Africa

January 23, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudanese government under President Salva Kiir announced on Monday it was longer hosting Sudanese rebels in its territory, disclosing that a joint force will be deployed soon.

Sudanese military personnel inspect the belongings of South Sudanese on the Sudanese border on 18 April 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

Presidential advisor on security affairs told Sudan Tribune on Monday that there were no longer Sudanese rebels in the country after the two countries have agreed to improve ties

“There is no problem anymore with Sudan. The issue of security along the common border has been addressed. There will be a joint monitoring and verification team”, said Tut Kew Gatluak.

In accordance with the 2012 security arrangements agreement the parties committed themselves to deploy the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mission (JBVMM) and activate the Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (SDBZ).

Accordingly, the parties deployed the joint units but Juba suspended its participation in November 2011 when the South Sudanese government rejected the administrative and security map presented by the AUHIP.

The proposed map included the disputed 14 mile area in the buffer zone, the Malual Dinka of Northern Bahr el Ghazal and the then State Governor Paul Malong Awan refused the measure as they refuse even to accept Sudan's claim on the area and its inclusion among the disputed areas.

Unconfirmed reports says Juba and Khartoum discussed the situation of 14 Miles during the joint security discussions but nothing filtered about the agreement reached on this respect.

The presidential aide said the decision of the leadership of the two countries would do the best to promote peace and encourage any group with political grievances to use dialogue.

“South Sudan will never be a launching ground for hostile activities against any nation in the region. We will never be a host to hostile group. Political differences are always resolved through dialogues rather than through the use of violence approach”, he explained.

The two countries, he said, have agreed to not provide arms and training to non-state proxy groups.

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Households without mains electricity in rural areas of Kenya can now receive solar-powered satellite TV.

Spotlighting the desperate plight of millions in Africa’s Lake Chad basin, the top United Nations humanitarian official for the Sahel region called today for international solidarity with the people in urgent need.

Gambians have celebrated the end of Yahya Jammeh's 22-year rule but things are unlikely to change fast.

Nearly three years after Ebola hit Sierra Leone, millions of dollars in funds raised to fight the deadly virus have still not been accounted for.

The former Gambian president is not the first departing leader to be accused of looting his country's coffers.

By Rashid Abdi

Sudan and South Sudan's relationship is of vital importance to resolving conflicts in both countries. Khartoum, and other countries in the region, clearly benefit from a stable South Sudan.

Once-fraught relations between the two countries have improved in recent years, helped by substantive discussions over shared interests, including oil exports, support for armed groups, and border security. Khartoum should now use its influence in Juba to seek better regional cooperation and a peaceful resolution of internal and cross-border conflicts.

A more sophisticated Sudanese approach that ensures southern armed groups are part of a more inclusive, and thereby stable, government in Juba, is in Khartoum's own best interests. A constructive Khartoum-Juba relationship is likely to be significant, for instance, in the U.S. government's mid-2017 assessment of its recent decision to ease sanctions on Sudan.

Do not support South Sudanese armed groups

There is currently fighting in several parts of South Sudan, a disaster for those in the affected areas. But violence is not on the scale of the 2013-15 civil war, and is unlikely to escalate dramatically, partly thanks to Khartoum's refusal to support rebel groups.

When the former First Vice President of South Sudan, Riek Machar, arrived in Khartoum after fleeing fighting in Juba in July 2016, the Sudanese government severely restricted his capacity to re-start his rebellion. He then left for South Africa, and was subsequently denied re-entry to Sudan in November 2016; he was eventually obliged to return to South Africa.

Khartoum's actions are central to determining whether South Sudan moves towards sustainable peace or falls back into a complex and multi-layered conflict Ending armed rebellion in South Sudan is the primary responsibility of South Sudan's transitional government who must reach out to armed groups to make peace. Yet violence in South Sudan is most deadly and protracted when warring parties receive support from neighbouring states.

Khartoum should continue resisting requests from South Sudanese opposition leaders to arm or provide other forms of support to rebel fighters.

Political rather than military support

Sudan can go further by using its influence with Juba to implement relevant parts of the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS), to which Sudan was a signatory and guarantor in August 2015. Sudan should also work with other Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD, a regional body) member states – notably Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya – to support Juba's commitment to conduct a national dialogue with opposition political parties and armed groups.

Sudan's visible engagement with these processes is critical to overcoming the trust deficit between Juba and armed groups.

As well as supporting peace in South Sudan, Khartoum should accept that there is no military solution to its own domestic conflicts in in the Two Areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile states) and Darfur. These conflicts have cost billions of dollars and Sudan should seek a sustainable political resolution, supported by regional actors, including Uganda.

For recently improved relations between Khartoum, Juba and Kampala to translate into real regional harmony, Sudan should honour its commitment to a Cessation of Hostilities in both Darfur and the Two Areas and reconvene negotiations on humanitarian access to South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

To help peace take hold in frontier areas, Sudan should also consider innovative approaches to border security that are based on the complex realities of armed groups and ethnic communities in both countries. Leaders are drawing from examples such as the 2010 agreement between Chad and Sudan which halted support for one another's rebels.

Without such measures, improved relations with Juba will not be sufficient to resolve Sudan's own internal conflicts, which have domestic drivers, require their own political solution, and are not simply the expression of a Sudanese proxy war with South Sudan.

The benefits of better relations with Juba

Overall, Sudan can benefit from improved relations with Juba in three ways.

First, by agreeing that it will not support South Sudanese rebel groups, it can continue to demand that Juba, in turn, deny support to Sudanese rebels in the Two Areas and Darfur.

Secondly, improved relations will bring much needed economic benefits. December's three-year oil deal profits both sides and improves the terms of South Sudan's transit fee regime. Production is also re-starting in Unity state which will increase exports. The new index-linked arrangement means that fees will reflect global oil prices, rather than simply being a fixed rate which, at a time of low prices and conflict-suppressed production, contributed to South Sudan's economic challenges.

Khartoum should understand that the oil agreement, together with support for security arrangements in South Sudan's Unity state that favour stability, ties both countries more closely in a regime of economic interdependence - to their mutual benefit. This makes it less likely that conflict will break out again along the shared border.

Third, the conflict in South Sudan is a major preoccupation for the international community. Continuing to play a constructive role in its resolution and preventing further escalation, coupled with renewed efforts to resolve its own internal conflicts peacefully, will help Khartoum lock in its improving relations with the U.S. and the European Union. This will increase the chances for complete sanctions removal and debt relief.

Diplomacy, not destabilisation, is Sudan's winning strategy in South Sudan.

Rashid Abdi is Horn of Africa Project Director at International Crisis Group, the independent conflict prevention organisation.

January 22, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - President Omer al-Bashir Sunday said Sudan is looking forward to working with President Donald Trump's administration for the development of relations between the two countries.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives the thumbs up (AFP Photo)

A week before to leave the White House former President Barak Obama partially removed economic sanctions on Sudan, allowing the east African nation to perform financial transactions after nearly 20 years. However, the decision will be fully effective within six months as the final decision will be in the hands of Trump administration.

"We look forward that the U.S. decision to lift the economic embargo be the door to the development of bilateral relations in all fields under the administration of President Donald Trump, to serve (bilateral) interests and enhance international peace and security."

Al-Bashir who was speaking at the opening of the new headquarters of the High Security Academy in Khartoum, also pointed to the efforts exerted by Sudanese political, security, economic, and diplomatic sectors to ensure the lifting of embargo.

He also reiterated that his government would cooperate with the new American administration to strengthen international peace and security.

In an interview with the UAE-based Al Khaleej newspaper on 29 november, al-Bashir said he is “convinced that dealing with President-elect Donald Trump will be a lot easier than dealing with others, because he is a straightforward person”.

“He [Trump] focuses on the interests of the American citizen unlike those who used to speak about transparency, democracy and human rights. He is a businessman who seeks to achieve interests and it would be easy to deal with him,” al-Bashir said.

Washington imposed economic and trade sanctions on Sudan in 1997 in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses. In 2006 it strengthened the embargo, citing abuses in Darfur which it labelled as genocide.

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January 22, 2017 (EL-FASHER) - Dozens of former local staff of the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Sunday have protested in front of the mission's premises in North Darfur capital, El-Faher for non-payment of financial dues.

Chairman of the Dismissed Staff Committee, Hafiz Abiad, told Sudan Tribune that the former workers protested peacefully to force the mission to acknowledge their rights, saying the security services asked them to leave the mission's premises and meet the head of the security committee in North Darfur state.

He stressed they would continue to hold peaceful protests until they receive their rights, saying the deputy governor and head of the security committee vowed to meet them on Tuesday to resolve the issue.

Last December, 263 former UNAMID workers protested in front of the mission's premises in four capitals in Darfur for non-payment of financial dues owed to them since 2010.

At the time, UNAMID issued a statement expressing serious concern over the protests by some of its former staff members saying they are “not peaceful in nature” and are “based on unfounded accusations and demand for payments that are not in line with the rules and regulations of the United Nations”.

The mission stressed that “all national staff that separated from the Organisation on 31 December 2015 have received all benefits owed to them for the period of their service with UNAMID, except for a relatively small group whose pension entitlements are being processed”.

“UNAMID is working closely with the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, the body solely responsible for administering pension benefits, to finalize this category of payments” added the statement.

It is noteworthy that the former staff members protested seven times during 2016 in four Darfur states to demand overtime pay.

The hybrid mission has been deployed in Darfur since December 2007 with a mandate to stem violence against civilians in the western Sudan's region.

It is the world's second largest international peacekeeping force with an annual budget of $1.35 billion and almost 20,000 troops.

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January 22, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) Sunday said it has no fighters harboured in the neighbouring South Sudan, pointing that its forces are in control of vast areas inside the Sudan.

A SPLA-N rebel soldier, in South Kordofan (AFP)

South Sudanese Defence Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk disclosed that an African Union team would come to verify that his country is free of SPLM-N combatants, pointing that the latter moved its fighters from Raja, areas in Western Bahr El Ghazal province.

It was the first time that a South Sudanese official mentions the presence of SPLM-N rebels in the neighbouring country. The Sudanese army in the past years carried out air attacks on the area and accused Juba of harbouring Darfurian rebels.

SPLM-N negotiating team spokesperson Mubarak Ardol dismissed any presence of his group in the South Sudanese territory saying "The Movement has no presence at all in the territory of the Republic of South Sudan."

"The SPLM-N controls a liberated territory larger than Belgium and other countries in the heart of Sudan," he said pointing that this territory is inhabited by more than a million civilians. He added that their forces are at five kilometres from Kadugli the capital of South Kordofan State, and 24 km from the capital of the Blue Nile State El-Damazin.

In line with the peace agreement signed by the South Sudanese political forces in August 2015, the warring parties committed themselves to disarm, demobilize and repatriate the Sudanese rebel groups from the country.

In the past, UN and SPLM-IO rebels pointed to the participation of some Sudanese rebel groups from Darfur region in the fighting alongside the forces loyal to President Salva Kiir.

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January 22, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel umbrella Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF)- Agar faction Sunday has renewed confidence in Malik Agar as its chairman and head of the Leadership Council.

Sudan Revolutionary Front leader, Malik Agar, July 2011 (Reuters)

SRF is a coalition established in 2011 between rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Movement/SLM-AW led by Abdel-Wahid al-Nour and Sudan Liberation Movement/SLM-MM led by Minni Minnawi and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N).

Divergences appeared within the SRF groups in October 2015 when the three groups from Darfur region, JEM, SLM-AW and SLM-MM, issued a statement announcing the appointment of the leader of JEM, Gibril Ibrahim, as chairman of the rebel umbrella.

Since, the SRF has practically split into two factions, one headed by the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation movement/North (SPLM-N) Malik Agar and the second by Gibril Ibrahim.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Sunday, leadership Council of the SRF-Agar said it has appointed Nasr al-Din al-Hadi as Deputy Chairman, Zeinab Kabashi as Secretary General and Osama Said as Spokesperson.

The statement underscored commitment to overthrow the regime and establish the state of equal citizenship and democracy, calling for the need to strengthen contacts with opposition forces and alliances to establish a unified opposition center.

It also underlined commitment to stop the war and deliver humanitarian assistance to the needy population in the war-affected areas as priorities and in accordance with the international humanitarian law.

The statement further pointed that the Leadership Council has received a number of requests from political forces demanding to join the SRF, saying it welcomes these opposition forces as part of the alliance.

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January 22, 2017 (JUBA) - The Governor of South Sudan's Lol State Rizik Zachariah Hassan has issued several executive orders sacking two senior advisors and one minister in his administration.

Rizik Zachariah Hassan, Governor of Lol state (UN photo)

Governor Hassan, according to the order which became public on Saturday, removed the state security adviser Joseph Akok Aleu, peace and reconciliation Advisor Akon Wol Deng and political advisor Pasquale Fama.

A separate order removed Ajar wet Awath from his position as minister of education, science and technology and appointed him to serve as minister of physical infrastructure. Awath replaced Macam Macam Angui. No reasons were given for making changes.

Local official and legislators argued said the new changes are meant to improve services to the people by appointing the right people with right skills in the right place for service delivery.

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January 22, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudanese rebels claimed they killed six government soldiers during a road ambush, which occurred along Magwi-Pajok road Sunday.

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

The rebel-appointed governor of Imatong state, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, claimed militias loyal to South Sudan president, Salva Kiir attacked civilian hideouts in the area.

At dawn on Sunday at around 10:43 am, forces loyal to President Salva Kiir accompanied by local militias in Magwi county fell into a laid ambush, explained Oyet.

He further claimed pro-government forces and its allied militias went and burnt villages in Licari, a neighborhood suspected to be harbouring armed opposition faction forces.

Government troops were repulsed with heavy causalities, including military weapons, he further told Sudan Tribune.

Oyet, however, accused the pro-government forces of allegedly planning genocide against the area population.

In recent weeks, multiples residents claimed, government forces have unlawfully detained civilians believed to be supporters of the armed opposition and allegedly demand ransom of 200,000 South Sudan Pounds (SSP) for each detainee.

Should one fail to pay the ransom demanded, government soldiers allegedly demand for goats, cows as well as chicken in compensation for release of civilians detained.

“This is a policy of exploitation and making the community poor by looting their resources by themselves,” said Oyet.

Since July last year, fighting has escalated in South Sudan's Equatoria region between pro-government and the armed opposition forces, amidst reports of gross human rights violations in form of rape and abductions of civilians.

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January 22, 2017 (JUBA) – At least $167 million is needed as an inter-agency response strategy and financial requirements for the South Sudanese refugee emergency across Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

South Sudanese refugees seen at Khor Omar camp for the displaced in El Daein, East Darfur on March 20, 2016 (UNAMID Photo)

The figure is contained in the South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP) for 2017, which outlines UNHCR's response strategy.

The conflict in South Sudan has intensified since July 2016 and has generated Africa's largest refugee crisis. Over 130,000 South Sudanese refugees, including an estimated 85,000 children, reportedly fled to Sudan in 2016.

This brings the total number of South Sudanese refugees arriving in Sudan since December 2013 to over 297,000, according to UNHCR.

However, despite Sudan's significant response needs, the 2016 RRRP was reportedly only 24 per cent funded, with the UN refugee agency stressing that the existing funding shortfall has stretched the capacity of inter-agency partners to respond while putting additional pressure on host communities, many of whom are already struggling.

The steady, yet significant flow of new refugee arrivals seeking safety in Sudan, UNHCR anticipates, is expected to continue into 2017, following the continuation of localised fighting, critical food insecurity and limited humanitarian assistance in South Sudan.

Under the RRRP 2017, UNHCR and inter-agency partners are reportedly seeking $166.6 million to meet the protection and assistance needs of South Sudanese refugees currently living in Sudan and over 60,000 new arrivals anticipated in 2017.

As such, the Sudan response plan reportedly seeks to maintain an emergency response capacity to ensure immediate protection responses, including legal protection, and address the urgent needs of new arrivals in 2017, stabilise the existing programme by aiming to achieve at least minimum emergency standards across sectors, particularly by enhancing further integration with national response mechanisms, promote solutions with a particular emphasis on enhancing protection through self-reliance and host community support, as well as create links to other national development plans.

UNHCR and the Commission for Refugees in collaboration with UN agencies, local and international non-governmental organisations, refugee and host communities are coordinating the response plan.

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January 22, 2017 (JUBA) – The United Nations under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous will on Monday brief the Security Council members on South Sudan.

Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, speaks to journalists following Security Council consultations on the situation in Darfur, 4 October 2016 (UN Photo)

The security, humanitarian and human rights situation in South Sudan remains dire, amidst a faltering political process and ongoing concerns that inter-communal violence could spiral out of control.

Ladsous' briefing is expected to focus on the confidential 30-day report to the 15-member Council on planning for the deployment of the Regional Protection Forces (RPF) and obstructions to UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

South Sudanese officials were recently quoted expressing reservations about the deployments of the protection forces.

On 13 January, information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth said that while the government did not object to the force, the Council would need to adopt a new resolution with respect to the Force, as its initial mandate under resolution 2304 had expired on 15 December 2016.

The mandate of the regional protection forces was re-authorised by the Council through resolution 2327 adopted on 16 December 2016.

Another issues of concern, it has emerged, regards the issue of visas and the Council members are interested in knowing where South Sudan government would issue out visas for members of the RPF.

Meanwhile, the Council members are also scheduled to hold an informal interactive dialogue with Festus Mogae, the chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) tasked with overseeing the implementation of South Sudan peace agreement.

The Security Council is reportedly interest in hearing from Mogae and Ladsous about their impressions of the national dialogue process that South Sudan President, Salva Kiir announced on 19 December 2016.

During the meeting, however, key issues that could be raised with regard to the national dialogue include how to ensure that it is conducted in an inclusive manner without fear and intimidation, and whether or not conditions are suitable for the dialogue to occur in South Sudan or whether another venue may be more suitable.

Also likely to feature during these consultative meeting could be how the UN plans to work with the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on the mediation process.

"A key question that may be raised is whether to include opposition leader Riek Machar in the political process, and if so, how this could be done," partly reads an insight, which Sudan Tribune has obtained, on activities of the 15-member Council.

Machar, currently in South Africa, may have fled Juba in July 2016, after his forces clashed with government troops, but continues to maintain a considerable following in South Sudan, with many of his supporters fighting against government forces.

There have been concerns for several months now about the potential for mass atrocities to be committed in the young nation.

Fighting has been reported in several parts of the country, much of it along ethnic lines, with the UN earlier warning of possible genocide.

“Members will be interested in an assessment from Mogae and Ladsous on the security and human right situation in South Sudan. Of interest to some members might be the activities of the UN working group designed to develop strategies to prevent mass atrocities in South Sudan, jointly chaired by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide,” the insig

It further states, “Consistent with the mandate of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, Mogae may be able to give an overview of the location and nature of ceasefire violations in recent months, as well as to discuss efforts to canton opposition troops”.

While speaking during his monthly luncheon on 9 January, the new UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised key issues with South Sudanese officials, including the importance of revitalising the political process, the need to deploy the RPF, which the Council first authorised in August 2016 to, among other things, protect UN staff, humanitarian actors and civilians in Juba, as well as the importance of raising awareness of the risk of atrocities in South Sudan.

This will be the first time Council members will meet on South Sudan since they failed to adopt the 23 December 2016 draft resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan and targeted sanctions on three government and opposition leaders.

Despite UN warnings of possible genocide in Africa's newest nation, the Security Council voted on 23 December, 2016, to reject a U.S.-sponsored resolution calling for an arms embargo and targeted sanctions, with Russia and its allies accusing Washington of ignoring President Kiir's calls recent advocacy for a national dialogue.

The draft resolution thus received only seven affirmative votes and nine abstentions.

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State coffers are said to be empty as troops secure Banjul for the return of President Adama Barrow.

Nigeria's largest city Lagos is facing a housing crisis. The BBC's Nancy Kacungira looks at how entrepreneurs are trying to solve the crisis.

By Beny Gideon Mabor, Esq

Western Sahara known as Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) was Spanish protectorate in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is situated north of Kingdom of Morocco, South of Mauritania and east of Algeria and populated by Berber tribes with an elected government under President Brahim Ghali, following the death of long serving President Mohamed Abdelaziz Ezzedine, founder and leader of revolutionary Polisario Front. This territory has been subject of regional and international debate being counterclaimed by Morocco and Saharawi people seeking self-determination and global recognition. SADR is an independent country declared in 1976 by Polisario Front separatist movement and a recognized member state of the African Union and other international organizations. This move led to a withdrawal of Morocco from African Union in 1984 in protest of AU's recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as an independent state.

On 18 July, 2016 after 32 years of absence from African Union and its politics, King Mohammed VI of Morocco declared his country's intention to return to the African Union in what he called “friends have been asking them to return so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family” according to the excerpts of the letter read to the AU summit and later shared by Aljazeera news outlet. On the other hand, the Moroccan return to the African Union is not easy walk back, but can only be validated by majority votes at the African Union Summit.

It's upon this notion that the entire political leadership led by the King embarks on bribery expedition to number of African countries in October and December, 2016 with first leg in Rwanda, to Tanzania, Ethiopia and Nigeria amongst others. His Majesty the King has been pledging and paying billion US dollars in all those countries for investment projects to get support, notwithstanding the attached condition to also suspend membership of rival Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) from the African Union and possibly not to recognize its independence.

Today, South Sudan is now at the whelm of strategic ambiguity in its foreign policy between taking blood money and vote for Morocco to return to the African Union and by implication support forceful occupation of land of indigenous Sahrawi people or refuse and stick to the principle of the rights to self-determination for indigenous Saharawi people for self-rule, the basis upon which South Sudan was also brought about seven years ago.

King Mohamed VI visit to South Sudan

As explained in the summary, the planned visit of the Moroccan King Mohamed VI to Juba, South Sudan is nothing nearer to any diplomatic engagement, but a clear business deal for his agenda to seek support from world newest state for their readmission to the membership of the African Union. The second objective of his visit is to request South Sudan to join other AU member states to suspend SADR from African Union and other intentional organizations, but also not to recognize SADR as independent state on top of their cordial request to the South Sudan political leadership.

According to high leveled source within the African Union, as revealed in the investigative report published by Ayah Aman of Al-Monitor media house dated 27 July, 2016 under article entitled: why Morocco really wants back in the African Union, it's confirmed that the Kingdom of Morocco has convinced 16 African countries to withdraw their recognition of SADR and form a front to expel SADR from the African Union. However, Morocco is already warned that such action is neither recognized in international law nor in the AU charters.

In a similar move, I was privileged to see the conspiracy deal in the making at the last African Union Summit in Kigali, Rwanda on 18 July, 2016 where we all witnessed on the same day the Moroccan king conveyed his message for readmission when, 28 African countries signed a statement and delivered it to AU Chairperson President Idriss Deby of Chad asking him to take legal action to suspend SADR's membership from African Union. South Sudan was not included at the time which was a well thought decision and I applauded the government for not being part of such conspiracy theory of oppression and marginalization of other fellow human beings.

In light of this development, it is difficult to understand now why South Sudan is ready to receive Moroccan King and possibly vote in favor of Morocco back to the African Union. In other words, South Sudan will have to endorse both the Moroccan readmission to the AU and join the rest of the African states in non-recognition of SADR as an independent country and from membership of the African Union and other international organizations. Therefore, the question would be, if South Sudan can support such deadly move of forceful occupation of foreign land by others, when in fact, it has contested land with Sudan, what will prevent Khartoum Administration and their alliances to do the same to South Sudan over the issue of Abyei? South Sudan must think twice before making a decision that will bear liability on the present and future generations in term of geopolitical relationships.

In the famous sermon of plank and the splinter it says “why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the splinter from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? That is hypocrisy of highest order! First South Sudanese should remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.

Second, South Sudan is the newest member state of the African Union and other international organization including United Nations all of which ruled out forceful occupation of foreign land. In particular, Article 2 of the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples adopted by General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960 provides that “All peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Further, article 7 of the same legal instrument provides that “All States shall observe faithfully and strictly the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the present Declaration on the basis of equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of all States, and respect for the sovereign rights of all peoples and their territorial integrity.

Due to observance of the United Nations principle on the rights to self-determination, the International Court of Justice ICJ in its advisory opinion on the situation of Western Sahara as requested by the General Assembly of the United Nations, unanimously reach the opinion that “Western Sahara (Rio de Oro and Sakiet El Hamra) at the time of colonization by Spain was not a territory belonging to no one (terra nullius). In other words, it was a separate territory with indigenous Sahrawi people who can enjoy inalienable right to self-rule that must be recognized. Therefore, South Sudan must not interfere in the internal affairs of the rights of indigenous Sahrawi's people.

After having explained what everybody know about the issue of Morocco and the rival Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) including clear position of the regional and international community for the last for decades, South Sudan should be careful in approaching this matter. The Kingdom of Morocco has no right whatsoever to forcefully continue occupying Western Sahara but must engage in dialogue for amicable solution. In my opinion, the Government of South Sudan is free to discharge other bilateral cooperation with Kingdom of Morocco for common good of the two countries however, not anything connected with SADR. Any attempt by the government to support the position of Morocco over status of SADR is a contradiction of the very principle of right to self-determination where the people of South Sudan fought for decades and finally got their independence. Finally, I advise the government not take the blood money in return of what would be blind support to the kingdom of morocco and by extension support continue occupation of indigenous land belonging to the Saharawi people who have suffered in the hand of Moroccans just like the way South Sudanese suffers in the hand of Arabs.

Beny Gideon Mabor is South Sudanese private lawyer and a human rights defender. His areas of research are international politics, human rights and social accountability. He can be reach via benygmabor@gmail.com

Burkina Faso progress to the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals as Group A winners after beating Guinea-Bissau on Sunday.

Gabon become only the third hosts to exit the Africa Cup of Nations after a 0-0 draw with Cameroon, who make it through to the quarter-finals.