Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called on the international community Thursday to forgive Sudan's $39 billion debt burden so that dividing it between the north and south won't become another issue to resolve after Southern Sudan likely votes to become its own nation.

"Villagers in southern Sudan voted on Sunday for what many saw as their freedom from "slavery" in a referendum forecast to bring independence to their neglected region of central Africa.

"In January, the Western world will welcome a new nation, South Sudan. The Islamic world will not. The coming independence of South Sudan, which holds most of the oil in the country now called Sudan, marks a loss of territory and of wealth for the Islamic world.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his personal support for the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, who is accused of being responsible for the genocide in Darfur.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court urged judges Wednesday to put two Sudanese rebels on trial for allegedly commanding and participating in a 2007 attack in Darfur that killed 12 African Union peacekeepers.

For the last 10 years sexual orientation has been included in a list of discriminatory grounds for executions – gay rights activists say the vote to remove that listing is "dangerous and disturbing."

"Yesterday half a dozen anti-genocide organizations joined together to send a letter to the UN Security Council, urging them to ensure the security and human rights of people in Sudan amid reports of the Sudanese Government targeting IDPs who had spoken to representatives from th …

" US Senator John Kerry on Friday warned of tougher sanctions against Sudan if the governments of north or south placed obstacles in the way of a January 9 referendum on southern independence.

"South Africa on Friday accused the UN Security Council of moving faster to end conflicts in regions outside of Africa, as African nations demanded more help for peacekeeping operations."

President Obama will use next week's annual gather ing of world leaders at the United Nations to highlight a looming catastrophe in Sudan -- but not to actually prevent it. At least, not the way he's going.

"Just over 60 years ago, with the horrors of the Holocaust fresh in mind, the world adopted the U.N. Genocide Convention, and promised to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.

As a gay diplomat seeks US asylum, Saudi Arabia seems torn between wanting a civilised image and appeasing traditionalists

"Kenyan officials today welcomed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to a signing ceremony for Kenya's new constitution, in direct contravention of the state's legal obligations as an International Criminal Court signatory, to arrest the indicted sitting head of state.

BBC: "Two peacekeepers with the joint UN-African Union force in the Sudanese region of Darfur have been kidnapped. A spokesman for the mission said the two police advisers were seized by gunmen about 100 metres (110 yards) from their accommodation in Nyala.

Sudanese authorities have denied the U.N.'s humanitarian arm access to a Darfur refugee camp after an outbreak of violence, a U.N. spokesman said Friday.

Hey there all you starry eyed humanitarians, do gooders, peace activists, liberal religious, anti Israel, anti Jewish haters and other useful idiots! Do you want to help a small beleaguered minority group of Muslims in the Mideast fighting for a state of its own against a larger, …

"The people of South Sudan have a right to secede from the north, should they chose to do so in a referendum early next year. They also have a right to a peaceful government respectful of human rights -- one which they seem increasingly less likely to inherit.

"On 15 March, the day before the Guardian published a report headlined An African success story in Sudan, government security agents seized an 18-year-old student active in the Girifna movement in Khartoum.

"Women who fled violence in Sudan's Darfur region are being regularly raped in refugee camps in neighbouring Chad, despite the presence of U.N.-trained forces, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

"This week the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) reported on a series of attacks on the civilian population in North Darfur by Chadian rebel groups.

'This morning, a bipartisan group of Congressmen that included Representatives Frank Wolf (R-VA), Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) held a press conference to highlight recent developments in Sudan and call for intensified U.S.

"Looking ahead over the next five years, a number of countries in Africa and Asia are at significant risk for a new outbreak of mass killing."

Egyptian soldiers killed four Sudanese refugees near the Egypt-Israel border overnight Wednesday in full view of IDF troops, a shaken-sounding IDF soldier said in an interview with Channel 10, Thursday evening.