Africa

Cyclone Idai and the mounting death toll is “yet another alarm bell about the dangers of climate change” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, warning that vulnerable countries like Mozambique, would be hit the hardest unless urgent action is taken by nations across the world.

A Kenyan writer wanted to conceal a damp patch in his house - and ended up creating a work of art.

The BBC investigates illegal and unsustainable fishing off the west coast of Africa to find out how one of the most fertile ecosystems on earth has been pushed to the brink.

March 23, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - A fire broke out at the old building of the presidential palace in the Sudanese capital on Saturday afternoon, clouds of smoke and flames were seen rising from the building on the banks of the White Nile.

According to the Sudanese presidency, the fire was caused by a short circuit.

"The Civil Defense Forces at the presidency managed to control a limited fire that broke out at the buildings of the old Republican Palace around 3:45 pm (local time)," said a statement issued by the secretary-general of the presidency Mohamed Mohamed-Saleh.

As it was not in use, no casualties were reported so far.

The buildings of the old republican palace are not used as most of the administrations have moved to the new building inaugurated in January 2015.

Built in 1832, the old palace was the seat of the Sudanese government after independence.

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March 23, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - The Islamist Popular Congress Party (PCP) expressed explicit reservations about an initiative led by a government-allied coalition, 2020 Forces, to find a way out of the country's current political crisis following protests to oust President Omer al-Bashir.

The initiative of the 2020 Forces provides to postpone the elections of April 2020, extending for two years the term of the current constitutional institutions (President and Parliament) and forming a transitional national unity government that begins after the end of the current mandate in 2020.

The initiative further provides to form a five-person presidential council chaired by President al-Bashir during the transitional period.

The PCP, which is a member of the al-Bashir-led government, Saturday held a meeting in its premises with a delegation from the 2020 Forces, headed by al-Tayeb Mustafa, to discuss the initiative.

Reached by Sudan Tribune after the meeting, the PCP Political Secretary Idriss Suleiman said that the two-year extension of mandate constitutes a breach of the constitution, as he was referring to the constitutional article that limits an elected president to two terms in office.

"Anything unconstitutional will put us in trouble because we may not be able to agree on it," he stressed.

He pointed out to the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change saying there are the Your groups, political opposition forces and armed movements that cannot be ignored and take any decision without them.

"We underscored that the solution is not as easy as some imagine. If we agree to form a presidential council of five people, how can they be chosen in the presence of 100 parties and dozens of sectarian and tribal movements?"

He added that they stressed the need to reconsider and think about the initiative and create understandings with all actors in the Sudanese arena, whether they are allied to the government or from the opposition.

Furthermore, Suleiman warned that the National Dialogue Conference reached an agreement that to hold elections in 2020.

"Now we tie up the people and want to decide on his behalf to extend or shorten the period," he said.

Recalling their historical difference with al-Bashir in 1999, he stressed that since its establishment his party has been working to restore power to the people while others working actively to postpone the process.

"We call for elections to be held in 2020 as the most effective and safe way out," he said.

Sudanese president suspended plans to amend the constitution to allow his election for a third presidential term. But reports say he seeks to chair a presidential council during a transitional period to ensure the future of the Islamic rule in Sudan.

It is worth mentioning that the opposition groups call for al-Bashir to resign and to form technocrat government with a collegial presidential council to lead the country during four years to end armed conflicts, resolve the economic crisis and prepare for general elections.

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March 23, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - Four Sudanese opposition leaders walked free Saturday after more than three months of arbitrary detention in connection with the nationwide protests demanding the departure of President Omer al-Bashir.

The released opposition figures are Siddiq Youssef, 88, of the Sudanese Communist Pary, Ali Saeed the spokesperson of the Communist Party, Ali al-Rayah the secretary of the Arab Socialist Baath party and Abdel-Jalil Osman.

On 17 March, during his visit to Khartoum, U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis called on the Sudanese authorities to release all the political detainees.

On Friday, the Sudanese security apparatus released Badr al-Din al-Sumait, 73, a political activist.

On 5 March, Omer al-Digair the leader of the Sudanese Congress Party was released from jail.

However, opposition groups say dozens of political opponents and activists are still in jail without charge or trial including Mohamed Nagi al-Asam, the spokesperson of the Sudanese Professionals Association.

The security forces launched a widespread crackdown to curb the protests that erupted across the country in December 2018.

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The United Nations has strongly condemned the armed attack on a village in restive central Mali which reportedly left at least 134 people dead and dozens wounded early on Saturday.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the establishment in the Central African Republic (CAR) of a government in line with an early February peace deal struck with more than a dozen armed groups active in the country.

The men who watch over the Atlantic Ocean, saving the lives of the swimmers of Nigeria's main city.

A week after the flooded Mozambican port of Beira was hit by Cyclone Idai, “aid agencies are barely beginning to see the scale of the damage”, the head of UNICEF said on Saturday, as she called for more international support to help quickly get relief to more than a million people across the country and prevent the possible spread of waterborne diseases like cholera.

March 22, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - President Omer al-Bashir has directed to reunify the peace process with the armed groups in Darfur and Sudan's Two Areas, said Presidential Assistant Faisal Hassan Ibrahim

Ibrahim met with al-Bashir on Thursday 24 hours after the cancellation of the armed groups in Darfur of peace talks in Doha that had been scheduled to begin in January.

Following the meeting, he told reporters that the president directed to unify the tracks for peace adding that the issue of peace remains one of the main issues of concern to the state.

The presidential aide further said they would convene a meeting of the Supreme Council for Peace in the next few days to discuss this matter.

The government and the Sudan Call signed the roadmap for peace and democratic changes in March and August 2016 respectively.

Following, the parties' failure to reach a cessation of hostilities agreements by the end of 2016, the mediation proposed last year to review the roadmap agreement and to join a constitutional conference for a permanent constitution in Sudan.

The African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) has been slammed by the government and the armed groups during the past two years.

However in December 2018, the African renewed its mandate for another year and extended it to include issues of the Red Sea area and the Horn of Africa.

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March 22, 2019 (JUBA) - South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and top Vatican diplomat discussed Friday discussed ways the Pope can support the peace process and reconciliation in South Sudan.

On 16 March, Kiir paid a visit to the Vatican City State where he discussed with Pope Francis ways in which the Catholic Church can contribute to achieving reconciliation and reconstruction in South Sudan.

Also, he held a meeting with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States.

In a statement released in Juba on Friday, the presidency said that Archbishop Gallagher held a meeting with President Kiir on Friday morning.

The meeting discussed " the general situation in the country and ways of implementing the peace agreement.

In statements to the media after the meeting, the visiting diplomat stressed "the readiness of the Pope to support the peace process in South Sudan".

He further said that his meeting with President Kiir was "fruitful and constructive".

During his meeting with Kiir, Pope Francis renewed his intention to visit South Sudan to support peace implementation in the country.

In 2017, the Catholic Church announced a visit of Pope Francis to South Sudan in October of that year. However, the security conditions due to the continuation of war did not allow such a visit.

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March 22, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - A local human rights group working in Sudan's troubled Blue Nile State said the Sudanese authorities have threatened to ban the activities of women association accusing it of exercising Christian missionary activities.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Hudo Centre said the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) raided the premises Shali Women Association (SWA) in Ed Damazin, the capital of the Blue Nile State on 3 February 2019 and ordered to end a meeting of the board of directors.

The security agents further ordered the education and health women group to not carry out any future without the NISS's permission

"If not, the NISS promised to arrest them and revoke their license. NISS accused them of carrying out Christian missionary activity and receiving foreign funds. Since then, the SWA has frozen all its activities and decided to restrict the movement of its members," read the statement.

Shalli Elfeel Women Association is a community-based organization for women established in 2017. Their activities include civic education and health in Blue Nile State. Shalli is the name of an area outside Kurmuk town of Blue Nile.

Ed Damazin is one of the towns where erupted last December the first anti-government protests that continue to take place across the country.

Also, some parts of the state are under the control of the SPLM-North fighters who declared a unilateral cessation of hostilities for more than two years under a regional initiative to end the war in Sudan.

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With Chad at a crossroads of life-threatening challenges ranging from violence to drought, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners appealed on Thursday for $476 million to support the most vulnerable of 4.3 million people relying on aid in the African country.

The world needs to step up support for the survivors of Tropical Cyclone Idai, the UN Secretary-General said on Friday, in a strong personal appeal as relief workers rush to provide aid to people stranded across the storm countries in southern Africa.

March 21, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese foreign ministry Thursday summoned the Egyptian ambassador in Khartoum to protest a call by his government for bids on oil and gas exploration in the disputed border area of Halayeb.

The move comes 12 days after an announcement by the Egyptian state-owned South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company calling for 10 oil and gas exploration blocks in the "Egyptian territorial waters in the Red Sea"

The foreign ministry said that Egyptian Ambassador Hussam Issa received a letter of protest calling to stop the international tender for exploration of oil and gas in "Red Sea areas that are under Sudanese sovereignty".

"The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Badr al-Din Abdallah expressed, to the Egyptian ambassador, the Sudanese protest against this announcement, calling for stopping this measure, which contradicts the legal status of the Halaib triangle and does not correspond to the steps taken by the brotherly countries to find a joint strategic partnership," emphasized the statement.

In January 2019, the two countries agreed to enhance bilateral relations after boosting security cooperation during the past year.

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-1990s following a Sudanese-backed attempt to kill the former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

Sudan has been notifying the UN Security Council on this issue annually since 1958 to renew its rejection of the "Egyptian military occupation of Sudan's Halayeb triangle and maritime borders".

Cairo refuses demands 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.

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March 21, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - A representative of the families of detained political leaders and activists said the Sudanese security service refused to receive a letter demanding their release or to bring them to a fair trial.

Al-Waleed Bakri told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that dozens of families had gathered at the information building of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) to hand over the letter, but the officials refused to take it.

"The security services rejected the letter and followed it by terrorizing the families of the detainees by taking them out of the information building, a measure that confirms the absence of minimum professional standards and without any legal grounds," said al-Waleed, whose brother has been in custody for three months.

"All these treatments and others confirm the violation of the rights of citizenship and constitutional and human rights," he further said.

Earlier this month, President al-Bashir ordered the release all the female detained following the protest movement.

However, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) on Tuesday 19 March said hundreds of detainees are in detention without charge or access to a court of law.

The group further aid despite the presidential directive of 8 March to release all the detained females only 36 women have been released by the NISS.

Al-Waleed stressed all the members of his family will remain mobilized and will continue to coordinate their efforts with the other families of detainees until the release of his brother Rabie and all the detainees.

"We will not be stopped by intimidations or threats," he said adding that his brother Osama has been threatened by the security agents several times.

Last Sunday, the families of the detainees held a second sit-in outside the building of the security services and held pictures of the detainees and placards calling for their release.

The total number of detainees has not yet been known. The NISS have released some politicians and activists, while others are still in detention including the leading figures of the Communist Party, Unionist movement or Sudanese Professional Association.

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March 21, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - Protesters took to the streets in the Sudanese capital and several other towns across the country in their weekly protest every Thursday, calling for the downfall of the regime.

The demonstrations were organized in Al-Obied of North Kordofan, Port Sudan, Red Sea State, Kassala town, Gadaref, Madani, and several towns in Khartoum state including Omdurman, Khartoum North and Khartoum.

The different marches, coordinated by the Sudanese Professionals Associations (SPA) chanted anti-government slogans calling on President Omer al-Bashir to step down and denounced the crimes committed by the regime.

The SPA dubbed the demonstrations of 21 March as the "Procession for Justice" to remember all the war and political crimes committed by the government.

In two alerts released in the evening, the group said the security forces surround the protesters in Shambat, Khartoum North and Aburouf, Omdurman.

As the protests have entered in their fourth month, the security forces gradually during this month of March reduced the use of violence against the demonstrations.

Officials in Khartoum say trivializing demonstrations help to demobilize the protests in the long term, pointing that the use of violence and detention victimize the protesters and draw more popular support for their cause.

Recently, the opposition said the government reduced the excessive use of force against the demonstrators to please U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis during his visit to Khartoum.

According to the government, over 30 protesters have been killed by the security forces since the eruption of demonstrations in December 2018 but human rights groups and activists say more than 50 people lost their lives during the past three months.

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March 21, 2019 (JUBA) - South Sudanese rights activist and vocal critic Peter Biar appeared Thursday before the court for the first time since his arrest nearly eight months ago but the charges he is facing are different from the one filed against him initially".

Biar was arrested at Juba airport while on 28 July 2018 as he was on his way to Aweil, his arrest intervened posting on Tweeter several messages hostile to the South Sudanese leadership. Also, he was known for his criticism for the peace process at the time.

He was first charged with national security-related offences such as publishing false statements prejudicial to South Sudan, treason among others.

However, on Thursday, he appeared before the High Court in Juba for alleged charges of threatening the national security and terrorism in accordance with the Penal Code, and the National Security Act.

Biar is accused of insurgency, terrorism, banditry and sabotage; violence in a public place; possession of firearms and ammunition inside a detention facility and gathering several individuals to commit a crime.

The South Sudanese prominent activist, in fact, is now accused by the security services of orchestrating a riot at the National Security detention facility in Juba, the "Blue House" when armed inmates took two guards hostage on 7 October 2018.

The court said the trial will continue until Monday 25 March. He is tried with Kerbino Agok Wol, a South Sudanese businessman and six other detainees.

Wol also was detained for a different charge but now he appears for alleged the same charges as Biar.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the South Sudan Civil Society Forum (SSCSF) called for a fair trial for the activist and the other detainees.

"We call on the high court to provide Mr Biar with full access to his lawyers for him to exercise his constitutional right to defend himself," further said the SSCSF.

On 7 October 2018, The Voice of America Radio reached Biar by telephone to have more details about what happening in the Blue House, as the attack occurred nearby a section for the political detainees.

During the telephone call, he said the situation was volatile and called on the government to negotiate with the detainees who demanded to be tried or released, complaining from the continued detention without charge.

"What we are hoping for is that the government of South Sudan is able to resolve this and is able to negotiate to those who have taken this decision to resort to this kind of armed protest," he added.

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“Urgent and sustained funding” for a Government-led response to what is now a “massive and protracted” humanitarian crisis across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is required, said the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN relief chief on Thursday.