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Mobile broadband subscriptions are expected to reach 4.3 billion globally by the end of 2017, according to a new report released by the United Nations telecommunications agency.

Waves of violent conflict in the Greater Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have forced more than one million people, including hundreds of thousands of children from their homes, the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) has reported.

The top United Nations peacekeeping official is in the Central African Republic where he today discussed the security situation and the political process, while paying homage to three UN &#39blue helmets&#39 killed in the line of duty in recent days.

A group of United Nations experts has urged the Government of the Philippines to immediately address reported human rights violations, including murder, threats against indigenous peoples and the summary execution of children.

Park rangers across the world face increasing challenges and risks due to a surge in poaching and illicit trafficking in wildlife, the head of the United Nations entity on protection of endangered species today said, honouring the work of park rangers in protecting wild animals, plants and culture.

The United Nations political mission in Afghanistan today denounced an attack on the embassy of Iraq saying it is another attack aimed at the international community but where Afghan civilians bear the brunt of the violence.

The fight against racism must be unremitting to be successful, according to the oldest of the United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies, which opened its latest session in Geneva today.

The United Nations human rights office has expressed regret that at least 10 people died in Venezuela over the weekend amid clashes between security forces and protestors opposing the Constituent Assembly elections, a spokesman for the Secretary-General said today.

Sans tambour ni trompette, le général de division Bruno Guibert a pris les rênes de l’opération Barkhane, le 28 juillet dernier, à N’Djamena. Il a ainsi relevé le général Xavier de Woillemont, issu, comme lui, des Troupes de Marine. Le général Guibert [à droite sur la photo, ndlr] connaît très bien la réalité des opérations […]

Cet article Sahel : Le général Bruno Guibert a pris le commandement de la force Barkhane est apparu en premier sur Zone Militaire.

Autonomous vehicles, augmented reality systems and advanced wireless networks were among over 50 new technologies showcased during a recent US military exercise. Claire Apthorp tuned in as experts from industry, academia and the Naval Research and De…

For the first time, Lockheed Martin has successfully launched the US Navy’s Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) surface-launch variant from a newly designed topside canister.

The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) have participated in Exercise Malapura, held from 18 to 28 July, in Malaysia.

The British Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarine HMS Astute has returned to the fleet after undergoing a major capability upgrade and sea training period.

By Duop Chak Wuol

The unlawful detention of South Sudanese rebel leader Dr Riek Machar by South Africa is beyond the common sense of rationality. The South African government's decision to accept an outside influence to keep Dr Machar under house arrest is no different from apartheid policy of 1948 when the “all-white government” rewarded people who committed atrocities on its behalf and punished those who spoke out against its vicious tyranny. For most South Sudanese, the decision is a clear endorsement of a Gestapo-like campaign against the people of South Sudan.

The South African government should know that world rebellions are not created in South Sudan. Rather, they have been part of human existence, their origin began before civilization, and the idea that South Sudanese rebellion is an exception is merely a modern-day political conspiracy in sheep's clothing. The ongoing civil war is a result of a well-planned coup orchestrated by Salva Kiir Mayardit and Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The South African government has nothing to do with the war and should allow Dr Machar to leave its land; preventing him from leaving amounts to complicity in Kiir's atrocities.

I agree with the fact that South Africa, like any other country, has the right to help in finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing armed conflict in South Sudan. But the South African government's detainment of Dr Machar seems to be an indirect support for Kiir's atrocious regime and is suspicious enough for any reasonable person to question its plausibility.

Did Dr Machar commit any crime under South African laws?

The answer is a resounding no. Dr Machar did nothing wrong against the South African government or its citizens, and South Africa should not allow itself to be part of Kiir's atrocious club by proxy.

The South African government has clearly violated Dr Machar's rights by illegally detaining him without any charges. Detaining someone who committed no crimes is in itself a violation of human rights. I believe that even The Constitutional Court of South Africa would find that the South African government has violated Dr Machar's rights. A government cannot put a foreigner under house arrest and claim that nothing is wrong. The people of South Africa should file a petition demanding the immediate release of Dr Machar.

The people of South Sudan know very well that the plan to isolate Dr Machar from East Africa was not engineered by South Africa. It was instead orchestrated by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni when the then-former SPLM/A-IO chief negotiator and now illegitimate First Vice President conspired with tyrant Kiir to kill Dr Machar in a bid to take over the leadership of the armed opposition. Museveni later used his friendship with Western leaders to win the backing of the former United States administration under Barack Obama. The U.S. then waged a secret diplomatic campaign in favour of isolating Dr Machar.

I believe that Dr Machar has unknowingly contributed to his own isolation. Common sense and historical evidence tell us that nearly all world rebellions were and are waged in the bushes. Logic also tells us that a rebel leader does not need to live in a foreign city to wage an armed rebellion. So, the idea that one needs to live in a modern capital to successfully run a rebellion is pure nonsense. Common sense would also tell us that a rebel leader can only live in a foreign land if the host country agrees to it.

Dr Machar must not rely on questionable friends who secretly accept bribes from Juba's bloody regime in exchange for his exclusion from South Sudanese politics.

The South African government has no reason whatsoever to keep Dr Machar under house arrest. The sensible thing for South Africa to do is immediately allow the South Sudanese rebel leader to leave its soil because there is no reason under South African laws to keep him under house arrest. Not unless the South African government wants to be a part of known greedy foreign governments that are committed investors in Kiir's atrocities.

One cannot force a goat to live at the mercy of a ruthless hyena.

Imagine a vicious teeth-wielding hyena with a reputation of killing a goat everyday demand that it be made the leader of all goats. Assume the hyena, for some mysterious reason, becomes the leader of goats and then summons all goats to its headquarters, orders them to build their houses, tells them that its words are final, and warns that any goat that violates its order will be sent to its grave by the force of its gigantic teeth. Now take a deep breath and reflect on the lives those goats would be subjected to under the rule of such a hyena.

The question then arises: what kind of a goat would want to live under the control of such a brutal hyena? The answer is none unless one had a supernatural power that would magically prevent the hyena from slaughtering the goats.

Kiir is no different from a vicious hyena that kills goats with impunity. His mighty teeth are his ethnic militias he empowers to kill people, rape innocent women and girls, abduct young men, and burn down homes of civilians who have nothing to do with the ongoing armed conflict. Other political figures in Juba live like stranded goats at the mercy of Kiir.

There are those who claim that other countries should not be blamed for South Sudan's armed conflict. What is ironic about this misleading notion is that other nations are in fact part of the problem. Some of these countries are actively fighting alongside South Sudan against the armed opposition. For instance, Uganda is assisting Kiir's regime militarily against the rebels, Egypt is supplying South Sudan with lethal weapons and ammunition, and the international community simply buries its head in the sand.

There are currently many armed conflicts around the world that the international community seems not to be interested in ending; South Sudan's civil war appears to be one of the conflicts the community of nations shamelessly ignores. What I find ironic about this is that every time Syrians are killed by their government, the international community makes an uproar against the Syrian President. But whenever the same act is committed in South Sudan, the world displays a high level of hypocrisy.

Are South Sudanese lives different from those of Syrians? I strongly believe the answer to this question is no because a South Sudanese child has the same rights as a Syrian child. There is no doubt in my mind that the South Sudanese civil war has exposed global hypocrisy in a stunning way — and I am not quite sure if this level of hypocrisy is a Western, African, or Eastern one.

Kiir's merciless regime rationalizes its existence through killing, and I don't think the South African government wants to be part of it. The decision by South Africa to keep Dr Machar under house arrest is undoubtedly a complicit one. If Pretoria believes that it is not colluding with Juba in its campaign to prevent Dr Machar from participating in South Sudan's politics, then it must allow Dr Machar to leave its land. Failing to do so will only cement the already alleged accusations that South Sudan has successfully bribed some South African officials to help keep Dr Machar under house arrest. The South African government has a choice to make: it must come clean by releasing Dr Machar or else be seen as complicit in Kiir's atrocious regime. The people of South Sudan have heard enough about the viciousness of the apartheid's one-sided policy of 1948 and are certainly not interested in seeing a similar policy in their own country. If South Africa wants to be part of Kiir's Gestapo-like campaign against the South Sudanese, it should simply come out and not hide behind Kiir's bloody fedora.

Duop Chak Wuol is the Editor-in-Chief of the South Sudan News Agency. He can be reached at duop282@gmail.com. The views expressed in this article are his and should not be attributed to the South Sudan News Agency.

July 30, 2017 (JUBA) - The central bank of South Sudan has announced new monetary policies seeking to avoid more inflation, regulate trading in foreign currency and combat money laundering and financial crime

Women carrying babies are commonly seen queuing at commercial banks and forex exchange companies in Juba. Trade in dollars has now become a lucrative business in South Sudan (ST/File)

In statements to the state owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation TV last Thursday, Bank of South Sudan Governor Othom Rago Ajak urged security organs and members of the general public to play a supplementary role to help the institution implement major financial sector reform strategies.

Ajak presented the new measures as part of the monetary policies developed last May to control inflation, combat financial crime and support the existing monetary policies.

The new policies, he said, advocate the adoption of new anti-money laundering policy, which will guide the bank in establishing any business relationship with other financial institutions and another policy seeking to strengthen transaction in foreign currency among others.

The foreign exchange policy requires all business entities and organizations to open special accounts with the central bank for foreign exchange transactions.

"The new policy is for the interest of the public. It is a policy aiming at how best to better manage foreign exchange proceeds, resulting from the purchase of foreign exchange from the accounts relating to UN agencies, international Non-Government Organizations, oil companies and others,” said Ajak.

Ajak further disclosed that all licensed financial institutions have been directed to implement the new directives immediately.

South Sudan depends on oil revenue for 98 percent of its budget, but production decreased significantly due to the civil war that erupted in December 2013, causing most oilfields in the country's oil-rich northern region to shut down.

This led to a fall in production to less than 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 350,000 bpd in 2011.The young nation is struggling with hyperinflation amid shortage of foreign reserves to support imports

The government through the management of the bank and the ministry of finance and other economic institutions in the country announced in May that it would engage in major restructuring and reformation of its system and financial sector in a bid to combat the biting economic crisis.

The new strategies, approved by the council of ministers, advocates for strengthening financial sector regulation, supervision, adaptation of a sound exchange rate policy, public debt management and developing a financial regulatory framework that is compatible with international standards.

(ST)

Ce lundi, à 11h30, le joueur de football Cristiano Ronaldo doit se présenter au tribunal de Pozuelo de Alarcon, dans la banlieue de Madrid, où il sera interrogé dans une affaire de fraude fiscale présumée. A l'issue de son audition, l'attaquant vedette du Real Madrid devrait être mis en examen.

July 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The opposition Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) Sunday has handed over a memo to the director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) demanding the release of two of its leading members.

Abu Bakr Youssef Babiker (L) and Ibrahim al-Sheikh (ST Photo)

Former Chairman of the SCoP Ibrahim al-Shiekh and Secretary General Abu Bakr Youssef Babiker were arrested by the NISS on July 19 as they were returning from Shiekh Yaghout village, White Nile state, where they showed solidarity with Darfur students who resigned from Bakht Al-Ruda University.

SCoP legal sector including lawyers Hanan Hassan Khalifa, Hassan Fadl Allah and Khaled Saeed Mohamed Nour submitted a memo to the NISS saying the detention of al-Shiekh and Babiker “violates the 2005 constitution and the right of expression and to practice political work”.

The memo pointed the detention of the SCoP members “clearly illustrates the profound crisis in justice and human rights in the country”, saying detentions must be carried out upon judicial orders, not the NISS.

Khalifa added the next step for her party would be to submit a challenge before the Constitutional Court, saying the move will expose and document the constitutional, freedoms and human rights violations.

The SCoP was established in January 1986. It was first chaired by the former chief-justice Abdel-Mageed Imam who was succeeded by Ibrahim al-Sheikh and has elected al-Digair as its third president in 2016.

The center-left reformist party calls for social justice and separation of religion and state. It also believes that peaceful transfer of power is the only way to stability and unity of the country.

In recent months, the SCoP has challenged the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and organized political activities in public and open places calling on the citizens to resist the regime and take to the streets in protest against the deterioration of living conditions at all levels.

(ST)

July 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking (NCCHT) Sunday said arrangements are underway to hold a national conference to develop plans to address the human trafficking problem.

Speaking at a media forum on Sunday, the NCCHT deputy chairman Ismail Omer Tirab said turbulent conditions in Libya as well as in other neighbouring countries have increased human trafficking and illegal drugs smuggling activity in Sudan.

However, he said human trafficking cases that have been filed with the police have decreased from 83 cases in 2015 to 31cases in 2016.

Tirab also added that human trafficking cases among refugees have decreased to 11 cases since 2016, saying the government has exerted significant efforts to combat the phenomenon through ratifying a number of agreements and protocols.

The Sudanese official pointed out that a number of human traffickers have been tried according to the human trafficking law, saying some victims have been transferred to their home countries while others were granted asylum in Sudan.

For his part, the deputy director of the borders and foreigners department at the foreign ministry Ga'afar Mohamed Adam said combating human trafficking is considered a religious and ethical duty, pointing to the lack of resources which hinder efforts to carry out the task.

He disclosed that Sudan has been chosen as headquarters country for the regional centre for combating human trafficking, criticizing the recent U.S. report on human trafficking.

In its 2017 Trafficking in Persons report released earlier this month, the U.S. Department of State retained Sudan on Tier 3, saying the Sudanese government “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so”.

In January 2014, the Sudanese parliament approved an anti-human trafficking law which punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.

Also, in 2014, Khartoum hosted a conference on human trafficking in the Horn of Africa, organised by the African Union (AU), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Sudanese government.

The East African nation has also forged a strategic partnership with several European countries and the EU to combat illegal migration and human trafficking.

(ST)

July 30, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir will visit neighbouring Sudan in the next month of August, said the foreign minister, reversing initial reports speculating that Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir had accepted to visit Juba.

Minister Deng Alor Kuol told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that he expects the visit take in August and the exact date will be made public once the preparations currently underway are completed.

“The President of the Republic is expected to visit Khartoum for bilateral talks. The Preparations are underway to fix the date. This will take place in August if they are completed,” foreign minister Kuol said when asked whether he was aware of reports about Kiir's visit to Sudan.

His comments follow statements by Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth on Friday in which he said preparations for the visit of the president are underway but that no time has been fixed.

Lueth said the upcoming visit of President Kiir was in response to an invitation from the Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir. The agenda of the upcoming meeting between the two leaders remains unclear.

In September 2012, Sudan and South Sudan signed a comprehensive cooperation deal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, under the patronage of the East African regional bloc (IGAD).

Observers are keen to say the meetings would focus on security and humanitarian efforts as well as trade and economic issues.

But it would also be an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss and lay out mechanisms to expedite how they could cooperate to implement non-aggression pact, demanding either side not to host, arm and provide logistical and military supports to hostile group with ambition to destabilize security of the other, or possessing political ambition to ascend to power through the use of unconstitutional means.

Last May, Khartoum accused Juba of supporting a rebel attack by two Darfurian groups who organised a coordinated operation in East and North Darfur states. But South Sudanese officials said they only asked the rebels to leave the country upon a Sudanese request.

(ST)

Im asiatisch-pazifischen Raum sind die Chancen für wachsenden Wohlstand ähnlich groß wie die Risiken zunehmender Konfliktpotentiale. Ein maritimer Ansatz ist wichtig zum Verständnis der Konfliktdynamik, denn ohne die Wiederentdeckung maritimer Räume und die Flottenrüstung sind weder der Aufstieg Chinas zur Großmacht, noch dessen Folgen für die Machtrivalität zwischen den USA und China zu erklären. Präsident Xi Jinping hat das Schicksal seines Landes mit der erfolgreichen Nutzung der See verknüpft. Globale Interdependenz, maritime Abhängigkeit und strategische Kultur zwingen China zur Zurückhaltung. Die USA dagegen haben in Ostasien bislang eine vorsichtige Politik der Einhegung des Konflikts betrieben. Doch das Verhältnis beider Rivalen birgt ein latentes Potential zur Eskalation. Das Buch gibt eine realistische Einschätzung zu einem in Deutschland eher vernachlässigten, aber weltpolitisch sehr relevanten Thema.

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