FROM: Enrico Marcandalli, INTERNET:enrico@urra.it DATE: 2/17/98 8:49 AM Re: Sudan Monthly Report 98-02 Sudanese Catholic Information Office ----------------------------------------------- S C I O P.O.Box 21102 - Nairobi - Kenya Tel. 00254 - 2 - 562247 fax. 00254 - 2 - 566668 ----------------------------------------------- SCIO, February 15, 1998 ----------------------------------------------- SUDAN MONTHLY REPORT - SCIO, February 15, 1998 [Note: Due to the length of the report, Sudan Infonet is only distributing the Chronology and the Appeal from The Catholic Bishops, called Succour our People. Those wanting the full report may subscribe to SCIO's list at the address included at the end of the report. Regards, SI Administrator] 1.Chronology 2.Succour our People 3.Diocesan Assembly held in Nairobi 4.Why the Nuba are part of Southern Sudan Chronology January I6: The US Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is expected in Khartoum today for a two-day visit and talks with Sudanese President Omar el Bashir, Islamic leader Hassan al Turabi and other officials. 16: The Sudanese army said yesterday that 150 rebels had surrendered to government troops in East Equatoria province in the south of the country. 16: A Sudanese government delegation is holding talks with opposition leader Sadeq al-Mahdi in Tripoli, Libya, the independent Khartoum newspaper Al Rai Al-Aam reported today. The talks were part of a Libyan government initiative to broker a reconciliation between the Sudanese government and opposition, the paper said. 17: State television said yesterday that Gen. Bashir had appointed Major General Kerubino Kwanyin Bol as deputy president and minister for local government and public security in the mainly Christian and traditionalist south. The president of the south is Dr Riek Machar. 22: A Sudanese opposition lawyer, Ghazi Suleiman, has been arrested, jailed for five months and fined 500,000 Sudanese pounds (about $300) for anti-government activities, press reports said today. 24: Some 1,600 rebel fighters have defected to Sudanese government ranks in East Equatoria province in the south, the state's governor, Abdallah Kafelo, said yesterday. Mr Kafelo, quoted by the official SUNA news agency, said his state "still receives returnees daily as a result of the peace agreement (of last April) which has met all demands of the southerners". 26: Sudan's year-on-year inflation rate rose to 34 per cent in December, up from 27 per cent the previous month, Finance Minister Sabir Mohammed Hassan was quoted as saying today. Mr Hassan blamed the increase on the failure of unidentified financial institutions to adhere to government spending and financial controls, the daily Al Rai Al Aam, said. 26: Farrakhan left behind a trail of anger and bitterness when he urged Sudan's non-Muslim minority to refrain from consuming alcohol, eating pork and smoking cigarettes to avoid hurting Muslim sentiments. 27: Sudan's constitution forum has held a heated debate over the country's future political system, with a majority of members in favour of pluralism, but no vote was taken because of lack of quorum. 28: Top Sudanese officials have criticised an Ethiopian demand for review of a nearly four-decade-old treaty between Sudan and Egypt on the use of the Nile water supplies, the daily Al-Usbu reported today. Mr Adam Derousah, chairman of the agriculture and water resources committee in the Sudanese national assembly, charged that the United States and Israel were exercising pressure on Ethiopia in what he alleged to be the "Zionist" interest. 29: In a surpise announcement, the SPLA affirmed this evening that its forces have taken Wau, the capital of Bahr el Ghazal and by size the second town of Southern Sudan. 30: Rebels captured southern Sudan's second largest city by pretending to defect to Kerubino Kwanyin Bol, so they could attack from within the garrison town, a SPLA spokesman said today. The SPLA seized Wau and the terminus of a railway linking southern Sudan to Khartoum in a hard-fought battle, rebel spokesman Justin Arop said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. February 1: The Sudanese army attacked an airport in Wau today in a bid to wrest control from rebels, a rebel spokesman said. The SPLA seized the airport in Wau on Thursday, after thousands of fighters pretended to defect, then began to attack the heavily fortified town from within. 2: A Sudanese court has sentenced a prominent Muslim cleric to five months in jail for criticising the government during his sermon at a prayer meeting in Khartoum, a report said today. Sheikh Abdul Mahmoud Abbo, who is imam at the Al Mahdi mosque, was also fined 500,000 Sudanese pounds US$300. 2: Sudanese rebels said today they had captured the south-western town of Aweil and that fighting in Wau continued for a fourth day. The SPLA said its forces had captured Aweil, 150 km north-west of Wau and were moving towards a government garrison just west of the town. Members of the local business community had gone to the base for military protection. 3: Sudanese rebels acknowledged today that they had lost control of the airport and military garrison at Wau. On Saturday, an official of the SPLA told AFP the rebels held both the airport and the garrison, but that the government troops were attacking with artillery and that fighting was "very heavy". 3: A Sudanese opposition commander said in Cairo today that his forces had launched a dry season offensive and this week killed 60 Sudanese soldiers in an attack on an army camp near the Eritrean border. Brigadier Isam Mirghani, deputy commander of the Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF), said the army camp assault yesterday was part of an offensive launched last week in co-ordination with the SPLA . 3: A Sudanese army spokesman, Gen. Sir al-Khatim was quoted in Khartoum by Sudan's al-Rai al-Aam newspaper today as saying Eritrea had shelled areas in eastern Sudan recently. The Sudanese military said earlier that Eritrea artillery had shelled border areas near the town of Abu Gamel on Friday, killing three people and wounding 21. 4: Sudan's draft constitution adopted by a commission will include provisions enshrining a multi-party system and freedom of assembly, press reports said today, though the text faces further hurdles. The government-appointed constitutional commission, after a heated debate on Monday, passed the provision with an overwhelming majority, contradicting past avowed policy of the current junta and its Moslem fundamentalist backers. 4: Aid agencies have expressed concern over the growing humanitarian crisis in southern Sudan. According to a statement issued in Nairobi by Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), which groups UN and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), more than 100,000 displaced people have fled the battle area in and areound Wau. 4: Fighting has escalated on the Sudan-Eritrea border, where the Sudanese military junta claimed on Monday that Eritrean troops are directly backing Sudanese rebels. The junta said its troops had repelled three attacks by Eritrean troops and recaptured the southern town of Aryath from rebel forces. 4: Sudanese rebels in Asmara, today said they killed 60 government soldiers and wounded another 60 in an attack on an army garrison in eastern Sudan. The SAF attacked Al Garda, the largest of six garrisons guarding the town of Kassala, near the Eritrean border, spokesman Fatehi Abdul Aziz said in the Eritrean capital. 5: Sudan's government banned aid flights to its Bahr el-Ghazal region today a day after an operation started to assist up to 150,000 people displaced by fighting, the UN food agency said. The government refused permission for the UN's Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) to fly to Bahr el-Ghazal, around Wau and other towns for a week. 7: The Eritrean government today categorically rejected allegations by the Sudanese government that its troops have entered Sudan and are fighting there on the side of Sudanese rebels. 8: Sudanese officials have urged civilians to join the armed forces after an attack on an army camp in the east in which rebels said they killed 91 government soldiers. "Within the context of the conspiracy which targets the country's eastern border, agents and mercenaries yesterday morning launched an attack on the eastern border in Gedaref from inside Ethiopia," Alwan newspaper reported today. 9: The WFP told Inter Press Service the food was being airdropped to people in Bahr al Ghazel region who have fled the government-held town of Wau. 10: Sudanese authorities are closing the Sudan-Eritrea border to prevent infiltration by anti-government forces into Sudanese territory, according to a report from the region. 12: Sudanese authorities stated today that calm had been restored after battles for the strategic southern town of Wau. The Al-Usbu daily, reporting from Wau, the capital of west Bahr el-Ghazal state in the south, reported that Khartoum's soldiers had infiltrated a rebel position outside the town and captured a missile launcher and its five-man crew. 13: Sudan's First Vice-President, Lieutenant-General Al-Zubeir Mohammed Saleh, and seven other government officials were killed when their plane crashed in the Sobat river. when trying to land in Nasir, near the Ethiopian border. Among the dead there are Timothy Tolam, governor of the Upper Nile state and Arok Thon Arok, a prominent Dinka leader who was among the SPLA founders and later, after being imprisoned by the SPLA itself for several years, turned to Khartoum and was among the signatories of the peace agreement in April last year. SPLA claimed in Nairobi last night that its forces shot down the plane. 13: Sudanese rebels today accused the government of dropping bombs on civilians in southern areas under their control. "They've been dropping bombs all around the area where civilians are concentrated," said Nairobi-based SPLA political affairs secretary Justin Arop. 13: Ugandan Foreign Minister Eriya Kategaya denied point-blank today that his country was massing troops on the border to invade Sudan. "Why should we?' he retorted to AFP when told that the Sudanese press was quoting Mr Machar as saying that Uganda was preparing for an attack on Sudan in support of SPLA. 14: Sudan government has disclosed that there were a total of 57 people aboard the aircraft that crashed in Nasir on the 12, and 26 of them died. Non confirmed rumours in Nairobi say that on the plane there was also Dr. Lam Akol, leader of the SPLA-United, who had made an agreement with the government last September, and he survived the crash with minor injuries. In the meantime the SPLA has withdrawn their previous claim of having shot down the plane. Succour our people On 15 February 1998, the Catholic Bishops operating in the non-governmental controlled areas of Sudan have launched the following appeal. We, the Bishops of the Sudan Catholic Bishops Regional Conference, make this appeal to the international agencies to assist our people who are facing a tragedy of enormous proportion. 1.The war has recently intensified around the town of Wau. The SPLA is still pressing ahead with its "full-scale offensive" in northern Bahr el Ghazal, launched two weeks ago. Fighting is heavy, and there is no reason to believe it will diminish in the coming days. 2.The Sudanese government refused permission for Operation Lifeline Sudan and WFP to drop food to more than 100,000 people displaced by fighting in Bahr el Ghazal. WFP and Operation Lifeline Sudan have been denied flight access by the government of Sudan on security grounds. UN spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt said the ban is putting the lives of vulnerable people at great risk. Operation Lifeline Sudan was in close contact with the authorities to resolve the issue. He said an estimated 100,000 displaced people are fleeing the conflict around Wau, Aweil and Gogrial and are "flood ing" into safer areas such as Mapel, Acumcum, Pathou, Ajiep, Lietnhom, Akuen, Lunyaker, Turale, Agok and Mayen Abun.; and in Western Equatoria: Diaianga, Maringindo and Tombora. Instead the Nuba Mountains are totally isolated with no assistance given to them. They are weak, hungry and in urgent need of food, medicine and shelter. Many people fled without anything. Other humanitarian sources described displaced people as "exhausted" and arriving in communities unable to cope with the influx. Relief supplies were last delivered by air on 3 February. UN and NGO teams in the region are distributing available food and non-food stocks such as blankets to affected people, but supplies are fast running out. All humanitarian personnel on the spot have warned of a looming "human tragedy". The call to Khartoum government to cancel what has been described as "abominable, criminal and unacceptable flight ban" has not been heeded. 3.The assessment of our own church personnel is similar to the above, sometimes even more dramatic. In the whole of Bahr el Ghazal, Eastern Equatoria, Upper Nile and the Nuba Mountains we were already preparing for the consequences of last year drought. There is already a severe food shortage which was expected to increase in the coming months. The influx of displaced will make the situation to deteriorate even faster than expected and real famine will start in matter of a few weeks. 4.The famine is rendered more serious by a shortage of drinking water in vast areas. Wells, even perforated ones, do not yield any water. In the Nuba Mountains there is no water sanitation at all. 5.As a consequence of all the above, an exodus has started even in areas that in the last year had been relatively peaceful. Many people have moved from the Boma area to Ethiopia, fleeing hunger and thirst. Others have walked to Uganda where they find themselves in areas where insecurity reigns, because of the local rebels, and some have been massacred. 6.Most of the areas where famine and thirst are building up are of very difficult access, both by road or by aircraft's. This raises tremendously the cost of transport, and makes it difficult for us to intervene with a real positive impact. We need help from the international community. Our appeal to you is to come to the succour of our people without delay. We need essential food and the means to transport it. The Church cannot now abandon these brothers and sisters of ours who are in grave suffering. Bishop Joseph Gasi Abangite SCBRC Chairman For further information, please contact: Fr. Kizito, SCIO, tel +254.2.562247 - fax +254.2.566668 - e-mail: SCIO@MAF.Org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUDAN CATHOLIC INFORMATION OFFICE Bethany House, P. O. Box 21202, Nairobi, Kenya tel. +254.2.562247 or 569130, fax 566668 e-mail: scio@maf.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - Distributed by Sudan Infonet An Information Service of the Sudan Working Group--USA SudanInfonet@compuserve.com 2/20/98 4:02 PM