Top of the Morning: Heavy Fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile State; Global Fund to Launch New Funding Model

Top stories from DAWNS Digest.

Heavy Fighting Reported in Sudan’s Blue Nile State

There was a burst of armed conflict in the restive region that borders South Sudan.”The Sudanese army said Tuesday that at least 60 rebels had been killed in clashes in the country’s south, while the main rebel group there accused the government of launching assaults to divert international attention away from a security vacuum in Darfur. The army’s spokesman…said Sudanese troops retook control of the strategic Mafo area in the Blue Nile state. He said Sudanese troops sustained “minor casualties.” The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-N) said the government in Khartoum was hoping to use the strikes near South Sudan to undermine peace talks in Ethiopia set for early March. The two neighbors are in talks over border security and oil exports.” (ABC http://abcn.ws/12Jinwn)

Global Fund to Launch New Funding Model in Coming Days

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria recently reconfigured how it manages its grants. That new system will commence in just a few days. “The Global Fund will invite selected countries to participate in the new funding model in 2013. A small number of “early applicants” may submit a concept note and create a new grant using the new funding model. The countries selected will be those in a position to achieve rapid impact, those at risk of service interruptions, and those that have received proportionally less than they merit, by the calculus of the new funding model. There will be diversity across regions and diseases and types of applicants, so that elements of the new funding model can be tested and refined. In addition, around 50-60 ‘interim applicants’ will also be able to access funding in 2013, through re-programming and top-ups for existing grants. Other countries, ‘standard applicants,’ may participate in dialogue geared toward preparing applications for 2014. (Global Fund http://bit.ly/12JkoZA)