U.S. and European media

July 20, 2023

Reuters: Sudan refers Chad to U.N. over air raid accusation. Sudan said on Monday it had referred Chad to the U.N. Security Council, accusing its neighbour of launching an air raid inside Sudanese territory. Sudan's army said two Chadian planes attacked a region inside the west Darfur district on Thursday -- the fourth raid Khartoum says N'Djamena has carried out in Sudan in two months. Chad has so far not responded to the accusation, but has in the past insisted it has the right to strike Chadian rebels it says are based inside Sudan. "We brought (the air attack) to the attention of the Security Council. It is now up to the Security Council to react," Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig told Reuters on Monday.

VOA: US Jurisdiction Applies Divestment Tools to Reverse Conflict in Sudan. The State of New York has divested its $86.2 million in retirement fund holdings from companies doing business with Sudan. The action, which is also directed at companies with commercial ties to Iran, was undertaken by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli to protest the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, which the US government and others have characterized as genocidal. Director of the Conflict Risk Network (CRN) Melany Grout says the move sends a powerful message to encourage responsible corporate behavior and persuade other major companies and institutions to take stands that call attention to wrongdoing by Khartoum and other regimes against their own citizens.
   
Reuters: UN Sudan chief "reassured" over oil area troop exit. The head of the United Nations in Sudan on Monday said he was "reassured" south Sudan's army had taken steps to remove soldiers from a contested oil area in the countdown to a divisive ruling on the territory's borders. U.N. special representative Ashraf Qazi over the weekend accused southern soldiers of straying into Abyei, a central oil- producing region claimed by both north and south Sudan. The armies of north and south Sudan had agreed to stay out of the region in the build up to a ruling on Abyei's borders, expected on Wednesday from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Abyei has much of the ethnic tension and bitterness over perceived government neglect that fuelled fighting in Sudan's neighbouring Darfur region.

Reuters: Darfur rebels release 60 soldiers, police: ICRC. A major Darfur rebel group released 60 captured government soldiers and police on Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) transferred the captives to Red Cross officials who handed them over to Sudanese authorities in Darfur, the humanitarian group said.

AFP: Sudan tells Chad ready for peace or war after raid. Sudan said on Sunday it was committed to peace with neighbouring Chad after accusing it of bombing its western Darfur region last week, but also warned it would not be held back if threatened. Sudan claimed two Chadian aircraft bombed the Umm Dukhun area of West Darfur state on Thursday, an area believed to be the base for Chadian rebels opposed to the rule of President Idriss Deby Itno. "Sudan has no interest in undermining Chad's security," State Minister for Foreign Affairs Al-Samani al-Wasila was quoted as saying by the state news agency SUNA.

AFP: Chad denies carrying out Darfur air raids. Chad's government on Friday denied accusations that it launched air raids on the Sudanese region of Darfur, saying it bombed rebel positions on its own territory. "We targeted the (rebel) Union of Forces of Resistance and not Sudanese villages," government spokesman Mahamat Hissene told AFP, adding the raids were in eastern Chad near the Sudan border. Hissene accused Sudan of trying to send in "mercenaries with arms and mines to destabilise us." "We decided to deal with them by aircraft to destroy them," he said, adding that the Chadian planes chose their targets carefully and "we never targeted villages." Sudan accused Chad on Thursday of launching air raids on Darfur, an area believed to be the base of Chadian opposition rebels, state media reported.

Reuters: Sudan cooperation with peacekeepers better: U.N.'s Ban. Sudanese government cooperation with peacekeepers in Darfur has improved and major violence there is now uncommon but the situation of civilians remains dire, says a new report by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon. The report appeared to counter predictions that the issuing of an arrest warrant in March by the International Criminal Court for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur could make life worse for the peacekeepers.


The Darfur Daily News is a service of the Save Darfur Coalition. To subscribe to the Daily News, please email [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ashley Roberts at (202) 478-6181, or [email protected].