From: hermi@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Lotfi Hermi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: News From The Sudan
Date: 2 Oct 1992 12:43:59 -0400
Organization: Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: function.mps.ohio-state.edu

Here are some news about Sudan that I extracted from soc.culture.african.
There is an excellent footage which just came fresh from Sudan ( about 3 hours
long ) describing the take over of three South Sudanese Towns by Government 
forces.  First hand description, with no need of Western comments or interpre-
tation prepared by the Sudanese T.V. About 28 reporters were killed while
reporting from the Battlefield. Interested in a copy Call IARA (Islamic 
African Relief Agency) (I don't have their phone number now)
__________________________________________________________________

Itha ma tamihtu illa ghayatin Rakibtu al-muna wa nassitu al-hathar.
 	
 
						belgacem eshabbi

____________________________________________________________________
START HERE

Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS: SUDAN: Urgent call made to airlift
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 17:00:35 GMT

Title: SUDAN: Urgent call made to airlift food into Juba


london, aug 19 (ips/moyiga nduru) -- the sudanese community in
britain is urging the united nations to urgently resume emergency
food airlifts to the beleaguered southern city of juba where an
estimated 300,000 civilians are threatened with starvation.

''the situation in juba is appalling. food has ran out. unless
the u.n. moves in quickly with relief aid, the population will
perish from starvation,'' solomon balus of the relief association
for southern sudan (rass) said wednesday.

the appeal comes one day after the rebel sudan peoples liberation
army (spla) faction, led by colonel john garang, threatened to
shoot down any plane flying into the besieged town. garang's
faction claims that a u.n. plane had been used to ferry military
armament to government security forces in juba.

in a statement issued from nairobi, ejijah malok aleng of the
sudan relief and rehabilitation (srra), which is aligned to
garang's spla also warned: ''anybody flying to juba without proper
agreement does it at her/his own risk.''

the warning came just two days before the u.n. is scheduled to
airlift more than 1,000 tonnes of food, medicine and shelter
material to juba, the main city of southern sudan. ambassador
darko silovic of the u.n. department of humanitarian affairs said
the lift would be made on thursday.

airlifts to juba were suspended in july when the spla, which has
laid siege to juba, had stepped up fighting in and around the
city, shelling the airport and shooting down government planes.

the spla, which is now split into two factions, has since 1983
been waging a guerrilla war against the khartoum government of
northern sudan in a bid for self-determination. the other spla
group, which broke away from the garang faction last august, is
led by riak machar. the two are now locked in a power struggle and
have converged on juba.

in the meanwhile, the town's population of about half-a-million --
crammed into an area of about four square km -- is suffering acute
food shortages. half of juba has reportedly been razed by warring
factions.

with rains expected in the southern part of the country, relief
agencies fear the vulnerable -- mainly children and the old --
will be most at risk.

''with the people exposed in open spaces, coupled with the
absence of any sanitary facilities, it is easy to see how diseases
like cholera, diarrhoea and malaria breaking out,'' the nairobi-
based southern sudanese peoples forum (ssfp) warned recently.
(more/ips)

sudan: urgent call made to airlift food into juba(2-e)

sudan: urgent (2)

the situation is also worrying the non-governmental organisation
combined agencies relief team (cart). first established in juba in
1986 by a number of international and national ngos, cart warned
last week in london that unless the airlift was resumed
immediately people will die.

in 1985, 250,000 civilians died of starvation in the south. the
tragedy forced the u.n. to launch the ambitious ''operation
lifeline sudan'' in april 1988. but that operation, too, had
always been subjected to constant interruptions by the sudanese
and the rebels.

sudan, along with ethiopia, eritrea, somalia and the whole of the
southern africa have been hit by famine. over 40 million people in
these war-torn or drought-stricken countries require immediate
international attention. (end/ips/np/mn/cpg/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS: SUDAN: 300,000 THREATENED BY SPLA R
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 00:36:32 GMT

Title: SUDAN: 300,000 THREATENED BY SPLA REJECTION OF U.N OFFICIAL


nairobi, aug 21 (ips) -- the fate of 300,000 residents of the
besieged southern sudan captial of juba hangs in the balance
with the decision of sudanese rebels not to cooperate with a
senior u.n. official heading the relief opperation.

the sudan peoples liberation army (spla) office in nairobi
has accused the u.n. operation lifeline sudan, (ols) official
thomas ekvall, of ''destabilising the spla in support of the
national islamic front (nif) government in khartoum''.

ekvall has been declared ''persona non grata in all areas
under spla/splm control'', said dr. elijah malok, spokesman for
the sudan peoples liberation movement/sudan peoples liberation
army, the politico-military high command of the rebel movement,
wednesday.

malok further said that all cooperation between ekvall and
the sudan relief and rehabilitation association of the splm/spla
was terminated.

donors and relief agencies have been informed that ekvall is
no longer recognised by the splm/spla as ''the chief of the ols
southern sector.  ols can operate in in southern sudan without
thomas ekvall'', declared malok.

the rebel move followed a world food programme announcement
last week to resume relief flights, on aug 20, to juba.  these
were suspended in mid-july after the spla attacked three planes
at the regional airport.

the spla said the attacks were in protest against the use
of unmarked planes which they suspected of ferrying government
troops into the city.

relief agencies here are becoming increasingly concerned
about the plight of the civilian population in juba which is
virtually hostage to both sides.

''thousands of conflict-affected people are in imminent
danger of starvation'', said john rohn of the norwegian peoples
aid agency.

''since united nations suspended airlift operations to
juba on 18 july, no food, no shelter or other material relief
items have been delivered to the town, at least 300,000 women,
men and children are at risk, he warned. (end/ips/ha/ro)


Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS: SUDAN: WRANGLE OVER DISAPPEARANCE O
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 20:40:00 GMT

Reference: Population
Title: SUDAN: WRANGLE OVER DISAPPEARANCE OF MINORS


an inter press service feature

by horace awori

nairobi, aug 27 (ips) -- officials of the u.n. high commissioner
for refugees (unhcr) are embroiled in a wrangle with the rebel
sudan people's liberation movement (splm) over the disappearance
of 3,000 unaccompanied refugee minors from southern sudan.

the minors vanished from a northern kenya refugee camp at
lokichogio a week ago and, according to unconfirmed reports,
they were later seen at narus in southern sudan where they had
been ''abducted'' by the movement's guerrilla wing for military
training.

''we categorically deny any involvement or possible abduction
of these children back to southern sudan for military
training'', says splm representative in nairobi, elijah malok.

since the june fall of kapoeta town in southern sudan to
government forces, and the subsequent ''evacuation of 12,000
unaccompanied minors to lokichogio, the safety and care of these
children passed on to various u.n. agencies and it is to these
agencies that the splm is looking for their security'', he adds.

according to the splm official, sudan's military government
has been ''making noises demanding the repatriation of these
children to khartoum'' (the sudanese capital).

malok has accused some u.n. agencies of ''responding with
mixed tones'' to government demands, saying it is possible the
children might have been taken to khartoum ''with their
connivance''.

the splm and its military wing, sudan people's liberation
army (spla), are accused of stealing the children ''to cover up
the conspiracy hatched up in khartoum with the collaboration of
operation lifeline sudan office'', says malok.

launched in 1990, the operation is run by the united nations
to provide relief assistance to the sudanese people after the
country experienced serious drought and famine, compounded by an
overwhelming number of displaced persons and refugees.

however, a sudanese embassy spokesperson here describes the
children's disappearance as proof of what ''we have been telling
the world that the minors were recruits for the spla''.

maintaining that the unhcr had a hand in the incident, malok
told ips: ''we find it an uncanny coincidence that shortly after
the disappearance of the minors from lokichogio, a demonstration
of children from southern sudan is held in khartoum ostensibly
against the spla''. (more/ips)


sudan: wrangle (2)

the spla has declared ''operation lifeline sudan''
coordinator thomas ekvall 'persona non grata' in the territory
under its control. the guerrillas claim he allowed the khartoum
government to use planes with u.n. markings to ferry troops and
weapons into the besieged southern sudan capital of juba.

meanwhile, the unhcr is ''mad as hell'' over the
disappearance of the refugee minors, the agency's public
information officer, panos mountzis, told ips.

according to the official, the children disappeared while in
transit from one u.n. camp to another in northern kenya. ''they
have been positively traced to the narus spla camp'', he says.

but malok denies the allegation that the children are in the
spla camp at narus in southern sudan. ''the garrison commander
at narus has invited anyone to go there and verify for himself
(that the children were not in the camp)'', he told ips.

sources at the international committee of the red cross
(icrc) here say their responsibility ceased after the minors
left sudan early this year and were handed over to the unhcr.

''most of the children were aged between eight and 18 years
and certainly there were no 3,000 minors who were over the age
of 18'', says an icrc official.

if it is proved the children are missing, the same official
adds: ''the splm-spla reserve the right to know from the united
nations where it has taken the children of southern sudan''.

the unhcr is enraged by the secrecy surrounding the
disappearance. ''if they had told us they wanted to go back
to sudan we would not stop them. what we must establish is
whether pressure was exerted on the children to make them
abandon the camp and return to southern sudan'', says mountzis.

a team of legal experts has been sent to lokichogio and narus
to establish the ''legality or otherwise of the spla action in
ferreting the boys out of the camp at lokichogio. the unhcr
wants to be sure that there was no coercion''.

the refugee minors from southern sudan were largely orphans
who lost parents in the nine-year war waged by the spla against
marginalisation of the people of southern sudan by the arab and
islamic northern half of the country.

the islamic fundamentalist government in khartoum has often
depicted the southern displaced persons as a ''fifth column''
for the spla. of late it has applied various methods to force
those who fled to khartoum in the so-called ''peace cities'' as
an attempt to promote adoption of the islamic faith among them.
(end/ips/ha/ar/apc/92)






Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS: SUDAN: Human rights abuses take on 'Bosnian dimensions'
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 01:55:58 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SUDAN: Human rights abuses take on 'Bosnian dimensions'


an inter press service feature

by moyra ashford

london, sep 23 (ips) -- reports of bodies floating in the white
nile, summary executions and widespread torture in the besieged
southern sudan city of juba, have prompted the human rights
organisation, amnesty international, to launch an emergency
campaign.

in an unscheduled report released wednesday, amnesty accuses
sudan government forces of deliberately killing at least 300
people between june and august, this year.

''we don't normally issue reports in such a rush,'' said
amnesty international sudan specialist, andy mawson, ''but we feel
that the situation is very serious and action has to be taken very
quickly.''

the purge was unleashed after june 7, the day when troops from
the rebel sudan people's liberation army (spla) infiltrated the
city, seizing its military headquarters for a few hours before
recapture by government troops.

the spla, now split into two factions, has since 1983 been waging
a guerrilla war against the khartoum government of northern sudan
in a bid for self-determination. with one faction of the spla led
by colonel john garang and the other by riak macha, the two have
converged on juba in a power struggle.

the government has in the meantime launched a strong crackdown,
and in the weeks following the june showdown, arrested hundreds of
suspected spla sympathisers. civilians who put up resistance
during house to house searches, were taken and shot, according to
the amnesty report.

''relatives were too frightened to remove the bodies of those
killed and many were left unburied for several days'', said the
report.

while amnesty has the names of nearly 50 prominent citizens
swept up in the reprisals, it believes that hundreds more are
still in detention. among those killed was andrew tombe, a
sudanese worker for the u.s. agency for international development
(usaid).

''it appears that they are trying to remove witnesses from the
scene,'' said mawson. ''it is clear that when the eyes of the
world are not on sudan, the government feels it can do as it
likes.''(more/ips)

sudan: human rights abuses take on 'bosnian dimensions'(2)

sudan: human (2)

as the toll of human rights violations mounts in sudan, a
growing number of humanitarian groups, religious organisations and
experts believe the situation has taken on the dimensions of inter-
ethnic strife comparable to that in bosnia-hercegovina.

a spokesperson for the church missionary society, an anglican
organisation, says that the time has come for international
intervention and is calling on britain's foreign office to lodge a
complaint at the united nations: ''it is no longer an internal
matter ... it is like yugoslavia.''

while amnesty has highlighted the critical situation of juba,
human rights abuses are taking place throughout the country in an
offensive which has cast a million non-muslim sudanese from their
homes, the report said.

earlier this month, the london-based africa watch accused the
islamic government of a ''stepped-up campaign of horrifying
dimensions'' unleashed against the million-strong christian nuba
population.

tens of thousands have been forced off their land into
scattered camps, breaking up families. ''the current campaign
appears to be aimed at eradicating the traditional society and
culture of the nuba,'' says the report.

an enclave of non-muslims in the muslim-controlled north, the
nuba have a tradition of resistance and intellectual leadership.
several nuba intellectuals have been arrested or disappeared.

the spla has also been accused of human rights abuses and over
the years an estimated three million civilians have fled to the
north from the battlegrounds of the south, where an estimated
300,000 people are threatened with starvation.

yet, since the military takeover by the muslim fundamentalist
national salvation revolution command council (nrscc) in 1989, the
balance of human rights violations has weighed heavily on the side
of the government.

''what the khartoum government is doing is reasonably close to
what the serbians are doing,'' says john ryle, who specialises in
southern african affairs.

in july an africa watch report documented the ''forcible and
often violent programme of expulsion'' taking place in khartoum in
which an estimated 500,000 of the city's poorest citizens have
been forced out of their homes to camps located outside the city.

hundreds of thousands more have been displaced in the south
where government has since the beginning of the year been pursuing
a ''scorched earth'' policy -- that is, burning villages on well
known spla routes.

either side of the nile, dinka and atuot people have been
forced to take refuge in the ground underneath stilt-homes where
cattle are normally kept. (more/ips)

sudan: human rights abuses take on 'bosnian dimensions'(3-e)

sudan: human (3)

''because sudan doesn't matter in international relations
terms, because it is not strategic, the people get abandoned,''
said gill luft, deputy editor of the london based newsletter
'africa confidential'.

luft would like to see a u.n resolution on sudan on
humanitarian grounds which would protect the ordinary people
caught in the midst of a sectarian civil war. ''unlike bosnia,
unlike somalia, you can't see what is happening because the
journalists, the aid people and the foreigners have all been
thrown out,'' she said.

''unfortunately, i think sudan is quite low down the u.n.
political agenda at the moment,'' said a human rights agency
worker attached to the u.n. in new york. ''officials are taken up
with the u.s. initiative on war crimes in bosnia at the moment and
while what is happening in sudan is just as grave, this initiative
is country-specific.'' (end/ips/ip-hr/ma/cpg/92)


Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS: SUDAN: U.S. 'strongly condemns' execution of U.S. employee
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 01:45:48 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Europe, western
Reference: Africa, north
Title: SUDAN: U.S. 'strongly condemns' execution of U.S. employee


washington, sep 22 (ips) -- the u.s. state department says it
''strongly condemns'' the sudanese government for the execution on
a charge of treason of a sudanese citizen who worked for the u.s.
agency for international development (usaid) in the southern city
of juba.

spokesperson joe snyder said tuesday washington had also gained
reliable information that a second usaid employee had been
executed and that employees of the united nations and other
international agencies active in juba are apparently missing.

he added that ''several credible sources indicate widespread
killing and abuse of the civilian population in juba by the army
and militia of the government of sudan''.

the reports coincide with other grim accounts of the situation
in the government-held city which is besieged by rebel forces of
the sudanese peoples liberation army (spla).

earlier this month, the united nations announced that more than
a million people had been forced to flee their homes in southern
sudan during a recent offensive by the sudanese army into spla-
held territory.

u.s./sudanese relations have worsened steadily since a 1989
military coup d'etat which brought to power a military junta
headed by gen. omar hassan ahmad al-bashir.

last january, washington accused khartoum of harbouring arab
terrorist groups and islamic militants from neighbouring countries
and expressed concern over sudanese/iranian ties following the
high-profile visit of iran's president ali hashemi rafsanjani to
khartoum.

since then, washington has charged al-bashir with carrying out
massive violations of human rights against non-muslim minorities.

just last week, u.s. officials told reporters they agreed with
a recent report by the new york-based 'africa watch' human rights
group about a large-scale relocation campaign being carried out by
the army and associated militias against the nuba population in
the central part of the country.

the situation in the south has also reportedly deteriorated
significantly since the army, reportedly backed by an infusion of
arms from iran and china, began its march southwards against the
spla. (more/ips)

sudan: u.s. 'strongly condemns' execution of u.s. employee(2-e)

sudan: u.s. (2)

while it made unprecedented progress in retaking key towns in
the region, the army also resorted to a systematic policy of
depopulating the area, according to africa watch and other
published accounts.

the result, say some u.n. officials, could be a major famine
throughout the region and new pressure on adjoining countries
which are already finding it difficult to cope with drought and
continued warfare in somalia.

the situation in juba, where the executions reportedly took
place, is regarded as desperate by officials here and at the
united nations. despite its advance, the army has been unable to
break the siege which reportedly intensified last month.

last wednesday, jan eliasson, the u.n. official in charge of
disaster relief, flew into the town for a six-hour visit. he said
the people were ''in great need of food, medicines, drugs,
dressings and shelter''. he noted that several hundred thousand
people there were stranded without shelter.

rebel shelling of the town has made it impossible for u.n.
relief planes to use the airport effectively, and the government
has rejected rebel proposals that relief planes fly in at a
specified time of day so the spla can distinguish them from
military aircraft.

the government expelled all foreign relief workers and
missionaries from the town in mid-august, so firsthand reporting
about the situation has been made much more difficult.

snyder said thursday that usaid employee andrew tombe was
accused of working secretly with the spla, but that washington had
''no information whatsoever'' to support the charge.

he said tombe was a white-collar worker for usaid and that
khartoum told washington he was ''tried and convicted of treason
by a military tribunal''.

''if such a trial took place, it would have been held in secret
and would have been a clear violation of international legal
standards pertaining to his detention and alleged trial,'' snyder
said.

he said less was known about what happened to the second
employee, baudouin tally, whom he noted was also a white-collar
worker there.

''we demand that the sudanese government immediately provide a
full accounting of mr. tombe's detention, trial and exeuction, and
also provide information on the whereabouts and condition of mr.
tally.

''we further call on the sudanese government to allow an
immediate inspection of the condition of the civilian population
in juba by the international committee of the red cross, including
access to those being held in detention,'' he said.
(end/ips/ip/jl/yjc/92)


Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic