HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN News Briefs, Tuesday 2 May CONTENTS: SUDAN: Oil pipeline sabotaged SUDAN: UN Secretary-General welcomes humanitarian ceasefire SUDAN: Food situation "satisfactory" according to government SUDAN: Rebel bishops attend ceremony by Archbishop of Canterbury SUDAN: Rebel leader scorns air-strike ban SUDAN: Arab militia accused of killings SUDAN: IRIN News Briefs, Friday 28 April CONTENTS: Urgent appeal for two million Sudanese facing starvation NDA claims government military HQ captured Garang urged to participate in reconciliation bid Eritrean refugees repatriated ICRC improves limb-fitting capacity __________________________________ SUDAN: Oil pipeline sabotaged The pipeline carrying Sudan's crude oil to a Red Sea port was blown up early on Monday morning, state television reported. The secretary-general of the ministry of energy and mining was quoted as saying the export pipeline at Singat, about 345 km east of Khartoum, had been "subjected to a limited act of sabotage". State television said exports would not be delayed because of the volumes of oil stored at Port Bashir, on the Red Sea. A spokesman for the Canadian oil company, Talisman Energy Inc. said the damaged should be fixed in about three days, Reuters reported. The company has faced vociferous protest over its operations in Sudan. State television said leaflets found at the site indicated the sabotage was carried out by the Beja Congress, part of the opposition National Democratic Alliance. It is the third act of sabotage on the 1,610 km pipeline since it started to pump oil last August, according to Reuters. SUDAN: Secretary-General welcomes humanitarian ceasefire UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcomed an announcement by the Sudanese government of a humanitarian ceasefire until 15 July this year. In a statement, the Secretary-General said he also acknowledged the decision on 19 April "to suspend air bombings in Southern Sudan to protect civilian lives and facilitate the continuing delivery of humanitarian assistance". The statement invited the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) also to extend the humanitarian ceasefire to create "an enabling environment for humanitarian operations". SUDAN: Food situation "satisfactory" according to government Minister of Agriculture Dr Al-Hajj Adam was quoted by government media as saying the food situation in Sudan was "satisfactory". He said Sudan did not suffer a food gap, and that available food met domestic consumption. The comments follow a warning by WFP last week that aid supplies in Sudan would run out by June, leaving about 2 million people in danger of starvation. The agency appealed for increased aid saying there had been a poor response to an appeal in January. SUDAN: Rebel bishops attend ceremony by Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury visited the besieged government-held capital of Juba in south Sudan and called for peace. George Carey, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, addressed a huge congregation gathered on Sunday for the enthronement of the new Anglican Archbishop of Juba, Joseph Marona. Reuters reported that residents contacted by telephone said almost three quarters of the 250,000 people living in Juba had tried to attend the ceremony, which included three bishops based in territory controlled by the SPLA. Khartoum's pro-government 'Alwan' newspaper reported that hundreds of people from rebel-held areas had been allowed by the government to enter Juba for the enthronement, in response to a request by Carey. SUDAN: Rebel leader scorns air-strike ban SPLA leader John Garang has described the halt to air-strikes announced by the government a "public-relations exercise aimed at improving international relations". The London-based newspaper 'Al-Sharq al-Awsat" said that in a telephone interview from the field, Garang rejected national elections scheduled for October, and also dismissed as "illegitimate" an internationally supported conference of southern forces, scheduled to be held in Geneva in mid-May. Garang said there were still battles "raging in the east" which was a government offensive "aimed at aborting peaceful solutions". He called on all southern and Arab tribes in joint territories between north and south to hold a reconciliation conference. SUDAN: Arab militia accused of killings An exiled spokesman for Massaleit civilians in western Sudan claimed in a statement issued from Egypt that government-supported Arab militia had caused death and displacement in escalating attacks over the last two years. The statement said that in February more than 50 people from the Massaleit village of Geriko, on the Sudan-Central African Republic border, were killed by attackers on horseback carrying automatic weapons. Victims included the minority Fur, Dagu and Senya. The statement complained of "a broader and deliberate policy to alter the ethnic opposition of the area at the expense of the non-Arab ethnic groups" in western Sudan. _____________________________________ SUDAN: IRIN News Briefs, Friday 28 April CONTENTS: Urgent appeal for two million Sudanese facing starvation NDA claims government military HQ captured Garang urged to participate in reconciliation bid Eritrean refugees repatriated ICRC improves limb-fitting capacity Urgent appeal for two million Sudanese facing starvation Nearly two million Sudanese could face starvation if food stocks are not replenished by June, WFP warned in a statement released from Khartoum on Thursday. The statement said there was an urgent need for pledges of food aid to avert a crisis. It warned existing stocks would run out in June. "Current stocks will finish at precisely the same time they are needed most, at the peak of the hunger months which last from April until October," the statement said. Dwindling food stocks have forced WFP to reduce essential therapeutic and supplementary feeding programmes for the malnourished. Rations to other vulnerable people have already been halved. Only 11,300 mt of food had been donated out of an appeal for 55,000 mt issued in January, said WFP. In government-held areas of Eastern Equatoria, 228,000 people are said to be at risk of starvation in the towns of Torit and Kapoeta because of drought. A further 16,365 people in the northern province of Halaib on the Red Sea are similarly affected by a three year drought, the DPA news agency reported. NDA claims government military HQ captured The opposition umbrella National Democratic Alliance (NDA) group said on Thursday it had captured the government's military headquarters, Osman Dakna camp, north of Kassala, AFP reported. According to an NDA news release, the coalition said it captured five soldiers and repelled an attack by government forces. It also claimed to have pushed back a government offensive this week aimed at taking back the Temeket-Korkor area, on the road to Eritrea. The government has not commented, AFP added. Garang urged to participate in reconciliation bid The Sudanese government has urged the leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), John Garang, to participate in Egypt and Libya's efforts to reconcile Sudan's feuding parties. Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail told a press conference in Khartoum on Thursday that the SPLA should "stop vetoing" the Egyptian-Libyan initiative within the opposition National Democratic Alliance, news organisations reported. The foreign minister also claimed Sudanese diplomacy had succeeded in improving ties with Arab, African and European nations, and that relations with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt had "normalised", AFP said. The Sudanese government has expressed optimism, through the state media, that a current dialogue with the European Union would bear fruit. Eritrean refugees repatriated A tripartite commission set up to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of Eritrean refugees in Sudan, formed by Sudan, Eritrea and UNHCR, held its first meeting in the Eritrean capital, Asmara on Thursday, Eritrean radio reported. Eritrean commissioner Werku Tesfamikael of the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission thanked Sudan for its hospitality to refugees, and said in an opening speech that Eritreans had become refugees in Sudan because of atrocities by Ethiopian regimes. Eritrean opposition groups have claimed through pro-Ethiopian government media that Eritrea is repatriating refugees for military recruitment to use in the present border conflict with Ethiopia. ICRC improves limb-fitting capacity The ICRC signed a new agreement on 20 April with the Sudanese ministries of defence and social planning, to extend support, by three years, to the National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics in Khartoum. Work started in 1998 to upgrade the Centre's facilities to increase assistance to mine victims and other war amputees. ICRC said in a report it aimed to "develop and modernise the local technology by providing standard-quality components made of polypropylene" and boost production to 900 units a year. It will also hold advanced training courses for technicians from Khartoum and other parts of the country. Improved facilities include separate premises for men and women, providing dormitories, rehabilitation and physiotherapy facilities. ICRC said it was an important step to allow amputees to travel and stay in Khartoum on their own initiative, and for those brought by ICRC from conflict zones. [ENDS] [IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ] [This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. 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