Africa

Some of these children have never even seen life outside prison but one woman is trying to help.

Some simple techniques can help prevent the spread of Ebola.

Some simple techniques can help prevent the spread of Ebola.

A new law in Kenya imposes fines of up to $50,000 and/or up to two years in prison.

A new law in Kenya imposes fines of up to $50,000 and/or up to two years in prison.

A South African fan cries tears of joy after Lionel Messi signs his Barcelona shirt.

The referendum could see President Pierre Nkurunziza's mandate extended and has sparked fears of more violence in the country.

Three people of mixed identity explain how they define themselves and how hard it is to fit into a specific ethnic grouping.

Algeria striker Ishak Belfodil joins German Bundesliga side Hoffenheim from Belgian club Standard Liege.

Al Ahly board member Khaled Mortagy says that coach Hossam El Badry 'did the right thing' in quitting after a shock loss to KCCA in the Champions League.

A Ghanaian seeks justice for his friends who were killed in The Gambia during Yahya Jammeh's rule.

The Security Council on Tuesday gave its backing to the African Union force in Somalia, AMISOM, extending its deployment until at least the end of July.

South African side Kaizer Chiefs have cancelled their end-of-season awards after failing to win any major silverware.

Ajax Cape Town are relegated from South Africa's Premier League after forfeiting three matches for fielding an ineligible player.

May 14, 2018 (JUBA) – Reports confirmed by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesperson, Brig. Lui Ruai Koang that South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) carried out a series of sustained attacks on Raja and its outposts are “untrue and do not require further elucidation,” an official said Tuesday.

Former South Sudan army chief of staff, General Paul Malong Awan speaks at the presidential palace in Juba, November 16, 2017 (ST)

“The South Sudan United Front/ Army (SSUF/A) is not confirming that it was behind the attacks on Mangayat and Baluka on Saturday morning as alleged,” the group said in a statement issued Tuesday.

It added, “At this time, the SSUF/A is not conducting any operations in South Sudan. However, we are on high alert and shall on the due course continue to closely monitor the situation and support the ongoing peace efforts in Addis Ababa”.

SSUF/A said it sticks to its point of peaceful approach as South Sudanese seek solutions to the conflict via non-violent mechanisms.

“We are focused on matters pertaining peace so as to bring back the war-ravaged country to its normalcy,” further stated the group.

Koang on Saturday accused rebel fighters loyal to Riek Machar and new rebels allied to Malong of attacking their positions in Western Bahr al Ghazal on Friday, accusation both rebel groups dismissed.

“That is not true. We do not have any military cooperation with any rebel groups,” the opposition movement said.

Although not a signatory to the cessations of hostilities agreement signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, SSUF says it respects these treaties since they are meant to pave way for peaceful conflict resolutions.

Relations between Kiir and the SSUF leader deteriorated after the former was sacked from his post as army chief of staff in May 2017 and placed under house arrest for fear he would foment a rebellion.

The former army chief of staff was freed from house arrest in November following mediation led by the JCE. The agreement refrained him from going to his home-town of Aweil in the former Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State, but he was free to travel to any of the East African nations.

(ST)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejects Munir El Haddadi's appeal against Fifa's ruling that prevents him from playing for Morocco.

May 14, 2018 (JUBA) – South Sudanese parties at the forum should put the interest of the country first and make compromises necessary to achieve resolution of all the outstanding issues, Festus Mogae, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) chairman said.

JMEC Chairman, Festus Mogae, briefs the UN Security Council, on the implementation of the peace agreement on 31 March 2016 (ST Photo)

“This country has missed so many opportunities to make durable peace and we should not allow the HLRF [High Level Revitalization Forum] to be squandered,” he told reporters in Juba on Monday.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) led peace forum is scheduled to resume in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Thursday.

Mogae said a range of practical measures should be applied on peace saboteurs and make it clear to all concerned that the world will not tolerate any further disruption of efforts to deliver peace.

“I want to appeal directly to the authorities here in Juba, and to all the opposition groups that you are all South Sudanese, and I urge you all to accommodate one another, to end this senseless violence,” he stressed.

Mogae chairs the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, which was set up to monitor the failed 2015 truce and peace deal implementation. South Sudan has since launched its own national dialogue, while fighting has continued across the country.

The government and rebel groups have, in the past, signed a number of cease-fire agreements, the latest in December last year, but they have been violated, despite commitments from either side.

Since the conflict in South Sudan began in December 2013 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those allied to former first Vice President Riek Machar, tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than three million displaced as a result of the conflict.

Meanwhile, the head of the peace monitor accused the parties of engaging in human rights violations and urged IGAD to take action.

"The parties continue to wage a campaign of defiance and commit human rights abuses with impunity. This is unacceptable and I call on IGAD to make good its promise to hold spoilers accountable," he stressed.

(ST)

May 14, 2018 (NAIROBI/JUBA) - A member of South Sudan United Front (SSUF), a rebel movement allied to ex-army chief, Gen. Paul Malong has condemned President Salva Kiir's alleged threat to kill former foreign minister, Deng Alor and ex-diplomat Telar Riing Deng.

President Salva Kiir addresses the nation at the South Sudan National Parliament in Juba, November 18, 2015. (Photo Reuters/Jok Solomon)

Kiir, Juba Laberti website reported, threatened to eliminate Malong, Telar and Alor for conspiring against his government and disclosing sensitive information on national security to Washington with the aim of toppling his regime.

The president reportedly made these threats during a meeting he held with the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), an advisory body to him.

“The threat and the plan for their implementation is an act meant to retaliate on the frame of falsehood that the above named were conspiring against his government and that they were leaking sensitive information forgetting that his press secretary was the top conspirer who released the plan to murder Dr. Riek Machar in contravention of the peace agreement,” SSUF said in a statement.

In the statement, signed by Sunday de John, the opposition faction said the threats were not only directed to its leaders but the South Sudanese fraternity at large, citing the murder of a clergyman and his wife by unknown gunmen in the capital, Juba as acts from “expression of such irresponsible sentiments”.

“It is the same Kiir that regretted having not murdered the former detainees as a week ago; he is in actual sense destined to uncover his baleful plans tailored to annihilate the entire nation,” SSUF said.

Its statement added, “The SSUF/A condemns this act with all the terms possible and the international community is urged to take note of this adverse turn of events”.

Relations between Malong and Kiir deteriorated after the former was sacked from his post as army chief of staff in May 2017 and placed under house arrest for fear he would foment a rebellion.

The former army chief of staff was freed from house arrest in November following mediation led by the JCE. The agreement refrained him from going to his home-town of Aweil in the former Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State, but he was free to travel to any of the East African nations.

(ST)

May 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - President Omer al-Bashir Monday reshuffled the cabinet members from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the National Consensus Government, including the appointment of a new foreign minister and the return of a former presidential aide as interior minister.

According to the decree, the changes didn't affect the First Vice-President Bakri Hassan Saleh and Prime Minister as it was rumoured in Khartoum.

Also, the new seven ministers and five state minister as well as eight governors, all are known as moderate Islamists or civil society people. They are supposed to remain in post until the presidential elections of 2020 as al-Bashir is expected to run for a new mandate.

Among the federal ministers, the attention was focused on who will be appointed in the prestigious position of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing the former Ibrahim Ghandour who negotiated the lift of sanctions on Sudan and worked hard to break the regime's international isolation.

The decree appointed al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed as a foreign minister. He is a former member of the government team that negotiated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with South Sudan's SPLM. He also led the government delegation for the International Court of Arbitration over the disputed area of Abyei in July 2008.

The former presidential assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid has been appointed a minister of interior, a position that he occupied in the past for several years from 2008-2013.

Among the newcomers Salim Ahmed Salim, the former head of National Election Commission as minister of justice.

Azhari Abdel-Gadir Abdalla, the head of the Oil Exploration and Production Authority, has been appointed oil minister.

While the Minister of Minerals, Hashim Ali Salim, is appointed a minister of cabinet affairs tasked with the national dialogue file. However, no minister was appointed at his post for the time being after reports that the human rights defender Midawi Ibrahim declined the post.

The ministers are expected to swear in on Tuesday before the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

The leader of the opposition Sudanese Congress Party Omer al-Digair minimized the ministerial changes saying it does not bring a major shift in the government policies.

"The change does not affect the programme and policies that produced the crises, it is like moving the pieces on the surface of the chess table," he told Sudan Tribune.

He pointed out that the members of the National Congress Party have been "exchanging positions and benefits since 1989 in a tragic circular process, which only increases their insatiable appetite for the monopoly of power, poverty of imagination and lack of vision."

The opposition leader further said that the change didn't affect the minister of finance despite the economic crisis that hits the country.

At the states levels, the presidential decree changed three governors in Darfur region, including Mohamed Abad Samouh for North Darfur State, Hussein Yassin Abu Sirwal for West Darfur state and Mohamed Ahmed Gad-Elsid Mohamed for Central Darfur state.

Al-Bashir appointed Khalid Hussein Mohamed, as a new governor of Blue Nile State and General Ahmed Ibrahim Mofadal governor of South Kordofan state.

(ST)

May 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) Sudan's Defence Minister Awad Ibn Ouf on Monday has met with the commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), Major General Gebre Adhana Woldezgu.

During the meeting, Ibn Ouf expressed his country's satisfaction with the distinguished performance and important roles played by the UNISFA in Abyei according to its mandate.

He stressed Sudan's keenness to meet its entire commitments and establish normal relations with South Sudan, expressing readiness to provide every possible assistant to UNISFA to carry out its functions fully.

For his part, Woldezgu expressed gratitude for the great cooperation of the Sudanese government with the UNISFA, pointing to support extended from all concerned organs in Sudan.

The meeting comes as the UN Secretary general will brief the Security Council on the activities of the peacekeeping mission in the contested area of Abyei.

Last month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed the Ethiopian Major General Woldezgu as the new force commander of UNISFA succeeding his fellow citizen Tesfay Gidey Hailemichael who completed his assignment on 23 April.

Ownership of Abyei, a border region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan, remained contentious after the world's youngest nation split from Sudan in 2011.

On 27 June 2011, the Security Council, by its resolution 1990, responded to the urgent situation in Abyei by establishing the UNISFA.

UNISFA's establishment came after Sudan's government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) reached an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to demilitarise Abyei and let Ethiopian troops monitor the area.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) provides that the contested territory remains part of the north until the organisation of a referendum determines its fate.

(ST)