SUDAN: REBEL CHIEFS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN ABSENTIA

March 13, 2014: a Sudanese court sentenced seventeen people to death in absentia, including a former Governor who is now a rebel leader, and another insurgent chief, said Al-Tigani Hassan, a lawyer who was present for the verdict in Singa town, the capital of Sennar State.
Among those sentenced in absentia to be executed by hanging, there were Malik Agar, formerly Blue Nile State Governor, who is chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), and Yassir Arman, who is secretary general of the movement which has been fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile for almost three years.
The verdict came at the end of a nine-month trial, but also followed by 12 days the adjournment of African Union-mediated peace talks between Khartoum and the SPLM-N in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The two sides were deadlocked, said the AU. It gave them until 30 April to reach a peace deal in the conflict which, according to the United Nations, has displaced or otherwise affected an estimated 1.2 million people.
Arman is head of the SPLM-N delegation at the talks. (Sources: AFP, 13/03/2014)