Africa

July 25, 2016 (JUBA) – The editor of an Arabic newspaper has been detained and the paper shutdown by South Sudan security forces after it published inaccurate information.

Information minister Michael Makuei Lueth (R) speaks at a media forum as presidential press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny looks on in Juba on 7 September 2014 (ST)

The editor of Al-Watan newspaper, Michael Christopher was arrested on Saturday by security operatives and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Al-Watan newspaper was ordered to cease publication after it quoted Information Minister, Michael Makuei, as having confirmed the arrival of additional peacekeepers from neighbouring countries.

The paper said the troops from Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) would arrive Monday 25 July. But that turn out to be untrue and the paper apologized for the mistake, which it attributed to poor translation from English to the Arabic dialect.

“All these are our mistakes. The right information is that the government has formed a committee to receive a team of African Union Security Council which is expected to arrive today [Monday], Faisal Hassan Lado, the acting editor for the newspaper.

“We apologize for this inaccurate information that came as a result of translation,” he added.

Al-Watan's lead story on Saturday with headline “Arrival of African Union soldiers on Monday” has a quote attributed to the minister.

Lueth, the newspaper reported, said a committee had been constituted to receive the visiting members AU Peace and Security Council on Monday. The government committee, he added, would be headed by his cabinet affairs counterpart, Martin Lomoro.

The Arabic newspaper later published an apology to the information minister he was wrongly quoted in Juba Monitor newspaper, which has remained closed and its chief editor, Alfred Taban still in detention.

Meanwhile, Bol Deng Mayen has been appointed the new editor of Al-Watan, the newspaper's management announced on Monday. He replaces the embattled Michael.

(ST)

July 25, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan President Salva Kiir's removal of the armed opposition leader, Riek Machar and appointing Taban Deng Gai as the country's first vice-president could ignite a “full-scale war”, an advocacy group warned on Monday.

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

“This move represents another marker in the South Sudan's slow motion political suicide,” said Enough Project's Founding Director, John Prendergast.

“It unnecessarily brings South Sudan a step closer to full-scale war, shutting another door to dialogue and trampling on democratic processes espoused by both South Sudan's government and opposition SPLA-IO [Sudan People Liberation Army in Opposition],” he added.

A section of South Sudan's former rebels on Sunday announced they had replaced Machar with Gai, who was the mining minister in the recently established transitional national unity government.

Gai was the rebel's lead negotiator for a peace accord signed last year between Machar, President Kiir, religious groups as well as several other political groups, to end nearly two years of violence.

The deal created a transitional government to last for 30 months in which Kiir was to remain President and Machar as first vice president.

But Machar's allies say the move to substitute him with Gai, was illegal since he had already defected to President Kiir-led faction.

Brian Adeba, an Associate Director of Policy at the Enough Project said if President Kiir's action to remove the former rebel leader and replace him with Deng proves to be part of an elite pact without grassroots support, it could undermine the peace accord.

“It is imperative that South Sudan's leaders adhere to implementing the peace agreement and not allow inner-circle power plays to bring forth more violence and destabilisation,” he observed.

During the formation of the transitional government in late April, both Kiir and Machar agreed to implement the peace deal, which halted nearly two years of a bloody civil which took an ethnic dimension.

Both rival factions, according to the peace agreement, were to retain control of their respective armies until a merge is concluded.

Machar fled the capital, Juba when his forces clashed with those loyal to Kiir, killing over 270 soldiers and displacing 40,000 civilians.

The former rebel leader instead asked for a buffer between his forces and those loyal to Kiir as an assurance of his security in the capital.

Last week, President Kiir gave Machar a 48-hour ultimatum to return to Juba to continue as First Vice President or risk being replaced.

Machar failed to comply and a group of SPLM-IO officials including Gai, Secretary-General Dhieu Diing and Deputy Chairman Alfred Gore met in Juba and nominated Gai as Machar's replacement.

Machar said Friday that he had fired Gai as mining minister, removed him from the SPLM-IO Political Bureau and withdrew his chairmanship of National Committee on Reconciliation and Healing.

“This is to declare to all members of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) that Taban Deng Gai has defected to the SPLM-IG (in Government) under President Salva Kiir Mayardit,” Machar wrote to SPLM-IO members.

“By this, Taban Deng Gai is dismissed and no more a member of the SPLM/SPLA (IO),” adds the letter.

The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), a body charged with supervising the implementation of the peace agreement, said changes within the Machar-led opposition movement depends on the leadership of the movement itself.

“A change to the leadership depends on the Opposition itself and we are not here to speculate on such changes,” JMEC said Sunday.

“We do not see any value in speculating when the people and friends of South Sudan are working hard to ensure a return to the implementation of the Peace Agreement,” it added.

According South Sudan's peace agreement, each of the parties to the accord can either nominate or withdraw its respective minister.

(ST)

July 26, 2016 (JUBA) – In response to the Monday development in South Sudan in which President Salva Kiir issued a republican decree relieving his peace partner, First Vice President, Riek Machar, opposition's officials said the “illegal” action was a long time planned conspiracy to destroy the August 2015 peace agreement signed by the two top factional leaders.

Riek Machar, left, first vice president of the Republic of South Sudan, and Salva Kiir, the president, at the first meeting of the new transitional coalition government in Juba, South Sudan, in April, 2016 (Jason Patinkin/AP)

Machar's spokesperson said the situation had been suspected for a long time only that his leadership thought President Kiir and Taban Deng Gai, the newly appointed First Vice President, were going to abandon their conspiracy for the sake of peace in the country.

“This illegal action by President Salva Kiir to dismiss his peace partner, Dr. Riek Machar, who chairs the SPLM (IO) party and commands its army, the SPLA (IO), does not only violate the August 2015 peace agreement, but is also a long time planned conspiracy to put the last nail on the coffin of the peace agreement itself,” James Gatdet Dak, Machar's spokesperson, told Sudan Tribune on Monday evening in response to the event.

He said since February 2016, the plan came to surface while Machar was still in Pagak, his headquarters before returning to Juba in April, adding that President Kiir with the Jieng [Dinka] Council of Elders (JCE), a tribal group from President Kiir's ethnic Dinka, designed this plot to destroy the peace deal using Taban Deng Gai.

Dak said he had to cover up for Taban Deng when this accusation came out, in order not to expose him at the time, with the hope that he was going to change and not allow himself to be used by President Kiir and JCE to return the country to war.

“I had to cover up for Honourable Taban Deng Gai. I had to dismiss his suspected conspiracy as baseless in the media many times because I did not want him exposed. I thought he was going to change,” he added.

He said President Kiir and JCE are implementing their “reservations” in the agreement using Gai and that the peace agreement is currently in “very serious danger.”

Dak said the newly appointed First Vice President does not command the opposition army, adding that they disliked him and wanted him removed long time ago, but Machar could not act. He also said over 95% of the political leadership of the SPLM-IO are with Machar.

The opposition's spokesperson added that President Kiir was aware of the fact that Gai is never popular in the SPLM-IO political and military establishments, but liked his unpopularity so that the peace agreement can die.

KIIR'S FORCES ON OFFENSIVE

Dak also accused President Kiir's forces of carrying out offensive on Monday as he was appointing Gai to hunt down Machar around Juba with the aim to kill him.

“As we speak, thousands of President Salva Kiir's forces are on the move towards the areas where they suspected Dr. Riek Machar to be situated. Also their helicopter gunships have been bombing randomly in the forests, trying to locate him. Their aim is to kill him so that he never returns to Juba,” he said.

“But this will never happen. Dr. Riek Machar will someday return to Juba whether they like it or not, whether they will be there in Juba to receive him or not,” Dak added.

The opposition's spokesman also accused some members of IGAD of being behind the President Kiir's conspiracy to destroy the peace agreement using the “illegal” and “forced” replacement of transitional leadership of the government and the party.

He said even the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), which is supposed to monitor and safeguard the peace agreement has been “dumb founded” and could not know what to do.

He said Machar did not flee Juba out of his own will but was forced out after he nearly got killed at J1 palace by President Kiir's forces, adding that only that they could not get chance to murder him inside the palace as his close bodyguards would have also killed president Kiir.

Machar, he said, due to the incidents at the palace and the attack on his base where his house was also bombed, was simply asking for a third party force to be deployed in Juba to guarantee his safety so that he would return to Juba.

“What Dr. Machar was simply asking was for the deployment of a third party force before he would return to Juba. This is what IGAD and AU have also endorsed. So why replace him with the unconvincing pretext that he was away from Juba when all knew why he has been away from Juba?” he asked.

He also said the agreement did not allow for temporary appointment of an acting First Vice President by the President, but instead Machar should have been the one to delegate one of his officials to act if need be.

Dak said he believed that some players in the region and in the international community have taken part in the conspiracy to make South Sudan ungovernable by supporting President Kiir's illegal actions so that the situation can be used as a pretext for the country to be taken over by the United Nations under a trusteeship.

He said under the current situation where SPLM-IO and SPLA-IO are no longer part of the peace agreement, coupled with the ongoing military offensive by President Kiir's forces, it would be difficult for Machar to return to Juba any time soon.

He said President Kiir's faction and their ally led by Taban Deng Gai have been busy trying to track Machar down by monitoring phone conversations and its GPS and bombing his suspected locations around Juba.

It is the second time that Machar has been forced out of Juba by President Kiir's forces, fleeing for his life. He also fled Juba on 15 December 2013 and his house was bombed.

(ST)

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir removes Riek Machar as first vice president, two weeks after the rival leaders' forces clashed in the capital.

The remarkable story of two refugees from Sudan aiming to make Olympic history.

Students at Chris Froome's former school in South Africa celebrate his victory Tour de France.

By Editor, The Manila Times, Philippines
MUNICH, Germany, Jul 25 2016 (Manila Times)

Social networks were both a curse and a blessing in the deadly shopping mall shooting in Munich, as police sometimes found themselves chasing fictitious leads and false alarms.

The 18-year-old gunman, a German-Iranian named David Ali Sonboly, also used the internet to plan and carry out his crime, in which he killed nine people and wounded 16 others.

Nevertheless, the social networks provided a valuable source of information and solidarity for the city’s frightened population during the long lockdown while the incident was going on.

As soon as the terrifying events started to unfold late on Friday afternoon, Munich’s police were quick to take to Twitter to try to keep the public informed about the confusing and fast-evolving situation.

“We’re working as fast as we can to apprehend the attackers,” they tweeted in German, English and French. “The suspects are still on the run. Please avoid public places. #munich #gunfire”. “Unconfirmed reports of more violence and possible #gunfire in the city center. Situation is unclear. Please avoid public areas.”

False alarms
But as social network users began to tweet and re-tweet their own experiences and versions of events, it rapidly became difficult for the police to retain an overview and in some cases differentiate between fact and fiction.

At one point, for example, there was a flurry of reports of another shooting in the city center, on the pedestrianized square called the Stachus not far from the main station.

But those reports turned out to be false.

Another headache for police were eyewitness accounts, photos and videos that were rapidly being uploaded onto the web.

Police were concerned that the attackers—at that point, they erroneously believed there might have been more than one—could track where officers were being deployed and in what numbers, thereby making them easier to evade.

In the end, the police desperately tweeted: “Please don’t take fotos or video of police action in order to avoid any helpful information for the suspects.”

Police chief Hubertus Andrae told ZDF public television late Saturday that the speed and volume of information, which needed to be verified was “challenging.”

The official Twitter account proved useful in keeping the public informed about the latest confirmed facts, such as the number of victims or the time and place of the next press conference.

But police themselves inadvertently helped fan some of the speculation by tweeting, for example, that the theory of a possible terrorist act was being looked at.

At one point, police felt compelled to publish a plea, “Please restrain any speculations—that would help us a lot!”

Lured via the internet
“Nowadays, in the age of social networks, it is no longer the police who have control over the quantity and timing of the release of information, but everyone,” said Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.

“There are sometimes advantages in that, as can be seen in the number of investigations that have been brought to a successful conclusion thanks to photos and videos taken by private individuals,” he told a news conference.

In the United States, for example, the investigation into the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 was able to progress quickly as a result of such information.

“But it’s clear that rumors can spread rapidly and that isn’t always conducive to an accurate evaluation of the situation,” the minister said.

He praised the “fair” and “comprehensive” way in which police had communicated the recent attacks in Europe.

According to the interior ministry, the Munich gunman may have hacked a Facebook account to lure some of the victims to the McDonald’s fast-food outlet where the shooting began by offering them special discounts.

“I will give you whatever you want, for not a lot of money,” the online invite read, according to German media reports.

AFP

This story was originally published by The Manila Times, Philippines

Domestic migrant workers from South and South-East Asia are now considered Oman's "modern-day slaves". Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

By Dominique Von Rohr
ROME, Jul 25 2016 (IPS)

In order to escape poverty and support their families back home, thousands of domestic workers from South and South-East Asia migrate to Oman with the promise of stable employment in local households.

Once they arrive in Oman, new employers often seize their passports so that they cannot depart when they want, ultimately, denying them their freedom of movement.

They are made subject to excessive working hours, sleep deprivation and starvation. Many suffer from verbal or sexual abuse.

All too often, the money they work so hard for is denied to them. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, a great number of female migrant domestic workers fall prey to such abusive employment, and become Oman’s modern-day slaves.

The country’s visa sponsorship system, known as kafala, as well as the absence of labour law protections for domestic workers make migrant workers highly vulnerable to exploitation.

The kafala creates an “unbreakable” tie between the migrant worker and their employer, which means that the migrant worker’s visa is directly conditioned by the employer.

This prohibits migrant workers from switching jobs, even if they face abuse at their workplace. At least 130’000 migrant domestic workers are affected by the kafala system.

Families in Oman acquire their services through recruitment companies, employing them to take care of their children, cook meals, and clean their homes.

The recruitment companies typically ask for a fee to be paid for the mediation, and several migrant workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that their employers demanded they pay them back the recruitment fee in order to be released from their service.

“Employers can force domestic workers to work without rest, pay, or food, knowing they can be punished if they escape, while the employers rarely face penalties for abuse”, Rothna Begum, a Middle East women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, confirms.

A report from Human Rights Watch also stated that women who decide to escape their abusive employment often face legal penalties.

Asma K., a domestic worker from Bangladesh, told Human Rights Watch that she was not only “sold” to a man, her passport had also been taken away from her, and she was forced to work 21 hours a day tending to the needs of 15 people.

Asma was both sexually and verbally abused, denied of her right to a fair wage in addition to being deprived of food. Many other female domestic workers share Asma K.’s story.

Once a migrant worker has escaped an abusive employer, very few options remain. If the women go back to the agencies that recruited them, the agents often beat them and forcefully place them into new families.

The Omani police offers little help, usually dismisses the domestic workers’ claim, and returns them to the family they came from, where in several cases, the workers are assaulted by their employers, Human Rights Watch says.

Some women risk getting reported as “absconded”, an offense which can lead to their deportation or even a criminal complaint against them.

While several Omani lawyers confirm that they have no confidence in Oman’s labour dispute settlement procedure or courts for redress for domestic workers, some embassy officials dissuade domestic workers from even fighting for their case, due to the lengthy process and the high probability of facing defeat.

This process eventually leads to workers returning to their home countries without pay, with the dream of providing for their families shattered and no hope for justice.

In order to protect its nationals from abusive employment, Indonesia has banned migration to Oman, as well as other countries with a similar history of migrant labour abuse.

However, such bans often have an opposite effect, leaving those most desperate for work vulnerable to traffickers or forced labour as they try to sidestep their own country’s restrictions.

Human Rights Watch states that several countries do not protect their nationals against abusive employment, nor do they provide help to those who fall victim to trafficking, abuse and mistreatment living abroad.

In 2012, Oman promised the United Nations Human Rights Council to look for alternatives to the kafala system, however, Human Rights Watch states that no concrete proposal has since been made, and up until now, Oman’s labour law does not protect domestic workers.

In April 2016, a Ministry of Manpower official stated in the Times of Oman that Oman is considering protecting domestic workers under its labour law, however, when requested for information on possible law reforms or other measures to protect domestic workers, the Omani government remained silent.

Human Rights Watch states that Oman was further criticized by the United States government for not demonstrating increased efforts to address human trafficking.

In 2015, there were only five prosecutions on sex trafficking, with no prosecutions on forced labour at all.

In order to provide protection for domestic workers, Human Rights Watch urges Oman to revise the kafala system, and advises it to cooperate with the countries of origin to help prevent exploitation.

Instead of punishing migrant domestic workers for escaping their appalling conditions, they should be granted justice by means of fair prosecutions against those who manipulated, scorned and abused them.

By Michael Krepon
Jul 25 2016 (Dawn, Pakistan)

Members of Congress have embarrassed themselves, this time by a joint subcommittee hearing on whether Pakistan is a friend or foe. Framing a congressional hearing in this binary way reflects the sad state of political discourse on Capitol Hill, where complex issues are boiled down to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. Members of Congress dress themselves in righteous indignation and confuse leadership with generating headlines.

The United States, like Pakistan, is prisoner to a repetitive news cycle loop filled with hot air, loose talk and the constant drip of poisonous insinuation. The demise of civic culture continues apace. Echo chambers are not conducive to learning. Capitol Hill has devolved into competing echo chambers.

Without learning, we repeat mistakes. This is true on a personal level and on a national level. Some in the US repeat the mistake of insisting that other countries are implacable enemies, disregarding common interests. Taking refuge in this default position has cost America dearly. To repeat it again with Pakistan would be an act of pure folly. India reliably repeats its painful mistakes in Indian Kashmir. Pakistan has its own costly repetitive behaviours.

The US has been insensitive in its dealings with Pakistan.

Pakistan’s national security interests are defined mostly by men in uniform who jealously defend this prerogative from civilian prime ministers and the foreign ministry. Pakistan’s prime minister — a man not known for his attention to detail and zealous work habits — has made these circumstances worse by not having a foreign minister.

Some within Pakistan argue for a greater sense of urgency and energy on the civilian side to reverse the drift in Pakistan’s relations with the US and its neighbours. More energy would be welcome, but it will come to naught unless Pakistan sheds talking points that have long ago lost their persuasiveness. The ‘trust deficit’ argument has no weight when the reasons for the deficit are papered over. The promise that violent extremist groups that have ruined Pakistan’s reputation will be tackled in due course has worn thin because it has been repeated for so long.

The US has been heavy-handed and insensitive in its dealings with Pakistan. It’s easy for the US embassy to lose touch when it operates behind walls and razor wire. Members of Congress have short memories. They forget that Pakistan played a central role in the US diplomatic opening to China and in expelling Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

Bilateral ties will always be complicated. The US and Pakistan are on the same side of some issues but not others. Pakistan would like a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan, but it wants to retain influence there. Pakistan is concerned about violent extremist groups that carry out explosions in India, but not enough to clamp down on them. These straddles have left Pakistan on a tightrope without the means to engineer outcomes in Afghanistan or to ramp up economic growth, which depends on normal ties with neighbours.

Washington’s mix of carrots and sticks hasn’t helped Pakistan down from its tightrope, and now US incentives are diminishing. If Pakistan changes course, more help will come, but the relationship is no longer transactional. Pakistan will do what it thinks it must.

Perceptions of Pakistan are now deeply grooved. They won’t change unless Islamabad is able to take steps that clarify new thinking towards India and Afghanistan. Mikhail Gorbachev called this strategy one of destroying the ‘enemy image’. Gorbachev destroyed the Soviet Union’s enemy image in the US, but the Soviet economy was also destroyed because it was incapable of reform. Pakistan can change its enemy image and grow its economy by improving ties with neighbours. In doing so, Pakistan can maintain decent relations with the United States as it improves ties with China. Islama¬bad achieved this significant feat in the past; it can do so again.

On Capitol Hill, it would be helpful if serious legislators convened serious hearings on how best to stabilise and improve US-Pakistan relations. The easy way for legislators to weigh in is to get on soapboxes — an old American colloquialism recalling a time when men with megaphones gained elevation on street corners. Television is the new soapbox. Denunciations make cheap headlines while making hard problems worse. Congressional hearings where learning takes place have become rare on Capitol Hill. Pakistan deserves better treatment, but the same policies will produce the same results.

US-Pakistan relations are worth salvaging. Both countries have been through hard times together, and have accomplished much together. Pakistan has a long list of grievances towards the US. The US has a long list of grievances towards Pakistan. Grievances don’t solve problems; they make problems worse.

This relationship can no longer rest on the resupply of US troops in Afghanistan, or on Pakistan’s role as a selective bulwark against violent extremist groups. A new relationship has to be forged; otherwise, enemy images will only harden.

The writer is the co-founder of the Stimson Centre.
Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2016

This story was originally published by Dawn, Pakistan

By M. Adil Khan
Jul 25 2016 (The Daily Star, Bangladesh)

The ‘coup’ of July 15 in Turkey failed within hours of its start, and given that it enlisted very limited support within the army itself, some called it not a coup but a ‘mutiny’.

In recent times, there have been many reports, mainly in the West, of unhappiness with Erdogan’s Islamism and authoritarian style of governing, but no one thought that this would translate into a coup. After all, it was not that long ago when the world cheered “The Rise of Turkey”. Under Erdogan’s leadership and with a mix of liberal democracy and neoliberal economic policy, Turkey marched ahead economically. Turkey looked like the poster boy of the Muslim world – modern, progressing and yet Muslim.

However, while the economy was growing, Islamist nationalism also surged unnoticed in the beginning. Islamist nationalism was hailed as Islam’s democratic answer to ‘terrorism’ that in recent times has become the scourge of most Muslim majority nations.

But all of a sudden, the scene changed and the tone became very different – to some, Turkey is now a “failed model” and this is because Erdogan “changed the Constitution for his own benefit and restarted his wicked conflict with the Kurds” (Independent, July 16, 2016) , and yet others argue that “the successful liberalisation in Turkey during the last three decades itself paved the way for Islam’s later authoritarian and conservative incarnations” (The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism, Cihan Tugal).

So which one of these views is correct?

It is not easy to answer that, but one thing is clear: the way millions poured into the streets at the call of Erdogan to repel the ‘mutiny’, the answer is not the disapproval of Erdogan by his people as their leader nor does it seem to be his governance style, not at this stage at least. Notwithstanding, the fact that there has been a ‘mutiny’ (not coup) indicates that not everything is hunky dory in Turkey these days.

Since its inception as a ‘modern’ state in 1923 under Kemal Ataturk, a post-colonial invention of the West which was built on the ashes of the defeated, humiliated and dismantled Ottoman monarchy, Turkey has rotated between booms and busts, democracy and coups, secularism and Islamism, and this largely depended on the not-so-apparent changing mood of its benefactors. It is no surprise that any effort by Turkey – regardless of whether this is done through a democratic or an authoritarian polity – that pursues nationalistic aspirations at the cost of the hegemon’s agenda in the region is to invite trouble. Like many previous coups, the July 15, 2016 ‘mutiny ‘is no exception and thus, needed to be seen in this context.

Indeed, this ‘mutiny’ is nothing but a culmination of several policy clashes that manifested themselves through Turkey’s resurgent sovereign Islamist nationalist identity that challenged the diktats of geopolitics at different levels, and on many occasions has put Erdogan at odds with the West’s idea of ‘modern’ Tukey – a secularised, de-cultured, de-Islamised ‘lackey’.

In the context of these complex and conflated dynamics, it is difficult to say which of the factors, Erdogan’s authoritarianism or the West’s diminishing control over Turkey, has prompted the mutiny but the picture that emerges – and given that millions poured on the street at the call of Erdogan to foil the mutiny – is that the West’s script that the mutiny has been caused by deficits of democracy is anything but true. The answer lies somewhere else.

Erdogan blames his nemesis, the US based self-exiled cleric Gulen for the mutiny and accordingly, asked the US government to extradite him to face trial in Turkey. In response, the Obama administration asked for evidence of Gulen’s involvement in the mutiny.

Erdogan’s woes started with a number of policy shifts, some good and some terrible, that he initiated lately. Firstly, his move to severe diplomatic ties with Israel in 2013, in the aftermath of the latter’s attack on a Turkish Gaza peace ship, a principled decision, earned him the wrath of a powerful and dangerous foe that many believe to be behind the numerous political and economic unrests that have been plaguing Turkey lately. Secondly, his clash with Russia was unnecessary and proved costly. Most importantly, his government’s alleged patronisation of ISIS has proved to be a grave mistake, and Erdogan has been paying for it since. Thirdly, encouraged by NATO and inspired by his reported personal hatred, Erdogan’s dogged determination to evict Assad in Syria cost Turkey dearly.

However, it is his recent reversals of some of these policies, especially cementing of relationships with Russia and peace overtures to Syria, that have put him at extreme odds with the Zionist/NATO conglomerate, Turkey’s post-colonial ‘nurturer’. Indeed, a delayed and somewhat less-than-strong disapproval of the coup by the NATO is instructive and has prompted speculations that they might have expected a different outcome.

Nevertheless, Erdogan be warned, his adversaries have noted one thing quite clearly that more than the support or non-participation of the loyal faction of his army, it is the people who have foiled the mutiny. They are his main strength and therefore, to ensure that the next coup or ‘revolution’ does not fail, many believe that is quite possible that the hegemon’s nexus will make sure to weaken Erdogan’s support base, the people, by alienating them through the engineering of a false economic crisis (remember Iran’s Mosaddek, Chilli’s Allende!).

Therefore, for Erdogan, the journey ahead is fraught and as he has found out already, a stricter form of authoritarianism and purging of critics is not the solution. The people are his answer and thus the way forward is not to shrink that base but expand it by engaging people to build a Turkey that is economically progressive, politically inclusive and spiritually nourishing.

The writer is a former senior policy manager of the United Nations.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

Jovia, who died on Apr. 29, 2016, suffered from both HIV/AIDS and cervical cancer, a deadly combination affecting thousands of women in Uganda. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPS

By Amy Fallon
KAMPALA, Uganda, Jul 25 2016 (IPS)

Lying on a dirty bed in a crowded, squalid hostel in Kampala, emaciated Jovia, 29, managed a weak smile as a doctor delivered her a small green bottle containing a liquid.

“I’m so happy they’ve brought the morphine,” the mother told IPS, just about the only words she could get out during what would be the last weeks of her life. “It controls my pain and makes my life more bearable.”“As long as radiotherapy is not available in Uganda many more patients will die.” -- Dr. Anne Merriman

Jovia was suffering from both HIV/AIDS and cervical cancer, a deadly combination affecting thousands of women in Uganda. While the east African country had huge success in the battle against the HIV virus in the 1990s, cervical and other cancers are the new health crises gripping the developing nation. One in 500 Ugandans suffers from cancer. But only five per cent of patients will get any form of treatment, facing an often tortuous death.

Thanks to Hospice Africa Uganda (HAU), founded 23 years ago by the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, British-born Dr. Anne Merriman, patients like Jovia are given not only affordable pain-controlling oral liquid morphine, but comfort, hope and dignity in their last days.

At 81, Dr. Merriman is credited with introducing palliative care to Africa. HAU has cared for a total of 27,000 seriously ill and dying people since 1993, the vast majority with the morphine made at its Kampala headquarters for just two dollars a bottle, with government funding.

In Uganda, cancer is usually diagnosed quite late, due to poor screening and lack of health services. According to the country’s Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), 80 per cent of sufferers die because of late diagnosis.

For patients like Jovia, who passed away peacefully on Apr. 29, leaving a daughter, 14, radiotherapy can cure or extend life when treated in early stages.

A tray of morphine at Hospice Africa Uganda. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPS

But in early April, Uganda’s only radiotherapy machine broke beyond repair. It was used by about 30,000 cancer patients annually. Since then, thousands in need of radiotherapy to cure their cancer, or extend their lives, have been left without vital treatment.

The Ugandan government had purchased a new machine, worth a reported 500,000 dollars, three years ago, but it could not be delivered as special bunkers needed to house the machine had to be built.

Facing an uproar from within Uganda at the lack of radiotherapy services, the government promised a new bunker would be built within six months. Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, offered free treatment for 400 Ugandan cancer patients. The plan was that they would be sent there by the Ugandan government through the UCI.

But more than three months later there is still huge confusion and contradictory reports and statements about the delivery of this promise, and controversy over the delay in getting desperate patients. Despite repeated requests for clarification the UCI nor Uganda’s ministry of health are able to state exactly how many patients – if indeed any – have yet been sent to Kenya for treatment.

Christine Namulindwa, UCI’s public relations officer, pointed out patients going to Nairobi have to go through an “evaluation”, and be approved by a board.

“So far we’ve submitted 15 names to the ministry of health and more are yet to be submitted,” she said last month. The pledge for free treatment from Aga Khan did not cover the cost of transporting patients and upkeep while in Nairobi, she said.

She said there were “patients who are still waiting” and referred IPS to the health ministry for further questions.

On July 1, Professor Anthony Mbonye, Acting Director General of Health services, told IPS via email the ministry of health had “received a budget for supporting patients to Aga Khan and will provide transport and funds for maintenance”.

A lawyer had “cleared a memorandum of understanding between Aga Khan and UCI,” he said.

“The radiotherapy machine was bought, but the bunker is yet to be rehabilitated. In two months’ time the machine will be installed and services will resume.”

Stories in East African papers in early July reported that the “long wait” was “over” for patients, after Aga Khan signed an MOU with UCI, allowing 400 out of 17,000 patients to “receive treatment”. But they did not give a date for when they would go to Kenya.

Another report said only tumour patients with chances of survival, but including those suffering breast and cervical cancer, would be transported to Kenya using government vans. It said accommodation and other support services were being organised by Uganda’s High Commission in Nairobi, and 20 patients have been approved to go. But again it gave no specific date for their transportation.

Two of seven patients have been treated at Aga Khan not through the UCI and the Ugandan government, but through a partnership with HAU and Road to Care, a programme developed by Canadian doctor Joda Kuk. He set up scheme in 2011 after he witnessed women with cervical cancer in rural areas of Uganda needing desperate assistance to get to Kampala for radiotherapy.

Mary Birungi and Mary Gahoire, a mother of three, both from western Uganda, returned home the week of July 21 after travelling to Kenya by road, being housed by Road to Care and completing radiotherapy treatment there. They are now back with their families.

Two more patients are in the middle of treatment this week and and two more will travel to Kenya. The seventh patient is due to go there in the first week of August.

Dr. Anne Merriman pleaded with the Ugandan government to do all in its power to complete the building of the new bunkers so the new radiotherapy machine can be commissioned as soon as possible.

“We are so happy that under Road to Care seven of our patients will be treated in Kenya, but this is just a drop in the ocean,” she said. “The need is huge. There has been so much confusion since the machine broke down, causing huge stress to patients and families. “

“As long as radiotherapy is not available in Uganda many more patients will die.”

On July 23, Professor Mbyonye told IPS that “some” patients have gone to Kenya and had already come back through the agreement between the health ministry and Aga Khan, but couldn’t give more details.

For many though, it’s too late.

Vesta Kefeza, 49, a mother of seven, has advanced cervical cancer. Lying on a mattress on the ground of her one-room home in Namugongo slum, Kampala, she is immobile, as her leg has ballooned due to a complication from the cancer.

She has been on HAU’s programme since 2011 and is administered morphine by their nurses. Uganda became the first country in the world to allow nurses to prescribe the drug in 2004. The hospice team also provides food and spiritual support.

In June, thanks to a donation from Ireland, Kefeza received a wheelchair, allowing her to get out into the fresh air and go to church.

“Until then I lay in bed all day,” she said. “I thank God for my blessings. I am lucky to have HAU caring for me.”

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By Editor, Sunday Times, Sri Lanka
Jul 25 2016 (The Sunday Times - Sri Lanka)

So Nisha Biswal, the US State Department’s point person on Sri Lanka, says that Sri Lanka could be another Singapore.

That will be the day. If after six visits to the country in 20 months she has still not grasped the basics of Sri Lanka’s socio-political culture and mores, the lack of respect for law and order and the rule of law infused by political interference and intimidation, she could hardly be a messenger of hope and good sense.

Nisha Biswal told a group of Sri Lankan business leaders that Lee Kuan Yew wanted to model his country on Ceylon and now it is time for Sri Lanka to be turned into a Singapore

Perhaps she has become accustomed to the obsequiousness of foreign minister Samaraweera for things western and his habit of clinging on to the hands of every foreign visitor seemingly as a token of eternal friendship but actually in case they make a break for a quick getaway as some suspect.

The other day media carried a picture of our over-zealous foreign minister holding on to the hand of the visiting Chinese foreign minister leaving the latter looking rather perplexed. The Chinese reaction was not surprising given that the pro-western UNP leadership turned its back on Beijing shortly after the “good governance” coalition came to office possibly because China provided financial help to the Rajapaksa government when our so-called western friends would not do so and even refused to provide weaponry to fight an insurgency.

But now that the pro-western UNP finds itself in a financial mess it has no qualms about kowtowing and publicly displaying a willingness to accept its financial help with open arms and empty money bags.

An occasional peck on both cheeks might be considered by some in our diplomatic fraternity as a sign of undying friendship and gratitude. But in the world of diplomacy such over-familiarity especially in public might not always win friends and influence nations.

Speaking to a group of Sri Lankan business leaders during her recent visit, Nisha Biswal said that Singapore’s one time prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had wanted to model his country on Ceylon at the time. But now it is time for Sri Lanka to be turned into a Singapore.

Does Biswal believe that Sri Lankans are gullible or is this an insidious move to make this strategically-located nation an integral cog in Washington’s pivot to Asia policy intended to stymie China’s economic and military advance westward in the Indian Ocean?

If Biswal was even faintly aware of the bedrock on which the nascent Southeast Asian city-state was built she would not be proposing that we turn ourselves into a soulless nation however economically advanced and rich it has turned out to be.

I do not know whether Biswal has met Lee Kuan Yew when he was leading his newly independent state and talked to him. I have when I was working in Hong Kong and Mr. Lee visited the then British colony for a major conference.

So meticulous was the Singaporean he was able to tell me what I had called him in some of my writings – a dictator, an autocrat and a politician who did not tolerate dissent.

He did not entirely disagree but he carefully adduced reasons why he had to act the way he did, to craft a policy framework for a majority Chinese population sandwiched between two huge Malay-dominated nations. He said even Singapore’s language policy was determined by this geopolitical consideration.

Mr. Lee said that when Singapore was heading for independence Ceylon was the model on which he hoped to build the emergent state. Ceylon had a high rate of literacy, an educated people with a good educational system, an efficient civil service, a well-functioning judiciary and a performing economy.

But all these important qualities that made the Ceylonese nation were dissipated and destroyed by over-bearing and obtrusive politics. In later years when his people asked him for democratic rights and political freedoms he asked them whether they wanted to be another Sri Lanka involved in ethnic conflict.

Those who know the real Singapore story – I nearly went to work there when the editor of a new newspaper scheduled for launch invited me to join – how Ceylon born J.B. Jeyaretnam, the only opposition MP was treated (or mistreated) after he entered parliament after several attempts, how several journalists suffered including a friend of mine on the Business Times, Kenneth James, for ‘offences’ that most journalists would have considered normal professional duties.

Space does not permit an elaboration of the restrictions Singapore places on its citizens including the use of laws that a public gathering of five persons or more requires a police permit and charges of contempt of court, criminal and civil defamation and sedition are used to rein in government critics.

Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2015 states that the “Singapore’s government limits political and civil rights—especially freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association—using overly broad legal provisions on security, public order, morality, and racial and religious harmony.”

Admittedly some advances have been made – however meager – in the way of democratic freedoms. But the Singapore that Biswal and others speak of glowingly was not build on democratic foundations and the rights and freedoms associated with a free society.

So is Biswal then asking Sri Lanka to dismantle the constitutional and other rights guaranteed to its people, the democratic political system that took root even before independence in 1948 and the free press that politicians unfailingly promise the country?

I dare say Sri Lanka can well do without the corrosive and corrupt politics practiced today by many equally corrupt and abrasive politicians. If a nuclear destruction of the existing political system was possible that would certainly be for the betterment of the country.

Is Biswal able to provide such purifying political cleansing that is surely needed if Sri Lanka is to become another Singapore? Despite the democratic deficit that marks Singapore’s years of independence, it was able to achieve an enviable economic record because there were certain prerequisites that its leaders laid down.

Singapore was founded on meritocracy where only the best entered public service and other institutions and followed professional careers. Equally corruption was stamped on wherever it appeared and the guilty were shown no mercy.

Respect for law and order was inculcated in the populace and those who violated the law paid for it. That was the social order that produce Singapore’s economic miracle and a people who called themselves Singaporeans rather than by their ethnicity.

Moreover the city-state has had a political leadership that placed the country before self and was truly committed to building a prosperous society where the majority of its people were able to lead a comfortable life.

The reverse is surely true of Sri Lanka. Why talk of meritocracy when some of those who occupy official positions probably do not know what it means, where relatives, friends and acolytes are handpicked and planted in jobs for which the public pays. The qualified are deposited in the closest dust bin because they do not belong to the correct party, have not paid pooja to the presiding almighty and have sought to expose corruption and abuse or to indulge in it.

How could we build a meritocracy which is what Singapore has done, if a fundamental principle on which Sri Lankan politics is founded is nepotism and clannishness which this government promised to eliminate but practices with the same vigour as its predecessor?

The promises that the current government made to introduce “good governance” have been shattered long before the first year of this National Unity Government has ended. A classic recent example is the admission in parliament by the Higher Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella that he recruited 45 persons as consultants to the Southern Transport Development Project of the Road Development Authority at Rs.65,000 a month. If the highest qualification most of them have is the “O” level or some even lower how are they qualified to be consultants and consulted on what?

Lakshman Kiriella, who is increasing becoming an embarrassment to the UNP, admitted they were given these jobs because they helped in bringing his party into power. Whoever consults these unqualified consultants should seek psychiatric assistance.

It was not long ago that he wrote letters to two university authorities seeking to influence the appointment of persons known to him.

Just a few days ago I saw an article in which the writer says that the High Post Committee had advertised in newspaper calling for public comments on three persons whose names were listed for particular appointments.

It seemed that these three persons, one of whom is the President’s brother, was already functioning in those posts and have been doing so for some time. If the story is true then somebody should remind this committee of the bolting horses and the stable door.

So this is the country that Biswal wants to turn into another prosperous Singapore. Either she knows little of what she is talking about or is deliberately trying to sell these ideas to drag Sri Lanka into a tighter embrace with Washington so we will loosen our ties with China.

If this is the kind of rubbish that visiting diplomats oozing with spurious bon homie, lecture us about we could well do without it.

Before she comes here next and the Foreign Minister rushes to offer another handshake she should rid herself of the mental sloth that characterizes her advice.

This story was originally published by The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka

Victory for hosts Medeama over Young Africans will bring them into contention for a Confederation Cup semi-finals place.

Maasai pastoralists, who participate in a farmer field school, are selling animals at a local market in Narok, Kenya. Indigenous peoples have a key role to play in addressing climate change. Credit: FAO

By Baher Kamal
ROME, Jul 25 2016 (IPS)

No longer it is about restoring the legitimate rights of over 370 indigenous peoples spread across 70 countries worldwide, many of them living in dire situation, but now about their central, critical role in combating climate change.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has relentlessly emphasized this new reality.

“Very few countries have so far made a clear commitment to a requirement in the Paris Climate Change Agreement that countries undertaking climate change activities should ensure the rights of indigenous peoples,” she says, while reminding of “the large number of violent deaths of people protecting their forests and rights to land in 2015 – the deadliest year for environmental defenders on record.”

“It’s a dire situation in terms of respect for the rights of indigenous peoples,” she told the participants in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Committee on Forestry (COFO) which met in the Italian capital on July 18-22.

“Indigenous peoples across the world experience the consequences of historical colonisation and invasion of their territories, and face discrimination because of their distinct cultures, identities and ways of life,” according to UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

On this, FAO stated that “Governments must do much more to provide the enabling conditions required for indigenous peoples, local communities, smallholders and their organisations to restore degraded landscapes and achieve climate change mitigation and adaptation in practice.”

Specifically, René Castro Salazar, FAO’s Assistant-Director General warned that the issue of indigenous rights to land and territories was ‘critical’ for the success of climate change initiatives.

“Unless we help indigenous peoples achieve secure land tenure and better governance, it will be very hard to achieve long-term solutions,” Castro Salazar said. “We are lagging behind, and we need to do more.”

Vast Carbon Stocks

A third of global forests are under some form of management by families, smallholders, local communities and indigenous peoples, and represent some of the most important carbon stocks in the world, FAO reported during the meeting. Government-recognised community forests alone hold an estimated 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon stock.

Agro-forestry farmers are tending to the crops in Kigoma, Tanzania. Forests are an integral part of the national agriculture policy with the aim of protecting arable land from erosion and increasing agricultural production. Credit: FAO

“Family smallholders, local communities and indigenous peoples have a key role to play in preserving these carbon stocks by reducing deforestation, managing forests sustainably and restoring tree cover as part of productive rural economies, particularly when they belong to strong producer organisations,” according to the UN agency.

In addition, an estimated 1.5 billion hectares of land hold potential for smallholder farmers to combine agriculture with trees.

“But failure to find the best way to engage with local stakeholders and align their interests with forest conservation can significantly compromise the chances of achieving carbon sequestration and mitigation targets.”

Greater Ownership

In an outcome statement issued at the close of the Rome meeting, participants urged governments to provide the enabling conditions required for local communities, indigenous peoples and local producers, “to manage larger territories, from securing and enforcing tenure rights to creating favourable business incentives and offering technical, financial and business extension services.”

They also called on global financing mechanisms, government programmes and private investors to direct investment and support towards local communities, indigenous peoples, smallholders and producer organisations.

Finally, they called for climate change initiatives “to shift towards giving greater ownership to local communities, indigenous peoples, smallholders and producer organisations and engaging them in participatory and qualitative assessment of the forest cover and trees on farms they manage.”

Livelihoods of Millions of People, Precarious

On the occasion of the Rome meeting, FAO issued a new study that helps to fill a significant knowledge gap on the presence and extent of forests and trees in the world’s drylands, where the food security and livelihoods of millions of people, already precarious, are increasingly being threatened by climate change.

The study’s preliminary findings show that trees are present with hugely varying densities on almost one-third of the world’s 6.1 billion hectares of drylands, which cover an area more than twice the size of Africa. Almost 18 per cent of this area contains forests.

An estimated 2 billion people, 90 per cent of whom are in developing countries, live in drylands. Recent studies have indicated the need to restore these areas to cope with the effects of drought, desertification and land degradation.

In particular, water availability in drylands is expected to decline further due to changes in climate and land use, the new study warns.

“Poor people living in remote rural areas will be most vulnerable to food shortages, which combined with violence and social upheaval, are already leading to forced migration in dryland regions in Africa and western Asia.”

Until now, there has been little statistically based knowledge on dryland trees –particularly those growing outside forests– despite their vital importance to humans and the environment, according to the study.

The leaves and fruit of trees are sources of food for people and fodder for animals; their wood provides fuel for cooking and heating and can be a source of income for poor households; trees protect soils, crops and animals from the sun and winds, while forests are often rich in biodiversity.

Drylands are divided into four aridity zones (see map): the dry sub-humid zone, is the least arid of the four zones and consists mostly of the Sudanian savanna, forests and grasslands in South America, the steppes of eastern Europe and southern Siberia, and the Canadian prairie.

Most dryland forests occur in this zone, as do some large irrigated, intensively farmed areas along perennial rivers; at the other extreme, the hyper-arid zone is the driest zone and it is dominated by desert – the Sahara alone accounting for 45 per cent, and the Arabian desert forming another large component.

Factbox

At a glance: some preliminary findings of the FAO Global Drylands Assessment:
• The global drylands contain 1.11 billion hectares of forest land, which is 27 per cent of the global forest area, estimated at approximately 4 billion hectares.

• Two-thirds of the drylands forest area can be defined as being dense, meaning it has closed canopies (i.e. a canopy cover greater than 40 per cent).

• The second most common land use in drylands is grassland (31 per cent), followed by forest (18 per cent) and cropland (14 per cent). The category other lands constitutes 34 per cent of the global drylands area.

• The least-arid zones have the most forest. The proportion of forest land is 51 per cent in the dry subhumid zone, 41 per cent in the semiarid zone, 7 per cent in the arid zone and 0.5 per cent in the hyperarid zone. The average crown cover density is ten times higher in the dry subhumid zone than in the hyperarid zone.

• Trees outside forests are present on 1.9 billion hectares of drylands (31 per cent of the global drylands area), if all land with more than 0 per cent crown cover is included. Thirty per cent of croplands and grasslands have at least some crown cover, as do 60 per cent of lands classified as settlements.

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July 24, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Several leaders of the opposition Sudan Call forces on Sunday have defended their recent decision to meet the mediation over the roadmap saying its signing depends on the outcome of these discussions.

Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) President Omer al-Dugair, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Leader Gibril Ibrahim and SPLM-N negotiating team spokesperson Mubarak Ardol Sunday brushed aside criticism against their expected meeting with the head of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki to discuss the eventual signing of the Roadmap Agreement he proposed since last March.

They further reiterated their commitment to the opposition demand for an equal dialogue, leading to achieve peace and genuine democratic change in Sudan.

SCP Chairman, Omer al-Dugair, told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that the positive developments mentioned in the statement of 22 July means that AUHIP has changed its rejection to the oppositions' proposals on the Roadmap Agreement.

"These are the demands included in a memorandum of understanding proposed by the Sudan Call last month. The AUHIP had first rejected the memo before to change its mind and accept it through a letter Mbeki sent to the Sudan Call and direct (telephone) contacts by his senior assistant,'' said al-Dugair.

On the same trend; JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim said the opposition umbrella said the opposition decided "in principle to sign the Roadmap, if we found further reassurance in the upcoming meeting with the mediation in Addis Ababa.

"President Mbeki dispatched to the recent Paris meeting, the AUHIP Chief of Staff Abdel Qader Mohamed (known as Abdul) to explain the spirit of the letter that President Mbeki sent to the Sudan Call forces, dated on June 23, 2016, and to confirm the mediation's readiness to consider with due diligence the observations of the Sudan Call on the Roadmap, and to put it in a framework that can dissipate the opposition fears," wrote Ibrahim in a written statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

Last March, the Sudanese opposition groups rejected the Roadmap Agreement which proposes a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access to civilians in the conflict affected areas, before to engage in the government proposed national dialogue process.

In a letter sent by Sadiq al-Mahdi to Mbeki, the Sudan Call forces requested to add a supplemental document to the Roadmap before to sign it.

They said it should retake all the points provided in the African Union Peace and Security Council decision 539: the release of political prisoners and detainees, ensure political freedoms and full guarantee of the freedom of expression and publication.

The AUPSC decision also proposes a preparatory meeting ensuring that all the necessary confidence-building are taken, the key steps of the National Dialogue process are agreed upon, and that the process is fair and will result in the mutually-agreed objectives.

Ibrahim said that the roadmap proposed last March was not inclusive and neglects important opposition forces as it was addressed only to the National Umma Party (NUP), JEM, SPLM-N and Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM).

But, he stressed that the mediation for the first time in its letter of June recognized the Sudan Call forces and addressed it as political body, showing it has no objection to the formation of a delegation including additional opposition groups..

A leading member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, Mohamed Dia al-din, slammed the decision of opposition groups to meet with the AUHIP in order to discuss the signing of the Roadmap Agreement.

Dia al-Din said the statement of Paris meeting did not clearly explain what these "positive developments" in the position of the AUHIP.

“This issue represents the essence and the purpose of Paris meeting but it was omitted in the statement,” said Dia al-Din said on his Facebook page.

He further pointed that Sudan Call statement did not mention the needed conditions to sign the Roadmap before to engage in talks with the ruling National Congress Party.

However, SPLM-N negotiating team spokesperson, Ardol strongly criticized the negative position of the Ba'ath Party towards the Sudan Call saying they remain the objective ally of the NCP ruling party.

The Ba'ath Party ''does not belief in collective work and democratic change and shares the same ideologies with the ruling party,'' said Ardol.

His hostility of the Sudan call "means to delay the collective process of change that is now shaping up in line with the mechanisms and convictions of the Sudan Call forces (not the Baath). This change will take place and the first of its steps is the unit of the opposition forces," he stressed.

The Ba'ath Party is a member of the National Consensus Forces, an alliance of the left groups. However, the group remained hostile to the participation of the internal opposition group with the Sudan Call forces.

(ST)

July 23, 2016 (WAU) – South Sudan army's (SPLA) 5th division in Western Bahr el Ghazal state on Friday executed two soldiers charged with murder and various crimes.

SPLA forces patrol the street of Wau town on May 16, 2016 (ST)

The duo were arrested on 17 July and kept at Wau central prison after for allegedly murdering a couple at a residential area situated within Wau town.

They faced firing squad in front of a military parade at the army division headquarters. Hundreds of Wau residents also witnessed it.

Wau town mayor, Akol Akol Ajith, said the two soldiers were sentenced to death after the military high court found them guilty.

“The order to execute these soldiers comes from above and this is what will warn the soldiers from involving in such crimes,” said Akol.

No one, according to the town mayor, is above the stipulated laws.

A military judge cautioned soldiers against violating army regulations.

“This is a warning to those soldiers who used to violet the military regulation, it is also what tell the people of South Sudan that any soldier found committing crime against civilian should be deal with,”a judge, who preferred anonymity said on Friday.

This is the first such an execution has taken place at the army's 5th division headquarters in Western Bahr el Ghazal state over the years.

(ST)

July 24, 2015 (NAIROBI) – A South Sudanese armed opposition (SPLM-IO) official has accused the Jieng Council of Elders in the capital, Juba of championing processes that elevated Taban Deng Gai as First Vice-President in the absence of Riek Machar.

Machar speaks on a mobile phone after an interview with Reuters in Kenya's capital Nairobi July 8, 2015

Manawa Peter Gatkuoth, the SPLM-IO's deputy chairman of national committee for information and public relations, said Machar was still the legitimate leader of the armed opposition faction.

“The action of the group is tantamount to an internal coup within the SPLM/A (IO). This is because the SPLM/A-IO, like all other political parties, has a constitution and internal regulations which provide for the conduct of party affairs in the temporary absence of the leader. It is apparent that the deputy chairman, Gen. Alfred Lado Gore and Secretary General Dr. Dhieu Mathok Wol were coerced into accepting Gen. Taban Deng Gai as the leader against the party norms,” he said in a statement.

The official claimed Gai could have played a role in the 8 July clashes between the country's rival forces next to the presidential palace. Over 270 soldiers died when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with armed forces allied to Machar in Juba.

“The SPLM/A (IO) political Bureau condemns in the strongest terms possible the attempt to destabilize the SPLM/A (IO) and destroy the IGAD brokered peace agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS) spearheaded by Gen. Taban Deng Gai out of personal vendetta against Dr. Riek Machar for not recommending his appointment as Minister of petroleum in the Transitional Government of National Unity,” further said Gatkouth.

According to the official, those who ousted Machar were “self-interest” groups who intend to destroy the SPLM/A-IO leadership.

“This fits into the grand scheme hatched by president Salva Kiir and Jieng Council of Elders, to divide, weaken and destroy the SPLM/A-IO in order to entrench himself in power, perpetuate the kleptocratic regime and maintain Jieng hegemony and domination,” he said.

Gatkuoth assured SPLM/A-IO-members to disregard the “unethical greedy” officials who claimed to have ousted Machar, describing them as “illegal officials” who were dismissed and made powerless.

Meanwhile, the official appealed to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, African Union and members of Troika countries who have supported the peace talks to push for third party forces in Juba for the smooth implementation of the agreement.

“We call upon the IGAD plus, AU and the United Nations to expedite the deployment of the regional third party intervention forces to enable Dr. Riek Machar return to his position in the Transitional Government of National Unity to implement the peace agreement,” he said.

Gai's recent appointment, however, drew mixed reactions from members of the public.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

July 24, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia's earnings from remittances is growing in at unprecedented levels, the country's Foreign Affairs ministry has officially announced.

The Grand Renaissance Dam is under construction on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. (Photo AFP/William Lloyd-George)

Demeke Atnafu, the Director General of the Diaspora Engagement at the ministry said the country received $ 4 billion in remittances in the first 10 months of the year.

The remittances secured during the10 months have surpassed the total income gained from remittances in 2015, according to the data from the foreign affairs ministry.

In 2015, the Horn of African nation reportedly received $3.7 billion from remittances.

Demeke said the amount of remittance exceeded the country's export trade earnings over the same period. The official, however, disclosed that the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with stakeholders was working to enhance Diaspora investment.

The announcements come as Ethiopia prepares to celebrate the second annual Diaspora Day. The event which is believed to create a key platform to enhance Diaspora investment and boost remittance earnings.

Thousands of members of the Ethiopian Diaspora community are expected to take part in the 2nd Diaspora Day festivity.

Ethiopia says its remittance service still stands at lower level compared to other countries and it intends to maximize it in coming few years.

Ethiopia blames illegal migration as main factor hampering efforts to elevate remittance as illegal migrants won't be able to send money legally hence residence and work permits are required to do so.

According to the World Bank, Ethiopia remittance inflow study indicates the country earns at least 3.2 billion dollars yearly.

The country's remittances are expected to expand by 50% over the next three years,

The United States, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom are top three countries from which Ethiopians abroad send money to their families and relatives back home.

In Ethiopia, most money transfers are made through remittance agents and banks but many others receive remittances through a number of informal channels.

According to a World Bank's report released in April, remittances to developing countries saw a slight grow in 2015 as weak oil prices and other factors strained the earnings of international migrants and their ability to send money to their families.

Remittances to developing countries, according to World Bank, amounted to $431.6 billion in 2015, an increase of 0.4 percent over $430 billion in 2014, slowest growth since the global financial crisis.

Currently, India is the world's largest remittance recipient attracting about $69 billion in remittances in 2015, down from $70 billion in 2014. Other large recipients in 2015 were China ($64 billion), the Philippines ($28 billion), Mexico ($25 billion), and Nigeria ($21 billion).

(ST)

July 24, 2016 (JUBA) – The leadership of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), led by First Vice President, Riek Machar, said their party and its leadership had remained intact despite recent “illegal” attempt by outsiders to snatch and claim it.

“The leadership of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) is intact. The illegal attempt by outsiders to claim it has been aborted,” said James Gatdet Dak, Machar spokesperson.

“What happened in Juba in a hotel on July 23, 2016, organized by a dismissed member, Honourable Taban Deng Gai, was an act of terrorism, during which three senior officials of our party were held hostage in their Crown Hotel and were intimidated and forced against their will to nominate him as acting First Vice President of the Transitional Government of National Unity and Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLM/SPLM (IO), or else President Salva Kiir's security operatives would have dealt with them,” he added.

He said their party's secretary general, Dhieu Mathok Diing Wol, was severely beaten a week before in the hotel when his position was known to have been against activities of Gai, adding this has made the SPLM-IO ministers and officials remaining in Juba to fear for their lives.

Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, a supporter of Taban Deng Gai, announced on Saturday that President Kiir was going to appoint Gai on that Saturday as acting First Vice President and take oath of office on Sunday and start his official work on Monday.

Machar's spokesperson, Dak, said President Kiir has made a wise decision by not acting to also illegally appoint Taban Deng Gai as acting First Vice President to replace his recognized peace partner, Riek Machar, saying appointing Gai would have shown to the world that President Kiir meant to destroy the peace agreement and was part of the conspiracy which Gai was used to implement.

He said President Kiir should further act in accordance with the request from his first deputy to relieve Taban Deng Gai for his position as minister of Mining, saying the agreement has provided powers to the First Vice President to recommend to the President to replace any of his ministers he nominated to the transitional government.

Dak argued that as the head of state whose responsibility is to protect institutions and abide by the peace agreement, President Kiir should not be trapped into condemnation by allowing for illegal and fraudulent replacement of his first deputy, as this would destroy the peace deal.

“I believe that if President Salva Kiir respects institutions which his government has created as well as the transitional leadership of the transitional government and wants the peace agreement to be implemented without hiccups, he should relieve Honourable Taban Deng Gai as requested by the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar,” he added.

He seriously condemned the process carried out at Crown Hotel in Juba to “fraudulently” replace Machar, saying the process only amounted to “a hotel good time party by random invitees” and not an institutional process of the SPLM/SPLA (IO).

The opposition leader's spokesman narrated that Gai was dismissed from the party by his chairman a day before forging the meeting, and therefore was no longer a member of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) as he already defected to President Kiir's faction by his own actions.

He also argued that even if Gai were to remain a member of the party, there was no quorum of the leaderships of the political bureau or the national liberation council in Juba to convene a meeting, adding that Gai got only one member willingly and forced other three senior officials out of 23 members of the political bureau.

Over 90 percent of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) leadership bodies, he said, have been dispersed by the recent fighting, and are either with Machar in the bush, or in United Nations camps in Juba, or in the other parts of the country, or in the neighbouring countries.

He further explained that the peace agreement has not also provided for a temporary replacement of the First Vice President or the Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLM/SPLA.

“The peace agreement has instead given powers to the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, to delegate one of his ministers to temporarily act on his behalf in his absence if need be. It is like when the vice president acts when the president is absent. This does not need replacement, or appointment or taking oath of office in order to temporarily act. We also have our deputy chairman, General Alfred Ladu Gore, who is in Juba,” he added.

A senior official who is loyal to President Salva Kiir told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that the “smartest way” President Kiir should behave now is by not appointing Taban Deng Gai to replace Riek Machar as First Vice President so that he distanced himself from the internal power struggle within the SPLM-IO and to avoid being condemned by the international community for either being behind the conspiracy or supporting Taban Deng Gai to destroy the peace agreement.

He said the President is likely relieve Gai from his post as Minister of Mining in show of acting as the head of state who respects the agreement and decisions made by his first deputy who is mandated by the peace agreement to replace his party's ministers in the cabinet.

“President Kiir himself said he saved Machar at the palace during the fighting two weeks ago. This has clearly indicated that he wants to continue to work with him. He should continue to show this to the world by maintaining him as his first deputy, otherwise if he acts contrary to this the reading will be different,” the official said.

Machar fled the capital two weeks ago and said he relocated to outside of Juba due to fear for his safety and to avoid further clashes between his forces and those loyal to President Kiir after four days of fighting in Juba.

He said he will return to Juba immediately after a third party force is deployed in the capital to separate rival forces and provide security and protection for the leadership and the citizens exposed to danger.

(ST)

July 24, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - A child had died and six others fell sick on Friday after eating liquid substance from explosive remnants of war in Kalmando area, North Darfur state.

Ten-year-old Suleiman Fatul Saim from the Dar Al Salam IDPs camp in North Darfur poses for UNAMID photographer Albert González Farran in El Fasher on 2 April 2013 . He suffered burns to more than 90% of his body when his brother detonated a device that he found near their house in November 2006.

Commissioner of Kalmando locality Al-Hadi Ahmed Hassan told Sudan Tribune that several young children stumbled across an ERW containing yellow substance while they were playing near a former army camp, saying they ate the substance out of curiosity which led to the death of a child by the name of Mustafa Asil.

He added that six others fell sick including 7-year old Haneen Ismail, 8-year old Haytham Abdalla abdel-Rahman, 6-year old Yazid Ahmed Mohamed Adam, 6-year old Murtada Hamid Ahmed Ali and 3-year old Abu Zar Ishaq Ismail.

Hassan pointed that the children suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting after they ate the yellow substance and were rushed to Wada'a Hospital in Kalmando and from there to El-Fasher Teaching Hospital, saying Asil died on the way to the hospital.

The armed conflict between government forces and Darfur rebels which has been ongoing since 2003 has left huge numbers of Unexploded Ordinances (UXOs) across Darfur region. Children are the main victims of UXOs.

On July 8th, two children were killed and their sister was seriously wounded by a UXO in Malit locality, 60 km north of North Darfur capital, El-Fasher.

Last June, a child was killed and two others were wounded when an RPG-7 grenade detonated in Zam Zam IDPs camp, 15 km south of El Fasher.

Also, last March, two nomadic boys were killed and two others were wounded when an UXO detonated in Um Sadir village, 60 km north Kutum Locality in North Darfur state.

Several voluntary organizations are making efforts to raise awareness of the dangers of the UXOs and the neglected military equipments in Darfur.

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