Africa

March 31, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan has called on the United States to pressure Ethiopia not to fill its giant dam before reaching a legally binding agreement with the riparian countries, while several Arab countries expressed their support for Egypt and Sudan.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated on Tuesday that his government would not allow any prejudice to Egypt's right to the waters of the Nile as a result of the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

"No one can take a drop of water from the waters of Egypt. Whoever wants to try, let him try. But this would destabilize the whole region," he stressed on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Mahdi held a meeting with the visiting U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Donald Booth to discuss the GERD and bilateral relations between Khartoum and Wahington.

"The Minister called on the United States to engage constructive negotiations that would lead to convincing Ethiopia not to fill (the dam) without the consent of the concerned parties," said the Sudanese foreign minister in a statement issued after the meeting.

"Ethiopia's unilateral actions have undermined mutual trust between the two countries," Al-Mahdi further added to explain the shift of the Sudanese position after the unilateral first phase of GERD filling in July 2020.

Sudan has proposed the four-way mediation mechanism after realising that "Ethiopia was manoeuvring to buy time" to complete the second filling of the dam, the minister stressed.

The quadripartite mediation that Sudan proposes, with the support of Egypt, provides forming a mechanism headed by the African Union, with the participation of the European Union, the United Nations and the United States.

Ethiopia opposes the proposal and says it accepts only an African mediation.

In a related development, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman and Kuwait, in addition to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, declared their support for Egyptian and Sudanese position on the GERD filling and operation. The UAE, for its part, called for the resumption of negotiations under international laws.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed the Kingdom's support for Egypt and Sudan.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia "affirms that their water security is an integral part of Arab security, and affirms its support for any efforts that contribute to settling the issue of the Renaissance Dam and take into account the interests of all parties, (...) in accordance with international laws and standards."

For their part, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan issued statements similar to the Saudi one.

The UAE foreign ministry stressed the need to negotiate under "applicable international laws and standards to reach a solution acceptable to all and secures the rights and water security of the three countries."

Abu Dhabi is seeking to narrow the gaps between the three countries and has established separate discussions with the three countries over the matter.

In the same vein, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which includes 26 African countries, called for continuing negotiations to reach a comprehensive and fair agreement that preserves the rights and interests of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Ethiopia, which is facing growing international pressure, declared its adherence to African mediation and declined the four-way mediation.

Before coming to Sudan, Booth met with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen to discuss the tripartite process on the GERD.

"Ethiopia is keen to sustaining the African Union-led talks under the Chairmanship of the Democratic Republic of the Congo," said the Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman on 29 March when he referred to the meeting of Mekonnen and Booth.

"Talks to change the modalities of the negotiations should be treated according to the provisions of the DOP, which was signed by the tripartite in 2015," he further stressed.

Ethiopia says determined to carry out next July the second phase to fill the reservoir of the hydropower dam with 13.5 billion-cubic-meter.

Sources close to the file say Ethiopia proposed to coordinate with Sudan to protect its downstream dams. However, Khartoum stressed the need to put it in a tripartite legally binding agreement over all the outstanding issues.

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March 30, 2021 (WASHINGTON) – The International Monetary Fund said it had released $174.2 million to South Sudan under its Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) for urgent balance of payments needs.

The IMF headquarters is seen in Washington. File Photo: AP

"The pandemic-related oil price shock and devastating floods have led to an economic downturn. The ... downturn widened the fiscal and the balance of payments deficits, opening large financing gaps in the absence of concessional financing,” IMF said in a statement on Tuesday.

“It expected the economy would contract 4.2% in the 2020/21 fiscal year,” it added.

In November last year, the IMF's Executive Board approved a disbursement of $52.3 million to South Sudan under the RCF.

This was the first time the IMF was giving the world's newest nation financial assistance since it joined the institution in 2012 shortly after its independence.

The loan, IMF said, was granted after the Bank of South Sudan implemented its recommendations to record all oil exports and transactions under the Transitional Financial Agreement.

According to South Sudan's IMF report on external sector statistics mission published in January 2020, there was a need for essential economic policy-making by the authorities to meet the data needs of key stakeholders to assess the country's external sector developments.

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March 30, 2021 (GADAREF) - Eritrean forces killed two refugees on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border as they were returning to their areas in Tigray from the Hamdayet reception centre on the Sudanese border.

Many Ethiopians who recently fled their areas of origin after the eruption of fighting in the restive Tigray decided to return home due to the lack of services in the crowded reception centres, as the two existing camps are full and a third one has not yet been established.

Eyewitnesses in the border area told the Sudan Tribune, Tuesday that Eritrean forces killed two Ethiopian returnees in the Dima area and wounded two others, while at least 76 escaped the attack.

The refugees were on their way from the Hamdayet centre to Humera town in the northern Tigray Region.

Some of those who survived the attack transported the injured to Sudan for treatment. Also, the dead were buried in Sudan.

On 26 March, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed flowing his return from Asmara said that Eritrea would withdraw troops from the Tigray Region, as he admitted for the first time their involvement in the war against the TPLF.

Thousands of Tigryans are believed to have been killed since November 2020. Fighters from the Amahara region and Eritrean soldiers are accused of committing war crimes including rape against women.

The witnesses said that the dead were shot directly by bullets in the head.

Also, they added that some Oromos were injured alongside the Tigryans.

According to Sudan's Commission for Refugees (COR) daily report of Tuesday 29 March, there are some 30048 refugees at the border facilities for refugees in Hamdayet and Madina.

The report further said that the Gadaref State proposed a location for the third camp but no decision has been made as it should be first visited by the UNHCR and the COR before making a final decision.

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March 30, 2021 (KAMPALA) - At least nine Ugandan drivers were been killed in deadly road ambushes in neighboring South Sudan over the weekend, a Ugandan official said.

Addressing lawmakers, Uganda's state minister for internal affairs, Obiga Kania said the nine drivers were shot dead on the Yei-Juba highway.

"The number is not yet clear because some of the people who were injured could have died. This matter is known to the ministry of foreign affairs because these people died in South Sudan,” he said.

Added the minister, “Our embassy in South Sudan is handling it”.

The official further said authorities in Kampala and their counterparts in Juba are working to resolve the deadly attacks and killings.

"These people were killed by unknown gunmen. There are armed military groups operating in those areas who are apparently opposition forces to the government in South Sudan and they are in control of that area," he told lawmakers.

In recent years, several foreign nationals, including aid workers have been killed in targeted attacks, making South Sudan one of the most dangerous places for foreigners in the world.

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March 30, 2021 (TORIT) - The Governor of South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria, Louis Lobong Lojore escaped an assassination attempt on the Torit highway on Sunday, his aide confirmed Tuesday.

Eastern Equatoria state governor Louis Lobong Lojore talks to communities in Bari and Omorwo villages (ST)

According to the governor's press secretary Aliandro Lotok, Lobong and the state Minister of Information, Martin Oting Cyprian were attacked on their way to Buya County to meet youth who blocked roads in the area.

The attack on his convoy resulted into the death of two people, one of whom was the wife of the area army commander who accompanied the governor's entourage.

The governor was travelling from Budi County to his native hometown of Kapoeta for talks with members of his ethnic Toposa about the same mission.

No one knows the motive behind the attack, which state officials largely blamed on armed youth from Budi County.

The deputy spokesman of the army, Santo Domic said the situation was now under control and the army had managed to extract the governor from the area in which he restricted movement.

“Because of his safety and safety of his entourage, the governor was advised to go to one of barracks in the area which he did. He spent the night there under our protection. Now he has been extracted”, he told Sudan Tribune Tuesday.

Meanwhile, analysts attributed the assassination attempt on Lobong's life to a recent attack on Lowareng cantonment in which a top military officer from the armed opposition (SPLM-IO) was killed.

As a result, the local youth from Lobong's ethnic group believe the governor was targeted in possible revenge on a high-profile person.

According to previous reports, the routine of intercommunal clashes in many parts of South Sudan prevails due to lack of an efficient justice system in the young nation.

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March 30, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Security and Defence Council directed the armed groups, signatory of the Juba peace agreement, to stop the recruitment of new fighters and to withdraw their armed elements in Khartoum.

On Tuesday, the Technical Committee of the Security and Defence Council held headed by the Chief of Staff of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Lt Gen Mohamed Osman al-Hussein a meeting at the Presidential Palace.

In a statement extended to the Sudan Tribune, SAF Military Media said that the committee decided to "stop the political recruitment by the Armed Struggle Movements in the various cities of Sudan until the security arrangements chapter is fully implemented."

Further, the committee decided to "empty the capital and major cities of the manifestations of armed presence," stressed the statement.

In February and March, fighters of some armed groups in Darfur arrived in the capital Khartoum with all their armament and heavy military equipment.

The matter was criticized by the public and raised debate about their presence in Khartoum particularly after the occupation of the Olympic Committee premises.

The leaders of the armed groups that have forces in the capital say it is part of the security arrangements. But other leaders who kept their forces in the cantonment sites in the conflict areas say such deployment is not part of the peace agreement.

According to the peace agreement signed between the government and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) groups, the implementation of the security arrangements was supposed to start two months after the signing of the deal on 3 October 2020.

Hadi Idris, a member of the Transitional Sovereign Council and SRF leader on Tuesday directed the security authorities in the Northern State to arrest and prosecute anyone who recruits people in the name of the armed movements.

"The movements that signed the Juba Agreement Peace for Sudan began the preparations for the implementation of the security arrangements to form a unified national army. They did not seek at all to recruit anyone," he added during a meeting with the security committee in the Northern State.

Governor Amal Mohamed Izzaldin welcomed Idris's visit to the Northern State to brief them about the peace agreement and to assess the situation in the region.

She further pledged to implement his directives on the arrest of those who recruit civilians.

During his visit to the Darfur region earlier this year, Idris spoke about the need to restore the state authority and prevent armed fighters from bearing arms outside the cantonment sites.

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