The  US Administration has invited the partners to the CPA for a meeting in Washington to discuss remaining issues in the implementation of the accord. Reports said the meeting will focus on referendum in South Sudan and Abyei area.

The Secretariat of the Council of Ministers has announced next Thursday as official holiday for the Eid Al Fittr. Workers should resume duties on Monday 13 September.

The State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Mutrif Siddiq, has revealed endeavors by Darfur Armed movements to shift military operations into the IDPs camps. Mutrif said in a meeting on Tuesday with several voluntary organizations operating in Darfur that the movement of Abdul Wahid wanted to foil Doha negotiations.

By Butrus Ajak, Australia:  www.borglobe.com

Whilst many perspectives took the centre stage condemning Dr. Lualdit Achuek choice of Unity over separation, seriously Dr. Lualdit should be informed as well to swallow his scornful message over South Sudanese in Diaspora. This article will accentuate the contribution we Southerners in Diaspora shoulder on South Sudan issues, albeit my article can’t reveal the exact amount of $$$$$ given to South Sudan Government, but we are always there to pay our share. Dr. Garang knew we're still his comrades though residing in the West. That's why he coined the word 'Seventh Front' to acknowledge our contributions in the struggle and the prosperity of South Sudan if it becomes independent.

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Sept 7 (Reuters) - South Sudan's army said on Tuesday it planned to buy its first transport helicopters in the near future and hoped to build up a full air force if southerners chose independence in a looming referendum.

North Sudan's army, which fought the south in a decades-long civil war, told Reuters the southern helicopter purchase would be seen as a "threat" and a violation of the 2005 peace deal that ended the conflict.

The statements will raise concerns among analysts who have warned that both north and south Sudan's armies have been re-arming in the build-up to the politically charged referendum, due in January 2011, and that there is a risk of a return to conflict between the former civil war foes.

Southerners were promised a vote on whether to secede in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Africa's longest civil war, a conflict which killed 2 million people, drove 4 million from their homes and destabilised the whole region.

Relations between both sides have remained troubled and southern leaders have accused Khartoum of trying to disrupt the vote to keep control of the south's oil reserves.

"In the very near future, we want to buy transport helicopters so that we are able to supply our forces during the rainy season. The terrain is very difficult in south Sudan," said southern army (SPLA) spokesman Kuol Deim Kuol.

He dismissed as "a great lie" reports in Sudanese state media and other outlets that the south had already placed an order for 10 helicopters from a Russian supplier. Kuol added the south had the right to modernise its former guerrilla force.

SPLA chief of staff James Hoth told Reuters the southern army had set out plans for an air force as far back as 2007 and would carry them out if southerners chose independence.

"Yes we are planning, but not now ... If the vote is for unity, we will share the national air force. If there is a vote for separation we will build up our own aircraft."

A spokesman for the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) said the south had already placed the helicopter order.

"This is a clear violation of the peace deal and also it is a threat ... This is a violation because the government of south Sudan is an internal government and has no right to have separate international relations. It is buying helicopters and the contract is in the name of the government of Sudan."

The rules of the north-south peace deal ban either side from replenishing arms or ammunition without the approval of a Joint Defence Board, but analysts say that is being flouted.

The northern spokesman added the SPLA had no mandate in the 2005 accord to arm itself with an air force, but it could do what it wanted if the south split away after the referendum.

Separately, the SPLA said Uganda's brutal Lord's Resistance Army rebels killed eight people in a night-time raid on a village near Yambio, capital of south Sudan's remote Western Equatoria State, on Saturday.

"They assembled these people in one place and started chopping their heads with their machetes. It is part of Khartoum's policy of terrorising people," said Kuol.

Khartoum regularly denies southern accusations that it is backing the LRA and other militias to destabilise the region. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Giles Elgood)

JUBA (AFP) – South Sudan?s parliament on Tuesday named as official leader of the opposition a member of the breakaway Sudan People?s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change, an offshoot from the ruling SPLM party.

Onyoti Adigo Nyikwec was nominated as leader of the largest opposition party in the legislative assembly of the semi-autonomous south, which is preparing for a referendum due in January that many in the south believe will see Africa?s largest nation split in two.

"It is the first time in the history of southern Sudan to have the leader of the opposition in the parliament," said Nyikwec in his acceptance speech, one of four SPLM-DC parliamentarians in the 170-seat house.

"This is the real democracy which has been guiding the principles we fought for for so many years," he said.

SPLM-DC party leader Lam Akol, a former foreign minister, was the only challenger to south Sudanese President Salva Kiir in April's elections.

Akol defected during Sudan?s 22-year civil war between the southern rebels and the government in Khartoum, and formed the SPLM-DC last year.

His breakaway group has been accused of working to undermine the upcoming referendum, and many ruling party members had rejected the SPLM-DC as a legitimate party.

Following their election in April, the four SPLM-DC members had their parliamentary immunity temporarily suspended during investigations into alleged connections to militia groups and the murder of a tribal elder -- charges that were later dropped.

The new opposition leader said he backed independence, and called on southerners to work together to ensure the referendum happens smoothly.

"The referendum needs us to unite all our ranks together, so that we go to the referendum united as the people of southern Sudan for the independence of southern Sudan," Nyikwec said, to loud applause from the parliament.

The referendum is a key provision of the 2005 peace deal that ended the south's 22-year civil war with the north, during which about two million people were killed in a conflict fuelled by religion, ethnicity, ideology and natural resources, including oil.

The opposition position is the fourth highest in terms of protocol within the parliament, after the south?s president, vice-president and parliamentary speaker, said James Wani Igga, the assembly's speaker.

In July, southern soldiers killed seven people in the Upper Nile state -- a key support base for Akol -- who the military said were SPLM-DC militiamen. Several soldiers were wounded.

Shortly after key SPLM-DC figures including the deputy secretary general defected to the ruling SPLM party.

Akol has repeatedly denied accusations his party has a military wing.

Egypt's general prosecutor stated on Monday he had referred 11 officials from the Culture Ministry to a Cairo court to be charged with negligence that led to the theft of a Van Gogh painting worth an estimated $55 million. The painting, known as "Poppy Flower", was stolen last month from the Egyptian capital's Mahmoud Khalil Museum.

The prosecutor referred the officials to a court in Dokki, the central Cairo neighbourhood where the museum is located, he said, according to Reuters. The court's first session is scheduled for September 14.

An initial investigation of the theft indicated "flagrant shortcomings" in security, state media said. - albawaba

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Sudan plans to more than double its gold output in two years partly to help make up for a possible fall in oil revenues if its crude-producing south chooses to secede in a looming referendum, the minerals minister said on Monday.

Abdel Baqi al-Jailani told Reuters in an interview Sudan could raise annual production to more than 40 tonnes by 2012 by regulating tens of thousands of small-scale prospectors, many of whom currently smuggle out finds, and by licensing out new blocks to global mining firms.

His estimate of current annual production at around 20 tonnes -- far above some industry estimates of between 4 and 6 tonnes a year -- included new data he said showed small "artisanal" mining operations already registered with the government produced 10 tonnes of gold between January and June this year.

Sudan has been known as a source of gold since the time of the Pharaohs and its ancient Nubian kingdom. Jailani said large reserves had lain unexploited in modern times because the country had been too focused on marketing its agricultural and oil prospects.

"Historically speaking we know that Sudan is rich. But the reason we are so late to invest in this sector is that we had other easier options."

He added Khartoum now needed to diversify its economy in the build up to a referendum, due on Jan. 9, 2011, on whether south Sudan, the source of most of the state's oil reserves, should split off as an independent country.

NEW LICENCE DEALS

"Frankly ... we don't know if Sudan is going to be split or united. If the south does secede -- you know 60 percent of our budget comes from petrol -- we have to sit and think of another alternative," said Jailani.

"I would say current annual production is around 20 tonnes ... In two years time it will be double or triple."

Sudan's largest single gold mining operation is run by Ariab, a partnership between Sudan's government and Canada's La Mancha, in east Sudan's Red Sea state.

Jailani said the ministry had already identified promising blocks for gold exploration elsewhere in the east, as well as in the central states of North and South Kordofan and one sensitive border area between the strife-torn Darfur region in northern Sudan and the southern state of Western Bahr El Ghazal.

La Mancha was due to start working on a new block in the Nuba Mountains area of South Kordofan in the autumn, said Jailani.

He said he had signed around 10 new licence arrangements with foreign mining firms since he became minerals minister in June and had another five deals "on the table" waiting for final approval from state authorities.

Jailani said he was currently in discussion with mining companies from Austria, Australia and the United States, despite heavy trade sanctions imposed by Washington, but declined to name the companies.

William Tankard, senior mining analyst at London's GFMS, said Jailani's estimates for current and future output were above his own figures. "We have 4 tonnes now and 5-6 tonnes on average over the last ten years ... Gauging volumes of output for artisanal output is quite difficult."

But he said there was room for growth in Sudan's largely unexplored gold sector. "There has been increasing interest, not only in Sudan but also in Ethiopia and Eritrea ... It is perfectly possible that exciting discoveries could be made particularly when (gold) prices are above of $1,000 a ounce." (Editing by James Jukwey)

MUNDRI, Sudan—Earlier this week, I flew to Mundri, in the fertile green state of Western Equatoria, to attend the United Nations Mission in Sudan’s unveiling of its first “county referendum base.” Per the request of the National Congress Party and the south’s ruling SPLM, the U.N. is upping its support and assistance to the referendum process. Part of this bigger effort is establishing a presence in each of the south’s 79 counties, a step that clearly shows the U.N. will be playing a bigger role in pulling off the southern vote—from a technical and logistical standpoint—than it did in supporting the nationwide elections in April.

The real takeaway, however, from the day trip to Mundri occurred during the speeches given by various southern government officials and by David Gressly, the top U.N. official in the south. Crammed into a sweltering hot white plastic tent, which will become one of the makeshift offices at the county base, these officials had strong messages about the referendum. The Governor of Western Equatoria State Joseph Bakosoro urged—more like ordered—the citizens of his state to “register and vote,” then emphasized that everyone must “vote wisely.” “Let us not repeat any mistakes,” the governor said. “The mistake we [could] repeat will be a final mistake that you will regret all of your life and for the life of your children,” the governor said, subtly recalling history. Meanwhile, the southern government’s minister of cabinet affairs Kosti Manibe said that if the referendum vote didn’t occur on time (on January 9 to be exact), then the south would have to opt for a “plan B.” The minister didn’t go into the details of what this plan would entail. 

Finally, as if to reassure the crowd, the U.N.’s Gressly begin his address by announcing that “the referendum is real.” In other words, the U.N. is preparing for Plan A. Later, while speaking with reporters, Gressly conceded that "there are a lot of decisions pending," but argued that "it would be wrong to do anything but move ahead." The U.N. plans to pitch tents, build fences, and deploy staff to hastily constructed referendum bases in 63 entirely new locations across the south in the coming months.

Stay tuned for more on the U.N.’s expanded effort to help pull off the referendum in time.

Maggie Fick, South Sudan Watch Security