viability. Acknowledging the dangers, the United Nations Security Council authorized the deployment of 4,200 Ethiopian peacekeeping soldiers in the region, ensuring the withdrawal of Sudanese troops on Monday.

"The north will accept the independence of the south, and then undermine it," Kalpakian told The Media Line. "The north is sponsoring paramilitaries in the South. The south's challenge is to integrate these movements into the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)." The SPLA was the south's main rebel movement which spearheaded the insurgency against the north.

Independence has been a lengthy and precarious affair for South Sudan. A 22-year civil war between north and south ended in 2005 followed by a referendum on independence in January, with the South Sudanese overwhelmingly endorsed secession. South Sudan is one of the world’s least developed countries. Even basic information about the country, such as its estimated population of eight million people, is subject to dispute.

At least 16 people, including eight women and children, were killed when a Sudanese war plane bombed a village in the Nuba mountains, which f has been the scene of daily aerial attacks in a new war along the country's volatile north-south border.

Kalpakian said that if the paramilitary movements aren’t disbanded, the country risked deteriorating into a failed state. Worse, Kalpakian predicted the south could encourage insurgency in regions of the north such as Darfur and South Kordofan, which are engaged in their own rebellions against the government.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday expressed concern about serious human rights abuses and ethnic violence in Sudan's flashpoint border province of South 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.
Abyei was granted special status and jointly administered by representatives of both the north and the south. The north said it was forced to send in troops following a South Sudanese ambush which killed 22 northerners.

A report issued by the European Union titled "The EU and Sudan: On the Brink of Change," warned of the high likelihood of South Sudan becoming a failed state, even if the international community maintained its current level of assistance and support.

The Media Line

 

[High_Gravity]

Fresh Sudan peace pact builds off of deeper efforts

Kadugli, Sudan
Just days before South Sudan becomes the world's newest country on July 9, forces loyal to the semiautonomous region's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) have been sucked into clashes with troops loyal to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted at the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

On Tuesday, though, Mr. Bashir's Islamist-dominated Northern government signed a peace pact with with the SPLM's northern branch.

The agreement fell short of calling for a cease-fire in the border state of South Kordofan – the scene of heavy recent fighting that security experts say could reignite the decades-long civil war that killed some 2 million people before it ended in 2005 – but it does lay out a framework for shared governance of tumultuous border areas.

There is no shortage of skepticism as to whether such a pact will bring peace to the area, but it builds off of earlier efforts, including trips to Indonesia's war-torn Aceh Province and Kenya to study ways to resolve entrenched conflict.

Given the current fighting, it's easy to dismiss the United Nations-funded trips as an abysmal failure. But the participants in the innovative effort to help conflict-ridden countries learn from each other say they feel as if they were participating in the one last chance to find peace – and that they very nearly achieved it.

"I'm glad we did that trip, and I know we are not going to duplicate what happened in Aceh here in Sudan; we are going to decide our own process," says Ahmed Saeed, a local SPLM parliamentarian who participated in the trips. "But despite this, this is an opportunity to transform our government system. If we do it here in South Kordofan, we can help to transform the rest of Sudan."

The hopefulness of that statement seemed irreparably lost as Sudanese Army planes bombed Mr. Saeed's SPLM comrades in the mountains around South Kordofan's capital, Kadugli, a couple weeks ago. But it's emblematic of the months of discussions and frenetic travel by senior local leaders of both parties.

These trips offer a model for future peacemaking.

Fresh Sudan peace pact builds off of deeper efforts - CSMonitor.com

 

[High_Gravity]

UN says Sudan's army continues attacking civilians

JUBA, Sudan (AP) — The U.N. said in a report Thursday that Sudan is denying it full access to tens of thousands of civilians near an area between north and south Sudan where violence continues less than 10 days before Southern Sudan becomes the world's newest nation.

The Nuba people — black Africans who have opposed the rule of Sudan's Arab north — have streamed into the Nuba Mountains in search of safety from attacks by Sudan's military in Southern Kordofan, a part of Sudan's north. At least 73,000 have fled.

An internal U.N. report has said that dozens have been killed by aerial bombardments and gunfire attacks amid reports of door-to-door searches for black Nuba tribesman by the northern military. Because the U.N. and other aid groups cannot access the area, there are no firm numbers.

Attacks on the Nuba began on June 5 and included the bombing of a U.N. airstrip in Kauda — a large town and Nuba stronghold — preventing aid workers and U.N. personnel from flying in. The Nuba people generally support Southern Sudan and have fought alongside its military against the north during a decades-long civil war that ended in 2005.

A U.N. Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs report issued Thursday said that it received reports of aerial attacks from June 25-27 that weren't verified but were supported by photographic evidence and eyewitness reports.

The U.N. report says that the Sudanese government has granted humanitarian access to limited areas of Kadugli where aid groups have offices, but that "access to all other locations continues to be denied."

The International Rescue Committee said Thursday that international aid agencies also can't access Southern Kordofan. Nearly all international staff working for aid groups and the U.N. peacekeeping mission have been evacuated.

"We're extremely worried about the safety and well-being of people who live there. We're hearing stories of horrible atrocities," said Susan Purdin who oversees International Rescue Committee programs in Southern Sudan. "There have been numerous reports of targeted ethnic and political killings, the burning and looting of homes and businesses and intense aerial bombardments by the northern military."

The Nuba people — who practice Islam, Christianity and animism — have been targeted by Khartoum before. A northern military campaign in the 1990s killed as many as 200,000 Nubans. Many experts deemed the attacks a genocide.

The Associated Press: UN says Sudan's army continues attacking civilians

 

[GHook93]

The Muslim Arabs of Sudan can attack and kill as many Southern Sudanese people because:
(1) Its muslims killing people, not Jews or Christians!
(2) This is Africa!
(3) The victims are black!
(4) A good chunk of the victims are Christians
(5) Just like the Congo, liberals in Europe and America who give a shit, they will be too busy screaming at Jews!

 

[High_Gravity]

The Muslim Arabs of Sudan can attack and kill as many Southern Sudanese people because:
(1) Its muslims killing people, not Jews or Christians!
(2) This is Africa!
(3) The victims are black!
(4) A good chunk of the victims are Christians
(5) Just like the Congo, liberals in Europe and America who give a shit, they will be too busy screaming at Jews!

You are correct G Hook, if this was the other way around and it was Black Africans killing Arab Muslims, all hell would be breaking loose.

 

[Sunni Man]

Israel and South Sudan have begun full diplomatic talks. This means political, financial, administrative and militarily.

Like I always say; Anytime there's a conflict, chaos, or war.

Look for the instigator. It will always be Zionist Jews and Israel.

 

[High_Gravity]

Israel and South Sudan have begun full diplomatic talks. This means political, financial, administrative and militarily.

Like I always say; Anytime there's a conflict, chaos, or war.

Look for the instigator. It will always be Zionist Jews and Israel.

All the Israelis are doing is trying to help a brand new country that is going to need all the help they can get, they bare no blame for the civil wars that have been going on in the Sudan for decades.

 

[Sunni Man]

Sudan at one time was a country where the Muslims and Christians got along just fine.

Then oil was discovered in the Christians south.

Western powers covertly started supplying the South with weapons and told them to break away and form their own country.

Instead of being labeled as terrorists like they should have been.

The western governments started championing their cause.

Even though Sudan was a country with a legitimate government fighting against rebels.

 

[High_Gravity]

Sudan at one time was a country where the Muslims and Christians got along just fine.

Then oil was discovered in the Christians south.

Western powers covertly started supplying the South with weapons and told them to break away and form their own country.

Instead of being labeled as terrorists like they should have been.

The western governments started championing their cause.

Even though Sudan was a country with a legitimate government fighting against rebels.

Not everyone the Sudanese are fighting are Christians, the people in Darfur are mostly Muslim and they have no oil, they are dirt poor but they are ethnic Africans. South Sudan has oil yes but I think there is more at stake than just that, this is ethnic/tribal warfare that goes back decades.