U.S. and European media

May 20, 2023

Voice of America: Lawmakers, Farrow Urge Further Action by Obama on Darfur. Members of the U.S. Congress are urging President Obama to take further steps to address the situation in Darfur. Lawmakers joined Darfur activist and actress Mia Farrow and others at a news conference on Capitol Hill. Acting on doctor's orders earlier this month, the 64-year-old actress ended a 12-day-long liquids-only hunger strike to protest the expulsion by Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of more than a dozen humanitarian aid agencies from Darfur. Several African-American members of Congress announced they will begin limited hunger strikes as part of the Darfur Fast for Life campaign. The lawmakers also said they are waiting to meet with President Obama, and with Scott Gration, President Obama's Special Envoy to Sudan.

Reuters: Sudan threatens to destroy Chad troops. Sudan on Wednesday threatened to destroy any Chad forces that invaded its territory, stepping up its rhetoric after Chad said it was readying its troops to cross the countries' shared border. Chad's interim defence minister said on Tuesday his forces would enter Sudan within hours to intercept rebels, as recent tensions between the two oil-producers mounted. The underdeveloped neighbours regularly accuse each other of supporting each others rebels. Troubled relations have worsened in recent weeks. Chad said Khartoum backed a rebel attack earlier this month, hours after the countries had signed a reconciliation deal in Doha.

Reuters: Sudan court sentences nine to death over rebel attack. A Sudanese court on Wednesday sentenced nine men to death for taking part in a Darfur rebel attack on Khartoum. The ruling brought the number of people facing death by hanging for the shock raid last year by the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to 91. JEM denounced the judgment, the latest in a series of death sentences handed out over the attack in hearings dating back to July. The group's U.K.-based spokesman, Ahmed Hussein Adam, called it an act of provocation and said it could undermine already troubled negotiations with Sudan's government that have been taking place in Doha. Adam said the sentencing violated international law and a goodwill agreement signed between JEM and the Sudanese government in Qatar in February. "The agreement said our members should be treated as prisoners of war. And prisoners of war should not be sentenced. They should not be tried," said Adam.

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