Sudan Update Vol.8 No.22, 11/97

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER

Sudan Update Volume 8 Number 22 (Eight page edition / 60k in 2 parts of 30k)

14 November 1997

SUDAN UPDATE is an international media review, published twice monthly to promote dialogue and education about Sudanese current affairs.It records news and comment from a broad variety of published sources, and presents a cross-section of views which are often contradictory.No claim is made for the accuracy of individual items.They do not represent the views of the editorial group, and readers should always refer to the original sources for complete versions.

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CONTENTS: Part 1

American sanctions / Spurning dollars / Gum arabic / Mosque attacked

Torit ambush / Army reshuffle / Juba "starving" / Girl shot / Student "martyrs"

CONTENTS: Part 2

Oil business / Nairobi peace talks / Pilgrims put off / Teacher killed

Journalists warned / Mesquite defended / Quiz culprit /++

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LAW AND ORDER

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MILITIAMAN'S GRENADE KILLS IN KHARTOUM:A grenade brought home by a PDF militiaman killed one man and wounded two others when it blew up in a tailor's shop in Khartoum.A police source on 1 November named the dead man as Nasir Ahmad Abu al-Basher, who was examining the hand grenade he had found in a bag in the shop when it exploded.Al-Wan newspaper identified him as an imam, or prayer leader.

The bag belonged to Badr al-Din Yagub al-Sawi, who was visiting the tailor, a relative.He had illegally brought the grenade from the eastern Sudanese front, and has been taken into custody for questioning.

`A man and a 10-year-old boy were wounded by fragments when the grenade went off,' says AFP.(AFP 2/Nov/97)
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GIRL SHOT DEAD - MISTAKEN FOR LEOPARD:An Omdurman policeman shot dead a girl lying under a tree after mistaking her for a leopard, a police spokesman said on 22 October.Police had been called by a resident of al-Thawra district who thought there was a leopard in front of his house.

`A policeman opened fire before realising too late that it was a girl wearing a leopard print dress,' reports AFP, citing SUNA.

`"Although the murder was obviously perpetrated by mistake ... legal procedures have already commenced and the perpetrator will be liable to administrative and judicial punishment," the spokesman said.

`He attributed the tragic mistake to a rumour sweeping Khartoum that wild animals are roaming the outskirts of the capital.'(AFP/SUNA 22/Oct/97)

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TAKFIR WA AL-HIJRAH KILL WORSHIPPERS AT MOSQUE:Two assailants stabbed two men to death and injured 10 others, four seriously, outside a mosque of the Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhammadiya sect at Wad Medani on 3 November.

The attack, using knives and clubs, took place after sunset prayers.The legal adviser to the Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhammadiya, Farouq Adam, accused the radical Takfir wa al-Hijrah sect - which considers other Muslims to be infidels - of carrying out the attack.

Al-Wan reports that before they went to the mosque, the men stabbed a brother of one of the pair, accusing him of being a renegade. The paper did not say what state the brother was left in. People from the mosque overwhelmed the two attackers and handed them over to police.

Two years ago members of the Takfir wa al-Hijrah group attacked an Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhammadiya mosque in Omdurman, killing 19 people and injuring several others. They also murdered two villagers in the Wad Medani area.(DPA, AFP 3/Nov/97

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CRUCIFIXION AND AMPUTATION:A court in North Kordofan has sentenced an armed robber to death, another to crucifixion and two more to amputation of a limb, it was announced on Republic of Sudan Radio by the State's Governor, Ibrahim Sanousi, on 4 November. He said 18 cases of armed robbery in which eight people were killed had been reported in the region since the beginning of 1997. Sanousi said the verdicts will be sent to the presidency in Khartoum for final approval.(RSR 4/Nov/97)

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IRAQI "ILLEGALLY ACQUIRED $12 MILLION":An Iraqi businessman has been referred for trial in Khartoum, charged with illegally acquiring $12 million from Sudanese banks.He reportedly acquired the money with the help of seven Sudanese who were also referred for trial, including businessmen and high-ranking officials in an Islamic bank. The case is known in Sudan as "The Entangled Cheques".

Mahdy had negotiated to repay the money in instalments, but his failure to meet his commitment after some months led to the filing of a case against him. (Arab News 23/Oct/97) _______________________________________________________________

PRISONERS SUFFER FOOD POISONING:A diarrhoea epidemic at Wad Medani women's prison `was caused by the unhygienic method of a big number of inmates eating from one dish,' says Deutsche Presse-Agentur, citing al-Wan newspaper on 24 October.

The first official report said only two persons had died and that less than ten were hospitalised.Earlier unofficial reports spoke of "several dead".A prison source said all those sent to hospital earlier this week have been discharged.

`Al-Fateh al-Jaili Misbah, commissioner of Gezira province, told the paper that the prison was overpopulated.He added that the prison was receiving large numbers of prisoners from neighbouring districts making it too congested for healthy living. The commissioner said the existing prison could not be extended because it was surrounded by other important installations and the government had no resources to build a new prison.'(DPA/al-Wan 24/Oct/97)

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WAR

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TORIT AMBUSH:In an ambush at Aslora near Torit, Eastern Equatoria, on 13 October, SPLA forces inflicted heavy losses on government troops, according to National Democratic Alliance radio, broadcasting from Eritrea.

The government still holds Torit, east of the Nile, despite an SPLA offensive earlier this year, as well as the key road between Torit and Juba, 125km to the northwest.Torit and neighbouring Kapoeta remain the exceptions to the SPLA hold on the rest of Eastern Equatoria.

`SPLA forces captured two T-55 tanks in good condition and destroyed another one in the battle,' the radio said, quoting an SPLA statement. `They also captured four Hino trucks in good condition and a large number of machine-guns and ammunition...'

Reuter comments, `It was not clear if the ambush was staged on the Juba-Torit road, the object of sporadic SPLA ambushes, or on the road between Juba and Kapoeta.

"There are skirmishes all around [Torit] because the Sudan government would like to widen their defences around the town. The fighting is continuing," Justin Yaac, the SPLA's political representative in Nairobi, told Reuter on 19 October.(SPLA/Voice of NDA/Reuter 19/Oct/97)

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MILITARY STAFF RESHUFFLE:Armed forces chief of staff Gen Ibrahim Suleiman Hassan has been retired and his deputy, Gen Sidahmed Hamad Siraj has been appointed to replace him, according to SUNA on 17 October.Xinhua comments that this is one in `a series of personnel changes in the top military brass in the country prompted by recent consecutive military failures in the civil war,' but notes that SUNA `downplayed the reshuffle as normal rotations among senior officers.'

Gen Muhammad al-Sanousi Ahmad has been moved from deputy chief of staff for moral guidance and spokesman to deputy chief of staff for security and intelligence. He replaces Gen Muhammad al-Radhi Nasr al-Din, who will become deputy chief of staff for administration.

Former wali (governor) of River Nile state Abd al-Rahman Sir al-Khatim, a retired army brigadier, returns to active military service.He has been promoted to general and becomes deputy chief of staff for moral guidance and official spokesman.

Gen Muhammad Abd al-Qadir Idriss has been dismissed as minister in the defence ministry.He is replaced by Gen Salah Muhammad Salih, whose former job as deputy chief of staff for supplies will be taken over by Maj-Gen Abbas Arabi, who becomes a full general.(SUNA/Xinhua/AFP 17/Oct/97)

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CONSCRIPTION

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FORCIBLE CONSCRIPTION TO HOLY WAR:Extracts from an urgent message from the Sudan Human Rights Organization (USA) to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, UN Human Rights Rapporteur for Sudan Dr Gaspar Biro, and the international community:

1- High school and university students are sent to war zones in Juba, Damazin and Kassala after no more than three weeks of training.About 250 students were loaded on trucks from a PDF training camp in Shendi (Northern Province) to be taken to an anonymous location. They were informed [en route] that their destination was Khartoum Airport prior [to] airlifting them to the battlefields in the south. The students started immediately escaping and sought refuge in the neighbouring communities. The Popular Police militias conducted extensive search and detention operations to capture and try those who escaped.

2- Stringent measures aim to force the students to join the war: a: Results of secondary school exams are announced in the PDF training camps. b: Entry into universities is conditional upon signing up for 18 months in the PDF.

3- Fearing a popular uprising led by students who oppose conscription, `the regime has resorted to closing down of high schools and universities. This has resulted in a backlog of three first year classes in the universities. Since last January the government is unable to reopen the universities fearing the students' reaction once they discover that entire classes have already been killed in the war zones.'

`The entire third year class of Medicine (44 students) in Omdurman Islamic University have reportedly been killed.A similar fate has befallen whole classes in several other universities, particularly Gezira and Khartoum.

4- `This year about 170,000 students sat for university entry exams in the country.80,000 are males, 28% of whom are from Khartoum. Of this 28% (about 18,400 males), only 9,000 have reported to the militia camps. The rest have either been able to sneak out of the country or are in hiding.

`5- Over the last four years about 23,000 students have died in action.'

SHRO urges all concerned organizations to `investigate [these] disturbing reports.'

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"NO EXCEPTIONS" TO MILITARY SERVICE:State defence minister Omar Abd al-Maarouf told newspaper editors on 20 October that "implementation of the national service act will be strictly imposed and there will be no exceptions," reports AFP. Maarouf said high school students and others aged from 18 to 32 "will be chased" and made to do military service, estimating the number of those eligible at around two million.

"All civil rights will be linked with doing the national service," the minister said, implying that "escapees" also risked being denied job opportunities. (AFP 21/Oct/97)

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DEATHS CONFIRMED:Acknowledging the loss of at least 27 school-leaver conscripts, Justice Minister Abd al-Basit Sabdarat told Khartoum University on 22 October that it had "offered more than 27 of its students as martyrs in a short period of time."The deaths showed their "love for martyrdom".

`Some 70,000 school-leavers this year had two months of military training in the summer, but large numbers failed to turn up for service after learning that they would be sent to war zones.Early this week a Sudanese newspaper said the army had sent only 4,000 young men to the south...

Higher Education and Research Minister Ibrahim Ahmad Omar, addressing students on 23 October, paid tribute to their "acts of jihad" and "formidable role in victories achieved by the army and popular defence forces".

"The students displayed great courage which astonished the aggressors in a battle 65km from Juba," he said, in the first official reference to clashes in that area.

`Omar declared that "the faith is maintained as much by arms as by knowledge and logic".'(AFP 23/Oct/97)

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NO HIDING PLACE:`Officials have been patrolling the streets of the capital this week with loudspeakers, urging parents to encourage their children to sign up for compulsory military duty,' reports Inter Press Service.

On Sudan Television, `a State Minister at the Ministry of Defence, Omar Abd al-Maarouf, warned parents not to try to hide their children...Special forces have been set up to hunt for those who are not willing to join...

"Any student who does not report for military service or military training will miss chances of going to university, going abroad, or doing business in the country," he said.

`Sudan's government has allocated about 80% of its budget to defence and security.The National Assembly [on 23 October] passed a resolution calling on the government to put all of its resources into the war effort...

`"The future is dark for us," a student who asked not to be named told IPS. "I was hoping to become a medical doctor within the next five years, but now I give up," he said. "I don't want a death certificate."

`The young man has refused to join the military service, and spends his nights and days behind doors to avoid being picked up and taken to the front in the South ... many of his friends had been killed in the war.'(IPS 23/Oct/97)

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ROAD BLOCKS: On 19 October `road blocks were set up in at least three states to catch men who had not done compulsory service. Residents said traffic was checked on roads into Khartoum. Local newspapers reported similar checks in the nearby states of Gezira and Gedaref.'(Reuter 21/Oct/97)

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GARANG PLEDGES SUPPORT TO FLEEING CONSCRIPTS:John Garang has called upon the families of schoolboys facing conscription to resist the government's decision to force their children into the civil war.He also instructed SPLA commanders, officers and soldiers in the operations areas `in South, East, West Sudan and the Nuba Mountains' to provide `safe access to the liberated areas' to all conscripted students.All possible facilities should be given them inside the SPLA-controlled areas, and they should be helped to cross borders out of the country to continue their studies if they want.(SPLA Oct/97)

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N.D.A. WELCOMES 20 ESCAPING STUDENTS:The opposition NDA Radio in Eritrea announced that it had received more than 20 students who had escaped from military service training camps in Eastern Sudan.It welcomed the students and said they would be trained to topple the NIF regime.(Voice of the NDA Oct/97)

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HUMAN RIGHTS

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TEACHER TORTURED TO DEATH:Teacher Amin Badawi Mustafa, aged 40, was detained on 4 October 1997 by the security forces, reports OMCT (World Organisation against Torture), citing the Arab Lawyers' Union.His whereabouts remained unknown until 15 October, when his younger brother was called to identify his body and `discovered that [he] died as a result of severe torture.'(OMCT 24/Oct/97)

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NAIROBI PEACE TALKS

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SINCERITY PLEDGE:Foreign minister of state Mustafa Osman Ismail, in the official daily al-Anbaa, said his government would participate in the IGAD talks scheduled for 28 October "with all the sincerity required for achieving peace," though he believed that they would probably not be conclusive and that more rounds would be needed.(al-Anbaa 23/Oct/97)

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LOWERING EXPECTATIONS: In al-Wan on 24 October, Sudan's ambassador to Nigeria, Awad Muhammad al-Hassan, questions the neutrality of the countries mediating the IGAD peace talks, according to DPA.

The government also has no confidence in some of the western countries that want to contribute to the success of the IGAD peace initiative. These countries, known as the friends of IGAD, include the United States, Britain, Germany, Holland and some Scandinavian countries.

Al-Wan newspaper said that the rebel side would be led by the SPLA second in command, Salva Kiir Mayardit.It implicitly questioned the capabilities of Mayardit to handle negotiations by referring to his education, which it said was cut short before reaching secondary level during the first Sudanese civil war in the 1960s.

An unnamed official source argued that it was possible that Mayardit might be banished by Garang if he became convinced of the government's seriousness about attaining peace and gave his blessing to it.

Every time there was a peace meeting with the government there would be a split in Garang's movement, he said, giving as an example the dismissal of William Nyuon, who led the SPLA delegation to the 1994 Abuja peace talks.

Riek Machar revealed that there had been secret meetings between the government and members of Garang's SPLA to woo them over the government side. (al-Wan / DPA 24/Oct/97)

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NORTHERN OPPONENTS LOBBY FOR INCLUSION:Four major Sudanese parties banned under the present regime - the Umma, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Sudan Communist Party (SCP) and the Union of Sudan African Parties (USAP) - have sent a delegation headed by Omar Nur al-Daim to urge IGAD to allow them to participate in the peace talks between the National Islamic Front government and the SPLA.

The state-owned New Horizon reported that Eritrean Minister of Interior Said Abdullah and Defence Minister Butros Solomon had visited Ethiopia and Uganda to push for the involvement of the Sudanese opposition parties' umbrella group, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the talks. The newspaper also claimed that Eritrea was planning to provide arms to the NDA.

Arok Thon Arok, an ex-SPLA founder member who joined the Khartoum government in April 1997, ruled out any participation by northern parties in the talks."The Southern Sudanese have a cause to fight the central government and they want to guarantee their future relations with the North," he told journalists in Nairobi.

According to Inter Press Service, `he said northern politicians should join the government in any talks with the Southerners "because they are the same birds with different wings."

`Arok ... charged that "the northern parties are the cause of the conflict in the south." He said the Northerners should stop confusing the power struggle among themselves with the problems of the south.(IPS 24/Oct/97)

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DELEGATION NAMED:The Sudan government has sent a delegation of more than a dozen officials - including negotiators headed by the foreign minister and a consultative team - to Nairobi. They include: Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, foreign minister since February 1995, who accompanied Lt-Gen al-Bashir to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's mediation efforts. (`A hard-line ideologue, Taha represents the least flexible elements of Sudan's complex ruling coalition,' according to the BBC). Ali Al-Haj Muhammad, Federal Rule Chamber Minister, negotiator for the NIF government since 1990 in Addis Ababa, Abuja, Frankfurt and Entebbe. Riak Machar, head of the Coordinating Council of Southern Sudan States, on the consultative team. Muhammad al-Amin Khalifa, Secretary-general of the High Council for Peace and speaker in the parliament from 1992 to 1996. Ahmad Ibrahim al-Tahir presidential legal adviser. Qutbi Mahdi, State Presidency Minister. Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, head of splinter group SPLA/Bahr al-Ghazal. (Reuter 28/Oct/97, BBC 4/Nov/97))

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TALKS DELAYED:The IGAD talks, scheduled to open on 28 October, were delayed because Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, the chair of the discussions, was attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Edinburgh.(AFP 28/Oct/97)

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U.S PROMISES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR I.G.A.D:Bill Richardson, US ambassador to the UN, told Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi on 28 October that his government would provide US$130,000 to support the IGAD peace talks' "mammoth task". (KBC/DPA 28/Oct/97)

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ADDITIONAL MOTIVES:At the IGAD talks, `conducted in almost total secrecy since they began last week,' says the BBC, `the government has a second motive. It would be a huge success if the government could split the SPLA away from the [NDA] northern leadership.It would also mean the end of the pro-democracy challenge ... for the foreseeable future.

`The rebel delegation came to Nairobi buoyed up by months of success in the field. But the SPLA, too, can have no expectations of actual victory.' (BBC 4/Nov/97)

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A STUMBLING BLOCK:`In the run-up to the referendum - assuming the south can be sufficiently stabilised - the [southern] region will be [Riek] Machar's responsibility. So one minor stumbling-block in Nairobi will be whether Garang can stomach having his renegade lieutenant as proxy leader of the south.' (BBC 4/Nov/97)

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TALKS COULD CONTINUE INDEFINITELY: Exploratory talks between representatives of Sudan's military junta and the SPLA resumed on 3 November. SPLA sources said the talks could continue indefinitely unless there were dramatic developments, adding that there had been no breakthroughs so far.

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S.P.L.A. SETS OUT TERMS:Talks were adjourned for 36 hours when a three-page document was presented by the SPLA/M, entitled Peace Agenda of the New Sudan, which set a two-year limit for a referendum on self-determination for the south.In that time, "Sudan shall be governed as a confederal union of two states, namely, the Southern State and the Northern State," said the document.

The SPLM document says south Sudan should have a choice of "statehood, i.e. becoming a separate and sovereign independent state or ... remaining part of a single united Sudan on the basis of the political and military arrangements of the interim period."

During the two-year interim "the two component states of the confederation shall be linked by a central authority to be known as the supreme authority of the confederation.

"In terms of institutions, powers, functions and procedures, the supreme authority shall be structured in accordance with provisions of the SPLM legal framework for the peaceful resolution of the Sudanese conflict."

"We presented our position paper while they came empty-handed. They said they wanted... to reply and so the meeting was adjourned," an SPLA official said.(SPLA/Reuter 5/Nov/97)

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AMERICAN SANCTIONS

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CLINTON IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON SUDAN:`US President Bill Clinton signed an executive order on 4 November under the International Emergency Powers Act that calls for all Sudanese assets in the United States to be blocked and imposes a ban on bank loans and all US trade with the country.Sudan has cut banking links with US banking establishments in reprisal,' reports Reuter.

In Washington on 4 November, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the sanctions had been imposed because of Khartoum's "continued sponsorship of international terror, its effort to destabilise neighbouring countries and its abysmal record on human rights." (IPS 5/Nov/97, Reuter 6/Nov/97)

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"DOWN, DOWN USA":`"May the White House be hit by an earthquake!" hundreds of Sudanese students chanted in Khartoum's Friendship Hall when an international conference of students from 50 countries turned into a forum for Sudan to defend its human rights record after new US sanctions,' reports Reuter.

`"Down, down USA!" ... Sudanese students threaded through the aisles... pumping their fists in the air...Americans from Muslim student unions sat quietly in their seats. "It was powerful," one said.'(Reuter 5/Nov/97)

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POOR WILL SUFFER, SAYS ARAB LEAGUE:The Arab League said on 6 November that the Sudanese people and not their government would be the victims of new US sanctions.(Reuter 6/Nov/97)

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DOLLAR-FREE INTERNATIONAL TRADING?Bank of Sudan governor Abdallah Hassan Ahmad put Sudan's assets in the US at three to four million dollars."There are no big Sudanese government assets in the United States," he told SUNA. Such assets belong either to government banks, Sudan Airways or transfers through American banks.He added that future international transfers through American banks would be averted by transacting with other international banks "in foreign currencies other than the US dollar."(SUNA/AFP 6/Nov/97)

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TRADE MINISTRY MINIMISES PROBLEM:Sudan's ministry of external trade said Sudanese-US trade amounted to only five per cent of Sudan's total exchanges. "Sudan's imports from the US are too small to be mentioned...Sudan's exports have reached during the last five years an annual average of US$60 million, mostly gum arabic for which the ministry has, after the embargo, laid down a plan for exportation to other countries."

It called on all Sudanese exporters and importers to and from the US to report to the ministry in 48 hours all information they have on financial assets, US commodity stocks, contracts for American shipments now heading for Sudan "and any other information that may help in laying down a policy for counteracting the sanctions and for safeguarding the rights of the Sudan and the Sudanese." (SUNA/AFP 6/Nov/97)

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"MILKING A DEAD COW":There is doubt as to the practical effect of the embargo: US exports to Sudan totalled a mere $50 million in 1996, while imports from the African nation amounted to just $20 million.

"Clinton is milking a dead cow," said a Sudanese official. "Sudan will not be affected by the US embargo... we have our markets with friends in Asia, the Arab world and in Europe. Why should we bother about the US trade now?"

Dr Mustafa Osman Ismail, minister of state for External Relations, said Sudan could do without U.S goods and was "capable of facing the challenge through the power of the almighty Allah".In the long run, the United States would be the loser since the countries isolated by Washington would eventually form a bloc and become a world power. (IPS 5/Nov/97)

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SUPPORT ON THE STREETS FOR EMBARGO: `Some people on the street [in Khartoum] said they welcomed the US decision as a step towards weakening the National Islamic Front-led government.A taxi driver told IPS that he was relieved when he heard of the sanctions on a foreign radio station. "The embargo is a political and moral support to Sudanese pro-democracy campaigns," he said. "We have suffered and we are prepared to suffer more and more, but the most important thing is that this government must go."' (IPS 5/Nov/97)

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GUM ARABIC - THE STICKING POINT?`The Sudanese government has no friends on Capitol Hill and no lobbying clout. But that was before the gum arabic lobby woke up,' says the Washington Post. `Minute Maid Orange Soda, Ultra SlimFast diet drinks, Coricidin, M&Ms and scores of other everyday products, it seems, are made with gum arabic, a derivative of the acacia tree... [Sudan] is the source of 70% to 90% of the world's supply.Without gum arabic, fruit particles in fruit drinks would sink to the bottom of the can ...Many candies, printing inks, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics would not be the same.

`[L]ast month, 12 major trade associations representing gum arabic users wrote to House International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.) to alert him to what they portrayed as the dire consequences of a gum arabic cutoff. A ban "would result immediately in a black market, raise the costs to American companies and consumers while generating greater opportunities for profiteering by local producers and others... Smugglers will supply through porous borders, and since there is no discernible difference between gum arabic sourced in Sudan and Chad, dealers in third countries will merely repackage it for sale in the US at higher costs to American consumers."

`[S]ounding that alarm were the National Food Processors Association; the Grocery Manufacturers of America; the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association; the Newspaper Association of America, which represents 95% of all newspapers, including The Washington Post; and the National Soft Drink Association, which includes such giants as the Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc.

`[A] newspaper article that mentioned the impending trade ban was spotted by officials at Importer Service Corp. of Jersey City, N.J., a small company that imports gum arabic from Sudan for resale to users throughout the country. The company alerted clients, who spread the word... "to identify everybody that could be impacted by that legislation," said Drew Davis, leading the lobbying effort for soft drink producers. "We discovered all the things it was used for and let the affected industries know ... that this provision, however well-intended, could have impact throughout the American economy."

`That impact cannot be measured in dollars.Sudan produces about 26,000 metric tons of gum arabic a year, of which 4,000 to 5,000 tons are exported to the United States. The value of that commerce amounted to about $9 million in 1996. [But] there is no artificial substitute on the market. "A little of this stuff goes a long way," Davis observed.

`Those opposing the trade ban face the task of defeating it twice... in unrelated pieces of legislation. One [is] in anti-terrorism legislation sponsored by Reps. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) Another [is] in a measure aimed at punishing religious persecution, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.).

`Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), in whose district Importer Service Corp. has its office ... will offer an amendment that would exempt from the Sudan trade ban any product for which Sudan is the source of 50% or more of the US supply. Gum arabic is the only product in that category...'(Washington Post 16/Oct/97)

end of SU 8.22 part 1 of 2 see next e-mail file for part 2

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SUDAN UPDATE can accept no responsibility for the truth or accuracy of the original reports reviewed herein nor any claim for defamation or infringement of copyright arising out of their publication.Single quote marks `...' enclose source texts; double quotes "..." indicate direct speech.Information added for clarity by the editors is signalled by square parentheses [SU].

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FREQUENT SOURCES: AC = Africa Confidential / AI = Amnesty International / DPA = Deutsche Presse-Agentur / ION = Indian Ocean Newsletter / MEI = Middle East International / MENA = Middle East News Agency (Egypt) / RSR= Republic of Sudan Radio / SEB = Sudan News (Sudan Embassy Bulletin) /SUNA = Sudan News Agency / SWB = Summary of World Broadcasts (BBCMonitoring Service)

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Sudan Update, PO Box 10, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire HX7 6UX England Tel/Fax: +44-1422-845827E-mail: sudanupdate@gn.apc.orgISSN 1352-0393

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Peter Verney(sudanupdate@gn.apc.org)

start of SU 8.22 part 2 of 2

CONTENTS: Part 2

Oil business / Nairobi peace talks / Pilgrims put off / Teacher killed

Journalists warned / Mesquite defended / Quiz culprit /++

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OIL

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OIL SANCTIONS MAY HURT IN FUTURE:The American ban on investments in Sudan `won't have an immediate impact on US oil companies, but the new policy does create a loss of future opportunity for American oil interests, analysts told Reuter on 4 November.

`No US oil companies currently do business in Sudan...However, that doesn't mean US oil companies want to write the country off altogether, according to John Lichtblau, chairman of the New York-based Petroleum Industry Research Foundation.

`"It's definitely the sort of thing that would decrease the ability of American companies to compete overseas," he said. "It's ridiculous."

`Sudan is not a big oil producer, as the country's current plan is to pump about 150,000 barrels of oil per day by 1999. Still, its oil reserves are believed to be substantial, and are ripe for exploration.

`The sanctions against Sudan are also opposed by USA-Engage, a coalition of over 650 businesses, agricultural groups and trade associations that don't believe economic sanctions generally work.

`"The use of unilateral trade sanctions against Sudan will be counterproductive to US efforts to influence that nation, and will only end up hurting American interests," said Frank Kittredge, the group's vice chairman and president of the National Foreign Trade Council.'(Reuter 4/Nov/97)

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RED SEA OIL PIPELINE DEAL:On 29 October the international consortium developing oilfields in Sudan signed contracts worth about $300 million for a new oil pipeline. One contract was with the German company Mannesmann Hendel and the other with the China Petroleum Technology Corporation.Hassan Muhammad Ali, undersecretary at the Ministry of Energy and Mining, said they would provide equipment for a new pipeline 1,600km long and 70mm diameter, to transport 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from the Heglig and Unity fields to the Red Sea starting in mid-1999.

Current production from the Heglig field was only about 10,000 bpd, and gathering centres, refineries, and the infrastructure for transportation of the oil were currently insufficient for higher production."The field can produce much more," said Ali.Reserves are estimated at 600 million barrels.

Bids for construction of the pipeline were being assessed: the winner would be announced in December.Not all the throughput of at least 150,000 bpd would be exported, Ali said. Some would be refined or used locally. (Reuter 29/Oct/97)

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"REGRET" OVER OCCIDENTAL WITHDRAWAL:Energy and Mining Minister Awad Ahmed al-Jaz told Reuter he regretted the withdrawal of the US Occidental Petroleum Corp early this year from a project which other foreign companies are now developing.

Lt-Gen al-Bashir said on 1 November that in 1998 planners will focus on oil projects.Output is targeted to reach more than 150,000 barrels per day in two years from less than 20,000 bpd now. Sudan is also building two more refineries for a total of five.

Sudan needs massive foreign infrastructure and exploration investment. "The great hope was ... Occidental [which had a project to develop the Heglig and Unity fields]," said an oil industry source on 4 November.

"They (Occidental) like it here. They feel Khartoum is safer than Los Angeles," Jaz said.Khartoum had reached the final stage of negotiations with Occidental when it was called off."They lost their chance. Political problems got in the way," said al-Jaz.Asked what the chances were of American companies doing business in Sudan again, al-Jaz said: "We said we don't have any objection to any American company...Our country is open for anybody who wants to invest."

Investors in the Sudan Project Consortium are: Arakis subsidiary State Petroleum Corporation (with a 25% holding), China National Petroleum Company (40%), Malaysia's Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd (30%) and the Sudan government's Sudapet Limited (5%). Last week the group last week signed a pipeline construction deal as part of its $1 billion project.

"We have Americans working in these companies and some American companies applied [to build the pipeline]," al-Jaz said.

Sudan has encountered political minefields attracting American companies, whose shoes have been filled in Africa's largest country by other foreign partners.

In June, Austria's OMV AG joined Canada's International Petroleum Corp and Petronas to explore Block 5 in a southern state.Oil sources said they have committed so far about $900 million.In July, Jaz was in Iraq to develop an oil accord on exploration, refineries and training of Sudanese in Iraq.

France's Total and the US Marathon Oil were partners in an oil concession in the southeast which they have not developed recently because it is mined. "The war is still a deterrent [as are] security problems..." said another industry source.(Reuter 4/Nov/97)

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`EXCELLENT' RESULTS FROM HEGLIG WELL:Arakis announced `excellent' test results from its El Bakh discovery well in the Heglig Development Area on 4 November.The well reached a target depth of 2121m on 22 September 1997.The results promise `in excess of 15,000 barrels of oil per day of 36 degree API crude oil.' The rigs are currently drilling at two new exploration locations. (LA Times / Business Wire 4/Nov/97)

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INVESTIGATION INTO ARAKIS OFFICIALS:`The share dealings of Lutfur Khan and several other Arakis officials are being investigated by British Columbia securities regulators,' reports the Vancouver Sun.`Lutfur Kahn was due to stand for re-election at Arakis' annual meeting in Calgary.

`Also named in the Supreme Court commission investigation order are Vancouver pathologist Dr Asif Sayed and a private US company called Westrim Enterprises Inc, whose sole director and officer is Arman Aziz of Victoria. Both are directors of Arakis and standing for re-election.

`Arakis shares, formerly listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange, rose to $27 in July 1995 after then-chair Terry Alexander announced the company had arranged $750 million US to finance its oil project in the Sudan.The lofty share price afforded early investors, including several offshore companies whose beneficial owners are unknown, with the opportunity to make huge trading profits.The financing eventually collapsed and the stock price plunged, prompting the securities commission to commence an investigation into the company's affairs.

`Arakis has since recruited two partners - China National Petroleum and Petrona Carigali Overseas of Malaysia - who it says will provide $525 million US to develop the oil concession and build a 1,500-kilometre pipeline to the Red Sea.But the company's share price continues to languish at relatively low levels.'

The commission has been investigating Arakis' May 1994 purchase of State Petroleum Corporation, through which it acquired the oil concessions for six million shares.Khan was `president of State and, by all accounts, its prime mover.'But `the shares were distributed to six different parties: Larnite (PVT) Ltd of Pakistan, Nadeem Khan of Pakistan, Anthem International Ltd of the Channel Islands, Westrim Enterprises Inc. of Ferndale, Washington, Azim Rahman (PVT) Ltd. of Anaheim, California, and Dr Asif Sayed of Vancouver.Because no single shareholder ended up with more than 10% of Arakis' outstanding shares, they did not have to file insider trading reports...'

Larnite was, in fact, owned by Khan; Nadeem Khan was his brother; and Khan's long-time associate, Arman Aziz, acted as Westrim's sole officer and director even though he knew little about the company.

`On March 8, 1996, commission chair Doug Hyndman issued an investigation order naming Arakis, Alexander, Khan and all six of State's shareholders.' Commission staff had received information suggesting that "certain of the parties who were insiders of Arakis failed to file insider reports disclosing their trading activity."

"Certain of the parties caused Arakis to issue and disseminate news releases to the public which contained material misrepresentations" and "caused Arakis to issue shares for little or no consideration."

`Investigators subsequently learned that Vancouver lawyer Gary Atkinson represented State Petroleum, and asked him [about] his knowledge of State's shareholders and their trading in Arakis shares...'(Vancouver Sun / Calgary Herald 4/Nov/97)

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ARAKIS CHIEF RESIGNS:Arakis Energy Corporation announced on 5 November that Lutfur Rahman Khan has decided to resign as Chief Executive Officer, as soon as replacements are found.He will continue as Chairman of the Board of Directors.(Business Wire 5/Nov/97)

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WATER

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FLOODS BRING DESTRUCTION TO PORT SUDAN:Heavy rains since 23 October have left at least five people dead and hundreds of houses destroyed around Port Sudan.Reported rainfall levels, at 120mm, were the highest for nearly 50 years.Floods washed away bridges linking Port Sudan and Tokar towns in the coastal area to the rest of the country. A state of emergency has been declared. (IPS 3/Nov/97)

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DRINKING WATER SCARCE AND COSTLY:It has become familiar to see children and women carrying containers in search of water in Khartoum, and young people stay awake for the whole night in order to fill them.Meanwhile, the Water Authority has issued a new tariff for water, increasing prices by between 40% and 325%.The commercial and industrial category has been increased by 60%, reports al-Khartoum newspaper.(al-Khartoum 18/Oct/97)

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ELECTRICITY

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ELECTRIC POWER FOR PRIVATISATION:The government intends to privatise electric power generation while maintaining state control over transmission and distribution, the head of the national electricity corporation (NEC) said on 3 November.

"The corporation is presently considering new laws and arrangements to encourage investors into the generation and production of electricity," Yassin Haj Abdin told AFP.

The NEC has concluded a memorandum of understanding with a Malaysian firm which would act as an individual power producer.

Sudan's electricity generating capacity, currently 600 megawatts, is equally divided between hydro and thermal plants. Abdin attributed the present power shortage to the growth of demand and repairs to two of the seven turbines at the Roseires dam.

Abdin claimed that public utilities currently owed some 12 billion Sudanese pounds (about US$7.5 million) to the corporation in electricity bills, and warned they would be cut off if they did not pay.(AFP 3/Nov/97)

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AID

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DISPLACED FROM JUBA:Over 13,500 displaced people have moved to Katigiri, Tulyang, Lugware and Wonduruba.A UNICEF officer visited Lugware and Wonduruba on 8-10 October and reported that 200 of 500 children assessed showed signs of moderate malnutrition.An additional 20 children were reported to be severely malnourished.(OLS 5/Nov/97)

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JUBA CHILDREN TOO HUNGRY FOR SCHOOL:About half of the pupils in Juba are too feeble to go to school because of food shortages, New Horizon reported in Khartoum.According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the newspaper said the World Food Programme (WFP), the biggest food supplier in the town, has completely run out of stocks.Drought has also destroyed crops in small fields cultivated by town inhabitants including many displaced people.

A community worker in Juba, Margaret Kamoyangi, said that for many people death by starvation was imminent.Juba headmaster Osman Laku told the paper that since the WFP had stopped its food assistance to schools, attendance had been dropping fast.A French relief agency has opened a temporary centre near Juba hospital for seriously malnourished children.

Last month local authorities in Juba sent an urgent message to the central government in Khartoum seeking food assistance. The arrival in Juba of newly displaced people and Congolese refugees from western Equatoria has added to the problem, says New Horizon.

"People say there is no point dying in Juba when one can survive on wild fruits or edible green leaves in the countryside," an aid worker told IPS.

More than 10,000 people, mostly former government employees, have fled to Wonduruba village some 130km southwest of Juba, since May. A non-governmental organization, the Sudan Service International (SSI), is running a relief project there.

A convoy of barges loaded with 2,700 tons of food would arrive in Juba in mid-November, and some 374,000 hungry people along the Nile River would also benefit from the supplies, a WFP representative said in Geneva.(IPS 15/Oct/97, New Horizon / DPA /Oct/97)

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FARMERS TRAINED IN AKOC: 118 farmers held a graduation ceremony after a one month ox-plough training in Akoc, Twic County, Bahr al-Ghazal, by Sudan Production Aid (SUPRAID). The project has been a success, given initial reluctance due to the cultural value placed on cattle.The farmers sang songs of praise and encouraged the use of bulls in farming. (OLS 15/Oct/97)

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RELIGION

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ARCHBISHOP DEPLORES DEMOLITION OF CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS:"The attitude of the Government of Sudan towards the church, particularly the Catholic Church, is negative, to say the least," the Archbishop of Khartoum, Gabriel Zubeir Wako, said in a paper presented at the Sudanese Catholic Bishops' Conference in Rome.

All the Sudanese Catholic bishops, except Rudolph Deng Majak of Wau, made the month-long visit to the Vatican commencing on 24 August.Such meetings are held every five years.

Archbishop Wako spoke of the systematic demolition of Christian schools and multi-purpose centres. "The reasons given so far to justify the demolition are not convincing. The policy behind them does no justice to the government's oft repeated declaration that the Sudan respects and recognises every religion."

On September 16-18 the Sudanese bishops were received individually by Pope John Paul II, who reassured them of continued support.(Sudan Catholic Information Office, Nairobi 15/Oct/97)

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FOREIGN

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MUBARAK AND AL-BAZ MEET AL-ZUBEIR:Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and his political adviser Usama al-Baz met Sudan's first vice president, al-Zubeir Muhammad Saleh, on 29 October. They discussed ways to improve bilateral relations.(DPA/MENA 29/Oct/97)

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MAHDI REFUSES TO MEET TAHA OR BASHIR:Dr Sadiq Bolad, head of the Umma Party office in Asmara, has dismissed suggestions in Khartoum that a meeting was possible between Sadiq al-Mahdi and Foreign Minister Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha during the gathering for the Arab League ministerial council in Cairo.He added that al-Mahdi refused to meet Lt-Gen al-Bashir.(Al-Khartoum 17/Oct/97).

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LETTER TO SAUDI KING:The King of Saudi Arabia Fahd bin Abdel Aziz received a letter from President al-Bashir on 26 October delivered by Sudan's Minister for Presidential Affairs Abd al-Rahim Hussain.Kuwait News Agency said that the letter tackled bilateral relations, with emphasis on the hostilities in south Sudan. (KNA 26/Oct/97)

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BASHIR VISITS QATARI EMIR: Lt-Gen al-Bashir arrived in Doha on 18 October to discuss strengthening bilateral ties with Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and wish him well after his kidney surgery, the Qatari news agency QNA said. Qatar is hosting the November 16-18 regional economic conference. (QNA/AFP 18/Oct/97)

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SUDANESE P.O.WS IN UGANDA DEMAND REPATRIATION:Over 100 Sudanese prisoners of war, captured in April when the Ugandan army pursued Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels to their base in southern Sudan, staged a two-day protest at a lack of food and demanded to be repatriated, IPS reported on 28 October.

At the military police barracks of Makindye near Kampala, commandant Maj David Wakana told The Crusader newspaper that the prisoners were also demanding a preacher to lead them in prayers.(The Crusader / IPS 28/Oct/97)

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SCHOOLGIRLS STILL HELD: Uganda wants Khartoum to aid the return of dozens of abducted schoolchildren held by LRA rebels in southern Sudan.But Lt-Gen al-Bashir insisted the girls were being held inside Uganda and not Sudan, the Monitor newspaper reported in Kampala on 16 October."Kony's movement said they are ready to hand them back.All they want in return is a temporary ceasefire," Bashir said.

In October 1996, LRA rebels abducted 143 students from St Mary's College, Aboke.It later released 109, claiming the rest were needed by Kony.21 girls are still held; others have escaped. (Monitor / PANA 16/Oct/97)

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KONY FLEES TO SUDAN:Joseph Kony, head of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army, has fled to his base in southern Sudan, Ugandan Presidential spokesman Maj-Gen Salim Saleh said in Gulu. The Ugandan army foiled Kony's attempt to capture a piece of land to receive supplies from the Sudanese air force, and foment insurgency, he said.(Xinhua 20/Oct/97)

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UGANDA ARRESTS ISLAMISTS: Uganda has arrested the director of the Islamic Teaching Organization in Kampala, Abd al Rahman Abdalla, and the heads of 3 similar bodies, Abd al-Rahman Nur al-Din, Abdallah Idris and Salah al-Dor.The Khartoum-based ITO is asking international and UN organizations to secure their release. (Arab News 17/Oct/97)

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PILGRIMS FRIGHTENED BY SAUDI ACTION:Some Sudanese who were granted visas to go to Saudi Arabia for the "omra" pilgrimage have asked the Sudan Pilgrimage Authority to cancel them in fear of the Saudi drive against illegal immigrants, said the Khartoum daily al-Shari al-Siyasi on 27 October.

Col Ahmad Imam al-Tuhami said less than 5,000 out of a projected 16,000 Sudanese had so far gone on the pilgrimage.The Pilgrimage Authority was studying 70 applications for the cancellation of visas to Saudi Arabia and more were being received.

He expected the Ramadan pilgrimage [in January] to be more successful because by then measures would have been taken to distinguish pilgrims from illegal immigrant workers.(DPA 27/Oct/97)

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REPATRIATING FROM ETHIOPIA AND CENTRAL AFRICA:Sudan aims to repatriate 21,000 Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia and 28,000 more from Central African Republic (CAR) with help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.Al-Wan newspaper said the refugees in Ethiopia's Gambela region were Nuer and Anuak people from Upper Nile; those in CAR were mainly Zande from Equatoria. It puts the total of Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries at 221,000. (Al-Wan/AFP 17/Oct/97)

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POLITICS

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SOUTHERNER JOINS CONSTITUTIONAL PANEL: Lt-Gen al-Bashir has appointed John Wol, a Christian from Bahr al-Ghazal, as the alternative chairman of the panel to draft a new constitution for the country, Sudan Television said on 23 October.

The commission, headed by ex-chief justice Khalafallah al-Rashid, is to present its proposals by December 30. The president has promised a referendum on the draft document.

Al-Rai al-Akher newspaper said on 24 October that all 26 governors in Sudan as well as its full federal and state ministers were members of the drafting committee by virtue of their posts.Sudan TV also named some 60 members of a technical committee to be chaired by former deputy chief justice Dafallah al-Radi. (Reuter 24/Oct/97)

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APPOINTEES SNUB CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE: `Several citizens appointed by the Khartoum government to write the country's constitution have refused the task, complaining that they were not consulted beforehand,' reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur, citing the daily al-Sharie al-Siyasi.

Justice Abd al-Majid Imam would not accept to work on the committee. He said writing a constitution should not be restricted to a handful of citizens but should be the work of all the political parties and other forces in the country.

The committee has about 400 members hand-picked by the government, which argues that all the different sections of Sudanese society are represented. The opposition says that the views of non-government members on the committee will not be respected.(al-Sharie al-Siyasi / DPA 1/Nov/97)

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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MANUTE BOL?`Khartoum is still trying to play the old game of divide-and-rule by recruiting Southerners like Lam Akol and Riak Machar to their side,' comments Uganda's New Vision. `But their allegiance has become almost irrelevant since they get paid by Khartoum to switch sides but eventually drift back to their roots in the South.They have become little more than political prostitutes.

`It would be harsh to say the same of poor Manute Bol, the basketball player who has just been made Minister of Sports in the Sudan after a year spent drifting penniless around the bars of Kampala.

`Let us just say that he has been duped. He has been offered cash and a job by the Sudan government who hope that Manute Bol's familiar face will gain them some favourable airtime on American television.Eventually Manute Bol will also come back to the SPLA fold once he realises the duplicity of the Khartoum regime.'(New Vision, Kampala 21/Oct/97)

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ENVIRONMENT

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DESERT TREE IS A VICTIM OF ITS OWN SUCCESS: The Bashir government has decided to pass a law to eradicate the mesquite tree (Prosopis juliflora), reports Albino Okeny for ANS on 25 October. The species is drought resistant and fast growing, and serves as a wind-break and as fodder for animals, but its rapid spread when uncontrolled - reportedly 840 hectares a year around Kassala - is a problem.

`The mesquite-phobia is so strong ... that last year, the Khartoum government prevented the Sudanese Antiquity Board from planting the tree as a wind-break to save historical monuments such as the ancient pyramids.'

Mesquite was introduced from Egypt and South Africa in 1917 by British government botanist R. Ramsey, says a report by three Sudanese forestry experts. (Other Sudanese researchers say the tree found its way from Chile.) `The tree spread from Khartoum to al-Obeid and al-Fasher, and to Kassala, Aroma and Port Sudan.'

Mesquite can survive on 50mm of rain a year, and its thorns protect it from goats. Its ripe pods, harvestable after a year, are `highly nutritious and relished by goats and children alike,' with 27% glucose and 17% protein.

Mesquite shelters agricultural crops from wind and sand: `the Karima basin in Northern Sudan witnessed a 50% wind velocity reduction.Water evaporation was also reduced by 30% in 1980. Cotton production in Zeidab recorded a 117% increase per hectare.'

But the drought of the late 1960s and early 1970s `forced farmers to abandon their farms, leaving the only drought resistant tree to spread in the agricultural lands.'

Mesquite, aggressively competitive, does not allow indigenous vegetation to survive around it.`Several negligent farmers have lost their farm lands to mesquite in such places as Kassala, Tokar, Gash Delta and Girba in the east.'

Farm managers complain to the forestry department that mesquite `is expensive to clear and destroys agricultural crops. They say the plant consumes so much underground water that it lowers the water table. This accusation is one of the most serious...' In western Sudan it reportedly threatens the Beshiri oasis.

`But the Executive Director of the Sudan Environment Conservation Society (SECS), Dr Mutasim Beshir Nimir, argues that whereas mesquite consumes underground water, its roots also help to make the soil porous enough for the rain water to permeate."Without mesquite, rainwater will remain on the surface and eventually get lost by evaporation."

`The farm managers also complain that mesquite thorns are harmful to farm workers and damage farm machinery tyres.Animal herders also claim that the plant's pods bring about some animal diseases, but so far this has not been medically proved.Its thickets "provide sanctuary for criminals".

`Dr Nimir saw the new legislation as "over-reaction".`"Mesquite got out of hand due to mismanagement by the farmers," said Dr Nimir. A forestry consultant, Kamal Hassan Badi, noted that the persons who had lost their farmlands to the mesquite in Eastern Sudan were originally nomads with little interest in agriculture. Badi, like the SECS members, prefers mesquite control to its eradication.'

Consultants at the National Forestry Corporation advise farmers to weed out seedlings before they send out deep roots.They can harvest the ripe pods as animal fodder, but goats fed on mesquite pods should be confined to prevent the spread of mesquite through animal droppings. The plant's seeds pass through the alimentary canal undigested but ready to germinate.Some farmers now crush the mesquite pods.

`"To wipe out mesquite the government will need vast financial resources which it cannot raise," Dr Nimir remarked.'(Africa News Service 25/Oct/97)

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MEDIA

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UNLICENSED JOURNALISTS TOLD TO STOP WORK:Newspapers have been ordered to bar from work journalists who are not licensed with the state-run press council. Osman Abu-Zeid, Secretary-general of the National Council for Press and Publication, said he had instructed unlicensed journalists to "put their situation in order." (SUNA / Reuter 3/Nov/97)

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IN A QUANDARY OVER QUIZZES:The recent fatwa [SU Vol.8 No.21] banning popular quizzes extends to `a competition for the best poems about war,' says InterPress Service.Minister of Justice and Attorney General Abd al-Basit Sabdrat said the media only used the competitions to boost their circulation. He ordered all money and other prizes to be handed over to his ministry. But the Minister of Justice himself had previously participated in the quizzes: Sabdrat was the winner of a quiz program on the history of Sudan.

IPS reports, `The state-owned Council for Press and Publications rejected the edict, which it said was a political, rather than religious, decision. `The General Command of the army, with the Ministry of Culture and Information, had a competition for the best poems to praise the bravery of government troops.Winners had been promised about one million Sudanese pounds ($700)...'(IPS 24/Oct/97)

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AWARD FOR JOURNALIST:The Chief of the OAU's Press and Information division, Ibrahim Dagash, has been awarded the "Gold Medal for Science and Arts" at the "Fourth Cultural Festival" in Khartoum.Five other Sudanese also gained the award, which carries a cash prize of three million Sudanese pounds (US$2,000).

Dagash, Director General of the Pan African News Agency after 1985, and a board member of the now-privatized agency, has a PhD in developmental information from Britain.(Africa News Service / PANA 3/Nov/97)

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Sudan Update, PO Box 10, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire HX7 6UX England Tel/Fax: +44-1422-845827E-mail: sudanupdate@gn.apc.orgISSN 1352-0393

_______________________________________________________________Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 16:39:32 GMT Message-Id: <199801061639.QAA14135@gn3.gn.apc.org> From: sudanupdate@gn.apc.org (Peter Verney) Subject: Sudan Update Vol.8 No.22 part 1 of 2

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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