WHAT'S GOING ON

UN officials say southern Sudan will be the biggest logistical challenge ever faced by a UN peacekeeping mission.

Vice-President John Garang was killed in a helicopter crash August 1, 2005.

• The SPLA/M selected Salva Kiir to succeed him.
• Salva Kiir was sworn in as Vice-President on August 11, 2005. He affirmed support for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Sudan's new constitution took effect July 9, 2005. John Garang was sworn in as vice-President.

1/11/05 NDA spokesman says peace agreement does not go far enough

1/9/05 Peace agreement signed

1/9/05 SSLM statement on the peace agreement

12/26/04 GOS official says the peace agreement will be signed on Jan 10.

9/30/04 Wal Duany resigns as chair of the SSLM

1/16/04 US diplomat says that a peace agreement is now "inevitable."

1/6/04 GOS and SPLA reached an agreement on wealth sharing.

11/5/03 Rev. Haruun Ruun, executive secretary of the New Sudan Council of Churches, will receive the 2003 Spirit of Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award.

10/18/03 five Sudanese pastors from Kakuma refugee camp graduated from Calvary Ministries Bible College. They have returned to Kakuma to minister to churches there and inside southern Sudan.

10/6/03 EU pledges 400 million euros for rebuilding southern Sudan.

10/5/03 Peace talks will resume on Monday (Oct 6) in Naivasha.

9/28/03 US will remove Sudan from its terrorism list. The timing of this decision raises the question of whether it is intended as a reward for the interim security agreement.

9/25/03 GOS and SPLM/A signed the security agreement, which calls for a combination of separate and integrated army units, and an internationally-monitored cease-fire (pending a follow-up agreement to be negotiated at an unspecified later time). Click here to read the text of the agreement.

9/24/03 The Nation and AFP reported an agreement between the GOS and the SPLM/A on merging their armies.

9/18/03 Human Rights Watch calls for more inclusiveness in the peace process and more vigorous monitoring of human rights.

9/12/03 Disagreements about how to share wealth and power continue to cause problems at the peace talks.

8/23/03 Peace talks suspended until September 10 because of differences over power sharing.

8/20/03 IRIN special report on women in southern Sudan.

8/12/03 Peace talks between GOS and the SPLA/M resumed in Kenya.

7/30/03 Talisman's profits were up 123% in the second quarter of 2003 after sale of its oil property in Sudan.

7/28/03 Analysis of recent violence between refugees at Kakuma and the Turkana people who live in that area.

7/26/03 GOS throws out the chief mediator's propoal, but says that peace talks will resume August 3. On July 29, GOS affirmed support for the Machakos Protocol, but demanded a new framework for continued negotiation.

7/17/03 A few days before the first anniversary of the signing of the Machakos Protocol, Amnesty International emphasizes that human rights must be at the core of a lasting peace.

11/20/02 Southern Sudan is suffering from a severe outbreak of the parasitic disease kala azar, which is fatal if untreated.

11/12/02 Talisman sells its oil interests in Sudan.

9/26/02 GOS bans all flights across a large section of southern Sudan. The ban could be in preparation for a major attack.

7/20/02 GOS and SPLM/A sign the Machakos Protocol.

3/11/02 SPLA forces attacked SSLM/A at Mawut. In an earlier press release, SSLM/A spokesman Willian Kuol Chol said that the SPLA was assembling forces at Mawut and Akobo

3/10/02 Sudan signed an agreement brokered by the US that is intended to protect civilians

3/1/02 GOS helicopter attack kills 17 at a food distribution near Bieh; GOS says it was a mistake; US suspends its participation in the Sudanese peace process because of the attack

2/28/02 No chance to appeal: a pregnant Dinka woman, originally condemned to death by stoning, was whipped in Nyala

Stories about the January 2002 SPLA/SPDF Unity Declaration

SSFI's newsletter, The South Sudanese Lens, for November, 2001

7/22/01 SSLM/SPDF declaration of unity

7/7/01 SSLM/A supports IGAD and expresses opposition to the Egyptian-Libyan Peace Initiative.

6/22/01 Declaration of the Kisumu, Kenya, peace conference

6/19/01 Telar Deng of the New Sudan Council of Churches, speaking at a conference on South Sudan peace held in Nairobi, said that conflicts among southern movements such as the SPLA, SSPM, and SPDF were a major obstacle to peace and unity. He discussed the NSCC's alternative - grassroots peacemaking. 

5/01 Africa News article about American evangelicals' recent interest in Sudan. This article expresses a concern that focusing only on the religious aspects of the war might prolong it.

5/5/01 The US lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Commission, and Sudan was elected to the commission.

Settling the "Lost Boys," thousands of teenaged refugees from the Kakuma camp in Kenya, to the U.S.

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12/21/00 Drought threatens Sudan again.

12/14/00 Taban Deng, Sudan's minister of Roads and Communications, has resigned in protest over GOS' failure to implement the Khartoum Peace Agreement of 1997. He also accused GOS of improperly using oil profits to fund the war effort.

12/8/00 A member of a banned Islamic sect massacred more than 20 worshippers at a mosque in Jarafa, a village near Khartoum.

Stories about the elections in December, 2000.

The EU is considering banning aid to countries that allow female genital mutilation, including Sudan.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued a genocide warning for southern Sudan. It is the museum's first display about a situation outside of Europe. The museum's Committee on Conscience states that "organized violence is underway that threatens to become genocide or related crimes against humanity."

Stories about GOS bombing of civilian targets in the south:

• 11/27/00 SUPRAID reports bombing in Twic County, Bahr el-Ghazal.

• 11/25/00 Beshir denies bombing civilian targets.

• 11/24/00 Bombing strengthens US resolve to help southern Sudan.

• 11/14/00 A missionary's account of a GOS bombing raid against a church.

• 11/11/00 The SPLA says seven people were killed in a GOS bombing raid on Narus.

• 11/9/00 The US Committee for Refugees reports that GOS bombed civilian targets in the south 113 times in the first 10 months of 2000.

• 10/26/00 SPLA condemns the bombing of a camp for internally displaced people near Ikotos.

• 10/25/00 President Clinton criticizes GOS' bombing of civilian targets after the bombing of Nimule.

• 10/18/00 U.N. human rights expert accuses GOS of systematically bombing civilian targets.

A group of U.S. based NGOs calls on the Clinton administration to support a variety of initiatives in the Horn of Africa, including grassroots peacemaking, and isolating GOS politically and financially, 10/24/00.

SPLA promises to demobilize child soldiers, 10/23/00.

Stories about the U.S. lobbying effort to keep Sudan off the U.N. Security Council:

• 10/15/2000 Washington Post analysis: US should follow up by putting pressure on Canada, Malaysia, and China.

• 10/12/2000 Sudan accuses US of using "intimidation and temptation"

• 10/11/2000 UN selects Mauritius over Sudan

• 10/9/2000 US Scrambles to keep Sudan off

• 10/9/2000 Sudan blasts US for its position

• 10/7/2000 Summary by The East African

• 10/6/2000 Summary by AFP

• 10/6/2000 Several human rights groups agree

• 9/20/2000 Sudan determined to claim the seat

EARLIER NEWS

August, 2000: Suspension, resumption, and conflict over monitoring, of Operation Lifeline Sudan's relief flights.

August 6, 2000: Government of Sudan re-states its opposition to secession of the southern part of the country.

August 2, 2000: SSLM calls on the SPLA and SPDF to stop fighting each other.

July, 2000: Information about the issues related to oil in southern Sudan has moved.

June 21, 2000: General Bashir proclaims a general amnesty for rebels, but his motives are suspect; SPLA rejects the amnesty; UMMA applauds it.

At the end of February, the departure of eleven NGOs from southern Sudan, including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, CARE International, and World Vision, cut off about 75% of the non-UN aid that had been flowing into southern Sudan. Click here for more information.

South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) formed, with Wal as chairman. More information, including the SSLM's press release about its formation, and its declaration of purposes and principles, are available on this page of SSLM documents from Sudan Infonet.

Stories about the resignation of Dr. Riek Machar as assistant president of Sudan:

• Machar resigns in protest over violation of the 1997 Khartoum agreement

• AFP analysis of the resignation

• Machar tenders his resignation on 1/31/2000

Government of Sudan remains a gross abuser of human rights, 1/28/2000

Update from Julia, 1/21/2000

Update from January 2, 2000 on Wal's work in Africa and his new role as chairman of the committee to develop a political body in sourthern Sudan

Background on the rapidly changing situation in Sudan:

• Power struggle changes political atmosphere in Sudan (DPA)

• Sudanese FM, opposition leader, sign peace deal (AFP)

• Sudan militia commanders defect to southern rebels (Reuters)

• Canadian Business article about Talisman's oil venture in Sudan

• For more information, check out the latest News from Sudan.Net

Update from December 16, 1999 on Wal's work in Africa

Notes on the most recent peace conferences, by Rev. Bill Lowrey

Campaign to Block Sudan-Chinese Oil Entente Gains Ground - from the Casey Institute of the Center for Security Policy

Information and opinions about slavery and abductions have moved to a page dedicated to the slavery issue.

Peace is possible! 1999 Wunlit Nuer-Dinka Peace and Reconciliation Conference: narratives, documents, photos, and links

Leaders of 11 US-based humanitarian organizations met with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on September 15 to urge a greater focus on achieving a just peace in southern Sudan.

Wal's April - July 1998 mission to Africa