Scramble For Africa's blog

"In fact the policy of economic and commercial isolation serves the ideological interest of being seen to punish a rogue regime in preference to the material interest of achieving democracy and peace." (Abd al-Wahab Abdalla)

From Reuters:

Another in a series of humanizing BBC pieces about ordinary Sudanese people:

Three Sudanese men sit on the edge of a bed and watch intently as a clear spirit glugs into a four-litre container.

"A little more - it's not quite at the top," one of them instructs the sisters who are pouring the illegal date-gin known as "araqi".

The men are anxious not to be photographed in this small mud-walled home, where chickens are pecking the dirt floor, on the outskirts of Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

From Noam Chomsky's new book, Hopes and Prospects:

Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times reports on what may happen if south Sudan becomes independent:

From the BBC:

Four South African peacekeepers who were kidnapped in Sudan's troubled Darfur region earlier this month have been released, the UN says.

(...)

Rebel Movement for the Popular Struggle spokesman Ibrahim al-Dukki said no ransom had been paid.

He said the abduction was to show Darfur was not safe for elections.

"The pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court has rejected an appeal by prosecutors to overturn an earlier decision declining to confirm charges against a rebel leader accused of directing the September 2007 attack that killed a dozen African Union peacekeepers in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region.

"Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has been declared the winner of this month's landmark elections, despite facing war crimes charges over Darfur.

Former rebel leader Salva Kiir has been confirmed in power in the semi-autonomous south in the first polls since the north-south war ended. ....

Observers and opposition parties have complained of fraud in north and south.

Sudan's election commission said Mr Bashir had received 68% of the vote.

From Reuters:

Hard-pressed Sudanese election officials told staff to save time and stop entering results into a safeguard computer system, leaving vote counting open to fraud and error, international sources said on Saturday.