ADDIS ABABA 08/09 - Ethiopian state radio said Wednesday that government troops had killed at least 650 rebels in the predominantly Somali ethnic region of Ogaden in the past two and half months.
But rebels in the restive southern region of Ethiopia dismissed the claims, insisting that Addis Ababa did not have "effective control" of Ogaden.
"The Ethiopian Defence Force, in collaboration with the elders of the area, have killed most of the anti-peace elements since it started its continous attacks on May 21," said state radio.
The defence ministry said Tuesday that it had killed some 200 members of the Oromo Liberation Front, Ogaden National Liberation Front and Al Ittihad groups since stepping up operations last month.
In May, the two separatist groups OFL and ONLF said they had killed 157 Ethiopian troops in the area, a claim denied by Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian claims could not be independently confirmed, since the Ethiopian authorities last month evicted the International Committee of the Red Cross officials from much of the area.
The ONLF, which has been fighting for the independence of Ogaden since 1984, said the government`s was trying to give a false sense of security to oil companies so they did not abandon their exploration plans.
"Pursuing oil and natural gas exploration activities in Ogaden at this stage can only be characterized as gross corporate irresponsibility given the war crimes being committed against our civilian population," the group said.
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=551405
Friday, August 17, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Sudan lifts a rebel's travel ban
Sudan is to allow a sick Darfur rebel chief on its wanted list to travel to Kenya for treatment, the UN says.
Suleiman Jamous has been confined to a United Nations peacekeeping base near Darfur for more than 13 months.
He needs surgery and had been threatened with arrest by Sudanese authorities if he left the UN's care.
Mr Jamous has been a key link between rebels in Darfur and humanitarian workers serving families displaced during the four-year conflict.
Some 200,000 people are believed to have died and more than 2m have been left homeless in Darfur since fighting broke out in 2003.
Guarantee
Mr Jamous is suffering from abdominal complications and has been cared for at a UN hospital.
"The government of Sudan has made clear that Suleiman Jamous was free to leave the hospital to undergo medical treatment and subsequently reside with his family under the condition the UN guarantee that he will not return to Darfur to fight," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas told Associated Press news agency.
She said the UN would facilitate his evacuation to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
In May last year, Mr Jamous, Sudan's Liberation Army humanitarian co-ordinator, rejected the Darfur peace deal - and was promptly detained by those rebels who did sign.
After a month the UN intervened and flew him to Kadugli for treatment.
Earlier this month, US actress Mia Farrow offered her freedom in exchange for Mr Jamous so he could attend peace talks in Tanzania.
Eight rebel factions, who did not sign last year's agreement, have since reached a common position for talks with Sudan's government.
Troops
Meanwhile, the African Union and UN special representative for Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, says peacekeeping troops pledged by African countries must meet UN standards.
Speaking on the first day of a visit to Darfur, Mr Adada said the deadline for offers of peacekeepers was the end of the month.
The UN Security Council has sanctioned the deployment of the hybrid force composed of 26,000 troops.
AU Commission Chairman Alpha Konare has said Africa will provide all of the required peacekeepers.
The UN had expected to call on Asian troops. Critics say Africa lacks enough trained troops for an effective force.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6949313.stm
Suleiman Jamous has been confined to a United Nations peacekeeping base near Darfur for more than 13 months.
He needs surgery and had been threatened with arrest by Sudanese authorities if he left the UN's care.
Mr Jamous has been a key link between rebels in Darfur and humanitarian workers serving families displaced during the four-year conflict.
Some 200,000 people are believed to have died and more than 2m have been left homeless in Darfur since fighting broke out in 2003.
Guarantee
Mr Jamous is suffering from abdominal complications and has been cared for at a UN hospital.
"The government of Sudan has made clear that Suleiman Jamous was free to leave the hospital to undergo medical treatment and subsequently reside with his family under the condition the UN guarantee that he will not return to Darfur to fight," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas told Associated Press news agency.
She said the UN would facilitate his evacuation to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
In May last year, Mr Jamous, Sudan's Liberation Army humanitarian co-ordinator, rejected the Darfur peace deal - and was promptly detained by those rebels who did sign.
After a month the UN intervened and flew him to Kadugli for treatment.
Earlier this month, US actress Mia Farrow offered her freedom in exchange for Mr Jamous so he could attend peace talks in Tanzania.
Eight rebel factions, who did not sign last year's agreement, have since reached a common position for talks with Sudan's government.
Troops
Meanwhile, the African Union and UN special representative for Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, says peacekeeping troops pledged by African countries must meet UN standards.
Speaking on the first day of a visit to Darfur, Mr Adada said the deadline for offers of peacekeepers was the end of the month.
The UN Security Council has sanctioned the deployment of the hybrid force composed of 26,000 troops.
AU Commission Chairman Alpha Konare has said Africa will provide all of the required peacekeepers.
The UN had expected to call on Asian troops. Critics say Africa lacks enough trained troops for an effective force.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6949313.stm
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Darfur’s Jamous says may leave UN care Thursday
Tuesday 14 August 2007.
August 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur rebel figure Suleiman Jamous said on Monday if the United Nations did not respond to his request to fly him out of Sudan for medical treatment by Thursday, he would hand himself over to the government.
Suleiman Jamous (reuters)
Jamous, the Sudan Liberation Army’s (SLA) humanitarian coordinator, was the key liaison between insurgents and the world’s largest aid operation helping some 4.2 million people in Darfur.
"I gave them until Thursday," Jamous said.
"If they refuse to take me out, I will just go out to where the government of Sudan is waiting to be detained, and I will consider this a compulsory turning over to the government by the U.N." he told Reuters by telephone.
The United Nations moved him to a U.N. hospital near Darfur more than a year ago without informing Khartoum. Sudan calls him a criminal and had said it would arrest him if he left U.N. care.
Last week Sudan said Jamous could be released for peace talks, but declined to say whether his freedom would be conditional.
Jamous needs a stomach biopsy which cannot be performed in the U.N. hospital. On Monday he left the hospital for the first time in more than 13 months to walk to the nearby U.N. headquarters and ask to be flown out of Sudan for medical treatment.
"They replied they needed time to consult with Khartoum and I have given them until Thursday," Jamous said.
"Now I am becoming indifferent. If I am detained by the United Nations or the government of Sudan it is the same," he said.
The United Nations was not immediately available to comment, but two U.N. sources have said they were unlikely to fly Jamous out of Sudan.
The elderly Jamous is respected in Darfur and considered a consensus builder who could help peace efforts and unify fractured rebels.
Since a 2006 peace deal signed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions, the insurgents have split into more than a dozen groups, creating chaos in Darfur.
Because of increasingly violent attacks against their staff and aid convoys, the humanitarian operation has been scaled down and some 500,000 people are out of reach of vital help.
International experts estimate some 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in more than four years of fighting in Darfur.
(Reuters)
August 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur rebel figure Suleiman Jamous said on Monday if the United Nations did not respond to his request to fly him out of Sudan for medical treatment by Thursday, he would hand himself over to the government.
Suleiman Jamous (reuters)
Jamous, the Sudan Liberation Army’s (SLA) humanitarian coordinator, was the key liaison between insurgents and the world’s largest aid operation helping some 4.2 million people in Darfur.
"I gave them until Thursday," Jamous said.
"If they refuse to take me out, I will just go out to where the government of Sudan is waiting to be detained, and I will consider this a compulsory turning over to the government by the U.N." he told Reuters by telephone.
The United Nations moved him to a U.N. hospital near Darfur more than a year ago without informing Khartoum. Sudan calls him a criminal and had said it would arrest him if he left U.N. care.
Last week Sudan said Jamous could be released for peace talks, but declined to say whether his freedom would be conditional.
Jamous needs a stomach biopsy which cannot be performed in the U.N. hospital. On Monday he left the hospital for the first time in more than 13 months to walk to the nearby U.N. headquarters and ask to be flown out of Sudan for medical treatment.
"They replied they needed time to consult with Khartoum and I have given them until Thursday," Jamous said.
"Now I am becoming indifferent. If I am detained by the United Nations or the government of Sudan it is the same," he said.
The United Nations was not immediately available to comment, but two U.N. sources have said they were unlikely to fly Jamous out of Sudan.
The elderly Jamous is respected in Darfur and considered a consensus builder who could help peace efforts and unify fractured rebels.
Since a 2006 peace deal signed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions, the insurgents have split into more than a dozen groups, creating chaos in Darfur.
Because of increasingly violent attacks against their staff and aid convoys, the humanitarian operation has been scaled down and some 500,000 people are out of reach of vital help.
International experts estimate some 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in more than four years of fighting in Darfur.
(Reuters)
Unity state defends recruitment of Kenyan teachers
Tuesday 14 August 2007.
August 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Unity State in southern Sudan has defended its decision to seek teachers from Kenya and Uganda to teach the English language at primary and secondary levels because of the weakness of local cadres.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Khartoum, the state minister of finance, Simon Jandong, defended his state for resorting to seek teachers from Kenya and Uganda to teach English.
He added that they had noted clear improvements in the capacity of students, and attributed this to the step taken, which he noted was necessitated by the weakness of the southern cadres in teaching the language.
He said there was need to expand education after the realization of peace and this was what made the state to seek foreign teachers.
(ST)
August 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Unity State in southern Sudan has defended its decision to seek teachers from Kenya and Uganda to teach the English language at primary and secondary levels because of the weakness of local cadres.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Khartoum, the state minister of finance, Simon Jandong, defended his state for resorting to seek teachers from Kenya and Uganda to teach English.
He added that they had noted clear improvements in the capacity of students, and attributed this to the step taken, which he noted was necessitated by the weakness of the southern cadres in teaching the language.
He said there was need to expand education after the realization of peace and this was what made the state to seek foreign teachers.
(ST)
Darfur Arab rebels capture 12 Sudan soldiers
Tuesday 14 August 2007.
August 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — An obscure mostly Arab Darfur rebel group said on Monday it had kidnapped 12 Sudanese soldiers and challenged the government to stop mobilising militias to counter the four-year-old revolt in western Sudan.
The Democratic Popular Front Army (DPFA) said in a statement sent to Reuters that among the captured was officer Ali Mohamed. By way of proof they offered his military I.D. number, 44206.
"This is the first time we have captured government soldiers," DPFA Secretary-General Osama Mohamed al-Hassan told Reuters.
"We have been marginalised by the government. The government took advantage of our sons and paid them and gave them arms and used them to fight against others," he said.
He was referring to the Popular Defence Forces, mobilised by the government to quell revolts in Darfur and during decades of civil war in the south.
"We want them to stop the PDF, to leave people to live their lives and be able to farm and feed their cattle and eat and live in peace," he said, adding the group would continue to fight the government.
Darfur experts called the DPFA stance significant.
"This group is vitally important because it represents a young generation of Darfurian Arabs who refuse to die for a government 1,000 miles away that has always neglected all Darfurians — Arab and non-Arabs," said Julie Flint, co-author of a book on Darfur, who has met the group’s leader.
"The vast majority of Darfur’s Arabs have refused to take sides so far. They may be beginning to come off the fence."
The group said its members came from mostly Arab tribes — the Rizeigat, Habbaniya, Terjem, Beni Halba, Taasha — and the non-Arab Fellata tribe. They are mostly based in West and South Darfur states but had some people in the north too.
DEVELOPMENT NEEDS
The DPFA statement said the attack on Sudanese forces occurred in Soja in Wadi Saleh, in the southern area of West Darfur state, on Saturday.
"Our forces captured eight military vehicles as well as a large amount of weapons and ammunition and are controlling the area," said the statement, which included a British telephone number, an Egyptian number and a thuraya satellite phone number.
A Sudanese army spokesman dismissed the report as false.
"This is lie. There’s no basis to the news," he said.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the central government of marginalising the remote, arid west. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militias to stem the revolt.
A Sudanese analyst who declined to be named said Arab tribes felt they had been largely ignored in peace talks with the government.
"They have development needs too, and feel they are being labelled the bad guys," the analyst said.
Sudan expert Alex De Waal said the government may be worried by this development.
"It’s very significant. Without the Arab militia the government cannot remain in Darfur." But he cautioned not all Arab tribes in Darfur were now anti-government.
One Arab commander, Abu Surrah, was at U.N.-African Union mediated meeting in Tanzania earlier this month as he had allied himself with other mostly non-Arab rebel groups.
Rebel commanders and groups there agreed on a common platform ahead of peace talks due to begin within three months.
But Flint said this attack showed the mediators had not fully understood which groups were key for talks:
"The fact that this group was not invited to the Arusha talks shows how little those organizing the peace process know about where the real power lies in the rebel movements."
(Reuters)
August 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — An obscure mostly Arab Darfur rebel group said on Monday it had kidnapped 12 Sudanese soldiers and challenged the government to stop mobilising militias to counter the four-year-old revolt in western Sudan.
The Democratic Popular Front Army (DPFA) said in a statement sent to Reuters that among the captured was officer Ali Mohamed. By way of proof they offered his military I.D. number, 44206.
"This is the first time we have captured government soldiers," DPFA Secretary-General Osama Mohamed al-Hassan told Reuters.
"We have been marginalised by the government. The government took advantage of our sons and paid them and gave them arms and used them to fight against others," he said.
He was referring to the Popular Defence Forces, mobilised by the government to quell revolts in Darfur and during decades of civil war in the south.
"We want them to stop the PDF, to leave people to live their lives and be able to farm and feed their cattle and eat and live in peace," he said, adding the group would continue to fight the government.
Darfur experts called the DPFA stance significant.
"This group is vitally important because it represents a young generation of Darfurian Arabs who refuse to die for a government 1,000 miles away that has always neglected all Darfurians — Arab and non-Arabs," said Julie Flint, co-author of a book on Darfur, who has met the group’s leader.
"The vast majority of Darfur’s Arabs have refused to take sides so far. They may be beginning to come off the fence."
The group said its members came from mostly Arab tribes — the Rizeigat, Habbaniya, Terjem, Beni Halba, Taasha — and the non-Arab Fellata tribe. They are mostly based in West and South Darfur states but had some people in the north too.
DEVELOPMENT NEEDS
The DPFA statement said the attack on Sudanese forces occurred in Soja in Wadi Saleh, in the southern area of West Darfur state, on Saturday.
"Our forces captured eight military vehicles as well as a large amount of weapons and ammunition and are controlling the area," said the statement, which included a British telephone number, an Egyptian number and a thuraya satellite phone number.
A Sudanese army spokesman dismissed the report as false.
"This is lie. There’s no basis to the news," he said.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the central government of marginalising the remote, arid west. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militias to stem the revolt.
A Sudanese analyst who declined to be named said Arab tribes felt they had been largely ignored in peace talks with the government.
"They have development needs too, and feel they are being labelled the bad guys," the analyst said.
Sudan expert Alex De Waal said the government may be worried by this development.
"It’s very significant. Without the Arab militia the government cannot remain in Darfur." But he cautioned not all Arab tribes in Darfur were now anti-government.
One Arab commander, Abu Surrah, was at U.N.-African Union mediated meeting in Tanzania earlier this month as he had allied himself with other mostly non-Arab rebel groups.
Rebel commanders and groups there agreed on a common platform ahead of peace talks due to begin within three months.
But Flint said this attack showed the mediators had not fully understood which groups were key for talks:
"The fact that this group was not invited to the Arusha talks shows how little those organizing the peace process know about where the real power lies in the rebel movements."
(Reuters)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Darfur Arab tribes sign truce after clashes kill 140
Monday 13 August 2007.
August 12, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Rival Darfur Arab tribes have signed a truce after more than 140 people died in clashes, an official and tribal leaders said on Sunday.
"It’s an agreement to cease hostilities," Mohamed Ahmed Hassan, a Terjem tribal leader, told Reuters of the deal his tribe signed with the Rizeigat on Saturday.
"If the Rizeigat adhere to and respect the agreement, the Terjem will not violate it," he said.
Both are Arab tribes in South Darfur state. Fighting has continued on and off for months between them, but a reconciliation deal signed in February fell apart in July.
Ali Hassan, a Rizeigat tribal leader, said his group was committed to the truce. "We are going around trying to explain it to our people," he said.
Most of the casualties of the fighting were Terjem.
"Around 145 of our people were killed between July 30 and August 8," said Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, adding that 40 people with serious injuries were still in hospital in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State.
"We have buried them in mass graves," he added. He said the Rizeigat had superior firepower.
South Darfur’s Labour Minister Abdul Rahman al-Zein has previously said three Rizeigat were killed in the clashes.
Each tribe blamed the other for starting the fighting.
The Terjem are a sedentary farming tribe while the Rizeigat are nomadic cattle herders. The latest problems began as the Rizeigat moved north in their seasonal migration, passing close to Terjem territory. The Terjem say the cattle eat their crops.
"The Terjem tell them you cannot pass through here," said Zein. "The government will deploy forces in the trouble spots to ensure compliance."
Ali Hassan declined to comment on the numbers killed.
Fighting over land and resources had been going on in Darfur for decades, before the region’s revolt broke out in early 2003. The conflict has led to a proliferation of weapons, making tribal clashes even deadlier.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in the fighting in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their arid region.
Khartoum says only 9,000 people have died in the violence.
(Reuters)
August 12, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Rival Darfur Arab tribes have signed a truce after more than 140 people died in clashes, an official and tribal leaders said on Sunday.
"It’s an agreement to cease hostilities," Mohamed Ahmed Hassan, a Terjem tribal leader, told Reuters of the deal his tribe signed with the Rizeigat on Saturday.
"If the Rizeigat adhere to and respect the agreement, the Terjem will not violate it," he said.
Both are Arab tribes in South Darfur state. Fighting has continued on and off for months between them, but a reconciliation deal signed in February fell apart in July.
Ali Hassan, a Rizeigat tribal leader, said his group was committed to the truce. "We are going around trying to explain it to our people," he said.
Most of the casualties of the fighting were Terjem.
"Around 145 of our people were killed between July 30 and August 8," said Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, adding that 40 people with serious injuries were still in hospital in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State.
"We have buried them in mass graves," he added. He said the Rizeigat had superior firepower.
South Darfur’s Labour Minister Abdul Rahman al-Zein has previously said three Rizeigat were killed in the clashes.
Each tribe blamed the other for starting the fighting.
The Terjem are a sedentary farming tribe while the Rizeigat are nomadic cattle herders. The latest problems began as the Rizeigat moved north in their seasonal migration, passing close to Terjem territory. The Terjem say the cattle eat their crops.
"The Terjem tell them you cannot pass through here," said Zein. "The government will deploy forces in the trouble spots to ensure compliance."
Ali Hassan declined to comment on the numbers killed.
Fighting over land and resources had been going on in Darfur for decades, before the region’s revolt broke out in early 2003. The conflict has led to a proliferation of weapons, making tribal clashes even deadlier.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in the fighting in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their arid region.
Khartoum says only 9,000 people have died in the violence.
(Reuters)
Sunday, August 12, 2007
ANALYSIS-Cash needed to save south Sudan peace deal
10 Aug 2007 14:28:46 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Donors have been too slow in delivering funds to develop south Sudan after a landmark peace deal and need to adopt a unified approach to deal with multiple conflicts in Africa's largest country, observers say.
Sudan signed a north-south peace deal in 2005 to end Africa's longest civil war, but the agreement was overshadowed as a revolt in its western Darfur region sparked the world's largest aid operation, diverting donor focus and cash.
"Donor governments, which promised billions of dollars to help with the reconstruction of the south need to make those resources available to ensure that hundreds of thousands of returning Sudanese ... gain greater access to water, medical assistance, education," advocacy group Refugees International said in a report.
It singled out a World Bank-led mechanism called the Multi Donor Trust Fund (MTDF) as being too slow in giving money to the semi-autonomous south Sudan government to develop the war-torn south, one of the poorest areas in the world.
"Half a billion dollars...was committed to the World Bank administered MDTF, a mechanism that has thus far proved to be woefully inefficient, with only about $80 million disbursed to date," it added.
This week south Sudan said it would begin to demobilise some 25,000 soldiers but that support packages including seeds and tools were not guaranteed for them because of United Nations funding delays.
"The money is available," said David Gressly, the top humanitarian official in Sudan. "However, our policy is not to release funds, until the national framework has been agreed."
He acknowledged a new way to deliver cash rapidly to support urgent development was needed to add to the MDTF.
"We do need a new mechanism to fund early recovery projects. We have indeed proposed such a mechanism, and are seeking donor support for it."
FEAR OF FRESH CONFLICT
In Sudan's north-south war, 2 million were killed and at least 4 million fled their homes.
Sudan remains awash with small arms and many worry those who do not see a peace dividend could take up arms again.
State minister of foreign affairs Ali Karti said the international community was to blame for delays in implementing the north-south deal.
"The international community is failing and is unable to meet their obligation," he said. "This is something that we cannot do alone."
Jan Pronk, former head of the U.N. mission in Sudan entrusted with monitoring implementation of the deal, said there was almost no international attention on the north-south problem as negotiations continue on Darfur.
The United Nations last month authorised 26,000 U.N. and African Union troops and police to deploy to Darfur, where experts estimate 200,000 have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes in more than four years of conflict.
A July 9 deadline by which north and south armies were to deploy to each side of the north-south border was missed with no comment from anyone, Pronk said.
"It's as if people didn't care," he said. "They think there are two problems but it is one problem. It is a problem of unity and peace which is in Sudan as a whole."
Rebels from Sudan's outlying regions, south, east and west, all complain of neglect by the Khartoum government, dominated by central Nilotic tribes since independence.
Pronk said democratic elections by 2009, as envisaged by the north-south deal, was the only way forward for Sudan. It also gave southerners the right to vote on secession by 2011.
"They (donors) need to put a lot of pressure on the two parties to have the elections," he said, warning if key elements of the north-south deal were not implemented, the south could separate.
Source: Reuters
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Donors have been too slow in delivering funds to develop south Sudan after a landmark peace deal and need to adopt a unified approach to deal with multiple conflicts in Africa's largest country, observers say.
Sudan signed a north-south peace deal in 2005 to end Africa's longest civil war, but the agreement was overshadowed as a revolt in its western Darfur region sparked the world's largest aid operation, diverting donor focus and cash.
"Donor governments, which promised billions of dollars to help with the reconstruction of the south need to make those resources available to ensure that hundreds of thousands of returning Sudanese ... gain greater access to water, medical assistance, education," advocacy group Refugees International said in a report.
It singled out a World Bank-led mechanism called the Multi Donor Trust Fund (MTDF) as being too slow in giving money to the semi-autonomous south Sudan government to develop the war-torn south, one of the poorest areas in the world.
"Half a billion dollars...was committed to the World Bank administered MDTF, a mechanism that has thus far proved to be woefully inefficient, with only about $80 million disbursed to date," it added.
This week south Sudan said it would begin to demobilise some 25,000 soldiers but that support packages including seeds and tools were not guaranteed for them because of United Nations funding delays.
"The money is available," said David Gressly, the top humanitarian official in Sudan. "However, our policy is not to release funds, until the national framework has been agreed."
He acknowledged a new way to deliver cash rapidly to support urgent development was needed to add to the MDTF.
"We do need a new mechanism to fund early recovery projects. We have indeed proposed such a mechanism, and are seeking donor support for it."
FEAR OF FRESH CONFLICT
In Sudan's north-south war, 2 million were killed and at least 4 million fled their homes.
Sudan remains awash with small arms and many worry those who do not see a peace dividend could take up arms again.
State minister of foreign affairs Ali Karti said the international community was to blame for delays in implementing the north-south deal.
"The international community is failing and is unable to meet their obligation," he said. "This is something that we cannot do alone."
Jan Pronk, former head of the U.N. mission in Sudan entrusted with monitoring implementation of the deal, said there was almost no international attention on the north-south problem as negotiations continue on Darfur.
The United Nations last month authorised 26,000 U.N. and African Union troops and police to deploy to Darfur, where experts estimate 200,000 have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes in more than four years of conflict.
A July 9 deadline by which north and south armies were to deploy to each side of the north-south border was missed with no comment from anyone, Pronk said.
"It's as if people didn't care," he said. "They think there are two problems but it is one problem. It is a problem of unity and peace which is in Sudan as a whole."
Rebels from Sudan's outlying regions, south, east and west, all complain of neglect by the Khartoum government, dominated by central Nilotic tribes since independence.
Pronk said democratic elections by 2009, as envisaged by the north-south deal, was the only way forward for Sudan. It also gave southerners the right to vote on secession by 2011.
"They (donors) need to put a lot of pressure on the two parties to have the elections," he said, warning if key elements of the north-south deal were not implemented, the south could separate.
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