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The challenges facing today’s border agencies and international organisations are acute and becoming ever more demanding. The increasing flow of extremists to and from the Middle East, the dramatic immigration scenes on the Mediterranean and at the Channel Tunnel in Calais this s

If there is one common theme linking the limitations of almost all Counter-IED (C-IED) operations it is information sharing. As regional events begin to spill over into global concerns and the hybrid threat continues to evolve, there has never been a greater need for a coordinated inte

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has received its first batch of EC725 helicopters from Airbus, in accordance with the order signed in 2012. Four units were received in the last week of August; two more are expected before the contract is fulfilled in 2016. The deliv

The US-Mexican border has been a source of vigorous debate for American politicians for decades. Whether anger is raised over perceived impacts on crime, jobs, or entitlements, the end result is, invariably, new laws or practices designed to curb illegal immigration at America’s

September 1, 2015 (KAMPALA/NAIROBI) – A South Sudanese human rights entity has urged the country's two main rival factions to respect the recently-signed peace deal and immediately cease the continued military hostilities.

SPLA soldiers sit at the back of a pick-up truck in Malakal, Upper Nile state January 12, 2014. (Photo Reuters/Andreea Campeanu)

Biel Boutros Biel, the executive director for South Sudan Human Right Society for Advocacy (SSHURSA), said it was important for the warring factions to adhere to the agreement signed on 26 August.

He condemned what he described as renewed violations of the ceasefire allegedly by government following attacks on the armed opposition strongholds in Fangak, Payinjiar, Leer, Koch and Malakal areas.

“This is waste of South Sudanese human resources on both sides. President Salva Kiir should reign on his warlike generals. The SPLA/IO generals should also never behave like their counterpart in Juba. We urge all warlords to desist from belligerent attitudes,” said Biel.

The renowned human right advocate called on the mediators and Troika countries to ensure president Kiir withdrew his forces allegedly stationed along the River Nile to avoid further clashes with the rebels.

“War must stop and South Sudanese must now stand together for peace,” he said in a strongly-worded statement issued Tuesday.

CALLS FOR STABILITY

Meanwhile, a group of South Sudanese living in Kenya have urged the country's two rival factions to quickly resolve their difference to that peace and stability can be restored in the war-ravaged nation.

Dak Buoth, a South Sudanese in Kenya, said they fully supported the recently signed compromise peace agreement to end the conflict.

“We expressed our happiness and appreciation to the signatories of peace deal inked by the two rival leaders on 17 and 26 that dedicated positive hope to South Sudanese for a better solution to ongoing political turmoil,” Buoth told Sudan Tribune from Nairobi.

David Atem Mayuel urged president Kiir and rebel leader, Riek Machar to prioritise peace to save thousands of those suffering.

Lino Madit, on the other hand, urged the country's two rival leaders to commit to the recently signed peace deal demanded by citizens.

According to Kujiek Ruot Kuajien, South Sudanese citizens are already tired of the war that has killed thousands and forced nearly two million people into displaced camps in neighboring countries.

“The world is competing toward technological advancement while we are shading more blood to ourselves,” said Kuajien.

He advised the country's leaders to focus eradicating extreme poverty, reduce illiteracy rates and steer economic development.

The group further called on the African Union Commission of Inquiry into South Sudan crimes to publicise their findings on atrocities committed in the young nation during its months of violent conflict.

(ST)

September 1, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - The national dialogue coordination committee (7+7) on Tuesday formed an ad hoc committee to mull over a decision of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) in favour of holding a pre-dialogue meeting outside the country.

At the same time, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) renewed its rejection for this preparatory meeting and accused AUPSC's diplomats of lacking neutrality by holding a meeting with the holdout opposition parties.

Speaking after a meeting of the dialogue mechanism on Tuesday, the head NCP political sector Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters that the 7+7 committee formed a panel to study the recent activities of peace and security body and its decision backing the opposition demand for the pre-dialogue meeting.

Ismail further said they demanded the ad hoc team to submit its findings within 48 hours pointing that its report will be deliberated in a meeting to held on Sunday.

President Omer al-Bashir, since last Sunday, has categorically rejected the AUPSC's decision supporting the organization of a meeting at the African Union headquarters to discuss matters related to the internal political process.

Before to take this decision, the 15-member body organized a hearing for the opposition "Sudan Call" forces on 24 August 2015. In Khartoum; the government immediately condemned this "outrageous" initiative by the inter governmental regional organization and declared its refusal for any foreign involvement in the process.

Initially in September 2014, the NCP accepted to take part in the meeting which will be brokered by the AU High Level Implementation Panel of chaired by Thabo Mbeki. In March 2015 the government refused participate in the meeting, insisting it was not appropriate to hold it two week before the general elections.

Only the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) of Hassan al-Turabi declined the invitation for the pore-dialogue meeting when they received it last March.

PCP political secretary and its representative at the dialogue boy, in statements to the press after the meeting reiterated their rejection for Addis Ababa's meeting saying "the transfer of dialogue out of Sudan is next to impossible".

"The dialogue is an inter-Sudanese process. We will not accept moving it to outside the country and we do not accept the any tutelage from anybody. We are ready to accept all people and to hear all views," added Kamal Omer.

In separate statements after a meeting of the national unity government parties on Tuesday, Ismail directed his criticism to "some ambassadors" of the peace and security body and accused them of partiality and taking the side of the opposition.

The (Sudanese) people will not accept that three parties impose to hold the dialogue outside the Sudan," he added.

NCP political secretary Hamid Mumtaz who attended the meeting went to say all the political forces inside the country agree in their rejection of the transfer of the political process to outside the country.

"It is not necessary that the armed groups and holdout parties trust the government. The government extended them an invitation, decided a ceasefire and provided guarantees," he said.

Mumtaz was referring to the topics that the parties should discuss at the pre-dialogue meeting.

The National Umma Party (NUP) and the SPLM-N recently said they are willing to join the dialogue process inside the country but stressed on the need to hold a two-day meeting to agree on "procedural matters relating to the Dialogue".

(ST)

September 1, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Saudi authorities have arrested the administrator of a Sudanese opposition website and continues to hold him without charges, a media watchdog said in a statement today.

Al-Rakoba website logo

The Sudanese non-governmental Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) network said that Walid Hussein al-Dood was taken by security agents on July 23rd from his home in the city of al-Khobar and was transferred to the city of Dammam.

JHR strongly warned of the consequences of his possible extradition to Khartoum on charges of running al-Rakoba website.

The statement by JHR said that al-Dood's wife visited him three times with the most recent one being on Monday.

Al-Dood told his family that he is being well-treated and that his immigration status is not in question.

However, the statement did not say why he is being held and if he was formally notified of a pending extradition request by Khartoum.

Al-Rakoba started off in 2005 as a discussion forum but has eventually transformed into a news website that carries stories and op-eds that are fiercely critical of the Sudanese government.

The website has attracted wide readership even inside Sudan despite intermittent government moves to block it.

In statements attributed to al-Dood before his arrest he asserted that al-Rakoba maintains “clear positions against dictatorship and corruption .. and has attracted the finest readers and columnists who value human freedom, human rights and equality”.

JHR said it is concerned that al-Dood would be subject to torture should he be extradited to Sudan and vowed to launch a campaign to prevent this.

Relations between Riyadh and Khartoum have improved dramatically this year after the latter shifted its alliance from the Iranian axis.

Sudan is also a member of the Saudi-led military coalition against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But it remains to be seen whether al-Dood's detention is politically motivated and whether Riyadh could actually send him back to his home country.

In 2005, the interior ministers of Saudi Arabia and Sudan signed a security pact in Khartoum which included clauses related to preventing any activities by residents or citizens on their territories that are hostile to the government of the other side.

Saudi Arabia is generally very sensitive to any foreign political activities on its territory.

In 2011, the Saudi government issued a decree banning any events of political nature without prior permission and warned of consequences to foreign nationals for violating this order which included deportation.

A Saudi foreign ministry cable released by Wikileaks website last June revealed that Riyadh summoned Sudanese opposition figures and embassy officials alike to caution them against non-sanctioned political activities in the country unless an official permit is received.

Al-Rakoba is a US registered website however and has no physical offices in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the world.

(ST)

En Centrafrique, la date du référendum censé valider le projet de Constitution et celles des élections présidentielles et législatives avancent à grand pas. Mais aujourd'hui le président du Conseil national de transition (CNT) a émis de sérieux doutes sur la faisabilité du processus électoral et sur le respect du calendrier.

Mardi 1er septembre, des migrants ont encore tenté de rejoindre l'Allemagne depuis l'Autriche par centaines. Dans la gare de Vienne, les réfugiés se sont empressés de prendre le prochain train pour Munich, tandis que de nombreux Viennois sont venus leur apporter aide et soutien.

Le procès de Bosco Ntaganda s’ouvre ce mercredi à La Haye devant la Cour pénale internationale. Cet ancien chef rebelle est accusé de 18 chefs de crimes de guerre et crimes contre l’humanité qui auraient été commis en 2002 et 2003 au cours d’une guerre interethnique dans la région de l’Ituri. Une région où, précisément, les attentes sont fortes autour de ce procès.

September 1, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, his defense minister and members of the government negotiating team have briefed country's top military officers about the peace agreement recently signed with the armed opposition faction.

President Salva Kiir and defence minister Koul Manyang Juuk addressing the press on Monday morning (Photo: GOSS/Thomas Keneth)

The meeting, officials said, took place on Tuesday in the South Sudanese capital, Juba.

According to the army spokesperson, Col. Philip Aguer three officers from the country's two main rival faction are due to take part in a will participate in a military workshop due in Addis Ababa this week.

“Today the commanders of the army in all the sector divisions and specialist units were ordered to come for briefing and the briefing was all about the peace agreement and the implementation particularly the issue of ceasefire,” Auger told reporters in Juba.

The defense minister, in a statement on the state-owned SSTV, urged the military to respect the cessation of hostilities agreement. This notion was echoed by information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth.

“These consultations with the military should have been the first thing to do before signing the peace agreement, but the IGAD [Intergovernment Authority on Development said no,” said Lueth.

On security arrangements, the peace agreement stipulates that thevcapital, Juba, be declared demilitarised zone, with a radius of 25kms. Foreign troops, particularly from the IGAD countries and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) will take charge of Juba for 30 months of the transition period until elections are conducted.

The two rival armies, according to the peace agreement, will also maintain separate commands for a period of transition with president Kiir being the commander-in-chief of the South Sudan army (SPLA) and rebel leader Machar also as the commander-in-chief of his forces until a unification process is completed as per the recently signed accord.

(ST)

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Fighting between insurgents and the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) has intensified in Musa Qala, one of a number of districts in northern Helmand province that temporarily fell to the insurgency in late August. Afghan media first reported heavy fighting in Musa Qala on 24

The Royal Australian Navy ANZAC-class frigate HMAS Ballarat has completed dock work related to the Project SEA 1448 Phase 2 Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade and will be commencing sea trials with its newly installed equipments, BAE Systems Australia announced on 2 September. The upgrades

Boeing may be laying off potentially hundreds of employees, according to a Reuters report. The company would have notified employees on 31 August, according to Reuters. Boeing representatives did not immediate return calls requesting comment. Those employees are tied to Boeing's satellite business,

China placed its latest satellite in orbit on 27 August, carried by a Long March 4C rocket launched from the Taiyuan satellite launch centre in northern China. Yaogan-27 was described by Chinese media as a remote sensing satellite to be used for land surveys, crop yield forecasts, and disaster

EVENT Guatemala's national congress yesterday (1 September) voted to remove President Otto Pérez Molina's immunity from prosecution, the first time in Guatemalan history that such a move has been made. According to investigations carried out by the UN-backed International Commission Against

International ratings agency Fitch has reported that it "expects" Italian defence technologies group Finmeccanica to sell its 25% stake in pan-European missile systems house MBDA to co-owners BAE Systems and Airbus Group. BAE Systems and Airbus both hold a 37.5% ownership in MBDA, which

Israel Military Industries (IMI) has announced that it is now marketing its MPR-500 bomb internationally. The weapon is already in service with the Israeli Air Force, which used it during Operation 'Protective Edge' against militants in the Gaza Strip in 2014. The MPR-500 has the same form as a

India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) approved programmes worth nearly INR140 billion (USD 2.2 billion) for all three services on 1 September. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the Indian Air Force (IAF) to buy 48 more Mil Mi-17V5 'Hip' medium-lift helicopters for INR69.92 billion and seven