Khartoum denies blocking South Sudan oil flow

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May 21, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese oil minister Awad Al-Jaz on Tuesday denied reports that his government hampered the exportation of South Sudan crude through the Heglig pipeline, stressing it functions normally.

South Sudan’s Petroleum and Mining Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau (3rd R) applauds as he restarts oil production in the main oil field in Palouge, after a 16-month shutdown on May 5, 2013 (Reuters)

In statements to the official news agency, SUNA, Al-Jaz said South Sudan’s oil is flowing normally on Sudanese soil to the export ports.

“South Sudan’s oil is flowing normally on Sudanese soil to the export ports,” the Sudanese minister said.

The oil minister added that the work between Sudan and South Sudan is continuing according to the matrix of the joint cooperation signed by the two countries.

Mutrif Sadiq, the Sudanese ambassador to South Sudan said Tuesday that his government did not authorize closure of the oil flow and was making necessary efforts to find out what actually happened in the field.

The diplomat, who was summoned by the foreign affairs ministry, also distanced his government of any involvement in the oil matter.

A South Sudanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Sudan Tribune on Monday that Khartoum had shut down the pipeline transporting oil produced from Unity state’s Tharjath oil fields through Heglig.

An official from the South Sudanese petroleum and mining ministry went to say that Sudanese security agents shut down the pipeline and chased the workers.

The foreign affairs ministry on Monday summoned the Chinese ambassador over the alleged blockage of the oil flow by the Sudanese government.

Mawien Makol Arik, the spokesperson for the ministry confirmed this, but said the summons had nothing to do oil blockage, but a “sudden” decline in South Sudan oil production.

“The foreign affairs ministry did summon the Chinese ambassador to explain why there was a sudden decline in oil output, yet no explanations had been given,” Arik told Sudan Tribune Tuesday.

He said the country’s oil production, in recent days, fell to just 105,000 barrels per day, from the 200,000 previously produced daily.

“We suspected there was something wrong and that’s why we asked the Chinese envoy to meet us over the matter. Discussions are still in progress,” ministry spokesperson said.

Chinese companies dominate the South Sudanese oil industry having been welcomed into Sudan before the South seceded from the north in 2011 taking with 75% of the country’s 350,000 barrels per day of oil production.

South Sudanese oil production was halted in January 2012 due to a dispute between Khartoum and Juba over transit fees but, as part of a cooperation deal, production resumed last month.

President Salva Kiir is scheduled to join his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir in to witness the first Southern crude to be exported from Port Sudan on the Red Sea for almost a year and a half.
(ST)

Rebel leader claims Sudan planning to use chemical weapons against his forces

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May 21, 2013 (WASHINGTON) – The Sudanese government is getting ready to deploy chemical weapons to use against insurgents in the ongoing battles in North Kordofan, a rebel leader said.

Minni Minnawi (file/ AFP)

Minni Minnawi, leader of a Sudan Liberation Movement faction (SLM-MM) claimed in a statement today conveyed through one of his aides that the Sudanese army wants to resort to this lethal method as it has failed to flush out rebel forces in Jebel al-Dayer area.

He said that due to the geographical nature of the area, Sudanese ground troops are unable to effectively mount an attack against his forces and that even the use of fighter jets have proved ineffective.

This month the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) of which SLM-MM is a member claimed to have taken control of Jebel al-Dayer. This was the latest in a string of attacks launched by the rebels since late April in north and south Kordofan states.

Khartoum has declared a general state of mobilization to “crush” the rebels for good and expel them from areas they captured including Abu-Kershola in South Kordofan.

Around the same time, SRF briefly occupied North Kordofan’s second largest town of Um Rawaba which causing an alarm within government ranks as this is considered a new territory in the rebels’ reach which in the past has been confined to Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

SRF has vowed to continue its offensive until it reached Khartoum to unseat the government of president Omer Hassan al-Bashir who has been in power since 1989.

However, few expect the rebels to have the ability to follow through on its threat.

The Sudanese government accused Juba of backing the recent rebel offensive and dispatched two senior officials last week for talks with South Sudan leader Salva Kiir on this issue.

The Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti told reporters afterwards said he received assurances that SRF would receive no support from Juba.

(ST)

UN concerned over Khartoum’s suspension of local NGO’s activities

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May 19, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations (UN) has expressed its concern over suspending activities of the Sudanese aid group Al- Manar which provides food for about 528 malnourished children in Khartoum’s neighbourhoods of Mayo and Mandela as well as Omdurman women’s prison.

A tent for residents of the Mayo IDP Camp in Khartoum , May 21, 2011 (photo State Dept)

A report issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Sunday, pointed that Al- Manar was recently forced by security officials in Khartoum State to stop its projects for malnourished children in Mayo and Mandella camps for displaced people and in Omdurman women’s prison.

According to the report, earlier this month Al- Manar was forced to stop these projects when Sudanese authorities refused to grant it access permits for these areas.

"UN agencies are following up to try to ascertain the reason for closure of these projects and to advocate for them to be allowed to continue", said the report.

Al- Manar had been running projects to provide nutritional support for over 400 severely malnourished children in the camps and for 128 children who are staying with their mothers in the Omdurman women’s prison.

The report added that Al-Manar projects are funded by the United Nations Common Humanitarian Fund because reducing malnutrition and developing capacities for national Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are among priorities of the UN.

The Government of Sudan has consistently appealed to the UN to invest more in strengthening national capacities. Since 2010, the UN has doubled the amount of funding that it has channelled through national NGOs in Sudan.

Sudanese authorities are highly suspicious of the activities of NGOs. The latter are often suspected of collaborating with opposition and rebel groups or with the war crimes courts in The Hague.

Last December, three NGOs have been closed and their staff harassed and questioned by the National Security Service (NSS). They were accused of threatening national security because they receive foreign funding.

In 2008, Sudan expelled 13 foreign aid groups and suspended a few local NGOs accusing them of cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it issued an arrest warrant for President Omer Al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the western region of Darfur. He was later accused of genocide also.
(ST)

Sudan’s ex-spy chief declines to plea for mercy

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May 21, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s former director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Salah Gosh refused to plea for mercy; while the investigation committee found no evidence of his involvement in the attempt.

Salah Gosh, former special security adviser to President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir (Reuters)

Sudanese authorities announced last November that they have arrested 13 suspects in connection with the coup plot including ex-spy chief Salah Gosh and Brigadier General Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel-Galil who at one point served on Bashir’s security unit.

While military officers stood trial and later pardoned by president Omer Al-Bashir, those who were part of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) including Gosh have yet to be prosecuted.

Sources with knowledge of the ongoing investigation
into the recent coup attempt have told Sudan Tribune that Gosh and the four security officers detained with him refused to demand the presidential pardon as it was done by the military.

On the other hand, judges have given NISS one week to bring evidence proving involvement of Salah Gosh in planning to overthrow the government along with other security and army officers.

Khartoum central court’s judge said that he would release Gosh and the other four NISS officers if evidence of their involvement in the coup was not presented to the court within a week.

The court had renewed detention of the accused officers until next Sunday upon a re-interrogation request made by the investigation committee.

Nabil Adeeb, a member the defence team, said he expects his client to be released next week, stressing that NISS’s evidence against Gosh is weak.

Adeeb further said that the detained officers called for allowing them to have family visits as well as giving them access to their defence lawyers.

Gosh’s arrest marked the downfall of the once powerful spy chief who is better known for his deep cooperation with the United States on counter-terrorism following September 2001 attacks in Washington and New York.

He was surprisingly dismissed from his position in 2009 before being appointed as a presidential adviser for security.

In 2011 he was abruptly sacked by president Bashir from the position following an imbroglio between him and the powerful presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie over dialogue with opposition parties. He was later stripped of his position within the NCP and only maintained his seat in the Sudanese parliament.

The Sudanese parliament recently revoked Gosh’s parliamentary immunity to allow for his prosecution.
(ST)

S. Sudan army says it recaptured town from Yau Yau rebels

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May 19, 2013 (BOR) – The South Sudanese army (SPLA) says it has retaken control of an area previously held by rebels in the remote Boma town in Jonglei state.

An SPLA tank in Bor on 18 May 2013 (ST)

Army spokesperson Phillip Aguer told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that the SPLA had restored law and order in the town, which had been under the control of David Yau Yau-led forces for days.

“The SPLA has restored law and order in Boma town. The SPLA entered Boma this morning and we have now taken control over it”, said Aguer by phone.

He said four army soldiers were killed and another 12 wounded in the ensuing battle to reclaim the rebel-held territory.

He added that 20 rebel fighters had also been killed in the clash.

“We captured lots of weapons and the army is now in the process of identifying them to find out their sources and the countries of manufacture,” he revealed.

A number of food items and alcohol allegedly imported from neighbouring Eritrea were also reportedly recovered from the rebels.

However, it remains unclear as to how the rebels obtained the goods, raising questions about a possible link between South Sudanese armed groups and elements from the neighbouring country.

A rebel group fighting in Jonglei, the country’s most populous state, claimed on Tuesday to have laid siege on Pibor town, highlighting the level of their activities in the area in recent days.

Meanwhile, the rebel’s official spokesperson, Colonel Peter Konyi Kubrin, issued an evacuation warning to civilian populations in the state capital Bor, claiming they are sending forces to attack the city.
(ST)

SAF promises decisive victory against rebels soon

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May 20, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has announced that major victory against rebellion will be declared soon and said it would be a landslide victory which will destroy "the rebels who have committed crimes and atrocities".

The official spokesman of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Colonel al-Sawarmi Khaled Sa’ad, (ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)

After last April rebel attacks in South and North Kordofan, Sudanese government officials and military carry out a large campaign to recruit volunteers to fight the rebels but also mobilise popular support for the government which faces economic and political difficulties.

Observers say that the killing of some local officials and tribal dignitaries by the rebels facilitated the government efforts.

SAF’s spokesperson, Al-Sawarmi Khaled Saad, told Ashorooq TV on Monday that SAF’s victory at all territories controlled by the rebel Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) is drawing near, promising good news for Sudanese people very soon.

He added that rebels continued to spread rumours aimed at deceiving the Sudanese people but to no avail, saying "SAF would cleanse the country of all rebellion and the hour of truth is approaching".

Saad further praised the Sudanese people for supporting SAF in all military operations zones and the public mobilisation which pervaded throughout Sudan, saying that it had a very strong impact on the men fighting in the frontlines.

In the past, fighting between the rebels and SAF has largely been limited to Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states bordering South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011.

But SAF rebels extended last month their attacks to Um Rawaba in North Kordofan state before to redeploys its fighters to Abu-Kershola in South Kordofan on the border with North-Kordofan state.

Since then senior Sudanese military and political officials have been talking about reclaiming all territories controlled by the rebels.

In the same context, Sudan’s defence minister, Abdel- Rahim Mohamed Hussein, and the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) director, Mohamed Atta, have visited Nyala, capital of South Darfur state, and its environs to check on the security situation.

The defence minister said in press statements Monday that his visit to Nyala aims at inspecting the security situation, noting that they held a successful meeting with the state’s governor, Adam Mahmoud, and the state’s security committee to check on security situation as well as ensure full coordination between SAF, the police forces, and the NISS forces.

He described the situation in Nyala as stable, saying that residents are living their normal life and security situation in the state is improving continuously.

Darfur has been a flashpoint for lawlessness and violence since rebel movements took up arms against the Khartoum government in 2003.

South Darfur state has witnessed a near total security breakdown in recent months with recurrent incidents of looting, banditry and murder including from pro-government militias.

On March 30, a Sudanese paramilitary force attacked El-Geneina bus stop market in Nyala on mid-day robbing merchants and bystanders at gunpoint.

In March also, a cargo train which was on its way from Nyala to the city of Daein in eastern Darfur has been attacked by unidentified armed robbers near Khor Taan area which is located 60 km east of Nyala.

Last April, the main airport in Nyala came under shelling this from rebels belonging to the Sudan Liberation Army of Minni Minnawi (SLA-MM).
(ST)

Juba summons Chinese ambassador over oil blockage

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May 20, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan on Monday summoned the Chinese ambassador to Juba to complain over an alleged blockage of the flow of its oil to international markets through Sudanese territory, government sources have said.

Sudanese repair crew work at the Heglig oil facility, after Sudan started pumping oil again from the war-damaged oil field on May 2, 2012, (file Getty)

Chinese companies dominate the South Sudanese oil industry having been welcomed into Sudan before the South seceded from the north in 2011 taking with 75% of the country’s 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.

South Sudanese oil production was halted in January 2012 due to a dispute between Khartoum and Juba over transit fees but, as part of a cooperation deal, production resumed last month. President Salva Kiir is scheduled to join his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir in to witness the first Southern crude to be exported from Port Sudan on the Red Sea for almost a year and a half.

However, sources in Juba told Sudan Tribune on Monday that on the directives of the government of Khartoum, oil from the Tharjath oil field in Unity state had not flowed into Heglig - a contested oil-producing areas on the north-south border - for the last three days.

A senior government officials at the ministry of petroleum and mining told Sudan Tribune on Monday that the pipes had been shutdown and oil workers chased away from the area by the members of Sudan’s security services. The security service personnel had been sent to the area "for the protection of the very oil workers they harassed and chased”, the source said.

The official, who requested to remain anonymous said the South Sudan’s oil minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, on Sunday called his Sudanese counterpart, Awad Ahmed Al Jaz over the issue.

Al Jaz told Dau that "he does not know anything about the issue and he will contact field managers to know what happened and will call back the minister but did not call him back since yesterday. Our ministry decided to send in a team led by the undersecretary and the director General today. They went and found out that nuts were tied. We did not expect this”, he explained.

Sudanese intelligence and security services accused some circles in Juba of continuing to support the rebel groups who last month attacked several areas in South and North Kordofan.

Sudanese security officials say Darfur rebels who took part in the attack on Heglig in April 2012 are still have some presence in the Unity state, despite the signing of cooperation agreement.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS SUMMONED CHINESE AMBASSADOR

Officials at South Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed summoning Chinese ambassador over the alleged blockage of the oil flow by the Sudanese government.

“The ministry decided to summon the Chinese ambassador today because of the reports from the petroleum and mining ministry about the sudden blockage of the flow of oil again by the Sudanese authorities. This is a clear violation of the cooperation agreement. This is why we decided to involve our partners who are also the stakeholders in the oil production. We want to know and see what role they can play at this moment”, a senior diplomat at the ministry told Sudan Tribune on Monday.

The official who also requested anonymity said the government wants to give diplomatic efforts a chance before coming out with the details to the public, saying he hopes China will be able to convince Khartoum allow the full flow of the oil and operation of the workers without intervention.

“You see the cooperation agreement is very clear on the oil resumption. It does not limit the flow. Also we allowed Sudanese security operatives to our fields for the protection of the workers not to be involved in the technical work. These are the issues which we brought up today at the meeting with the Chinese ambassador. We made it very clear that oil workers must be allowed to do their work without interference from any side because they are technical people”, the official explained to Sudan Tribune.

Meanwhile South Sudanese Minister of Information and Broadcasting Service, Barnaba Marial Benjamin denied any knowledge of the closure of the oil follow when contacted by the Sudan Tribune on Monday.

“I cannot confirm because I do not have any information”, Marial told Sudan Tribune on Monday without giving additional comments.

However, a senior civil servant who works at national legislative Assembly in Juba told Sudan Tribune: “Minister Marial knows what is happening but he does not want to be quoted out by the media because he thinks it will generate public disquiet and possible protest which is what they want to avoid. The government wants to try diplomatic efforts. They want to handle it diplomatically.”

“It is not a secret anymore. It is already public knowledge. The government should just tell the public what happened instead of trying to sleep on what is already known. Our people in the field are communicating with us and they are saying what is happening there”, the official explained.

NO COMMENTS FOR CLOSURE

The undersecretary the ministry of petroleum and Mining, Machar Ader told Sudan Tribune that he would not comment on the issue when contacted by Sudan Tribune on Monday.

Ader was the senior official at the ministry of petroleum and Mining who led a technical delegation to the field on Monday. He is expected to make internal briefing on Tuesday to the government.

SPLM-N calls for UN humanitarian chief to visit rebel-held conflict areas

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May 19, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has called on the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency to visit areas in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur outside of Sudanese government control that have been off-limits for the past two years.

FILE - UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos (R) holds a joint press conference with Sudanese Social Welfare Minister Amira al-Fadel Mohamed in Khartoum on January 4, 2012 (GETTY)

SPLM-N secretary-general Yasir Arman made the comments in a statement issued ahead of a scheduled three-day visit to Sudan by the head of the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Valerie Amos.

Amos, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, is due to arrive in Khartoum on Monday.

Arman says the visit comes at a critical time, with Sudan witnessing a worsening humanitarian crisis in Blue Nile, South Kordofan, North Kordofan and Darfur states.

He says an estimated 4 million civilians have been displaced as a result of the decade-long war in Darfur, while the Sudanese government continues to deny humanitarian access in the border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where its army (SAF) simultaneously carries out aerial and ground bombardments against the civilian population.

MAGNITUDE OF THE CRISIS

In its statement, the SPLM-N called on Amos to consider visiting rebel-held areas which have previously been off-limits in order to report to the international community the true depth of the humanitarian crisis in the region, rather than visiting areas pre-selected by the government that do not reflect the magnitude of the crisis.

There are also calls for Amos to meet with the SPLM’s political leadership and its humanitarian wing during her upcoming visit in order to obtain information from both parties to the conflict.

“Khartoum is not interested in addressing the humanitarian situation and as usual is buying time, using the visits of high profile international officials to give lip service to the humanitarian situation”, said Arman.

“The Sudanese regime and [Sudanese president] general [Omer] al-Bashir have been the largest manufacturer of the humanitarian crisis in Africa for 24 years continuously and the present regime has a long record of targeting civilian populations and destroying lives. They are permanently on the humanitarian crisis list for almost a quarter of a century - the same regime with the same personalities”, he added.

OCHA says Amos plans to meet with officials from the Sudanese government, including Bashir, as well as representatives from humanitarian organisations, with discussions to focus on ways to improve humanitarian access to people affected by conflict and displacement, particularly in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur.

The under-secretary-general is also expected to travel to Darfur to see for herself the ongoing humanitarian operation in Sudan’s western region.

TOUGH STANCE NEEDED

Arman has urged Amos to take a firm stance on the Sudanese government’s continued refusal to allow unfettered humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas, saying it constituted a war crime under international humanitarian law.

He said the SPLM-N stood ready to work with OCHA on a proposed vaccination program to target preventable diseases, such as pertussis and measles.

“We equally stated the need for a brief cessation of hostilities to carry out the vaccination plan since Khartoum [has] refused - for more than one-year - a full humanitarian cessation of hostilities. In the absence of a humanitarian agreement with Khartoum and given the war situation, there is a need to agree on where the vaccination program will originate from”, he said.

Fighting erupted in South Kordofan in September 2011 when Southern-aligned SPLM-N rebels launched an insurgency against the Khartoum government, with the conflict spreading to neighbouring Blue Nile state a few months later.

According to Arman, some 24 civilians were killed in the last three months alone in Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains, with many more injured as a result of aerial bombardments.

More than 700 people, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and SPLM-N activists, have been arrested in government-held areas. Some of them were subjected to torture, while others were sentenced to death. Those arrested include 138 in Blue Nile state and about 200 from the Nuba Mountains area in South Kordofan state, including 45 women – some of whom are pregnant – as well as more than 50 leaders of the SPLM-N.

Meanwhile, more than 200 people have been arrested from Darfur and North Kordofan, including SPLM-N activists.
(ST)

SPLM deputy chairman says the party is in trouble

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May 19, 2013 (JUBA) – The deputy chairman of the South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Riek Machar has warmed of a possible collapse of party, unless it democratically transforms and refocuses itself.

South Sudan vice-president Riek Machar (Reuters)

Machar, also the country’s vice president, told senior officials at the party’s general secretariat that the SPLM had “lost direction and vision”, making references to reports from various state secretariats across the country, which depicts the party was largely unpopular.

He however said it was incumbent upon the south-ruling party to change the status quo.

The vice president made these remarks Saturday during celebrations to mark the party’s 30th anniversary where he was invited to deliver a speech.

The party’s occasion took place two days after the army organized a similar event, at which Machar warmed South Sudan army (SPLA) to remain neutral in the ongoing political debates.

Last year, the SPLM dispatched its most senior members to various states and carried out a country-wide performance assessment based on the party’s policies and activities at the grassroots. However, results from these assessments shockingly showed the party had lost its sense of direction and vision.

Officials are now worried that the historical party may not win the upcoming 2015 elections, after it appears to have lost the confidence of the people as the country’s ruling party.

Many blame the party for alleged failure to deliver the much-needed service to the people, while other say the SPLM has performed below peoples’ expectations.

But the party’s deputy chairman stressed that there was need to transform the SPLM in order to refocus and become a viable political party capable of leading the country to prosperity.

Speaking at the same event, the government chief whip, Atem Garang, also highlighted the challenges facing the party and expressed the need to rectify them through transformation.

Atem heads the SPLM parliamentary caucus in the national legislative assembly.

In the process of transformation, however, the south-ruling party has been discussing its four basic documents, which include the constitution, manifesto, code of conduct and rules and regulations.

Primary elections at the grassroots are expected to take place and the elected members constitute delegates to the national convention scheduled for later this year.

Last week, a presidential advisor and widow of the late founder of the SPLM, Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, warned of what she said were "red lines" in the transformation process.

Nyandeng said it was important for the primary elections to take place prior to the convening of the convention.

Many senior party officials are also critical of the chairman’s favoured "show of hand" instead of the universal "secret ballot" voting mechanism during party elections.

Members are also critical of the chairman’s demand to handpick 5% of the candidates, saying this constitutes unfair competition, which can give him an upper hand against other contestants for chairmanship.

Senior party officials, including Machar criticised the president Salva Kiir, also the SPLM chairman, saying he has failed to provide guidance and vision.
(ST)

Speculations about ministerial reshuffle in Sudan

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May 19, 2013 (KHARTOUM) — Different sources have expected a large ministerial reshuffle in Khartoum, saying that the first vice-president Ali Osman Taha might be relieved from his position.

President Omer Al-Bashir speaks to his first vice-president Ali Osman Taha at Khartoum airport in March 2011 (file Reuters)

A presidential source told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha is one of the most prominent figure that will quit the government in the upcoming reshuffle, adding he will dedicate his time as deputy chairman to the management of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

The source further revealed that defence minister Gen. Abdel-Rahim Hussein, will also be among those who will lose their ministerial portfolios.

Abdel Rahim recently disclosed to several journalists in Khartoum that he demanded to be relieved from his position for health reasons. The minister suffers herniated disc in his back.

Gen. Bakri Hassan Saleh, minister of the presidential affairs, is among the most prominent candidates to succeed him. Saleh is appreciated from the army and at different times the military preferred to speak with him about the problems they face than Hussein.

However other sources ruled out to appoint him at this position because he holds a prominent position in the Islamist Movement. In the past also, some sources speculated that Bashir was preparing him for the presidency of the country.

Finance minister Ali Mahmoud is also cited among those who will be removed in the expected ministerial reshuffle.

Also, the presidential assistant Jaffar Al-Mirghani would be appointed minister at an important portfolio and quit his current post.

The source stressed that the reshuffle will be comprehensive and touch most of the cabinet members.

The new cabinet was scheduled to be announced before the end of April but the attacks of the rebel groups in Kordofan region forced the presidency to defer it, it was learnt.

It was also reported that presidential assistant and NCP deputy chairman Nafie Ali Nafie is strongly opposed to the ministerial reshuffle because he says the moment is not opportune to make such important changes.

He also argues that the reshuffle may create a vacuum in the executive body.

But sources said that Nafie is probably fearing that Ali Osman may delimit his role in the leadership of the ruling party.

Currently, Omer Al-Bashir is the leader of the ruling party, Ali Osman is the NCP deputy chairman for executive affairs and Nafie is the deputy chairman for the party’s affairs .

Nafie led a wing within the NCP against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement negotiated by Ali Osman Taha with the late SPLM leader John Garang and signed in January 2005.

Following Garang death, he worked to weaken and marginalise Taha who since lost his influential role in the government.

Omer Al-Bashir at different times announced that he would not seek to remain in power after the end of his current term in 2015, and asked the party to chose a new candidate to replace him.

Observers say if Taha takes the control of the party this may give him the necessary means to prepare for his election in 2015.

(ST)