Africa

May 7, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman arrived in Khartoum on Friday for talks with Sudanese officials over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Feltman before arriving in the Sudanese capital was in Cairo where discussed the GERD with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aty.

His regional tour from May 4 to May 13 includes Ethiopia and Eritrea as he intends to discuss the situation in the Tigray region.

During his two-day visit, he is expected to hold talks with the head of the Sovereign Council, the Prime Minister, Foreign and Irrigation Ministers.

The visiting diplomat will discuss the stalled GERD and border standoff between Sudan and Ethiopia.

Sudan and Egypt call for a legally binding agreement on the filing and operation of the GERD but Ethiopia rejects their request, saying such a deal will prevent the upstream country from using its water resources.

Khartoum proposes a four-way mediation led by the African Union that Ethiopia rejects. Instead, Assis Ababa calls to continue the direct talks under the auspices of the African Union.

(ST)

May 7, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government and an IMF team reached a staff-level agreement on the completion of the second review under the current Staff-Monitored Program (SMP).

On 8 March, the IMF approved the first review of a 12-month SMP, which supports reforms by the Sudanese government to stabilize the economy, enhance social protection, boost the private sector, and strengthening governance.

Endorsed by the IMF in September 2020, Sudan's SMP, which will establish a strong track record of policy and reform implementation, is a key requirement for eventual debt relief expected in June this year.

The completion of the second review of SMP was announced by the Sudanese Finance Minister Gerbil Ibrahim in a tweet on Friday.

"Sudan has successfully passed the 2nd IMF Staff Monitored Program (SMP) review. This paves the way for Sudan to reach HIPC Decision Point which will hopefully result in substantial debt relief for Sudan as well as new credit lines," he said.

For its part, Carol Baker, IMF mission chief for Sudan, commended the progress made by the Sudanese authorities in the implementation of key reforms under the SMP to bring the debt relief closer.

"Despite very challenging conditions which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sudanese authorities continue to make sustained progress on their ambitious reform agenda," Baker told Reuters.

Sudan seeks relief on at least $50 billion in external debt to international financial institutions.

Sudan foreign debt is estimated at $60 billion.

(ST)

A Muslim cleric in northern Nigeria is in the eye of the storm for his part in the country's kidnap crisis.

May 6, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Volker Perthes Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, and Abdel Wahid al-Nur head of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) discussed peace in Sudan in a meeting held on Thursday.

Perthes is in the South Sudanese capital Juba as he would brief the UN Security Council about the ongoing efforts to achieve peace in Sudan and the democratic transition on 14 May.

He is expected to discuss the peace process with the South Sudanese officials ahead of the resumption of the negotiations between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North of Abdel Aziz al-Hilu on 25 May.

In a tweet posted on Thursday, the UNITAMS head said he had a "Constructive exchange about questions of peace and citizenship in Sudan with Abdel Wahid al-Nur in Juba".

Also, the SLM-AW issued a statement saying that al-Nur briefed Perthes "about the Movement's vision to achieve a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in Sudan (...) and the Sudanese Sudanese dialogue initiative inside the country that the Movement would announce soon".

The SLM-AW rejected joining the peace process held in Juba last year between the government, the armed groups in Darfur and the SPLM-N led by Malik Agar.

The holdout group says planning to hold an inclusive conference inside the country.

In a statement issued in Khartoum before his travel to Juba on 4 May, Perthes expressed hope that the imminent talks between the government and the SPLM-N al-Hilu will "encourage all remaining non-signatories to engage in good faith with the Sudanese authorities to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in Sudan".

(ST)

May 6, 2021 (JUBA) – South Sudan's Presidential Affairs Minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin and the Ethiopian Ambassador to South Sudan, Nebil Mandi on Thursday discussed developments regarding the Ethiopia-Sudan border dispute, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiation and the upcoming elections in Ethiopia.

South Sudan's Presidential Affairs minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin and the Ethiopian envoy to South Sudan, Nebil Mandi in Juba, May 6, 2021 (courtesy photo)

A statement extended to Sudan Tribune said Marial expounded Ethiopia's longstanding support to his country, stressing how Ethiopians stood with the South Sudanese when they needed friends.

He emphasized the importance of cooperation in linking the two countries and the region through electric power, highways and other vital infrastructure that facilitate utilisation of development potentials.

Commending Ethiopia's persistent efforts for peace and stability in South Sudan, Marial requested the ambassador to further enhance support for the full implementation of the peace agreement.

Meanwhile, Nebil briefed the South Sudanese official on the latest improvements in the Tigray region, notably the relief and humanitarian efforts being conducted by the Ethiopian government.

(ST)

African countries struggled to get vaccines, but now several of them have thousands of expired doses.

A former leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, who himself had been abducted by the rebel group as a child, was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday. 

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan ends a visit to Kenya on a high, mending relations with her words.

Julius battled through challenges having lost his eyesight via an irreversible condition called maculopathy.

A Ugandan man who avoided being drawn into a decades’ long conflict as a child soldier, is dedicating his adult life to healing communities which were impacted by his government’s fight with the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA).

Tamary Kudita was named Open Photographer of the Year at the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards.

The 12th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was declared officially over on Monday, just three months after the first case was reported in North Kivu, but it marks the end of the country’s fourth outbreak of the deadly disease in less than three years, said the World Health Organization (WHO).

The United Nations Secretary-General on Saturday welcomed the decision by the Lower House of Somalia’s Federal Parliament to nullify a special law and to return to the 17 September Electoral Agreement that will allow for indirect presidential and parliamentary elections.

Healthcare workers in Malawi are concerned that misinformation about COVID-19 is preventing patients in dire need of medical attention not related to the virus, from seeking what could be live-saving treatment.

Countries on the African continent need to consider the financial cost of upsetting a powerful ally.

Johannesburg's inner city residents have been given access to a zero waste mobile grocery store.

British troops have joined what is considered the world's most dangerous UN peacekeeping force in Mali.

The UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday that it is deeply disturbed by security forces in Chad's use of live ammunition during recent protests after the death of former President Idriss Déby, on 19 April.

Three African students caught up in India's unfolding Covid-19 crisis share their views from the ground.

14-year-old Sierra Leonean Mabinty Mambu is using radio to empower and educate girls about teen pregnancy.