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Sudan regains control of key Chad-border town: army

US-China talks on Darfur 'very positive': official
The Obama administration on Wednesday hailed talks by the US special envoy to Sudan in Beijing to discuss the Darfur region and a peace agreement between the African country's north and south. Scott Gration "had very positive meetings" with China's special representative for Darfur Liu Guijin, a State Department spokesman, Karl Duckworth, told AFP. "They discussed deepening US-China cooperation over shared concerns in Sudan," he added. China's foreign ministry said Gration also met with Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi. Gration, a retired US Air Force general, participated in Doha on Wednesday in the first ever meeting of the Darfur envoys from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) and the European Union, Duckworth said. The United States sees China as a key to ending the six-year war between the Arab government in Sudan and rebels in the western Darfur region because it is an ally of the regime, a military supplier and an importer of Sudanese oil. The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died in Darfur from the combined effects of war, famine and disease and about 2.7 million fled their homes. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000. As part of his tour, Gration will also visit Britain and France. In London, Gration will attend the Contact Group on Sudan -- composed of Canada, the European Union, France, Netherlands, Norway, Britain and the United States -- which is following up on the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The agreement ended a nearly 22-year civil war between Sudan's north and south that led to the deaths of around two million people.
by Staff Writers
Khartoum (AFP) May 28, 2009
Sudan's armed forces on Thursday retook the Darfur town of Kornoy, near the border with Chad, which had fallen into rebel hands of rebels last week, an army spokesman said.

Troops "have complete control" of the Kornoy area, which liesabout 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the border in northwest Darfur, Othman al-Aghbash told the Sudanese Media Centre, which is close to the intelligence services.

The rebel Justice and Equality Movement "has completely evacuated" the area and retreated towards the Chadian border, Aghbash said.

JEM, the most militarised of the Darfur rebel groups, seized Kornoy on May 17 and launched an attack a week later against neigbouring Umm Baru, around 50 kilometres (31 miles) east.

The rebels failed to take control of Umm Baru, peacekeepers said on Monday, despite reporting the contrary a day earlier.

Fighting between JEM and the Sudanese army has left more than 60 dead, including 20 soldiers, Sudanese authorities said.

The unrest comes as a new round of talks is set to start in the Qatari capital Doha between rebels and the Sudanese government to discuss a prisoner exchange and an eventual peace conference on Darfur.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died in Darfur from the combined effects of war, famine and disease and about 2.7 million fled their homes. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000.

earlier related report
Russian navy hands Somali 'pirates' to Iran, Pakistan: report
Russian naval bosses said Thursday that pirates among 29 it captured on a so-called mother ship off Somalia have been handed over to Iranian and Pakistani investigators, news agencies reported.

"At the start of May, after having conducted preliminary enquiries aboard the Admiral Panteleev (destroyer)... one group of pirates held were delivered to Iranian authorities and another to Pakistan," a representative of Russian naval high command was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti.

Russian sailors had seized seven Kalachnikov machine-guns, handguns of different calibres, satellite navigation devices and a large number of empty shells at the time of the operation, said Russia's defence ministry.

Trials relating to a spiralling upsurge in pirate attacks in the region over the last year are largely being hosted by Kenya, following agreements with the European Union, the United States and Britain.

Dozens of Somalis arrested on the high seas by French naval forces are currently awaiting trial for piracy in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

A Somali teenager captured by US forces in a high-seas drama is to stand trial in New York.

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Ivory Coast ex-rebels transfer power in north
Bouake, Ivory Coast (AFP) May 26, 2009
Leaders of Ivory Coast's formerly rebel New Forces (FN), who have controlled the north of the country since 2002, on Tuesday relinquished power to prefects in a key step towards reunification. "Civilian administrative duties in the territory are exercised exclusively by prefectorial authorities (district administrators) as of the signing of the present document," said a text signed by FN ... read more







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