It’s not exactly Sudan’s biggest problem, but the government there should think of getting new copy editors. On the occasion of the fifth Sudan Population and Housing Census:

Yet in some ways it works, doesn’t it?
[Thanks, Diana]

Needless to say, this is complete bull and an obvious and pathetic attempt by the barbaric Sudanese government to get another negotiating card as it heads into yet another round of talks on Darfur and the South. Memo to the Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh al-Azhar and the Muslim Brotherhood: now’s the time to speak up [...]

Activists are holding a candle light vigil, Friday 29 December, 6pm, in front of the UNHCR office in Mohandessin, to mark the first the anniversary of the massacre of Sudanese refugees on the hands of the Egyptian Interior Ministry’s Central Security Forces.

Blogger Nora Younis witnessed the atrocity last year, and wrote her testimony here…

The recent beheading of a newspaper editor in Sudan is horrible news — but really what do you expect from a regime that has perpetuated one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest civil war and continues to engage in ethnic cleansing in Darfur?
Masked gunmen bundled Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, editor-in-chief of the private daily Al-Wifaq, into [...]

Just after those Fox News journalists were released in Gaza, I heard that twice Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Paul Salopek has been charged with espionage in Sudan. I had the opportunity to meet Paul once, around the time Iraq was invaded. He was an extremely humble and smart journalist (a rare combination in this profession) [...]

A crave for skin-lightening cosmetics in Sudan is causing a rise of women with skin problems:
Millions of women throughout Africa use creams and soaps containing chemicals, like hydroquinone, to lighten the color of their skin. But the creams can cause long-term damage.
Dermatologists say prolonged use of hydroquinone and mercury-based products, also found in some creams, [...]

Sudanese refugess may not be having the best times of their lives in Cairo, encountering state and society’s racism on occasions, still some activities are organized to help relief work.
Here is another slideshow by Nasser of a Sudanese refugees’ summer school in Ramsis, Cairo, pix taken on 29/06/2006

The NYT profiles Hassan Dahir Aweys, the new head of Somalia’s Islamic Courts movement. Aweys comes across as a more hardline leader than the Islamic Courts’ previous spokesman, Sharif Ahmed, and is on US terrorist lists.

A brilliant post by Ethan Zuckerman on a tasteless “virtual refugee camp” in the online game “Second Life.”
Via Elijah.
Also read up on Sudan’s forgotten third (or is it fourth? I lose count) conflict zone in and other Sudan news at the Head Heeb.

The Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Center at the AUC has released its report on what happened during three-month sit-in of Sudanese refugees in Cairo’s Mohandiseen district, which ended bloodily in late December. The Egyptian government is condemned for the violence, and the irresponsibility of some of the protest leaders (who nurtured unrealistic expectations of [...]

A very unusual op-ed in the NYT slams Darfur activists and the media for not giving a better picture of the real situation in Darfur and Sudan conflict in general. This is not a topic I know much about — although I’ve known for a while, from very-well informed diplomatic sources, that the situation is [...]

I’ve been following this for a while, but had gone to sleep while the rebels poured out of Darfur and made it all the way across Chad to the capital N’Djamena. This is huge:
Heavy fighting has subsided in Chad’s capital after breaking out at dawn, between government troops and rebels trying to overthrow the president.
A [...]

Sounds like the Sudanese regime is acting preemptively…
Deadly Coup Plot Is Alleged in Sudan:
“KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudanese authorities accused an opposition party Saturday of plotting to kill more than three dozen senior government officials and blow up key sites in the capital, where heavily armed troops were out in force for a second day.

The [...]

Read this good piece by Kareem Fahim in the Village Voice on Sudanese refugees in Cairo. It’s a good overview of the situation.

Is Syria testing chemical weapons in Darfur People shouldn’t get excited when it’s based on a single anonymous intelligence source. Remember all those intelligence sources two years ago that were talking about Saddam’s WMD stash? Still, one to investigate…

The Head Heeb notes that Chadian Arabs with ties to Chad’s rebel movements are being recruited in the ethnic cleansing campaign in Darfur:

This has the potential to disrupt an already-fragile cease-fire as well as further internationalizing the conflict and, in a worst-case scenario, turning it into a regional ethnic war. Allami expressed the fear that [...]

Sudan and Egypt ease border controls

The Sudanese parliament has ratified an agreement with Egypt that allows citizens of the two countries to live and work in each other’s territory.

The parliament approved the so-called Four Freedoms Agreement on Tuesday, which was concluded between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir in Cairo in January.

The agreement gives [...]