Category Archives: Sudan

By Robert Asketill Sudan and South Sudan on Thursday signed three agreements of various issues at the conclusion of a presidential summit between Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “This deal constitutes a positive breakthrough in the file of the outstanding issues and a real boost to the peace process between the two countries,” Rabie Abdul-Atti, a leading member of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP), told the Xinhua news agency, Beijing.” This breakthrough revives the hopes of the two countries’ people in achieving their security, economic and political interests and completing the remaining files in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), … Continue reading →

By Robert Asketill There is an unusual sense of optimism surrounding the resumption of talks in Addis Ababa between Sudan and South Sudan. Both governments have come out with generous statements about each other with a Sudanese government spokesman quoted as describing the attitude of the South’s delegation as “also open-minded and open-hearted”. A Southern negotiator was quoted as saying that if the Sudanese government “is coming to negotiate in good faith than we are likely to agree on everything except the borders which will follow later”.  This is a far cry from the cold rhetoric back in April after South Sudan occupied Sudan’s key oil field. Then it all seemed to … Continue reading →

By Robert Asketill The war against Khartoum is political and ideological, but increasingly it looks as if it must be won or lost on the battlefield under the influences of a massive oil potential that will keep the Western powers interested in who governs. During April, the fighting focused on the town of Talodi, South Kordofan’s capital and we had Brigadier-General Mahana Bashir, the officer in charge of the SPLA-North camp who stated that 4,000 troops are currently in training, all volunteers. “We are fighting a just war defending our people, defending our land. We were, with Western power influence, forced to split from Juba’s Sudan.” His statement makes little … Continue reading →

By Robert Asketill If we are to see how the so-called super powers have and are destroying the efforts made by Africans to improve their countries after shaking off colonisation, in itself a courageous decision often with considerable loss of life, we can usefully today watch the struggles this month in both north and south Sudan as they have to stand up to an expected foreign media attack. It might be useful for any discussion on foreign power interference by readers to have a sketch look at the Sudan.  Although colonised by the British, the Sudan as we knew it governed from Khartoum, clearly was ready for its independence long … Continue reading →

By Robert Asketill A committee of British members of parliament are on their way to the Sudan with an object to see that the newly created South Sudan and the North seek peace between each other.  We know that the two parties may well be determined to avoid a full-scale war, yet clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA — South Sudan’s army) and the subsequent bombing around the oil-rich town of Heglig in Unity State are a clear indication that both sides are resorting to military action in lieu of effectively laying down their weapons and resolving outstanding post-independence issues, mainly on the … Continue reading →

By Robert Asketill The Southern Sudan State now struggling for recognition has from all reports become an open market for neighbouring states along with a rush of bankers who will certainly have to be watched before this new country finds itself immersed in deep corruption. But has the new Sudan the experts who can sniff out corruption?   Its banking system is already in the hands of the Kenyans, Ugandans, and Ethiopians who have little consideration of the internal divisions and are most unlikely to care about what is happening in the country, except about its oil, and they have a clear field to operate with the present acute shortage of … Continue reading →

By Robert Asketill It has been good news to hear that Dr Jean Ping, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission has announced that the agreement reached by Sudan and South Sudan on the ‘Framework Agreement on the Status of Nationals of the other State’ and also the agreement on the ‘Demarcation of the Boundary and related issues has been reached with a new spirit of togetherness and cooperation expressed by the two parties at a time when American Hollywood personalities are trying to wreck peaceful living within both Sudan’s. The agreement also accords nationals of each state the freedom of residence, freedom of movement, freedom to undertake economic activity, … Continue reading →