Sudan Tribune

April 28, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - A sixth humanitarian relief caravan including 1068 tonnes of sorghum Friday has been dispatched from the capital of Sudan's North Kordofan state, El Obeid to the needy population in South Sudan, said a Sudanese humanitarian official.

Humanitarian aid commissioner Ahmed Babiker al-Hassan has told the official news agency SUNA that the higher and regional committees to deliver the food aid to the affected civilians in South Sudan are working hard to transport the assistance prior to the rainy season.

He pointed that the fifth batch of the relief included 807 tonnes, saying the rugged roads hinder the flow of food assistance to South Sudan.

In February, three United Nations agencies declared an outbreak of localised famine in several areas in the young nation, saying an additional one million people were on the brink of starvation.

On 30 March, the World Food Programme (WFP) began providing food aid 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.

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.

Earlier this 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.

(ST)

April 28, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Representatives of the African Union chief mediator Thabo Mbeki Thursday in Khartoum have started consultations with government officials and opposition leaders on the peace talks and national dialogue.

The African Union representative in Khartoum, Mahmoud Kan and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) representative Lesane Johannes have met with the government chief negotiator for the talks on the Two Areas Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid.

They also discussed with the head of opposition's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Mayada Swar al-Dahab and the chairman of the opposition alliance Future Forces of Change (FFC) Ghazi Salah al-Din Attabani the peace talks.

In statements to Sudan Tribune, Swar al-Dahab said she made some proposals to make a breakthrough in the peace talks between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N).

She stressed the importance to open the humanitarian track, pointing to the need to put pressure on all parties to achieve just, sustainable and comprehensive peace.

Also, the meeting discussed the impact of national dialogue outcome on the various tracks of peace talks, expressing fear that dialogue recommendations wouldn't be adequately implemented.

Meanwhile, the FFC spokesperson Hassan Mohamed Ahmed said the African officials discussed with Attabani the political process in Sudan, pointing the latter made some proposals to ensure the national dialogue is “genuine and neutral”.

The African officials are expected to meet the high committee for the implementation of the national dialogue outcome and the head of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) al-Sadiq al-Mahdi and the internal groups of the opposition umbrella Sudan Call.

The African Union is brokering peace talks between the Sudanese government and opposition including the armed groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

The government and Sudan Call signed in March and August 2016 the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the AUHIP including several steps towards their participation in a national constitutional process inside Sudan.

However, the parties failed to sign a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian agreements that are seen crucial before to move forward in the roadmap implementation process.

On Monday, SPLM-N announced they agreed with the African Union chief mediator, Thabo Mbeki, to postpone peace talks to next July.

(ST)

April 28, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudanese government army (SPLA) Friday has gained control of the headquarters of armed opposition forces, displacing over 25,000 civilians without humanitarian assistance.

Former rebel leader Johnson Olony speaks to the press upon arrival at Juba international airport on 13 June 2013 (ST)

The SPLA spokesperson, Colonel Santo Domic said government forces took Kodok town on Wednesday after three days of fighting with armed opposition fighters under the overall command of Johnson Olony, who allied himself to the SPLM-IO led by the exiled former First Vice President, Riek Machar.

The military spokesperson said they were forced to take the town because they have reports that civilians trapped in the rebel-held areas were starving and the government was being blamed for denying humanitarian access to the place.

Ten days ago a group of 10 Shilluk tribal leaders in the Upper Nile accused Olony of killing officers from the Agwelek section of the Shilluk tribe in Panyikang County. The rebel general also belongs to the same tribal section.

Gen. Johnson Colony and his troops joined the SPLA in 2013 when he returned from Sudan after accepting a presidential amnesty. However he joined the SPLM-IO in July 2015.

In April 2015, Johnson Colony defected and captured the capital of the oil-rich Upper Nile state, Malakal, and Melut, headquarters of Melut county which is adjacent to the main oilfields of Paloch, in joint operations with SPLA-IO rebels before the towns were retaken by the government.

The international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders on Wednesday announced that nearly 25,000 people have been displaced by intense fighting between in Kodok between the government forces and the rebel fighters.

"The humanitarian organisations that have, up until now, been providing essential medical services, water, food, non-food items, and shelter have had to temporarily suspend activities on the west bank of the Nile because of the increasing insecurity," further said Marcus Bachmann head of MSF mission in South Sudan

The statement expressed deep concern for those who would be forced to trek across the border to Sudan in search of safety in refugee camps if they do not get protection.

(ST)

April 21, 2017 (JUBA)-The armed opposition Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) Friday has confirmed that some senior commanders have surrendered to the Ugandan army deployed in the northern part of the east African country.

Last week, several media outlets in Uganda reported the two senior SPLM-IO officers Identified as Maj. Gen Benjamin Luboi and Brigadier Gen. Taban surrendered to Ugandan army in Padibe Sub-county, Uganda's northern Lamwo district near the South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria province.

Initially, the armed opposition group had denied the report, saying only civilians have fled to northern Uganda.

However, the newly appointed deputy SPLM-IO spokesperson, Lam Paul Gabriel confirmed the report and said they welcome the decision by Ugandan authorities and the UNHCR.

“We would like to thank the staffs of the Ugandan prime minister's office and the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees for helping Benjamin and his friends get registered as refugees,” he added.

Gabriel dismissed that any of the two rebel officers was the commander of the rebel forces in Pajok, Eastern Equatoria.

“The sector command base is not in Pajok but between Imotong and Namurunyang/ Kapoeta state,” he added.

Earlier this month of April, the UNHCR reported that over 6000 refugees have crossed into northern Uganda district of Lamwo.

The influx of refugees was triggered by a military operation carried out by the government forces in Pajok, a town of more than 10,000 people 15 km (10 miles) north of the Ugandan border, to flush out rebel guerrillas in the area.

(ST)

April 21, 2017 (JUBA)- A peace and security forum drawing participation of governors from at least 14 states in South Sudan is underway in Kuacjok town, the administrative headquarters of Gogrial state

Women from a cattle camp walk near Gogrial (Photo Tim Freccia/Enough Project)

Gogrial governor Gregory Deng Kuac Aduol said on Friday the conference brings participants from states in the Upper Nile region together with those from neighbouring states in Bahr el Ghazal region.

The two-day conference commenced on Friday 21st April 2017 and is expected to end on 22nd April 2017.

This security and development meeting draws 14 governors and over 500 government officials including Abyei administrative area, northern Liech and Ruweng states among others.

“It will focus on how to curve communal conflicts, cattle thefts and border security control in their respective administrative areas and will reduce insecurity along our borders and provide everlasting peace and stability between our civil populations,” said Governor Gregory.

The forum will also discuss ways of opening interstates trade to boost economic stability in the country, he added.

He pointed that lack of security hampers the ongoing efforts to remove the spectre of famine which is the main challenge facing the South Sudan, adding the growing insecurity now prevent the circulation of local product and merchandises from a state to another.

"I call our citizens to support this conference so that its bear fruits," Aduol said.

The forum will also tackle issues of interstates feeder roads and development of state infrastructure.

This conference is the first ever since the appointment of the governor of Gogrial state in January 2017.

(ST)

April 21, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government has deposited with the United Nations (UN) the coordinates of the baselines from which its maritime areas are measured, including the disputed Halayeb triangle with Egypt.

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.

The foreign ministry stressed that the Halayeb triangle is a Sudanese territory located within the political and geographic borders of the Sudan, saying these borders have been recognised internationally during the various historical periods, including the period of the British-Egyptian condominium colonisation.

It underscored that Sudan inherited these borders since its independence was declared in 1956, saying this fact is supported by the UN records and maps and wasn't disputed by any party.

The foreign ministry pointed out that Sudan has been notifying the UN Security Council on this issue annually since 1958 until 5 January 2017 “in order to renew its rejection of the Egyptian military occupation of Sudan's Halayeb triangle and maritime borders”.

“As well as to renew its non-recognition of all sovereign actions by the Egyptian government in the Halayeb triangle and maritime borders on the basis of the current situation,” it added.

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.

(ST)

April 21, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The state security prosecution office in Khartoum Thursday has summoned the former chairman of the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) and accused him of harming the health security by forming an illegal body.

CCSD is an independent doctors association that was formed during the doctors' strike in October 2016 as a parallel body to the pro-government Sudanese Doctors Union (SDU).

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Thursday night, the CCSD said the General Union of Medical and Health Professions and the SDU have filed charges against its former chairman Hassan Karar Mamoun.

“In an unsurprising move on Thursday morning, the former head of the CCSD was summoned by the state security prosecution and taken from doctors' residence in Khartoum to the state security prosecution's department of crimes against the state” read the statement.

The statement pointed that a large number of lawyers has volunteered to defend Mamoun and prove, saying the government has acknowledged the legality of the CCSD since the federal and state health ministries and the Vice President sat to with the committee to negotiate to end the doctors' strike last year.

It added the doctors during their strike aimed to achieve professional demands that don't pose any threat to the state security, pointing to the increased targeting of doctors through criminal charges recently.

The statement further accused the said the General Union of Medical and Health Professions and the SDU of seeking to criminalise the same people who they claim to be representing, describing the latter's move as “disgrace”.

It is noteworthy that the Sudanese doctors in October 2016 went on a two-month intermittent strike and refused non-emergency treatments to patients to protest the poor working conditions, lack of medicines and lack of doctors protection after increasing attacks by frustrated patients and their families.

(ST)

April 21, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan government judges and lawyers declared an open-ended strike, demanded the resignation of Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut and wages increments.

The assembly of judges and justice made the declaration in the capital Juba.

“The General Assembly of Justices and Judges voted unanimously to enter into an open strike until the following demands are fulfilled; the honourable Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut must resign, provision of a car for justices and judges for transportation, provision of stationery and creation for a conducive working environment. Creation of courtrooms to each and every judge,” said Geri Legge, a Justice of the Court of Appeal after the general assembly meeting.

The strike begins on Monday, April 24.

The judiciary senior officials accused Chief Justice Chan of failing to follow up on promises made last year to increase wages and improve working conditions. Justices and judges receive monthly salaries between SSP 8,000 and SSP 12,000.

The judges and justices are among highly paid government employees but the depreciation of South Sudanese pound against the United States Dollars means their wages are now less than $50 per month. $1 sales for SSP 180 in the black market in Juba on Friday. The local economy is in a free fall and prices for basic commodities have skyrocketed in recent months.

Chief Justice is appointed by President Salva Kiir and it is not clear if he will act to resolve the judicial crisis. Last year, a similar strike was called off within a week after the government promised to address the conditions set forth. Most of those pledges, according to judges, are never met.

In a statement released on Friday, 21 April 2017, the judges call for fulfilment of better working conditions, increased pay; six months leave with pay, three months for Christmas and Easter.

The release demands the enactment of justices and judges pension law, provision of identification cards, promotion of the judges and appointment of more judges in the country.

The reasons for these demands, the statement argues, are to improve the provision of services.

“Finally, the rationale behind our demands is an order to deliver good service to people, address the backlog of cases and also strengthening of the independence of the Judiciary of the Republic of South Sudan,” the statement stressed.

(ST)

By Eric Reeves

The Darfur region of western Sudan has been recognized since 2004 as the site of genocide since 2004 by dozens of political officials and bodies (including the U.S. Congress and the EU Parliament), human rights groups, a wide range of genocide and human rights scholars, and such commemorative bodies as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Vad Yashem in Israel. Senator, candidate and President Obama not only declared that genocide was occurring in Darfur but campaigned on the issue in 2008, referring to the Darfur genocide as a “stain on our souls.” Indeed.

These judgments should hardly have been surprising. The annihilating character of attacks on non-Arab/African civilians and villages in Darfur; the systematic denial of humanitarian aid to these ethnic populations; and the pointed pronouncements of various officials and proxies of the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime—all made “genocide” the inevitable characterization. Only political diffidence or disingenuousness kept the characterization from being universally accepted.

Moreover, the outlines of the genocidal ambition were articulated with remarkable clarity in a memorandum originating from the headquarters of notoriously brutal Arab militia leader (Janjaweed) Musa Hilal in Misteriya, North Darfur at the height of the violence: “change the demography” of Darfur and “empty it of African tribes.”

Lest we think Musa Hilal as only a “man of letters,” we should recall that he was identified by numerous eyewitnesses as having presided at the February 2004 slaughter at Tawila, North Darfur. More than 100 people were killed, 350 girls and women were abducted, and more than 100 women were raped. A number of the women and girls were raped in front of their fathers, who were then killed. This was Musa Hilal's idea of “demographic change.” And this was only one of many atrocities that he either directed or orchestrated.

More than a decade later, in September 2015, Human Rights Watch provided the world with a clear, authoritative, and deeply researched report on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), by then the dominant militia force in Darfur, called by some the “new Janjaweed.” This report is more important than ever as we survey the “militia state” that Darfur has become as part of Khartoum's genocidal counter-insurgency, and the report provides compelling evidence that Musa Hilal's ambitions continue to animate the violence orchestrated by Khartoum against non-Arab/African tribal populations. The voice of particular significance in this report is that of Vice President of the regime, Hassabo Mohammed Abdel Rahman—reported by a defecting militiaman:

Ahmed said that a few days prior to leaving for East Jebel Marra, Sudanese Vice President Hassabo Mohammed Abdel Rahman directly addressed several hundred army and RSF soldiers: “Hassabo told us to clear the area east of Jebel Marra. To kill any male. He said we want to clear the area of insects. … He said East Jebel Marra is the kingdom of the rebels. We don't want anyone there to be alive.”

I am astonished that these words by Khartoum's Vice President have not registered in a consequential way with those Western nations formulating various policies of accommodation with the regime, particularly since they define so precisely the nature of the violence that accelerated from 2012 through the militarily successful campaign against the Jebel Marra massif in Central Darfur in 2016.

Notably, the Jebel Marra campaign included the use of chemical weapons against clearly civilian populations in the region, a fact that raised not a shred of international indignation of the sort Bashar al-Assad's attacks in Syria have. The campaign was successful and denied rebel forces in Darfur their last significant military redoubt. The genocidal counter-insurgency has—after fourteen years of unspeakable violence, destruction, and deprivation—succeeded.

In the wake of such victory, Khartoum is eager to begin dismantling the camps for displaced persons that have done so much to define destruction and suffering during the Darfur genocide. UN figures suggest that approximately 3 million people remain displaced from their homes, some 300,000 as refugees in eastern Chad. They are overwhelmingly people from the non-Arab/African tribal populations of Darfur. Extant mortality data and reports, while limited in many ways by Khartoum, when aggregated strongly suggest that well over 500,000 people have been killed directly or indirectly by the violence Khartoum has so effectively engineered Many tens of thousands of girls and women have been raped as sexual violence continues to be deployed as a brutal weapon of war.

Deprivation is unspeakable in many locations as the best current estimate is that 30 percent of the population in Darfur that remains inaccessible to humanitarian relief operations because of Khartoum's obstructionist policies. Children die in unforgivably large numbers for lack of food, medicine, and shelter. 30 percent of the population in need represents almost 1 million people, as the UN has recently estimated that Darfur's population in need is 3.3 million people.

I offer in a recent analysis representative examples of camps and locations that remain inaccessible despite the claim by former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power that there has been a “sea change” of improvement in humanitarian access in Sudan. Hers is a preposterous falsehood, and yet it stands uncorrected by any U.S. government official—past or present. It is a particularly outrageous falsehood, given the fact that in addition to obstructing humanitarian relief in Darfur, Khartoum continues to impose a total humanitarian blockade on the large and highly distressed populations in rebel-controlled areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. By crediting Khartoum with a “sea change” of improved humanitarian access, Power's statement perversely works to diminish incentives for the regime actually to make such improvements.

All this is particularly significant given the terms of the last-minute Executive Order signed by President by President Obama in the last week of his administration, lifting sanctions on Khartoum and stipulating terms for the permanent lifting of U.S. sanctions on Khartoum—which include prominently an improvement in humanitarian access.

What does Darfur look like in the wake of this ghastly “success”?

The character of Khartoum's success in Darfur is revealed in an soul-destroying dispatch from Radio Dabanga as well recent reports from the Small Arms Survey (“Remote-control breakdown: Sudanese paramilitary forces and pro-government militias”) and the Enough Project (“Border Control from Hell: How the EU's migration partnership legitimizes Sudan's militia state”). What they have in common is the characterization of the region as a “militia state,” one in which security has essentially been turned over to the militia forces that have fought for Khartoum and which will sustain themselves—beyond significant salaries in the case of the RSF—primarily by continuing predations on civilians and permanent and by violent expropriation of farmlands and pasturage.

Hamid Nur, a man known to me as someone of extraordinary knowledge, integrity, and humanity, is reported by Radio Dabanga as having offered this assessment:

Sudan's western region is politically, militarily, and economically dominated by militias, says the head of the Darfur Civil Society Platform. The Darfur displaced and refugees have no way to return to their [homes and farms] as the places are occupied by militiamen and their families. In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Hamid Ali Nur, head of the Darfur Civil Society Platform, called the repeated statements by the Sudanese government and the recent report by the US military attaché about the improved security situation in Darfur inaccurate and incorrect.

According to the civil society leader, the Khartoum government has, to a large extent, succeeded in changing the Darfur population itself. “Militiamen and their families have occupied the villages and farms left by fleeing Darfuris during all these years.”

The civil society activist said that the government's options given to the Darfur displaced, either to return to their villages of origin or integrate them into the local communities by re-structuring the camps, are fake. “As the displaced are not able to return, Khartoum's policy is aimed at permanently displacing them from their homes, lands, and heritage.”

This is the face of a “successful” genocide—successful for the perpetrators, catastrophic for the victims, the non-Arab/African populations of Darfur.

We have had warnings of such genocidal success for more than thirteen years. In February 2004 I warned in the Washington Post that,

There can be no reasonable scepticism about Khartoum's use of these militias to “destroy, in whole or in part, ethnic or racial groups”—in short, to commit genocide. Khartoum has so far refused to rein in its Arab militias; has refused to enter into meaningful peace talks with the insurgency groups; and, most disturbingly, has refused to grant unrestricted humanitarian access. The international community has been slow to react to Darfur's catastrophe and has yet to move with sufficient urgency and commitment. A credible peace forum must be rapidly created. Immediate plans for humanitarian intervention should begin. The alternative is to allow tens of thousands of civilians to die in the weeks and months ahead in what will be continuing genocidal destruction.

These words have a morally scandalous relevance to this day, although I must admit I had no idea that I should be speaking of a genocide that would last years, not weeks or months—or that mortality from genocidal violence would be measured not in tens of thousands but hundreds of thousands of human lives.

Darfur has made “Never again!” seem to me the most appalling, the most disgraceful, and finally the most obscene phrase in the English language.

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

By Dak Buoth

It is an opportune time for President Festus Mogae, the Chair of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation commission (JMEC) to pack and go back where he came from. And if he so wishes to remain in Juba, then he should be considered as an ex-JMEC Chairperson.

Festus' persistent silence in the face of deteriorating situation breeds confusion, complications, and hence makes the world stand aloof. And as Will Rodgers says ‘‘Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction'' Without much ado, he ought to be excommunicated for he did not communicate what keep transpiring on the ground for reasons best known to him and company.

As matter of fact, I'm not happy with the way he is dancing on victims' graves together with those belligerents. To add insult to injury, I'm now seeing him dining and winning with the same peace violators whom he is supposed to offer wise counsel.

He was hired on conditions that he will be monitoring, overseeing the smooth implementation of peace accord only in the ‘pre-transitional' and ‘during the transitional period'.

However, he is not supposed to continue occupying the same office in the ‘post' transitional period.

I'm convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the peace accord has collapsed and dead, and there is nothing being implemented.

Festus' continues to stay in office send the wrong impression that the peace agreement still exists when in fact there is none. In other words, his continued stay in the office covers the window for peace. To make matter worse, he is squandering resources that can be used to fast track desirable peace in our country.

I solidly hold that he should be relieved and JMEC disbanded respectively. By doing so, the world will see that the same peace agreement is dead or on a comma. And thus, they can either initiate a fresh political process and or reinvigorate the same peace accord as soon as possible. In my conscious analysis I believe:
1. That he failed to oversee and monitor the implementation of Peace Agreement
2. That he failed to finger-point at the peace violators, instead he is giving blanket-blames
3. That he failed to suggest alternative solutions and so he is ideas bankrupt.

I hereby challenge the appointing authorities, the African Union (AU) and IGAD to act accordingly because his legitimacy has been overtaken by events.

Three years of inaction are enough. Let's devise decisive ways. ‘‘Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph,'' Haile Selassie.

The writer is the Chairman of the Congress of South Sudanese Patriots; he can be reached for comments via eligodak@yahoo.com

April 20, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and Egypt agreed Thursday to work together to ease tensions between the two neighbouring countries through the control of hostile media campaigns and to curb activities of opposition groups in their territories.

The two agreements have been reached in a series of meetings between the Sudanese officials and a visiting Egyptian delegation led by the Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, who met also with President Omer al-Bashir.

The Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour and his visiting counterpart discussed the Egyptian media campaign against the Sudan, the presence of Darfur holdout rebel groups in Cairo, the ban on fruit and vegetable imports from Egypt over sanitary concerns, and recent claims by the Sudanese government that Cairo supported UN sanctions on Sudan.

Speaking at a joint press conference after the meetings, Ghandour said his government was dissatisfied with the hostile campaign carried by the Egyptian media on the Sudan. He stressed that the excessive media campaign began following the Sudanese authorities' decision to ban the entry of Egyptian agricultural products.

"The Egyptian media exceeded reasonable usage limits in such events, where criticism has been exceeded to insult the Sudanese people and the country's political leadership," he said.

The joint statement released at the end of the visit called on the media in the two countries to be cautious and accurate in reporting news and to promote common interests. It further said the two sides agreed that " the competent information institutions in the two countries should coordinate to sign a media ethics code to ensure the preservation of the noble interests between the two brotherly peoples."

Ghandour further echoed statements by the Sudanese President last February about the support provided by Egyptian intelligence service to the Sudanese opposition groups, when he stressed on the need for the intelligence agencies to increase joint cooperation to enhance confidence and to not provide support for the armed opposition groups or to harbour it.

"Shukri told us that the Darfur armed movements in Cairo do not have the freedom to practice any political action," he said.

BAN OF EGYPTIAN PRODUCTS

For his part, the Egyptian minister focused on the suspension of import of Egyptian agricultural products, saying the issue “affects the interests of both sides”.

Shukri was referring to a recent decision by the Sudanese government to ban the importation of additional processed agricultural products from Egypt on safety and public health grounds. Sudan has already suspended the import of fruits and vegetables since September 2016 .

The ban “has taken a non-positive development damaging to the (bilateral) relationship and is not based on clear technical criteria,” he said, adding “We have addressed this matter and I hope that we will find radical solutions so as not it would not further affect the positive relationship."

Previously Ghandour attributed Sudan's decision to ban Egyptian agricultural products to the reports published or broadcasted by the Egyptian media on the contamination of fruits and vegetables.

Earlier the Egyptian government on called on Sudan to lift the suspension of its agricultural exports to Sudan, but Khartoum disregarded the call over growing suspicions and tensions in the bilateral relations.

Last January, the meeting between the two foreign ministers discussed the ban of Egyptian products but remained without effects.

The Egyptian minister also spoke about the recent claims by the Sudanese government that an Egyptian diplomat had the Arab and African decisions on the UN sanctions against Sudan and expressed his support for it a consultations meeting of Darfur sanctions committee earlier this month.

The Egyptian minister denied the accusations, saying his country does not conspire against the Sudan but seeks to protect its interests.

"Egypt is looking after Sudan's interests in international and regional institutions and adopting one vision for two states and this approach has not changed," he further said.

The two ministers did not mention the dispute between the two countries over Halayed triangle.

(ST)

April 20, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan's interior minister, Michael Chiengjiek Geay said he discussed numerous issues on the joint integrated police with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director, Kamil Kayode Kamaludde on Thursday.

New police recruits during a parade in Yambio June 27, 2016 (ST)

The meeting, Geay said, centered on the ongoing training of the joint integrated police in Rajaf, a suburb of the capital, Juba.

The UNDP official separately said the meeting was to discuss support of uniforms and other basic materials for the police under training.

He said the donations of non-food items that were donated by the government of Japan in collaboration with UNDP would soon arrive in the South Sudanese capital to benefit the joint police forces.

This year alone, the Japanese government has reportedly donated funds for the capacity training for the South Sudanese police forces.

The Japanese government aid to South Sudan was donated through UNDP.

The senior U.N official urged the ministry of interior to utilize the resources to the purpose of the joint integrate police in the country.

According to the shaky signed 2015 peace deal signed between government and the armed opposition faction allied to Riek Machar, it was agreed that a joint police unit to take care of Juba's security and other towns like Bentiu, Bor and Malakal be formed.

(ST)

April 21, 2017(BOR) - A four year old child, suspected to be a Lou Nuer, was rescued by Dinka Bor youth patrolling Gadiang area.

The map of Jonglei state in red

A group of abductors, believed to be from Murle ethnic tribe who abducted four children from unknown location exchanged gunfire with Jonglei state youth, in which one person from among the Dinka youth was killed before the boy was rescued, a youth leader, said.

“Yesterday, at 11AM, criminals from Boma state came, moving with four children, they [were] found by Gelbai youth fighters in the bush when the youth were patrolling, the criminals from Boma state started shooting, they killed one person from our youth,” Guet Ayuen, a spokesperson for the youth told Sudan Tribune.

He added, “There was fighting, they left one child from the four children they were carrying and ran away with three other children”.

The child, who could not be understand because of language barrier reportedly spoke Nuer, but the group suspected him and the rest of the other children to be from one of the Lou Nuer areas.

The rescued child will reportedly be handed over to the Twic East commissioner, who will then take him to Jonglei state government.

“The boy was speaking in Nuer language, we confirmed that the child is from Nuer, but we don't know the location where they brought that child. We need to handover this child to authorities in Twic East Counties, the commissioners will hand him over to authorities in Jonglei state,” further said Ayuen.

The movement of Murle ethnic tribesmen within the Jonglei state borders has reportedly increased and there are fears more abductions could occur in the coming days. The second deadline given for the Boma state youth and government to return children and heads of cattle taken in the past, expires on 21 April.

(ST)

April 20, 2017 (JUBA) – About 100,000 people have been displaced in the wake of the recent violence that occurred in South Sudan's Jonglei state region, a top United Nations official said.

Staff from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) register displaced people at the Eastern Bank transit camp in South Sudan's Western Bahr el Ghazal state on 29 August 2014 (ST)

Eugene Owusu, the U.N humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan said aid workers have also been forced out of the area, expressing concerns over the dire humanitarian situation in the region.

"The guns have to fall silent, the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate," he told reporters in the capital, Juba on Wednesday.

According to Owusu, for U.N humanitarian agencies to assist the 3.5 million people displaced by the conflict that started in 2013, “the guns have to fall silent and the cessation of hostilities must hold.”

“While humanitarians [agencies] will continue to do all that is possible to alleviate suffering, the fact remains that unless the guns fall silent, the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate,” he said.

At least 7.5 million of the estimated 12 million South Sudanese will need assistance in 2017, the U.N humanitarian respond plan showed.

The U.N relief chief said the new clashes in different parts of the country including Wau Shilluk in Upper Nile Region, Wau in Western Bahr El Ghazal and Kajo-Keji in Central Equatoria have triggered new waves of displacements of thousands of people.

“Food insecurity and malnutrition is a serious challenge and have reached unprecedented levels in this country,” said Owusu, adding that “hundreds of thousands of people are facing starvation and a million more are on the brink of famine across the country.”

Famine was declared in Unity State's Mayendit and Leer countries in February. At least 100,000 people in the home region of Former First Vice President and leader of the armed SPLM in Opposition (IO), Riek Machar, could starve to death due to lack of food. UN agencies said some food was delivered in March to the area.

But in some parts of the country, however, humanitarian workers reportedly had to withdraw due to difficult and dangerous environment and humanitarian workers are “paying with their lives”.

82 aid workers, the U.N said, have been killed since December 2013, including the three humanitarian contractors killed in Wau last week.

“Aid workers are often harassed across the country and humanitarian compounds and supplies have been looted and vandalized, and most recently in Jonglei, in Kajo-Keji, Yei, Wau Shilluk and in Mayendit – all these happened between February and March,” stressed the U.N official.

“The humanitarian challenges that we are dealing with are the consequences of the failure of politics to reconcile differences and to address grievances. We must fix the politics, all parties must step up efforts towards the political solution to help lessen the humanitarian case-load,” he further observed.

Conflict broke out in December 2013 following months of internal wrangling in the ruling SPLM party over leadership, vision of the party, reforms and democracy. The three-year-old war has killed thousands of people and displaced 1.6 million people as refugees to neighboring countries. Also, an estimated 1.9 million others are internally displaced in the country, with about 200,000 civilians sheltering at the U.N protection of civilians' sites situated in government-controlled towns.

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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

April 20, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) - Ethiopia House of Peoples Representatives on Thursday decided to refer three opposition political organisations to the justice for their alleged role in the recent bloody protests in several parts of the country.

The parliamentary decision was passed following a report by the state-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights commission (EHRC) on the human rights violations committed during a series of protests in November 2015 and led to the country's current state of emergency.

The report recommended to investigate the violence in Oromia, Amhara and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) region.

The Ethiopian lawmakers have decided that the main Oromo peoples party, Oromo Federalist Congress party (OFC) and Blue party have to face charges for playing a role in the violence which first erupted in Oromia region and quickly spread to other parts of the country.

The government-affiliated rights body said the two legally operating political parties, OFC and Blue party will be charged for their roles in instigating and fuelling the deadly protests in Oromia and Amhara region respectively.

The House has also decided for charges to be pressed against a third political organisation, Gedio Peoples Democratic Organization, for having roles in Ethnic-based attacks carried out in SNNP regional state.

The EHRC in its report partly commended the security forces for showing restraint in some violent protest incidents However it firmly recommended prosecution against security agents who had used excessive force.

The parliament has also backed EHRC's recommendations for some government officials and security organs who had roles in the violence to face charges.

Since 2015, the horn of Africa's nation has been engulfed in a wave of anti-government protests in Oromia and Amhara region over complaints of political, economic and territorial marginalisation.

International human right groups said hundreds of protesters have been killed by the government forces and called for an international investigation. Also, the European Union and the United Nations called for an independent investigation

Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, rejected the call saying his country doesn't need any external interference hence it is able to conduct the investigation on its own.

In its report, the Ethiopian rights commission officially disclosed that 669 people including 63 policemen have died during the violence.

On March 30, Ethiopian parliament unanimously decided to extend the state of emergency imposed in October last year for additional four months in what Addis Ababa says is to ensure absolute calm and stability across the country.

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April 20, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese military attaché in Abu Dhabi Thursday visited the Sudanese soldiers wounded during the military operations in Yemen treated at the Sheikh Zayed Military Hospital in Abu Dhabi.

Several thousands of the Sudanese army troops and militiamen are taking part in the Saudi-led military operations in Yemen. But, Khartoum used to not communicate on the human causalities.

Earlier this week, for the first time the army admitted the death of five soldiers in Yemen. Also, military sources disclosed to Sudan Tribune the transfer of 22 wounded soldiers to the Emirates hospitals where they are receiving medical treatment.

In a press statement released Thursday evening, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Spokesperson Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami, the Sudanese military attaché to the united Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia visited the wounded soldiers at the Sheikh Zayed Military Hospital in Abu Dhabi.

The visit took place in the presence of Col. Nasser Al-Nuaimi, Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Medical Services, Col. Dr Sarhan Al-Nayadi, Director of Zayed Military Hospital and a number of medical officers and staff, Al-Shami said.

"The visit was welcomed by the UAE side and left a good impact on the wounded soldiers," he further added.

He pointed that Sudan's Ambassador to the UAE, Mohammed al-Karib, visited the Sudanese wounded soldiers earlier and “has been assured that the wounded soldiers are receiving the best medical care”.

Saudi Arabia and allied Sunni Muslim countries began a military campaign in March 2015 to prevent the Yemeni Houthis Shiites and forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh taking control of the whole country.

The Sunnite coalition forces expelled the Iran-backed fighters from the southern port city of Aden last summer but the Houthis continue to hold several areas including the capital, Sanaa.

Over 10,000 Yemenis have been killed in the war.

(ST)

April 20, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudanese president Salva Kiir said Thursday he would be visiting the states to explain to the people that he and his administration was working day and night exploring the best ways to end the conflict, saying war is not a "pleasurable game" to continue with.

President Salva Kiir adresses a joint press conference on 9 July 2016 (Reuters Photo)

The South Sudan leader said the only option is to the stop war and bring peace.

“This war is not the wish of any citizen but there are people who think that war is the solution. These are the people causing this suffering. We want to denounce violence, come back and participate in the national dialogue so that this situation is stopped because is not a pleasurable game. It is destructive”, Kiir said on Thursday.

The president said he was committed to ending the war in the country and called on the citizens to help us and his administration achieve peace by talking to those they know have taken up arms.

“I am sure this war will stop but it should be left to the government alone. Every citizen needs to play a role by talking to those they know have taken up arms and tell them there is a national dialogue so let them. This was what I said when I visited Yei in February and this is the message I will be carrying wherever I go, whether in the tour of the states or outside the country”, he said.

Meanwhile, the presidential advisor on security affairs said Kiir was committed to ending the war and his decision to visit Kapoeta state in Eastern Equatoria demonstrates his willingness to reach out to all segments of society to talk with them about peace.

“The visit of the president Kapoeta is very important. It will give and the people in that state to hear from them and for the people to hear from himself. The president is carrying another important message of encouragement for the people to embrace agriculture, which has been our source survival since time immemorial. It should not be left”, said Tut Kew Gatluak.

The foreign affairs minister, Deng Alor Kuol also emphasised the importance of the visit of the president to the area, describing it as very important.

“It is very important this time when we are mobilising our people for national dialogue and national reconciliation, so in that context, the president has decided to visit Kapoeta,” said Kuol.

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April 20, 2017 (JUBA) - The ongoing conflict in South Sudan could cost $28 billion if it continues for four years unabated, the People's Democratic Movement (PDM) said in a policy brief released on Thursday.

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

PDM is an abroad based observatory grassroots movement that was formed by concerned South Sudanese in the country and the diaspora in response to the political crisis and fast deteriorating economic, humanitarian and security situation in the country, amid heightened ethnic polarisation and the devastating conflict.

The group, in a policy brief, Sudan Tribune obtained, claimed an estimation of the economic and financial costs of the ongoing conflict and intransigence lies between US$22.3 billion and $28 billion if the conflict continues for another 1 to 4 years.

The PDM document further argues that the social and economic loss is even greater when the conflict's effects are measured over 20 years to allow for flow-on effects, the damage to the country is between $122 billion and $158 billion.

By that time, it argued, the crude oil under South Sudanese soil would have been depleted or auctioned as ‘futures' to the lowest bidders.

"There is a need for a leader other than President Salva Kiir Mayardit, to ensure "unbiased and efficient communication and inclusive dialogue between the people in the affected communities," it stated.

The brief, which examined how best the national dialogue could be an opportunity to reconciling the nation, stresses that a positive outcome can be achieved if President Kiir is persuaded to step aside from being the patron of the dialogue process.

“The convener must not in any way or form be linked to the regime, nor sympathise with the government or the opposition. “The government should instead concentrate on creating a meaningful dialogue that includes the opposition, as well as a path to justice”, it argues.

The brief also questioned the credibility of the two research institutions nominated by the president to provide technical support during the process, saying the founders are either known government, party officials, supporters or Jieng Council of Elders.

“The institutions nominated by President Salva Kiir Mayardit do not meet these criteria and therefore are not eligible to assume the critical role of convener of the national dialogue. These two institutions, the Sudd Institute and the Ebony Centre, are not ethically, or intellectually representative of the diversity of South Sudanese opinion," notes the policy brief.

It added, "The key staff members of these institutions support the regime. Others are members the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) or have actively promoted the JCE ideology and "unpopular" decrees that were designed to derail the peace process”.

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Mohamed s. M. Yassin (Ph.D)

The Nile basin territories have witnessed huge transformation since prehistoric era and continue to be subjected to enormous transformations. The transformations along the Nile basin territory constitute substantial challenges and are governed by significant constraints and thus triggering the potential opportunities that directly affect the livelihood of the Nile basin growing and urbanizing population. The multiplicity and the complexity of the transformational and developmental pathways pose imperative transboundary cooperation in order to address the current and future pathways presenting and needed for the prosperity of the Nile Basin population; that requires innovative cooperative and collaborative platforms and fora which should engage multi-stakeholders, without exclusion of interested parties, including policy-and-decision-makers, academics, public and private sector actors, civil and community-based organizations, local and regional governments and institutions from the Nile Basin and beyond the Basin. These physical and virtual gatherings should frankly, critically and analytically tackle the issues at stake of the Nile Basin in transparent and scientific manners aiming to a real shared benefit for the collective communities of the Nile Basin. The Nile basin policies, programs and projects must be subject to consensual deliberations by the vast majorities of the Nile Basin communities to ensure equitable and sustainable prosperity for all those who are entitled to equal rights on sustainable development and mutually beneficial relations with the Nile Basin territorial capital. The Nile Basin community will increasingly face challenges of food and nutrition security for its expected billion inhabitants, coupled with environmental and ecological challenges due to the progressive socio-economic development and infrastructural erections, particularly the macro-hydropower plants and numerous dams expected along all the Nile Basin without transboundary shared visions especially when dealing with the post-interventional stages, challenges associated with the food wastages, urban solid and liquid waste and sewerage and its recycling and treatment, challenges associated with the internal displacements and regional migrations stimulated by man-made conflicts and natural hazards and disasters, challenges tied to political instability and competition over the scarce resources of the Basin especially on the ecological foundation which is basically land and water, challenges of the ever-growing climate fluctuations, variations and change almost affecting the entire planet and consequently impacting the entire Nile Basin, challenges linked to the progressive pace and race on ensuring renewable energy and water security efforts by single states and foreign exploitative investors, challenges of non-sustainable patterns of productions and consumptions of resources and obsolete forms of colluded managements, challenges related to the missed opportunities of achieving the millennium development goals and the currently running sustainable development goals, challenges associated with the lack of financing a Nile-Basin-wide sustainable development and lack of reliable financial institutions to stimulate bankable projects and programs, challenges due to the absence of modern shared compacts and legal framework for a Nile Basin communities governance systems regarding the transboundary river systems. The Nile Basin can develop collective, collaborative and cooperative approaches to seek common investments to minimise costs and optimise expected benefits from the outsourced finance needed for its sustainable development and infrastructural developments. The Nile Basin community need to approach the international development financing institutions as a smart, united and compact community to stimulate and attract foreign investment and the Nile Basin riparian should turn-off the ignited conflicts in order to encourage the international and responsible investors to come to the region, but that need strong will and determination. Deep, appropriate, technological and knowledge-and-science-based governance systems should be researched, developed to be enacted in transboundary and regional frameworks and contexts.

In summary, this contribution intends to highlight and bring insights and research findings regarding multiplicity of interconnected and interdependent challenges and potential opportunities concerning the current and future generations of the Nile Basin Communities illustrated through different methodologies ranging from conventional data collection and literature review to the innovative documentary digital semi-structured interviews and direct observations from the Nile Basin territories. It stresses that the Nile Basin is mainly water, but not merely. It brings critical issues to the resources management, human rights and the right to development along the Nile Basin characterised with a diversity of approaches and policy orientations. It poses the question on what will be the scenario when the Nile Basin and its river systems become coordinated and not any more natural systems and how can the reconciliations between nature and the sustainable development paths be shaped or cooperatively governed especially on a perspective of urban growing agriculture and trends of industrialisation. Lastly but not least, it emphasises the importance of the Nile Basin heritage conservation coupled with the socio-economic and infrastructural development.

One of the main stakes for the Nile Basin community is the water availability and its scarcity constitutes one of the major growing challenges. The Nile Basin increasingly growing populations needs the water for their food and nutrition security above all for the realisation of the inspired sustainable development and prosperity. The water is available from diverse sources, mainly rainwater, river water, underground water and to some extends desalinated water from the sea, in addition to the option of restoring the wastewater. These sources should be safeguarded and maintained renewable. The suitable and freshwater is an essential for the survival of the human, living organisms fauna and flora, the forests lakes, wetlands, agro-ecological systems, and ecosystems in general. The Nile Basin Ecosystems, wetlands, watersheds and Sudds should be given the due attention and preserved due to its vital importance for the ecological balance and resilience sustenance. Its essentiality is bounded with other resources such as the land, the biodiversity, the climate and other supporting resources which combined together guarantee the sustainability of the living and future generations. With the demographic growth and increasing, socio-economic development and growth water and land consumption will be more challenged and needs more viable and wise policies. In the Nile Basin, the expected socio-economic growth and up scaling of the living standards, increasing demography, nutritional transitions and intensification of climate change and variability generate complexity and render the scenario more challenging. The consumption of water occurs in various format and uses. The major user of water in the Nile Basin is the Agricultural and Animal production, the residential uses are modest in comparison and the expected industrialisation will require more withdrawal of freshwater for more irrigated agriculture and animal production facilities. The nutrition patterns are indicators of the quantity of water used in the eating and drinking. The water used for eating and feeding animals is far much than the water consumed in drinking and others residential uses. Actually, the international standards currently estimating that on average, a person needs between 2000 to 5000 litres of water for his/her sustainment on daily basis. The type of crops and animals raised play a role in the determination of the quantities and magnitude of water needed for the produce, for example the leguminous crops require less water than other crops and the consumption of meat for protein production puts more pressure for the water needed in comparison to the proteins obtainable from the legumes. The increase in temperature expected due to the occurring climate change makes it more pressuring to find sustainable water consumption and adaptive crops and plants, additionally, it will be wise to strengthen climate resilient varieties and boost the resilience of the Nile Basin community. The Nile Basin Authorities can develop shared mechanisms and tools to measure the consumption footprints related to the diverse produced food and feed products and can also consider the virtual water (green, blue, grey water) export embedded in the forage and other crops, vegetables, fruits, living animals, just to be aware about its consumption of the available and scarce water. As the Nile Basin is currently sustaining around the 42% of the total African population estimated around half billion persons expected to reach one billion people by 2050, this puts more pressure on the need for water and lands as well as on the other resources. The expected surge in the Nile Basin population if not taken seriously by the policy-and-decision-makers, bearing in mind comprehensive vision, one can simply expect endless conflicts and instability, we are expecting population equivalent to the all the population of Europe to inhibit the Nile Basin with its limited and scare resources, dilapidated infrastructures and ignited instabilities. Most of the Nile Basin countries might become water-scarce or hydro-stressed countries if right policies are not set in place. Food loss and waste along the value change in the Nile Basin constitute another attended challenge and little attention is paid to that wastage, which in fact is wastage of water, lands, nutritive elements and minerals, loss of biodiversity and embedded climate needed for the production of that food. The amount of lost water and food in the Nile Basin occurs due to inadequacy in the productions patterns, harvesting methods, post-harvest packaging, storage, transport, more than the considerable loss, which occurs during and after the household consumption along the value chain. The Nile Basin authorities should work co-ordinately to ensure that water and connected resources are used in equitably, efficiently, effectively productive, economically and environmentally friendly. There are huge experiences and good practices available and that needs to be transferred, adapted and adopted to help to track and address these challenges. The current severe hunger, successive and excessive drought, frequent floods, repeated crop failures and pandemic animal diseases, other natural hazards, advancing desertification, increasing deforestation are alarming and should draw the attention to the current production and consumption patterns prevailing along the Nile Basin, communities stricken by these catastrophic events and phenomenon need assistance to bounce back, fully recover and ameliorate their coping strategies, and consolidate their resilience. Most of the Nile Basin riparian states are working on singular, sub-regional or sub-basin plans and have many dams in their national pipelines, all in all about 25 new hydropower dams are expected along the Nile Basin riparian states, mainly for the energy security, food and water security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable development achievements, industrialization, stability, and comprehensive prosperity. To mention but a few as example, South Sudan which has no any source of reliable and viable source of renewable energy has about four major bankable dams at Bedden, Fula, Lakki, and Shukoli, while Sudan is planning dams at lower Dal, Upper Dal, Kagbar, Dagash, Sabaloka and most recently it has built the Merowe Dam, the dams along the Northern Nile River of Sudan are highly contested due to its clash with the civilization and existing cultural heritage along that territories, and Aswan high Dam and Merowe dams are striking examples and lessons learned. Even Egypt has an important planned new dam to add at Assyout. On the Ethiopian side, a significant evolution is occurring in transforming the potential of Hydropower favoured by the topography and availability of stream water and highland rainwater fall. In fact Ethiopia is expected to be a hydropower hub for the region and that is boosted by the construction recently of the Border Dam, then known as the Millennium Dam and currently under realization as the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) intended to be the biggest Ethiopian Hydropower Dam, other than that mega hydropower plant, Ethiopia has many other plants in the pipeline. The recently started construction of Rusumo Hydropower Dam to serve the trans-boundary supply of energy to Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania and the annexed interconnection rid of the Equatorial region is a good example of the transboundary cooperation. Uganda is building Bujagali and has plans to advance the construction of Karuma dam among other dams. All in all, the River Nile Basin matters for all the riparian countries and all the multiplicity of stakeholders are deserving to get the maximum benefits out of it in terms of food and nutrition security, water security, energy security (Availability, Accessibility, Utility, and Stability) and all the other forms of beneficial relations, that competitive relations and race to self-assurance should be motivating factor and incentive to explore cooperative pathways and sustainable management and mechanisms to mitigate potential conflicts over the scarce resources of the Nile Basin and the world as well as singular Nile Basin riparian countries are rich in good and appropriate practices which can be adapted and adopted to the Nile Basin community. The transboundary cooperation can boost and accelerate the achievement of the sustainable development if a good political will is steered in the right tracks. Agricultural and arable lands suitable for rain-fed agriculture as well as for artificial and smart irrigation are abundant and available for the Nile Basin population, but in reality it will be diminishing for major reasons associated with the increasing demography, the expanding foreign direct investments in large-scale agricultural projects principally export-oriented in addition to other natural factors such as the excessive soil erosion, desertification, deforestation and climate change associated factors. Adding to this the occurring urbanization is consuming huge arable and agricultural lands, it will be enough to note that on the banks of the River Nile where most of the fertile lands are available and people continue to build residential complexes and housing agglomerations, in the long run, we will face arable lands scarcity and that consumed lands can not be returned back and the restoration and claiming lands in the desserts far from the water resources such as the Nile River and Tributaries will not help too much due to excessively high costs and other factors. The Nile Basin countries should work in regional prospective to enhance, promote and optimise the productivity, augment the efficiency of the resources uses and the benefits from the incoming responsible investments catering for the trade-offs and address the spill-overs which might arise when acting in multi-and-cross-sectors and regional dimensions. The Scenarios change with the change in time, space and actions of human and nature.

Given the huge and shareable stakes, we cannot wait to apologise for our future generation if we do not preserve our nature and reconcile that with our sustainable development policies and plans, we will need to set think tanks, stocktake positive experiences, develop and sustain research with disciplinary, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and trans- disciplinary innovative approaches. The Nile Basin community is witnessing economic, social, environmental, technological, political, ecological, and territorial and developmental transformation. Therefore, regional integration, regional cooperation, trans-boundary coordination, solidarity economies and mutual sustainable development can be the safety nets if genuine political will prevail.

* The University of Udine, Department of Agro-Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, Via delle Scienze, 33100 Udine, Italy. E-mail: yassintowers@gmail.com

April 19, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan's Oil and Gaz Minister Mohamed Zayed Awad has welcomed U.S. investors looking for a way to take part in the oil industry in Sudan and pledged to provide all the needed facilities.

Awad made his remarks in a statement released after a meeting with Peter S. Watson, the head of Capital Partner Trading, a company looking for investment opportunities for American firms.

Watson visit to Sudan comes as different sources expect the definitive removal of economic embargo on Sudan next July.

The minister “stressed Sudan's readiness to cooperate with U.S. companies working in the field of oil and gas”, and welcome the desire of the American side to discuss opportunities for investment in the Sudanese oil sector,” said a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

Awad further pointed that the presence of American oil companies would allow benefiting from the U.S. technology and expertise in the field of oil and gas.

The imposition of sanctions on Sudan in 1997 had forced American companies like Chevron to quit definitively the country and abandon its exploration and exploitation works in Blocks 1 and 2 in Western Upper Nile/Unity region for the Chinese-controlled GNPOC consortium.

The statement further said an “American delegation from LUKOIL company would visit Sudan on 16-17 May for talks on oil investments”.

LUKOIL is a Russian oil company with an important presence in the U.S. It operates in 35 countries including Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria and Cameroon.

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