Un urged to Monitor Government moving Militia

On October 29, the UN's head of peacekeeping stated that the peacekeeping mission in Darfur has no mandate to monitor the government and the flying on Janjaweed members from Darfur to the Blue Nile State. UNAMID is a one billion a year peacekeeping effort in Darfur. Susan Rice was asked if monitoring the Sudanese government and their activity of transporting militia members, she stated, shed have to take a closer look at the recent mandates. Then she was asked if the UN has an abiding duty to stop war crimes. Her response was, " I dont think its specifically mandated"

I think this is important because of our discussion of genocide and if it determines a states legal obligation to do something when they label human rights violations as genocide. It is similar because although there is no legal obligation there should be some sense of obligation because of the facts, and the knowledge of human rights violations, instead of sitting by and watching them occur.

http://www.innercitypress.com/unamid1mandate102911.html

Katie Kruse

Corruption In South Sudan

Since its Independence in July this year South Sudan has been struggling to overcome what they consider one of their biggest obstacles: corruption. To overcome this issue they created a committee dedicated to getting rid of corruption, which is in form of a 5 year strategy. Due to lack of capabilities a lot of people do not believe the committee can carry out the process of ridding Sudan of corruption. South Sudan has more major issues like trying to stay off the list of failed states even though they are a new country. This issue reminds me of a book The Bottom Billion because in this book the author talks about landlocked countries and how the neighbors of a country highly influence how the country that is landlocked will operate. South Sudan is surrounded by corrupt neighbors which does not give it a positive outlook.

http://presstv.com/detail/205308.html

War in the Blue Nile Region

The Blue Nile region is located in the middle region of Sudan, close to the new boarder that divides North and South sudan. This area in the past month ha become a place of violence and terror for its habitants. Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the loyal SPLA members has left many injured and in hospitals. Air raids dropping bombs on villages is of the most common. The lack of hospitals is not the only issue, the supplies to treat these wounds are running out fast. There have been over 600 amputations in the past month. The bombings are completely random like most of the violence and raids that occur in Sudan. Bashir has blocked any foreign aid from entered the area of the blue nile. Most think the random bombing is a tactic to demoralize the rebel armies. This is important because now there are about 1.2 million people on the move from their homes in the blue nile. This is just another humanitarian crisis developing in Sudan, following the patterns of a deadly trend.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jh6CaKaSLSBmCOxHejQS7XG7AMaA?docId=CNG.a82b52e7bd3813cbcd907bbf111de5d6.f1

South Sudan targets HIV

As of today South Sudan announced it initiative to target the killer disease of HIV. They are hosting a three day forum in South Sudans capital of Juba. Hundreds of organizations and representatives are meeting now to discuss how to tackle the issue of HIV and the prevention of the disease in south sudan. The vice president of Sudan addressed the forum and asked to step up the needs of targeting HIV in south sudan, mainly in rural areas where the disease is more prominent. The main goals are to create awareness as a whole to the society, and to combat the spread of the deadly virus. He also stressed the importance of the issue on a national, regional, and international level, and urging aid from many other corporations. He revealed that 35 million south sudanese pounds was donated to the cause thus far.

http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Sudan-s-leadership-urges-for,40276

Katie Kruse

South Sudan takes action to demobilize SPLA

The Peace agreement between the north and south in 2005 outlines steps for both armies to regulate the number of soldiers in order to make both more professional and under control. The initial plan was to remove 90,000 soldiers from each, in reality only 10,000 have been and the rebel groups and government armies still have not reached their goals of organizing their troops. For South Sudan the SPLA has around 200,000 members, which officials from South Sudan say they want to cut in half. This task is difficult for South Sudan because there are so many different groups that have become part of the SPLA and other rebel groups it is hard to regulate the actual number of forces, and how to control them. This is just another obstacle south sudan is facing while still trying to build their own state.

http://www.sudantribune.com/South-Sudan-plans-to-disarm-150,40233