Sudan States

Sudan is divided into twenty-Five states (wilayat, sing. wilayah).

The states are:

In north: Northern State, Population: 610,000, Capital: Dongola

River Nile, Population: 940,000, Capital: El Damar

Red Sea (al-Bahr al-Ahmar) Population: 730,000, Capital: Port Sudan (Bur Sudan);

In west: Northern Darfur, Population: 1,600,000, Capital: El Fashir

Western Darfur, Population: 1,660,000, Capital: El Geneina

Southern Darfur, Population: 2,960,000, Capital: Nyala;

Western Bahar el Ghazal, Capital: Wau; Population: 220,000

Northern Bahar al Ghazal, Capital: Aweil

central Sudan: Nortthern Kordofan, Population: 1,530,000, Capital: El Obeid

Southern Kordofan, Population: 2,310,000, Capital: Kadugli

White Nile, Population: 1,740,000, Capital: Rabak

Blue Nile, Population: 800,000, Capital: Ed Damazin (Ad-Damazin)

Upper Nile, Population: 620,000, Capital:Malakal

Gezira, Population: 3,590,000, Capital: Wad Madani

Unity, Population: 660,000, Capital: Bentiu

Warab, Population: 1,700,000, Capital: Warrap?

Khartoum, Population: 6,000,000, Capital: Khartoum

in east:

Gedaref (Al Qadarif), Population: 1,570,000, Capital: Gedaref

Kassala, Population: 1,550,000, Capital: Kassala

Sennar, Population: 1,240,000, Sinjain

south:

Lakes, Population: 880,000, Capital: Rumbek

Jonglei (Junqali), Population: 1,230,000, Capital: Bor

Western Equatoria, Population: 740,000, Capital: Yambio

Bahraljabal, Population: 560,000, Capital: Juba

Eastern Equatoria, Population: 730,000, Capital: Kapoeta (Kabūyitā)

national anthem

Nahnu Jund Allah Jund Al-watan "We are the army of God and of our country,We shall never fail when called to sacrifice.We challenge death during hard times ,We'll buy glory, for any given price.This land is ours, may Sudan live well known among all nations.People of the Sudan this is your bannerWould carry the burden and protect your land."

Somali Pirates Release Ship Carrying Controversial Arms Cargo

05 February 2009

Agencies

Somali pirates have released a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks T 72 and other weapons, after receiving a ransom payment of $ 3.2 million. The ship had been held off the coast of Somalia since September. Pirates left the MV Faina following the payment of a $3.2 million ransom on Wednesday. The ship, which was ferrying 33 Soviet tanks, along with anti-aircraft weapons, grenade launchers, and other arms to the Kenyan port of Mombassa, had been anchored near the Somali port of Harardhere. The ship's cargo has stirred considerable controversy. The Kenyan government has maintained the weapons are for its own use, but many observers, including diplomats in the region, have said the arms are destined for the semi-autonomous government of Southern Sudan.Southern rebels signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government in 2005, with negotiations held in Kenya. But that deal appears increasingly shaky, and both the northern and southern Sudanese governments are believed to be building up their arms supplies with an eye to a possible return to conflict.A senior researcher on arms transfers at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, says similar tanks from previous shipments to Mombassa have not been spotted by observers, either in Kenya or in Southern Sudan."If the Kenyan government has ordered them and has taken possession of them, as they should have, then you would in a way expect them to show them off somewhere, just to show that they have them. That has never happened. So it remains a mystery and the suspicion that they were intended for, or that they even have gone to, South Sudan remains. But there is no clear proof that they actually went there," said Wezeman.U.S. naval ships are guarding the MV Faina, and the Ukrainian government has said that the ship will continue on to Mombassa. According to Weseman, the Kenyan government will have a difficult time keeping the destination of the weapons under wraps."Everyone knows about the ship, a lot of people are interested in what is on there. I think the Kenyan government will have a challenge to make it possible for people to follow the whereabouts of these tanks," he said.Wezeman says that while the arms buildup by the northern Sudanese government in recent years has been well documented, there is little information available on weapons supplies to southern Sudan. But with estimates that military spending consumes around half of Southern Sudan's budget, few observers doubt that the southern government is importing significant quantities of arms as well. Somali pirates captured 42 ships last year. They have captured an additional three since the start of 2009. In response to the wave of attacks, countries around the world have sent more than 20 ships to patrol the waters off the coast of Somalia.

Sirius Star

Two British hostages held on the hijacked Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star spoke for the first time last night and said they had not been mistreated by their pirate captors. Peter French from County Durham, the ship's chief engineer, said the hostages' families "don't have too much to worry about" and even asked about Newcastle's result against Chelsea at the weekend in a phone interview with ITV News. French, and second officer James Grady, from Renfrewshire, are among 25 crew held off the Somali coast by a pirate gang which seized the ship on November 15. The pirates are asking for a ransom estimated at $15m, half the original demand. "The pirates [are] no problem whatsoever," French said. "We have had no mistreatment or anything. Hopefully we are going to get some more phone calls to our families soon. Our families don't have too much to worry about at the moment. All in all, we are not too badly off." It was not clear if French was being supervised by his captors during the call. "The boys [the crew] are quite happy," he said. "We are talking to them all the time, reassuring them. Apart from the inconvenience of being locked up, our life is not too bad." He said the crew were allowed a measure of freedom by the pirates. "We're just continuing doing our normal day." Grady said the hijacking took place at lightning speed. "It was early on the 15th," he said. "Ship's time 0855 on board, and by two minutes past nine ... they had control of the bridge." On Sunday the pirates moved the supertanker further away from the Somali coast after an extremist Islamic group threatened to attack them for taking a Muslim-owned vessel. Al-Shabaab, the group leading an insurgency in the war-torn east African country, said last week it would fight the pirates. Local clan elder Abdisalan Khalif said the ship moved to a point about 30 miles off the coast from the village of Harardhere. "Perhaps the pirates are afraid the Islamists in town will frustrate their efforts to resupply the ship," he said. The 330-metre-long ship was fully laden with 2m barrels of oil when the pirate gang boarded it 11 days ago. It is the largest vessel ever to be hijacked in a region which has become notorious for piracy. There have been at least 96 pirate attacks so far this year in Somali waters, with 40 ships hijacked. Fifteen ships with nearly 300 crew are still in the hands of Somali pirates, who dock the hijacked vessels near the eastern and southern coasts as they negotiate for their ransom.

World news

• Brazilian officials declare a state of emergency as flooding in the Southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina causes at least 79 deaths and forces the evacuation of over 54,000 people. • The eruption of Nevado del Huila (pictured), a volcano in southern Colombia, causes at least 10 deaths and the evacuation of 12,000 people. • Ibrahim Nasir, the first President of the Second Republic of the Maldives, dies of an unknown cause in Singapore. • The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to reinforce MONUC, the largest peacekeeping force in the world, stationed in Nord-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. • The first successful tracheal transplantation using a tissue-engineered organ created from the patient's own stem cells is performed in Spain. • New Zealand and Australian researchers identify a new species of penguin, the Waitaha penguin, which lived in New Zealand until its extinction 500 years ago.

Khartoum, Juba all Building Up Their Armies

It is no longer a secret: Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM

which runs the semi-autonomous south -- have been building up their armies ahead of the 2009 elections or the 2011 referendum when the South will choose whether to secede from the north. There have been reports that Khartoum has been purchasing arms from China and North Korea, including fighter jets and tankers, while the South, suspecting that Khartoum is bent on scuttling the 2005 Comprehensive Peace...

Sudan Kidnappers Want Chinese Oil Firms Out

DUBAI - Kidnappers of nine Chinese oil workers seized near a disputed oil district in Sudan said they want Chinese oil firms to leave the area in return for the hostages' release, a newspaper reported on Friday. "We don't have any material demands. We want Chinese companies to leave the region immediately because they work with the government," the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat quoted the alleged leader of the group as saying. The Saudi-owned newspaper identified the man as Abu Humaid Ahmad Dannay, and said he commands the rebel Justice and Equality Movement in the Kordofan region. Three Chinese engineers and and six other workers employed by the China National Petroleum Corporation in South Kordofan, a state which includes the disputed oil district of Abyei, were kidnapped on October 18. Dannay, who Asharq Al-Awsat said belongs to the Arab Messeria tribe, said the hostages were in good health and being well treated. "We treat them according to the ethics of Muslims and serve them despite the language barrier. I can affirm that they are in good health now," he was quoted as saying. The Chinese workers were snatched in Heglig, which is adjacent to the flashpoint Abyei area, according to a diplomatic source in Khartoum. Heglig lies near the line separating the former warring parties of north and south Sudan, in the Muglad Basin where most of Sudan's proven oil reserves are found. The Messeria were also blamed for the kidnapping of four Indian oil workers and their Sudanese driver in the same area in May. All five managed to escape or were released unharmed. In the past, Darfur rebels have kidnapped foreign oil workers from Sudanese oilfields, often targeting Chinese companies because of their strong ties with Khartoum, although all of those abducted eventually emerged unscathed In October 2007, Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement attacked an oilfield run by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, a consortium involving China's CNPC. Asharq Al-Awsat said a high-ranking JEM source neither confirmed nor denied that the kidnappers belong to the movement. The newspaper quoted Dannay as admitting that the abduction was aimed at drawing attention to the lack of development in the region and the failure of oil companies operating there to help provide services or jobs for natives. Abyei and surrounding areas are prey to sporadic violence between tribes aligned either with the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum or with the administration in the south despite a 2005 peace deal that ended the civil war.