Africa

As Commonwealth leaders meet in London, the BBC takes a look at the facts and figures behind this club of nations.

The United Nations Secretary-General is calling on political leaders in Mali to ensure those responsible for a deadly assault on peacekeepers serving in the north are brought to justice.

April 14, 2018 (JUBA) – The African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) should push for the establishment of the Hybrid Court to try the different crimes committed during the civil war, an activist said.

South Sudanese civil society activist Edmund Yakani (The Niles/File)

Members of the AUPSC are in South Sudan for a six-day consultation visit. The delegation will also travel to the northern town of Malakal.

“[The] AUPSC should make strong action-oriented positions on the ongoing violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement signed on 21st December, 2017, compromises during HLRF [High Level Revitalization Forum], establishment of a Hybrid Court and the negative interference of some AU members' states on HLRF process,” said Edmund Yakani, a South Sudan civil society activist.

He added, “The ongoing violations of CHoA [Cessation of Hostilities Agreement] are weakening the public trust and confidence that the negotiating parties of South Sudan have and the will to accept peaceful settlement of their political difference”.

The AUSPC team is in Juba, the South Sudan capital to discuss to discuss the situation in five year old civil in the East African country.

The meeting is within the time frame where the regional bloc's special envoy to South Sudan is conducting shuttle diplomacy with various South Sudan actors on ongoing peace mediation processes.

Yakani, however, said the meeting in the South Sudan capital is timely in terms of pushing and lobbying South Sudan negotiating parties for compromises on the registered deadlock on the road to revitalize the Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan.

“The AUPSC meeting in Juba should not ignore matters of estrange and hostile political relation among the principals and the negotiating parties, “ stressed Yakani, adding that “Building consensus among the principals of the negotiation parties besides their personal political grievance is essential for the success of next High-Level Revitalization Forum in later April 2018 in Addis Ababa”.

He also called for support for national media coverage of next HLRF as a strategy of bui1ding d citizens ownership, trust and confidence on the outcomes of HLRF and that the AUPSC team should meet with others stakeholders, including faith-based leaders, members of the civil society, women and youth during their six-day visit to Juba.

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April 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - A small issue about whether or not to mention Ethiopia's reservation on the 1959 agreement caused the failure of Khartoum meeting over Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour on Saturday.

Sudan's FM Ibrahim Ghandour (Photo SUNA)

Commenting on the failure of 5 April meeting, Ghandour last Friday told the BBC Arabic that the three countries were about to sign an agreement after a 17-hour meeting when Egypt raised the issue of the disputed Nile Water Agreement between Cairo and Khartoum of 1959 which Ethiopia refused to recognize.

The Sudanese top diplomat in another interview with the Egyptian official newspaper Al-Ahram gave more details on what happened on Khartoum meeting saying the meeting was constructive and the three delegations reached an understanding over all the outstanding matters, except a small point about the 1959 deal.

He added all the parties have agreed not to include it in the discussion over the GERD, but the difference emerged when Ethiopia wanted it to be clearly written in the outcome of the meeting and Egypt wanted it to remain a gentleman agreement.

"The small point of disagreement at the Khartoum meeting is related to Ethiopia's reservation on the Nile Water Agreement between Egypt and Sudan. All of us have accepted it, but some refused to sign (a document stating the acceptance of this reservation) saying they agree on it but do not want to see a written text about it, while another party said it should be written as long as we agreed on it," said Ghandour.

"This little difference on writing a (formal) agreement or only to have it as a Gentleman agreement is what led us to where we are, but I think it is a small point of disagreement," he emphasized.

In a separate statement to the press in Saudi Arabia, Ghandour said the three countries agreed that "no one would be harmed by the dam".

The other Nile Basin countries including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda together with Ethiopia in the past said they want to negotiate all the treaties on the Nile water, particularly 1929 Nile Waters Agreement.

Signed on 7 May 1929 between Egypt and Great Britain, the deal gives Cairo the right to veto projects on the Nile that would affect its water share. At the time, London represented Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan.

The 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan, which is seen as a complement to the 1929 agreement, gave Egypt the right to 55.5 billion cubic meters of Nile water and Sudan 18.5 billion cubic meters per year.

Last Thursday, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that his country had invited Ethiopia and Sudan to resume the GERD negotiations on April 20.

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April 13, 2018 (JUBA) – A member of the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), an advisory body To South Sudan President Salva Kiir, has expressed dismay over the ex-army chief of staff's move to rebel.

Former South Sudan army chief of staff, Gen Paul Malong Awan (Juba24 News)

General Paul Malong announced the formation of the South Sudan United Front (SSUF), arguing that his movement was the only means through which he would work with compatriots to "arrest the carnage" in the war-torn country.

“Our movement is a just an urgent call to our compatriots and a struggle to first arrest the carnage that has befell our country and secondly to steer us towards democracy and development, which are the cornerstones of nationhood, an African nationhood of democracy, development, equal citizenry, justice and freedom”, he said in a statement publicly unveiled on Monday.

He accused Kiir of building a nation where total impunity is the order.

“Our movement seeks to reverse this. We must build our nationhood around strong institutions and not strongmen. Strong institutions will outlive all of us and guarantee the prosperity of our nation. This is what we yearn for in our country”, further stressed the statement.

But the chairman of the JCE, Ambrose Riiny Thiik said it was unwise for Malong to rebel.

“It was this council that was securing and bridging the reconciliation process between Kiir and Malong until he was released on medical ground to Kenya though rumours emerged to the contrary about his secret visit to Sudan last month,” Thiik told Sudan Tribune Friday.

He said the council would still negotiate between Kiir and Malong.

“The council of elders is studying the circumstances leading to the formation of the new opposition by General Paul Malong Awan because there were already discussions between him and the president which we led. This questioned the council and brought dissatisfaction among the members of why Malong disvalued the council and moved on with his contrary decision,” stressed Thiik.

Malong said his new rebel group would strive towards fighting what he described as "systemic corruption, stop the ongoing carnage, steer the country toward democracy, justice, equality and freedom."

South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei said Malong was at “the top of corruption” and that he was the one responsible for all the atrocities the army committed in the course of the civil war.

He, however, admitted that pro-government could have committed numerous atrocities as they pursued Machar who attempted to take over power from the incumbent President Salva Kiir.

Relations between Malong and President 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 start a rebellion.

The ex-army chief was freed in November following mediation led by members of the JCE. The agreement refrained him from going to his home-town of Aweil in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state but was allowed to travel to any East Africa country

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April 14, 2018 (JUBA) – The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), the body monitoring the implementation of South Sudan's peace accord, has been urged to involved women in the ongoing peace process.

JMEC Team led by Chief of Staff Ambassador Berhanu Kebede (Second far left) with the Swedish delegation (JMEC photo)

The decision was reached on Friday during a meeting which JMEC officials held with a team from the Swedish ministry for foreign affairs.

The team is in South Sudan as part of a study tour to several countries to understand how gender issues are integrated into the United Nation mission's implementation of its mandate and for its partners.

They will meet representatives from the UN, government and civil society in these countries to learn from their experiences, successes, challenges and recommendations in order to improve concrete implementation of the women, peace and security agenda.

The Swedish team will also visit Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali and Liberia.

During the meeting held in the capital, Juba, JMEC chief of staff, Ambassador Berhanu Kebede and his team gave an overview of commission's integration of gender perspectives in its oversight mandate, emphasizing the centrality of women's participation and inclusion in the implementation of the agreement and their direct involvement in the ongoing high level revitalization forum processes.

The Swedish team comprised of Karolina Vrethem, the Deputy Director at the Department of Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gustaf Solomonsson from the African Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs specializing in the Horn of Africa, Lotta Segerstrom from the Department for UN Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Hanna Carlsson, the First Secretary at the Swedish embassy in Juba.

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April 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The Higher Coordination Committee to Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Dialogue Outcome said it would meet at the end of the month to form the higher committee for drafting the permanent constitution.

The minister of information and member of the committee Ahmed Bilal Osman on Friday said President Omer al-Bashir would preside over the upcoming meeting which is expected to endorse the references for drafting the constitution.

He pointed out that the release of the political prisoners and the upcoming meeting with the Darfur rebels in Germany aims to achieve common understandings on issues of peace and the constitution.

Osman added that most of the political forces have agreed to draft the constitution before the 2020 elections, saying the next period would witness significant work to engage the Sudanese on the drafting of the permanent constitution.

In October 2016, the political forces participating in the government-led national dialogue concluded the process by signing the National Document which includes the general features of a future constitution to be finalised by transitional institutions.

The National Consensus Government (NCG) was installed in May 2017 to implement the outcome of the dialogue conference.

The opposition groups boycotted the national dialogue because the government didn't agree to a humanitarian truce with the armed groups and due to its refusal to implement a number of confidence-building measures aiming to create a conducive environment in the country before to hold the inclusive dialogue.

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April 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Gibril Ibrahim on Saturday announced that a number of its commanders have defected to the Sudanese government describing the move as “deplorable behaviour”.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, JEM spokesperson Gibril Adam Bilal said a group of JEM commanders including Hussein Abdel-Rahman Arkory (aka Abu Garja), Muhamadein Sulieman, Ibrahim Hashim Bashar (aka Garsil), Mohamed Musa (aka Miringa) and Abdel-Azim Abakar Ibrahim (aka Bob) was on an administrative mission.

“However, they broke the oath of allegiance to the revolution, betrayed the trust and dragged the officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers and handed them over to the security services of the regime,” read the statement

Bilal stressed the various sectors of the Movement's army are well and strong, vowing to continue the revolution “until victory is achieved, whatever the cost”.

He warned the regime “that the revolution is alive and will remain as long as the reasons that caused its eruption is still there”.

The Sudanese government and JEM and Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) will meet in Berlin on 16 and 17 April to negotiate a pre-negotiation agreement.

If the parties strike a deal, it would pave the way for talks on a cessation of hostilities and then they will join the negotiations table to discuss political issues in Doha

The Sudanese army has been fighting a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.

UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 people were killed in the conflict and over 2.5 million were displaced.

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April 13, 2018 (JUBA) - South Sudanese armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, Saturday accused the government forces of attacking their positions in Northern Liech State.

SPLA soldiers, from the 2nd Battalion pose at the SPLA headquarters in Nyang, in the county of Yirol East, on February 15, 2014 (Photo AFP/Fabio Bucciarelli)

"This morning the 14/04/2018, the regime's forces came out of their trenches and attacked the SPLA IO positions in Boaw and Nhialdiu and some forces are already on their way to Mir mir and Rukuai in (Northern) Liech state," said SPLM-Io deputy spokesperson Lam Paul Gabriel.

The rebel official further claimed that Northern Liech Governor, Joseph Nguen Monytuil and SPLA Gen Deng Wol ordered the attack on the SPLA-IO controlled areas in the state.

"Fighting is still on as I write; more details will follow later," he said.

In a phone call, Gai James, a resident of Bentiu told Sudan Tribune that fighting started since Friday until Saturday morning between the SPLA-IO and the SPLA in the southwest of Bentiu and Boaw Payam in Koch county.

The SPLM-IO deputy spokesperson called on the ceasefire commission, CTSAMM, to investigate this criminal act as soon as possible.

A senior US official on Friday requested the IGAD to release of all the CTSAMM reports on cease-fire violations as soon as possible and to take the needed punitive measures against the violators of the cessation of hostilities agreement.

The official who was speaking to Voice of America under the cover of anonymity said: "concerned by reports of continued fighting in South Sudan, including military campaigns by the government around Nassir town in the country's northeast, and around Kajo Keji and Yei in the country's south".

In a communiqué issued at the end of its 61st session on the situation in South Sudan on 26 March, the IGAD Council of Ministers expressed “extreme” concern on the report submitted by CTSAMM on flagrant violations of the ceasefire agreement by South Sudan government troops in Nassir area on 12 February 2018.

The IGAD council “Decides in line with the Council's Communiqué of January 26, 2018, to take targeted sanctions against individual violators and refer to the AU Peace and Security Council for appropriate punitive measures,” said the statement.

But since the communiqué, no sanctions have been announced by the regional body.

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One genuine UN peacekeeper is dead and many French soldiers are wounded after the attack.

The Nigerian government insists it is still in discussions to release the missing 112 schoolgirls.

By Stephen Par Kuol

Those who could not have read the minds of Kiir's fascist regime for years can now read its own lips confessing war crimes and financial corruption. Ateny Wek Ateny has been well known for his pompous blusters to defend the excesses of Kiir's J1, but this time around, the mouthpiece of the palace cabal has spontaneously spewed out that his government looted the public coffers of South Sudan to scrap the Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS), reintroduced violence and plunged the country back to the ongoing civil war in July 2016. In legal term, this tall tale of criminal confession indicts the regime for the following serious crimes: a) embezzling public funds to commit crime of military vandalism using the state warplanes to destroy state properties b) attempted murder against the First Vice President of the Republic, C) war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

In Accordance with the Rules of Evidence in the academic textbooks, the claim that the Chief of General Staff obtained 5 million US Dollar for operation code named: “The Last Rain to Kill Riek Machar” without the consent of the Commander in Chief, Salva Kiir Mayardit is not admissible in any court of law. It is one thing to blame him for mismanaging the funds or diverting the funds to his private account, but it is another thing blaming him for failing to accomplish the criminal mission for which the funds were earmarked. Either way, it is a double offence (crime of treason and financial corruption). For the worst part, the self-incriminating confession that General Malong was fired because of the financial corruption and the atrocities he committed during the ongoing war without being prosecuted by the regime for both crimes of war and corruption only proves it beyond a reasonable doubt that the Chief of General Staff operating under the direct command of the Commander In Chief did what he did implementing Kiir's fascist and genocidal policy he is still pursuing even long after General Malong left Bilpham.

Evidently, Malong was not dismissed for embezzling $5 million and failed to kill Riek Machar in that hot pursuit up to the Democratic Republic of Congo. What I can take with salt and pepper is the obvious fact that the cocoon cracked because Kiir did what he does best: (manufacturing coups). Like Dr Majaak Agot , Cde Pagan Amum, and Dr Riek Machar before him, General Malong is just a victim of another Kiir's fabricated coup. It has to be recalled that Salva Kiir has always contended with plots, real and perceived, to create crisis since his bush heydays as the movement's Chief Security. That was how he eliminated the best cadres of the SPLM/A and dismantled the founding leadership of the movement by nocking their heads with Dr John Garang, one by one until he was left alone with Dr John and then turned against him in 2004.

As for the amount of public funds embezzled, the public just needs to be informed better that this $5 million USD for the head of Dr Riek Machar is not actually plethora by J1 extravagant standards. Those are just pocket changes of the mafia lords who have converted the Presidential Palace into another branch of Central Bank opened only at night for bloody and kleptomaniac businesses. It is an open secret in South Sudan that the regime has lagged behind in paying salaries of civil servants for years simply because the bulk of our national budget funded with petro-dollars goes to Kiir's war machine and his fat bank accounts abroad. The rest goes into the pockets of his hoodlums to guard the throne. This has been verified and confirmed by credible international financial intelligence. That is why the United States Government has imposed sanctions on the financial institutions and the private businesses of the regime's top lords of the graft including the President himself.

Minister Michael Makuei Lueth has publicly questioned General Malong's moral authority to speak about corruption and I agree with him, but the common questions being asked in the streets and bushes of South Sudan are: who can really speak with moral authority on issues pertaining to corruption in the regime whose palace has been scandalized by domestic thefts and embezzlement of stolen money for years? What is it that is morally left of the regime that rewards criminal convicts with high posts in the economic ministries of the national government? From Dura Saga to the list of 75 thieves, the two incidents of theft in the Presidential Save and this $5 million for the head of the First Vice President, are the people of South Sudan that fool to miss the point that the rampant corruption is led by none other than the President himself?

Compatriots, the cat has veered out of the bag!! The rest is history. Defending the indefensible will only make you the ugly face of the graft and the ongoing war of shame to keep Kiir in J1 to do nothing but killing the people and looting their resources. In any case, this tale of criminal confession has just given the people of South Sudan another ammunition to call for speedy regime change. Salva Kiir and his cronies have totally lost moral authority to speak on anything pertaining to corruption, peace and the nation building. They should just pack the loots and leave the people of South Sudan alone to fix the system and the social fabric of the society they have broken.

The author is a South Sudanese freelance writer currently passing through Khartoum. via kuolpar@yahoo.com

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April 13, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The human rights group Amnesty International said Eritrean and Sudanese refugees are at risk once they are deported to Uganda pointing that they do not receive papers, and remain without legal protection.

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from Africa protested in Tel Aviv in January, calling for changes to Israel's policies on asylum seekers (Photo: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Since 2013, Rwanda and Uganda have received some 4,000 migrants who had been in Israel which denounced a recent agreement with the UNHCR to keep some of them under pressure of far-right parties.

Amnesty's release came after statements in Kampala about an Israeli request to take 500 Eritrean and Sudanese after the cancellation of a deal with the Un refugee agency.

"Amnesty International has collected new testimonies from ten Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers deported from Israel to Uganda between February 2017 and January 2018. Seven of them are still in Uganda, while the remaining three have left for other countries in Africa," said the two-page statement.

The right group further said all of them were escorted at their arrival by "Ugandan individuals" "via back passages, circumventing immigration and customs checks". following what they "took the Israeli issued travel papers from the asylum seekers, leaving them with no visa or other documents to show regular entry into the country".

Between 2015 -2018, Israel deported 1,749 Eritrean and Sudanese to Uganda, including 128 people in January-March 2018. The Sudanese are generally from Darfur region.

The statement called on the Israeli government to halt the deportation of asylum-seekers, stressing it violates the principle of non-refoulement in the international law.

"This is the prohibition against transferring anyone to a place where they would be at real risk of persecution and other serious human rights violations, or where they would not be protected against such a transfer later".

It further said the government of Uganda must immediately cease any co-operation with the Israeli government to carry out illegal deportations.

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April 13, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's inflation rate has risen to 55,6% in March compared to 54,34% in February, reported the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBoS)

In January, the director of the Troubled Currencies Programme at Johns Hopkins University Steve Hanke said Sudan's inflation has skyrocketed to a record high of 122% pointing the East African country “now has the second highest inflation rate in the world after Venezuela”.

The government seeks to achieve an average inflation rate of 19,5% by the end of the 2018 fiscal year compared to 34,1% in 2017.

Earlier this year, the Sudanese pound plummeted to record lows on the black market. The U.S. dollar was sold for a high 42 pounds in early February.

However, the government introduced a number of measures to curb the rise in the dollar price including limiting cash withdrawal from banks to absorb liquidity, cracking down on black market Forex traders and restricting imports.

The government measures managed to pull back the dollar price to 34,00 pounds however economists expect a new rise in its price once these restrictions were lifted.

The most recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report indicated that Sudan's gross international reserves remained very low in 2017 ($1.1 billion, 1¾ months of imports).

Following the promulgation of the 2018 budget which included a number of austerity measures, peaceful protests erupted in a number of Sudanese states leading to the killing of a high school student in West Darfur State and detention of dozens of opposition activists across the country.

Prices and services have soared in Sudan since South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of the country's oil output, the main source of foreign currency used to support the Sudanese pound.

Ordinary citizens continue to complain from cost of living increases that impaired their access to basic commodities.

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April 13, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations Security Council has extended for 10 days the support of its mission in the disputed Abyei area to Sudan and South Sudan Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism.

In May 2017, the Council pointed to the persistent delay to operationalise the buffer zone decided to end United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA)'s support to the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism within six months unless the two countries activate the border monitoring mechanism.

Since the two countries under regional and international pressures finally redeployed their forces out of the disputed areas and activated the Safe Demilitarized Border Zone and marked five crossing points.

However, the Governor of Upper Nile State on 23 March prevented the marking of the southern limit of Kosti Renk corridor, according to a UN report seen by Sudan Tribune.

Considering that the (UNISFA) has provided the needed support to the two government efforts to normalize relations in the contested border region in line with the 2012 Cooperation Agreement the Security Council unanimously decided to extend this support for ten days to complete the remaining matters.

The resolution 2411 (2018) recognized that “the current situation in Abyei and along the border between Sudan and South Sudan continues to constitute a serious threat to international peace and security"

The Joint Political and Security Mechanism is expected to hold an extraordinary meeting before the end of this month.

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April 13, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has named its heads of offices in the disputed Abyei area saying the move comes in preparations for the 2020 general elections.

In statements released in Khartoum, the NCP political secretary for Abyei Scholl Muwin Paul said the naming of the party officials would help to achieve social peace and stability in the area.

According to Paul, the NCP has named Salouma Yahia as deputy chairman of the party while Hafiz Abo Maki was appointed as NCP head for central Abyei and Hamdein Adam Youssef as chairman for northern Abyei.

On the other hand, Mohamed Muhana, Hassan Mileik and John Zakaria have been named as NCP heads for western, eastern and southern Abyei respectively.

Paul further said his party would conduct administrative and organizational tours across Abyei during the next few days, pointing out that the naming of the party heads aims to activate the political work and prepare for the upcoming elections.

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.

There is no joint administration between Sudan and South Sudan, as the Ngok Dinka refuse the formation of Abyei Area Administration and the Legislative Council. Instead, they call to hold a referendum without the Sudanese pastoralist Misseriya.

Now there are two committees one for the Misseriya appointed by the Sudanese government and another for the Ngok Dinka appointed by Juba government.

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.

The difference over who will participate in the referendum prevents the two countries from holding the agreed referendum.

However, the Dinka Ngok organised a unilateral referendum from 27to 29 October 2013 to say they want to join the Republic of South Sudan.

Khartoum, Juba, the African Union and the international community refused to recognise the outcome of the vote.

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