U.S. and European media

January 28, 2023

San Francisco Chronicle: Analysis: Amid pleas for unity, President Obama riles both left and right.  President Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday night gave us a preview of the balancing act that will dominate the second year of the presidency. His silence on human-rights issues around the world, particularly in Sudan.  Some liberals complained that the president was more determined to appear tough on terrorists than tender to the victims of oppression.  "We are very far from the unstinting resolve on Sudan that President Obama promised in the campaign," said Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition.

Bloomberg News: Sudan to Offer Darfur Oilfield for Development, Angering Rebels.  Sudan wants oil companies to develop a new oilfield in its troubled northwestern Darfur region, Energy and Mining Minister Al-Zubair Ahmed Al-Hassan said today.  Finding oil is crucial for northern Sudan's economic survival if the crude-producing region in the south votes in 2011 to secede and form an independent state. The planned referendum is part of a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of civil war between the north and south, which produces most of Sudan's 500,000 barrels a day.

BBC News: Bashir party 'backs former Sudan civil-war enemy'.  Sudan President Omar al-Bashir's party has said it will back the leader of its former civil-war enemies in the south's presidential election in April.  The National Congress Party (NCP) said it would not field a candidate against ex-rebel leader Salva Kiir and wanted good relations with his SPLM party.  But one southern official told the BBC he did not believe the NCP and accused them of backing the SPLM's rivals.

Sudan Tribune: Sudan defense minister and UNAMID head pledge cooperation on Darfur.  Sudanss defense ministry and the AU-UN peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) pledged today to work together to implement peace and security in the restive region of Darfur  The new head of the joint peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Ibrahim Gambari, met today with the Sudanese minister of defense Gen. Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein as part of his meetings with government officials.

The following editorial is from Voice of America: Sudan And Chad Turn A Corner.  Chad and Sudan have taken a major step toward bringing peace to Darfur, one of the world's most troubled regions, with an agreement to normalize relations. They have committed themselves to conducting direct and constructive dialogue on issues of mutual concern. They also agreed to prevent armed groups from using territory of either state against the interests of the other, and to establish mechanisms to monitor their common border.

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].