Controversial Sudanese President Bashir Visits Mauritania

From the A.F.P....

NOUAKCHOTT — Sudan's war crimes-accused leader Omar al-Beshir received a red-carpet welcome from Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz at the start of an official visit Monday, national radio said.

Meanwhile Afriquejet takes a while to specify what country he's in. Don't they know Americans don't know geography?

The Sudanese president Omar Hassan El Béchir on Monday arrived in Nouakchott to a warm welcome for a three-day visit.

The Sudanese president rode next to his host Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz from Nouakchott international airport to the presidential palace.

Several Mauritanian political parties have denounced the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against the Sudanese president for 'war crimes and crimes against humanity' perpetrated in Darfur province in Sudan where an interminable ethnic conflict prevails.

The visit comes at the time when Nouakchott is hosting the second session of the Big Joint Cooperation Commission between the two countries.

The economic partnership between the two countries is symbolised by the presence of Sudanese private telecommunications company, Chinguitel, in the Mauritanian market.

This is the first time a foreign president has visited Mauritania since president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was elected on 18 July.

UN: African Rebels Committed War Crimes

From VOA News...

The U.N. Human Rights Office says the attacks and systematic, widespread violations carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Sudan may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile the AP takes a while to say "war crimes." Their lead emphasizes the group's Ugandan origin.

GENEVA — The U.N. on Monday accused the Ugandan-based Lord's Resistance Army of killing, mutilating and raping villagers in Sudan and Congo in what may have been crimes against humanity.

The rebels killed at least 1,200 people and abducted 1,400, including children and women, in northeastern Congo from September 2008 to June 2009, said a report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

A separate report by the U.N.'s rights office said that, in at least 27 attacks on villages in southern Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army killed more than 80 civilians and kidnapped many others to use as child soldiers, sex slaves and spies.

The report called the attacks in Sudan, which it said took place between December 2008 and March 2009, deliberate and brutal.

Both reports were based on hundreds of interviews with survivors and several field trips to the remote areas by U.N. employees, said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the high commissioner.

One survivor in Sudan told U.N. employees that he found the mutilated body of a fellow villager.

"The villager's leg had been chopped off, his jaws had been dislocated and his teeth had been pulled out," the report said.

The rebels frequently cross into Congo and Sudan and are notorious for mutilating and murdering civilians and kidnapping children to use as fighters.

Survivors in Sudan told U.N. investigators that armed Lord's Resistance Army rebels arrived in groups of between five and 20, and attacked people with axes, bayonets, hoes, knives and machetes. They reserved the use of firearms for those who tried to flee, the report said.

The LRA attacks in Sudan may amount to crimes against humanity, while the widespread abuses in Congo may have been war crimes as well, it said.

Darfur Improving, Southern Sudan Becoming Worst

From VOA News...

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Southern Sudan is all but forgotten since it signed a peace agreement with the North in January 2005. That officially ended more than 20 years of civil war.

WHO Middle East Head of Emergencies, Irshae Shaikh calls this a tragic mistake. He tells VOA Southern Sudan is the world's worst humanitarian crisis and the world must pay more attention to what is going on there.

The media *also* seems to have forgotten about Southern Sudan. The "related pieces" all focused on an improving Darfur.
From the A.F.P....

EL-FASHER, Sudan — Security and human rights in Sudan's western war-ridden Darfur region are getting better, officials from Khartoum told a government-backed conference in the Darfuri capital on Saturday.

Democratic Protesters Broken Up, Face Charges

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Up to 48 Sudanese opposition supporters will face charges for taking part in a banned rally close to parliament calling for democratic reforms, officials said on Tuesday.

Reuters has a more specific number of protesters and says the rally was "banned." The A.F.P. focuses more on the imagery of police breaking it up.

KHARTOUM — Sudanese police fired tear gas, used water cannons and rounded up dozens of opposition supporters on Monday to halt a pro-democracy rally outside parliament, an AFP reporter said.

Predictions: Sudan Headed Toward Civil War

From the A.F.P....

KHARTOUM — Sudan is heading towards 'violent breakup' due to the lack of implementation of peace deals between Khartoum and the west, south and east of the country, the International Crisis Group warned Thursday.

I came across another angle of this story on Religious Intelligence, or as atheists call the site, "Impossible." A more explicitly religious group has made a similar prediction.

The Sudan is on the brink of civil war, the Provincial Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) has warned in a statement released last week.

UN Peacekeepers Freed After 107 Days

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Two freed peacekeepers on Monday described how they survived 107 days held by kidnappers without shelter in remote mountains in Sudan's Darfur region.

Reuters emphasizes the timeliness of the story and the conditions the peacekeepers were in. Meanwhile BBC News focuses on the fact that the peacekeepers were UN workers. Their lead has a more vague estimation of the days they were held hostage. And it ends with disclosure that they're in good health.

Two United Nations workers, who had been held hostage in Darfur for more than 100 days, have been freed, apparently in good health.

ICRC Workers Abducted In Sudan, Chad

From a press release by the I.C.R.C....

Two ICRC staff members were abducted in the past weeks: Gauthier Lefèvre was abducted in West Darfur, Sudan, on 22 October, and Laurent Maurice was abducted in eastern Chad on 9 November. The ICRC's head of operations for East Africa, Daniel Duvillard, speaks about how the organization is dealing with these crises.

What is the latest information you have on Gauthier and Laurent?

We have managed to have phone contacts with the abductors of both of our staff. We also managed to speak directly with Gauthier and Laurent. They both say that they are in good health. That is already reassuring under the circumstances. At this point we do not know if there is a link between the two incidents, but we are obviously shocked and very sad. We appreciate how difficult the situation is for Gauthier's and Laurent's families and friends. We are in regular contact with them, and we are doing everything we can to give them the support they need.

Who is behind the abductions? Have there been ransom demands?

We don't know exactly who is behind the abductions or what their motives are, and we don't want to speculate. We did receive a ransom demand for Gauthier but, as a matter of policy, the ICRC does not pay out ransom money. The ICRC will continue to do its best through its regular channels of communication to bring about Gauthier's and Laurent's release.

The A.F.P. wrote a story based on the release.

GENEVA — The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of two agency staff kidnapped in recent weeks in Sudan and neighbouring Chad.