EUROPEAN UNION NEWS DIGEST
Popular Congress: 5,500 Janjaweed fighters trained by government in a secret camp in Khartoum
(Sudan Tribune) Sudan’s opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) has condemned the government for the acts of killing and terrorizing of innocent civilians committed by the Arab Janjaweed militias in Darfur and most recently in North Kordofan. The Janjaweed Arab militias were mobilized by the Sudanese government to quell the insurgency that broke out in Sudan’s western region of Darfur in 2003. On Sunday, massive protests erupted in the capital city of Sudan’s North Kordofan state El-Obeid following the killing of a merchant allegedly at the hands of the pro-government Arab Janjaweed militias. The governor of North Kordofan state, Ahmed Haroun, announced his government made the necessary arrangements to drive the Janjaweed militias away from the state within 72 hours.
Read More: http://www.sudantribune.com/
AU appalled over UNSC failure to defer ICC cases of Sudan, Kenya leaders
(Sudan Tribune) The African Union (AU) has expressed dismay after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) disregarded pan-African body’s requests to defer the ICC trials of sitting African head of states. In a statement issued on Saturday the AU said the requests “have not yielded the positive result expected.” With regard to Sudanese president, it said AU’s request to the UN Security Council to defer the trials against Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir “has not been acted upon to date”. Bashir is charged of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during the conflict in Darfur.
Read More: http://www.sudantribune.coml/
EU and UNICEF to train teachers and midwives in Darfur
(Radio Dabanga) The EU and Unicef began the implementation of two projects in Darfur in the fields of health and education on Monday. The EU and UNICEF reported that the two projects will enhance the basic services in Darfur. The projects, entirely funded by €3 million from the EU, are to be implemented by Unicef and partners until October 2016. The health project is expected to instruct 28 midwifery trainers, 300 technical midwives, 120 nurses, and 16 health specialists. In parallel, the education project will sustain 2,000 teachers, 80 training teachers and 450 schools headmasters that will expand the educational gain for more than 100,000 students in the five Darfur states. Ambassador Tomas Ulicny, Head of the EU Delegation to Sudan, stated that peace and development in Darfur require sustained stability, security, as well as access for international organizations to apply their mandates.
Read More: https://www.radiodabanga.org/
Indian FM on Khartoum visit as South Sudan oil disrupted
India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid (C) will make a rare visit to Khartoum this week. The impact of unrest in South Sudan on India’s $2 billion investment in the region’s oil sector will be under discussion when New Delhi’s foreign minister makes a rare visit to Khartoum this week. “It will be featuring in the talks,” India’s ambassador to Sudan, S.K. Verma, told AFP ahead of the two-day visit by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. “Our largest investment remains in the energy sector, petroleum sector,” Verma said, putting the value at around $2.3 billion before South Sudan separated from Khartoum in 2011 with about three-quarters of the united country’s oil production. India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd, a partner in two joint oil production companies in South Sudan, announced on December 26 that the firms had temporarily halted operations there because of deteriorating security.
Read More: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/
Sudan: Hunger in South Darfur’s ‘Rural Camps’
(All Africa) The residents of the Teiga camp for the displaced in Mershing locality, South Darfur, complain of bad humanitarian and health conditions. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) stopped distributing food rations to them in September 2010. In four other South Darfur camps, WFP stopped the distributions of food rations four months ago. WFP staff told the camp residents that the camps are not longer regarded as camps for the displaced, but as “rural camps”.
Read More: http://allafrica.com/