SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - SPLM-N’s al-Hilu, UAE officials discuss Sudan stalled peace process

1/1/2020: Sudan Tribune - SPLM-N’s al-Hilu, UAE officials discuss Sudan stalled peace process

Sudan Tribune reports that Abdelaziz el-Hilu, a faction leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, discussed with UAE officials the lack of progress in the ongoing peace talks to end the war in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile.

According to an SPLM-N El-Hilu statement, UAE officials “showed understanding” regarding their demands for a secular state.

The UAE "stands with efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace that preserves the rights and dignity of all Sudanese," the statement added.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Independent – At least 24 people killed in attack on Sudan camp for displaced people

1/1/2020: Independent – At least 24 people killed in attack on Sudan camp for displaced people, by Conrad Duncan

The Independent reports that at least 24 have been killed after an attack on Kerending camp of displaced people in West Darfur, according to the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

“The Arab tribesman’s people came to the camp and started shooting and killing and burning,” Ashraf Eissa, a UNAMID spokesperson, said.

Eissa added that “relatives went to the hospital and threatened hospital staff at gunpoint and destroyed the blood bank,” with a police officer shot dead after trying to intervene at the hospital.

At least 17 people were also wounded in the violence which occurred just east of el-Geneina, with at least 10 villages reportedly burned.

A statement from the non-Arab Masalit ethnic group has put the death toll at more than 50 people, although that figure has not been independently confirmed.

According to Eisa, Masalit tribespeople have fled to the city, mountains and Chad.