May 4, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese officials warmly welcomed on Tuesday the visiting U.S. Senators Christopher Coons and Chris Van Hollen who arrived in Khartoum to discuss democratic transition and issues with Ethiopia. The head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan awarded Coons with Medal of the Republic, one of the country's three highest honours. While Hamdok invited them to a diner at his home in Khartoum. Both wanted to express the gratitude of the Sudanese for his efforts (...) - News / United States (US)

May 4, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Japanese government has committed an additional $4.22m towards the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) peace, stability, and economic recovery efforts across seven states of Sudan. In line with the priorities of Sudan's Transitional Government and the mandate of the UN Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the Japanese donation will reportedly benefit 45,000 vulnerable people. The Japanese ambassador to Sudan, Takashi Hattori (...) - News / Japan, Sudan, Development - Aid

May 4, 2021 (JUBA) - A non-governmental organisation says more than 800,000 people in South Sudan who rely on their health care may face reduced access to life-saving services by June if urgent calls for humanitarian funding are not met. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in a statement issued Tuesday, said internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and conflict-affected populations already living in dire situations may soon face even greater danger to their lives and (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, South Sudan, Health

May 4, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki agreed with Sudanese officials to consolidate bilateral relations and enhance joint cooperation. On Tuesday, Afwerki has begun a two-day visit to Khartoum. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and Presidential Adviser Yemane Gebreab. The visit takes place amid strained relations with the Ethiopian government, a close ally of the Eritrean President as they fought together against TPLF forces in the northern Ethiopia (...) - News / Eritrea, FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY

May 3, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi will travel to Khartoum soon for talks with Sudanese officials on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said foreign minister Mariam al-Mahdi on Monday. According to the official Agence Congolaise de Presse (ACP), al-Mahdi made the announcement of the visit after a meeting in Kinshasa with the chairperson of the African Union. Kshisekedi appears more involved in the GERD process in comparison (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

May 3, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Governor of Central Darfur State described as a «hasty decision» the appointment of Minni Minawi governor of the Darfur Region. On Sunday, the cabinet office announced that Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok appointed the head of the Sudan Liberation Movement Minnawi Governor of the Darfur Region. Speaking to reporters in Zalingei the capital of Central Darfur on Monday, Abdel Rahman Adeeb criticized Hamdok's decision to appoint Minnawi at the head of the regional (...) - News / Democratic Transition in Sudan

May 3, 2021 (JUBA) – School officially reopened in South Sudan on Monday after closure for over a year due to COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the schools had been closed for 15 months due to COVID-19 restrictions, but candidate classes resumed in October last year. Speaking to reporters in the capital, Juba on Monday, the vice president in charge of service cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi said the decision follows recent drop in COVID-19 infections in the country. "COVID-19 is still with us but we (...) - News / South Sudan, Education, Coronavirus

May 3, 2021 (JUBA) – The Ethiopian ambassador to South Sudan, Nebil Mahadi on Monday met South Sudan's Vice President and Chairman of Infrastructure cluster, Taban Deng Gai and discussed issues of common concerns between the two nations. During the meeting, Nebil said the Horn of Africa nation's support to South Sudan is consistent, reiterating his country's effort to ensuring the September 2018 revitalized peace agreement is fully implemented. On the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Diplomacy - International Relations

May 2, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, called to stop quarrels between the forces of the revolution and reiterated the commitment of the military component of the transitional government to the partnership with the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the parties to peace. Addressing a Ramadan breakfast organized by the FFC's Unionist Alliance attended by the components of the transitional government, al-Burhan confirmed that the (...) - News / Democratic Transition in Sudan

May 2, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan requested Russia to evacuate all equipment and gears sent to Port Sudan to establish a military base on the Red Sea. Last weeks there were reports about the suspension of an agreement between the two countries to establish a naval facility hosting 300 Russian troops and four ships on the Red Sea. The Russian embassy in Khartoum, however, dismissed the «unfounded» reports saying they have not been formally notified of this suspension. Sudanese official told (...) - News / Russia, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

May 2, 2021 (JUBA) - The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has condemned the recent violent attacks against aid workers in South Sudan, urging authorities and communities to guarantee safety of humanitarians. On April 28, humanitarian workers from a UN agency and a national non-governmental organization were physically assaulted by youth in separate incidents in the Eastern Equatoria State capital, Torit. Separately, on April 24, youth attacked (...) - News / South Sudan, Humanitarian

May 2, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, called to stop quarrels between the forces of the revolution and reiterated the commitment of the military component of the transitional government to the partnership with the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the parties to peace. Addressing a Ramadan breakfast organized by the FFC's Unionist Alliance attended by the components of the transitional government, al-Burhan confirmed that the (...) - News

May 1, 2021 (MOROBO/YEI) – South Sudan's opposition National Salvation Front (NAS) has strongly refuted allegations that its forces were responsible for recent killings along Juba-Yei road. According to Central Equatoria State minister for information, Paulino Lukudu Obede, NAS forces ambushed, burnt and killed civilians traveling on the road between Yei and South Sudan's capital, Juba. The hold-out group, in a statement, refuted the allegations as false. “NAS condemns in the strongest terms (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, National Salvation Front (NAS), South Sudan

May 1, 2021 (JUBA) - South Sudan NGO forum has strongly condemned the increase in threats and incidents of aggression against humanitarian workers that are multiplying across the country. On April 24, aid workers were attacked inside an NGO compound in Jamjang County in Ruweng Administrative Area when youth groups entered the perimeter, physically attacked staff and seriously injured some of them. Separately, unconfirmed numbers of humanitarian workers were reportedly physically assaulted (...) - News / South Sudan, Humanitarian

May 1, 2021(KHARTOUM) - Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi briefed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni about Sudan's position on the stalled talks over the GERD filling and operation. Al-Mahdi is visiting a number of East African countries to inform them about the Sudanese proposition for an African Union-led mediation including the European Union, United Nations and the United States. In a statement released on Saturday, the Sudanese foreign ministry said al-Mahdi met with Ugandan President (...) - News / Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

April 30, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Gibril Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Minister of Finance called on the Sufi Muslim leaders to stand against any attempt to change the Islamic laws especially the Personal Status Law. JEM is one of the Darfur armed groups that signed the Juba peace agreement with the transitional government in October 2020. Its leader joined the cabinet as finance minister in February 2021. Ibrahim made his call in a speech delivered after Friday (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, Democratic Transition in Sudan

April 30, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - U.S. Senators Christopher Coons and Chris Van Hollen will visit Sudan on Monday for talks on the on border dispute with Ethiopia, said the official news agency SUNA. The two lawmakers who are members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will meet the head of the Sovereign Council, Prime Minister, Justice Minister and Irrigation Minister. During the 3-day visit, the Democrat senators will also visit Um Rakuba camp for Ethiopian refugees in eastern (...) - News / Ethiopia, United States (US), FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

Ngor Arol Garang While the visit of the government delegation to Chad had triggered debates and depictions in social media reflective of a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations, I saw a takeaway message. The two images sold the visit. One being of the guy who wept and another of amputee liberator who struggled to sit and whose images invaded the social media, drawing diplomatic and public (...) - Comment & Analysis

April 29, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - A senior Ethiopian official on Thursday said his government has addressed Sudan's concerns about the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Sudan says deeply concerned by the unilateral second filling of the giant dam next July because it threatens two small dams on the Blue Nile. Also, it says the uncoordinated filling of the GERD reservoir with 13.5 million cubic meters of water would affect the water supply in the country particularly Khartoum (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

April 29, 2021 (NAIROBI) – The chairman of South Sudan United Front/ Army (SSUF/A), Gen. Paul Malong Awan on Thursday visited the bishop-elect of Rumbek Diocese, Fr. Christian Carlassare at a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. The 43-year old cleric is receiving treatment days after he was shot and wounded by unknown gunmen in Lakes State on Monday night. SSUF/A, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, said Gen. Malong offered his sincerest sympathies with the bishop-elect, reiterating the (...) - News / South Sudan, South Sudanese Opposition, Banditry / Robbery

April 29, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced the readiness of the security committees to assemble forces in the cantonment sites as provided in the Juba peace agreement. Under the peace agreement signed between the Sudanese government and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF)'s factions on October 3, 2020, the assembling of forces should have taken place two months after the signing of the agreement, but the step was delayed for (...) - News / Democratic Transition in Sudan, FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY

April 28, 2021 (JUBA) - The United States embassy in Juba has condemned the violent April 24 attack on humanitarian staff and assets in Jam Jang, an area located in South Sudan's Unity State. In a statement issued Wednesday, the embassy said criminals stormed the compound where humanitarian workers, including U.S. government implementing partners, and their families were located. “Staff were threatened, robbed, and beaten, sustaining serious injuries,” partly reads the statement extended to (...) - News / South Sudan, United States (US), FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, Humanitarian

April 28, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Some 100 Ethiopian peacekeepers from the restive Tigray region deployed in the Abyei area have refused to return to Ethiopia, citing fears for their life. «The members of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) have arrived in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state,» a reliable source told the Sudan Tribune on Wednesday. The source who is not authorized to speak to the media further said that a senior UNISFA officer from the Tigray region (...) - News / Abyei, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, Ethiopia

April 28, 2021 (JUBA) – A civil society organisation has expressed concerns over the increasing cases deaths resulting communal violence and road ambushes across South Sudan in recent months. CEPO, in a statement, said deaths resulting from communal violence and armed road ambushes in the months of March to April, 2021 have tippled in comparison to the months of January-February 2021. “In the months of January to February, 2021 CEPO documented over 934 persons killed due to deadly communal (...) - News / South Sudan, Banditry / Robbery

April 27, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese cabinet Tuesday approved the ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In a statement released after its weekly meeting, the Council of Minister announced the approval of the CEDAW and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). The statement said the government entered reservations to the article 2, 16 and 29/1 (...) - News / Gender, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

April 27, 2021 (NEW YORK) - The slow pace in South Sudan's peace deal implementation could plunge the country into conflict, United Nations experts warned on Monday. The warning is contained in a report submitted to the Security Council. "Since February 2020, the slow pace of reforms by the Government of South Sudan and its selective implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan has hindered improvements in the protection of civilians and (...) - News / South Sudan, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, UN - United Nations

April 27, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan pledged to support the efforts of Chad's military council to preserve security and stability and called for a national dialogue to achieve a peaceful transition in the neighbouring country. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of the Transitional Sovereign Council travelled on Tuesday to Ndjamena for talks with the head of the military council Mahamat Idriss Deby who took power a week ago after the death of his father in a battle against a rebel group. (...) - News / FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY, Chad

April 27, 2021 (NAIROBI) — Three Kenyan herders were on Tuesday killed and several others injured when armed raiders attacked a grazing field at the border between South Sudan and neighbouring Kenya, an area official said. The Rift Valley regional coordinator, George Natembeya was quoted saying a group of Toposa tribesmen from South Sudan was behind the attack on the herders at the grazing field in northern Kenyan county of Turkana. "The group was big and they overpowered Turkana herders, (...) - News

April 26, 2021 (LONDON) – The United Kingdom has sanctioned Sudanese businessman, Ashraf Seed Ahmed Hussein Ali, widely known as Al Cardinal, for his involvement in the misappropriation of significant amounts of state assets in war-torn South Sudan. This diversion of resources in collusion with South Sudanese elites has contributed to ongoing instability and conflict, it said on Monday. According to The Sentry, an investigative arm of Enough Project, Al Cardinal has mastered the art of (...) - News / South Sudan, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, United Kingdom (UK) / Great Britain (GB), Corruption

April 26, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The United States called on Sudan and South Sudan to implement the 2011 agreement and to form a joint administration in Abyei until an agreement on its final status is reached. The United Nations Security Council was briefed on Monday about the situation in Abyei and the consultations on the exit of the UN Interim Force in Abyei (UNISFA) which has been deployed in the border region since 2011. As provided in the 20 June 2011 Agreement on the security and (...) - News / Abyei, FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY

April 26, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Maryam Al-Mahdi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is visiting a number of African countries to explain Sudan's position on the process of filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday that the visit will include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, the Sudanese government affirmed its confidence in the African (...) - News / Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

April 26, 2021 (JUBA) – South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has urged authorities to expeditiously investigate the shooting of an Italian priest in Lakes State and apprehend those who carried out the «shameful» act. Authorities in Lakes State said the Bishop-elect of Rumbek Catholic Diocese, Rt. Rev. Christian Carlassare was shot and wounded on both legs by unknown gunmen who attacked his residence on Monday night. “If those who carried out this shameful act were doing so to intimidate the (...) - News / Banditry / Robbery, South Sudan, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY

April 25, 2021 (JUBA) - The United Nations is strongly committed to working with the people and leaders of South Sudan to secure stability and eventual prosperity for the country, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Nicholas Haysom said. “South Sudan is entering a new phase and people's expectations are high. There is real hope for progress in the implementation of the peace agreement and, ultimately, achieving a more durable peace,” said Haysom. He added, “As partners in (...) - News / South Sudan, FRONT_PAGE_SECONDARY, UNMISS - United Nations Mission in South Sudan

April 25, 2021 (NAIROBI) - Escalating conflict in South Sudan's Equatoria regions has led to the killing of civilians, forced thousands of people to flee and disrupted planting for farmers at a time when 60% of the population is suffering from acute food insecurity, an aid agency said. In a statement issued on Monday, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said all parties to the conflict to urgently resolve tensions and avoid accelerating the risk of famine. “Civilians have been killed and (...) - News / South Sudan, Humanitarian

April 25, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Consultations with Sudan and South Sudan over the exit of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei from the border area were not conclusive, the UN chief told the Security Council. Six months ago, the Council requested UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to consult, Sudan, South Sudan and the troops-contributing Ethiopia on the exit strategy of UNISFA. In a letter to the 15-member council on 1 April, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said (...) - News / Abyei, FRONT_PAGE_DISPLAY