(Al Monitor) The Sudanese pound dropped to a record low against the US dollar earlier this week [Dec. 11], just one day after the failure of talks between Khartoum and Juba to restart southern oil exports was announced. The Central Bank of Sudan has allowed banks and currency exchange offices to adopt an encouraging exchange rate that can vary from one day to another depending on supply and demand. The Central Bank of Sudan established in its bulletin [Dec. 11] the indicative price for the Sudanese pound against the dollar at 5.6992, and accordingly it estimated that its highest rate would be 5.9271, whereas its lowest rate would be 5.4712 [as of Dec. 12]. Nair added that if oil production increased from 115,000 to 150,000 barrels a day by the end of this year, and to 180,000 barrels by the end of the first quarter in 2013, it would improve the value of the pound and the production of gold.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/
Bashir’s health a key driver for coup attempt
(Sudan Tribune) The participants in an alleged coup attempt uncovered last month in Sudan justified their move in saying that president Omer Hassan al-Bashir’s poor health will not enable him to carry out his duties, presidential assistant said. In a live interview broadcasted on Sudan TV on Saturday night, Nadir Ali Nafie said that the conspirators were aware that the “huge popularity” Bashir enjoys in the army and among the ordinary people would pose a difficulty. As a result the plotters stressed in their communication with different parties that Bashir is “incapacitated” and “will no longer be able to carry out his duties” as president but that if the coup succeeded they will treat him with dignity and respect. Nafie however did not address rumors about his boss’s health nor did not follow the official line of denying speculations about Bashir being terminally ill. The Sudanese president has cut down his public appearances particularly in conferences but continues to hold bilateral meetings with members of his government and foreign dignitaries.
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Khartoum demands a setback to peace deal
(Sudan Tribune) Demands raised by Sudan as pre-conditions for the implementation of the security arrangements with South Sudan is a setback to the peace deal, Princeton Lyman, the US special envoy to both countries said. Speaking at a press conference in the South Sudan capital on Friday, Lyman said is “troubled” by Khartoum’s recent requests and demands, which links the resumption of oil production and the implementation of other agreements to the satisfaction of the these demands. Both countries, under the deal reached, agreed to withdraw their troops 10 kilometres from either side of the border, to be monitored by a joint force and the United Nations peacekeeping forces (UNISFA) in the region. Lyman, who is due to travel to Ethiopia Monday to attend the Joint Peace and Security Meeting (JPSM) between the two countries said, it was practically impossible for South Sudan to disarm SPLM-N rebels in Sudan, as Khartoum demanded. The African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), on Friday, expressed concerns over the delays in the implementation of the agreement, and urged both the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan to finalize their outstanding issues, within stipulated timeframe.
Read More: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?iframe&page=imprimable&id_article=44874
Sudan detains prominent opposition politician
(Reuters, New Vision) Sudanese security forces detained one of the country’s most prominent opposition politicians, Farouk Abu Issa, after he attended an opposition party forum on Thursday, the politician told Reuters. “I’m now in the security agency’s offices,” Issa said by phone. Issa, head of the National Consensus Forces, an umbrella group of Sudan’s main opposition parties, is believed to be nearly 80 years old. It was unclear why security forces detained Issa, but he said he was arrested at his home after he had returned from a recent forum held by the opposition Umma Party. Opposition politician Kamal Omar called on the government to release Issa immediately.
Read More: http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/638140-sudan-detains
AU calls for urgent talks on flashpoint Abyei
(AFP) The African Union on Saturday called for urgent talks between Sudan and South Sudan over the flashpoint Abyei region but backed off from a threat to refer the matter to the UN Security Council. The AU’s Peace and Security Council had given the two countries until December 5 to settle the final status of oil-producing Abyei, which Sudanese troops occupied for a year until May. But no talks took place by the deadline, the Council said in a statement issued after talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The AU security body said it is “eagerly” awaiting a mooted summit between the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan “in order to remove bottlenecks on all pending issues” including Abyei and other disputed border areas. Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti on Friday asked the AU security body not to send the issue to the UN Security Council, and called for more time for dialogue, the official SUNA news agency reported.
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One Killed, 5 Abducted Near El-Fasher
(Radio Dabnga) Pro-government militias killed one person and abducted another five in three separate incidents that occurred in areas north and south of El-Fasher, North Darfur, on Thursday, 13 December, a relative of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga. In the first incident, militiamen stationed around the Abu Delek area shot and killed the citizen Sabun Hagar Siraj, who is the son of a cousin of the El-Fasher commissioner Nasr El Din Bakkal Siraj, a source affirmed. The victim was reportedly shot as he was harvesting his farm in the Shawa area, south of El-Fasher, and his body was transferred to a morgue in El-Fasher. The case has been reported to the police.
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