Detained Girifna member, Ibrahim Ali El Maizoub, is presently in critical condition at the Al Amal Hospital in Karhtoum, Sudan. He was arrested in early January by Sudan’s Nation Security and Intelligence Service, and has yet to be formally charged.
Following this week’s earlier release of Amar Dirar and Shareef Kamal on Wednesday afternoon, three additional Girifna members, Gazi Altayeb, Nagi Musa, and Omar Ahmad Hamid were released yesterday by Sudan's National Security and Intelligence Service (NISS). No information is currently available about the condition of these five detainees. Just days earlier on Monday, Mohammed Mahjoub, a Girifna detainee, was released and is currently suffering from post traumatic stress resulting from the conditions of his detention.
Sherry Muller currently resides as the President Emeritus for the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV), having previously served as the organizations Executive Director and President. Prior to her involvement with NCIV, Sherry worked for eighteen years at the Institute of International Education, first as a program officer and then as Director of the Professional Exchange Programs Staff. Besides being a prolific author, Ms. Muller has received many prestigious honors including a fulbright award for citizen diplomacy.
Furthering their work in the country, Sudan Sunrise met with a number of government officials including a representative from the Committee for Peace and Reconciliation, and Ministers of Parliament representing Eastern Equatorial and Jonglei states, to discuss education and reconciliation in South Sudan. This meeting exemplified Sudan Sunrise’s commitment to work with Sudanese in supporting reconciliation and school building across the region. A list of Sudan Sunrise’s current projects can be found here.
DIN has pledged to raise funds leading up to the Hope for Darfur –peace in Sudan rally taking place on April 29, 2012 in Washington, DC. Sarah Hilware, the recently crowned Miss D.C. and current Sudan Sunrise Washington Ambassador, will be visiting schools in the D.C. Metro area to raise support for the kitchen project. For more information visit Sarah Hilware’s blog
Five Girifna members who were arrested on Wednesday, January 25th, after organizing a forum that discussed the human rights and developmental situation in Eastern Sudan, and commemorated the seventh anniversary of the massacre of Port Sudan, have been moved to Kober prison. More information can be found at http://www.girifna.com/blog-girifna/?p=4372.
The five Girfna members arrested are Nagi Musa, Amar Dirar, Gazi Altayeb, Mohamd Mahjoub, and Shareef Kamal.
Jon Temin and Reverend Cannon Andrew White have graciously agreed to serve on Sudan Sunrise’s Board of Advisors. Jon Temin currently works as the director of the Sudan Program for The United States Institute for Peace (USIP). As the main regional contributor to USIP’s many publication on South Sudan, Jon represents an invaluable resource and expert in his field. Reverend Cannon Andrew White, is the vicar of St. George’s Church in Baghdad, Iraq and started the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East.
This historic meeting gathered representatives from 11 counties and 5 tribes from Jonglei State, South Sudan to discuss a framework for peace for their respective communities. More information can be found here: allafrica.com, and southsudannewsagency.com
by David Conrads
Christian Science Monitor
December 27, 2011
Tom Prichard is working to build 41 schools in the new nation of South Sudan. But he is also building something else: peace between former enemies in this war-torn region of East Africa.
Mr. Prichard uses one to support the other. "The pathway to peace has to be doing things that grow grass-roots reconciliation and understanding," says Prichard, executive director of Sudan Sunrise, the nonprofit group he founded in 2005.
Rudwan Dawod and Widad Derwish of the Girifna ("Fed Up") movement are the focus of a documentary on pro-democracy activism in Khartoum. They bring a message of reconciliation to South Sudan, apologizing for the oppression of Southerners at the hands of the North. It was Rudwan and Widad who with the help of Sudan Sunrise took a truck load of relief food to Manute Bol's home town of Turalei in July. Learn more by watching this short documentary here.