Sudan Tribune

May 7, 2017 (NAIROBI) - More than one million children have so far fled South Sudan where escalating violence continues, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the U.N Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced Sunday.

Children walk through a camp for internally displaced persons at the United Nations Mission to South Sudan (UNMISS) base in the capital, Juba, on 9 January 2014 (AFP)

“The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this conflict has been for the country's most vulnerable,” said Leila Pakkala, UNICEF's Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.

“Add this to the more than one million children who are also displaced within South Sudan, and the future of a generation is truly on the brink," she added.

Children, U.N figures show, make 62 per cent of more than 1.8 million refugees from South Sudan, with majority seeking refuge in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

“No refugee crisis today worries me more than South Sudan,” said Valentin Tapsoba, UNHCR's Africa Bureau Director, adding “That refugee children are becoming the defining face of this emergency is incredibly troubling. We, all in the humanitarian community, need most urgent, committed and sustainable support to be able to save their lives.”

According to the world body, more than one thousand children have been killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in 2013, while an estimated 1.14 million children have been internally displaced within the war-torn East African nation.

Figures from the U.N also show that nearly three quarters of the country's children are out of school, the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world.

"The trauma, physical upheaval, fear and stress experienced by so many children account for just part of toll the crisis is exacting ," the two U.N agencies stated.

"Children remain at risk of recruitment by armed forces and groups and, with traditional social structures damaged, they are also increasingly vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation," their joint statement further observed.

Over 75,000 refugee children in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have reportedly crossed South Sudan's borders either unaccompanied or separated from their families.

Meanwhile, UNICEF's says its appeal for South Sudan and its refugees in the region, which calls for $181 million to address the acute needs of refugees until end of the year has only been 52% funded. On the other hand, UNHCR's funding appeal for South Sudan of $781.8 million is reportedly only 11% funded.

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May 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Saturday said it has freed the French national who has been kidnapped in Chad and taken to Darfur pointing the operation was carried out in close coordination with Paris and N'Djamena.

Late last March, Chad's Security Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir disclosed that a French national was abducted in Chad near the border with Sudan's Darfur region and has been taken into Sudan.

Bachir pointed the French civilian, an employee of a French mining company operating in Chad was kidnapped south of Abeche, a mining area about 800 km (500 miles) east of the capital N'Djamena and 150 km from the border with Sudan.

In a press release on Saturday night, the director of information department at the NISS Mohamed Tabidi said the authorities managed to free Thierry Frezier following “a complex rescue operation” in the outskirts of Kutum, some 100 kilometres west of El-Fasher the capital of North Darfur state.

He pointed that the five kidnappers had been arrested by the NISS during the rescue operation.

For his part, the governor of North Darfur Abdel-Wahid Youssif said in a press conference Sunday the government received intelligence that the French national was being held in an area close to Kutum, saying they dispatched a joint force from the army, police, NISS and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to the area and he was rescued without losses.

He confirmed the government didn't pay any ransom, saying the kidnappers were arrested and will be brought to trial.

In a press release Sunday, the French president's office said he felt “great pleasure” at the release.

Meanwhile, the director of the NISS in North Darfur Awad al-Karim Khalid said the rescue operation was carried out in coordination with Chand and France, saying the abductors would be brought to trial under the Sudanese law.

He added the operation underscored the importance of coordination and exchange of information among security organs, pointing to the regional and international cooperation in the fight against terrorist and negative groups and organised and cross-border crime.

Khalid said: “Frezier was kidnapped in eastern Chad by outlaws from the remnants of the rebellion who sneaked him into the country and moved him between several Darfur states”.

It is noteworthy that Frezier has arrived in Khartoum on Sunday afternoon and was handed over to the French embassy in prelude to transfer him to his country.

On November 22, 2009, two French aid workers were kidnapped at Birao town in the Central African Republic (CAR) and had been taken to Darfur where they were freed three months later.

Also, in 2009 a Frenchman working for the International Committee of the Red Cross was abducted by a shadowy armed group called the Freedom Eagles of Africa, based in Darfur.

Chad is one of France's key African allies in the counter-terror fight, with its capital N'Djamena serving as headquarters for France's Operation Barkhane anti-Jihadist force which includes 4,000 troops.

Set up in 2014, the French force operates in five Sahel countries including Chad, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso to crush terror groups active in the region.

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May 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Egyptian government has lodged an objection with the United Nations against the maritime baselines declared by Sudan last March saying it wouldn't recognise any action taken by Khartoum or any international agreement that affects its sovereignty over Halayeb region.

The objection, which was deposited on 4 May and seen by Sudan Tribune Saturday, rejects Sudan's description of Egypt's presence in Halayeb triangle as “military occupation”. It also refuses the coordinates of the baselines provided by Sudan including Halayeb as part of its territory.

“The Arab Republic of Egypt declares its rejection and non-recognition of any action – whatever its nature - issued or may be issued in the future by the Sudan as well as any international agreement concluded by the Sudan or may be concluded in the future with any other party that would prejudice Egypt's sovereignty over its land or sea territory north of latitude 22° north,” read the objection.

It stressed Cairo's objection to what has been contained in Sudan's declaration deposited on 3 March, saying that Egypt's continued sovereignty over all lands north of latitude 22° north has been historically and legally established since the 1899 Anglo-Egyptian agreement.

“In its first article, the agreement clearly and unambiguously stated that (the term Sudan is used in this concord for all lands located south of the 22°) and this is the border inherited by Sudan in 1956,” it added.

The objection stressed that Egypt hasn't ceased to exercise its sovereignty over the Halayeb and Shalateen area since the signing of the agreement of 1899 until today.

“It is established that the maritime areas subject to sovereignty and state jurisdiction are determined according to their land territory. The Presidential Decree No. 27 of 9 January 1990 concerning the baselines from which the maritime areas of the Arab Republic of Egypt are measured has determined the base points and the straight baselines on the Egyptian coasts including the Red Sea coast which extends south of the latitude 22° north and has been circulated in the Law of the Sea bulletin No. 16 of December 1990,” it further said.

The Egyptian objection underlined that “Sudan's claims are baseless and contrary to the legal status established by the 1899 agreement and the permanent nature of the international borders it has established”, saying what has been stated in the Sudanese declaration about Egypt's “military occupation” of Halayeb and Shalateen is “incorrect and unacceptable”.

The Halayeb triangle, which is a 20,580 km area on the Red Sea, has been a contentious issue between Egypt and Sudan since 1958, shortly after Sudan gained its independence from the British-Egyptian rule in January 1956.

The area has been under Cairo's full military control since the mid-1990's following a Sudanese-backed attempt to kill the former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

On 2 March, President Omer al-Bashir issued a decree including the baselines from which the maritime areas of the Republic of Sudan are measured.

By virtue of its membership in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Sudan is required to notify the UN Secretary-General of any development affecting the geography of its maritime boundary.

In conjunction with the notification, the Sudanese foreign ministry deposited with the UN its reservation on a similar decree issued by former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1990, in which he laid the baselines for the Egyptian maritime areas.

“The Republic of the Sudan declares its rejection and refusal to recognize the provisions of the declaration issued by the Arab Republic of Egypt on 9 January 1990, entitled Presidential Decree No. 27, which touches on the Sudanese maritime border, North of Line 22, which was included within the maritime coordinates announced by Egypt within its maritime borders on the Red Sea in paragraphs 56-60,” read Sudan's declaration seen by Sudan Tribune.

“The above points (in Mubarak's decree of 1990) are located within the maritime boundaries of Sudan's Halayeb triangle which falls under Egyptian military occupation since1995 to date, and thus are part of the Sudanese maritime border on the Red Sea” added the declaration.

Last April, Cairo refused a demand by the Sudanese government to hold direct talks on Halayeb and Shalateen or to accept the referral of the dispute to the International Court of Arbitration.

Egypt has used to reject Sudan's repeated calls for referring the dispute to international arbitration.

The international law provides that the agreement of the two parties is needed to arbitrate a dispute by the tribunal.

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May 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - A seventh humanitarian assistance caravan including 1,752 metric tonnes of sorghum Sunday has been dispatched from the capital of Sudan's North Kordofan state, El-Obeid to the needy population in South Sudan.

Three United Nations agencies declared an outbreak of famine in the young nation in February, saying an additional 1 million people were are the brink of starvation.

On 30 June, the World Food Programme (WFP) began providing food assistance to South Sudan using a new corridor opened by Sudan. The new route enables transport of food items overland from El Obeid in central Sudan to Bentiu in South Sudan's Unity state.

The Humanitarian aid commissioner Ahmed Babiker al-Hassan has told the official news agency SUNA that the sixth batch included 1,068 metric tonnes of sorghum, pointing to ongoing arrangements to open a new humanitarian corridor from El-Obeid to Awil town in South Sudan via Al-Muglad.

He said the new corridor would contribute significantly to the delivery of the assistance, pointing they developed a plan to transport 2,000 metric tonnes weekly to South Sudan.

In July 2014, Juba and Khartoum signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to open a humanitarian corridor to deliver food assistance to vulnerable South Sudanese through the River Nile or by road. Last January, the agreement was extended for a six month period.

Last month, Sudan said it doesn't rule out to open an Airbridge to deliver food assistance to South Sudan during the rainy season revealing a proposal to open a third road corridor to transport aid to the needy population in the war-torn nation.

South Sudan became the world's newest nation after declaring independence from Sudan in 2011. However, in 2013 the country was plunged into civil war,
However, in 2013 the country was plunged into civil war killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions.

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May 7, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir got into a heated exchange with Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth over a communal fight, in which military commanders from a section of ethnic Dinka Bor, used state assets to attack neighbouring Murle community, sparking national outcry and condemnations.

The circumstances under which the president and his minister fell out remain speculative.

There have not been formal statements clarifying what transpired. Multiple cabinet ministers privy to how it occurred told Sudan Tribune during a series of interviews that President Kiir had received security reports indicating that military commanders with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) from Bor community have sided with their community members in the attack against ethnic Murle.

The objective of the attack was to recover allegedly stolen cows and abducted children by members of ethnic Murle.

Long-standing tribal conflicts in Jonglei between the two tribal groups over cattle raids have escalated into more organised attacks on villages of both sides.

The continuation of the armed clashes between the two groups proves the failure of the different campaigns to collect weapons, analysts agree in Juba.

“The President was asking Michael Makuei Lueth in his capacity as the leader of Bor community about security reports which he received that the government soldiers using military assets and disguised as Dinka Bor Youths launched the attack on Murle area. These reports show that individual commanding officers from Bor in the SPLA's 8th division have ordered troops to take a side in the communal conflict. The commanders have instructed soldiers to go and support the Dinka Bor Youths. This was what the president has heard and wanted clarifications from Makuei but he reacted negatively, a cabinet minister told Sudan Tribune on Sunday.

"It was in a completely disrespectful manner, disdainful way," he added.

Minister Makuei, according to another cabinet source, supported the decision of his Bor youth and government soldiers, suggesting they should, in fact, be provided with more weapons to disarm Murle.

“The youth of Bor, like any other youth in the Republic of South Sudan, have taken the law into their hands. They have refused to listen to the leaders just like what is going on between Apuk and Aguok. This is the situation, and to address it requires the disarmament of the Murle tribe,” Makuei reportedly told President Kiir in response to the question asking what was happening in the area.

The minister further told the president youths were not using the government weapons but acquired their own weapons just like any youth in the country and have refused to hand them to anybody.

This, the source added, angered the president and when Makuei realised the president was annoyed, he decided to leave the cabinet meeting hall. These exchanges forced minister Makuei to call for a community meeting in Juba on Saturday, the result of which remains speculative. No formal release was made after the meeting.

Some community members have reportedly asked the minister to go meet the President in person and apologise to him. Others have rejected the idea and asked Makuei to resign.

This is not the first time Minister Makuei and President Kiir have fallen out.

In 2015, Makuei walked out of an official function at which the president was due to sign the peace agreement, saying the deal should not be signed if the reservations held by the government on the agreement were not addressed.

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May 6, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - A Sudanese expert on international law and border disputes Saturday has strongly contested Sudan's ability to take Egypt to International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) over the disputed Halayeb area.

An international maritime border arbitrator, Osman Mohamed al-Sharif, disclosed that Sudan was planning to take Egypt to a binding arbitration before the ITLOS over the disputed Halayeb area, adding that Khartoum's recently lodged objection with the United Nations against Cairo's annexation of the region to its maritime border.

However in an interview with Sudan Tribune on Saturday, an international law expert, Faisal Abdel Rahman Ali Taha said that the courts established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea do not have any jurisdiction over the maritime area of Halayeb as long as the land dispute over the triangle has not yet been settled.

Taha stressed, however, that the arbitral tribunal, which might be constituted under annexe VII to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, "would not consider a dispute concerning the Halayeb maritime area because that would necessarily entail consideration of the sovereignty dispute over the Halaib land. This matter is not about the application or interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea But governed by other rules of international law."

"Maritime rights derive from the coastal state's sovereignty over the land because the land dominates the sea," he stressed.

The Halayeb triangle, which is a 20,580 km area on the Red Sea, has been a contentious issue between Egypt and Sudan since 1958, shortly after Sudan gained its independence from the British-Egyptian rule in January 1956.

The area has been under Cairo's full military control since the mid-1990's following a Sudanese-backed attempt to kill the former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt has used to reject Sudan's repeated calls for referring the dispute to international arbitration. The international law provides that the agreement of the two parties is needed to arbitrate a dispute by the tribunal.

STRAIGHT BASELINE

Moreover, Taha refused Sharif's statement that Sudan's filing of the straight baseline was a measure intended to create a third route after a refusal of the direct negotiations and the international arbitration.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir issued a decree on March 2 on the straight baselines from which the sea areas of the Republic of Sudan are measured, opposing the Cairo Declaration, which touches the Sudanese maritime border north of Line 22 and lists it as maritime coordinates of Egypt.

Al-Sharif said that Khartoum's move to deposit with the UN coordinates of the baselines from which its maritime areas are measured after 27 years since former President Hosni Mubarak lodged the maritime borders of Egypt doesn't strip Sudan of its sovereignty over Halayeb and the equivalent Red Sea waters.

But Taha stressed that the role of the UN Secretariat has no authority "to refer the dispute on the straight baselines to the arbitration or to force the concerned States to do so".

"The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the depositary of the Convention on the Law of the Sea under article 319. As to what he said that the (UN chief) is the guarantor of the Convention, there is no such a provision in the Convention about that."

Al-Sharif claimed that the UN Secretary General as guarantor to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can end the fait accompli which was established by Egypt in Halayeb in 1995, saying the maritime borders of the Sudan in Halayeb are fixed and complementary to the land border.

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May 6, 2017 (DURBAN) - Hollywood actor, Forest Whitaker has openly appealed for peace in South Sudan, a country hit by war since 2013.

A crowd gathers outside a UN IDP camp in Juba to welcome US actor and UNESCO special envoy Forest Whitaker on 23 June 2014 (AP)

In his remarks at the World Economic Forum Africa in Durban, South Africa, Whitaker called for international intervention in negotiations to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions of people.

Whitaker, also the United Nations Global ambassador for peace, said it would cost an estimated $4.4 billion to avert a full-blown famine that could claim six million lives in South Sudan.

"1.8 million people have already been displaced while 1.7 million people are refugees," he told the forum on Friday.

In February, three U.N agencies and the government declared an outbreak of famine in parts of South Sudan, as violence escalated.

"The food insecurity in South Sudan stands at almost 50% and the U.N has to step up in terms of negotiations to try and bring peace and stability to the area," stressed the U.N ambassador for peace.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after years of civil war, but conflict out in December 2013 after disagreements within its ruling party.

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May 6, 2017 (JUBA) – The number of people killed in Friday's attack on the road between South Sudan capital, Juba and the northeastern town of Bor has risen to 30.

A overturned truck on the Juba-Bor road, which has become almost impassable as a result of the rainy season and its poor condition (ST)

The attack occurred about 150km from Juba.

“There was no [telephone] network in Bor and people traveling from Juba never heard that tragic news and fell in the ambush,” said Awan Deng, who lost a relative.

According to multiple sources, 15 bodies were found late on Friday and three more bodies on Saturday. Five people were injured and five others, all men, are missing.

“We were in the same car and when the vehicle was strayed with bullets, I and five other people escaped, only to realize that some children were left in the car. I came back to help the children and fortunately, some soldiers just arrived and the attackers ran away,” narrated John Madang, a survivor.

Although the actual identities of the attackers remain unknown, survivors blamed Mundari tribesmen who inhabit the area. Others pointed fingers at Murle gunmen.

A police officer in Gameza, the center along Juba—Bor highway, said armed youth from Bor community revenged on the Mundari villages.

“Bor [armed youths] have burnt several villages including Gameza town and Safari,” said the officer, requesting to remain anonymous.

In 2009, clashes between Dinka Bor and the Mundari saw dozens killed and thousands displaced, amid calls for calm from Terekeka county and Jonglei state officials.

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May 6, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudanese government under President Salva Kiir will on Monday swear in members of the national dialogue committee. Officials hope the initiative would be a step towards a lasting solution to end a deadly conflict and permit discussions for reforms and multi-party democracy.

In an announcement on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) TV on Saturday, President Kiir has called on members of the National Dialogue Steering committee, including the Secretariat to attend the swearing-in ceremony on Monday 8th May at 10 A.M.

The announcements follow a presidential order rebranding National Steering committee made up of more than 109 members with representatives of the neighbouring Countries.

It is not yet clear whether all the members of the National Steering committee will attend the widely publicised function. Key opposition figures who are appointed without prior consultation, including Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior and Kosti Manibe, have turned down their appointments, citing the need for confidence-building measures, including the end of hostilities and the involvement African Union and United Nations.

Presidential Advisor Tor Deng Mawien on decentralisation and intergovernmental linkage told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that the dialogue would be an opportunity for all the parties to hold frank discussions on how to end the conflict in the country.

"We are going to hold a comprehensive national dialogue during which we will announce South Sudan's transition towards a multi-party democratic state in which everyone will be equal and able to participate in the building of the nation's future,” said Mawien.

Delegates, he said are expected to include civil society, women groups, youth, political parties and representatives from international organisations and observers from countries in the region.

The delegates would be invited to discuss a whole bundle of reforms and would encourage experts to present during the dialogue analytical reports to support the reform project and the national dialogue.

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May 6, 2017 (NEW YORK) – The United Nations Security Council has "strongly" condemned the 3 May attack on its mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), calling on all parties to immediately adhere to the permanent ceasefire called for in the August 2015 peace deal.

According to UNMISS, between 11 pm and midnight on 3 May, the mission's temporary operating base in Leer town in the former Unity State came under small-arms attack from the direction of the nearby government-held town.

Peacekeepers' quick defensive action secured the safety of all of the internally displaced people who had sought UN protection adjacent to the base, said UNMISS.

“The members of the Security Council recalled that individuals who, directly or indirectly, engage in attacks against United Nations missions, international security presence, or other peacekeeping operations, or humanitarian personnel, may be designated for targeted sanctions,” the 15-member body said in a 6 May statement.

The Council members, however, expressed appreciation for the actions taken by UNMISS peacekeepers to repel the 3 May attack, further condemned the continued violence committed by all parties, including the ongoing military offensives, and called for the removal of all obstacles to the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.

The U.N human rights chief had earlier, also appealed to the Government of South Sudan to halt any further military offensives towards Aburoc in the Upper Nile region.

Despite the August 2015 peace deal, South Sudan has witnessed renewed clashes between forces loyal to South Sudan President Salva Kiir and the armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) backing the country's First Vice-President Riek Machar.

Violence has caused a rise in the number of displaced people into its bases, while thousands have fled to neighbouring Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Up to 50, 000 civilians in South Sudan's oil-producing Upper Nile region are at imminent risk of human rights violations as government troops close in, the U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein warned Thursday.

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May 6, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan has denied reports that its soldiers attacked a United Nations peacekeeping base in Leer, a town in former Unity state.

The army spokesman, Col. Santo Domic Chol claimed the military was yet to receive formal complaints from anyone claiming to have been assaulted.

“Our forces did not any attack any U.N facility. That is not part of our culture. it is not part of our operations. We do not have a problem with the United Nations and therefore not wise to just feed the public with incident which has not been fully investigated and proved to have carried out by our forces”, he said on Saturday.

The official was reacting to the Security Council's condemnation of the attack, which reportedly came from the direction of a government-held territory in Leer.

Members of the Security Council, in a statement, strongly condemned the attack on its South Sudan mission (UNMISS) in Leer. The incident took place on the 3 May.

The Council expressed appreciation for the actions taken by UNMISS peacekeepers to repel the attack, pointing out that individuals, who, directly or indirectly, engage in attacks against U.N missions, international security presence, or other peacekeeping operations, or humanitarian personnel, may be designated for targeted sanctions.

“The members of the Security Council further condemned the continued violence committed by all parties in South Sudan, including the ongoing military offensives, and called on all parties to immediately adhere to the permanent ceasefire as called for in the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan and to remove all obstacles to delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance," partly reads the statement.

Relations between South Sudan government and the world body soured when conflict erupted in the young nation in mid-December 2013, forcing thousands of unarmed civilians to seek protection various camps and compounds manned by the U.N from the fighting. The government accused U.N of sheltering rebels inside its bases.

A January 2014 incident in which UNMISS barred the country's information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth from entering its base in Jonglei after his bodyguards were found in possession of weapons worsened ties between government and the U.N.

However, in events that followed, President Salva Kiir accused the world body of seeking to take over the war-torn nation, reinforcing speculations by members of his government that U.N mission in the country may have pushed his main political rival, Riek Machar, to rise up against him. The president later retracted his accusations.

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Former U.S. Special Envoy for Sudans Princeton Lyman—still pushing expedient, mendacious claims about Khartoum regime

Eric Reeves

If anyone thought that the views expressed by former Special Envoy for the Sudans in December 2011—arguing that the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime is capable of “carrying out reform via constitutional democratic measures”—might have been chastened by the dramatic increase in domestic repression in Sudan, as well as continuing genocide in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile, they would have been sadly mistaken, as Sudan Tribune has recently reported:

Human Rights Watch calls to delay revocation of Sudan sanctions | Sudan Tribune, May 3, 2017 | Khartoum | http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article62361

Rights groups and defenders regret that the process does not include human rights situation and focus mainly on counterterrorism cooperation, humanitarian situation and other regional security matters including South Sudan. “Sudan has a long record of demonstrating disregard for the most basic human rights,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch, before to call for the delay of sanctions' revocation. “The U.S. should delay any final decision about revoking sanctions, and take more time to insist on tangible improvements in human rights,” she said in a statement issued on Wednesday…

[F]ormer U.S. Special Envoy, Princeton Lyman, insisted that the permanent revocation of the partial embargo is "an opening to a more serious and intensive dialogue with the Government of Sudan about peace, democracy, and development."

This claim is a perverse restatement of an earlier one, made in a December 3, 2011 interview with Asharq al-Awsat. Lyman then gave us our clearest view of just how expedient the Obama administration was prepared to be in dealing with the Khartoum regime, despite what Senator, presidential candidate, and President called “genocide” in Darfur—a “stain on our souls,” as he unctuously declared. Lyman made the following enormously consequential statement about the preposterous “desire” that would guide Obama administration policy and, by default, that of the incompetent and woefully understaffed Trump administration.

“We [the Obama administration] do not want to see the ouster of the [Khartoum] regime, nor regime change. We want to see the regime carrying out reform via constitutional democratic measures.” (Interview with Asharq al-Awsat, December 3, 2011 | http://english.aawsat.com/2011/12/article55244147/asharq-al-awsat-talks-to-us-special-envoy-to-sudan-princeton-lyman )

This represents nothing less than a vicious expediency put in service of improving counter-terrorism cooperation between Khartoum and the U.S. intelligence community. The “deal” was consummated with Obama's lifting of longstanding U.S. sanctions on Khartoum in his last week in office (January 13, 2017), justified in part by the outrageous falsehood of his ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power: we have seen a “seas change” of improvement in humanitarian access in Sudan | http://webtv.un.org/watch/samantha-power-united-states-final-press-conference-to-un-correspondents-13-january-2017/5281173841001/. There is not a shred of real evidence to support this claim, and yet it stands uncorrected by any U.S. government official, past or present. The reality is that Khartoum continues to use the denial, obstruction, and manipulation of humanitarian assistance to desperately need civilians as a weapon of war and a diplomatic tool.

On what possible basis could Lyman have argued, and continue to argue, that the Khartoum regime is capable of “carrying out reform via constitutional democratic measures”? Here as well there is not a shred of evidence to support such a disgraceful claim in the five and a half years since the Asharq al-Awsat interview. Human rights report after human rights report; continual dispatches from Sudan Tribune, Radio Dabanga, and numerous other Sudanese news sources in the diaspora—all make clear that repression has only grown more intense and brutal. One might think particularly of the killing of hundreds during civil society demonstrations in September 2013 or the Nertiti massacre of civilians on January 1, 2017 or the continuing detention of human rights activist and humanitarian Ibrahim Mudawi. And what of the use of chemical weapons by the Khartoum regime in the Jebel Marra offensive of 2016, conclusively demonstrated by Amnesty International? Lyman's boss, Secretary of State John Kerry, called the use of chemical weapons in Syria by Bashar al-Assad a “moral obscenity.” We've heard nothing from Lyman about what such a “moral obscenity” represents in the Khartoum regime. Nor have we heard from him anything about the continuing epidemic of state-sanctioned rape as a weapon of war in Darfur—an epidemic in which tens of thousands of non-Arab/African girls and women have been victimised.

It is impossible to believe that Lyman does not know how brutal, how savagely repressive, how indifferent to human suffering and human rights the Khartoum regime is—and has been during its 28 years of tyrannical rule. It is impossible to believe that he doesn't know that expecting “the regime to carry out reform via constitutional democratic measures” is an utterly preposterous notion—in December 2011, and in May 2017. Just how preposterous such a notion this is has been continuously demonstrated in soul-destroying detail:

Human rights and reporting that should be read by Lyman—all published subsequently to his December 2011 interview with Asharq al-Awsat:

Sudan: Mass Rape by Army in Darfur: UN, AU Should Press for Protection, International Investigation | February 11, 2015 | https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/11/sudan-mass-rape-army-darfur

“Men With No Mercy”: Rapid Support Forces Attacks against Civilians in Darfur, Sudan | September 9, 2015 | https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/09/men-no-mercy/rapid-support-forces-attacks-against-civilians-darfur-sudan

Scorched Earth, Poisoned Air: Sudanese Government Forces Ravage Jebel Marra, Darfur | September 29, 2016 | http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/scorched-earth-poisoned-air-sudanese-government-forces-ravage-jebel-marra-darfur

Sudan must end politically-motivated attacks on Darfuri students, January 18, 2017 https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/01/sudan-must-end-politically-motivated-attacks-on-darfuri-students/

Border Control from Hell: How the EU's migration partnership legitimizes Sudan's "militia state," April 6, 2017 | http://www.enoughproject.org/reports/border-control-hell-how-eus-migration-partnership-legitimizes-sudans-militia-state

Remote Control Breakdown : Sudanese Paramilitary Forces and Pro-Government Militias, by Jérôme Tubiana | HSBA Issue Brief 27/Small Arms Survey, April 2017

…and countless dispatches from Sudan Tribune, Radio Dabanga, Nuba Reports, Radio Tamazuj, and many Arabic-language news reporting, including al-Hurriyat—from December 2011 to the present.

Drawing on these reports and the reporting by Sudanese news sources, I have produced the following syntheses:
Continuing Mass Rape of Girls in Darfur: The most heinous crime generates no international outrage | January 2016 | http://sudanreeves.org/2017/03/07/continuing-mass-rape-of-girls-in-darfur-the-most-heinous-crime-generates-no-international-outrage-january-2016/

“Changing the Demography”: Violent Expropriation and Destruction of Farmlands in Darfur, November 2014 – November 2015" | December 1, 2015 | http://sudanreeves.org/2016/02/17/changing-the-demography-violent-expropriation-and-destruction-of-farmlands-in-darfur-november-2014-november-2015/
Violent Mortality in the Darfur Genocide: A matter of international indifference and prevarication—and shame | April 28, 2017 | http://sudanreeves.org/2017/04/27/violent-mortality-in-the-darfur-genocide-a-matter-of-international-indifference-and-prevarication/
—

Eric Reeves, Senior Fellow at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

May 6, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Several Sudanese bankers Saturday have warned against the use of credit transfer via mobile phone in terrorism financing in light of the lack of control over the volume of funds transferred through the service.

Large segments of the Sudanese society send money through the credit transfer service provided by the three nationwide mobile operators.

Speaking at a press forum in Khartoum Saturday, executive director of the Banking Services Company Omer Hassan al-Omerabi said the lack of control over the credit transfer via mobile phone could be exploited by some parties in terrorism financing”.

He said that 85% of the Sudanese use the credit transfer through mobile phones, pointing that Sudan ranks second in the world after Kenya in the use of this method according to a study conducted by the World Bank in 2014.

Al-Omerabi added that the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) has no control over the service, stressing the method poses a real danger as it is not subjected to any control by government organs.

For his part, the CBoS representative Zahir Fageery disclosed that a joint committee from the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) and the CBoS has been formed to investigate the issue, saying its first decision would be to set limits for the money amounts that can be transferred.

He said that starting from next month each customer will be allowed to transfer only 500 Sudanese pounds (SDG) daily.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the Consumer Protection Association (CPA) Yassir Merghani criticised the delay in introducing the CBoS's controlled money transfer service, holding the mobile operators responsible for the delay.

“If there is suspicion of corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing, the service must be stopped immediately,” he said.

Sudanese parliament adopted in June 2014 a law to combat money laundering and terrorism financing that contained articles related to consolidating investigations and financial intelligence which is the enforcement mechanism that receives notifications and information from financial institutions and other parties.

Sudan was placed on the U.S. terrorism list in 1993 over allegations it was harbouring Islamist militants working against regional and international targets.

(ST)

May 6, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - A delegation from the Supreme Council for Coordinating Affairs of Ngok Dinka of Abyei region Saturday has arrived in Sudan's central town of Wad Medani to discuss ways to issue national identity cards for its community members residing in the Gezira State.

An unidentified woman stands in the central market of Abyei, Sudan, Thursday Jan. 13, 2011,

Ownership of Abyei, an oil-producing region contested by Sudan and South Sudan, remained contentious even after the world's youngest nation split from Sudan in 2011. Khartoum and Juba failed to agree on who can participate on in a vote to determine the future of the region.

However, the two governments continue to treat the population of the region as its nationals.

Last February, President Omer al-Bashir underscored that Abyei is a Sudanese territory, instructing national authorities to provide its residents with full administrative services including issuance of identity cards and passports.

The secretary of organisational communication at the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the locality of Wad Medani Hassan Abdel-Aziz Al-Maz said his party is “committed to supporting the entire issues of Ngok Dinka of Abyei”.

The official news agency SUNA reported that Al-Maz, who met the delegation Saturday, expressed pleasure to inaugurate the office of Ngok Dinka in the Gezira State as the first regional office.

For his part, the head of the supreme council and political secretary of the NCP in Abyei Chol Mawien Bol said they seek to prove that Abyei is a Sudanese territory, pointing the council is non-partisan.

He said that the number of Ngok Dinak community members residing in the cotton-producing Gezira State ranges from 6000 to 7000 people, saying they are distributed at the eight localities of the state.

The 2005 peace agreement which ended 21 years of war between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) provided for a referendum to be conducted by the people of Abyei to choose between remaining in the Sudan and joining South Sudan.

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

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

(ST)

May 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Attorney General has cancelled a decision to release human rights defender Mudawi Ibrahim, who has been detained since last December without charges, his lawyer said on Friday.

Ibrahim, university professor and chair of the non-governmental organisation Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) was arrested on 7 December 2016 by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

By the end of March 2017, his lawyer Nabil Adib said the court had issued a decision to release his client on bail. But his family at the time expressed concern over the possible intervention of the national security service (NISS) to keep him in detention.

On Friday, Adib told Sudan Tribune that the general attorney has cancelled its decision to release his client.

"I have not seen the reasons for the decision and will try to see the merits on Sunday," he said.

"(But) I learned that the decision ordered further investigations. It seems that a hidden motivation triggered this measure," the lawyer added.

For her part, Mudawi's family considered the decision as more "procrastination" from the Sudanese government to prevent his release.

"This means that they want to continue holding him and prolong his detention," his wife Sabah Adam told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

A media outlet, close to the ruling National Congress Party, earlier this year claimed that Mudawi is involved on a report released last year by Amnesty International on the use of chemical weapons in Darfur's Jebel Marra.

However, the NISS seemingly has failed to provide evidence supporting its allegations.

(ST)

May 5, 2017 (JUBA) - Ten people, including three children and five women, have been killed in an ambush on a passengers' car on Juba- Bor road on Friday, relatives and officials said.

Armed robberies are common on South Sudan highways. Rebels and gunmen are allegedly responsible for these criminal attacks. The bloody attack on Juba-Bor road occurred near Gameza, a centre in Terekeke State at some 120km from Juba.

"Three children died as well as five women and two men. The driver was shot and killed instantly and the gunmen then killed passengers," a witness who was travelling in another car told Sudan Tribune late on Friday.

Three people survived in the ill-fated vehicle. The survivors are said to be one woman and two children. The Land Cruiser hardtop was travelling to Bor from Juba.

Jonglei state information Minister Akech Dengdit confirmed the ambush but declined to discuss further details.

Dengdit said police is still investigating the incident.

Other sources told Sudan Tribune that tension has been rising between Murdari and Dinka Bor in recent days after two people from both sides were killed in unclear circumstances. It is not clear which side started the fight.

Hundreds of people and thousands displaced during armed clashes between the two ethnics in 2009. Also, it led to close the Bor-Juba road which is crucial to supply Bor with essential food commodities imported from neighbouring countries.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

May 5, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) - Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Workneh Gebeyehu, on Friday said he is working with the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations to find a durable resolution to the conflict in South Sudan.

Workneh made the remarks after he held discussions with Nicholas Haysom, UN Special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan here in Addis Ababa.

The two sides discussed the current situation in South Sudan and ways to resolving the crisis.

They further conferred on regional peace and security and agreed to work together to make sure peace and security in South Sudan as well as at the volatile east African region at large.

The Ethiopian foreign minister emphasised the importance of an inclusive peace process including the warring parties in South Sudan for a lasting peace in the newest nation.

Workneh further stressed a need for UN, AU and IGAD combined efforts to end violence in South Sudan.

While commending Ethiopia's efforts for regional peace and security, the UN special envoy to his side vowed to closely work with Ethiopia and provide the needed support to ensure peace and security in South Sudan and the region as a whole.

Ethiopia, the venue of South Sudan peace process, had been playing a key role to sign the August 2015 peace agreement.

South Sudan gained independence in 2011 as an outcome of a peace agreement that ended continent's longest-running civil war in Sudan.

The country, however, slides back to the conflict in 2013 after president Salva Kiir accused his former deputy turned rebel leader, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.

The conflict has so far forced an estimated three million people (around a third of country's population) flee to the neighbouring countries.

UNHCR officials in Addis Ababa say an average of 500 South Sudanese arrive per day in Ethiopia seeking shelter and food.

(ST)

May 5, 2017 (JUBA)- The ministry of foreign affairs in South Sudan has elevated Gordon Buay; a former political dissident turned a diehard supporter of President Salva Kiir, to a deputy head of its diplomatic mission in the United States.

President Salva Kiir moved Gordon Buay through a republican order in 2014 to a second grade ambassadorial position after previously appointing him as third grade ambassador in fulfillment of the terms of the agreement which the government signed with a collection of armed groups that responded to a presidential amnesty in 2012, after agreeing to lay down their arms and abandon rebellion in several parts of the country, including Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states.

Buay, according to a letter dated April 2017, notifies him of his new assignment as the Deputy Head of Mission with effect May 1, 2017.

The letter of assignment seen by Sudan Tribune bears the signature of Lumumba Makelele Nyajok, acting undersecretary at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Nyajok, in the letter, requested Buay to accept the appointment with assurances of support.

(ST)

May 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sharp differences have emerged within the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) over its participation in the upcoming government after the National Assembly dropped constitutional amendments pertaining to freedoms and the security apparatus.

Popular Congress Party (PCP) Political secretary Kamal Omer (Photo SUNA)

Last month, the PCP of the late Islamic leader Hassan al-Turabi expressed disappointment on the approval of constitutional amendments without restraining the powers of the security apparatus saying the parliament move has trashed the recommendations of the national dialogue conference.

However, last Wednesday the party decided to join the government of national concord and handed over the Prime Minister Bakri Hassan Salih names of its candidates for the government posts.

PCP political secretary Kamal Omer told Sudan Tribune on Friday that he declined to accept his nomination for the membership of the National Assembly, saying the decision to take part in the upcoming government is inconsistent with the party's declared stance and his personal conviction regarding the issue of freedoms.

Omer added that he also resigned from his post as PCP political secretary, saying he wouldn't betray the teachings of the late leader Hassan al-Turabi who he described as the “Imam of Freedoms”.

“I wouldn't hold any government or party post and my stance reflects the real position of the PCP,” he said.

Omer ruled out that the PCP could split following the recent resignations, saying the party is coherent.

“We only demand to correct the path of party… now the PCP has no institutions … it only has a secretary general who controls all decisions,” said Omer.

Last month, PCP has elected Ali al-Hag Mohamed as Secretary General succeeding Ibrahim al-Sanousi who hold the post for a transitional period following the death of the party founder Hassan al-Turabi in March 2016.

Observers say Omer who was a close aide to the late al-Turabi does not have the same closeness with the new secretary-general.

Sudan Tribune learnt that Sharaf al-Din Bannaga who was also nominated by the PCP for the National Assembly membership has declined to accept the party proposal.

It is noteworthy that the PCP had earlier linked its participation in the upcoming government to the approval of the constitutional amendments pertaining to the “Freedoms Document” which was recommended by the national dialogue.

The PCP splinted from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) since 1999, and joined the opposition ranks since that time but it supported the national dialogue process declared by al-Bashir in 2014 and participated in all its forums.

(ST)

May 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - An international maritime border arbitrator has revealed that Sudan is planning to take Egypt to a binding arbitration before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) over the disputed Halayeb area pointing to Khartoum's recently lodged objection with the United Nations against Cairo's annexation of the region to its maritime border.

The Halayeb triangle, which is a 20,580 km area on the Red Sea, has been a contentious issue between Egypt and Sudan since 1958, shortly after Sudan gained its independence from the British-Egyptian rule in January 1956.

The area has been under Cairo's full military control since the mid-1990's following a Sudanese-backed attempt to kill the former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt has used to reject Sudan's repeated calls for referring the dispute to international arbitration. The international law provides that the agreement of the two parties is needed to arbitrate a dispute by the tribunal.

According to the international arbitrator Osman Mohamed al-Sharif, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea signed by Sudan and Egypt oblige the two countries to appear before the ITLOS.

Al-Sharif told Sudan Tribune that the declaration lodged by Sudan's foreign ministry at the UN last March according to a presidential decree aimed to take a third path after Cario refused the direct negotiations and the international arbitration.

He pointed that Khartoum's move to deposit with the UN coordinates of the baselines from which its maritime areas are measured after 27 years since former President Hosni Mubarak lodged the maritime borders of Egypt doesn't strip Sudan of its sovereignty over Halayeb and the equivalent Red Sea waters.

By virtue of its membership in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Sudan is required to notify the UN Secretary-General of any development affecting the geography of its maritime boundary.

On 2 March, President Omer al-Bashir issued a decree including the baselines from which the maritime areas of the Republic of Sudan are measured. Last month, Sudan deposited with the UN its maritime borders.

Accordingly, Al-Sharif pointed that the UN Secretary-General will now notify Egypt that “its 1990 declaration of maritime border is being objected [by Sudan]” and will wait for Cairo's response before the two sides could go to court.

“Sudan and Egypt are obliged to go to arbitration before the ITLOS according to UN Convention on the Law of the Sea … the UN Security General might refer the dispute to arbitration and if Egypt refuses, he will intervene to force it to submit,” he said.

“If we deal with the issue as a maritime dispute, we will find away to a binding arbitration, however, there is no binding arbitration in the international law,” he added.

Al-Sharif underscored that the UN Secretary General as guarantor to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can end the fait accompli which was established by Egypt in Halayeb in 1995, saying the maritime borders of the Sudan in Halayeb are fixed and complementary to the land border.

It is noteworthy that Cairo in April 2016 refused a demand by the Sudanese government to hold direct talks on Halayeb and Shalateen or to accept the referral of the dispute to the International Court of Arbitration.

(ST)