U.S. and European media

November 4, 2022

AFP: Fears of new war in Sudan's troubled Nuba Mountains.  The Nuba Mountains -- once a key enclave of rebels battling the government in Khartoum -- saw some of the heaviest fighting of Sudan's 22-year civil war between north and south.  "We are not part of the referendum under the peace deal," said Albaroud, the SPLM chairman for Kauda, one of several zones still controlled by the former fighters. Instead, the future of the Nuba -- and the other contested area of Blue Nile state -- will be decided by "popular consultations".  "The Nuba people fear the breakaway of the south because they will be left as an isolated minority in the north, and will also be on the front line of any future north-south conflict," said Peter Moszynski, a long-time Sudan analyst who began working in the mountains during the war.  "They would prefer that the country remain united, but this option appears less and less realistic."  It is an issue many fear makes the region -- already awash with automatic weapons -- a likely future flashpoint. 

Reuters: Britain to allow non-Arab Darfur refugees to stay.  Non-Arab asylum seekers from Darfur will be allowed to stay in Britain and will not be sent back to Sudan after it was deemed too dangerous, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.  The refugees will be able to remain in Britain for five years, with periodic reviews to be carried out on the safety of the war-torn African country.  The guidance update was influenced by recent reports from international organisations expressing concern about treatment of Darfuris returning to Khartoum, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said.  "All non-Arab Darfuris, regardless of their political or other affiliations, are at real risk of persecution in Darfur and internal relocation elsewhere in Sudan is not currently to be relied upon," the Interior Ministry's UK Border Agency concluded in its operational guidance note.

NRC: Business interests force China to take political action in Africa.  It is becoming increasingly difficult for China to stay politically neutral in Africa as its economic interests grow.  The most prominent change to China's Africa policy of the past years took place in Sudan. For years human rights activists have condemned Beijing for supplying arms to the regime in Khartoum, which is held responsible for the genocide in Darfur. Sudan supplies oil to China. In 2007, Beijing voted in favour of a peace-keeping mission in Darfur led by the United Nations and the African Union, a move that surprised many. China even sent UN peace-keepers. Critics see the sending of peace-keepers as a small sacrifice in order to be able to continue China's policy in Sudan. Beijing still supports African countries in their opposition to the international arrest warrant for Sudanese president Bashir.

Reuters: Sudan's Bashir to visit Turkey despite warrant.  Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will visit Turkey next week for the first time since an international court asked for his arrest, government sources said, in a test of Ankara's support for international justice.  Predominantly Muslim Turkey has not ratified the 2002 Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), but it is under pressure to do so to bring it closer to European Union standards.  Rights groups say Turkey, anxious to secure entry into the EU, is obliged to arrest Bashir when he lands in Istanbul for a summit of Islamic nations.  Asked if Turkish authorities would arrest Bashir during his visit, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity: "No, there are no such plans."

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