The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Sudan

  • Pinnick to Eagles: Re-enact 2001spirit against Sudan

    Pinnick to Eagles: Re-enact 2001spirit against Sudan

    • Akinwunmi leads delegation

    As the Super Eagles flew out of the country yesterday for the first of two quick –fire sessions against Sudan in the on –going 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series, President of Nigeria Football Federation,  Amaju Melvin Pinnick has charged the players to remember the heroics of their predecessors and imbibe the spirit with which the Class of 2001 demolished the Falcons of Jediane3-0 at home and 4-0 away in Korea/Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

    On January 27, 2001, the Eagles lashed the Falcons 3-0 in Port Harcourt, and then secured a vital 4-0 win in Omdurman on July 1 of the same year to virtually seal the ticket to the Far East.

    “I am of the firm belief that you are capable of re-enacting those wonderful memories of fabulous wins over Sudan home and away, and the NFF is fully behind you to go to Khartoum and conquer. Then, we will prepare to complete the job here in Abuja before we plan for the two remaining games in November,” Amaju said in Abuja yesterday.

    He added: “As true warriors and champions of Africa that you are, Nigerians have no doubt about what you are capable of doing in Khartoum. This is the first competitive match under this new administration and we are giving you every motivation to achieve victory.”

    In 13 contests at senior level since November 1963, Sudan has only beaten Nigeria on two occasions. The more experienced Falcons battered the Red Devils 4-0 in Nigeria’s first appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations in 1963, in Kumasi (Ghana), and then narrowly edged a 1968 Olympic Games qualifier 2-1 in Khartoum, though Nigeria qualified after winning the home leg 1-0.

    The most famous two-leg showdown between both countries came in 1969, when both teams tied 2-2 in Ibadan and 3-3 in Khartoum in a 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifying series.

    Nigeria narrowly eliminated Sudan from the 1974 Africa Cup of Nations race, though failed to reach the finals in Egypt. On the way to winning bronze at the 1976 finals in Ethiopia, the Eagles defeated the Falcons 1-0 in Dire Dawa, and a 0-0 draw in Khartoum in a 1994 Cup of Nations qualifier preceded a 4-0 thumping by the Eagles in Lagos.

    Meanwhile, NFF’s 1st Vice President, Barrister  Seyi Akinwunmi will lead the Super Eagles’ delegation to Khartoum for tomorrow’s showdown. There will also be  Chief Felix Anyansi-Agwu, Director of Technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme and a couple of secretariat Staff.

    The aircraft chartered by the Nigeria Football Federation for the round trip departed the NnamdiAzikiwe International Airport, Abuja at 11pm yesterday and arrived in Khartoum by 6am Sudan time. The Nigeria delegation will stay at the Grand Holiday Villa Hotel, with the players scheduled to train at the Khartoum Stadium by 8pm. Tomorrow match will start at 8pm Sudan time, and the delegation will return to Nigeria immediately after the game.

  • Restore our pride beating Sudan, Mark charges Eagles

    Restore our pride beating Sudan, Mark charges Eagles

    Senate President, David Mark, has charged  the Super Eagles to restore their integrity as the reigning champions in Africa by beating their Sudanese counterparts in  the qualifier match .

    Mark said the Super Eagles needed to step up their games and restore the confidence of Nigerians in their abilities to remain the African champions.

    A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Senate President, Paul Mumeh said that Mark gave the charge when he received the new Pinnick Amaju’s led Executive of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Director General of the National Sports Commission ( NSC ) Gbenga Elegbeleye.

    It said that Mark insisted that only an emphatic win over Sudan would assuage the feelings of Nigerians after the Super Eagles woeful outing against Congo.

    Mark tasked the new NFF to rise to the challenge of improving Football administration in the country saying ” your predecessors did their best but you just have to improve on their records and bring our footfall to an enviable position in the world.”

    To achieve this, the Senate President urged the new NFF to develop a system of early preparation for competitions as well a process of grooming young players to maturity.

    According to Mark, ” We have all the potentials and talents. We need to tap and harness them.”

    It said that Mark bemoaned the incessant rancour among sports administrators and advised the new NFF to work as a team as well as to carry all stakeholders along in a manner that would give all a sense of belonging.

    It said that Mark harped on the need for transparency and accountability in the administration of football stressing that the rule of law must be sacrosanct.

    It quoted Amaju  to have assured the Senate President that he would run the NFF in a scientific manner that would bring pride and honour to all Nigerians henceforth .

    Amaju also told Mark the he would redefine the way football is administered in Nigeria in line with international best practices and ultimately bring positive result to the nation.

    Amaju stated:”My road map towards improving soccer administration is very clear. It is a road map that is result – oriented . It is a new dawn in sports administration. By the time we give our report card, Nigerians would be proud of what we have done”.

  • Onigbinde sure of victory in Sudan

    Onigbinde sure of victory in Sudan

    Former Nigerian manager, Adegboye Onigbinde is hopeful the Super Eagles will overcome the Sudanese opponents, Falcons of Jediane in tomorrow’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Khartoum Stadium.

    Unarguably, a make-or-mar encounter for both sides as far as Maroc 2015 AFCON is concerned as Nigeria and Sudan maintain an uncomfortable third and fourth spots respectively on Group A log behind leaders, Congo and South Africa.

    Onigbinde said it will be sad for him as a person if the 2013 Afcon champions failed to qualify for the biennial football showpiece in Morocco.

    “We’re most likely to expect a result befitting our performance as well as preparations for the crucial game.

    “I don’t know the team quite well at the moment but I’ve always wished them well in their endeavours.

    “So I sincerely hope and pray they come out tops against Sudan in Khartoum as well as in Nigeria and go ahead to qualify for the Afcon final in Morocco.

    “For several reasons I won’t be happy if Nigeria don’t qualify for the 2015 AFCON as it would be a huge dent on my contributions as well as sacrifices for the development of the game.

    “We had it a bit rosy against Sudan in 2001 because our game was more organised then than what it’s at the moment.

    “However, we still owe it to ourselves to be concerned and prayerful that Nigeria gets it right in the remaining four matches on the 2015 Afcon qualifying calendar,” said the CAF and FIFA instructor to supersport.com.

    Nigeria occupy the third spot on a poorly one point from two matches while opponents, Sudan sit at the base with no point. Group leaders, Congo have six points and second-placed South Africa are on four.

  • AFCON QUALIFIERS: Eagles won’t gamble with Sudan, says Onazi

    AFCON QUALIFIERS: Eagles won’t gamble with Sudan, says Onazi

    Super Eagles and SS Lazio midfielder Ogenyi Onazi sees next month’s 2015 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Sudan away from home as the most important game for the national team.

    After the disappointing start to what would be the defense of the 2013 title Nigeria won in South Africa, Onazi reckons that the reigning African champions need a win at all cost and cannot afford to gamble with the match.

    “This game is the most important game to us and what we just need is a win and not gamble with it.

    “We certainly will make sure that we do our best and make sure that we win and get the three points.”

  • Nigerian-born Seum features for Sudan

    Nigerian-born Seum features for Sudan

    Nigerian-born defender Malikh Isaac Seum has said he is ready to feature for Sudan in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

    The El merriekh defender, who has already changed nationality and is eligible to feature for Sudan, told AfricanFootball.com in an interview in Kigali that he is eagerly waiting to play a role in Sudan’s qualification.

    “I changed my nationality through the proper FIFA rules over a year ago and was also part of the Sudan team for one of the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cups. I am very eager and hoping that the technical team can call me to the squad,” said Suem who has played in Sudan for four years now.

    Sudan have been pooled in Group A alongside South Africa, African champions Nigeria and Cong Brazzaville who replaced Rwanda’s Amavubi who were disqualified by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

    The defender first featured for Nasra United in Nigeria before joining Khartoum 3 in the Sudan Premiership in 2008.

    “I have played for Khartoum 3, Al Shendi and now El merreikh in Sudan. But I am now determined to play a big role in the national team. It would be nice for me to play against Nigeria in the qualifiers,” added the player whose team won the 2014 Cecafa Kagame Cup in Rwanda on Sunday.

    El Manan Osama Atta,the Sudan FA treasurer confirmed to Africanfootball.com that they had followed the proper channels to have the player feature for Sudan.

    “He is a good player and since he has never featured for Nigeria before, we thought we should give him chance to play for us,” added the official.

    Sudan will face host Bafana Bafana in the first Group A match on September 5 at the El merreikh stadium in Khartoum.

  • Sudan, South Sudan move to protect oil fields

    Sudan, South Sudan move to protect oil fields

    Sudan and South Sudan have begun talks to deploy a joint force to protect oilfields in the South threatened by rebels, Sudan’s foreign minister said.

    Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir flew to South Sudan to discuss the unrest there with his counterpart, Salva Kiir.

    The conflict pits supporters of Mr Kiir against rebels led by his sacked deputy, Riek Machar.

    At least 1,000 people have been killed since violence erupted on December 15.

    The violence started after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of attempting a coup – an allegation he denies.

    Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced in the conflict, which has taken on ethnic undertones. Mr Kiir is from the majority Dinka community and Mr Machar from the Nuer group.

    Yesterday, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti said Mr Bashir and Mr Kiir were “in consultations about the deployment of a mixed force to protect the oilfields in the South”.

    However neither of the presidents referred to the proposal during their joint news conference in the South Sudanese capital Juba.

    When it seceded from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan ended up with most of the oilfields

    But it has to export the oil using pipelines through ports in Sudanss territory. The government in Khartoum now fears its oil revenue will be disrupted by the fighting in the South.

    The BBC’s South Sudan analyst James Copnall says it will be an extraordinary development if Sudanese forces return to the South.

    At least two million people died during the north-south conflict.

    Separately, the two warring parties in South Sudan have begun direct talks in Ethiopia aiming at a ceasefire.

    Analysts say that by seizing Bentiu, the capital of the oil-producing Unity State, the rebels have in effect been able to hold the country to ransom and made their bargaining position much stronger.

    However, not much progress has been made at the Ethiopia talks so far, Mr Kiir said at the news conference with President Bashir.

    He said his government would not meet Mr Machar’s demand to release 11 of his political allies accused of plotting a coup.

    They would be held accountable for the violence in South Sudan, Mr Kiir added.

    The BBC’s Alastair Leithead was with government troops when they were ambushed

    President Bashir called on the two sides to end the conflict through dialogue, saying Sudan would not back the rebels.

    China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also due to hold talks with the opposing factions, in an attempt to push them to agree to a cessation of hostilities.

    China is a major investor in South Sudan’s oil industry.

    Also yesterday, the South Sudanese government announced it had agreed to a cessation of hostilities with a rebel it has been fighting for nearly two years, David Yau Yau.

    It had been feared that Mr Yau Yau, who has troops in Jonglei state, would join the new rebellion.

    Mr Yau Yau previously said he took up arms to win greater rights for his Murle ethnic group, rather than to overthrow the government.

    In another development, the United Nations said militiamen had taken control of a UN food warehouse in Bentiu and that UN vehicles had been commandeered in the rebel-held town of Bor.

    “This makes it very, very difficult for us to continue our work – the sole purpose of which is reaching civilians in need,” said Toby Lanzer, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator in South Sudan.

    Heavy fighting is continuing to the south of Bor, says the BBC’s Alastair Leithead, who was on the road between Juba and Bor.

    The rebels include a former military division made up of thousands of men who switched sides, our correspondent says.

    Until a ceasefire is agreed, fighting is expected to continue or even intensify, he adds.

    The latest trouble has its roots in tensions that go back long before 2011.

     

  • Sudan fears South Sudan fighting could affect oil flows

    T Sudan expressed fears Friday over the fate of vital oil flows as fighting between rival army factions spread in neighbouring South Sudan.

    Sudan’s cash-starved economy is to receive an estimated $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) in fees from South Sudan next year for moving crude through northern pipelines for export.

    Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman expressed concern that the South’s oil fields will become victims of the fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his former vice president, Riek Machar.

    “Definitely one of the targets of the two powers, will try to take over the oil fields,” perhaps as a way to improve their bargaining position, he said.

    “It’s a struggle for wealth and power.” At least five South Sudanese workers were killed late on Wednesday after unidentified attackers stormed their compound, operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co (GNPOC), a senior executive with the firm said.

    But Osman said “so far, there is no effect” on oil flows into Sudan.

    “We are very anxious about what is going on in the South. This will affect all the neighbouring countries. In Sudan we are going to suffer even more than the others.” He also expressed fears about an influx of refugees and weapons.

    The South became independent from Sudan less than three years ago under a 2005 peace deal that ended 23 years of civil war.

    Sudan itself is grappling with tribal and rebel violence in its Darfur region, as well as insurgencies in the Kordofan region and Blue Nile state.

    On Monday, the United Nations said that almost two million people are displaced in Darfur while, countrywide, 6.1 million need humanitarian assistance.

    “We have already some problems in our own country,” Osman said, and the Southern violence threatens to make things worse.

    “We’ll have refugees,” Osman said, although there has not yet been any major influx over the 2,000-kilometre (1,240-mile) frontier.

    “The availability of weapons will be more,” he added.

    The UN said incidents of fighting or civil unrest, which began a week ago in the South’s capital Juba, had now spread to 14 separate areas in South Sudan.

    Late Wednesday troops loyal to the fugitive Machar seized the town of Bor, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the disputed border with Sudan.

    “The worst scenario for us is this war flares in other areas and extends to the whole of the South, and this will have an impact on Sudan,” Osman said.

    After intermittent border fighting last year, and allegations that the South was supporting rebels in Sudan, relations improved after a September summit between Kiir and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

    Culled from AFP

  • Nigeria plans troops’ withdrawal from Mali, Darfur

    Nigeria plans troops’ withdrawal from Mali, Darfur

    Nigeria plans to withdraw much of its 1,200-strong contingent from international peacekeeping missions in Mali and Sudan’s Darfur region, saying the troops are needed to beef up security at home, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

    Nigeria is battling the Boko Haram sect, but the troop withdrawal comes just 10 days before a presidential election in Mali, which is meant to restore democracy after a coup and the occupation of the desert north by al Qaeda-linked rebels last year.

    The 12,600-man United Nations mission in Mali is rolling out to replace most of the 4,500 French forces that intervened successfully in January to halt an Islamist advance south.

    “It seems Nigeria is pulling out its infantry but leaving some other elements … I think that it is because the troops are needed at home,” said a Nigeria-based diplomat.

    A Nigerian military source and two other diplomats in West Africa confirmed the planned pullout, saying it was mainly due to the need to tackle the country’s own insurgency.

    The U.N. peacekeeping department said Nigeria would also withdraw some of its troops from the U.N.-African Union force in Sudan’s conflict-torn Western Darfur region as well.

    “We can confirm that Nigeria has officially notified (U.N. peacekeeping) of its intention to withdraw some of its troops – up to two battalions – from UNAMID,” said U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer.

    The U.N was in discussions with other countries to replace the Nigerians, she said.

     

     

  • Dangote sets to invest in Sudan

    Dangote sets to invest in Sudan

    Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has indicated his readiness to explore business opportunities in Sudan.

    The business mogul disclosed this while playing host to the new Sudanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Tagelsir Mahgoub Ali, who paid him a courtesy call at his Lagos office.

    Dangote commended the historic relationship between Nigeria and Sudan, which has spanned several decades, adding that the Dangote Group as part of its long term business strategy will, in the very near future, register its presence in Sudan as it has done in countries which include Senegal and Zambia.

    At the request of the ambassador, Dangote accepted the invitation of the Sudanese government to visit the country very soon, while wishing Ali a fruitful tenure in Nigeria.

    Earlier, the new ambassador commended Dangote for his giant strides in business and also believing in the African continent by establishing multi-million dollar cement manufacturing companies in Africa.

    He revealed that his mission in Nigeria is to foster the historic relationship between Nigeria and Sudan in the areas of business investments, culture, sports, amongst others.

    Ali further disclosed as part of moves to enhance bilateral relationship between both countries, a biennial commission to be headed by the vice-presidents of both countries, would soon be established to formulate a framework, which will guide prospective investors in both countries.

    Describing his country as one of the biggest producers of cotton in the world, Ali also stated that opportunities also exist for investors in oil and gas and products derivable from sugar, as Sudan boasts one of the biggest sugar plantations not only in Africa but the whole world.