Country

May 22, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Presidential assistant of Sudan, Nafie Ali Nafie, criticized on Tuesday calls within the country for granting foreign aid groups access to the war-battered region of South Kordofan.

Khartoum has been blocking humanitarian assistance from reaching areas held by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan, citing concerns over aid falling into the hands of the insurgents and expressing skepticism over the intentions of foreign aid groups.

By Eric Reeves

The northern Sudanese border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan are on the verge of catastrophic human destruction.

This should not come as a surprise. For many months now warnings of famine, and diseases consequent upon malnutrition, have become increasingly urgent.

Darfur is threatened with food insecurity and in need of urgent aid.

The Programme conducted surveys in Darfur finding around 30 percent to be in need of urgent assistance, said WFP Field Coordinator Adham Mesallami to Radio Dabanga.

He said that families told the WFP about their inability to cover their daily needs for food.

05/22/2012 16:53 GMT

KHARTOUM, May 22, 2012 (AFP) - One person was killed when a car exploded on Sudan's Red Sea coast on Tuesday, state media reported, about a year after Sudan blamed Israel for an air strike in the same region.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the blast, which witnesses said left two holes in the road.

"A car exploded inside Port Sudan and the body of the driver was burned completely. Police are investigating," Radio Omdurman reported.

05/22/2012 16:11 GMT

JUBA, May 22, 2012 (AFP) - South Sudan said Tuesday Sudanese war planes have launched air strikes against its territory, the latest in a series of attacks that threaten to scupper international efforts to restart peace talks.

"South Sudan views the current aerial bombardment... as a serious threat to both regional and international peace and security," South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters.

May 21, 2012 (JUBA) - Hundred of citizens from the contested region of Abyei demonstrated across South Sudan and in the United States on Monday, according to an official from the area, in protest at the failure of the Sudanese government to withdraw troops from the area.

A resolution from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on May 2, as per a roadmap laid out by the African Union, called for both Sudan and South Sudan to withdraw armed forces from the area.

21 May, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Interior Minister Ibrahim Ahmad Mahmoud has revealed that their estimates on the number of Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries are vastly different from those of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Speaking at a session of the council of states in the capital Khartoum on Monday, Mahmoud said that his ministry estimates the number of Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries to be in the region of 244,000.

SALLUM, Egypt, May 21 (UNHCR) – Andrew Mok, computer open in front of him, faced the Sudanese man across the table in a converted freight container and began the interview.

"Please do not make any false statements because that could have a negative impact on your application," the 23-year-old from Hong Kong informed the man, who was bidding to be recognized as a refugee. "Everything you tell UNHCR will be strictly confidential," he added, reassuringly.