Justice Minister Patrick Chimamasa (l) told Navi Pillay (r) there was no torture in Zimbabwe

Continue reading the main story

Zimbabwe – New Era?

Wikileaks woe for Mugabe

Return to Harare

Torture camp discovered

Glasnost – African style

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has started a week-long visit to Zimbabwe – the first such trip since a violent and disputed election in 2008.

Ms Pillay is expected to meet President Robert Mugabe and his rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mr Mugabe was accused of using soldiers to attack his rival's supporters after losing the first round vote.

After meeting Ms Pillay, the justice minister denied allegations of human rights abuses.

The visit comes two weeks after a landmark decision by a South African court which ordered prosecutors to investigate Zimbabwean officials for torturing political activists.

The ruling invokes South Africa's obligations to the International Criminal Court but has been dismissed by Zimbabwean officials.

In 2009 the UN's then leading torture investigator was denied access to Zimbabwe when officials claimed he was not officially cleared for entry into the country.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a close ally of Mr Mugabe, also insisted that “state-sponsored violence” does not exist in the country.

“These are all lies. We told [Ms Pillay] that there are no torture chambers in Zimbabwe,” Mr Chinamasa is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency, after leaving a meeting with Ms Pillay.

He added that his meeting with Ms Pillay was cordial but emphasised that Zimbabwe's policy of outlawing gay relationships and criminalising gay sex would not change.

President Mugabe is expected to meet Ms Pillay later this week. The South African is also scheduled to meet defence officials, judges and members of parliament as well as human rights advocates.

Last year the BBC's Panorama programme found that security forces were operating a torture camp in Zimbabwe's profitable Marange diamond fields.

Victims told of severe beatings, as the European Union was pushing to lift a trade ban on some Zimbabwean diamonds.

According to rights groups at least 200 people were killed in violence related to the 2008 presidential poll.

Source

South Sudan's army took control of the disputed Heglig oilfield in April

Continue reading the main story

Sudan: Coping with divorce

Is war inevitable?

Rebels seek advantage

Southerners in legal limbo

Horror of deadly cattle vendetta

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has arrived in Khartoum to attempt to restart negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan.

The African Union's mediator is due to meet Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir to try to set out an agenda and timetable for talks.

Heavy fighting between Sudan and the new nation of South Sudan brought them to the verge of war last month.

The UN has threatened sanctions if the situation is not resolved swiftly.

According to a United Nations Security Council resolution, talks aimed at resolving the dispute should have started this week.

South Sudan – which only seceded from its northern neighbour last year – said it is prepared to talk without preconditions, while Sudan has said it wants negotiations to focus on security.

Territorial dispute

The latest crisis began in April when South Sudanese troops took over the Heglig oilfield, which is one of Sudan's biggest sources of revenue.

South Sudan claims the oilfield falls within its territory, but the exact location of the border still had not been decided when the South became an independent nation last July, taking most of the united country's oil with it.

Under international pressure, South Sudan later withdrew from Heglig.

Continue reading the main story

Main disputes between the two Sudans

The amount the South should pay Sudan to use its oil pipelines

Demarcating the border

Both sides claim Abyei

The rights of each other's citizens now in a foreign country – there are estimated to be 500,000 southerners in Sudan and 80,000 Sudanese in the South

Each accuses the other of supporting rebel groups on its territory

South Sudan refugees flown home

At a meeting of the Security Council on Thursday, members adopted a resolution demanding the finalisation of a jointly-run administration and police force for the disputed border region of Abyei near Heglig.

The United Nations has said that unless the border question and other issues are resolved within the next three months, it will consider imposing sanctions.

For that, the two countries need to sit round the negotiating table, but the latest round of fighting has derailed talks.

The two countries are also still to agree on what rights their citizens should have in the other – some 500,000 Southerners are now foreigners in Sudan, along with some 80,000 northerners in the South.

A deadline for a group of some 15,000 Southerners to leave Sudan expires on Sunday – the first group has already started flying to the South, a country some of them had never visited before.

In addition to meeting President Bashir and other senior officials in Khartoum, Mr Mbeki is expected to travel to the South's capital Juba to try to get the two sides to agree to new talks.

Sudan: A country divided

Oil fields

Geography

Ethnic groups

Infant mortality

Water & sanitation

Education

Food insecurity

Show regions

Both Sudan and the South are reliant on their oil revenues, which account for 98% of South Sudan’s budget. But the two countries cannot agree how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north. It is feared that disputes over oil could lead the two neighbours to return to war.

Although they were united for many years, the two Sudans were always very different. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.

Sudan’s arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam.

The health inequalities in Sudan are illustrated by infant mortality rates. In South Sudan, one in 10 children die before their first birthday. Whereas in the more developed northern states, such as Gezira and White Nile, half of those children would be expected to survive.

The gulf in water resources between north and south is stark. In Khartoum, River Nile, and Gezira states, two-thirds of people have access to piped drinking water and pit latrines. In the south, boreholes and unprotected wells are the main drinking sources. More than 80% of southerners have no toilet facilities whatsoever.

Throughout the two Sudans, access to primary school education is strongly linked to household earnings. In the poorest parts of the south, less than 1% of children finish primary school. Whereas in the wealthier north, up to 50% of children complete primary level education.

Conflict and poverty are the main causes of food insecurity in both countries. The residents of war-affected Darfur and South Sudan are still greatly dependent on food aid. Far more than in northern states, which tend to be wealthier, more urbanised and less reliant on agriculture.

Source

Disputes over territory and borders have pushed the Sudans to the brink of war

Continue reading the main story

Sudan: Coping with divorce

Is war inevitable?

Rebels seek advantage

Southerners in legal limbo

Horror of deadly cattle vendetta

African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki has said Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is committed to security agreements with the South.

The former South African president has been in Khartoum to attempt to restart negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan.

He told reporters that President Bashir “confirmed that he believes the two nations… are in need of peace”.

Mr Mbeki is expected to travel to South Sudan next to speak to leaders in Juba.

Heavy fighting between Sudan and the new nation of South Sudan over territorial disputes brought them to the verge of war last month.

According to a United Nations Security Council resolution, talks aimed at resolving the dispute should have started last week but the two sides have balked at returning to the negotiating table.

South Sudan – which only seceded from its northern neighbour last year – previously said it is prepared to talk without preconditions, while Sudan has said it wants negotiations to focus on demarcating borders.

Continue reading the main story

Main disputes between the two Sudans

The amount the South should pay Sudan to use its oil pipelines

Demarcating the border

Both sides claim Abyei

The rights of each other's citizens now in a foreign country – there are estimated to be 500,000 southerners in Sudan and 80,000 Sudanese in the South

Each accuses the other of supporting rebel groups on its territory

South Sudan refugees flown home

Sudan will not withdraw its troops from disputed areas until the borders are formally set, but Mr Mbeki said Khartoum has now agreed to one of UN's key demands: creating a 10km buffer zone on the border between the two states.

Sanctions threat

The latest crisis began in April when South Sudanese troops took over the Heglig oilfield, which is one of Sudan's biggest sources of revenue.

South Sudan claims the oilfield falls within its territory, but the exact location of the border still had not been decided when the South became an independent nation last July, taking most of the oil with it.

Some 15,000 Southerners have been told they have to leave Sudan and move to the new state of South Sudan

Under international pressure, South Sudan later withdrew from Heglig.

At a meeting of the Security Council on Thursday, members adopted a resolution demanding the finalisation of a jointly-run administration and police force for the disputed border region of Abyei near Heglig.

The United Nations has said that unless the border question and other issues are resolved within the next three months, it will consider imposing sanctions.

For that, the two countries need to sit round the negotiating table, but the latest round of fighting has derailed talks.

The two countries are also still to agree on what rights their citizens should have in the other – some 500,000 Southerners are now foreigners in Sudan, along with some 80,000 northerners in the South.

A deadline for a group of some 15,000 Southerners to leave Sudan and head to South Sudan, a country some of them have never visited before, expires on Sunday.

Sudan: A country divided

Oil fields

Geography

Ethnic groups

Infant mortality

Water & sanitation

Education

Food insecurity

Show regions

Both Sudan and the South are reliant on their oil revenues, which account for 98% of South Sudan’s budget. But the two countries cannot agree how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north. It is feared that disputes over oil could lead the two neighbours to return to war.

Although they were united for many years, the two Sudans were always very different. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.

Sudan’s arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam.

The health inequalities in Sudan are illustrated by infant mortality rates. In South Sudan, one in 10 children die before their first birthday. Whereas in the more developed northern states, such as Gezira and White Nile, half of those children would be expected to survive.

The gulf in water resources between north and south is stark. In Khartoum, River Nile, and Gezira states, two-thirds of people have access to piped drinking water and pit latrines. In the south, boreholes and unprotected wells are the main drinking sources. More than 80% of southerners have no toilet facilities whatsoever.

Throughout the two Sudans, access to primary school education is strongly linked to household earnings. In the poorest parts of the south, less than 1% of children finish primary school. Whereas in the wealthier north, up to 50% of children complete primary level education.

Conflict and poverty are the main causes of food insecurity in both countries. The residents of war-affected Darfur and South Sudan are still greatly dependent on food aid. Far more than in northern states, which tend to be wealthier, more urbanised and less reliant on agriculture.

Source