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.

January 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Some 17.000 Sudanese refugees returned recently to their homeland in the Blue Nile, announced Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Monday.

Fight broke up between the Sudanese army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement –North (SPLM-N) in the Blue Nile on the first day of September 2011 as direct result for the clashes with Khartoum in the south Kordofan state since June of last year.

January 29, 2012 (JUBA) - At least 76 people, most of whom are the elderly, women and children, have been killed in South Sudan’s Warrap State, according to the speaker of the state. Several others are reported to have sustained multiple injuries. Hundreds of cattle are also reported to have been stolen, authorities told Sudan Tribune.

The cause of attack on villages belonging to the Luac Jang ethnic group remains unknown although authorities in Warrap State claimed the attack was carried out by an armed group from neighboring Unity state.

January 26, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — The head of the hybrid peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) Ibrahim Gambari said he would seek soon to convince rebel groups to join the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), six months after its signing..

The Sudanese foreign ministry announced that Gamabri met yesterday with the Undersecretary General, Rahama-Tallah Mohamed Osma to brief him about his recent tours in Darfur IDPs camps and before to submit a report to the African Union summit next week.

January 25, 2012 (KHARTOUM) - Demonstrations in the capital of South Darfur State, Nyala, continued on Wednesday amid reports of casualties and arson.

The protests, which erupted on Tuesday as the state’s new governor Ismail Hamad arrived in the town to assume his position, faced increased crackdown on their second day as police forces heavily fired teargas to break up the demonstrators.

According to Sudan Tribune’s sources, the protestors are demonstrating against the appointment of the new governor and in favor of reinstating his predecessor, Abdul Hamid Musa Kasha.

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

January 24, 2012 (BENTIU) – Child soldiers demobilised last year in Unity State by the South Sudan Disarmament Demobilisation Reintegration programme (SSDDR) have been given goats by Veterinaires Sans Frontieres (VSF) on Monday.

Of the 130 demobilised children, 70 were members of the rebel forces of Peter Gatdet in Mapel County of Lake State and other 60 were disarmed from the South Sudanese army, Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) 4th division in Unity State.

SSDDR targeted soldiers below the age of 18 years.

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

January 20, 2012 (ADDIS ABABA) – An exiled Eritrean opposition alliance has called on the governments of Egypt and Sudan to provide legal protection to the tens and thousands of Eritrean refugees.

The Addis Ababa-based Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change (ENCDC) called on Cairo and Khartoum to refrain from forcibly returning the refugees to Eritrea where they say they could be subjected to prosecution or possible death up on return.

January 17, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has demanded the United Nations Security Council to reduce the number of the Joint African Union United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) saying the positive developments in the region since July 2011 justify such demarche.

Recent reports from the region indicate the decrease of clashes between the government army and the rebel groups since the signing of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) on 14 July 2011. However, the hybrid mission mentioned the persistence of some banditry, crime and sexual and gender-based violence.

January 14, 2012 (JUBA) - South Sudan on Saturday said the government is exerting all efforts to increase food production in what he described as "greenbelt" areas in the fertile but landlocked newly-independent country.

Betty Achan Ogwaro, South Sudan’s minister of agriculture, told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that “the importance of investing in agriculture cannot be ignored. Our people must go to the field and dig, if we need to stop depending on imports from neighboring countries”.