Africa

How Israel flew 14,000 people to safety in two days

Shea butter is made by women across sub-Saharan Africa's rural Sahel regions, including parts of Ghana.

The Security Council today stressed the importance of strengthening the existing cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union (AU), a regional organization described by a senior UN official as “the most important peacekeeping partner.”

The United Nations Independent Investigation in Burundi, which was set up to investigate human rights violations in the country since April 2015, said today it has completed the deployment of a team of human rights monitors on the ground.

Human Rights Watch

For Immediate Release

South Sudan: Civilians Killed, Tortured in Western Region
Provide Justice for Army Abuses in Western Regions

(Nairobi, May 24, 2016) – South Sudanese government soldiers have carried out a wide range of often-deadly attacks on civilians in and around the western town of Wau, Human Rights Watch said today. Soldiers have killed, tortured, raped, and detained civilians and looted and burned down homes.

The abuses in the Western Bahr el Ghazal region took place during government counterinsurgency operations that intensified after an August 2015 peace deal. The attacks underscore the need for the national unity government to take immediate steps toward accountability for crimes by all warring parties since the start of South Sudan's conflict in December 2013.

“With all eyes on the new national unity government in Juba, government soldiers have been literally getting away with murder in the country's western regions,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The new government should immediately call a halt to the abuse, free all arbitrarily detained civilians, and support the creation of a war crimes court that can investigate and prosecute those responsible, including at the highest levels of authority.”

Since December 2015, newly deployed, mostly Dinka, soldiers from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) have attacked ethnic Fertit civilians in villages and neighborhoods of the town of Wau.

The abuses have forced tens of thousands of people to flee, leaving villages and entire neighborhoods empty, Human Rights Watch found during a research mission to Wau in April 2016. In the neighboring region of Western Equatoria, Human Rights Watch documented the army's similarly abusive counterinsurgency tactics, also along ethnic lines, in February 2016.

A surge in abuses began in late December and continued into the spring, after large numbers of new soldiers from Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap were deployed in and around Wau. Local authorities told Human Rights Watch that the deployment was part of a counterinsurgency operation against mostly Fertit rebels based southwest of Wau.

Human Rights Watch documented numerous killings, most of which were reportedly committed by the newly-deployed Dinka soldiers. On April 9, researchers visiting Wau hospital saw the body of a man whom witnesses had seen soldiers shoot dead, in apparent retaliation for the killing of a soldier earlier that day by civilians. Shortly after the man was killed, the soldiers also killed two brothers and wounded their sister, again in retaliation, witnesses said.

On February 18, government forces retreating from combat with rebels outside of Wau fired indiscriminately on civilians in mostly Fertit neighbourhoods, killing at least two men in front of a police station, including a Fertit policeman. Later that day, near the same police post, witnesses said a soldier executed three young Fertit men on the basis of their ethnicity.

Soldiers have also unlawfully detained scores of Fertit men for up to five months, without charge or access to legal assistance, in two facilities, one of them within Wau's main military barrack, behind the commander's office. Former detainees told Human Rights Watch that they saw inmates die in detention.

At least eight former detainees said they were kept in cramped cells and forced to sleep next to a latrine, exposing them to various skin parasites. Most said they were beaten with electric wires or rubber tubes, often while their arms were tightly tied behind their backs for hours; others reported being given electric shocks.

“There's a machine they connect you to and it makes your body shiver,” recalled a 25-year-old man who was detained for more than three months after he was accused of milling grain for rebels in his village. “It has electricity. They took me to the machine and put the wires on me.”

The soldiers also attacked civilians and committed abuses during operations outside of Wau in December in the villages of Moimoi, Ngumba, and Khorkanda, among others. Witnesses said soldiers attacked, burned, and looted houses and killed civilians, including two elderly women who had been unable to flee before the troops arrived.

The soldiers are under the command of Chief of General Staff Paul Malong and two other senior officers - Lieutenant General Jok Riak and Major General Attayib Gatluak Taitai – all of whom also held positions of command over troops who conducted a brutal offensive in Unity state last year.

Since late 2015, local authorities, including the governor of the newly created Wau state, Elias Waya Nyipuoch, and community leaders have been reporting the spate of abuses to the army and other national government officials. While the three commanders would have known about the reported abuses since at least that time, they took no steps to investigate them or to prevent further abuses.

However, in March, President Salva Kiir sent a fact-finding commission composed of high-ranking officials on a week-long mission to Wau. The commission met with victims and witnesses and with the army, and sought to reconcile communities, according to a member who spoke to Human Rights Watch. But it has yet to submit its findings to President Kiir and the abuses have continued.

In a letter to Human Rights Watch dated May 5, the SPLA categorically denied the findings that Human Rights Watch had presented in a meeting – specifically, allegations of indiscriminate killings of civilians, arbitrary arrests or looting and destruction of property.

In early May, following months of complaints by community leaders and local authorities and a condemnation of the crimes by United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNMISS, South Sudan's army moved the soldiers out of positions in and around Wau town, residents reported. However, beyond establishing the fact-finding commission, the SPLA and other government authorities have failed to criminally investigate or prosecute the alleged crimes.

The new national unity government should ask the African Union (AU) to promptly establish the hybrid tribunal envisioned in the August 2015 peace agreement to try serious crimes in South Sudan. National authorities should also investigate and fairly prosecute human rights violations. The UN peacekeeping mission should also report publicly on the abuses and the government's response.

“South Sudan's top army commanders need to rein in their forces, thoroughly investigate abuses and ensure that those responsible for abusing civilians are fairly held to account,” Bekele said. “They should know that they too could face international and criminal sanctions if they don't take concrete action in accordance with the law.”

For more details, please see below.

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on South Sudan, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/africa/south-sudan

For more information, please contact:
In New York, Jehanne Henry (English, French): +1-917-443-2724 (mobile); or henryj@hrw.org. Twitter: @JehanneHenry
In Amsterdam, Leslie Lefkow (English): +31-6-21597356 (mobile); or lefkowl@hrw.org. Twitter @LefkowHRW
In Brussels, Lotte Leicht (English, French, German, Danish, Swedish): +32-475-681708; or leichtl@hrw.org. Twitter: @LotteLeicht1

Conflict Dynamics in Western Bahr el-Ghazal

Decades-old tensions between the Fertit, a collection of local ethnic groups, and the Dinka, cattle-herders who have migrated to Wau from neighbouring areas in search of grazing land, flared anew in late 2012, following a decision by then-governor Rizik Zakaria to move Wau county's administrative headquarters outside of Wau. Many Fertit felt that they had not been consulted and that the move would marginalize them.

In December 2012, security forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrators protesting the move, leading to eight deaths. Other civilians, both Dinka and Fertit, were killed in revenge attacks following the protests. Authorities arrested scores of people, and sentenced dozens to prison for various crimes following trials that were marred by due process concerns. Authorities did not investigate or prosecute security forces for the protester killings.

The wider conflict in South Sudan, which began in December 2013, further polarized communities in Wau along ethnic and political lines. On April 24, 2014, Nuer and Dinka soldiers and trainees clashed at the SPLA barracks in Mapel, 60 kilometers east of Wau. Following these clashes, a group of Nuer defectors fled to ethnic Fertit areas of Western Bahr el Ghazal, witnesses and UN staff reported, strengthening perceptions of the Fertit as anti-government.

By early 2015, opposition forces including Nuer and Fertit armed groups established a presence in Western Bahr el Ghazal. In May and June, they attacked the towns of Bazia and Farajallah, south and southwest of Wau, residents reported, then clashed repeatedly with the government forces into early 2016, despite the signing of the peace agreement in August 2015.

As in Western Equatoria, South Sudan's army has conducted heavy-handed military operations to root out rebels while at the same time denying opposition forces were formally present in the area. Opposition forces in both regions have claimed to have official cantonment sites as defined in the security arrangements under the August peace agreement. On November 24, 2015, Fertit activists published a petition denouncing arrests, crimes and abuses by SPLA in Wau. Thirteen people who signed were arrested by national security authorities, then released a few days later after apologizing for the petition.

In December, Major General Attayib Gatluak “Taitai,” the commander who oversaw a bloody government offensive in Unity state in 2015, was appointed as head of the SPLA Division 5, in charge of Wau state. Local authorities told Human Rights Watch that the army's chief of general staff, Paul Malong Awan, deployed additional troops to the area under Taitai's command from Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap states shortly after his appointment.

Local authorities and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch described the new troops as especially abusive.

Attacks on Civilians Outside of Wau

Displaced people from the towns of Moimoi, Ngumba, Khorkanda, and Busseri to the south of Wau, told Human Rights Watch that government soldiers whom they identified as “new forces” came to their villages in late December and began looting and burning their houses, and killing some of their relatives.

The operations targeted areas south and west of Wau where the government suspected rebels were operating. Non-governmental organizations and international actors in the area reported that the rebels had a base at Mvokongo, about 60 kilometers into the bush southwest of Wau.

One witness from Moimoi, a 63-year-old man, told Human Rights Watch that soldiers deployed between Moimoi and Busseri arrested four young men in his village, accusing them of being rebels: “On December 25, after people came out of the church, they arrested four youths. They said [the youths] were rebels, but in fact they were students.” The following days, soldiers beat villagers demanding to know the whereabouts of the rebels, burned hundreds of houses, and killed at least five people.

In Khorkanda and Ngumba, smaller villages south of Moimoi, witnesses said soldiers also killed civilians and looted and burned several dozen houses in December and January. UNMISS staff, among others, confirmed they had seen evidence of SPLA operations around this area at this time, although they did not witness the actions of the soldiers in the villages.

A 64-year-old man from Khorkanda, a smaller village near Moimoi, said that most of the villagers fled when soldiers arrived, but that an elderly woman he called his grandmother was too old to flee and was found dead when the villagers returned: “When the situation calmed down in the evening, we returned and saw that she had been beaten to death next to a tree. Her head was crushed.” When he went back to his house two days later to pick-up remaining food with his 11-year-old son, soldiers shot at them: “As we fled, they shot my son and he died. I could hear him cry behind me but I couldn't stop running.”

During the same period a group of about 30 soldiers entered the village of Ngumba, a short distance from Khorkanda, and looted and burned the village. “They collected our things and burned our houses,” said a 42-year-old man. “Those who resisted or could not move were killed. My grandmother tried to flee and was shot just outside the hut.”

Soldiers also attacked civilians in villages west of Wau. A 55-year-old woman said that soldiers came to her village, Gwalengbo B, in March 2016 and shot her 60-year-old husband in the stomach and her 29-year-old son in the neck: “We were at home and then we heard shooting and we hit the ground and crawled away when a group of soldiers came in. There was no reason for them to target us.”

At least 38,000 people have been registered by aid organizations as having been displaced by fighting and abuses in predominantly Fertit areas southwest of Wau.

Killing, Rape, Looting in Wau

Wau residents, including local and state authorities, told Human Rights Watch that abuses increased inside the town after the new soldiers deployed, particularly in areas near checkpoints leading west and south out of town, but also in Fertit areas inside town.

They described repeated harassment, looting and assaults, including killings and rapes. Many were forced to flee their homes to other parts of town. Several Fertit neighborhoods remained largely empty with some burned out houses when Human Rights Watch visited in April.

A young teacher living in the Hai Khamsin neighborhood, near a checkpoint, said that soldiers came to his house on March 21, beat him and looted his belongings, forcing him to relocate to another part of town: “They came in and put my face down to the ground. They took my money and my phone. I told them that I am a teacher but they would not listen. They said I was a rebel…”

In another example, soldiers looted homes near the Lokoloko area near a checkpoint after their commander told residents to leave in February. “Then they started to loot the doors and zinc roofs,” said a 40-year-old woman. “We saw that. Now our house is occupied by two soldiers.”

Soldiers shot and killed town residents on several occasions. On April 9, in an incident that highlighted tensions between the military and civilians, soldiers shot dead a Jur moto-taxi driver and two Fertit brothers and wounded their sister. The attacks were apparently in retaliation against residents in the Jebel Khair area after a group killed a drunken soldier during a dispute between the soldier and a local bar owner.

The wounded woman said that she confronted the soldiers, asking why they killed her brothers. “They replied: ‘You are lucky that you are woman,' and they shot me in the leg.”

On March 24, the burned remains of a motorcycle taxi driver, hands tied behind his back, were found behind the Catholic church. Witnesses said the men who killed him had detained him in a compound near the church occupied by soldiers, though researchers could not confirm whether the men were soldiers.

Human Rights Watch also heard several allegations of rapes by soldiers in recent months.

Three soldiers raped a 60-year-old woman in April just outside of Wau, while her nephew was forced to watch, the woman's niece said: “The soldiers asked the nephew if it was good or bad what they were doing to the auntie and he was forced to say it was good. They took turns raping her and then left and she had to struggle to get to the main road.”

In another case, a father told Human Rights Watch that five soldiers raped his 28-year-old daughter, who was two-months pregnant, in the Hai Kosti neighborhood on New Year's Eve: “They took her to a compound and raped her. Her boyfriend, who is the father of the baby, was with her. He was badly beaten.” After the family reported the case to the police and the woman received medical care, soldiers at a nearby checkpoint detained both her and her father for several hours, and declared that there had been no rape, the father said.

February Violence in Wau

In mid-February 2016, soldiers killed at least a dozen civilians and injured several others amid violence between Dinka and Fertit communities in Wau and clashes outside of town.

On February 14, new army reinforcements came into the town from neighboring states. On February 17, in response to the ambush of a supply pick-up truck on the road to Bazia, soldiers moved out of town toward the west, local residents said.

In the village of Natabo, west of Wau, a 36-year-old man said that soldiers had killed his young brother and a friend on February 17:

“Five or six land-cruisers and a tank arrived and they began a house-to-house search. My mother and younger sister escaped, but my brother and his friend were in another hut. The soldiers found them and shot them dead. A woman saw the soldiers kill them and shouted, ‘Why do you kill them?' They replied: ‘We're looking for young men.'”

On February 18, groups of Dinka youths armed with machetes and sticks moved from the Souq Jow market to the Hai Kalvario and Hai Falata areas of Wau, near the western exit of the city, following reports that four Dinka had been found dead. There, the Dinka youths clashed with Fertit youths.

That evening, as the soldiers returned to Wau from their western offensive, they began torching houses near the Lokoloko checkpoint and then intervened in the fighting, on behalf of their fellow Dinka, witnesses said.

They said the soldiers fired indiscriminately on civilians in predominantly Fertit neighborhoods and killed several civilians. In one incident in Hai Kalvario, they opened fire in a street and killed at least two men and injured two others next to a police station.

One survivor recalled: “I was walking near a police station. When I crossed the road, I saw a group of about 25 soldiers shooting at people. I was trying to cross the road to get to safety, and I was shot at. The soldiers searched all the bodies. […] I pretended they had killed me. One soldier took my wallet. Others looted the police station.”

That evening, another group of soldiers killed three other young men in the same neighborhood after demanding to know their ethnicity. The father of two of the boys said that a soldier approached his sons to verify whether they were Fertit. “Then the soldier whistled and two other soldiers came. One of them immediately shot my sons and their friend dead,” he said.

During and following these events, soldiers entered both main hospitals in Wau, looking for patients with gunshot wounds whom they accused of being rebels, local officials and hospital staff said. On February 18, the soldiers forcibly removed two wounded men and took them to military detention, despite protests by the senior medical staff and the deputy governor, Major General Andrea Dominic. The army then detained the deputy governor, reportedly on orders from Malong, the chief of general staff, accusing the deputy governor of supporting the rebels. He remains in detention in Juba.

Harassment of medical staff has continued, and soldiers beat a staff member. Since the February events, staff began to refuse to spend the nights at the hospital for security reasons, leaving the patients on their own.

Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Enforced Disappearances

Government soldiers have targeted ethnic Fertit males for arbitrary detention, holding scores of men in military barracks without charge, often for long periods.

Based on interviews with eight former detainees and the relative of a current detainee, soldiers engaged in clear patterns of abuse, arresting men based on their ethnicity and holding them either at the Jebel Akhdar or Grinti military detention facilities.

Most of the detainees said they were arrested in the street or at their home, badly beaten, and then held under the pretext that they are rebels or rebel supporters. Some were released only after relatives or friends paid large sums of money to the soldiers. None were charged with any criminal offense.

The military should not detain civilians. International and South Sudanese laws require providing anyone detained with access to counsel, medical and family visits, and either charging them promptly with a criminal offense or releasing them – within 24 hours under South Sudan law. The SPLA in its May 5 letter to Human Rights Watch denied that any civilians were in military custody, claiming that all detainees were either captured “prisoners of war” or unlawful combatants, all of whom were registered with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The former detainees reported dire conditions of detention, beatings and torture, and deaths of other detainees.

A 30-year-old man who came to Wau in October 2015 to sell sorghum and charcoal said that three plain-clothes Dinka men arrested him and took him to Jebel Akhdar, a military intelligence detention center. There, he was harshly beaten for three days:

“Upon arrival, they forced me into a grain bag and beat me with their gun butts and boots. The second and third days, they tied me by my wrists and ankles to two poles and lashed me. They wanted me to confess that I was a rebel. I said no and they increased the beating.”

After two weeks at Jebel Akhdar, sleeping in an overcrowded cell, the man was transferred to the Grinti barracks, where he was beaten and tortured for four months.

He said he saw fellow detainees die: “Whenever the ICRC or government officials would come to visit Grinti, they would hide some of us for days in the administrative store. Once, five detainees died of exhaustion and thirst in there. They left their bodies with us in the store for two days.”

Several former detainees at Grinti said that at night they or others were blindfolded and individually taken to a separate room within the barracks compound. There, they would be beaten or given electric shocks.

A 21-year-old moto-taxi driver said he was asked by a soldier to drive him to Grinti on March 24. When they arrived at the barracks, the soldier accused him of being a rebel and detained him. He said he was held for four days and tortured, then released without charge: “At night, they blindfolded me and took me to a room. For an hour, they beat me with a stick and rubber and asked me about the rebels.” The soldiers did not return his motorbike.

A 42-year-old man who spent two months in detention at Grinti said that soldiers gave him a choice between a beating or electric shocks. “They said to me, ‘Are you chai bi laban ow chai saa'da?' [Are you tea with milk or plain tea?]. I learned later that tea with milk means to be electrocuted and plain tea is beating.”

Another former detainee said he was tied to a chair after a beating, and given electric shocks: “They would take off my shirt and put sticks on my groin for 2 or 3 seconds and I would bend and shiver on the chair. Then they would ask me questions.” A 43-year-old teacher who was also detained said: “The other prisoners said I was lucky because when they arrested me, the electricity machine was broken.”

In another case, two men in their 20s said they had been arrested on January 1, 2016, and detained in Grinti for 11 days. Their detention appears linked to an incident in which a soldier was harassed and then raped during New Year's Eve celebrations.

One of the men said: “Upon arrival, we were lashed with electric wire and they beat us with their boots. My friend was bleeding. They slapped me so hard that I could not hear for several days.” For the first two days, he said, like many other detainees, he was forced to sleep in the cell's latrine quarter. Though not necessarily politically motivated, their detention underscores the military's practice of abusing and torturing detainees.

In March, following pressure by the governor and a visit to Grinti by the national fact-finding commission, a number of detainees were released, but only after their relatives paid up to 1500 South Sudanese pounds (about US $60 at present exchange rates) to soldiers to secure their release. Despite SPLA denials that it was detaining civilians, Human Rights Watch, based on its research and witness accounts, believes that a number of civilians remained in arbitrary detention in Grinti as of mid-April.

Human Rights Watch also documented at least six cases of enforced disappearance. In one case, a 30-year-old engineer, Michaelangelo Mangu, was forcibly disappeared after SPLA arrested him in February in Hai Khamsin. “We looked for him everywhere, with the security, the governor, and we have had no luck,” a colleague of his said. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Another man said that three of his cousins were arrested at the Lokoloko checkpoint on February 21 as they made their way back to Wau on motorbikes: “They were initially detained by the side of the road. We went to the commissioner of Wau and opened a case with police and went to the mayor and the governor ... Until now we have received no feedback. Some people think they were killed on the day of their arrest.” They remain unaccounted for, he said.

Under international law, an enforced disappearance occurs when the authorities take an individual into custody but refuse to acknowledge doing so or do not provide information about the detainee's whereabouts or fate. Enforced disappearances constitute a serious crime under international law and are prohibited under any circumstance. They may also constitute a crime against humanity, as well as a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Among the rights an enforced disappearance may violate are those to life, liberty, and security of the person, including protection from torture and other ill-treatment.

Criminal and Command Responsibility

The headquarters of the SPLA's Sector 1 and Division 5 are in the Grinti military barracks north of the town.

Sector 1 is commanded by Lt General Gabriel Jok Riak, who has been under UN sanctions since July 2015 for breaches of the cessation of hostilities agreement and obstructing international organizations from accessing affected areas. The sector oversees the 3rd, 4th and 5th divisions. Division 5 is deployed to operate in Wau and Lol, Western Bahr el-Ghazal's two newly created states, and to defend the country's northwestern border with Sudan.

In December, Malong, the chief of general staff, appointed Major General Taitai, as Division 5 commander. Prior to his appointment, Taitai oversaw an extremely abusive government scorched-earth offensive in Unity state and turned a blind eye to the use and recruitment of child soldiers as Division 4 commander.

At the same time, the army also deployed new forces to Wau from the neighboring states of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap. Several people interviewed, including two former SPLA officers, said those units consisted largely of Dinka, who were untrained, dressed in ragtag fatigues and especially aggressive. The SPLA's spokesperson told Human Rights Watch that the new soldiers in Wau were drawn from the SPLA Division 3, headquartered in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and commanded by Major General Santino Deng Wol – also under UN sanction since July 2015, for breach of the cessation of hostilities agreement and violations of international humanitarian law.

The soldiers did not respond to requests by the governor of the newly created Wau state, Eyias Waya Nyipuoch, to allow aid groups access to affected areas. Most of his complaints to commanders about their abuses also remained unanswered. In early January, Governor Nyipuoch began to publicly denounce the abuses, established a state-level investigation, and reported findings to the national government. In March, the national government sent a fact-finding commission that included high-level military and civilian officials to Wau. It has yet to release its findings.

State officials have also made Major General Taitai the Division 5 commander and Malong the chief of general staff, aware of the serious allegations of misconduct, crimes and abuses by government forces. In April, during the Human Rights Watch visit, Malong was personally overseeing a military operation including the use of attack helicopters in the Wau area. The SPLA Act of 2009 provides that the chief of general staff is responsible for “the development of operational plans, deployment of forces and command of the SPLA on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief,” as well as for “convening a General Court Martial, when appropriate.”

International humanitarian law requires army commanders who know or had reason to know of abuses and crimes about to be or committed by their subordinates to take preventive or reparative actions. Failure to take all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or punish abuses carried out by troops under their effective control can leave commanders criminally responsible for the acts of their subordinates.

With two-thirds of Africans expected to live in cities by 2050, how Africa urbanizes will be critical to the continent’s future growth and development, a new report presented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has found.

The women who make shea butter for beauty products

The east African country of Eritrea is celebrating 25 years since it became independent from Ethiopia and the milestone is being marked with street parades in the capital Asmara.

Eritrea celebrates independence war tactics 25 years on

May 23, 2016 (JUBA) – Military spokesperson of a co-national army in South Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), has refuted allegations that their forces had attacked locations of their partners, the SPLA under the command of President Salva Kiir.

Lt. Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, the chief of staff of the SPLA-IO, talks to the press at a rebel military site in Juba on April 25, 2016 (Photo AFP/Charles Lomodong)

Colonel William Gatjiath Deng, in a statement he circulated on social media on Monday, said their forces had become co-national army of the transitional government of national unity and would have no reason to attack their colleagues, the SPLA.

“Now SPLA-IO has become a part of the current government and completely there would be no genuine reason for SPLA-IO to fight the SPLA, IG at all,” said Col. Deng.

On Friday, the spokesperson of the SPLA of the former government, Brig. Lul Ruai Koang, lashed at the SPLA-IO leadership, accusing it of attacking their positions near Bentiu, capital of Unity state.

General Koang also described SPLA-IO commanders as “idiots” in his press statement, prompting the response from his counter-part, Col Deng.

“I am sure SPLA-IO generals are not idiots as you [Koang] put it on your naïve press release issued on Friday at Bilpham, we are here to implement this agreement as it is in the book, and they are professional generals that is why they have delivered you this lasting peace,” he said.

He also said SPLA-IO has forces in Equatoria and Bahr el Ghazal regions, contrary to what the SPLA spokesperson refused to recognize.

General Koang, who was SPLA-IO's spokesperson for nearly two years before rejoining President Salva Kiir's government in a dubious deal in 2015, once argued that SPLA-IO had forces in Equatoria region, indicated by his previous infamous press statement entitled, “It has exploded in Equatoria” which he circulated to the media last year.

His former colleague, but currently opponent, Col Deng, said it was better to “ignore” Brig. Koang's statement, although he also said it needed analysis.

“I would like to inform the general public that, such incited and abusive language always used by the then Spokesman, needs to be analyzed and ignored as the country is ready to live in peace rather than to use antagonistic and horrible speeches,” he added.

He said it was the government forces which attacked positions of opposition forces in Rubkotni county in Unity state, or the newly created Northern Liech state.

(ST)

May 23, 2016 (BOR/JUBA) – Thousands of Ethiopian troops who have crossed into South Sudan have entered Pibor county of the newly created Buma state in search of abducted children from the Ethiopian Nuer community by the South Sudan's Murle ethnic group.

A top Ethiopian diplomat, Ambassador Fesseha Shawel Gebre, has revealed that the troops will continue to pursue the Murle criminals until all the children abducted have been recovered and returned to their parents back in Ethiopia.

Last month, thousands of armed members of the Murle ethnic group crossed into Ethiopia and simultaneously attacked 13 villages belong to the Nuer community in Ethiopia, killing at least 200 people, abducting over 100 kids and took away also with over 2,000 heads of cattle.

Ethiopia responded by deploying troops to rescue the children, threatening to attack suspected targets within South Sudan should the Murle community not hand over all the kids.

Ambassador Gebre said the deployment of the Ethiopian troops inside South Sudan has been approved by the South Sudanese government, stressing that the move was important in order not to strain relations between the two neighbouring countries.

He said no order has been issued by the Ethiopian government to begin the attack as two governors of Gambella region in Ethiopia, Gatluak Tut Khot, and governor of Boma state in South Sudan, Baba Bedan, have been peacefully trying to recover the children.

“The Ethiopian troops are in the soil of South Sudan with the permission of the government of South Sudan to facilitate work for the governors on the two sides," Ambassador Gebre told a local newspaper on Monday in Juba.

He said the Ethiopian troops may shoulder the operations as South Sudanese troops were not capable for the joint operations given the difficulty of the terrain in Boma state.

"That area is very remote and access is difficult including crossing the rivers. It is the army of Ethiopia that is best placed and equipped with the infrastructure to rescue the children,” he said.

56 children have been rescued and returned to Ethiopia so far. That is about half of the number of people abducted following the raid.

But Ambassador Gebre said the raiders should be brought to books. He said Ethiopia expected "cooperation from Juba" to avoid the cross border military incursion.

PUNISH THE CRIMINALS

Meanwhile, Boma state administration announced a plan to persecute the raiders, and child abductors belonging to the Murle ethnic group, saying at least 50 criminals have been identified and awaiting prosecution.

Boma state governor, Baba Medan, made the remarks after he visited the Ethiopian region of Gambella to normalize security tensions between his state and Gambella region.

“On the 15th of April, a group of criminals from my state went and attacked people of Gambella. According to the reports, over 100 children were abducted and 2,000 cattle stolen,” he said.

“We, the government of South Sudan and government of Boma state are committed to bring these children. The directive from the president [Salva Kiir] was very clear that we have to work out this issue of children so that we hand them over to their parents,” he said.

Governor Bedan revealed that he had asked the governor of Gambella region, Gatluak Tut Khot, to give him time to recover all the abducted kids.

“I went to meet the President of Gambella region to give us another time for us to collect cattle and the remaining children. I hope very soon, we will be able to collect and hand over these children to their government,” he said.

Although no arrest has been made, possible majors of bringing them to justice would be drafted after Ethiopian children and cattle have all been returned.

“These criminals made a mistake to cross the border and steal cattle and children from Ethiopia. It is our mistake; we will ask the criminal to pay these numbers of cattle according to the report. Even if the number of cattle is 1,000 and they are claiming for 2,000 heads of cattle, we have to collect two 2,000 from these criminals,” lamented the governor.

The Ethiopian troops had again entered Raat, seeking approval from Boma state to allow them to pass through to Lamurnyang state, pursuing the cattle.

According to Medan, he denied to grant passage of Ethiopian troops to former Eastern Equartoria state, particularly the current Namurnyang state in an attempt to pursue their stolen heads of cattle.

However, the Ethiopian troops may act unilaterally should there be no cooperation or success in recovering all the human and animals raided from their country.

(ST)

May 23, 2016 (YEI) - A leading civil society entity in South Sudan's Yei River state has expressed concerns over the increasing presence of soldiers who move with guns among the civil population in Yei town.

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

Centre for Democracy and Development raised the matter this week.

Felix Dara, the organisation's program manager said the presence of the army in town largely explains the rampant cases of insecurity, lootings, harassment, intimidation and even killing of innocent civilians.

Last week, a soldier shot and wounded an international medical doctor in Yei. Sr. Veronica Rackova later died at a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.

"It is very unfortunate to see that our SPLA [Sudan People's Liberation Army] soldiers who are meant to protect the lives of the people turned the guns on to civilians is very pain full, ” Dara told Sudan Tribune.

He demanded that the army be relocated out of Yei town to enable the authorities track down those criminals intimidating and killing civilians.

"We equally demand that the army except the joint patrol force must be relocated outside the town. They are really causing a security threat to the people of this town. We have a number of cases of people being arrested, intimidated and time has come for all these forces to be out of the town”, stressed Dara.

The officials further urged the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) to speed up allocation of cantonment areas for all the armed forces to enable smooth implementation of the peace accord.

"We equally demand that the security arrangement within the provision of the compromise peace agreement needed to be operationalized especially the issue of cantonment sites and this will enable the authorities to identify who these bandits are,” said Dara.

Meanwhile the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Yei, Erkolano Ladu Tombe urged the government, especially the army commanders, to ensure that soldiers under their command are controlled and guided.

“We need security. Security of lives, not security of things, animals, goats, trees and land. And we are telling the security to arrest those people who go out of hand, otherwise you security will be failing in your service to the people and the nation in securing the lives of the people”, he said.

“To the army commanders”, he added, “Don't let soldiers just go about robbing and killing people on the road. You our commanders command our soldiers and please control and punish them when they abuse civilians whom they are supposed to keep safe. Our government should keep the nation in peace; don't let the nation go into pieces [again]”.

The deputy governor of Yei River state, Abraham Wani vowed to ensure that soldiers who undermine the laws are brought to face books of law.

"Yei River County with a team of lawers have started the investigation and these soldiers will face the law accordingly”, he said.

May 24, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and China signed, Monday, an agreement to construct the first nuclear powerhouse in the east African country.

Members of the Chinese delegation for the first meeting of the joint energy cooperation commission in Khartoum on 23 May 2016 (Photo SUNA)

The framework agreement to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy in Sudan was inked following the first meeting of the China-Sudan Joint Energy Cooperation Commission in Khartoum.

In December 2012, Sudan announced an agreement with China to build a research nuclear reactor, with the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

According to a government official at that time, the reactor aimed to conduct research and scientific applications, and to encourage the use of atomic energy. Sudan carries out 10 projects with the help of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency.

The Sudanese Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity has started the actual preparations for producing power using the nuclear energy in cooperation with the Sudanese Atomic Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as the first nuclear plant is expected to be built in 2020.

The visiting Chinese delegation for the joint energy cooperation meetings is chaired by Nur Bekri, Director of the Chinese National Energy Administration, while the Sudanese side is chaired by the Minister of Finance Badr al-Din Mahmoud.

Speaking after the signing of the framework agreement, Mahmoud said the two sides agreed to discuss the problems that energy production is facing in Sudan and to reach effective solutions.

He added that they will also work to solve challenges facing the new projects, especially Al-Foula electricity plan and the transmission network in South Kordofan.

The government says the lack of funds and economic sanctions impede its efforts to extend electricity service and cover areas in Darfur and South Kordofan.

President Omer al-Bashir met the Chinese delegation on Monday, and discussed bilateral ties and means of bolstering them further.

Al-Bashir directed following the meeting to develop cooperation with China in areas of economy and trade, and expand it in fields of oil, gas, renewed energy, agricultural and industrial investment and infrastructure, said a statement issued following the meeting.

China has invested more than $20 billion in Sudan mostly in the oil sector during the past two decades. Beijing provides low-interest loans and weapons transfers in return for oil.

Minister Mahmoud said they reached an agreement with China to strengthen oil capabilities, to build new facilities and additional oil exportation ports on Red Sea.

Also, they agreed that Chinese companies will explore oil in new blocks, and increase the production of existing fields, besides an agreement for gas exploration and production.

The minister announced that the Chinese oil investments in Sudan have reached 17 billion dollars.

Speaking at the joint meeting; the Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohamed Zayed Aw, said that Sudan exploited only small amounts of its oil reserves, and called on China to increase its investment in the oil sector.

On his part, the Minister of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity, Mutaz Musa, pointed out that the ministry is implementing 155 electricity projects with china at a cost of 10 billion dollars.

He said that his government will fund the $10 billion projects from multiple sources, adding that the five-year plan includes power plants and dams.

(ST)

May 23, 2016 (WAU) - The newly-appointed commissioner of Kwajeina county in South Sudan's Wau state, Barjuok Ucu said unity and security would form his top priorities.

Kwajeina county commissioner Barjuok Ucu on May, 23 2016 (ST)

Speaking exclusively to Sudan Tribune on Monday, Ucu urged the people to unite in order to champion developments in the region.

Kwajeina county, its commissioner revealed, mainly consists of three payams. The include, Kwajeiina centre, Mbili and Alur.

“Unity is what makes up peace, development and stability. After unity is guaranteed, then we will start the construction of the area to know the resources in the area,'' said Ucu.

The commissioner called on communities in Kwajeina to unite and distance themselves away from clan practices.

“If we are united as people of Kwajeina county, we shall overcome the challenges facing the development of the new county because in Kwajeina, we have natural resources, including stones and forestry,” he further stressed.

During the interview, the commissioner appealed to the state ministry of agriculture to expedite training of tractors experts to help boost agricultural production in the county.

A plan, he said, was in place to establish secondary schools for the people of Kwajeina

(ST)

The Security Council welcomed the political and security progress in Somalia during a mission to the capital, Mogadishu, on 19 May, where representatives of the 15-member body met with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, regional leaders, Somali civil society and women&#39s groups.

Security and humanitarian conditions are deteriorating in southeast Niger, where hundreds of thousands of people settled after fleeing Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.

May 23, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan's newly appointed national minister of Petroleum in the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU), Dak Duop Bichiok, has said his ministry is working to ensure that the oil production in the country should increase by July 2016.

New Petroleum Minister, Dak Duop Bichiok (L), pictured with former Petroluem Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau (R) in handing over ceremony, Juba, May 8, 2016 (ST photo)

Oil production in South Sudan reduced significantly from the beginning of the two years of the civil war when almost all the oilfields in Unity state were shut down as well as some others in Upper Nile state.

It reduced from over 300,000 barrels a day in 2013 to about 165,000 barrels per a day in 2014 at the peak of the war.

The reduction of the oil production, which the nation depended on for 98% of its budget, coupled with reduction in global oil prices, has resulted to lack of revenues to run the government.

Minister Dak told Sudan Tribune on Monday that he has set up a team of 21 members to work on the process to increase the oil production.

He also said the team will kick off with the implementation of the reform and review in the oil sector as stipulated in the August 2015 peace agreement.

“We have formed a technical committee of 21 members chaired by the Under-secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, Engineer Mohamed Lino, to work out plans for reform and review in the oil sector,” Minister Dak said.

He added that the review process will include oil companies operating in the country.

He took over the petroleum ministry from his predecessor, Stephen Dhieu Dau, in accordance with the executive power sharing in the peace agreement which has given the petroleum ministry to the opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO).

Minister Dak, a veteran politician, was formerly a national minister in Khartoum before the split of South Sudan from the rest of the Sudan in 2011. He was also governor of Upper Nile state for several years.

(ST)

May 22, 2016 (MALUALKON) - The governor of South Sudan's Aweil East state, Deng Deng Akuei has, in an administrative order, sacked Manut Yel Lual, a powerful tax collector who had been operating as an independent tax collector from the state ministry of finance and local government structure.

Map detail showing South Sudan's border state of Northern Bahr el Ghazal

Deng's order, which came into effect 1 April, did say whether Manut would be reinstated.

Manut, a relative of South Sudan army chief, Paul Malong Awan, has been the officer in charge of Warawar peace market for over a decade collecting millions of pounds in taxes day on goods and services from Sudan.

The money collected, sources however say, has never been used to provide basic services to local people but allegedly collected and divided with collectors and Awan.

Several attempts to remove Manut by successive governors have allegedly been blocked by Awan as taxes generated from markets are used to finance local projects.

This explains why former Northern Bahr el Ghazal state governors, including Mareng Akuei Ajou, Madut Biar Yel, Kuel Aguer Kuel, Salva Chol Ayat and Akot Deng Akot who all had the opportunity to remove Manut never succeeded the SPLMA army chief of staff often prevailed in his defence.

Until now, it remains unclear what eventually persuaded Awan to approve the removal of Manut from the taxation docket from which he has allegedly married more than 30 wives.

Many, however, say the need to generate revenues to finance operations of the 28 new states created by President Salva Kiir last year, may have led to Manut's removal.

(ST)

May 23, 2016 (EL-GENEINA) - Eight people were killed and four others injured Sunday in a retaliatory attack by unidentified gunmen on a mosque in a village located 10 km. east of West Darfur state capital, El-Geneina.

Relatives mourn next to bodies wrapped in shrouds outside hospital before a group funeral ceremony following a revenge attack on a mosque on May 23, 2016 in El Geneina (Photo ST)

Eyewitnesses said that 8 worshipers were killed and 4 others seriously injured when gunmen opened fire in a mosque in Azrini area during the sunset prayers following the killing of a militia man in an altercation with a local resident in the market place.

Following the incident, the government of West Darfur deployed large military reinforcements on the streets of El-Geneina to prevent further protests that could lead to the spread of chaos.

On Monday, thousands of people gathered in front of El-Geneina Teaching Hospital after the dead bodies were transferred to the morgue to identify the causes of death.

Also, traders at El-Geneina commercial market shut down their shop in protest against what they described as “barbaric” killing of the worshippers.

One of the victim's relatives by the name of Omer Idris told Sudan Tribune that two gunmen on a motorcycle engaged in an altercation with a local man, saying the latter stabbed the two men killing one of them immediately and injuring the other.

He added that angry gunmen subsequently attacked the mosque during the sunset prayers to avenge the killing of their fellow tribesman, saying they killed 6 worshippers and injured 4 others before fleeing.

UNANIMOUS CONDEMNATION

The local government, tribal leaders and rebel groups in Darfur condemned the attack on civilians by the gunmen. Several statements described it as a “clear violation of human rights” and called to implement international measures to protect Darfurians.

The governor of West Darfur Khalil Abdalla Mohamed has condemned the incident saying his government has put in place strict security arrangements to prevent further spread of violence.

He praised the role played by the Native Administration to control the situation, revealing that a committee headed by a minister has been formed to follow-up on the developments.

Also, the paramount chief of Masalit tribe and head of the local administration in the state Saad Abdel-Rahman Bahr al-Din said the incident is more dangerous than the armed rebellion.

Bahr al-Din called on the federal government to support West Darfur state to tackle the root causes of the violence.

The New Justice and Equality Movement (NJEM) said that the continued attacks against the residence are considered “systematic and deliberate genocide” by the government's militias and paramilitary forces that work to protect the regime.

The rebel group which is led by Mansour Arbab, a Massalit from West Darfur, vowed to respond strongly to the attack and called upon its supporters to join the struggle in defence of the land, honour and people's lives.

Meanwhile, the leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) Abdel-Wahid al-Nur has condemned the attack and held the government fully responsible for the “heinous crime”.

In a statement issued Monday, al-Nur denounced the silence of the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and saying its inaction could be described as “collusion”.

The Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minnawi in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune condemned the attack and called on the international community implement the decisions previously endorsed to "stop the crimes against humanity in Darfur".

"We will not let these crimes go without accountability and will revenge from these criminals tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and we will not put the weapon until justice prevails throughout the country," said Minnawi.

(ST)