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.

Chinese to build power plant in Port Sudan

An agreement has been signed in 2005 that will lead to the construction of a 520 MW coal fired electrical power plant in Port Sudan, at a cost of $512 million [US].

Funding is being provided by Ex-im Bank, China and construction is by Shandong Electric Power Constr. Corp.

Recorded in "Building Bridges: China's Growing Role as Infrastructure Financier for Africa" Trends and Policy Options - Infrastructure #5. World Bank, PPIAF.

Beja writer detained by authorities

Security Officers from Sinkat, Red Sea State, Eastern Sudan questioned a published Beja writer at their offices about his book that reputedly held some pages of text that were critical of the government. The title of the book by 63 year old Mr. Mohamed Adroub Ohajis called "Beja Congress - Past and Present." Officers demanded that pages be torn out of the book. Some 288 copies of the book were seized. Mr Ohajis is a retired teacher, writer on Beja history. A project he was working on at the time was a dictionary of the Beja language.

The Sudan Organisation Against Torture promoted this case as an example of intimidation and harassment, and invited appeals to government officials to "end restrictions on freedom of expression, allow full and open reporting of, and comment upon the current state of affairs in Sudan."

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article11333
http://www.soatsudan.org/
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Central government bombs Beja rebels

Eastern Front rebels announce that casualties fill hospitals in Tokar and Port Sudan after air raids. Fighting on the ground was active for a few days. Also noted was the largest raid in years by the rebels against three barracks in Tokar. They attacked a military post on June 19 in Dolabyai, southeast of Tokar. This occurred after the central government made a peace deal with the National Democratic Alliance the previous week. The Eastern Front has been part of the NDA. To diffuse the rebellion, the government offered $88 million to develop east Sudan. Military officials deny any bombing from the air.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4618313.stm
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Food aid given in Halaib and Sinkat regions

WFP's partner, Sudanese Red Crescent, distributed over 675 tons of
assorted commodities to 30,035 beneficiaries under Food-For-Recovery
activities in different locations in Halaieb and Sinkat localities in
Red Sea State. Another 2 tons of commodities were provided through the
Ministry of Health and ACF to more than 1,245 beneficiaries in
supplementary feeding centres in Port Sudan town.

http://www.cidi.org:8080/humanitarian//wfp/05a/ixl22.html 

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25% of toddlers suffer malnutrition

(z) Sudanese Red Crescent (SRC) conducted a joint nutrition survey on 22 April in Odi, Hamoshkoraib locality Kassala State, targeting children under-five years. The survey found Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) at 24.6 percent for children under five. Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) was reported at 3.4 percent. Primary factors that contributed to the deterioration of the nutritional status among children include access to food and clean drinking water.

Due to the severity of the situation, SRC recommended blanket supplementary feeding for all children under-five years for a three-month period to be followed by targeted supplementary feeding for children under-five years and pregnant and nursing women. Additionally, SRC recommended measles vaccination for all under-fives as the survey indicated that out of the 203 children screened, only one child was vaccinated. Limited access to safe water was reported as the biggest risk factor for morbidity and malnutrition.

The survey stressed that an appropriate strategy needs to be formulated immediately to address the critical safe water needs through the drilling of new boreholes, in conjunction with hygiene and health awareness. Meanwhile, WFP is currently reviewing a proposal submitted by SRC for a supplementary feeding programme in Odi.

http://www.cidi.org:8080/humanitarian//wfp/05a/ixl18.html
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Fifteen people, including government adminstrators die

An attack by the Eastern Front claimed the lives of 15 people, some of them were civil servants. The group claimed the action was in protest against a government- organised conference on the development of Eastern Sudan, which brought together traditional tribal leaders in Kassala but did not include members of the Eastern Front. Additionally, five people were kidnapped, including three politicians of the Red Sea parliament.

Later released, this incident took place in Amadam, North of Kassala, while the parliamentarians were on their way back to Port Sudan after attending the conference.

Source: SOAT

Cold weather and drought in Eritrea

Reported in the weekly World Food Program Report

Severe frost damaged vegetables in the areas surrounding Asmara between 20 and 31 December 2004. The Ministry of Agriculture has distributed seeds to facilitate the replanting of vegetables.

(c) Due to shortages of fuel, irrigation farms could not pump enough water, thus, many vegetables and fruits are drying in many areas of southeastern Eritrea. Water in the dams is expected to last up to end January 2005, thereafter, acute water shortage is expected in Areza, Mai Mine, Tsorona, and Adi Keyih (southeastern Eritrea). According to information received from the Regional Ministry of Agriculture representative, pastoralists from this area are on the verge of migrating with their livestock towards the Northern Red Sea zone in search of water/grazing land for their animals.

http://www.cidi.org:8080/humanitarian//wfp/05a/ixl0.html 
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