FIRST PHASE OF EX-COMBATANTS’ DEMOBILIZATION WRAPS UP IN SUDAN – UN

Thousands of former fighters have taken part in the first phase of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme, marking a key milestone for the 2005 agreement that ended Sudan's north-south civil war, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country reported today.

The last of over 5,600 ex-combatants earmarked for demobilization were processed yesterday in the first phase of the DDR scheme in Blue Nile state, in Sudan's east, according to the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which celebrated the achievement in a brief ceremony.

The joint North and South Sudan DDR commissions, along with UNMIS, the UN Development Programme UNDP, World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), are assisting with the process in Blue Nile.

The DDR initiative seeks to ensure that demobilized combatants are properly reintegrated into civilian life, receiving packages including livestock and vocational training. Monitoring is also a crucial component to prevent former fighters from sliding back into violence.

The DDR commissions have agreed to jointly process caseloads in Blue Nile, Southern Kordofan and Abyei, before expanding to other areas under the 2005 pact, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Other key benchmarks of the treaty include border demarcation and preparations for national elections in 2010 and a referendum on the final status of areas of southern Sudan in 2011.

One-third of ex-combatants demobilized in Blue Nile have already started receiving counseling as a first step to reintegrate into civilian life.

Up to 180,000 former fighters from the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Popular Defence Forces and Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) will be demobilized, and the first stages will target mostly those with special needs, including the old and infirm, as well as women and children associated with armed forces or groups.

The multi-year scheme is being led jointly by the DDR commissions, with financial and technical support from the UN.

But UNMIS pointed out that funding continues to be a major challenge. Some $430 million is required over three years, but only $88 million was pledged at the last donor conference held in Juba earlier this year.

In a related development, the UN today welcomed the donation of 22 vehicles by the European Commission, which will be used by the DDR commissions to help monitor participants transition into civilian life.

"The progress made in the past year on DDR has become one of the success stories of CPA implementation," UNDP Country Director Jorgen Lissner said at a ceremony in the capital, Khartoum.

The cars will be used to allow case workers to cover areas of reintegration and provide logistical support for the daily operations of the commissions.
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NEXT YEAR’S LANDMARK ELECTIONS POSE MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR SUDAN – UN OFFICIAL

Local election authorities in the Sudan face a complex challenge in holding the conflict-ridden country's first multi-party polls in decades, the top United Nations official tasked with assisting in the voting process warned today.

The April 2010 elections are a major milestone in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the pact which ended 20 years of fighting between the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) separatists in the south and the national Government in the north, said Ray Kennedy, Chief Electoral Affairs Office with the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

"UNMIS is here to support the process," Mr. Kennedy told reporters in Khartoum, stressing that the "responsibility for planning, organizing, and conducting these elections rests with the Sudanese authority established for that purpose, namely the National Elections Commission [NEC]."

Highlighting the difficulties in organizing the elections, Mr. Kennedy said that the "size and physical landscape of the country, together with weak infrastructure in large parts of the county, would present a challenge for any election management body."

He added that polling for six offices at the same time – President of the Republic, President of the Government of Southern Sudan, state governors, the National Assembly, the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, and State Assemblies – along with different elections taking place in different parts of the country is a complex task.

"And the time pressures that the NEC is under with the election law being passed two and a half years late and the establishment of the NEC itself taking far longer than envisioned in the CPA and in the National Elections Act" only adds to the complexities, said Mr. Kennedy.

"Together, all of these factors make these elections some of the most complex and challenging on record," he stressed.

UNMIS has over 100 staff on the ground, with teams in Khartoum, El Fasher (capital of North Darfur), and each of the 10 states of Southern Sudan, noted Mr. Kennedy. He added that by late September, election support teams will also be established in each state in the north in response to the NEC's request for support in all of Sudan's 25 states.

The assistance UNMIS provides the NEC includes advice on procedures for voter registration, nominations, polling, counting, and the tabulation and announcement of results, as well as developing training on voter education, said Mr. Kennedy.

"Based on a request from NEC to assist them with logistics, the mission has asked for additional helicopters to help move registration materials, voter education materials, ballots, and ballot boxes around the country and we are awaiting approval of that request," he said. "According to our calculations, we could be asked to assist with the transportation of 7.5 million kilogrammes of election material."

A referendum on independence for Southern Sudan – where at least 2 million people were killed, 4 million others uprooted and 600,000 more fled across the borders during the 20 years of one of Africa's bloodiest civil wars – is slated for 2011, to follow next year's national elections.
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SECURITY COUNCIL DEPLORES DEADLY ATTACKS AGAINST CIVILIANS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

Security Council members today condemned the "grave attacks" in southern Sudan this weekend that have killed at least 185 people, many of them women and children.

Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, said the attacks were especially concerning given that they seemed to target women and children and involved the use of sophisticated weaponry.

The killings took place on Sunday in Akobo in Jonglei state and the victims reportedly include more than 100 women and children. At least 60 people from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were also reported dead as a result of the attacks.

Mr. Sawers, speaking on behalf of Council members, stressed the need for the protection of civilians and measures to ensure humanitarian relief can reach those people in need.

They also said they support the joint efforts of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (<"http://unmis.unmissions.org/">UNMIS), the Government of Southern Sudan and local authorities to investigate the causes of the violence and to prevent any retaliatory attacks.

If the attacks continue, Mr. Sawers warned, they could jeopardize the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the wide-ranging pact from 2005 that ended the long-running and brutal Sudanese civil war between north and south.

Today's remarks from the Council echoed a statement issued yesterday by a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which he voiced extreme concern at the situation and directed UN officials to provide aid and assistance to the victims of the violence.

UN EXTENDS AID TO VICTIMS OF DEADLY NEW VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today ordered United Nations officials to extend all possible assistance to the victims of the latest "heinous" surge of violence in southern Sudan, where 161 people, including 100 women and children, were reported to have been killed yesterday.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban voiced his "extreme concern" at the killing in Akobo in Jonglei state, where 50 men and 11 soldiers from the regional Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were also killed.

Southern Sudan was the scene of one of Africa's longest and bloodiest civil wars, in which at least 2 million people were killed, 4 million others uprooted and 600,000 more fled across the borders, until a peace agreement in 2005 ended the 20 years of fighting between southern separatists and the national Government in the north. A referendum on independence for the south is expected to be held in 2011, following national elections next year.

More recently, violence has flared periodically from various quarters, with Mr. Ban warning last month that escalating inter-tribal fighting was jeopardizing the stability of the entire country and putting at risk key milestones in implementing the 2005 pact, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Attacks by the notorious Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), have also wrought havoc in border regions in the south.

In his statement today condemning the latest violence, Mr. Ban directed the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) "to extend all possible assistance to those affected by this heinous act and work with local authorities to restore calm."

He called on the regional Government of Southern Sudan "to bring to justice those responsible for these events and take the necessary measures to protect civilians across Southern Sudan."
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VIOLENCE THWARTS REFUGEE RETURN TO SOUTHERN SUDAN – UN

The deteriorating security situation in some parts of Southern Sudan is preventing the return of refugees from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today.

Last week, coordinated violent protests organized by war veterans from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) – who have not been paid their benefits for five months – paralyzed some towns in the Central and Eastern Equatoria region and disrupted lives for several days.

After meetings with Southern Sudanese President Silva Kiir, from 19-20 March, the veterans lifted their blockade in the town of Yei, but the protests continue in Kapoeta, whose town centre is still occupied, UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.

These disturbances have impeded the movement of refugees and aid workers, forcing UNHCR to temporarily postpone or stop five repatriation convoys carrying nearly 1,000 returnees from Uganda.

In February, the agency suspended the repatriation of refugees from Ethiopia due to clashes between the SPLA and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Malakal that left over 50 people dead and leading to widespread looting of UN warehouses and the subsequent relocation of relief workers.

"UNHCR is also deeply concerned about the continuing conflict between the Nuer and Murle ethnic groups in the Jonglei region that has so far claimed the lives of some 750 people and caused significant displacement," Mr. Redmond said of the fighting which was sparked by cattle rustling raids.

The Governor of the Jonglei region held an emergency meeting with UN agencies last week to determine how to assist victims of these clashes.

Nearly 155,000 Sudanese refugees have returned voluntarily to South Sudan and Blue Nile State with UNHCR's help since December 2005. A further 157,000 refugees have also repatriated from neighbouring countries since the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of north-south civil war in Sudan.
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SUDAN: TOP ENVOY WELCOMES WITHDRAWAL OF GROUPS FROM DISPUTED AREA

SUDAN: TOP ENVOY WELCOMES WITHDRAWAL OF GROUPS FROM DISPUTED AREA
New York, Mar 12 2009 9:00AM

The top United Nations envoy to Sudan today welcomed the withdrawal of the last remaining forces of two groups from the disputed town of Abyei, which lies in an oil-rich area close to the boundary between the vast African nations' north and south.

Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, said that with this move, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) have left the local Joint Integrated Units – combining forces of both parties – as the only military force in the town.

Last May, deadly fighting broke out in Abyei, which led to the destruction of much of the town and the sudden displacement of tens of thousands of residents.

The following month, an agreement was reached on a road map seeking to restore stability to the region, spurring civilians who had fled as a result of the violence to start to return.

Mr. Qazi today voiced hope that progress made on the withdrawal from Abyei will opent he door to other advances in implementing this road map, including the funding of the Abyei Area Administration.

"This shows how much the parties can do when they work together as partners," he said. "This kind of cooperation can serve as a model as we tackle the remaining challenges ahead."

The envoy lauded the parties for their efforts to keep the arbitration process on track, noting that this shows the potential for progress in putting all elements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) into place.

That pact was signed in January 2005, ending the 21-year war between the SAF and the SPLA that killed at least two million people and displaced 4.5 million others.
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