A roundup of a few key stories from the last week on political issues in Sudan and South Sudan:
Governor Konga urges Equatorians to stay out of ‘Dinka-Nuer war’ (Radio Tamazuj, 9 January 2015) — Clement Wani Konga, Governor of Central Equatoria State has cautioned his fellow Equatorians to remain neutral and not to involve themselves in the ongoing fighting between President Salva Kiir and his former Vice President Riek Machar.
‘Constitutional amendments demise of Sudan’s Bill of Rights’: opposition (Radio Dabanga, 8 January 2015) — The two oldest and largest Sudanese opposition parties, the National Umma Party (NUP) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), strongly criticised the amendments to the 2005 Sudanese Interim Constitution, approved by the parliament last week.
South Sudan elections budget ‘needs to be approved by parliament’ (Radio Tamazuj, 7 January 2015) — A member of South Sudan’s parliament says the decision by the Council of Ministers to allocate funding for elections without parliamentary approval is “unacceptable” and “unconstitutional.”
SPLM-Juba launches crackdown on dissent in N Bahr el Ghazal (Radio Tamazuj, 7 January 2015) — South Sudan’s warring SPLM-Juba faction has launched a crackdown on perceived political dissidents in a territory under its control, Northern Bahr al Ghazal State, amid reports of tensions between the caretaker governor and the former governor.
Rizeigat leader blames tensions with Misseriya on pending peace resolutions (Radio Tamazuj, 5 January 2015) — Mohamed Issa Aliu, Chairman of the Shura Council of the Rizeigat Arab tribe in Sudan’s East Darfur state has described tension between the Rizeigat and Misseriya Arab nomadic tribes in Abu Jabra and Meiram localities as “normal”.