The move is unlikely to end a recent upsurge in violence in the region where mainly non-Arab tribes have been fighting the government for nearly a decade in a conflict the United Nations estimates has killed around 300,000 people.

But diplomats hope it will inject new life into Western and Arab efforts to mediate a peace settlement. Qatar last year brokered a peace deal between Sudan and one small rebel group, the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM).

Unlike previous failed peace deals, this agreement is open to other rebel groups to join and promises significant development aid. Qatar plans to hold a donor conference soon to kickstart development in Darfur to win over more rebels and choke off support for groups who refuse to lay down weapons.

On Tuesday, a splinter group which broke off this year from the large rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said it would start peace talks with Sudan in Doha next month.

“We are committed to the Doha forum as a place, and the Doha agreement as a basis for future negotiations, but not as a final agreement,” the group’s Vice President Arkou Suleiman told a news conference in the Qatari capital.

“There are still problems with (the agreement), particularly regarding refugees and internally displaced people. The security situation is also deteriorating,” Suleiman said.

Sudan confirmed it would start peace talks with the group, state news agency SUNA said.

In contrast to the very small LJM, the new splinter group actually has fighters on the ground so their participation could help calm the situation, diplomats say. The new group split off from JEM, the most powerful military rebels.

“The idea of the Doha agreement is to undermine support for rebel groups one by one by starting development and providing an incentive to stop fighting,” a Western diplomat following the Darfur conflict said.

“It will be a very long-term scenario but is the only option for some sort of progress. The Qataris are trying very hard to get talks restarted and win over more groups with the prospect of economic aid for Darfur.”

JEM and other larger insurgent groups have so far refused to join the Doha process. The rebels accuse the government of political and economic marginalization.

Fighting has recently picked up with gunmen killing five peacekeepers this month alone, according to UNAMID, the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force.

The International Criminal Court has indicted Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other top officials for masterminding war crimes in the region, which they deny. Khartoum puts the death toll from the Darfur conflict at 10,000.

Sudan’s government also faces insurgents in two states bordering South Sudan which also complain of economic and political neglect in a country where wealth and power are concentrated in the capital Khartoum.

(additional reporting by Ulf Laessing; Reporting By Regan Doherty, Editing by Rosalind Russell)

The current territorial disputes threaten to plunge the country into the state of chaos from which it escaped just a few years ago. We urge all parties to return to the negotiating table for the sake of the people of both Sudans – who want neither war nor animosity – and hope only for peace and development.

Opinions & Articles of note:

Sudan’s Unending Woes: An Op-ed from the Khaleej Times
Heglig: the Unity of Corpses: from the Sudan Tribune
S.Sudan says Khartoum Bombs Oil Fields Near Border: Reuters
Sudan’s conflict a series of internal devisions complicated by oil riches: The East African

Photo by Tim McKulka/UN, courtesty of Allafrica.com

Having celebrated International Women’s Day last month, we are reminded of the need to revisit and understand the articles of the constitution in order to collectively ensure they are appropriately implemented. After all, women represent more than half of the population and their effective participation in all aspects of society not only promotes development, but moves us closer towards the Millennium Development Goals.

The articles below represent a strong and persuasive commitment to women’s rights. But more is needed—increased access to universal, basic education for girls in rural areas; and initiatives to reduce maternal mortality are just two of many ways public programs can contribute to a better future for Sudanese women and girls. As a people, however, the Sudanese have an equally weighty obligation to transform archaic gender norms and ensure that women are treated with respect and dignity–and their rights are upheld and safeguarded. The first step in safeguarding rights is understanding what they are.

As stated in the 2005 Constitutions, the following women’s rights are guaranteed in Article 23:
1.  The State shall   guarantee equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights, including the right to equal work and other related benefits.

2. The State shall promote women’s rights through affirmative action.

3. The State shall combat harmful customs and traditions which undermine the dignity and status of women.

4. The State shall provide maternity and child care and medical care for pregnant women.

5. The State shall protect the rights of the Child as provided in the international and regional conventions ratified by the Sudan.

Khartoum — Hamed, 19, has a captive market for his goods, but only for frenetic 90-second bursts: once the traffic lights change on Khartoum’s Nile Avenue, potential customers for his packs of tissues drive on, sending Hamed and the rest of a small army of vendors of everything from socks to soft drinks scurrying for safety until the signal turns red again.

Until eight years ago, Hamed’s father farmed wheat on two hectares of land near Dongola, capital of Sudan’s Northern State. But rising costs of water, fertilizer, seeds, electricity and labour gradually made the business unprofitable and, like many in a similar position, the family moved to Khartoum.

“My Dad has a small grocery kiosk, while my three brothers and I have to work to support the family” Hamed told IRIN.

“We thought we might find a better life in the capital. My Dad wanted us to be employed in respectable positions, but everything is becoming unbelievably expensive, and all of us had to leave school to work,” he said.

Even since oil production began in 1999, agriculture has remained a key component of Sudan’s economy, employing around 80 percent of the workforce and contributing a significant portion of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

But since the oil began flowing, according to Ali Abdullah Ali, professor of economics at al Ahleyya University, agriculture’s “share of GDP has declined, rural incomes have decreased and poverty in rural areas may have intensified”.

“The uncompetitive status of Sudan’s agricultural sector over the last 10 years has resulted in reduced incentives for farmers and discouraged younger Sudanese from taking up farming”, he added.

Agriculture’s share of Sudan’s total exports fell from 73 percent in 1998 to 5 percent in 2008, according to a 2011 paper by Khalid H. A. Siddig of the University of Khartoum.

Until the secession of South Sudan in July 2011, oil accounted for about three-quarters of Khartoum’s foreign exchange earnings and half of government revenue.

But three quarters of that oil came from the south and was piped northwards to market. A row over how much Khartoum was entitled to charge for transit and other fees led South Sudan to shut down production entirely in January.

While the move is having severe repercussions in South Sudan, where oil accounted for 98 percent of government revenue, the effects are also significant north of the border.

Major challenges

“The [Khartoum] government is facing major challenges,” said Hafiz Ismail, an economist and Sudan director of Justice Africa, a London-based advocacy group.

“Imports have become more expensive due to the loss of oil revenues, [there is a] shortage in foreign currency, a devalued currency that hinders international trade, and then the major hole in this year’s budget that [foresaw] almost 30 percent of the revenues coming from the oil,” he said.

The budget, presented to the National Assembly in December 2011, projected economic growth of 2 percent, inflation of 18 percent and a year-on-year deficit decline from 4.4 to 3.4 percent of GDP.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook published in September, projected a negative rate of growth of -0.4 percent in 2012.

The Sudanese pound now trades on the black market at around five to the US dollar, against an official rate of 2.7. In July, the black market rate ranged between 3.0 and 3.4 to the dollar.

Inflation, unemployment

Year-on-year food price inflation reached 21.3 percent in February, up from 19.3 percent in January, according to official figures.

“Being a student and living in the hostel, I need to manage my expenses well,” said Fahd Mohamed, a fifth-year student in Khartoum University’s engineering faculty.

“Previously, my daily expenditure was six pounds, now it’s nine pounds, despite me having cut down on some fronts. My parents used to give me 200 pounds a month, now it’s 250-300.”

During the five years he spent at the university, Mohamed has seen the price of the meal at the dorm rise from 3 to 5 pounds.

“The college has also increased the fees, citing more expenditure. Five of my friends had to leave university.”

Of his friends who graduated last year, Mohamed knows of only three who now have jobs. “It’s only because they have connections; other friends had to open groceries or work in a store. There are no jobs in this country. Once I graduate, my plan is to apply for jobs outside Sudan. I studied engineering: I don’t want to end up doing anything else,” he said.

“More than 50 percent of the graduates are unemployed, there’s no investment, no agriculture, no jobs, nothing,” said Hassan El-Bashir, professor of economy at Al-Neelain University.

“Social welfare payments make up for less than 10 percent of the budget, which is very weak, compared to other countries,” he added.

Gold

Sudan is better placed than South Sudan to weather the oil shutdown across the border. According to Sudan’s mining ministry, it produced 11.5 tons of gold between January and mid-March and is on track to meet an annual target of 50 tons.

President Omar al Bashir announced earlier this month that Sudan’s own oil production could reach 75,000 barrels per day this year, and said there were plans to boost exports of cotton, sugar and other commodities.

Additional economic respite is set to come from Qatar, which in early March pledged to invest $2 billion in Sudan, specifically in the sectors of mining, agriculture and oil.

Bashir still faces myriad challenges: he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes allegedly committed in Darfur, where armed opposition is now in its 10th year; since June 2011 the Sudan armed forces have been engaged in a costly counter-insurgency operation in the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where they have also been accused of war crimes; rebels from all three areas have joined forces under the banner of the Sudan Revolutionary Front with the aim of bringing about regime change in Khartoum; and many in Sudan blame the administration for the loss of the south, and with it several billion dollars of oil revenue a year.

For Justice Africa’s Hafiz Ismail, “Sudan needs to make necessary political changes, needs to stop war on borders which takes up to 80 percent of its budget, needs to resolve pending issues with the south, normalize relations with its neighbours and with the Western world… Most importantly, the mindset of the elite in Khartoum has been the same for 23 years now; we need some fresh minds.”

We think the Sudan page is worth sharing. Enjoy!