Africa

August 15, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan's rival forces killed and raped civilians, extensively looting their property, including humanitarian goods, during and after clashes that occurred in Juba last month, a New-York based rights body said.

Arms and light weapons have been used by both warring parties in South Sudan to commit abuses (Photo courtesy of SSANSA)

In many cases, according to Human Rights Watch, government forces appeared to target non-Dinka civilians.

As a result of indiscriminate attacks, including shooting and shelling, shells landed in camps for displaced people inside United Nations bases, and in other densely populated areas in the city, killing and wounding civilians, the rights group said.

Clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and the armed opposition leader, Riek Machar clashed in the capital left over 270 people dead and displaced thousands.

The rights body mainly faulted government soldiers for the multiple crimes committed on civilians in the young nation.

“A year after South Sudan's leaders signed a peace deal, civilians are dying, women are being raped, and millions of people are afraid to go home,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch in a report issued Monday.

“On August 12, the UN decided to send more peacekeepers to Juba but put off a long-overdue arms embargo. The continued supply of arms only helps fuel the abuses on a larger scale,” he added.

The latest violence came barely four months after the formation a coalition government under a peace agreement signed in August 2015. The rival factions agreed to integrate their forces and establish the hybrid court.

Under the deal, however, the African Union Commission was to set up the court, with South Sudanese and other African judges and staff to be completed by October 2016.

This follows the series of documented cases of targeted killings, rapes and gang rapes, beatings, looting, and harassment, often along ethnic lines, said to have been committed several areas of the capital and its outskirts.

“South Sudanese leaders have time and again failed to end abuses against civilians, been unwilling to rein in abusive forces or ensure justice for crimes by those under their command,” said Bekele.

“There is no more excuse for delay: top leaders need to be sanctioned and an arms embargo imposed. The UN has to be more effective in protecting civilians and the AU should move ahead with the hybrid court,” he added.

Officials from the country's two rival factions are yet to comment on the damning report.

Meanwhile, the rights body has appealed to the United Nations and its member countries to impose targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on those responsible for serious human rights abuses in South Sudan.

The African Union Commission and donors, it added, should proceed without delay with preparations for a hybrid court to investigate and try the most serious crimes committed since the start of South Sudan's new war in 2013, including during the recent fighting.

(ST)

South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk breaks Michael Johnson's 17-year-old 400m world record to win Olympic gold at Rio 2016.

August 14, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese capital, Khartoum will host on Thursday the Arab Forum for Combating Terrorism (Role of the Arab Media in Combating Terrorism) which is jointly organized by the Arab League and Sudan's Information Ministry.

SAF troops march during the concluding ceremony of Northern Thunder in Saudi Arabia on March 12, 2016 (ST Photo)

In a press conference on Sunday, Sudan's Information Minister Ahmed Bilal said the forum was one of the recommendations of the 47th session of Council of Arab Ministers of Information.

He added that the forum would be held in three of the Arab capitals, pointing to Sudan's rich experience in fighting against extremism and terrorism.

Bilal pointed that the forum would be based on the Islamic-Arab strategy to fight against the phenomenon of terrorism, saying that Islam is a religion of peace and respect for human life.

The Sudanese minister further mentioned several reasons behind the emergence of the phenomenon of extremism and terrorism, saying the forum seeks to achieve a unified vision to fight against these phenomena.

He said that Sudan is among the countries with least numbers of youths who joined the extremist groups' camps, saying however the government is not satisfied with the current situation and would continue to protect the youths intellectually via the various means in order not to join these groups.

Last year, Sudan's interior ministry said that about 70 Sudanese, of both sexes have joint the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Libya.

Bilal underscored completion of all arrangements to hold the forum on Thursday, saying it would discuss three working papers besides holding a symposium.

He added that the opening session will be addressed by the First Vice-President Bakri Hassan Salih, and the Arab League's Secretary General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Islamic thinker Fahmi Huwaidi said he declined to accept an invitation extended to him by the Sudanese embassy in Cairo to attend the forum, expressing resentment over what he called “State Terrorism” which became the basis of actions of undemocratic regimes.

In an article published by the Egyptian-based Al Shorouk newspaper Saturday, he said the Sudanese authorities continued crackdown on press, pointing to mass confiscation of newspapers and attacks against journalists.

“Hence it was not surprising that Sudan ranked 174th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index” he said.

(ST)

August 14, 2016 (JUBA) – The official spokesperson for the leader of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), has described as “self-deception” President Salva Kiir's cabinet resolution on Friday which resolved to integrate SPLA-IO forces, saying the “illegal” new First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, has no army to integrate.

“This is a self-deception. The new illegal First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, has no army to integrate, or actually to surrender to his new commander-in-chief, Salva Kiir,” said James Gatdet Dak, official spokesman for the SPLM-IO leader, Riek Machar.

Dak was responding to the resolution passed in Juba in the Council of Ministers meeting chaired by President Kiir during which it resolved to integrate SPLA-IO forces.

Information and Broadcasting Minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, announced on Friday that the cabinet had agreed to approve the establishment of the cantonment sites and to integrate members of the SPLA-IO forces after getting into the assembling points.

But Dak said SPLA-IO army is with Machar including the top army leadership, saying Gai had only defected to President Kiir's faction with his bodyguards.

He said even another SPLA-IO General which Gai lured to his side in Unity state also defected with only less than 50 soldiers, adding “unless this is the number they wanted to integrate.”

Dak however claimed that the numbers of SPLA-IO forces are in hundreds of thousands and are all loyal to Machar across the country.

“SPLA-IO forces are the ones now besieging Juba, closing all routes from different directions. They are in full control of Juba-Yei road. They are in full control of Juba-Mundri road. They are in control of northwest of Juba city. They have cut off Lobonok, southwest of Juba. They are closing Juba-Bor road. Soon they will also close Juba-Nimule and Juba-Torit roads. And they will soon move on Juba to capture it and restore law and order. These are the members of the SPLA-IO forces under the leadership of Dr. Riek Machar, the legitimate First Vice President and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA-IO army,” Dak said.

He said the cabinet should have asked Taban Deng Gai if the SPLA-IO forces who have been fighting President Kiir's forces around Juba and closing all roads are the ones he claimed to be commanding and should be integrated.

Dak also said the peace agreement did not provide for immediate integration of the SPLA-IO forces, but rather gradual “reunification” of the two armies “unit by unit” after implementation of security sector reforms which would take at least two years into the transitional period.

He said Kiir and Gai are violating the peace agreement to avoid reforms, saying Gai was trying to surrender the SPLA-IO army as he has already surrendered the parliamentary leadership to President Kiir.

He also said it will not be surprising if Gai will also surrender and approve the controversial 28 states.

(ST)

August 14, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese civilians whose items were stolen during the fighting in Juba last month have questioned sincerity of the South Sudanese national army, the SPLA, to return the loots.

SPLA spokesman Brig. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang announced on Friday that items including generators, cars and other valuable households have been recovered from soldiers allied to President Salva Kiir. But Koang said owners must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the items are theirs.

"We would like the owner to come forward with engine number, serial number and the power number, the capacity of the generators and cars,” said Lul in a recovered message to state-owned SSBC TV.

He said failure to present those identifiers, anyone claiming ownership may not be allowed to take it.

But South Sudanese whose items were looted from their shops and homes decried the conditions laid down by the military. John Andruga had his shop broken into in Gudelle, a western suburb of Juba that witnessed fierce clashes between the SPLA in Government (SPLA-IG) loyal to President Salva Kiir and those SPLA in Opposition (SPLA-IO) loyal to former First Vice President, Riek Machar.

"The soldiers took my generator and damaged the shop after looting everything," he said, speaking to Sudan Tribune on Sunday.

"So I don't have any document because all items were destroyed or completely taken away by the soldiers," he added.

He said he cannot remember the serial number of his generator.

"If the SPLA is serious about returning the looted items, let them ask the soldiers from whom the item was recovered to tell them where he got it," he added.

Alongside Gudelle, Jebel Market, the second largest shopping center in Juba, was also vandalized. David Madavi, a Ugandan trader, owned a shop in Jebel Market. His items were taken when soldiers broke the door to his shop.

"I am completely frustrated and last thing I can remember about my stolen items is their serial numbers," said Madavi, who has refused to return to Uganda after Kampala evacuated her citizens last month.

Deng, a South Sudanese national who wished to be identified by one name, said his car was robbed by soldiers with all the documents including car logo book and other registration documents.

"Now, if the army is saying we should go to Bilpam [headquartes of the SPLA in Juba], where will I get the identification documents to claim my car?" said Deng.

"I think the SPLA is not sincere. They simply don't want to return the loots items to owners," he added.

Government soldiers, who forced small number of SPLA in opposition forces out of Juba in fierce streets battle for four days in Juba, turned to shops, homes and took civilians items.

The army headquarters in Juba constituted a martial court to try soldiers accused of engaging in looting but the court has not sat yet. SPLA spokesman, Koang, said 19 soldiers have been arrested and will be arraigned in the military court soon.

South Sudan army is struggling to modernize its ranks amidst accusations of abusing their power against civilians. The former rebels became the national army at independence from Sudan in 2011 but the 2013 conflict led to division along tribal lines.

Critics say the current army constituting SPLA under President Kiir and SPLA IO under Machar are tribal armies fighting for political power of their bosses.

(ST)

August 14, 2016 (BOR) - Hundreds of ghost names are expected to be eliminated in the payroll system in the newly created Jonglei state's government institutions. The move is expected to reduce the financial constraints on the budget overstretching.

Jonglei state governor, Aguer Panyang joined by others to light candles in Bor on July 31, 2016 (ST)

To curve down the existence of ghost names, and a huge number of absentees who are still paid, the cabinet resolved that the previous committees that were formed to conduct and oversee payment of salaries in the state, were to be extended to the counties to continue polishing and clean out ghost names in the payrolls.

After the siting on Thursday, the state minister of information, Akech Deng, told Sudan Tribune, that the state had had a lot of financial difficulties as all the state money goes to salaries.

“We have a huge chapter one, employees are more than anything, and even the ghost names are many. There are those who are paid like twice, or three times in the state, it becomes awesome,” the minister explained to Sudan Tribune over the weekend.

“If you have two jobs, you may not do a half of your job, so the government is taking measures to make sure that every civil servant should be in the right work place. Any ghost name should be screened out, so the council has extended the committees of payments until farther notice,” Deng explained on Thursday.

The state government formed payment committees three months ago to screen out ghost names in the ministries' headquarters. These committees were said to have recovered thousands of money in the process, but the concerned officials from the finance ministry failed to tell the exact amount of money recovered, or the number of employees screened out by the committees.

Attempts made by Sudan Tribune to find out about the state grant that normally comes from the central government in Juba had not been successful. Even the total number of employees that existed in the state before this screening exercise, was not communicated either.

“All what we get from Juba goes to chapter one. Every now and then, there is money being recovered for people who don't report to work, or may be from the ghost names,” Deng continued.

This month salaries would be paid through the committees, if possible, in the counties.

“The people in the counties are going to be paid by the committees, to make, if you are not at your work place, the government will not pay you. If you have two names in the government, know that you will only go home with one salary,” he cautioned.

The cabinet also thought of reshuffling the cashiers and account controllers who served in grades 3 to 5, so that this issue of ghost names is completely brought to an end.

“Cashiers and account controllers, from grade three to five will be reshuffled in the ministries, so that there is a change,” Deng noticed.

Among the key ministries under question, education was expected to be the major ministry in which people had either resigned without giving notice to the management, or served in other places, thereby creating doubling of names.

“In education a lot of work needs to be done, because many teachers are not at the work stations. They have resigned without giving their resignation or they are working with NGOs [Non-governmental Organizations],” Deng said.

(ST)

August 14, 2016 (MAYOM) - At least 22,000 people have been displaced due to heavy rainfall in Mayom county of Unity region, west of the state capital of newly created Northern Liech state, according to an official on the ground.

Heavy rain in July flooded the temporary shelters of displaced people at a UNMISS camp in Unity state's Rubkotna area (Facebook photo)

John Bol Mayak, county commissioner of Mayom county, told Sudan Tribune that the situation is dire as majority of the surrounding villages and payams have been heavily flooded.

“As I speak to you now all houses in the surrounding areas have been occupied by the water, and thousands of people are displaced and they have nowhere to go,” he told Sudan Tribune over satellite phone interview.

He said areas submerged under water include Riak, Kuerbokni, Ruathnybol, Wangkei, Bieh, and Mayom headquarters, and described the situation as worse ever seen.

Commissioner Mayak added that most of the crops in those areas under current flood were all destroyed, adding the lives of the community members remain unpredictable after the heavy rainfall.

He further said that many of victims had no food after they lost everything in the current violence, adding most areas remain inaccessible putting the lives of the residents at great risk.

“A lot of people are now at great risk of death, the situation is very terrible no humanitarian organization intervention on the ground right now,” he said.

He explained that over 15 people have died as a result of Malaria outbreak and other waterborne diseases in the areas which are flooded by water.

“Many of [the] residents are dying every day, the health facilities on the ground are not enough and the long distance walk is putting at risk the people,” he said.

He called on the humanitarian organizations and other United Nations aid agencies in South Sudan to come and assist the tens of thousands who are in dire need for emergency assistance.

(ST)

The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram releases a video showing some 50 of the schoolgirls seized by the group from Chibok more than two years ago.

The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has released a video showing some of the schoolgirls they abducted from the northern town of Chibok.

Jemima Sumgong becomes the first Kenyan woman to win the Olympic marathon, beating Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain into second.

At least 30 civilians are killed by suspected ADF rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the military says.

by Eric Reeves | August 13, 2016

Darfuris arrested for meeting with U.S. special envoy for the Sudan Donald Booth—all of them civil society representatives of displaced persons in Darfur—are paying a heavy price for their forthrightness. Belatedly, in a Statement from the Office of Press relations, the Obama administration yesterday declared publicly its recognition of the crisis created by Ambassador Booth's interviews with courageous Darfuris witnesses to the recent horrors generated by Khartoum's massive and continuing assault on Jebel Marra (Central Darfur):

The United States is gravely concerned about the Sudanese government's ongoing detention of at least 15 Darfuri individuals, including one Sudanese national employee of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID). The detentions followed a visit by Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth to Sudan's North and Central Darfur states as well as internally displaced persons (IDP) camps at Sortoni and Nertiti in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur from July 26 – 28, 2016. Many others who were not detained were nonetheless questioned by security officials about the nature of their contact with the Special Envoy.

The United States immediately expressed its concern about the reported detentions to senior Sudanese officials, and we call on the Government of Sudan to immediately release all of those detained. (August 12, 2016) (Notably, the Statement came not from the State Department of the Office of the Special Envoy for the Sudans—ER)

That the arrests began on July 31 and have continued since should be clear evidence of Khartoum's contempt for privately conveyed U.S. “expressions of concerns.” Whether this public statement will work to free those who remain detained is an open question.

From July 26 to 28, the Obama administration special envoy for the Sudans, Donald Booth, made three stops in Darfur, including one with representatives of displaced persons camps in Nierteti in Central Darfur. Many of these people are victims of the Khartoum regime's continuing military onslaught against the African tribal populations of the Jebel Marra massif, the defining geologic and geographic feature of Central Darfur, as well as abutting states (North Darfur, South Darfur, and West Darfur). Those who met with Booth were well aware that they were being watched by Khartoum's security services and informants; despite the risks, however, they courageously chose to speak the truth about the extreme violence and deprivation that defines their lives—and those of millions of other Darfuris.

Three days after Booth left Darfur, the arrests began; to date, according to Radio Dabanga (our only consistently reliable source of information about conditions in Darfur), fifteen have been arrested, but more are being sought. Two have been released, but for the other thirteen the future is likely grim: According to Shafee Abdallah [coordinator of the Central Darfur camps for the displaced], the remaining detainees must be in “an extremely difficult situation as their relatives, lawyers, and representatives of human rights department of UNAMID have not been allowed to visit them” (Radio Dabanga | August 7, 2016, Nierteti, Central Darfur). (This fact is not noted in the Press Statement.)

Despite the fact that these arrests were clearly in retaliation for speaking honestly with the Obama administration's special envoy, as of August 13, 2016 Ambassador Booth himself has made no public statement about the plight of those arrested or demanded their release. Again, the Press Statement of yesterday came from the Obama administration's Office of Press Relations, although it was certainly drafted by Booth's office.

Booth certainly knew that surveillance by both the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), as well as Khartoum's ruthless Military Intelligence, would be total. Nothing would be confidential, and those who spoke were putting themselves at enormous risk. In short, Booth knew that he was creating this situation of high risk, evidently calculating that speaking directly with Darfuris would give him more credibility in confronting Khartoum over current realities in Darfur, and that Khartoum would not dare retaliate so blatantly in the wake of a visit by a senior Obama administration official.

The calculation was painfully misconceived, particularly since Booth would learn little that is not already well known to the U.S. State Department, by virtue of confidential briefings from human rights investigators and those with contacts on the ground in Darfur, as well as from (likely minimal) U.S. satellite reconnaissance. Many of Darfur's realities were revealed in a key human rights report by Human Rights Watch from September of last year (“Men with no mercy”), which offers a detailed account of the brutality and broad powers of Khartoum's present militia force of choice, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), particularly in Central Darfur, where the arrests occurred.

To be sure, there is very little public news reporting, except by Radio Dabanga; human rights groups find it extraordinarily difficult to obtain information about the situation on the ground (although the two reports from Human Rights Watch in 2015 demonstrate just how much can be achieved using Darfuris contacts on the ground and by conducting interviews with victims when it is safe to do so). But it is the Obama administration itself, which officially “de-coupled” Darfur from major U.S. Sudan policy concerns in 2010, that is responsible for much of Darfur's invisibility, and hence the obduracy and contemptuous attitudes toward administration efforts at re-establishing Darfur as a focus of any real or sustained concern.

In accounting for Darfur's invisibility, there is of course much blame to apportion—between the European Union, the African Union, the UN, as well as the U.S. While the region was once the center of concerted news and human rights reporting and civil advocacy, occasioning unctuous statements by various world leaders (including candidate and President Obama), it is now almost entirely ignored by these actors except in the form of incompetent diplomatic exercises let by Thabo Mbeki, head of the African Union's absurdly named “African Union High-level Implementation Panel” (see “Diplomatic Incoherence: Thabo Mbeki's Gift to the People of Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile,” August 5, 2016 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1V).

Darfur's invisibility occurs not because the genocidal destruction has been halted; indeed, the past four years have seen a shocking rise in ethnically targeted killings, rapes, and violent land expropriation, even as those displaced by the violence find themselves in camps increasingly insecure and under-served by a dwindling humanitarian capacity. (See my two lengthy overviews of the primary patterns of violence, one of accelerating violent expropriation of African farmlands, another on the continuing use of rape as a weapon of war, focusing on the targeting of African girls and young women.)

But it was American civil society advocacy and human rights organizations that were most active in putting genocide in Darfur inescapably before the world's attention; and it was candidate Obama who declared when it was politically useful to do so that…

“When you see a genocide in Rwanda, Bosnia or in Darfur, that is a stain on all of us, a stain on our souls. We can't say ‘never again' and then allow it to happen again, and as a president of the United States I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter.” (video clip at | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEd583-fA8M#t=15/)

Those words ring even more hollow as human “slaughter” continues throughout Darfur nine years after candidate Obama made this statement. Khartoum has now largely succeeded in its genocidal counter-insurgency war, which from the start has focused on the destruction of the African tribal groups perceived as supporting the rebel forces. Beginning with the second term of the Obama administration there has been a dramatic increase in the level of violence—“slaughter”—and a further attenuation of humanitarian resources. The UN estimates that more than 3,000 African villages were destroyed in 2014 alone, this in addition to the many thousands of villages that had been destroyed in earlier years—and those destroyed subsequently. The effectiveness of the Rapid Support Forces has been decisive, and militarily Khartoum has now largely prevailed in Darfur, despite continuing fighting.

The costs of Khartoum's “victory” Some 500,000 dead; many tens of thousands of girls and women raped; more than 3 million people displaced from their homes (some 300,000 living tenuous lives as refugees in eastern Chad). There has been what appears to be a permanent, wholesale loss of African farmlands to Arab pastoralists, many not from Darfur but Chad, Niger, and other countries to the east of Darfur.

The most notorious leader of the Arab militias used early in the genocide (the Janjaweed) is Musa Hilal. In August 2004 he made explicit Khartoum's genocidal ambitions:

The ultimate objective in Darfur is spelled out in an August 2004 directive from [Janjaweed paramount leader Musa] Hilal's headquarters: “change the demography” of Darfur and “empty it of African tribes.” Confirming the control of [Khartoum's] Military Intelligence over the Darfur file, the directive is addressed to no fewer than three intelligence services—the Intelligence and Security Department, Military Intelligence and National Security, and the ultra-secret “Constructive Security,” or Amn al Ijabi. (Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, 2005)

What Khartoum is saying to the U.S. by way of arresting those who gave some account of this “change in demography” to the senior Obama administration diplomat working on Darfur is clear: “We have changed the demography; any efforts by you to reverse this success will be met with contempt and brutality.”

********************************

Eric Reeves has written extensively on Sudan for almost two decades; he is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

August 13, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) - Leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) Minni Minnawi has denied that they signed the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African Union due to American pressures but acknowledged that pressures within the Sudan Call have pushed the opposition umbrella to endorse the peace plan.

Leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minnawi (AFP)

Last Monday, four groups from the opposition umbrella Sudan Call including the SLM-MM, Sudan People's Liberation Movement /North (SPLM-N), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the National Umma Party (NUP) signed a roadmap for peace and dialogue proposed by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP).

In an interview with Sudan Tribune at the negotiation venue in Addis Ababa on Saturday, Minnawi said neither the United States nor the international community have put pressures on the Sudan Call forces to sign the Roadmap.

“Sudan Call forces have their own varying positions and considerations on whether to sign the [Roadmap] or not and with regard to amending its items and adding the issues that have been overlooked last March,” he added.

He pointed to existence of two views within the Sudan Call, saying the first called for sticking to the opposition demands and reservations while the other advocated the signing of the peace document particularly as mounting pressures could force the government to make concessions.

Some political parties within the internal opposition umbrella of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) including the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), the Arab Ba'ath Party (ABP), Nasserite Socialist Party (NSP) have refused to sign the Roadmap, saying it would reproduce the regime.

Minnawi described the controversial Roadmap as “unnecessary and unimportant”, saying it is only a gateway and timetable for commencing the talks and finding solutions.
He mocked the government declaration of Darfur as a region free of rebellion, saying it continued to use this kind of rhetoric since 27 years.

“Today, the Antonov war planes are bombing Jebel Marra. If [Darfur] is really free of rebellion why are they doing that? The answer is that they are bombing civilians... that means the International Criminal Court was right and President al-Bashir must turn himself in to the tribunal immediately” he said .

The rebel leader acknowledged that Darfur armed groups have retreated but underscored their presence on the ground.

“It is true that we have withdrawn from several areas [but] we seized control of new areas and this is how the rebellion works” he said.

Minnawi has expressed pessimism over the outcome of the ongoing talks with the Sudanese government on the cessation of hostilities and the humanitarian issues, saying no progress has been gained.

On Wednesday the government and the SLM-MM and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have kicked off direct negotiations on the Darfur track.

He added the Sudanese government is sticking to its old positions and refusing to make any concessions, saying he doesn't see any breakthrough looming.

“The government is taking intransigent position on all points pertaining to the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian issues” he said
Minnawi further criticised statements made by the head of the government delegation for the Darfur track Amin Hassan Omer in which he said the two sides would reach an agreement during this round of talks.
“Amin looks at the Darfur issue from the investment perspective, we are not concerned by his statements but the real question is: has any progress been made inside the negotiations rooms?”
JEM SAYS NO PROGRESS MADE ON DARFUR TALKS

Meanwhile, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, JEM Top Negotiator Ahmed Tugud Lisan said no progress was made in all contentious issues pertaining to the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian issues.

He said the two sides are sticking to their old positions with regard to the core issues under discussion, pointing the government delegation continued to repeat its old arguments.

Lisan added the government position reflects its ill will, saying it is a naive attempt to buy time and win political gains without paying any price.

He said this round of talks has come to an end without reaching any tangible results unlike what the government media has been portraying during the past couple of days.

“All signs and indications underline that this round [of talks] came to a conclusion without achieving any results, and that direct negotiations revealed the size of differences between the parties to the conflict and the intentions of the regime and its way of thinking towards issues of peace and democratization,” he said.

JEM Top Negotiator further added that true peace can't be achieved unless the regime takes a strategic decision that puts national interests ahead of partisan politics.

August 13, 2016 (TORIT) - Imotong state governor has issued gubernatorial decree appointing twelve County commissioners for the newly established local administrations in the area.

Governor Nartisio Loluke Manir

Nartisio Loluke Manir in a decree issued on Friday, appointed Fermo peter Ofere as a Commissioner of Torit County, Bernard primo as a Commissioner of Lopa County, Ben Kingston loduk as a Commissioner of Magwi County, Salvatore Abddala Orisa Moi as a Commissioner of Ikotos County, Emilio Igga as a Commissioner of Pageri County, Severino Loful Obong as a Commissioner of Lopit West County.

Meanwhile, Ukang Wang has also been appointed as a Commissioner of Lafon County, Vigilio Bernard take up Torit West County, Claudio Opwonya as a kidepo valley Commissioner, Emma Albino Aworu task for Torit east County, Onek Benson Mark for Ayaci County and Dominic Oywee Paul as Commissioner of Eriya County.

The governor is his decree urged the newly appointed commissioners to work hard in coordination with the local assembly, chiefs, security committees and the business communities to render services.

The governor further called on the local communities to work jointly with the appointed administrators since it was their own choice to steer up peace and development in their counties.

The newly appointed commissioner will take oath of office next week before to assume their duties in the respective areas.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Over nine thousands Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled their homes in Rii-rangu, Yambio County in fear of their lives from the fighting between the armed group and SPLA last June, are now getting humanitarian assistance which includes food and non-food items from World Food Program (WFP) in Yambio.

South Sudanese SPLA soldiers are pictured in Pageri in Eastern Equatoria state on August 20, 2015 (Photo AFP/Samir Bol)

Speaking to Sudan tribune, the State Director of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) Joseph Salvatore said, the IDPs and farmers of Rii-rangu area are getting humanitarian assistance after deserting their homes following the violence in June this year. The CFP provides food and RRC Office together with other non-governmental organizations are engaged in the distribution.

“We are distributing humanitarian assistance to over nine thousands IDPs who fled their homes in Rii-rangu to Yambio in fear of their lives,” he said.

Salvatore stated that the distribution had been delayed because the NGOs have to do verification first to know the exact number of the displaced before the distribution of food and non-food. Also,the instability in the area prevented them from visiting some areas where the IDPs are residing.

He refuted the allegation that the acting governor that time who was the Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement pressured and addressed them an ultimatum of seven days to distribute the items to the needy or else the government may give an order to distribute it. He added that aid groups don't work under pressure from anyone because they have to mobilize the resources and again do assessments to allow them do their work efficiently.

Salvatore further underlined that the WFP is transporting the humanitarian items now to Yambio only by air because all roads connecting the Western Equatoria are closed and that insecurity and armed looting on roads also prevent that.

A farmer in the area, Mr. TartizioWandu, told Sudan Tribune that all what he planted in his farm in Rii-rangu had been looted during the conflict, and he could not go to the area to harvest or collect anything from the garden.

“All what I planted in Rii-rangu has been looted and destroyed by unknown people and it was not safe to go there and collect some of it. I am afraid my family this year will face hunger as they have nothing to eat.”

An IDP, Samson Mangu, says, he is happy to receive food after many months enduring hunger with his family as they fled their homes without food or cloths. He urged the government and armed groups to stop fighting as they could go back to their homes and live in peace.

“I am calling upon the government and armed groups to stop war, we need peace.”

Rii-rangu is one of the areas affected by the fighting between the government forces and SPLA-IO elements.

(ST)

August 12, 2016 (KHARTOUM). Sudan's Ministry of Telecommunications on Friday revealed that it has taken legal action against hackers for attacking government websites, pointing that such attacks represent a violation of “national security”.

In statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Director General of the National Information Center (NIC), Mohamed Abd Al Rahim, pointed that the center has filed a complaint against unidentified hackers for attacking and corrupting government websites.

“Ministry of Telecommunications has the capacity to protect its information and track all hackers,” stressed the statement.

The statement further pointed that the Center is keen to protect government and private data and information.

The government didn't indicate the attacked websites. However Sudan Tribune noticed that the sites of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Petroleum were down on Friday.

In 2014, the Ministry of Telecommunications announced new plans to secure its sites against hackers and tasked the NIC with the hosting and security of the government websites and transmitted data.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - Security authorities in North Darfur state on Saturday have arrested 26 foreign nationals as they tried to cross from Sudan to Libya at Um Kadada area, 150 km east of the state's capital, El-Fasher.

A security source who spoke to Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity, said an army intelligence force from the sixth infantry division have aborted a human trafficking operation, pointing that 26 foreign nationals including 24 Somalis and 2 Kenyans were arrested.

He said the detainees were riding on a four-wheel drive Ford vehicle at Um Kadada area, pointing they were heading to El-Fasher and from there to the Libyan border.

Sudan is considered as a country of origin and transit for the illegal migration and human trafficking. Thousands of people from Eritrea and Ethiopia are monthly crossing the border into the Sudanese territories on their way to Europe through Libya or Egypt.

Last June, hundreds of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) elements have been deployed in the remote desert of the Northern State shortly after complaint by the governor of drug and human trafficking by the criminal networks.

Upon their return to North Darfur state late last month, SRF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, (aka Hametti) said his fighters arrested about 600 Ethiopian illegal migrants near Sudan's border with Libya and Egypt.

Earlier this year, the European Union granted a €100m development package to address the root causes of irregular migration in Sudan. The financial support came after pledge by the Sudanese government to cooperate with Brussels to stop human trafficking to Europe.

In January 2014, the Sudanese parliament approved an anti-human trafficking law which punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) - Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have failed to sign a cessation of hostility agreement as the talks are stalled over the humanitarian access from outside Sudan.

Negotiating delegations of the Sudanese government (L) and the SPLM-N (R) hold a meeting in presence of mediators in Addis Ababa on 12 August 2016 (courtesy photo of SPLM-N)

The African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) on Friday decided to extend until Sunday the talks on the cessation of hostilities and the humanitarian access to civilians in the war affected areas in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, as the progress achieved raised hope on a possible deal for Sunday.

However, on Saturday evening the two parties accused each other of hampering the process. Nonetheless, the chief mediator called on the parties to meet on Sunday as he is expected to submit some proposals to break the deadlock.

The spokesperson of the government delegation Hassan Hamid told reporters that the SPLM-N delegation insists on its demand for the transportation of humanitarian aid from South Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia.

The SPLM-N insists on the "direct transportation of humanitarian assistance from Juba and other countries to the Movement's controlled areas without observing the legal or technical regulations (...) which constitutes a violation of national sovereignty," he said.

He further said that such a demand represents a "threat to the national security" in light of the political and security situation in South Sudan and the "military and political connections between" the ruling party in Juba and the SPLM-N.

Since several year ago the SPLM-N demands the transportation of humanitarian aid from outside the country, saying such procedure would prevent Khartoum from using humanitarian aid as a tool of political pressure. Also, it also refused the participation of Sudanese government relief workers saying they are infiltrated by the security apparatus.

SPLM-N Spokesperson Mubarak Ardol, disclosed that they made significant concessions on the negotiating table in order to facilitate an agreement on the humanitarian access, and accused the government of seeking to fully control the whole operation.

"The SPLM-N delegation conceded and accepted mixed tracks from inside Sudan and abroad. Even, we accepted that 80% of the relief come through Khartoum," said Ardol in a statement he released at the negotiation venue.

He added that the government delegation maintained its intransigence and insisted to have the monopoly of the humanitarian operation, a matter that reveals its "intention to use citizens in the Two Areas as hostages of war as they do now in Darfur".

To explain why they insist on the direct access from outside Sudan, Ardol said they fear that the government expel foreign aid groups and prevent international officials from assessing the humanitarian situation on the ground as it is done in Darfur.

Sources close to the negotiations said the chief mediator Thabo Mbeki met the two sides and invited them to resume their discussions on Sunday. It is unclear if he would continue to press them to sign an agreement or suspend the talks as he used to do in the past.

The signing of the deal on the truce and the humanitarian access is seen as confidence building measures paving the way for a political process that includes the other opposition groups in a constitutional conference to be held inside Sudan.

The leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq al-Mahdi Saturday urged the negotiating parties to sign a deal on the humanitarian aid and the cessation of hostilities to move towards the political file.

"Unless the parties agree on a cessation of hostilities and security and humanitarian arrangements, they (the government and armed groups) obstruct the dialogue." he said in statements to the official news agency SUNA.

He stressed that the non-signing of the cessation of hostilities prevents the creation of a new climate for peace in Sudan, and disrupts the confidence building measures the African mediation spoke about.

" Now, the conditions are favourable more than ever to achieve a just and comprehensive peace and democratic transformation acceptable to all the parties, and (discuss) a new constitution to be agreed upon."

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan cabinet has approved the establishment of cantonment sites and integration of members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army who have switched allegiance to President Salva Kiir's newly appointed First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai.

A batch of the SPLA-IO forces after arrival in Juba, 1 April, 2016 (ST Photo)

Information and Broadcasting Minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, announced on Friday that the cabinet has agreed to approve the establishment of the cantonment sites and to integrate members of the SPLA-IO forces after getting into the assembling points.

Minister Lueth, however, did not say whether the cantonment sites for SPLA-IO forces would extend to the two regions of Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria. He government has previously rejected the establishment of the cantonment sites for members of armed opposition forces in the two regions, claiming the areas did not experience active combat during the more than two years civil war in the country. He advocated for limited establishment of the cantonment sites to the Upper Nile region.

“The cabinet has approved the establishment of the SPLA-IO forces. The president will today (Friday) issue orders to implement the resolution of the council of ministers,” said Lueth in a statement broadcast by the state owned South Sudan broadcasting Corporation on Friday evening.

The president, however, did not issue any republican order on Friday and it remains unclear when He will issue orders to implement the decision of the cabinet meeting in which he participated with his new first deputy, Taban Deng Gai.

It is also not unclear why the president has accepted the establishment of the cantonment sites for members of armed opposition forces after he declined to sign the minutes of the meeting he had with the Former Vice President, Riek Machar and Vice President James Wani Iagga.

Observers are keen to stress that President Kiir stalled the implementation of key provisions in the agreement because of his personal dislike of Machar whom he did not take any credit for successful implementation of the peace agreement.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (JUBA) - The Spokesperson of South Sudan President Salva Kiir angrily reacted on Friday to a resolution of the United Nations Security Council authorizing deployment of up to 4000 troops to protect civilians at risk of extreme violence and to help in the implementation of peace agreement.

South Sudanese Presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny addresses journalists following renewed fighting in Juba July 11, 2016 (Reuters Photo)

Presidential Spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny, told the media late on Friday that the government of President Salva Kiir on whose behalf he spoke, will not cooperate with the United Nations approved force.

“It is very unfortunate and we are not going to ‘cooperate' because we will not allow our country to be taken over by U.N. Any force that will be called Juba Protection Force will not be accepted,” said Ateny.

Ateny made the remarks after the government convened a cabinet meeting at which it was resolved to send a letter rejecting a proposal authorizing deployment of protection force from the region under the united nations mission in South Sudan.

The letter prepared by the minister of cabinet affairs, Martin Elia Lomuro and approved by president Kiir likened the deployment of 4,000 foreign troops to “invasion and interference in the internal affairs”.

(ST)