I. Introduction

Key Points

• Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N) continues in parts of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, displacing more civilians.

• The estimated number of Sudanese refugees in South Sudan and Ethiopia reaches some 140,000 people.

• An airstrike by the SAF in South Sudan is reported to have hit a transit site where Sudanese refugees were sheltering, injuring one boy.

Global food prices declined 8% between September and December 2011. Wheat, maize, and rice prices declined due to improved supply conditions, and among concerns regarding the global economy. However, global prices still remain high, with the 2011 annual food price index exceeding the 2010 annual index by 24 percent.

January 31, 2012 (BOR) – Mary Ayen ran away with her two sisters and a brother from a village due to the recent insecurity in Jonglei state and settled in Bor town in December but now face the dilemma of where to get education when primary schools open in two week times.

Ayen, 17, said her parents remained in their village 20 kilometres east of Bor town, the capital of Jonglei state, hoping to reunite with them if government provides adequate protection to the area.

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Zalingei camps have provided a list of demands to give to the governor of the newly formed Central Darfur state, Yusef Tibbin.

The camp coordinator for all Zalingei camps, speaking from Hamidiya camp laid out the demands to Radio Dabanga; firstly, camp residents expect the provision of real security to the camps and a disarmament of all miltias in the area.

1 February 2012 - UNAMID peacekeepers recovered yesterday five trucks belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP) which were forcibly seized by unknown people. The convoy was captured on 30 January 2012 between Saraf Umra and Kabkabiya in North Darfur.

The troops, from the Mission’s Rwandese battalions 26 from Nertiti and 28 from Kabkabiya, took back the vehicles, after a two-day search and rescue operation, in the area of Guldo in East Jebel Marra. The drivers of the trucks were found unharmed. The perpetrators fled upon the arrival of the peacekeepers.

KHARTOUM — Sudanese rebels holding 29 Chinese workers have asked Beijing to use its influence on Khartoum to help badly-needed aid reach the country's war zone, a spokesman for the insurgents said on Wednesday.

Malik Agar, chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), met a Chinese diplomat on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the spokesman told AFP.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) monitors trends in staple food prices in countries vulnerable to food insecurity. The Price Watch provides an update on trends in selected urban centers. Prices for key markets and commodities monitored are made available in the Price Watch Annex.

• In West Africa, prices remain higher than last year but markets appear to operate normally in most cases by transferring grain supplies between surplus markets in the Guinean zone and deficit markets in the Sahel.

“Sudan continues to be a university for learning, in terms of humanitarian issues.”

Humanitarian Voices interview with Nils Kastberg. Mr. Kastberg discusses the humanitarian priorities in Sudan, coordination issues, and the implications of the two states for the humanitarian community.

Mr. Kastberg is the former UNICEF Representative in Sudan (2009 to 2011).

Watch the interview.