Africa

June 9, 2015 (JUBA) - South Sudanese army (SPLA) claimed on Tuesday that it repulsed an attack allegedly carried out by armed opposition fighters allied to the former vice president, Riek Machar, and took control of several areas previously held by the rival forces in Unity state.

A soldier from the South Sudanese army stands in front of a vehicle in South Sudan's Unity State on 12 January 2014 (AP)

Lieutenant General Bapiny Monytuil, a government allied militia commander whose forces fight alongside government troops against opposition fighters told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday his troops on the ground under the command of Major General Mathews Puljang, in collaboration with the SPLA's 4th division forces in the area, managed to push away advancing rebel forces on Unity oilfields and took control of more areas under their control.

“Our forces have today [Tuesday] taken control of Panakuac. They also took five other areas from them and they are now still pursuing them towards Sudanese border after the defeat,” said Monytuil.

He claimed that the defeat of the rebels from Panakuac and capturing of some of their areas has lessened fear of danger they posed to oil installations which they (opposition forces) had declared to be their targets in attempt to deny the government any opportunity to reopening the affected facilities.

“With this defeat of the rebels by our forces, their dream to advance on our positions and take control of the oil installations has now been foiled and it will only remain unrealistic and wishful thinking,” Monytuil told Sudan Tribune during an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

South Sudanese army spokesperson, Colonel Phillip Aguer, said in a separate interview that the government forces in the areas were in complete control of the security situation in the state.

Sudan Tribune was unable to independently verify claims that Panakuac, which has been one of the stronghold areas of the opposition forces, with battles often raging for control of military and security facilities such as the oil installation, has fallen to the control of government forces.

Observers say such development would frustrate opposition fighters who have recently made significant advances north of Bentiu town, capital of the state, and in other places south of the town, raising prospect that the rebels would regain control of strategic areas in the state.

Deputy Unity state governor, Stephen Mabek Lang, also confirmed that rebels have on Tuesday clashed with troops north of the state capital, including Panakuac.

Lang said the army sent new reinforcements there to join in an offensive aimed at dislodging rebels from the area, located just a 12kms from the strategic town north of the capital.

Gordon Buay, former spokesperson of the former militia groups also told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that government troops in Unity state have made significant victories in the area.

Rebels spokesman was not available for comment in reaction to the allegations.

The towns and areas around Bentiu have seen relentless fighting in the past weeks, as rebels try to push through the government's heavy defences in the capital.

The regime has responded with withering counterattacks including barrages by artillery and war-planes. There were no reports on casualties in Tuesday's fighting.

(ST)

For Côte d’Ivoire, the October presidential election represents an important milestone in the consolidation of the hard-won gains of recent years, the United Nations envoy for the West African country today told the Security Council today, outlining a very different environment from 2010, but nevertheless advocating for a continued UN presence there.

When Joseph Agbor Effim arrived in Mali in early 2014, he was deployed to the northern town of Kidal, which had been the scene of clashes between rebels and Government forces. His mission: to participate in efforts to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the country, and particularly to ensure that the rights of detainees are respected.

Telling stakeholders in Libya’s dialogue that “mothers across [the country] have their eyes on you,” the United Nations envoy for Libya presented draft political proposal and said that the time had finally come for the parties to take the difficult decision to make peace and begin the process towards national reconciliation.

By Eric Reeves

On June 30th of this month, the current authorization of the UN/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) expires; it is not at all clear that it will be renewed by the Security Council, and if it is, the Khartoum regime will likely insist upon compromises in the nature of the force and its mandate. Several well-informed sources indicate that West Darfur is likely to be a point of compromise, with UNAMID withdrawing in all meaningful form from the region, leaving only a few hundred men in uniform. This is not nearly enough to provide security, escort relief convoys, or even report in a meaningful way on violence affecting civilians. And if calm relative to Central and North Darfur now, we only need recall the explosion of militia violence in early 2008 to understand that another such upsurge in military attacks would be completely beyond UNAMID's ability to respond.

In short, Darfur seems to have moved from being an international human rights cause célèbre to an inconvenient, if ghastly reality. How did this happen?

THAT WAS THEN

There was a time when Darfur, in western Sudan, galvanized an extraordinary coalition of activists in this country. The National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime in Khartoum had begun in 2003 a genocidal counter-insurgency against the region's African tribal groups, perceived as the civilian base of support for rebel groups. So potent was the campaign to halt genocide in Darfur that it forced its way onto the national agenda. Both houses of Congress—in a unanimous, bipartisan vote of July 2004—declared that genocide was occurring in Darfur. Others followed suit, including then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September 2004. His testimony was based on very substantial research along the Chad/Darfur border in August 2004. Human rights groups, genocide scholars, church and synagogue congregations, and legions of students made this remote and unknown region, in the very middle of Africa, a cause to be reckoned with.

As a presidential candidate Barack Obama saw the electoral possibilities of a strong stance on Darfur. He chided the Bus administration for what he saw as its excessive accommodation of Khartoum's ethnically-targeted destruction. He declared fulsomely, invoking Rwanda and Bosnia, that “the United States has a moral obligation anytime you see humanitarian catastrophes”:

“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 )

And early in his presidency Obama again characterized Darfur as the site of “genocide.” That was then. Seven years later we hear nothing of consequences from the administration about Darfur.

THIS IS NOW

Largely as a consequence of this loss of focus, today the Darfur genocide—the first genocide of the 21st century and the longest one in more than a century—is about to achieve another distinction. It will be the first genocide in which the victims are abandoned. The UNAMID force authorized in 2007 is on the verge of being gutted and ultimately eliminated altogether. In three weeks, unless the UN Security Council votes to re-authorize the force, it will be obliged to leave. This fact gives the Khartoum regime what it considers irresistible leverage in negotiations that are ongoing, with what still appear to be major disagreements between the UN and African Union on one side and Khartoum on the other.

The stakes are extraordinarily high. More than 3 million people have been internally displaced or turned into refugees in eastern Chad; almost 500,000 were displaced last year alone. Mortality estimates vary, but we must of necessity speak of several hundred thousands of deaths—perhaps half a million—from violence and its consequences, and all indications are that mortality rates are rising along with acute malnutrition. The victims continue to be overwhelmingly civilians from the African tribal groups that have been targeted for more than twelve years.

It seems perverse that génocidaires in Khartoum are being allowed to decide the fate of their victims in Darfur, but in fact they are insisting that an "exit strategy"—foolishly agreed to in principle by the UN Security Council last August—be executed as rapidly as possible. The force has already been cut by 10,000 and stands at approximately at 17,000 uniformed personnel. The regime wants another 15,000 gone this year.

Criticism of UNAMID is longstanding; indeed it preceded official deployment of the civilian-protection mission in January 2008. For the mission was set up to fail, largely because Khartoum was given excessive control over the deployment of personnel and equipment. This led to poor troop quality, with the regime rejecting many highly qualified peacekeeping contributions (such as a Swedish-Norwegian engineering battalion). Essential weaponry and aircraft were also denied. Despite a status-of-forces agreement that was supposed to give UNAMID unrestricted access, Khartoum has systematically obstructed, delayed or compromised countless protection and monitoring missions.

As badly as UNAMID has performed, however, it is all that allows international humanitarian organizations to remain in Darfur. If UNAMID withdraws, or is hopelessly compromised, these organizations may well be forced to end their work. To date, some 25 to 30 major international relief organizations have been expelled by Khartoum or withdrawn because of insecurity. This has occurred against a backdrop of extreme malnutrition in many locations, a desperate lack of clean water and sanitation, and a rapidly collapsing system for providing primary medical care.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

At this very moment decisions are being made that will affect the lives and security of millions of people in Darfur, and yet we hear nothing of significance from the Obama administration about the urgency of preserving key elements of the force. Yes, a facile international chorus has declared "Darfur won't be abandoned," but there are reasons to be skeptical. Leading this chorus is the expedient Hervé Ladsous, head of UN peacekeeping operations, who not so long ago argued that a drawdown of UNAMID was justified by improved security conditions, even as violence has escalated for three years.

Moreover, a brute geopolitical fact defines current planning. UNAMID must be re-authorized before June 30. But Khartoum has veto-wielding friends on the Security Council in the form of China and Russia; they are likely to support the regime even in its most unreasonable demands. Russia is of particular concern, given President Vladimir Putin's general hostility to any Western initiative. In a revealing show of perverse solidarity, Russia sided with Khartoum in rejecting a recent report by Human Rights Watch that authoritatively documented the mass rape last fall of more than 220 girls and women by Khartoum's army troops in the town of Tabit. The evidence in the report is so overwhelming that the Russian denial of its findings suggests an unwillingness to look at Darfur's realities except through Khartoum's eyes.

Depending on the character of the newly authorized force—assuming one is authorized at all—humanitarian organizations may be forced to withdraw from what is already a terribly insecure environment, or at least parts of Darfur. The epidemic of sexual violence will continue to accelerate, with the Arab militias most responsible continuing to operate with total impunity. More than half Darfur's pre-war population of 6 million people are in need of assistance, and yet humanitarian capacity is shrinking. UN agencies such as the World Food Program cannot function without implementing partners, precisely the function that has been fulfilled by the organizations contemplating withdrawal. If they leave, the death toll could be catastrophic.

We need to hear President Obama's voice now; we need to hear the same moral passion on which he so effectively traded while campaigning in 2008—seven years ago. This will require foregoing the unseemly, finally disgraceful trade-off his administration has engaged in with the Khartoum regime: the U.S. offers the possibility of rapprochement, including lifting longstanding economic sanctions, in exchange for receiving putatively valuable counter-terrorism intelligence, and a possible listening post in Khartoum. The new embassy, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, has already been built but does not yet house the listening and intercept equipment that will make it so valuable, in addition to providing an actual presence in the middle of the region that seems destined to become the major battleground against radical Islam. The Obama administration intelligence community lusts for full access to the embassy.

The value of the counter-terrorism intelligence to date is dubious, and was challenged vigorously by former Senator Russ Feingold while he was chairman of the Africa subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence. Perhaps more telling are the leaked minutes of a meeting of senior military and security officials last August 31st: Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein is recorded as scoffing at what the U.S. actually gets in the way of intelligence, and the significance of what is deliberately being withheld about radical Islamist, terrorists, and the international Islamic movement.

This deal should never have been made (as candidate Obama declared when chiding the Bush administration) and must surely give way before moral importance of avoiding a deepening “stain on our souls,” the inevitable consequence of leaving the people of Darfur completely at the mercy of Khartoum's regular and brutal militia forces.

The United States must take the lead and, with Britain and France, muscle-up politically in the Security Council; otherwise the fate of Darfur will be dictated by the very men who began the genocide 12 years ago. This would be unprecedented in the grim history of genocide.

[Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and the author of author of Compromising with Evil: An Archival History of Greater Sudan, 2007-2012.

June 8, 2015 (JUBA) - Youth leadership of the South Sudanese armed opposition faction of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by former vice president, Riek Machar, urged the civil populations in Bahr el Ghazal region, home to president Salva Kiir, not to panic as rebels began to intensify war to depose the president and called on the fighters to take the war to Warrap state.

People fleeing to the bush from Bor when the South Sudanese rebels attacked the Jonglei capital in December 2013. (Photo: John Actually/ST)

“I would want to inform our people in Bahr el Ghazal and more especially those in Lakes, Western and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states to not panic. Our mission is to free them from destitution and imposed marginalization by a brute and tyrannical regime that supposedly liberated them from regimes with similar behaviours,” said Peter Mabior Riiny, deputy chairman of the SPLM-IO youth league.

“These so-called liberators in Juba have indeed become the colonisers of our people and so there is a strong need for second liberation,” he told Sudan Tribune on Monday.

The opposition youth leader called on the civil populations to not fear their fighters, explaining that they were only engaging forces loyal to president Salva Kiir in the area and so target government institutions.

He cited recent developments in Achana, a strategic area on the supply route linking Northern Bahr el Ghazal and the rest of the states in the country and to the neighbouring states in Sudan in which they released several captured chiefs of the area, including a payam administrator, Elijah Noon.

“This is to inform them (civilians) that we are there to liberate them and not to harm anyone in those areas we are operating in. The engagement will be limited to areas occupied by government forces only,” Riiny further explained.

He dismissed reports alleging that the opposition fighters under the overall command of General Dau Aturjong in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, home to the current South Sudanese army's chief of general staff, General Paul Malong Awan, were receiving foreign support in form of weapons and mercenaries to fight on their side.

“This is not true. There are no foreign forces fighting on our side. The forces are 100% South Sudanese. Our forces are purely South Sudanese sons and daughters. We are therefore urging our people to be patient and remain calm as we are trying our best to free them from the fangs of oppressors,” he said.

TAKE WAR TO WARRAP STATE

Riiny urged the youth to join the struggle and also take the war to president Salva Kiir's home area of Warrap state, arguing that the president did not feel the horrors of the war because his home area was not affected by the current violence as his relatives were not displaced.

“I urge our youth in greater Bahr el Ghazal and elsewhere in the country to join the movement in earnest so that all of us fight together to liberate this country from the bondage of dictatorship, nepotism, corruption, incompetence and genocidal acts by taking the war closer to the bases of these belligerents because until that is done, they will not know the country is at war,” Riiny further stressed.

He was echoing other similar voices in the past who allegedly said president Kiir's tribal leadership cared less about war being fought in greater Upper Nile region as this was destroying and displacing the people and properties of populations in Upper Nile far from his home area.

Rebels claim that they were gaining momentum in taking the war to greater Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions in the final push to put pressure on president Kiir to step aside or fully commit to the peace process.

(ST)

June 8, 2015 (WAU) – Abyei Administration Area (AAA) and Western Bahr el Ghazal state on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate in the experience sharing of institutional set ups and capacity building for the displaced officials of Abyei region.

An officer from the UN peacekeeping mission in Abyei (UNISFA) on patrol in the disputed region, which is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan (AFP)

The document signed in Wau was inked on behalf of Western Bahr el Ghazal state governor by Tom Ismail Jinei, secretary general of the state council of ministers, while Arop Deng, coordinator for Abyei, signed on behalf of Abyei Administrative Area.

The cooperation agreement was for Western Bahr el Ghazal state to share experience with Abyei on its government clusters of governance, services and economy. For instance, Western Bahr el Ghazal state's ministry of information will support Abyei area in capacity building in different media, radio, TV and training on journalism reporting.

The cluster service also agreed to share on the level of health policy and tentative work plan and job descriptions including training opportunities, clinical officers' registration midwifery and many others.

The ministry of education on its part will be sharing information with Abyei administration the ministry's structure at the level of counties [districts] and payam [sub-district] levels as well as establishing of national technical secondary schools and boarding schools in the region.

Meanwhile the commission of art in Western Bahr el Ghazal state will be giving training in sports to talented young people from Abyei in the areas of drama, music, folklore culture collection, fine arts, organizing festival and planning and preserving culture artifacts, historical and burial sites.

“Wau Centre for music and culture will be ready to admit candidates from Abyei Administration Area for music training of six months in the areas of guitar, key board, drama, music and other arts technical needs,” the agreement stated.

Western Bahr el Ghazal state ministry of Finance will also help to train finance officials from Abyei in financial administration including revenue collection and revenue authority act, tax and non-tax operating schedule.

The AAA is a body controlled by the Ngok Dinka political leaders close to the SPLM but it is leader Edward Lino joined the opposition faction led by the former vice-president Riek Machar.

Sudan and South Sudan failed to agree on who is eligible to participate in a referendum to determine the future of the disputed area. Khartoum and Juba also didn't agree on joint administrative institution despite an agreement signed in June 2011.

(ST)

June 07, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan is set to unveil its first-ever coins into the market during the fourth independence anniversary on 9 July, a government official disclosed.

South Sudan Pounds (ST)

Cabinet affairs minister, Martin Ellia Lomoro told reporters that the council of ministers approved what the ministry of finance and central bank officials had presented last week.

“The introduced coins range from denominations of 50, 20 and 10 piasters," he said.

Presently, the South Sudanese pound units are in form of one, five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 dominations, restricting buyers to quantity purchase of items like nails and razor blaze.

Lomoro said the introduction of these coins would enable traders relax their prices.

“So I think it is another milestone that the council of minister had on Friday,” he said, though that could not certainly change the souring prices of items in the market, as the South Sudanese currency continues losing value against the United States dollar ($).

The coins, Lomoro said, would have symbols representing the Greater Equatoria, Upper Nile and Bahr Al Ghazal regions, unlike the current notes with the potrait of the late South Sudanese leader and founder of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) party.

(ST)

June 8, 2015 (RUMBEK) - Clashes erupted between Lakes state pastoralists armed youth and a group of unknown gunmen in Maridi county of Western Equatoria state on Monday morning.

Cueirial Akech, chairman of Dinka traders in Maridi county told Sudan Tribune on Monday that clashes erupted at midnight on Sunday when unknown person threw hand grenade into a cattle camp, killing seven cows on the spot and left many more cows with injuries.

He said that when traders cows owners opened a case to the police, asking the state government to identify who killed their cows the same group ambushed them again, killing one of their colleagues.

“It was at night when unidentified person killed seven cows with hand grenade. So as the leader of traders of Dinka in this cattle camp, I moved to police and opened the police case seeking their criminal to be arrested. Very sad indeed a group ambushed us on the road and started firing at us/ The killed one person and now we are fighting in self-defence,” he said.

However, the county's executive director, John Ezekias Paul, said the shooting followed a grenade attack on a cattle camp on Monday night at Sika-Rumbek. He did not disclose who carried out the attacks using grenade.

“One person has been killed in a random shooting this morning in Maridi county in Western Equatoria State,” he said.

Eyewitness confirmed that pastoralist's youth from Lakes state were coming in to reinforce their colleagues and thousands of residents in Maridi are fleeing due to the tension.

They said markets have been closed and some houses burnt down by the Lakes state pastoralists youth.

Maridi county is one of three counties, Mundri and Yambio counties in Western Equatoria state which have faced random fighting in recent weeks.

(ST)

June 8, 2015 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese government vowed not to reverse its recent decision to expel Toby Lanzer, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the world's youngest nation.

United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, talking to the media during a press conference on August 28, 2014 in Juba (AFP/Samir Bol)

During last week's meeting chaired by president Salva Kiir, the council of ministers reportedly declined to reconsider the request from the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, to the top UN official complete his mandate in the war-ravaged country.

“He [Lanzer] has entered in areas which are more political than humanitarian,” cabinet affairs minister, Martin Elia Lomoro told reporters after Friday's meeting.

“We engaged him and work with him to bring to his attention that what you [Lanzer] are doing is not your mandate but it is political and it can cause differences and even escalation of the conflict more than you think you are doing,” he added.

According to Ki-moon, the expelled UN humanitarian coordinator who has been appointed on another mission in the Sahel region, played vital roles in raising awareness on the dire humanitarian situation South Sudanese have been exposed to by the conflict.

That awareness helped generate humanitarian assistance and adverted famine in 2014. This campaign, however, put him at logger heads with the South Sudanese government.

“We gave him warning that; please desist from interfering in internal affairs of the Republic of south Sudan. He did not listen and continued spreading false information about South Sudan,” said Lomoro.

The UN, United States and the European Union all condemned the South Sudanese government for expelling Lanzer and called for the expulsion decision to be reversed.

Last week, presidential press secretary, Ateny Wek Ateny said only Kiir could revoke the expulsion decision. However, cabinet's lastest position rules out Lanzer's possible return.

(ST)

June 8, 2015 (JUBA) - The coalition of South Sudanese opposition alliance, Lam Akol has unveiled a peace plan to address the current political and security unrest in the country.

SPLM-DC leader Lam Akol responds to questions at a news conference in South Sudan's capital, Juba, on 3 October 2014 (ST)

Akol who also heads the Sudan People's Liberation Movement for Democratic Change, said peace was the opposition's top priority as they seek solutions to the war.

The opposition leader was speaking during an occasion marking six years since the opposition political party was formed as a break-away faction of the country's ruling party.

“In the coming period, we plan to pursue the search for a just and sustainable peace through an inclusive process that does not exclude any stake holder,” said Akol.

“Peace is a priority and key towards all solutions to problems affecting our country," he added.

The outspoken opposition alliance leader urged the two South Sudanese warring parties to end hostilities and bring a lasting peace to the country so that its people can embark on state and nation building as well as peace, reconciliation and healing process.

Talks between the two rivals mediated by regional leaders stalled in March, prompting the mediators to initiate an IGAD-plus arrangement involving five African nations, the African Union, United Nations and the Troika nations (Norway, United States and Britain).

Tens of thousands of people have died and nearly two million killed as the South Sudanese conflict rages on, amidst fears over 2.5 million could face severe starvation.

(ST)

June 8, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The National Bureau for Investments (NBI) in Sudan announced that a United Arab Emirates (UAE) corporation specialized in crop production and animal feed expressed a desire to acquire 2.4 million acres of land in one of the largest valleys extending from Sahl al-Batana in the east to the River Nile state in northern Sudan.

A Sudanese farmer stands in a field of sorghum in Gezira state (AFP)

The area known as al-Hawad valley is one of the most fertile agricultural lands in Sudan particularly for maize.

NBI said that Al-Dahra Holding will invest $1 billion dollars in the first phase of the project that would cost $10 billion.

On its website, Al-Dahra describes itself as a “prominent leader in the agribusiness; specializing in the cultivation, production and trading of animal feed and essential human food commodities such as rice, flour, fruits and vegetables”.

“The group owns and operates a large asset base including a land bank of 200 thousand acres, 8 forage pressing and production plants, 4 rice milling plants and 2 flour milling plants”.

If the project in Sudan materializes, it will surpass in size the Gezira scheme in central Sudan which is the largest irrigated farm under one management in an area of 2.2 million acres.

The NBI Secretary General Ahmed Mahjoub stressed after his meeting with officials from the UAE company the group of experts the need to prepare technical feasibility studies for the implementation of the project for it to see the light.

He noted previous successful partnerships between Arab companies and Khartoum in agricultural investments.

(ST)

June 8, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Popular Congress Party (PCP) led by Hassan al-Turabi issued a warning to the government that it is running out of patience over the delay in launching the national dialogue, stressing that they will not wait much longer after the formation of the new government for that to occur.

Kamal Omer Abdel Salam of the Popular Congress Party (Reuters)

The remarks by one of the dialogue's staunchest supporters puts more pressure on the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to revive the already faltering national dialogue which was launched by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in January 2014.

Since that time, the National Umma Party (NUP) led by former Prime Minister al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, Reform Now Party (RNP) led by Bashir's ex-adviser Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Attabani and Just Peace Forum (JPF) led by Bashir's maternal uncle al-Tayeb Mustafa have withdrawn from the dialogue for various reasons that were mainly related to accusing the government of reneging on its commitments for creating a conducive environment and allowing public liberties.

The government has stepped up its crackdown on opposition parties, NGO's and media houses since the launch of the national dialogue.

From the start the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), Ba'ath Party and rebel groups have rejected the invitation to join the national dialogue.

The PCP political relations official Kamal Omer told reporters at a news conference on Monday that the government has no excuse for delaying the dialogue after the formation of the new government which was announced last weekend.

"Our patience has run out and things have reached near their ends and we will not tolerate and we will not let the NCP control us," Omer said.

He emphasized that the 7+7 national dialogue mechanism will not wait for the government and will proceed to contact the rebels and parties that have rejected the dialogue.

Omer said that Bashir's speech before the parliament after taking the oath carried a conciliatory spirit through guarantees he offered to rebels and political forces that rejected dialogue to ensure their participation in the national dialogue and to secure their presence.

But the PCP official said Bashir's speech ignored the issue of political detainees, and said "it was necessary for President Bashir to make a decision to release the detainees and to stop the war".

He pointed out that those decisions if made would have given Bashir's speech more credibility and warned that arrests, confiscation of newspapers and preventing opposition leaders from travelling abroad would have a negative impact on the dialogue.

He called on Bashir to provide full freedom to political forces and rebels to express their views on what the country is going through.

"Without freedoms there will not be dialogue," Omer said.

With regard to the new government formation, Omer said they are not against individuals, but against state policies and programs and stressed that changing ministers will not benefit the country without a change in policies.

He also slammed the constitutional amendment earlier this year that stripped people from the right to elect their governors and gave Bashir the power to appoint them.

Omer further criticized statements by last parliament speaker about the assembly's intention to draft a permanent constitution noting that the parliament “does not have the power to design the constitution because the ruling party controls it".

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

June 8, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) –Lead negotiators of South Sudan warring factions are due to meet Monday in thecEthiopian capital, Addis Ababa, a rebel official told Sudan Tribune.

IGAD chief mediator Seyoum Mesfin (L) and the SPLM In Opposition's lead negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, attend the resumption of South Sudan talks in Addis Ababa on 11 February 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional bloc mediating South Sudan's peace talks have brought the two chief negotiators, Nhial Deng Nhial of the government and Taban Deng of the rebel side for face-to-face consultations.

David Dang, deputy representative of the SPLM/SPLA-IO mission office to Ethiopia and to the African Union (AU) told IGAD will set a time table for resumptions of the next round of talks based on outcomes of the consultations between the chief negotiators.

According to Dang, if an agreement is reached between both sides, the next round of talks will directly be between President Salva Kiir and armed opposition leader, Riek Machar.

Meanwhile Machar returned to Addis Ababa on Sunday from Pagak, South Sudan after thorough consultations with the rebel's political and military officials ahead of the talks.

Despite rumors over his health conditions, rebel officials said Machar was in good health.

An IGAD-led peace negotiation, which started in January 2014 in the Ethiopian capital, is yet to bring lasting solution to the political crises in the world' youngest nation.

The last round of peace negotiations collapsed on 6 March after the country' two rival leaders failed to agree on almost all outstanding political and military-related issues.

The regional bloc is due to resume the peace talks under a new draft proposal in which i initiated an IGAD-Plus involving along the five African nations, the African Union, United Nations, China and Troika trio of Norway, the United Kingdom and United States (USA).

IGAD has threatened both sides with sanctions if they failed to reach in any agreement during the next round of talks, believed to be the last chance for the conflicting parties.

Civil war in South Sudan erupted in mid-December 2013 and since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million reportedly displaced.

Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said over 100,000 people have been displaced over the last two months due to heavy fighting in South Sudan's Unity and Upper Nile states.

The UN refugee agency said heavy fighting has also blocked humanitarian aid deliveries for some 650,000 people as aid organisations were forced to withdraw from war zones.

(ST)

June 8, 2015 (KHARTOUM/PARIS) - Sudanese opposition leading members said on Monday that security authorities had barred them from travelling to France for a hearing with the European Union (EU) parliament.

EU MP Marie Christine Vergiat (C) who organised the meeting with the Sudanese opposition and rebel groups, pictured with NUP deputy president Meriam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim and SRF deputy chairman Tom Hajo, as well as other participants, outside the EU parliament in Strasbourg, France on 16 July 2014 (ST)

Sudanese authorities prevented delegates of the opposition parties from leaving Khartoum to participate in a hearing with the European Union (EU) parliament.

The EU parliament organize a hearing in Strasbourg France for the "Sudan Call" forces including the coalition of the National Consensus Forces (NCF), National Umma Party (NUP), the rebel alliance of the Sudanese Revolutionary Forces (SRF) and civil society groups.

The hearing which will take place on Tuesday 9 June will discuss the prospects for peace and democratic reforms after the general elections and position of the political and armed forces on how to achieve it.

The security service at the Khartoum airport retained the passports of NUP deputy-presidents Meriam al-Mahdi and Mohamed Abdalla al-Doma, a member of the Sudanese Communist Party's (SCP) central committee Siddig Yousif, a leading member of the Ba'ath Party Fatehi Nourri.

In a WhatsUp message sent in the early hours of Monday morning after the travel ban, al-Mahdi said the Sudan Call forces will hold a press conference at the SCP premises in the afternoon.

On Saturday, the security agents prevented a splinter member of the ruling National Congress Party, Farah Agar from travelling to Paris to take part in the meeting. Also, NCF leader Farouk Abu Issa and his wife were barred from taking a flight to Cairo for medical treatment on Wednesday.

The opposition leader was also invited to take part in the EU hearing.

The NUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi who resides in Cairo will participate in Strasbourg meeting.

Also, delegations of the SRF groups are already in Paris for the hearing.

Last December, Sudanese government arrested Abu Issa, a prominent rights activist Amin Mekki Mandani and Farah for four months after meeting with the rebel groups in Addis Ababa where they signed the "Sudan Call" declaration.

However, Khartoum authorized the opposition forces to fly to Berlin in February 2015 to participate in a meeting sponsored by the German government. In their Berlin Declaration the opposition groups expressed their readiness to participate in a preparatory meeting for the national dialogue.

SRF MEETS IN PARIS

The leadership of the rebel umbrella is expected to issue a statement on Monday before to head for Strasbourg when they conclude a three-day meeting in Paris.

The meeting of the rebel factions discusses issues related to the SRF leadership structures, ways to coordinate political actions with the Sudan Call forces and Strasbourg meeting with the EU lawmakers.

It is not clear if the representatives of the political parties and the rebel groups will meet in France on the sidelines of the European Parliament hearing.

Following the failure of the African Union mediation to hold the pre-dialogue meeting last March; the Sudan Call forces called for a new approach and proposed to discard the national dialogue. They further suggested to initiate a new process involving the international community.

The ruling party in Khartoum and the opposition Popular Congress Party say they are hostile to any foreign participation in the resolution of Sudanese conflicts, stressing such process should be 100% inter-Sudanese and take place inside the country.

(ST)

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Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should promptly and properly exhume a mass grave that may contain the bodies of people forcibly disappeared or executed by Congolese security forces. On June 5, 2015, the families of 34 victims filed a public complaint with Congo’s national prosecutor requesting justice and the exhumation of the mass grave in Maluku, a rural area about 80 kilometers from the capital, Kinshasa.

(Kinshasa) – Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should promptly and properly exhume a mass grave that may contain the bodies of people forcibly disappeared or executed by Congolese security forces, Human Rights Watch said today.

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June 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will inaugurate several military factories on Tuesday that have been relocated outside residential areas in the state of Khartoum after it was determined that they pose a risk to the population.

Fire engulf the Yarmouk ammunition factory in Khartoum October 24, 2012. - Reuters

Some factories in Khartoum were believed to have been targeted by Israel while others witnessed accidental explosions more than once.

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesman Colonel Khaled Saad al-Sawarmi said in a statement that these factories specialize in filling gunpowder.

Al-Sawarmi explained that it is now a government strategy to empty the capital and residential areas from military installations especially given the risks posed by the bombing of Khartoum's Yarmouk military complex in 2012 by Israel.

He said that these plants were chosen, designed and implemented in accordance with the latest safety and security standards in the world.

In August 2006, an explosion occurred in an ammunition factory in a suburb of Khartoum which led to several deaths and injuries.

A year after, a truck carrying ammunition exploded near an army unit in Khartoum.

Last year, the National Security and Intelligence Service (NISS) said it contained "limited fire" at a warehouse containing ammunition and training equipment at training centers north of Khartoum.

(ST)

June 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan's new cabinet and states' governors on Sunday have taken the oath of office in front of president Omer al-Bashir, his two deputies and the chief justice.

Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir swearing in cabinet in Khartoum June 7, 2015 (SUNA)

Bashir, who officially commenced his new term this week, issued decrees on Saturday night naming ministers in his new cabinet including 31 federal ministers and 36 state ministers.

The state minister of information, Yasir Youssef, said the president instructed the state's ministers to double their efforts to lead the reform in the upcoming period, urging them to increase production and to focus on the economic issues.

He asked the ministers to pay special attention to the vulnerable segments of the society and to maintain security and stability across the country, directing them to promote the foreign relations and improve living conditions of the Sudanese people.

According to Youssef, Bashir also instructed the 18 governors to go to their states as of Monday in order to carry out their executive duties and form their local governments.

Meanwhile, the presidential assistants including Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, Musa Mohamed Ahmed, Jalal Youssef al-Digair and Abdel-Rahman al-Sadiq al-Mahdi also took the oath of office in the presence of the chief justice.

However, Bashir's newly appointed first assistant al-Hassan al-Mirghani did not take the oath due to his presence outside the capital, Khartoum.

Al-Digair told reporters that the government has several priorities including achieving peace and security, improving social and economic conditions, promoting regional and international ties and continuing national dialogue to resolve Sudan's basic problems.

He pointed that holding dialogue with all political forces would be among the top priorities in the coming period.

The foreign minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, for his part, said that all ministers would carry out the president's directives regarding issues of establishing security and improving the economy besides promoting foreign relations.

He said that he would continue to work to improve foreign ties on the basis of parity, mutual interests and non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, describing formation of the government as the swiftest in Sudan's history which reflects the keenness of the leadership not to create any constitutional vacuum.

Ghandour further thanked the president on behalf of the federal ministers for entrusting them with the ministerial posts.

The government official spokesperson and minister of information, Ahmed Bilal Osman, described the cabinet as the largest in Sudan's history, saying that 20 political parties joined the government on both federal and states levels.

He said the new government would work in harmony under the leadership of Bashir, adding that all ministers took off their partisan dresses and wore the home country's robe.

Osman added the current year would devoted for the media, expecting that suspension of the four newspapers will be lifted within the coming few days.

Late last month, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) seized copies of 10 newspapers from the printing press and suspended 4 of them indefinitely without giving reasons.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

June 7, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – A group of Eritrean refugees have reportedly been kidnapped by members of the Islamic State (ISIS)-affiliated militants in Libya.

Map of the prospective Islamic state released by the ISIS

The Stockholm-based International Commission on Eritrean Refugees (ICER) said 86 Eritrean refugees, 12 women and children, were kidnapped outside the capital, Tripoli.

On Wednesday, the militants reportedly ambushed a vehicle carrying Eritreans as they traveled to Tripoli and took hostage Christian after separating them from the Muslims.

Meron Estafanos, the co-founder of ICER said although nearly all members of the group lied to be Muslims for fear of kidnapping, the militants had to separate Muslims from their Christians counterparts based on their knowledge of the Koran and prayer habits.

Estefanos, a Swedish-Eritrean activist, was speaking based on information obained from eyewitnesses and refugees who managed to escape from the ISIS militants.

She said at least nine Eritreans have escaped the latest IS kidnapping and more details are expected to be revealed in coming few days.

Most of those kidnapped are said to be from Adi Keih town in Eritrea, whose people are known for their opposition to the "dictatorial" regime in Asmara.

Every month, thousands of Eritreans flee to neighboring countries mostly Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti to escape political oppression.

Once they arrive in Sudan, most Eritreans reportedly cross to Libya from the north African nation and take dangerous routes via sea to continue to Europe, mostly to Italy.

According to the UN, an estimated 22% of the total who entered Italy by boat in 2014 was from Eritrea.

Eritreans take dangerous sea routes to Europe for lucrative jobs, but many don't make it.

The latest kidnappings comes less than two months after ISIS militants mass killed Ethiopian Christian migrants in Libya.

In April, the ISIS terrorist group in Libya posted on social media sites a 29-minute long shocking video showing the beheading and shooting of 30 Ethiopian Christian migrants.

(ST)