Floods Cause Chaos In Sudan

Sudan area where flooding has displaced hundreds of thousands. Over three dozen have been reported killed in the disaster., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Floods cause chaos in Sudan

August 13 2013 at 10:09am

A Sudanese boy removes debris from an area hit by a devastating flood in Wad Alagali, south of Khartoum. File photo: AFP
Khartoum - The number of people affected by this month's flooding in Sudan has climbed to around 150 000 and is expected to rise further, the United Nations said on Monday.

More than half the victims, 84 000, are in the area around the capital Khartoum, said the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Twenty people have died in the capital region, the official SUNA news agency reported late on Monday, citing Khartoum state authorities who added that 240 people had been hurt.

“More rains are expected in the coming days and the estimated number of affected people is likely to rise further as rains continue and as more information becomes available,” OCHA said in a press release.

OCHA's latest estimate follows heavy downpours on Friday night and is based on information from the Sudanese Red Crescent Society and other agencies.

Heavy rains and flash floods began on August 1, initially affecting almost 100 000 people in several states.

At least 26 000 houses have been damaged or destroyed, according to initial estimates cited by OCHA.

Official Radio Omdurman reported on Sunday that the flooding killed 36 people in Nile state north of the capital.

The UN and other agencies have provided aid including tents, plastic sheeting and drinking water, OCHA said.

A volunteer youth group, Nafeer, said on Monday that it had found 150 families “trapped” in the Al-Nizeila area on Khartoum's outskirts.

It added that many people who lost their homes are now sleeping outdoors.

This year's flooding is the worst in the capital region in years, but water surges in rural areas of Sudan between June and October last year affected about 270 000 people and damaged more than 36 000 homes, according to figures cited by the UN.

- Sapa-AFP

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Sudan Extends Oil Shutdown Deadline

Sudan oil refinery where the newly-emerging oil-rich central African state has been under fire from U.S. imperialism for years. The leadership of the country is being hounded by the ICC which it is not a party to the Rome Statute., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Sudan extends oil shutdown deadline

August 13, 2013 12:25 AM
Agence France Presse

KHARTOUM: Sudan Monday postponed its deadline for the closure of the economically vital pipeline network carrying South Sudanese oil until next month. The period “has been extended for another two weeks that ends on Sept. 6,” the official SUNA news agency said in a brief SMS dispatch which gave no details on what was the second such postponement.

In June, Khartoum told oil firms they had 60 days to stop transporting crude from landlocked South Sudan through Sudan’s pipeline system to the Red Sea export terminal.

The order came after President Omar al-Bashir accused the South’s government of backing rebels in the north.

In late July, Khartoum extended the deadline to Aug. 22.

The delay came in response to an appeal from the African Union which asked for more time to investigate allegations – by both Sudan and South Sudan – that they are supporting rebels operating in each other’s territory.

Regional nations also began to address another point of contention between Sudan and South Sudan, determining the centerline of a demilitarized buffer zone.

The zone is to straddle the 2,000-kilometer undemarcated frontier between the two countries.

Oil has kept flowing despite Sudan’s threat to close the line.

The South’s oil export revenues, and the fees it must pay Khartoum for use of the oil infrastructure, are potentially worth billions of dollars to both impoverished nations.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on August 13, 2013, on page 5.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2013/Aug-13/227127-sudan-extends-oil-shutdown-deadline.ashx#ixzz2buY9HkNs
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

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No Break In Relations Between Sudan and Saudi Arabia Over Airspace

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan attending the Arab League Summit in Doha, Qatar on March 30, 2009. The Arab League has rejected the ICC warrant against President al-Bashir as hypocritical., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

No Saudi-Sudan fallout with non-entry of Bashir’s plane

RIYADH: SHARIF M. TAHA

Sudanese Ambassador to Riyadh Abdulhafiz Ibrahim has said that the banning of President Bashir’s plane from entering Saudi airspace would not affect Saudi-Sudanese relations.

Last week, the aircraft carrying President Bashir was banned from entering Saudi airspace on the ground that the plane did not have the right permit, a statement by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) said.

The Sudanese envoy said his country has set up an inquiry committee to look into the details pertaining to the issue. President Bashir was reportedly using a plane rented from a Saudi company instead of his normal presidential aircraft and was heading to Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new President Hassan Rowhani last week.

The statements given by the civil aviation authorities in both the countries are important, Al-Hayat daily quoted the Sudanese envoy as saying.

The inquiry committee will look into various aspects since the episode had exposed the presidential plane to risks because it did not have the required permission to cross Saudi airspace, particularly after the Saudi clarification on the matter, he said.

Last week, an official at GACA said the Sudanese government did not submit an official application for a diplomatic permit for the plane, and that the application should have been submitted 48 hours before the scheduled departure of diplomatic flights.

“This was the only reason why the plane was turned back,” he said, and refuted allegations that the move was linked to an international arrest warrant against President Bashir or to his country’s relations with Tehran.

The committee will uncover all facts and fix accountability for the diplomatic faux pas, the envoy was quoted as saying.

Analysts said Sudan’s decision to allow two Iranian warships to dock at Port Sudan last October had angered its Arab Gulf state neighbors. The arrival of the Iranian warships reportedly coincided with the bombing of Al-Yarmouk military factory in Khartoum, which led to speculation that Iranian weapons were stored or manufactured there.

In addition to the good and strong business and trade relations between Saudi Arabia and Sudan, both countries conducted a joint naval exercise last February.

The naval maneuvers were the first of its kind and were expected to serve as a platform for future joint efforts aimed at securing the Red Sea and strengthening relations between Sudan and Saudi Arabia, Commander of the navy base in Port Sudan, Admiral Magdi Sayed Omer, was quoted as saying.

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Journalist Escapes Assassination In Occupied Libya

Occupied Libya police chief, Mohammed Ben Haleem of Benghazi, was almost assassinated on October 12, 2012. The security system in Libya is worsening everyday., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Libya TV journalist escapes assassination bid

Benghazi, Libya--A journalist at a private Libyan television channel narrowly survived an assassination attempt in the restive eastern city of Benghazi on Monday, a colleague working for the Libya Al Ahrar TV network told AFP.

“Khadija Al Ammami, director of Libya Al Ahrar’s Benghazi office, was shot at several times when she was in her car on the way to her office,” journalist Rajeb Mohammad Ibliblou said.

Khadija “miraculously” survived the hail of bullets fired by unidentified gunmen, he added.

She later received telephone threats that she would be killed next time.

Khadija had received three previous death threats, said Ibliblou.

Libya Al Ahrar TV was created during the counter-revolution that toppled the country’s longtime Pan-Africanist leader Muammar Gaddafi. The channel is based in Doha, Qatar.

The attack came three days after a Libyan doctor who hosted a television programme on human development was shot dead by unknown gunmen also in Benghazi, Libya’s second city.

Ezz Al Deen Koussos, a presenter for Libya Al Hurra television, was hit by several rounds as he sat in his parked car near a blood bank in Benghazi’s Sidi Hussain district after weekly prayers.

Koussos had worked for Radio Al Manara FM before joining Al Hurra, the country’s leading private TV channel, also created after the 2011 counter-revolution.

His programme had no political connotations, journalists in Benghazi said.

Libyan media and journalists have been the targets in recent months of attacks and kidnappings by militias.

In May, international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RFS) called on the authorities to rein in allied militia it said were responsible for detaining journalists.

Since the 2011 uprising, the central government has struggled to tame the former rebel groups that fought Gaddafi with the backing of NATO and the Pentagon.

A journalist with an international news agency was arrested by members of a militia in broad daylight in Benghazi on May 20, RFS said.

A photographer was detained for several hours on May 28 by militiamen nominally under the command of the defence ministry, it added.

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Angry Libya Berbers Storm Rebel Assembly In Tripoli

Berbers in Libya demonstrating outside the rebel parliament. Most groups in Occupied Libya are suffering since the overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Angry Libya Berbers storm national assembly

Published August 13, 2013

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Members of Libya's Berber community, angered over what they believe is their marginalisation, stormed the national assembly Tuesday, a deputy told AFP.

Berbers "who had been demonstrating outside the seat of the General National Congress, broke in to the chamber... ransacking furniture and slinging out documents, as the president and members of the GNC were meeting with their representatives," Suad Ganor told AFP.

They also "threatened to use weapons against certain deputies," Ganor added.

The Berbers, who make up about 10 percent of Libya's population, are demanding that their language, ethnicity and culture be recognised in the future constitution.

At the beginning of July, they withdrew their representatives from the GNC to protest against marginalisation.

On July 17, they joined with two other minorities -- the Tuareg and the Toubou -- in announcing a boycott of elections to a constituent commission.

And they have threatened to launch a campaign of civil disobedience to pressure the GNC.

On July 25, Berbers in the western district of Nalout shut down the pipeline leading to the Millitah gas facility.

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Strikes Prevent Libya From Issuing September Oil Export Plans

Zueitina oil terminal located near Benghazi, Libya has been the scene of labor unrest. The industry in Libya is no facing a downturn in production after the imperialist overthrow of Gaddafi., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Strikes prevent Libya from issuing September oil export plans

12:03pm EDT
By Julia Payne and Feras Bosalum

LONDON/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - OPEC oil producer Libya told its customers on Tuesday it could make no promises on crude deliveries next month as on-off strikes paralyzed its major sea terminals.

The North African country's exports provided nearly 1.5 percent of global supplies until June, but output has since plunged, putting upward pressure on international oil prices.

Libya's state National Oil Corp (NOC) said in a statement it could provide no September loading schedules, normally sent to contract buyers of its gasoline-rich crude by this time of the month.

The NOC chairman, Nuri Berruien, told Reuters the September schedules "will be modified, not canceled...because of the current sit-ins at ports and fields."

Labor unrest gripping Libya's oilfields and ports has cut output to the lowest since the 2011 war that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, and some analysts say it is well below 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared with 1.3 million bpd in June.

Some estimates put exports as low as 300,000 bpd, depriving the 90 million bpd world market of approaching 1 million bpd - largely consisting of highly-prized light sweet crude.

Striking security guards on Monday again shut the country's two biggest crude export terminals, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, just hours after they had reopened from a two-week stoppage.

Late on Monday the deputy oil minister said exports from Es Sider could resume on Thursday, once some output from associated oilfields restarted and a new schedule was made, but the NOC statement admitted firm undertakings for September were not yet possible.

"Due to continuation of strikes in some Libyan terminals (Ras Lanuf, Es Sider, Zueitina, Marsa Al-Hariga) ... we are not able to allocate any quantity of crude oil exports from those terminals during September 2013," the NOC statement said.

The drop in availability of Libyan crude oil was a major factor, along with prospects for disruption of Iraqi exports, in driving global benchmark Brent crude oil futures up towards $110 per barrel on Tuesday.

As a result, European refiners are set to cut crude oil processing rates by around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) as high oil prices hit their already weak profits.

The outages are already undermining prospects of foreign investment in the oil sector, and the postponement of loading schedules could hurt confidence in the country as a supplier, which risks forcing it to discount prices in future.

The fast-evolving strikes by workers and occupations of facilities by jobless people seeking employment has made accurate readings for Libya's output and exports difficult.

One industry source with close ties to Libya estimated production on Monday at around 545,000 bpd, well below total capacity of around 1.6 million bpd. Other analysts put it lower.

"We think Libyan production is down around 0.4 million bpd," Richard Mallinson, chief policy analyst at London-based consultancy Energy Aspects said.

"Exports would be even lower at around 0.3 million bpd."

DEAL TO END ES SIDER STRIKE

Deputy oil minister Omar Shakmak, who himself estimated current oil production at 700,000 bpd, said workers and local authorities had reached an agreement to end the Es Sider strike.

"They decided to resume operations, (Es Sider) can be considered open," Shakmak said, adding that he expected the first cargo to be loaded around August 15-16.

"There is still no resumption at Ras Lanuf, but if Es Sider restarts maybe Ras Lanuf will follow," he said.

The two ports have a capacity of around 600,000 barrels per day, just under half the country's export capacity.

The port of Marsa Al Hariga was expected to remain closed for crude oil exports for the rest of the week but limited domestic movements were taking place, Shakmak said.

"A cargo of fuel oil was loaded yesterday for internal shipment," he said. "The terminal is open only internally, I do not see crude shipments for this week."

He said that there was "still no progress" at the Port of Zueitina, closed since around mid-July due to strikes.

The Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) has reduced production to around 60,000 bpd mainly because of the port closures, he said.
The ports of Zawiya, Marsa Al Brega and Mellitah were operational, he added.
(Editing by Joseph Radford and Anthony Barker)

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South African Women Married to Nigerians Threaten Protest Over Discrimination

South African women married to Nigerians protest in Johannesburg. The women say they, their husbands and children face discrimination., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

S-African women married to Nigerians threaten protest

August 13, 2013 at 7:13 am
Nigerian Vanguard

JOHANNESBURG — South African women married to Nigerians, yesterday, threatened to stage mass protest in Johannesburg to stop discrimination against them, their husbands and children.

Mrs Lindelwa Uche, the chairperson of the United Nigerian Wives in South Africa, UNWISA, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria during the launch of the association, Sunday, in Johannesburg.

Uche said that South African society did not take their marriage to Nigerians as serious relationships.

Some South African women married to Nigerians staged a peaceful protest in Johannesburg.

She said: “Our society does not take our marriages serious, they see our marriages as relations of convenience and perceive us as evil to the society.

“All of us are South Africans married to Nigerians living in South Africa, we decided to come together to fight against stigmatisation, discrimination, and humiliation, against our families by government departments and agency and the officials of the government, the community and our-in-laws.”

The chairperson said an earlier protest march by the members of the association had not generated any response from the Home affairs office.

“We protested against discrimination from home affairs officials in March this year, and since after that protest we have not received any response from the government. We felt before we embark on any further action we should come together and form an association registered by law.

“After the official launch of our association, our next action will be more than just a protest march to the city of Johannesburg home affairs office. It is going to be a protest where we will strip on the street of Johannesburg, so that people and government will know that there is an existing body and that we are not happy with the way our non-South Africans husbands and children are being treated.

“We also plan to carry our protest to Nigeria, we know that some South Africans also have businesses in Nigeria, if it is necessary we will take actions that will stop South Africa businesses operating in Nigeria. Indeed we are ready to go that far.

“We have been quiet for so long but we cannot can’t take it anymore, for the sake of the future of our children, we have to put an end to this discrimination.”

She said there was a need for them to collectively tackle the issue of some Nigerians residing in South Africa being unfairly separated from their families due to pending residence permit that eventually lead to deportations.

“If we don’t stand up as daughters of the soil and fight discrimination against our marriages who will, if we don’t stand up and fight for the rights of our husbands when they are being violated and treated shabily by officials of the government and citizens alike who will.

“If we don’t stand up for our children when they are being called derogatory names like “Small lee kwere-kwere” or turning their natives names upside down deliberately by our community in the name of making them feel like aliens, outcast, and unwelcome, or even when their Nigerian aunties and uncles call them bustards, then their future is in jeopardy.

“If we don’t stand up when our countrymen and women, officials and in-laws address us as paper wives, gold diggers, stupid and opportunist, who will do that for us, ” Uche queried.

She said the notion that all Nigerians are criminals must be corrected.

“We are in a country of law and order, if anyone is found guilty let the law take its course, we are not saying Nigerians
are good or bad, even in the South Africa society, there are criminals and indeed there is no country in the world that does not have criminals,’’ Uche said.

Ikechkwu Anyene, President of the Nigeria Union in South Africa (NUSA), said the association is a good initiative by the women who are suffering discrimination and humiliation because they are married to Nigerians.

“We at the NUSA have been working with them even before the association was registered as a body, we were with them when they carried a protest match to the home affairs office in Johannesburg,
“we will continue to support them to achieve their goal which is to put an end to discrimination by the government officials and their brothers and sisters towards them for being married to Nigerian.

“The initiative is also to unite Nigeria and South Africa and indeed the whole of Africa, to see each other as brothers and sisters and to ensure that we stand by one another,” Anyene said.

He, however, advised the body to carry along all South Africans married to Nigerians irrespective of their tribe and geo-political zone and the tribe of their husbands.

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