Eritrean legislation bans clitorectomy

The Eritrean Information Ministry described female circumcision as a dangerous process that threatens the health and lives of women. The practice also causes significant suffering and pain to women, it said.

Legislation was passed in March 2007 to punish anybody that requests, incites or promotes female genital mutilation (FGM).

Practitioners (including many Beja) say that the procedure prepares the women for adulthood, protects their virginity, as well as cleansing them when they reach the age of puberty. It is usually performed when the female is a young girl, by older women.

Though a number of African countries have outlawed the procedure, it is a widespread practice. Eritrean women activists said over 90 percent of Eritrean women have gone through the pains of female circumcision.

http://www.afrol.com/articles/24973

Russians provide tons of wheat to help Sudan

The United Nations received a $2 million delivery of 4,205 tons of wheat. The UN will help feed 284,500 school children and 6,000 adults, in the World Food Programme that operates in Red Sea State, Kassala State, and North Kordofan State.

Source: http://sudan.net/news/posted/14529.html

Chinese get $1 billion railway contract

March 4, 2007 (BEIJING) — Sudan and China signed 28 February a 1.15 bln USD contract to construct a railway line to link the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, with Port Sudan in the east of the country.
China Railway Engineering Group Co Ltd and China Railway Erju Co Ltd unit Transtech Engineering Corp have jointly won a 1.15 bln USD construction contract in Sudan, according to a statement on the Sichuan province Department of Commerce’s website.
China Railway Engineering Group indirectly controls China Railway Erju Co Ltd.
Inked after two years of negotiations, this contract is considered as the biggest construction contract in the field of the railways ever signed between China and Sudan. The total length of the railway line is 762 kilometres.
The implementation of this project will enhance the capacity of the railways net in Sudan. With a total of 4578 kilometres, the Sudanese railways are considered as the longest in Africa, but its equipments are not upgraded since long-time.

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article20580
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Eritrea and Sudan agree to development along border

At the end of the first week of March, the presidents of Sudan and Eritrea agreed to economically develop areas along their common border. Aided in negotiations by Qatari officials, the plan could help to defuse the long-standing tensions between the two countries.

http://www.sudan.net/news/posted/14235.html

Locusts threaten crops along Red Sea coast

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization keeps records of locust populations, and has identified "a developing and potentially dangerous situation" arising from second-generation locust infestations in a region straddling the border between Sudan and Eritrea.

Late instar hopper bands and newly fledged adults are present in pearl millet crops in wadis - dry river beds - and in natural vegetation on the coastal plains. "Within a week, the majority of these populations will become adults and form small immature swarms," UN officials warn.

The hopper bands can transform into mature swarms that are capable of travelling hundreds of kilometers. They usually travel in directions where vegetation is growing, which could be in any direction, north to the plains by the Red Sea, or south and west into the Eritrean hills. Crops can easily be devastated by locusts.

Officials plan to implement ground and aerial control operations in both countries and were "to try to reduce the scale of the expected migration," according to FAO.

http://www.afrol.com/articles/24827

MORE RESOURCES
NASA image of breeding areas near the Red Sea
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17610

Learn about the locust - simple explanation
http://www.no-pest.com/Locust.htm

Learn about the locust - detailed, academic
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/life/crowd/index.html

Every Sudanese child vaccinated for polio

Government health agencies and NGOs will be attempting to immunize every child in Sudan under 5 years with a vaccine against polio. Vaccinators will try to reach 8.7 million children over a 3 day period in late March. Funding and technical support come from United Nations and the World Health Organization, Rotary International as well as countries like Canada and the United States. The 3 day long National Immunization Days were successful in 2006 - no polio cases were reported. In 2004-2005, 155 cases were reported. Officials expect that some children in Darfur may not be reached because of insecure conditions.

Source: United Nations press release. Reference: nids_3_07.pdf

British armed boats of the Madhist era to be restored

[London, England]
Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums has signed an agreement with a Khartoum based historical society to restore a gunboat and a steamer that were used on the Nile River during the Mahdist era.
The plan is to restore the Gunboat Melik and the Armed Steamer Bordein to working condition. Estimated costs for restoring the Melik run to £ 1.5 M. The hope is that these working boats would allow tourists to experience a British connection to the heritage of Sudan.
The boats were built in England in the late 1800's, then tranported Egypt and assembled on the Nile. The Bordein is in sections in a dockyard on the Nile River in Khartoum. Since 1926, the Melik has been the headquarters for a sailing club.

http://www.melik.org.uk/

Kassala - Hameshkoreib road cleared of mines

A United Nations Mine Action Office was established in Kassala in April 2005. It coordinates mine action activities with in the 3 Eastern States (Al Gadaref, Kassala and Red Sea). The work in Kassala had been funded and supported by UNMIS till September 2006, but is now being funded through the VTF (Voluntary Trust Fund) a humanitarian fund managed by UNOPS/UNMAS New York. The Kassala office employs one ten man Manual Clearance team and two survey teams. A bulletin published by the United Nations Joint Logistics Center stated that:

"United Nations Mine Action Office clearance of the road from Kassala to Hameskoreib is now complete and the road is open. This is the only confirmed clear access to Hameshkoreib from Kassala."

http://www.unjlc.org/sudan/bulletin/bulletin82/view

Red Sea University to provide community education

In an interview conducted by Sudan Vision, Director of the Red Sea University [RSU] Dr. Mohamed Al Amin Hamza shared some ideas about the future of the school. Based in Port Sudan, and building on the foundation of Institute of Marine Sciences, established in 1971, the RSU now has six scientific faculties. Dr. Hamza noted that that professors are now coming out of RSU.

"The second generation of lecturers in some specialization were qualified by those lecturers who studied abroad. They will also assist in promoting and developing their performance in those specializations. As the Faculty [of Marine sciences] is quite a significant one, the Ministry of Higher Education paid attention to it. We started programmes of cooperation with some universities which are experienced in Marine Sciences, such as the University of Bergen in Norway."

When asked about offering assistance to the citizens of Red Sea State, Dr Hamza said, "The University, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare in Red Sea State, will establish a number of social development centres in the various localities. This aims at developing women in rural areas to promote them in cultural, health, nutritional and professional fields, so that they can improve the family income to meet its needs. It is quite well known that eastern Sudan has a very high poverty rate. It is expected that all localities will have these centres. We started by establishing the Social Development Centre in Gabait. Port Sudan will have four centres."

The Red Sea University offers Bachelor level degrees in Education, Economy, Marine Sciences, and Earth Sciences. Masters and PhD degrees are in development. The RSU added a Faculty of Arts in 2006. Languages, History, Geography and Information are being added for the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Red Sea University has no website [June 2007].


http://www.sudanvisiondaily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15225

Eritrean authorities arrest people at home prayer meetings

In the capital city Asmara, and in regional towns Keren and Massawa, Eritrean authorities arrested and detained at least 29 people, most of them Christians. They had been in home prayer groups.

ReleaseEritrea, a watch group based in the United Kingdom, writes articles detailing the persecution of Christians in Eritrea, and lobbies the Eritrean government, asking it to uphold their constitutional provisions to protect the freedom of religion.

Source
http://www.release-eritrea.org.uk/node/50
http://www.release-eritrea.org.uk/

Nile River dam being built by Chinese for producing electricity

Construction began in 2006 on a 9 km wide earthen/rock dam at the Fourth Cataract on the Nile River. A lake 160 km long will be created. The dam will be 67 meters high [approx. 210 feet] and cost about 1200 million EURs, or 1.5 billion dollars. With 10 hydro generators, the available electricity in Sudan will nearly double. Flooding begins in August 2008, and will take about two years to fill. Irrigation for farms will be available downstream. River navigation will be improved.

The Beja connection is that plans exist to build a 1,000 km long transmission line across the Red Sea Hills to improve electrical service in Port Sudan.

A noteable side effect of the construction is the displacement of about 50,000 people, many who work on date and vegetable farms, and who are of the same tribal ethnicity. New land being offered doesn't have the rich soil the date palms like, short term assistance programmes the government wants to give appear inadequate to fully reestablish the farmers, and local towns that purchase the dates and vegetables will be flooded.

The new lake will flood hundreds of archeological sites. Efforts have been ongoing for years, but resources are inadequate to rescue many artifacts, or remove and rebuild the many historic buildings and pyramids.

China has an interest in many countries in Africa, with a view of developing friendly relations in order to secure resources for her own economic well-being.

More:
http://www.gomaya.com/glyph/archives/cat_watery_way.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merowe_Dam

Partial solar eclipse brings darkness to North Africa

On March 29, 2006, a solar eclipse was visible from Northern Africa, as
the moon passes in orbit between the earth and the sun. As the earth
rotates, the best place to see the eclipse will be in Libya. The total
eclipse will be visible for over 4 minutes, and the darkness will cover
the earth over the 180 km wide path. While the moon blocks the sun, it's
possible to view the night sky during the day! A partial eclipse was
visible across Sudan in the afternoon.

Future partial solar eclipses visible from east Sudan take place on

November 3, 2013
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2013Nov03H.GIF

September 1, 2016
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2016Sep01A.GIF

June 21, 2020.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2020Jun21A.GIF

International aid agency steps out of east Sudan

Bowing to pressure from the central Khartoum government, the
International Rescue Committee [IRC] has suspended their work, which
includes provision of food and medicine to 45,000 people living in
camps. These camps are within the rebel controlled territory near the
Eritrean border.

News came from IRC which sent a letter to the Eastern Front describing
the government's request, who called a news briefing with journalists.
Eastern Front rebels said, "This sudden move creates a humanitarian
disaster for the 45,000 people directly benefiting from the health,
education, veterinary, water and local-capacity building programmes of
IRC." The one other agency at work in the area is Samaritan's Purse, and
they continue their operations.

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article14388

23 Beja demonstrators killed by authorities

In the Annual Report for 2005, the Sudanese Organization Against Torture identified many situations in Sudan where citizens were unreasonably threatened. They state that in East Sudan, "The severe clampdown on people from the Beja tribe, which began in January 2005, when police forces in Port Sudan opened live ammunition on a demonstrating Beja crowd killing approximately 23 people including children and a pregnant woman, continued apace throughout the year."


http://tinyurl.com/2rr8xc
a pdf file converted to a html page - info on page 41.