Sudan Tribune

August 14, 2016 (MAYOM) - At least 22,000 people have been displaced due to heavy rainfall in Mayom county of Unity region, west of the state capital of newly created Northern Liech state, according to an official on the ground.

Heavy rain in July flooded the temporary shelters of displaced people at a UNMISS camp in Unity state's Rubkotna area (Facebook photo)

John Bol Mayak, county commissioner of Mayom county, told Sudan Tribune that the situation is dire as majority of the surrounding villages and payams have been heavily flooded.

“As I speak to you now all houses in the surrounding areas have been occupied by the water, and thousands of people are displaced and they have nowhere to go,” he told Sudan Tribune over satellite phone interview.

He said areas submerged under water include Riak, Kuerbokni, Ruathnybol, Wangkei, Bieh, and Mayom headquarters, and described the situation as worse ever seen.

Commissioner Mayak added that most of the crops in those areas under current flood were all destroyed, adding the lives of the community members remain unpredictable after the heavy rainfall.

He further said that many of victims had no food after they lost everything in the current violence, adding most areas remain inaccessible putting the lives of the residents at great risk.

“A lot of people are now at great risk of death, the situation is very terrible no humanitarian organization intervention on the ground right now,” he said.

He explained that over 15 people have died as a result of Malaria outbreak and other waterborne diseases in the areas which are flooded by water.

“Many of [the] residents are dying every day, the health facilities on the ground are not enough and the long distance walk is putting at risk the people,” he said.

He called on the humanitarian organizations and other United Nations aid agencies in South Sudan to come and assist the tens of thousands who are in dire need for emergency assistance.

(ST)

by Eric Reeves | August 13, 2016

Darfuris arrested for meeting with U.S. special envoy for the Sudan Donald Booth—all of them civil society representatives of displaced persons in Darfur—are paying a heavy price for their forthrightness. Belatedly, in a Statement from the Office of Press relations, the Obama administration yesterday declared publicly its recognition of the crisis created by Ambassador Booth's interviews with courageous Darfuris witnesses to the recent horrors generated by Khartoum's massive and continuing assault on Jebel Marra (Central Darfur):

The United States is gravely concerned about the Sudanese government's ongoing detention of at least 15 Darfuri individuals, including one Sudanese national employee of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID). The detentions followed a visit by Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth to Sudan's North and Central Darfur states as well as internally displaced persons (IDP) camps at Sortoni and Nertiti in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur from July 26 – 28, 2016. Many others who were not detained were nonetheless questioned by security officials about the nature of their contact with the Special Envoy.

The United States immediately expressed its concern about the reported detentions to senior Sudanese officials, and we call on the Government of Sudan to immediately release all of those detained. (August 12, 2016) (Notably, the Statement came not from the State Department of the Office of the Special Envoy for the Sudans—ER)

That the arrests began on July 31 and have continued since should be clear evidence of Khartoum's contempt for privately conveyed U.S. “expressions of concerns.” Whether this public statement will work to free those who remain detained is an open question.

From July 26 to 28, the Obama administration special envoy for the Sudans, Donald Booth, made three stops in Darfur, including one with representatives of displaced persons camps in Nierteti in Central Darfur. Many of these people are victims of the Khartoum regime's continuing military onslaught against the African tribal populations of the Jebel Marra massif, the defining geologic and geographic feature of Central Darfur, as well as abutting states (North Darfur, South Darfur, and West Darfur). Those who met with Booth were well aware that they were being watched by Khartoum's security services and informants; despite the risks, however, they courageously chose to speak the truth about the extreme violence and deprivation that defines their lives—and those of millions of other Darfuris.

Three days after Booth left Darfur, the arrests began; to date, according to Radio Dabanga (our only consistently reliable source of information about conditions in Darfur), fifteen have been arrested, but more are being sought. Two have been released, but for the other thirteen the future is likely grim: According to Shafee Abdallah [coordinator of the Central Darfur camps for the displaced], the remaining detainees must be in “an extremely difficult situation as their relatives, lawyers, and representatives of human rights department of UNAMID have not been allowed to visit them” (Radio Dabanga | August 7, 2016, Nierteti, Central Darfur). (This fact is not noted in the Press Statement.)

Despite the fact that these arrests were clearly in retaliation for speaking honestly with the Obama administration's special envoy, as of August 13, 2016 Ambassador Booth himself has made no public statement about the plight of those arrested or demanded their release. Again, the Press Statement of yesterday came from the Obama administration's Office of Press Relations, although it was certainly drafted by Booth's office.

Booth certainly knew that surveillance by both the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), as well as Khartoum's ruthless Military Intelligence, would be total. Nothing would be confidential, and those who spoke were putting themselves at enormous risk. In short, Booth knew that he was creating this situation of high risk, evidently calculating that speaking directly with Darfuris would give him more credibility in confronting Khartoum over current realities in Darfur, and that Khartoum would not dare retaliate so blatantly in the wake of a visit by a senior Obama administration official.

The calculation was painfully misconceived, particularly since Booth would learn little that is not already well known to the U.S. State Department, by virtue of confidential briefings from human rights investigators and those with contacts on the ground in Darfur, as well as from (likely minimal) U.S. satellite reconnaissance. Many of Darfur's realities were revealed in a key human rights report by Human Rights Watch from September of last year (“Men with no mercy”), which offers a detailed account of the brutality and broad powers of Khartoum's present militia force of choice, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), particularly in Central Darfur, where the arrests occurred.

To be sure, there is very little public news reporting, except by Radio Dabanga; human rights groups find it extraordinarily difficult to obtain information about the situation on the ground (although the two reports from Human Rights Watch in 2015 demonstrate just how much can be achieved using Darfuris contacts on the ground and by conducting interviews with victims when it is safe to do so). But it is the Obama administration itself, which officially “de-coupled” Darfur from major U.S. Sudan policy concerns in 2010, that is responsible for much of Darfur's invisibility, and hence the obduracy and contemptuous attitudes toward administration efforts at re-establishing Darfur as a focus of any real or sustained concern.

In accounting for Darfur's invisibility, there is of course much blame to apportion—between the European Union, the African Union, the UN, as well as the U.S. While the region was once the center of concerted news and human rights reporting and civil advocacy, occasioning unctuous statements by various world leaders (including candidate and President Obama), it is now almost entirely ignored by these actors except in the form of incompetent diplomatic exercises let by Thabo Mbeki, head of the African Union's absurdly named “African Union High-level Implementation Panel” (see “Diplomatic Incoherence: Thabo Mbeki's Gift to the People of Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile,” August 5, 2016 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1V).

Darfur's invisibility occurs not because the genocidal destruction has been halted; indeed, the past four years have seen a shocking rise in ethnically targeted killings, rapes, and violent land expropriation, even as those displaced by the violence find themselves in camps increasingly insecure and under-served by a dwindling humanitarian capacity. (See my two lengthy overviews of the primary patterns of violence, one of accelerating violent expropriation of African farmlands, another on the continuing use of rape as a weapon of war, focusing on the targeting of African girls and young women.)

But it was American civil society advocacy and human rights organizations that were most active in putting genocide in Darfur inescapably before the world's attention; and it was candidate Obama who declared when it was politically useful to do so that…

“When you see a genocide in Rwanda, Bosnia or in Darfur, that is a stain on all of us, a stain on our souls. We can't say ‘never again' and then allow it to happen again, and as a president of the United States I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter.” (video clip at | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEd583-fA8M#t=15/)

Those words ring even more hollow as human “slaughter” continues throughout Darfur nine years after candidate Obama made this statement. Khartoum has now largely succeeded in its genocidal counter-insurgency war, which from the start has focused on the destruction of the African tribal groups perceived as supporting the rebel forces. Beginning with the second term of the Obama administration there has been a dramatic increase in the level of violence—“slaughter”—and a further attenuation of humanitarian resources. The UN estimates that more than 3,000 African villages were destroyed in 2014 alone, this in addition to the many thousands of villages that had been destroyed in earlier years—and those destroyed subsequently. The effectiveness of the Rapid Support Forces has been decisive, and militarily Khartoum has now largely prevailed in Darfur, despite continuing fighting.

The costs of Khartoum's “victory” Some 500,000 dead; many tens of thousands of girls and women raped; more than 3 million people displaced from their homes (some 300,000 living tenuous lives as refugees in eastern Chad). There has been what appears to be a permanent, wholesale loss of African farmlands to Arab pastoralists, many not from Darfur but Chad, Niger, and other countries to the east of Darfur.

The most notorious leader of the Arab militias used early in the genocide (the Janjaweed) is Musa Hilal. In August 2004 he made explicit Khartoum's genocidal ambitions:

The ultimate objective in Darfur is spelled out in an August 2004 directive from [Janjaweed paramount leader Musa] Hilal's headquarters: “change the demography” of Darfur and “empty it of African tribes.” Confirming the control of [Khartoum's] Military Intelligence over the Darfur file, the directive is addressed to no fewer than three intelligence services—the Intelligence and Security Department, Military Intelligence and National Security, and the ultra-secret “Constructive Security,” or Amn al Ijabi. (Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, 2005)

What Khartoum is saying to the U.S. by way of arresting those who gave some account of this “change in demography” to the senior Obama administration diplomat working on Darfur is clear: “We have changed the demography; any efforts by you to reverse this success will be met with contempt and brutality.”

********************************

Eric Reeves has written extensively on Sudan for almost two decades; he is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

August 13, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) - Leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) Minni Minnawi has denied that they signed the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African Union due to American pressures but acknowledged that pressures within the Sudan Call have pushed the opposition umbrella to endorse the peace plan.

Leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minnawi (AFP)

Last Monday, four groups from the opposition umbrella Sudan Call including the SLM-MM, Sudan People's Liberation Movement /North (SPLM-N), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the National Umma Party (NUP) signed a roadmap for peace and dialogue proposed by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP).

In an interview with Sudan Tribune at the negotiation venue in Addis Ababa on Saturday, Minnawi said neither the United States nor the international community have put pressures on the Sudan Call forces to sign the Roadmap.

“Sudan Call forces have their own varying positions and considerations on whether to sign the [Roadmap] or not and with regard to amending its items and adding the issues that have been overlooked last March,” he added.

He pointed to existence of two views within the Sudan Call, saying the first called for sticking to the opposition demands and reservations while the other advocated the signing of the peace document particularly as mounting pressures could force the government to make concessions.

Some political parties within the internal opposition umbrella of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) including the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), the Arab Ba'ath Party (ABP), Nasserite Socialist Party (NSP) have refused to sign the Roadmap, saying it would reproduce the regime.

Minnawi described the controversial Roadmap as “unnecessary and unimportant”, saying it is only a gateway and timetable for commencing the talks and finding solutions.
He mocked the government declaration of Darfur as a region free of rebellion, saying it continued to use this kind of rhetoric since 27 years.

“Today, the Antonov war planes are bombing Jebel Marra. If [Darfur] is really free of rebellion why are they doing that? The answer is that they are bombing civilians... that means the International Criminal Court was right and President al-Bashir must turn himself in to the tribunal immediately” he said .

The rebel leader acknowledged that Darfur armed groups have retreated but underscored their presence on the ground.

“It is true that we have withdrawn from several areas [but] we seized control of new areas and this is how the rebellion works” he said.

Minnawi has expressed pessimism over the outcome of the ongoing talks with the Sudanese government on the cessation of hostilities and the humanitarian issues, saying no progress has been gained.

On Wednesday the government and the SLM-MM and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have kicked off direct negotiations on the Darfur track.

He added the Sudanese government is sticking to its old positions and refusing to make any concessions, saying he doesn't see any breakthrough looming.

“The government is taking intransigent position on all points pertaining to the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian issues” he said
Minnawi further criticised statements made by the head of the government delegation for the Darfur track Amin Hassan Omer in which he said the two sides would reach an agreement during this round of talks.
“Amin looks at the Darfur issue from the investment perspective, we are not concerned by his statements but the real question is: has any progress been made inside the negotiations rooms?”
JEM SAYS NO PROGRESS MADE ON DARFUR TALKS

Meanwhile, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, JEM Top Negotiator Ahmed Tugud Lisan said no progress was made in all contentious issues pertaining to the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian issues.

He said the two sides are sticking to their old positions with regard to the core issues under discussion, pointing the government delegation continued to repeat its old arguments.

Lisan added the government position reflects its ill will, saying it is a naive attempt to buy time and win political gains without paying any price.

He said this round of talks has come to an end without reaching any tangible results unlike what the government media has been portraying during the past couple of days.

“All signs and indications underline that this round [of talks] came to a conclusion without achieving any results, and that direct negotiations revealed the size of differences between the parties to the conflict and the intentions of the regime and its way of thinking towards issues of peace and democratization,” he said.

JEM Top Negotiator further added that true peace can't be achieved unless the regime takes a strategic decision that puts national interests ahead of partisan politics.

August 13, 2016 (TORIT) - Imotong state governor has issued gubernatorial decree appointing twelve County commissioners for the newly established local administrations in the area.

Governor Nartisio Loluke Manir

Nartisio Loluke Manir in a decree issued on Friday, appointed Fermo peter Ofere as a Commissioner of Torit County, Bernard primo as a Commissioner of Lopa County, Ben Kingston loduk as a Commissioner of Magwi County, Salvatore Abddala Orisa Moi as a Commissioner of Ikotos County, Emilio Igga as a Commissioner of Pageri County, Severino Loful Obong as a Commissioner of Lopit West County.

Meanwhile, Ukang Wang has also been appointed as a Commissioner of Lafon County, Vigilio Bernard take up Torit West County, Claudio Opwonya as a kidepo valley Commissioner, Emma Albino Aworu task for Torit east County, Onek Benson Mark for Ayaci County and Dominic Oywee Paul as Commissioner of Eriya County.

The governor is his decree urged the newly appointed commissioners to work hard in coordination with the local assembly, chiefs, security committees and the business communities to render services.

The governor further called on the local communities to work jointly with the appointed administrators since it was their own choice to steer up peace and development in their counties.

The newly appointed commissioner will take oath of office next week before to assume their duties in the respective areas.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Over nine thousands Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled their homes in Rii-rangu, Yambio County in fear of their lives from the fighting between the armed group and SPLA last June, are now getting humanitarian assistance which includes food and non-food items from World Food Program (WFP) in Yambio.

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

Speaking to Sudan tribune, the State Director of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) Joseph Salvatore said, the IDPs and farmers of Rii-rangu area are getting humanitarian assistance after deserting their homes following the violence in June this year. The CFP provides food and RRC Office together with other non-governmental organizations are engaged in the distribution.

“We are distributing humanitarian assistance to over nine thousands IDPs who fled their homes in Rii-rangu to Yambio in fear of their lives,” he said.

Salvatore stated that the distribution had been delayed because the NGOs have to do verification first to know the exact number of the displaced before the distribution of food and non-food. Also,the instability in the area prevented them from visiting some areas where the IDPs are residing.

He refuted the allegation that the acting governor that time who was the Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement pressured and addressed them an ultimatum of seven days to distribute the items to the needy or else the government may give an order to distribute it. He added that aid groups don't work under pressure from anyone because they have to mobilize the resources and again do assessments to allow them do their work efficiently.

Salvatore further underlined that the WFP is transporting the humanitarian items now to Yambio only by air because all roads connecting the Western Equatoria are closed and that insecurity and armed looting on roads also prevent that.

A farmer in the area, Mr. TartizioWandu, told Sudan Tribune that all what he planted in his farm in Rii-rangu had been looted during the conflict, and he could not go to the area to harvest or collect anything from the garden.

“All what I planted in Rii-rangu has been looted and destroyed by unknown people and it was not safe to go there and collect some of it. I am afraid my family this year will face hunger as they have nothing to eat.”

An IDP, Samson Mangu, says, he is happy to receive food after many months enduring hunger with his family as they fled their homes without food or cloths. He urged the government and armed groups to stop fighting as they could go back to their homes and live in peace.

“I am calling upon the government and armed groups to stop war, we need peace.”

Rii-rangu is one of the areas affected by the fighting between the government forces and SPLA-IO elements.

(ST)

August 12, 2016 (KHARTOUM). Sudan's Ministry of Telecommunications on Friday revealed that it has taken legal action against hackers for attacking government websites, pointing that such attacks represent a violation of “national security”.

In statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Director General of the National Information Center (NIC), Mohamed Abd Al Rahim, pointed that the center has filed a complaint against unidentified hackers for attacking and corrupting government websites.

“Ministry of Telecommunications has the capacity to protect its information and track all hackers,” stressed the statement.

The statement further pointed that the Center is keen to protect government and private data and information.

The government didn't indicate the attacked websites. However Sudan Tribune noticed that the sites of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Petroleum were down on Friday.

In 2014, the Ministry of Telecommunications announced new plans to secure its sites against hackers and tasked the NIC with the hosting and security of the government websites and transmitted data.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - Security authorities in North Darfur state on Saturday have arrested 26 foreign nationals as they tried to cross from Sudan to Libya at Um Kadada area, 150 km east of the state's capital, El-Fasher.

A security source who spoke to Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity, said an army intelligence force from the sixth infantry division have aborted a human trafficking operation, pointing that 26 foreign nationals including 24 Somalis and 2 Kenyans were arrested.

He said the detainees were riding on a four-wheel drive Ford vehicle at Um Kadada area, pointing they were heading to El-Fasher and from there to the Libyan border.

Sudan is considered as a country of origin and transit for the illegal migration and human trafficking. Thousands of people from Eritrea and Ethiopia are monthly crossing the border into the Sudanese territories on their way to Europe through Libya or Egypt.

Last June, hundreds of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) elements have been deployed in the remote desert of the Northern State shortly after complaint by the governor of drug and human trafficking by the criminal networks.

Upon their return to North Darfur state late last month, SRF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, (aka Hametti) said his fighters arrested about 600 Ethiopian illegal migrants near Sudan's border with Libya and Egypt.

Earlier this year, the European Union granted a €100m development package to address the root causes of irregular migration in Sudan. The financial support came after pledge by the Sudanese government to cooperate with Brussels to stop human trafficking to Europe.

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.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) - Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have failed to sign a cessation of hostility agreement as the talks are stalled over the humanitarian access from outside Sudan.

Negotiating delegations of the Sudanese government (L) and the SPLM-N (R) hold a meeting in presence of mediators in Addis Ababa on 12 August 2016 (courtesy photo of SPLM-N)

The African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) on Friday decided to extend until Sunday the talks on the cessation of hostilities and the humanitarian access to civilians in the war affected areas in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, as the progress achieved raised hope on a possible deal for Sunday.

However, on Saturday evening the two parties accused each other of hampering the process. Nonetheless, the chief mediator called on the parties to meet on Sunday as he is expected to submit some proposals to break the deadlock.

The spokesperson of the government delegation Hassan Hamid told reporters that the SPLM-N delegation insists on its demand for the transportation of humanitarian aid from South Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia.

The SPLM-N insists on the "direct transportation of humanitarian assistance from Juba and other countries to the Movement's controlled areas without observing the legal or technical regulations (...) which constitutes a violation of national sovereignty," he said.

He further said that such a demand represents a "threat to the national security" in light of the political and security situation in South Sudan and the "military and political connections between" the ruling party in Juba and the SPLM-N.

Since several year ago the SPLM-N demands the transportation of humanitarian aid from outside the country, saying such procedure would prevent Khartoum from using humanitarian aid as a tool of political pressure. Also, it also refused the participation of Sudanese government relief workers saying they are infiltrated by the security apparatus.

SPLM-N Spokesperson Mubarak Ardol, disclosed that they made significant concessions on the negotiating table in order to facilitate an agreement on the humanitarian access, and accused the government of seeking to fully control the whole operation.

"The SPLM-N delegation conceded and accepted mixed tracks from inside Sudan and abroad. Even, we accepted that 80% of the relief come through Khartoum," said Ardol in a statement he released at the negotiation venue.

He added that the government delegation maintained its intransigence and insisted to have the monopoly of the humanitarian operation, a matter that reveals its "intention to use citizens in the Two Areas as hostages of war as they do now in Darfur".

To explain why they insist on the direct access from outside Sudan, Ardol said they fear that the government expel foreign aid groups and prevent international officials from assessing the humanitarian situation on the ground as it is done in Darfur.

Sources close to the negotiations said the chief mediator Thabo Mbeki met the two sides and invited them to resume their discussions on Sunday. It is unclear if he would continue to press them to sign an agreement or suspend the talks as he used to do in the past.

The signing of the deal on the truce and the humanitarian access is seen as confidence building measures paving the way for a political process that includes the other opposition groups in a constitutional conference to be held inside Sudan.

The leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq al-Mahdi Saturday urged the negotiating parties to sign a deal on the humanitarian aid and the cessation of hostilities to move towards the political file.

"Unless the parties agree on a cessation of hostilities and security and humanitarian arrangements, they (the government and armed groups) obstruct the dialogue." he said in statements to the official news agency SUNA.

He stressed that the non-signing of the cessation of hostilities prevents the creation of a new climate for peace in Sudan, and disrupts the confidence building measures the African mediation spoke about.

" Now, the conditions are favourable more than ever to achieve a just and comprehensive peace and democratic transformation acceptable to all the parties, and (discuss) a new constitution to be agreed upon."

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan cabinet has approved the establishment of cantonment sites and integration of members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army who have switched allegiance to President Salva Kiir's newly appointed First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai.

A batch of the SPLA-IO forces after arrival in Juba, 1 April, 2016 (ST Photo)

Information and Broadcasting Minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, announced on Friday that the cabinet has agreed to approve the establishment of the cantonment sites and to integrate members of the SPLA-IO forces after getting into the assembling points.

Minister Lueth, however, did not say whether the cantonment sites for SPLA-IO forces would extend to the two regions of Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria. He government has previously rejected the establishment of the cantonment sites for members of armed opposition forces in the two regions, claiming the areas did not experience active combat during the more than two years civil war in the country. He advocated for limited establishment of the cantonment sites to the Upper Nile region.

“The cabinet has approved the establishment of the SPLA-IO forces. The president will today (Friday) issue orders to implement the resolution of the council of ministers,” said Lueth in a statement broadcast by the state owned South Sudan broadcasting Corporation on Friday evening.

The president, however, did not issue any republican order on Friday and it remains unclear when He will issue orders to implement the decision of the cabinet meeting in which he participated with his new first deputy, Taban Deng Gai.

It is also not unclear why the president has accepted the establishment of the cantonment sites for members of armed opposition forces after he declined to sign the minutes of the meeting he had with the Former Vice President, Riek Machar and Vice President James Wani Iagga.

Observers are keen to stress that President Kiir stalled the implementation of key provisions in the agreement because of his personal dislike of Machar whom he did not take any credit for successful implementation of the peace agreement.

(ST)

August 13, 2016 (JUBA) - The Spokesperson of South Sudan President Salva Kiir angrily reacted on Friday to a resolution of the United Nations Security Council authorizing deployment of up to 4000 troops to protect civilians at risk of extreme violence and to help in the implementation of peace agreement.

South Sudanese Presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny addresses journalists following renewed fighting in Juba July 11, 2016 (Reuters Photo)

Presidential Spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny, told the media late on Friday that the government of President Salva Kiir on whose behalf he spoke, will not cooperate with the United Nations approved force.

“It is very unfortunate and we are not going to ‘cooperate' because we will not allow our country to be taken over by U.N. Any force that will be called Juba Protection Force will not be accepted,” said Ateny.

Ateny made the remarks after the government convened a cabinet meeting at which it was resolved to send a letter rejecting a proposal authorizing deployment of protection force from the region under the united nations mission in South Sudan.

The letter prepared by the minister of cabinet affairs, Martin Elia Lomuro and approved by president Kiir likened the deployment of 4,000 foreign troops to “invasion and interference in the internal affairs”.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

August 13, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Direct peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, between Sudanese government and Darfur rebel movements cones to a verge of collapse as rebels throw out requests to disclose fighters' locations.

The Sudan government delegation demanded an alleged 13 rebel locations that could be defined by coordinates are disclosed.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune, Sudan government chief negotiator on Darfur track, Amin Hassan Omer said signing cessation of hostilities agreement will be impossible unless rebels disclose their locations.

“How can I sign an agreement with you without telling me your whereabouts?”

The rebels are saying “come and sign a cessation of hostilities with me but try to find me because I can't tell you where I am” Amin further went into mocking their stance.

However the Darfur armed movements have entirely rejected the governments demand.

The delegation of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) are negotiating a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access deal with the government.

The two matters are seen as confidence building measures paving the way for their participation along side the Sudan Call groups in a national constitutional conference in Khartoum.

JEM and SLM-MM said it is too early to give the details of their forces at this stage of negotiations. they said they will only disclose their locations when a reliable development is reached with the other party in the political process and a security arrangements agreement is signed.

“There is no cessation of hostilities agreed any where in the world that discloses locations of enemy pinpoints” leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Gibril Ibrahim told Sudan Tribune.

He said the movements are ready to disclose only the areas while also the government is not holding the declared unilateral ceasefire as it promised.

“We can't tell them our positions while the government is bombing using its air forces” Gibril said.

“Telling them today the position of our forces would mean inviting them to bombing us tomorrow” he added.

He said that government fighter jets continue to bomb areas in Darfur.

He said government air force jets hit Jebel Marra area today and yesterday.

“We will not disclose our positions the way they wanted” Gibril added.

He further went into saying that if the government insisted on having coordinates of locations “We definitely are not going to sign the cessation of hostilities.

However he said if a ceasefire agreement is reached, oppositions are ready to reveal their locations in clear definition with GPS coordinates.

During today's extensive deliberations, the Darfur rebels have also asked for a humanitarian mechanism to monitor the flow of humanitarian assistance to the people in need.

“The relief is not flowing the way we wished, even the way international donors sought to be,” Gibril said.

Khartoum delegation, refused to accept opposition's proposal instead wanted the armed groups to join the government humanitarian mechanism and be part of it, a request the the two groups dismissed.

The Darfur rebels have also demanded the release of prisoners of war (POW), saying there are a in a terrible situation, with two died of tuberculoses last week.

However government said it is not ready to talk about POW at this stage.

(ST)

By Hafiz Mohamed

After the acceptance of Sudan Call Alliance to sign the Road Map each of the four parties to the alliance came out with a scenario trying to sell that out to their constituency, instead of putting brave face for their retreat from their first position which denouncing it, and try to get the best out of it.

In the build up to the 8th August 2016 the date in which they supposed to sign there are many activities and moves to give the signing some sort of inclusivity and portrayed it as a national event, such as the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) on the 9th January 2005, as everyone knows there is no comparison.

I don't understand why all this fuss is about, it is just a signing of a road map not a framework agreement or an agreement which is going to immediately end Sudan multiple crises and elevate the suffering of millions of Sudanese people as life become untenable due to the failed policies of the National Congress Party (NCP).

The opposition groups with their two components civilian and military still have a long way to go in terms of negotiating the terms of their engagement in the National dialogue, the interim security arrangements and the terms of delivery of humanitarian assistances, for Darfur and the two areas, the political arrangement which supposed to lead to the final status of those areas.

Sudan call alliance wanted to turn its signing of the road map into a victory with big signing ceremony by inviting some national Sudanese figures to make it look as a national agreement but I don't think the signing deserve all that row, and doesn't worse it to spend all these amount of resources now, they better wait until they reach a final agreement and if it put Sudan in a pave to genuine peace and democratic transformation all Sudanese will celebrate with them.

The signing will take place on the 8th August but the hard work will start on the 9th with the negotiations of the terms of cessations of hostilities, delivery of humanitarian assistance and the monitoring mechanism between the government of Sudan (GoS)and Sudan People Liberation Army – North (SPLM-N), and that will not be an easy task taking into consideration their five years negotiations for delivery of humanitarian assistance and cessation of hostilities , many rounds of talks regarding the terms of the ceasefire failed that include the implementation of the tripartite agreement ( UN, AU and the Arab League) and the UN resolution 2046, disagreement over from where the assistance supposed to be delivered , as that prevented the two parties from reaching agreements denying millions of people from humanitarian assistance at the same time denying children the high needed vaccination.

The remaining question will still be, will the government accept an agreement in line with the terms of Switzerland 19th January 2002 cease fire agreement which managed to opened access for delivery of humanitarian assistance, allowed freedom of movement, people and trade at the same time established a joint monitoring mechanism (JMC) headed by Norwegian General.

The parallel tracks of the negotiations for the two areas and Darfur, will not be the easiest parts as GoS will insist on not giving any ground for a new negotiation on Darfur because according to them the Darfur Doha Peace Document (DDPD) has achieved its objectives and concluded the only offers they have for Darfuri armed movements is allocation of ministerial posts and some others positions, and that will not be acceptable for them.

With regards to the two areas negotiations in the last 5 years the chief negotiator of SPLM-N has wasted great opportunities to address the roots causes of the conflicts in the two areas instead he insisted on focusing the discussion on national issues, by signing the Road Map all the National Issues will be address through the National Dialogue, at the same time the road map already stated the ceilings for the negotiations of the two areas and I don't thinks that up to the expectations of the people of the Nuba mountains at least I can't tell about Blue Nile because I simply don't know.

The problem which has been deliberately created by SPLM-N leadership and led to the current state of mayhem because they insist on not consulting the people and trying to impose settlement through military orders that can only work temporary with the army but not with the people, ignoring other sectors of communities and trying to force through settlement which is not acceptable will not lead to sustainable peace. They are ignoring SPLM own practice, immediately after the signing of Machakos Protocol in July 2002, an all Nuba conference was held in Kuda South Kordofan state in October 2002 , attended not only by members of SPLM by civil society activists and communities leaders at the same time attended by the late Dr John Grang , at that conference people gave SPLM a mandate to negotiate on their behalf , but when it came to the two areas negotiations Dr John delegated the political leaders of the areas to negotiate the terms of the two areas protocols and promised to accept any outcome of that negotiation,, I think the process which SPLM leaders adopted in 2002-2004 regarding the two areas was correct and look more democratic even though many people from the Nuba mountains were not happy about the outcome. But since the start of the current war no single consultation is carried to the people of affected areas but even with senior members of the movement, everything is run by Arman selecting the majority of his advisers from outside these areas, and when senior members of the movement such as Ramdan Hassan, Ahmed Balga others voiced their concerns the got the sack.

I do understand that there is national dimension to the conflicts in Sudan peripheries, as the conflicts are centre-peripheries mainly created by the central political elites through deliberate policies of marginalisation, but SPLM-N policies of not allowing even leaders from these areas to voice their concern on issues which they carry arms to fight for will replicate and deepen the same problem instead of working towards resolving it.

The negotiations for the two areas within the road map must be assigned to SPLM-N leaders originate from the two areas with consultation with others people from their areas because at the end they supposed to oversee the implementation of any agreement in partnership with others in these states, and must not allow Arman to run the show, dictating his views on the people of these areas as that will waste other golden opportunity to address some of the concerns of these people , he can lead SPLM- N negotiations with others members of Sudan Call Alliance on issues related to national dialogue and its process. But insisting in imposing Arman on people specially from South Kordofan/ Nuba Mountains will be an insult to these people as they are well aware that the majority of the people in the Nuba mountains don't want him and that will have very serious ramification in the future.

The voice of the people of the Nuba mountains must be heard in this very critical juncture of their history at the time when half of the population either Internal Displaced People (IDPs) or refugees, collective effort is needed to rebuild the region from the shattered, destitution, prolong wars, marginalisation and discrimination.

The war has run its course and the case of fighting Khartoum from the Nuba mountains and making the people of these areas pay the price of change in national level is neither fair nor moral, as they need tenth of years to overcome the impacts of the last two wars. We hope the two parties to war sign a cessation of hostilities agreement at least to stop the killing, immediately after that we need to mobilise the people to build a wide civic coalition for activists, communities/tribal leaders, women, youth so they work together through civic struggle to restore their rights and rebuild the region from the ruins of the wars, learning from the 6 years of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) interim period (2005-11) which ended with more destructive war.

Hafiz Ismail Mohamed is CSOs activist and can be reach at: hafiz2502@hotmail.com

August 7, 2016 (JUBA) - African leaders of the East African regional bloc, IGAD, have issued a strong worded communiqué, calling on the United Nations and global community to extend support to end conflict in South Sudan. The also warned that a delay to act to avert a deteriorating humanitarian situation represents a security threat to countries in the region.

In the communiqué released in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, IGAD said its member states have been shouldering heavy burden.

“Underlines once again that the situation in South Sudan is a serious threat to regional peace, security and stability, and recognizes that the neighbouring countries have been shouldering the heavy burden of the conflict since its outbreak in December 2013, including continued and intensive flow of refugees, as well as proliferation of illicit small arms and weapons and instability,” reads the communique of the outcome of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the IGAD Plus held on 5th August 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The leaders pointed out the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, has the duty and moral responsibility to act decisively and swiftly in support of the IGAD and AU efforts with a view to bringing to an end the suffering of the people.

The meeting also condemned the "continuing obstruction of Ceasefire and Transitional
Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism - Monitoring and Verification
Teams (CTSAMM-MVTs) and UNMISS from implementing their tasks and
mandates".

It further called upon the Transitional Government of National Unity
(TGoNU) to issue the necessary orders to guarantee CTSAMM and UNMISS
freedom of movement and to respect the Status of Forces Agreement
between the Republic of South Sudan and UNMISS.

The South Sudanese government delegation was chaired by First Vice President Taban Deng Gai who informed the meet of his decision to resign in favour of the former FVP Riek Machar.

The meeting ''welcomes the gesture of H.E. General Taban Deng Ghai to step down with a view of returning to the status quo ante in line with the ARCSS for the sake of peace and stability in the Republic of South Sudan," said the statement.

The meeting was chaired by Hailemariam Desalegn, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and current Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government, and was attended by Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti; . Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya; Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia; Omar Hassan al-Bashir, President of the Republic of Sudan; Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda.

Other prominent African leaders and personalities at the summit include Rwandan president Paul Kagame, Rachid Benlounes, representing the President of Algeria, Kettong Doradji, representing the President of Chad, Godfrey A.E. Odudigbo, representing the President of Nigeria and Ndumiso N. Ntshinga, representing the President of South Africa. Ellen Margrethe Loej, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General and the Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Festus G. Mogae, Chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC); and Mahboub Maalim, IGAD Executive Secretary were among those who attended the high level summit on the situation in South Sudan.

(ST)

August 7, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese government on Sunday has renewed its keenness to implement a gradual and smooth exit for the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

A UNAMID peacekeeper from from Burkina Fasso and based in Forobaranga, West Darfur, checks a map during a patrol to Tamar village. (Photo UNAMID/Albert González Farran)

Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdel-Ghani al-Naem on Sunday has discussed with the Deputy Joint AU-UN Special Representative Jeremiah Mamabolo cooperation between Sudanese government and UNAMID.

In a press statement extended to Sudan Tribune, al-Naem expressed his government's keenness to continue to cooperate with UNAMID in all aspects including the implantation of a smooth and gradual exit strategy according to the mechanisms agreed upon.

For his part, Mamabolo has praised the continued cooperation between his mission and the Sudanese government particularly with regard to facilitating UNAMID's imports clearance procedures and visa issuance.

He expressed hope that peace will prevail in Darfur in light of the signing of the Roadmap Agreement for peace and dialogue brokered by the African Union.

Sudan, African Union and the United Nations since two years hold discussions on the UNAMID's exit from western Sudan. Khartoum says the security situation is stable and its efforts to curb the tribal violence have been successful.

But the UN proposed a limited and gradual withdrawal from some sectors saying the full exit should intervene after the signing of peace agreement with all the rebel groups and to ensure the protection of displaced civilians.

The hybrid mission has been deployed in Darfur since December 2007 with a mandate to stem violence against civilians in the western Sudan's region.

It is the world's second largest international peacekeeping force with an annual budget of $1.35 billion and almost 20,000 troops.

UN agencies say there are nearly 2.5 million displaced persons in Darfur, despite the signing of peace agreement in Doha in July 2011.

(ST)

August 7, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) on Saturday has elected its Politburo besides the secretariat of the Central Committee and reelected Mohamed Mukhtar al-Khatib as political secretary.

Sudanese Communist Party Political Secretary Mohamed Mokhtar al-Khatib (ST Photo)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Sunday, SCP said the Central Committee has elected Mukhtar Abdalla as organizational secretary, al-Harith al-Toum as financial secretary, Al-Sir Babo as cultural secretary, Fathi al-Fadl as information secretary and official spokesperson and Mohi al-Din al-Galad as administrative secretary.

The statement added that the Central Committee also elected Siddig Youssef as political communication official, Salih Mahmoud as foreign relations official, Faiza Nugud as trade unions official, Hanadi al-Fadl as students official, Kamal al-Gizouli as writers bureau official, Sidgi Kaballo as economic bureau official and Masoud Ahmed al-Hassan as political secretary for Khartoum.

Sudanese Communist Party Political Secretary Mohamed Mokhtar al-Khatib (ST Photo)

It pointed that the Central Committee has unanimously approved the final communiqué of the sixth convention following extensive discussions.

Last week, SCP held its sixth convention and elected a 41-member Central Committee besides 10 reserve members.

The statement further said the Central Committee will hold its next meeting early September.

The SCP was established in 1946 under the name of the “Anti Colonialism Front” and it was later known as the “Sudanese Movement for National Liberation” before its final name was adopted in 1956.

(ST)

August 7, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – The outcome of the Addis Ababa summit of the heads of state and government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is “encouraging”, said the official spokesperson of the leader of the opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO).

Riek Machar, left, first vice president of the Republic of South Sudan, and Salva Kiir, the president, at the first meeting of the new transitional coalition government in Juba, South Sudan, in April, 2016 (Jason Patinkin/AP)

James Gatdet Dak, spokesperson for Riek Machar, Former First Vice President who was replaced two weeks ago in a controversial process rejected by IGAD, said the resolutions of the East African regional body could revive the “collapsing” peace agreement if implemented with speed.

“We welcome the fact that IGAD has not supported the illegal transitional leadership changes in Juba. Their resolution, although weak, expects Taban Deng Gai to step down. Whatever process that took place in the temporary absence of the legitimate First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, will be undone before he returns to Juba,” said James Gatdet Dak.

He also said all their ministers who were replaced illegally will be reinstated to their ministerial portfolios and the new ministers who were “sneaked in” will be removed.

He condemned the action by President Salva Kiir to replace SPLM-IO ministers “unilaterally per the recommendation of a defector, Gai, who is no longer a member of the SPLM-IO”, saying it was a serious violation of the Article 6.5 of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS).

The opposition leader's spokesman however commended the IGAD heads of state and government for resolving to deploy a third party force in the capital, Juba, saying this has been the position of the SPLM-IO leadership but which “President Kiir's faction was reluctant to accept it.”

PROTECTION OR INTERVENTION

While the government under President Kiir said it would accept a protection force, but not an intervention force, Machar's spokesperson, Dak, said there is no reason to quarrel over the terminologies as the two words mean the same thing.

He said as long as the government accepted a third party force whether by protection or intervention, adding the two practically carry out the same task.

“Protection force also means intervention force. You cannot protect leaders, officials, citizens or government's key installations without intervening. The two are interchangeable words where one cannot be applied without doing the other militarily,” Dak said.

“Foreign troops separating two rival national armies, even bodyguards, or protecting leaders and citizens by itself is an intervention,” he added.

He said officials of the government delegation who were “lectured” about the outcome of the summit did not tell the truth to the public in Juba about what actually transpired at the IGAD summit in Addis Ababa, adding that the chiefs of general staff of the armies in the region will visit Juba soon to make ground preparations for the deployment of the at least 14,000 strong force to take control.

He said President Kiir should now reverse his recent decrees by reinstating Machar and his ministers to their rightful positions per the peace agreement.

Dak also said the opposition forces will “optionally” be in a position to take control of Juba if President Kiir's faction will not comply with the IGAD resolutions.

He accused the government's forces of continuing with “suicide mission” offensives against their forces around Juba, saying the SPLA-IO forces have been moving closer to Juba “slowly but surely” from different directions as they defeat forces loyal to President Kiir.

He further claimed that Juba-Yei road and Juba-Mundri road as well as northwest of Juba around Terekeka have remained closed as their forces are in control on all these routes.

(ST)

August 6, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – In an unexpected development, the opposition Future Forces of Change (FFC) Saturday boycotted the National Dialogue General Assembly to protest the organizers' refusal to give them the opportunity to address the consultative meeting.

FFC leaders at the launch ceremony held in Khartoum on 23 February 2016 (ST Photo)

The FFC which gathers some Islamist groups that splinted from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) are not part of the government sponsored dialogue but they held a series of meetings facilitated by the African Union mediation to prepare them to join a holistic process.

In a statement released Saturday evening, the alliance said they accepted to attend the General Assembly meeting after the emergence of new positive developments in support of an inclusive process.

“The Future Forces of Change agreed to attend the General Assembly with the understanding that it will have an opportunity to address the meeting to explain its position (...) and to express its perception on how to move the dialogue process forward".

Especially since the written invitation extended to the FFC has provided that the meeting is" a continuation of consultations over the upcoming period programme of the dialogue National," the group further stressed.

The FFC went to say they reached some organizers to confirm that they would be allowed to address the meeting as it was said in the invitation.

“But three hours before the beginning of the meeting they informed us that we can not address the meeting,” the group said.

So, the alliance decided not to attend the General Assembly "because it is not acceptable to attend a consultative meeting that will last for long hours without having the opportunity to speak".

However, the coalition reiterated its commitment to work with all the political forces including the governing parties and the 7+7 mechanism to achieve peace and democratic reforms.

The General Assembly will hold its next meeting next October to adopt the final resolution of the internal dialogue process.

The FFC groups, are National Forces Alliance (NFA), National Forces of Change (NFC) and National Unity Parties (NUPs). Some members of these groups, like Reform Now Movement (RNM) and Just Peace Forum (JFM), were part of the national dialogue process.

(ST)

August 6, 2016 (JUBA) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said it had started responding to the growing food security emergency causing malnutrition in children in both rural and urban areas of, a month after violence broke out in South Sudan.

Acute food insecurity Feb- Sept 2016 (Photo credit: FEWS NET)

“The situation in South Sudan is catastrophic, and even more so for children,” UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac said in a statement on Friday.

This year, UNICEF has reportedly treated 120,000 children under age five for severe malnutrition, a figure higher than what the agency had in the same period last year.

“Initially, UNICEF had been planning to provide support to 166,000 children in 2016, but that figure has been revised to more than 250, 000,” the official said.

Last month, clashes between South Sudan's rival forces in the capital, Juba displaced over 40,000 civilians, the world body said.

Seven out of the country's 10 states have reached the malnutrition-rate-emergency threshold of 15 per cent, while in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, the malnutrition rate stands at 33 per cent, noted Boulierac.

According to agency, a sharp rise in malnutrition in urban areas, including Juba, where the rates of children admitted for malnutrition to UNICEF-supported Al-Sabbah children's hospitals were some 20% higher in the first six months of 2016 than for the same period last year.

The official, in the statement, also cited the country's inflation rate as one of the main reasons for the high increase, explaining that it made basic household staples too expensive for many families.

He, however, said although UNICEF could not provide the numbers of children dying from starvation, “one quarter of a million children in South Sudan are facing severe malnutrition.”

Inaccessibility of roads due to the ongoing conflict has further limited UNICEF's ability to respond in the most urgent cases, leaving the more expensive option of air transport to deliver supplies, said Boulierac.

“Due to insecurity and the rainy season, UNICEF staffs in South Sudan are unable to be fully mobile and deliver their goods and services,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, of the $154.5 million UNICEF needs for South Sudan in 2016, the agency has reportedly received only $52 million to assist with water and sanitation, child support services, nutrition, health and education.

More than 900,000 children, Boulierac further disclosed, have been displaced in the country, which – with 1.8 million children, or 51 per cent of school-age youngsters out of school – also had the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world.

“An estimated 16,000 children had been recruited by armed groups, and there were concerns that the renewed violence would lead to a further expansion of that practice,” he explained.

Meanwhile the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a total of 917, 418 South Sudanese refugees have been displaced, mostly in Uganda.

(ST)

August 6, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Members of South Sudan's armed opposition youth chapter in Uganda have dismissed their chairman for allegedly joining Taban Deng Gai.

Buay Keake, the former chairman of the SPLM-IO youth in Uganda (ST)

The spokesperson for the youth chapter, Magok Chuol told Sudan Tribune that the decision to dismiss Buay Keake Turoal was reached during a meeting in Kampala on Saturday.

Keake was nominated among the new armed opposition lawmakers, a move that did not go well with the youth.

“SPLM-IO in Uganda and their supporters would like to bring to the attention of the general public that our office strongly condemns the conspiracy plan against us by our member," said Chuol.

"We would like to remind you to distance yourself from Keake who is a supporter of Taban Deng Gai," he added.

He said the former chairman even failed to honour an emergency meeting conducted by the youth members, prompting them to replace him with Stephen Waat Bipal.

According to the armed opposition youth official, President Salva Kiir's decision to replace Riek Machar with Gai contravened the accord that ended South Sudan's conflict.

Meanwhile, Bipal confirmed that they fired Keake from the helm after he failed to explain his recent appointment as MP, adding their members fully support Machar.

Keake was unable to be reached, despite several attempts by Sudan Tribune.

(ST)

August 6, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), has strongly denied United Nations preliminary report that squarely blamed government forces and allied militia of massive rape and targeted killing in the capital, Juba.

A woman prepares food as displaced women, men and children gather, in Juba, South Sudan at the UN compound in Tomping area, Tuesday, July 12, 2016 (AP Photo)

SPLA spokesman Brig. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang said the UN report is a complete “make-up.”

“There is no single truth in that document. It is a mere accusation to spoil the image of the SPLA,” said Koang, speaking by phone on Friday.

The UN report alleged targeting of Nuer ethnic community in Juba during the fighting last month. SPLM in Opposition leader, Riek Machar, is a Nuer, the second largest group after President Salva Kiir's Dinka tribe.

Koang himself a Nuer, however admitted that the SPLA have arrested 19 soldiers on charges of looting, loitering and other indiscipline behaviours during and after the July 7-11 street battle between the rival SPLA forces.

The clashes dislodged SPLM-IO leader Machar and his small number of troops from his base in Juba and his whereabouts remain unknown for three weeks.

He told international media by phone from his hiding that a third force proposed by regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and endorsed by the African Union (AU) should first arrive to Juba before his return.

President Kiir has rejected additional foreign force, telling a Kenyan television this week that UN peacekeepers in the country can protect Machar on his arrival to Juba.

IGAD member states are meeting in Addis Ababa today to decide on the next course of action.

(ST)