By Reuters June 23, 2010 (Khartoum) — Sudan on Wednesday denied trying to import arms on a ship intercepted in Cyprus, saying explosives on board had been ordered by a mining company. Cypriot authorities on Tuesday said they had prevented a cargo vessel from leaving their waters since June 11, saying it contained prohibited military…
By Reuters June 22, 2010 (Nicosia) — Cyprus has intercepted a vessel carrying military equipment thought to be bound for Sudan, under an arms embargo by the United Nations and the European Union. Authorities said on Tuesday the Antigua and Barbuda flagged cargo vessel had been prevented from leaving Cypriot waters since June 11, when…
June 21, 2010 (Juba) — The President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), Salva Kiir, has appointed his new cabinet. Names of those who have been appointed in the new government are as follows:
1. Mr. Kosti Manibe Ngai – Minister of Cabinet Affairs
2. Mr. Pagan Amum – Minister of Peace and CPA Implementation
3. Mr. Nhial Deng Nhial – Minister of SPLA and Veteran Affairs
4. Mr. Deng Alor – Minister of Regional Cooperation
5. Dr. Cirino Hitend Ofuho – Minister in the Office of the President
6. Mr. John Luyk Jok – Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development
7. Mr. Gier Chuon Aluong – Minister of Internal Affairs
8. Mr. Michael Makuei Lueth – Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
9. Mr. David Deng Athorbei – Minister of Finance and Economic Planning
10. Gen. Oyay Deng Ajak – Minister for Investment
11. Mrs. Awut Deng Acuil – Minister of Labour and Public Service
12. Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin – Minister of Information
13. Dr. Luka Tombekana Manoja – Minister of Health
14. Dr. Samson Lukare Kwaje – Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
June 18, 2010 (Khartoum) — The Governors of oil rich States, Taban Deng Gai and Ahmed Haroun, have met with representatives of oil companies to tackle some security issues in the exploring areas. “The Governor of South Kordufan state, Ahmed Haroun, and his Unity State Counterpart, Gen. Taban Deng, have agreed during a meeting with…
June 16, 2010 (Khartoum) — South Sudan’s army said on Wednesday 10 members of a renegade militia and three soldiers were killed in a gunbattle in the region’s Jonglei oil state.
A 35-strong search team came across George Athor’s rebels on Tuesday, a day after it had flushed him out of a hideout, according to the southern army (SPLA).
Athor launched a rebellion after failing to win Jonglei’s governorship in an April election, accusing the south’s dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of rigging the vote. Last month Athor said he was coordinating attacks with two other militia leaders in Jonglei and neighbouring Unity state, raising fears for regional stability in the run-up to a potentially explosive secession referendum due in January 2011.
There have been reports of scattered attacks but they have not coalesced into a large uprising.
"The reconnaissance platoon found his new place suddenly and there was an exchange of fire near Dier village in Khorfulus County," SPLA spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol said.
"From the SPLA side, three were killed and eight wounded and from Athor’s side 10 killed."
Athor did not answer calls on Wednesday.
Earlier Kuol said SPLA troops attacked Athor’s forces in the village of Wunlam on Monday night, after they were led to the hideout, also in Khorfulus County, by one of Athor’s men captured in an earlier fight.
"He is running with less than 30 soldiers. They are his close relatives from the village … Our forces are now pursuing him. We expect his capture within days," said Kuol, adding the SPLA captured 13 of Athor’s men and radio equipment on Monday.
Last week the SPLA said it chased militia commander Galwak Gai out of his base in Unity state, which includes oilfields operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), a consortium led by China’s CNPC. French group Total holds a largely unexplored oil concession in Jonglei.
South Sudan, the source of most of Sudan’s oil, secured a referendum on whether to split off as a separate country in a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war with the north.
Press Release June 16, 2010 (Washington) — Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs, at the U.S. State Department readout the followings statements: This afternoon Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, Chairperson of the African Union High-level Implementation Panel on Sudan, and Haile Menkerios, the…
June 15, 2010 (Khartoum) — Ali Karti, who was appointed foreign minister on Monday by President Omar al-Bashir lashed out on Tuesday. "If we don’t agree on the results of the referendum, this could trigger a new war between north and South Sudan. It will be a difficult and tough war, different from the previous…
By Khaled Abdelaziz June 14, 2010 (Khartoum) — Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday named his new coalition government, appointing Southerner Lual Acuek Deng to the new post of oil minister, according to a presidential order seen by Reuters. It is likely to be Sudan’s last government ahead of a secession referendum due in…
June 12, 2010 (Khartoum) — South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir reappointed his deputy, state media said on Saturday, in his first step to forming a new government to take the underdeveloped region to a 2011 independence referendum. Sudan’s oil-producing south secured its own semi-autonomous government, and the referendum on whether it should split off as…
June 8, 2010 (Washington) — The United States Government expresses its concern over a pattern of increasing political repression and the deteriorating environment for civil and political rights in Khartoum, including arrests of opposition leaders, journalists, and peaceful demonstrators. In mid-May, Sudanese authorities arrested two prominent opposition leaders, releasing one after several hours while they…