Filipe Nyusi é eleito Presidente de Moçambique

O Observatório Eleitoral (OE) divulgou esta tarde, 16 de Outubro, as suas projecções, baseadas em amostras estatisticamente precisas. Até ao momento, foram contabilizados os resultados de 67 por cento das assembleias de voto, com uma margem de erro de 3%.
O candidato da Frelimo Filipe Nyusi (foto) , 60,5 por cento, lidera a contagem para a Presidência da República, seguido de Afonso Dhlakama, da Renamo, com 32 por cento e Daviz Simango, do MDM, com  7,5 por cento.

Quanto à Assembleia da República, Frelimo também lidera a corrida com 58 por cento, Renamo tem 29,5 por cento e MDM 10,4 por cento. Os demais partidos têm juntos 2 por cento.

Além disso, o observatório relatou uma série de irregularidades. Segundo os dados, 88,5 por cento das mesas de voto observadas abriram na hora prevista. Em 3 por cento das assembleias de voto faltavam, no início da votação, alguns materiais, tais como cadernos eleitorais, urnas e boletins de voto, e, até às 11h00, cerca de 1,5 por cento das assembleias de voto ainda não estavam abertas.

Os observadores daquele organismo informaram que em 15 por cento das mesas de voto a votação foi interrompida pelo menos uma vez e que em 76 por cento dos casos essa paralisação deveu-se a distúrbios dentro ou perto da assembleias de voto.
Pelas mesmas razões, 10 por cento dos apuramentos nas assembleias de voto foram interrompidos. Finalmente, eles relataram que em 7 por cento das assembleias de voto os delegados dos partidos não receberam a cópia oficial do edital, conforme dispõe a lei.

Enquanto isso, o STAE tem vindo a divulgar resultados provisórios, com base nos dados enviados pelas províncias. Com 25 por cento das assembleias de voto contabilizadas até ao momento, os resultados para as presidenciais são: Filipe Nyusi(63%), Afonso Dhlakama (29,4%) e Daviz Simango(7,6%).
Renamo declara vitória
Entretanto, na manhã desta quinta-feira, 16, o porta-voz do presidente da Renamo Afonso Dhlakama disse que o seu partido ganhou as eleições gerais em Moçambique.
António Muchanga reivindicou a vitória em todos os círculos eleitorais do centro e norte país, à excepção de Cabo Delgado, província natal de Nyusi, e "uma votação muito expressiva na região sul".
A afirmação de Muchanga, em conferência de imprensa, baseia-se, segundo disse, na contagem realizada pelo partido a partir dos editais afixados nas assembleias de voto onde a apuração terminou.
Apesar de reclamar a vitória, António Muchanga afirmou que o que está em causa "não é uma questão de vencer, é sim uma questão de justeza e transparência dos actos eleitorais, regras intrínsecas a uma verdadeira democracia".
Os resultados oficiais devem ser anunciados amanhã.  Voz da América

 ------

Estes resultados significam que a Frelimo perde cerca de 16,5 por cento dos votos em relação há cinco anos, a Renamo sobe perto de 11,5 e o MDM sobe cerca de sete.

Bissau: Tão depressa a TAP não voa para lá

A TAP considera que não estão "reunidas todas as condições operacionais" e adiou a retoma dos voos para a Guiné-Bissau, prevista para 28 de outubro. Os voos estavam suspensos desde dezembro.

A transportadora portuguesa comunicou hoje a decisão e solicita aos passageiros com voos reservados para o próximo mês e meio que entrem em contacto com a companhia, já que a retoma da operação "se encontra adiada por um período não inferior a 45 dias".

A TAP suspendeu os seus voos para Bissau em dezembro do ano passado na sequência do embarque forçado pelas autoridades guineenses de 74 cidadãos sírios com documentação falsa que viriam a ser descobertos em Lisboa, onde acabaram por pedir asilo político.
O ministro da Administração Interna da Guiné-Bissau, Botche Candé, tinha garantido no domingo que o governo dá "total segurança" à TAP para retomar os voos regulares para Bissau.

---   Aqui se manifestara há três dias espanto por a TAP estar disposta a deslocar-se agora até Bissau, numa região tão afectada pelo ébola. Afinal, prevaleceu o bom senso e a companhia reconsiderou a decisão que tomara. É sempre bom alguém alertar para os riscos de certos empreendimentos.

Trovoada eleitoral em São Tomé e Príncipe

Espantado, foi como reagiu o Presidente do MLSTP aos resultados das eleições de 12 de Outubro. Um espanto que começou na contagem dos votos na noite de domingo 12 de Outubro, que entra para a história eleitoral são-tomense.
O povo definiu uma nova estrutura parlamentar, que deixa de fora o MDFM do antigo Presidente Fradique de Menezes, que enfraquece o PCD que tinha 7 mandatos na última legislatura, e que reduz o MLSTP para uma margem de representatividade parlamentar nunca antes vista, de 21 assentos caiu para apenas 16, após o pronunciamento popular de 12 de Outubro. A ADI, é a menina preferida do povo, que decidiu leva-la para o altar do poder, saltando de 26 mandatos conseguidos em 2010, para 33 nas eleições de 12 de outubro.
O Presidente da comissão eleitoral nacional, Victor Correia, anunciou na tarde de segunda – feira, a vitória histórica da ADI, o descalabro do PCD e do MLSTP, assim como a aparição pela primeira vez da UDD na casa parlamentar, com apenas 1 assento. «Nas eleições legislativas o ADI foi o grande vencedor das eleições, conseguiu 33 dos 55 mandatos para a nossa Assembleia Nacional. Em segundo lugar o MLSTP que conquistou 16 mandatos, o PCD vem em terceiro lugar com 5 mandatos e a UDD pela primeira vez vai estar presente na nossa Assembleia Nacional com 1 mandato», declarou Victor Correia.
O TSUNAMI eleitoral provocado pelo povo nas urnas, atingiu também o poder local. Varreu o MLSTP das câmaras de Lembá, Cantagalo, e Lobata(há um empate entre o MLSTP e a ADI em mandatos 4 cada, e o PCD com 1 mandato),  e fortaleceu as posições da ADI nas autarquias de Água Grande e Mé-zochi. Só a autarquia de Caué no sul do país, resistiu ao vendaval eleitoral continuando nas mãos do MLSTP.
No entanto o TSUNAMI eleitoral com as cores da ADI, não afectou a ilha irmã do Príncipe. Nas eleições regionais, a UMPP de José Cassandra conseguiu eleger 5 deputados a Assembleia Regional, e o MLSTP arrebatou outros dois mandatos. ADI que concorreu sozinho para a reagionais não conseguiu ter voz no parlamento da região autónoma do Príncipe.   (Televisão são-tomense)

Moçambique tem eleições quarta-feira

Moçambique vai esta quarta-feira às quintas
eleições presidenciais e legislativas e
segundas das assembleias provinciais em ambiente
tido quase pela unanimidade da crítica
como dos mais transparentes de sempre.
O escrutínio seguir-se-á a uma das mais cívicas
e menos violentas campanhas igualmente
jamais realizadas em Moçambique, salvo as
Vamos todos votar
esta quarta-feira!
“nódoas” mais gritantes registadas em Gaza,
no Sul, e em Nampula (Norte).
Com o actual ambiente eleitoral, fundamentalmente
alicerçado pelos acordos homologados no
passado dia 5 de Setembro pelo Governo e pela
Renamo, espera-se uma afluência também mais
substancial do que em anteriores pleitos (talvez
salvo o primeiro, em 1994).
Acredita-se que com esse pacto ficaram
reduzidas as possibilidades de irregularidades/
fraudes geralmente assacadas ao partido que
governa Moçambique desde a independência do
país, a Frelimo, situação que poderá atrair às assembleias
de votação maior número de eleitores,
comparado, por exemplo, com os pouco mais de
30% dos que se fizeram às mesas de votação no
pleito de 2009.   Correio da Manhã, Maputo

A Escócia vai ter uma primeira-ministra

Nicola Sturgeon will succeed Alex Salmond as leader of the SNP, after becoming the only person to put her name forward for the job.

Ms Sturgeon, also set to become Scotland's first female first minister, pledged to ensure more powers were delivered to the Edinburgh parliament.

She also announced plans to hold a series of rallies across Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon, currently deputy SNP leader, will take up her new job at the party's November conference.

The move came after Mr Salmond's decision to stand down as SNP leader and first minister after the vote against independence in September's referendum.

Ms Sturgeon told the BBC she would have "relished" a leadership contest, but said she was "honoured" to have been chosen by the party as its leader.

Asked what she would do if the Westminster parties failed to deliver more powers for Scotland, Ms Sturgeon responded: "If Westminster renege on those promises, then it is not a case of what I will do to them - it is a case of what the Scottish people will do.

Ms Sturgeon confirmed her intention to succeed Mr Salmond at an event last month

"The Scottish people would ensure [Westminster parties] would pay a heavy, heavy electoral price."

Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon said her tour of Scotland would begin on 29 October in Edinburgh and end on 7 December in Aberdeen.

The series of rallies - which includes a stop-off in November at Glasgow's 12,000-capacity SSE Hydro - are aimed at the 50,000 new members the SNP has signed up since last month's referendum.

"Our new members bring a new energy and dynamism - and not just to the SNP," Ms Sturgeon said," adding: "They are also a potent force who can help Scotland progress as a country.

"I am looking forward to meeting as many of our new recruits as possible and sharing with them my vision for the future."

Analysis: Andrew Black, BBC Scotland political reporter
It may have been more of a coronation than a competition but, after years of speculation, we can now say that Nicola Sturgeon will be the next leader of the Scottish National Party and, by association, Scotland's next first minister.

The "No" vote in September's independence referendum was a bitter blow for the SNP, but Ms Sturgeon is now trying to show her party's ready to move on from defeat.

How will she do that? First up, with a pledge to hold David Cameron to his word and deliver substantial new powers to the devolved Scottish Parliament.

Ms Sturgeon's also looking to capitalise on the massive surge in SNP membership - up from 25,000 on 18 September to more than 80,000 (and rising) - by going on a Scottish tour to show she's the leader, not just of her party, but of the whole nation.

One of her key headline dates during this post-Salmond era will be an appearance at Glasgow's 12,000 capacity SSE Hydro in November, as the party seeks to show people that, despite the outcome of the referendum, the SNP isn't going anywhere.

Apart from that, Ms Sturgeon - once she is voted in as first minister by parliament - still has Scotland's devolved government to run and, beyond that, will be taking the SNP into the 2016 Scottish election, in which the party will seek an unprecedented third term in office.

Before that, her first electoral test comes with the UK election next May - a contest in which the SNP will be seeking to send MPs to a parliament which it says has failed to serve the people of Scotland, yet plays a vital role in delivering more powers to Holyrood.

And yes, there will be questions about whether there should have been an SNP leadership contest, rather than Ms Sturgeon standing as the sole candidate. In reality, there wasn't really any other name in the frame to succeed Alex Salmond.

Ms Sturgeon will also need to deal with the tricky issue thrown up by her opponents - the timescale for a possible future independence referendum, previously described by her government as a "once in a generation" event.

She's not ruling it out, but right now Ms Sturgeon says her main focus is on strengthening the powers of the Scottish Parliament and holding her old adversaries - the Conservatives - to account.

During Scottish Questions at Westminster today, Tory Minister David Mundell congratulated Ms Sturgeon, the first woman to lead the SNP, on following in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher.

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson pointed out the key difference there was that the SNP is Scotland's most popular political party, while the Conservatives, with their one MP, are far less so.

And that's the way Ms Sturgeon wants to keep it.   BBC

Uma noite em Lisboa, de Remarque

During World War II Portugal was for many the last stronghold of peace and freedom in Europe, moreover one situated at the Atlantic Ocean. It’s no wonder that the country, although under the terror regime of António de Oliveira Salazar at the time, attracted countless refugees from the war-torn and Nazi-infested continent. The harbours must have been crammed with all the desperate trying to escape to America or any other place abroad presumed safe though known to be unwilling to let them in. In The Night in Lisbon Erich Maria Remarque (who fled to the USA too) lets one of those driven by fate seeking salvation in Lisbon tell his story to a fellow-sufferer.

Erich Maria Remarque was born as Erich Paul Remark in Osnabrück, Germany, in June 1899. He studied to become a teacher when World War I broke out in 1914 and he was drafted into the army. After the war, in 1920, his first novel titled The Dream Room (Die Traumbude) was published. His most famous novel up to this day is All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) which was first released as a book in 1929 and earned him a nomination for the Nobel Prize in Peace 1931. In 1933 Remarque’s books were banned and publicly burnt in Germany. Exiled first in Switzerland and as from 1939 in the USA he continued his career. In 1945 the best-selling novel Arch of Triumph (Arc de Triomphe) came out in English first. The Night in Lisbon (Die Nacht von Lissabon) appeared in 1962 and is the writer’s last finished novel. Erich Maria Remarque died in Locarno, Switzerland, in September 1970.

As the title suggests, The Night in Lisbon is set in the Portuguese capital, but its major part is taken up by a story within the story of a refugee with false identity who doesn't trust his memory and tells the first-person narrator about his and his late wife’s flight through Europe. The time period is before and during World War II when many citizens from areas under Nazi-German control or influence did everything in their power to escape from persecution and terror. The man who asks the narrator to stay with him during the night and to listen to his story in return for – saving – two ship tickets to the USA is a critical journalist from Osnabrück who after having been denounced by his Nazi brother-in-law Georg and detained in a concentration camp for a while fled to France in 1934. For five years he lived as an illegal alien, but then he inherited valid papers from another refugee known under the name Josef Schwartz. This gave him the (risky) opportunity to return to Germany and see his wife Helen. After only one night it was time for him to leave again because it was too dangerous in Osnabrück. Without even telling her husband, Helen decided to accompany him. They went to Switzerland first and moved on to Paris when Georg managed to trace them there. The beginning of the war in September 1939 put an end to their relatively happy existence. What followed were arrest, separation, detention camps and flight. With French police and Gestapo as a constant threat and Georg on their heels their odyssey brought them to Marseille. There Helen’s secret reasons to flee from the oppression of Nazi-ruled Germany as well as from her controlling brother Georg became so obvious that the husband could no longer ignore them. There Helen’s secret reasons to flee from the oppression of Nazi-ruled Germany as well as from her controlling brother Georg became so obvious that the husband could no longer ignore them. The following events which led to the murder of Georg drove the couple from Marseille and across the Spanish border in a hurry. Eventually they safely arrived in Lisbon, but for Helen the city of hope was the final destination.

The Night in Lisbon is a dense and easy-to-read novel which gives a gripping insight into the typical fate of refugees during World War II as the famous author himself experienced it to some extent. The whole novel is elaborate with a good flow and always to the point. Even the framing plot reflects the constant restlessness of people on the run, when the two men who made it to Lisbon are ever again driven away from a pub or bar at closing time and forced to find a new place to stay at for the rest of the night. The main story of the flight is a well-balanced series of dramatic events and their psychological effects on the protagonists, in brief the trying ups and downs of a life without a place or trustworthy people to resort to. All characters are nuanced and feel very authentic.

With thousands of people erring through the world in search of a safe place to settle down or just of a future worth living, Erich Maria Remarque’s The Night in Lisbon could hardly be more up-to-date. For us who we are living in countries which haven’t seen a war on their territories for many decades and which prosper despite all lamentations about the crisis, books like this are important to see how hard and shattering it is to be forced to leave your own country and not be welcome anywhere. It’s even worse if you need to fear for your life as the refugees of World War II. All things considered The Night in Lisbon is a very instructive and valuable read calling for humanity and understanding like all works of Erich Maria Remarque. I highly recommend this one.

Sudão crê na existência de 20.000 jihadistas

The smuggling out of what appear to be top secret state documents points to a major security breach in the government

The Khartoum government is yet to react to the circulation of what purport to be detailed minutes of a meeting on 31 August of top security and military officers in which they discuss arming Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon's rebels in South Sudan, supporting armed jihadists in Africa and the Middle East, and destroying crops in South Kordofan to starve out rebel supporters. The officers present also show a fairly uniform contempt towards the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Western states and African officials trying to mediate Sudan's internal conflicts.
The first question is whether the minutes are authentic (see Khartoum in fact and fiction). Most of the Sudanese politicians, and serving and former officials that Africa Confidential has spoken to reckon they are and that there have been serious security breaches in Khartoum. The second question is how much they may change events on the ground. They may inform the opposition's negotiating tactics and encourage mediators, regional and otherwise, to take a more realistic view of the regime's position. If Khartoum's support for Riek Machar's forces is further confirmed, that will complicate the tortuous peace negotiations with the Juba government and invite censure from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which is mediating in the civil war (AC Vol 55 No 18, A deadline for the deadline).
Entitled 'Management of Military Activities', the document dated 1 September is set out as an account of a meeting at the National Defence College on the previous day. Through a circuitous route, the documents were passed from a dissident within the security structure to oppositionists, we were told. They were posted on the internet after the Arabic originals and loose English translations had been passed to Professor Eric Reeves, a veteran United States-based human rights campaigner on Sudan and South Sudan. The documents refer to a meeting of the military-security chiefs; they are addressed to Lieutenant General Osman Taj el Sir, Managing Director of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) Central Security Authority.
The Military Activities meeting was about achieving consensus, not making policy. 'In that kind of dictatorial apparatus, you have to keep the political base of the regime stable and give the impression that each centre of power has had its say', commented one Sudanese academic. 'It gives you a window on the ideological consensus at the heart of the regime's top policy-making apparatus'.
Security inner circle
Of the 14 men listed as attending the security meeting, half are generals and only two are civilian politicians: Investment Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail and Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Ahmed Ghandour. Former dentist and ex-Foreign Minister Mustafa was founding Secretary of the Popular Arab Islamic Congress (PAIC) in the early 1990s (AC Vol 52 No 7, Mr Smile and the militias). 'I never believed he was not a part of the most inner circle', a Western security source told AC.
Prof. Ibrahim was leader of the putatively independent Sudanese Workers' Trades Union Federation, in which guise he has led a campaign against the International Criminal Court's indictment for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity of Field Marshal Omer (AC Vol 51 No 15, Khartoum's most wanted). He is the ruling National Congress Party's Deputy Chairman for Party Affairs and head of negotiations with the opposition Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), due to restart in Ethiopia on 12 October but now postponed until 25 October because the NCP is too busy preparing for its party conference.
Announcing the postponement on 5 October, Ibrahim Ghandour told the official Sudan Radio that the government had 'a clear vision of the solutions in the Two Areas', i.e. Blue Nile and South Kordofan. The Defence College meeting covers the regime's main policy areas, not only directly military ones. It reflects the increased power of the military-security cabal at the expense of the civilians, who used to run the regime through the security, rather than the other way around.
The agenda lists: 'The Paris Declaration [between El Sadig el Mahdi and the SRF] and the impact of the SRF statement [presumably the memorandum of understanding signed with Ghazi Salah el Din el Atabani and Ahmed Saad Omer (AC Vol 55 No 18, Opposition beams, Khartoum glowers)]; Radical and moderate trends in regards to Shiite belief activities in Sudan; President Mbeki's role and Sudanese issues; Elections, National Dialogue and peace negotiations – The Priority; New Sudan project and its impact on the national security and economic activity'.
The participants do not proceed in an orderly fashion down the agenda. 'In this meeting it is not necessary that we agree on every point we discuss', says First Vice-President Bakri Hassan Salih, though they mostly do. 'Every one is to express his point of view and I will inform the President with all the details and the majority and minority opinion regarding each topic'. This is where the decisions will actually be made, 'in the Palace'. Key areas discussed are as follows:
South Sudan
Assistance to Riek's rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition will increase and include tanks, artillery, intelligence and logistical training, as requested, said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Hashim Abdullah Mohamed, by Riek, Taban Deng Gai and Dhieu Mathok Diing on a visit to Khartoum. The NCP's explicit aim is a federal state of Greater Upper Nile – a bid to regain the oilfields and to block the SPLM-North's route southwards.
Evidence of NCP support for Riek is skimpy, though Western sources believe light weaponry is involved and question the utility of tanks. An investigation by the Small Arms Survey and Conflict Armament Research after this year's fighting in Bentiu found cartridge cases made this year in Khartoum.
Sudanese opposition
'All the plans for dividing the SRF and the SPLM are in place with the aim to get rid of the New Sudan Project' says NISS boss Mohamed Atta el Moula Abass. The Director of People's Security, Gen. El Rasheed el Fagiri, describes sending people abroad to claim asylum. 'After that we contact them to get regular reports about the SPLM-N chapters' activities in the Diaspora. We managed to send many such collaborators to most countries'. This fits with what Sudanese in exile know but Britain's Home Office steadfastly denies: the community is infiltrated by regime spies and security officers. The non-governmental organisation Waging Peace detailed such methods in a September report, The Long Arm of the Sudanese Regime: How the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service monitors and threatens Sudanese nationals who leave Sudan. People's Security is the organ directing the 'People's Committees', local groups that spy on the neighbourhood.
Gen. El Rasheed reports that he has infiltrated all political parties and as for the rebels, 'We are following all their movements, chats, private affairs with women, the type of alcohol preferred or taken by each one, the imaginary talks when they get drunk. We have ladies who are always in contact with them. The ladies managed to send to us their emails, telephone numbers, Skypes, WhatsApps and all their means of communications...  In our activities abroad, we are now concentrating on the SPLM-N. Because we believe that, if we managed to destroy the SPLM-N, the threat to our rule will vanish,' says El Rasheed.
The securocrats are furious with El Sadig el Mahdi. In August, he signed the Paris Declaration with the SRF, the first serious attempt to bring the vacillating Umma Party leader into a broad-based opposition. 'On top we must put pressure on El Sadig's family through his children to see him return to Sudan and we pardon him, provided that, he disowns the Paris Declaration and severs any relation with the SRF', declares El Rasheed. Since El Sadig's daughter Mariam el Sadig el Mahdi was held in solitary confinement to force her father home, this is bad news for the family. El Sadig is so 'insulted' that this looked unlikely, said one Mahdi family source.
The military-security meeting reiterated the regime's refusal to postpone next year's general and presidential polls. 'Holding the elections constitutes a psychological war against the armed movements and may frustrate them and lead to the end of the New Sudan Project' announced Lt. Gen. Salah el Din el Tayeb, an NISS Deputy Director and head of Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, a post he took over from Sulaf el Din Salih Mohamed Tahir, who previously led the organisation Muessessa Muwafag el Kheiriya ('Blessed Relief').
The postponement of the resumption of National Dialogue talks in Addis Ababa looks like a bid to ensure the NCP Conference that precedes it endorses Omer as candidate, notwithstanding the constitutional block on a third term. 'The elections will give us another five years of legitimacy', urges Mustafa Osman.
Foreign policy
Apart from expressing contempt for Western governments and African mediators, the officers seem to believe they can continue to get cash from Arab governments while expanding relations with Iran and with the International Muslim Brotherhood's multifarious offspring. 'In the open let us maintain good relations with the Gulf States but strategically with Iran and to be managed secretly by the Military Intelligence and security organs,' advises former Foreign Minister Mustafa.
The State (junior) Defence Minister, Gen. Yahya Mohamed Kheir, is blunter: 'The Gulf states have only very weak information about the terrorist groups that are based in Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, North African Arab Countries and Afghanistan, because they have bad relations with these radical groups. They want us to cooperate with them in the war against terrorism because the radical groups constitute a direct threat to them. Their relation with Da'ish [Islamic State in Iraq and Shams, ISIS], Nusra Front, Muslim Brothers and the Palestine Islamic Movement is even weaker. We will not sacrifice our relations with the Islamists and Iran for a relation with the Saudis and the Gulf states'.
Saudi Arabia and the dissidents
The National Service General Coordinator, Abdel Gadir Mohamed Zein asks: 'Are you sure Saudi Arabia can change its mind after it has classified the Muslim Brothers as terrorists?' Distrust of Saudi Arabia runs deep. Lt. Gen. Sideeg Amir Ali Hassan, Director of Military Intelligence and Security, says: 'We should confront them [Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates] and tell them openly that we got evidence (audio tapes, names etc) that you Saudis and Emiratis are the ones who financed the September 2013 uprising and demonstrations in Khartoum... 'They contacted two of our officers with the ranks of brigadier general and sat with them in Khartoum... after five meetings with the Saudis, the two officers disclosed to us that [the Saudis] want a coup to be carried out by Islamist officers who are pro-Saudi Arabia.'
In an attempt to stem Sudanese support for IS, Riyadh threatened to block Sudan's lucrative export of millions of sheep to be slaughtered for the Eid al Adha festival on 4 October, an opposition source tells us. This followed reports of Saudi officials being killed when IS fighters went into Saudi Arabia but is part of a broader policy to deal with Iraqi-Syrian 'blow-back' (AC Vol 55 No 8, Saudi Arabia targets Khartoum). The officers believe they have the capital well covered: 'All the embassies and chanceries in Khartoum are infiltrated and our elements report to us who visited the embassy and who went out from the embassy staff and to where,' boasts El Rasheed.
On Egypt, Chief of Joint Operations, Gen. Emad el Din Mustafa Adawi, suggests pressuring Cairo to block El Sadig in return for Sudan preventing the political activities of Muslim Brothers who arrived after the fall of Mohamed Mursi. Then he changes tone: 'The northern border is totally secured, especially after the victory of our [Islamist] allies in Tripoli. We managed to get to them the weapons and military equipment donated by Qatar and Turkey and we formed a joint operations room under a colonel for coordination purposes with them on how to administer military operations. Turkey and Qatar provided us with information in favour of the revolutionaries on top of the information collected by our own agents that will help them to win the war and control the whole country'.
'Intelligence cooperation' with the United States may amount to less than Western officials often make out. 'America has fallen into the trap of the ISIS and the other jihadist movements that are newly formed and can move freely outside the traditional surveillance networks', comments Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein. 'Currently, there are 20,000 jihadists and 15 newly formed jihadist movements which are scattered all over, from Morocco to Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, all Gulf States, a wide presence in Africa and Europe and nobody else owns a data-base on that as the one we have. We release only limited information to the Americans according to the request and the price is the armed movements file'.

Copyright © Africa Confidential 2014
http://www.africa-confidential.com