Cairo to recognise South Sudan - Africa. Cairo will recognise South Sudan as an independent state, Nabil Elaraby, the Egyptian foreign minister, has said during a visit to Khartoum. Elaraby is in the Sudanese capital as part of a visiting Egyptian delegation, headed by Essam Sharaf, the prime minister. The visit to Sudan is Sharaf’s first abroad since taking office in the wake of Egypt’s uprising that toppled the regime of Hosni Mubarak. "Sudan intends to be the first to recognise Juba (capital of South Sudan) and Egypt intends to be the second to recognise the south," Elaraby said on Sunday, two months after the region voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to secede from Khartoum.
Elaraby also said Egypt would introduce a new proposal to Nile Basin nations to try to overcome a stalemate on sharing the river's waters. South Sudan has not declared a position on sharing Nile waters but most analysts believe it is likely to side with its east African allies. South Sudan Jonglei attack by Athor rebels 'killed 200' 15 February 2011Last updated at 16:04 George Athor did not attend the January signing ceremony Some 200 people were killed in a "massacre" in south Sudan last week, officials say. Most of the dead were civilians, including children and others chased into a river by rebels, a minister said. Previous estimates said that about 100 people had died when fighters loyal to rebel leader George Athor attacked.
The deaths come as the region prepares for independence from the north after last month's referendum. Some 99% of people voted to secede from the north. A senior official of south Sudan's ruling party accused the north of backing the rebel attacks. The north has denied previous similar accusations. The referendum on independence for the oil-rich south was part of a deal to end decades of north-south conflict. Security challenges "They were chased into the river. Another senior official said 197 people had died in the fighting in Jonglei, the south's most populous state.
Sudan: Satellite Images Confirm Govt Troop Buildup - Report. Cape Town — A satellite mapping project launched by human rights activists says images captured during South Sudan’s independence referendum this month confirm reports that Sudanese troops were deployed in strategic areas along the North-South border during the vote. However, the full strength and the capacity of the northern troops have not been confirmed, the project says, and they “do not currently appear to be preparing forward movement from their current positions.”
A report issued Thursday by the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) says its monitoring “provides the first public evidence confirming some of the recent reports of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) deployment in South Kordofan (a province of Sudan) and checkpoints on the roads north of Abyei.” The project reported photographing: • “At least company-sized deployments” of SAF troops near Muglad, Kadugli, Kharassana and elsewhere in South Kordofan; • Rapid improvements to roads in the area; and • Images of checkpoints on various roads. Al-Turabi arrested in Khartoum - Africa. Security forces in Sudan have arrested opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi from his home in Khartoum, al-Turabi's Popular Congress Party spokesman told Al Jazeera. Monday's arrest comes a day after al-Turabi's party called for a "popular revolution" if the Sudanese government did not reverse price increases.
"He has been arrested ... with five other members of the group, and we don't know the reasons, because when they come to arrest him they don't give any reason," Bashir Adam Rahma, told Al Jazeera. "Whenever this regime has a crisis ... they will capture Dr Turabi at first. I think they are afraid of him that he might instigate some kind of uprising because ... in Sudan there are no freedoms," Rahma said. "This is a very bad situation economically, and due to the winds of freedom coming from Tunisia, any dictator in the region is looking to see from where the danger will come. "If they arrest people, they think they can stay in power. " 'Popular uprising' Mayhem in Sudan's Shilluk Kingdom - Africa.