Sudan News July 11 2007

Sudanese Refugees In Israel Israel sets policy of arresting and detaining Sudanese refugees illegally crossing the Egyptian border into Israel. The Israeli government has struggled to establish a consistent policy to deal with these refugees. Some have been released onto the streets of Israel's southern towns and cities, where volunteers from charity organizations have tried to help them. ”On 24 June several Sudanese men became the first to be detained in over a month. Several women and children were found on the streets of the southern city of Beersheba by volunteers who are dedicated to helping refugees. The women soon discovered that their husbands had been detained by the Israel Prisons Service.”

A government committee which was set up to develop a policy for dealing with these refugees has recommend that the security forces continue to be authorized to arrest all refugees immediately upon arrival. A similar policy was cancelled about one month ago, after human rights and aid groups protested against the order.

“According to the new plan, announced on 1 July, Israel will return to Egypt "infiltrators" crossing the countries' joint border. A government communiqué said they would be "quickly" deported and indicated they would not be able to make an asylum claim in Israel.”

”Sudanese citizens are arrested in Israel because they are officially considered a "security threat" since Sudan is an "enemy state". Israel so far has not made a distinction for those fleeing persecution from the government of an enemy state.”

Government Shakeup Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has just reshuffled his cabinet naming seven new ministers, five presidential advisors, and a new president and deputy of the Supreme Court.

The shakeup occurred in the following ministries: Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Minister of SPLA Affairs, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Minister of Health, Minister of Labor, Public Service and Human Resource Development, Minister of Transport and Roads, and Minister of Housing, Land and Public Utility. Among those fired was Madam Rebecca De Mabior, the widow of the late Dr. John Garang founder of the SPLA/M.

According to Uganda’s Daily Monitor, this is a move, by Salva Kiir Mayardit, is meant to curb the influence of Riek Machar the mediator of the Juba peace talks between the Ugandan government and the Lords Resistance Army and Vice President for South Sudan as well as Rebecca Nyandeng”, the wife of late SPLA leader John Garang.

Hope For The Future International continues to make an impact on the future of Southern Sudan. Thousands of students are making decisions for Christ. So far this year 9,300 people there have made decisions for Christ, through our School Assemblies, Village Outreaches, and personal evangelism with over 25,000 making this commitment sense the signing of the peace accord. Our efforts focusing on the nations only primary school, teachers training college is preparing young men and women who will be posted in schools all over the country. These young teachers will become community influencers taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Nation. We also continue planting churches. Over the next 18 months church planting will be a major emphasis.

China and Khartoum Exploit Southern Oil Sudan has an estimated 5 billion-barrel reservoir of oil beneath its one million-square-mile surface, almost all of it in the south. The Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates that currently Sudan averages pumping 536,000 barrels a day; others estimate it is closer to 750,000 barrels a day.

The vast majority of this oil, 64 percent, is sold to China, now the world's second-largest consumer of oil. It is believed that Sudan’s oil deal with China is worth at least $2 billion a year to the Khartoum Government. China's National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is the majority shareholder in both of Sudan’s biggest oil consortiums.

Not only do the Chinese and northern Sudan governments make billions from Southern Sudan oil the Chinese workers in Sudan are likely to make three times the salary they would at home in China.

The local Sudanese however are not nearly as benefited by the deal with the Chinese.

Even though the Chinese are pulling billions of dollars of prophet out of Southern Sudan oil fields they are doing nothing to improve life in the region. “Locals still live in meager huts, eating peanuts with perch fished out of the contaminated Nile.” There is no electricity, no water system, no sewage, no garbage service, no health care, very few schools and very few jobs for the locals.

Sources: APA, SudanNews.net, Daily Monitor, Yahoo News, The Christian Science Monitor, IRIN
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