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Speculation as to an alleged Israeli strike in Sudan dominated Sudanese press reports in the past week. The Al-Rakoba newspaper claimed that two Israeli Apache helicopters landed in an island off the Sudan coast where a radar station is located. According to the report, IDF soldiers roamed the island freely and the helicopters managed to return safely without being intercepted by the Sudanese Armed Forces.

The report further mentioned that the military forces arrived at the scene only after a report exposing the alleged attack was published. It said that local police, army and security forces could not agree on who was to handle the incident.

It was further reported that the Sudanese government kept silent on the issue. Unlike the initial report at the Al-Intibaha newspaper, Al-Rakoba claims that the alleged Israeli attack took place in late November. The Egyptian air force reportedly scanned the area in a number of sorties. Israel, it should be noted, never confirmed it had attacked in Sudan.

A commentator at the Sudanese Online website tried to shed some light on the mysterious strike. He claimed that the Sudanese Armed Forces asked Egypt to inform them whether its radars detect an Israeli invasion of Sudan’s airspace or any Israeli submarine presence in the Red Sea. The commentator said that despite the army’s denial, President Omar al-Bashir arrived at the scene via a helicopter. He remarked that Sudan could not protect its own soldiers.

After the president’s visit, Sudan’s intelligence chief General Mohammad Atta reportedly warned Bashir against visiting the area again, fearing he would be kidnapped or assassinated by Israel.   The Sudanese commentator claimed that the military maintains its denial of the event to cover for the incompetence of the armed forces in the area who could not detect the movement of foreign bodies.

If indeed the reports of an Israeli strike are true, it would have been carried out several days prior to the visit of South Sudan President Salva Kirr in Israel. On that same day IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz announced the establishment of a Depth Corps.

“South Sudan will uphold diplomatic relations with Israel despite Palestinian pressure, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir told MK Danny Danon (Likud) on Monday.”  In other news, you may understand the closeness of the two entities if you read this:  ” South Sudanese police officers beat up the head of the United Nations human rights division in South Sudan, leaving him in the hospital and drawing a sharp rebuke from the United Nations.

 According to a United Nations statement released on Friday, Benedict Sannoh, the United Nations’ human rights chief in the newly independent Republic of South Sudan, was assaulted by more than 10 police officers, “who beat, kicked and punched him in a sustained fashion while he was in a fetal position on the floor.”  The attack happened on Aug. 20, after Mr. Sannoh refused to let police officers search his luggage at a hotel in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, which declared its independence from northern Sudan in July. Mr. Sannoh was cut and bruised and hospitalized for five days before being sent abroad for further medical treatment.

 The death toll from a cattle raid in an eastern region of weeks-old South Sudan rose significantly on Monday with the United Nations saying more than 600 people had been killed in what was a retaliatory attack that has raised fears of ethnic instability on the deeply impoverished country.  The fighting, last Thursday by ethnic Murle on three Nuer villages was originally reported to have resulted in 58 deaths. But on Monday, the United Nations said the flow of information had been hampered by vast distances and poor logistics.  In a statement, the United Nations said that up to 30,000 head of cattle had been stolen and that it was investigating the possibility that as many as 200 people had been abducted, making it one of the largest attacks in recent memory.

The statement called for an end to the “wanton violence” in the region.  “The High Commissioner considers this incident to be totally unacceptable,” said the statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Unless those responsible are held to account, this will send a chilling message to all those working in the defense of human rights in South Sudan.””"  Or this:  ” Ms. Johnson said that the raids, which are part of a continuing conflict, did not reflect political instability in the country, but that it had “deep roots.”   “The casualties are very significant,” the United Nations special representative, Hilde F. Johnson, said in a telephone interview. “We are deeply concerned.” “