Sudan Tribune

January 11, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's ministry of minerals has complained about the negative impact of the US economic sanctions on the mining activities of the Ariab Mining Company (AMC).

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir looks on during the inauguration of a gold refinery in Khartoum on September 19, 2012 (GETTY)

The ministry of minerals estimates the reserves of the AMC in one production site to amount to 1300 tonnes of copper, 170 tonnes of gold, 3000 tonnes of silver and 700,000 tonnes of zink.

Following his meeting with Sudan's minister of minerals Ahmed al-Karouri Monday, the Canadian chargé d'affaires in Khartoum has vowed to make contacts to bring in Canadian mining companies to Sudan.

He hoped that some Canadian companies with its huge expertise and leading social responsibility role operate in Sudan just like in other African nations.

Al-Karouri for his part praised the partnership which was struck up between the AMC and several Canadian companies despite the obstacles posed by the US sanctions.

He urged the Canadian companies to invest in the gold ore transformational industries in Sudan, vowing to reserve several blocks for the Canadian investments.

Washington imposed economic and trade sanctions on Sudan in 1997 in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses. In 2007 it strengthened the embargo, citing abuses in Darfur which it labelled as genocide.

Meanwhile, Karouri, who met the state minister of health Sumaia Akad Monday, said they managed to import 12 advanced laboratories including 86 units from the United Kingdom to conduct health tests on traditional miners, saying they no longer need to conduct those tests abroad.

Akad, for her part, called for developing a joint plan between the ministries of health and minerals to reduce the risk of chemicals use in the traditional mining sector.

Gold has become one of Sudan's largest exports which partially compensated for the loss in oil revenues, which accounted for more than 50% of income until 2011 when South Sudan seceded, thus taking with it most of the country's oil reserves.

Sudan approved a law to regulate traditional mining by granting licenses and specifying areas to work in to protect them from hazardous conditions and smuggling.

It is believed that traditional mining employs more than a million Sudanese but it is still difficult to obtain credible data.

(ST)

January 11, 2016 (JUBA) – A hand grenade explosion in South Sudan's oil-producing Upper Nile state killed six people and wounded 12, the United Nations said on Monday.

A picture showing a grenade explosion (garrysmod.org)

A UN spokesperson said a hand grenade accidentally detonated in a pickup truck carrying South Sudan army (SPLA) soldiers and civilians in the vicinity of the protection of civilians' site for its mission in South Sudan.

“Twelve wounded were taken to the UN Mission's Level II clinic and MSF hospital for treatment. A UN Mine Action staff member who was detained by authorities at the scene for allegedly taking photographs has been released,” said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary general.

Meanwhile, an unexpected fire outbreak in the protection of civilians' site in the Upper Nile state capital, Malakal reportedly destroyed the shelters of about 1,000 camp residents.

“A baby also reportedly died in the incident, and eight people suffered minor injuries, mostly associated with smoke inhalation,” said Dujarric.

"The cause of the fire is currently being investigated”, he added.

Presently, the UN mission (UNMISS) is reportedly protecting some 48,000 internally displaced persons in the Upper Nile capital alone, and 194,000 across South Sudan.

(ST)

By Magdi El Gizouli

Following established tradition, a reporter from the Khartoum daily al-Jareeda sought Communist commentary on the sixtieth anniversary of Sudan's independence. The event, declared a non-event by a host of opinion makers who have made it habit to decry the loss of British tutelage on each independence anniversary, was missed by the Communist Party this year, busy with another round of undeclared factional dispute. Sideeg Yusif, a party veteran, told the reporter that the Communist Party refuses to celebrate the independence anniversary because Sudan continues to suffer under totalitarian rule. “The slogans of independence cannot be achieved until the overthrow of the regime in Khartoum; what has been attained is only political independence,” Sideeg told the reporter.

Yusif Hussein, the spokesman of the Communist Party, foddered up Sideeg's argument stating that the occasion of the sixtieth independence anniversary should “push the regime to rethink and consider the situation of the country and what it has come to.” Interestingly, Yusif, who has experienced most of the post-independence history first hand, identified achievement in the past of the post-independence glorifying the same institutions and political instruments once battered by qualified Communist criticism.
The pioneers of independence started to construct the right structures and institutions of independence, he said, naming the 1956 constitution, which he further described as “democratic” despite attempts by reactionary forces to impose an Islamic constitution. The pioneers “built a bureaucracy on a democratic basis. There was no arbitrary dismissal or favouritism and appointment was on the basis of merit.” They also “established the first elements of a national economy,” added Yusif Hussein. Of course, Yusif did not miss to mention that projects left behind by colonial rule such the Gezira scheme and the railways have been completely destroyed. The Communist Party's al-Midan which published Yusif Hussein's comments titled its report: “ True celebration of the sixtieth independence anniversary after the overthrow of the regime.” “We will celebrate when the country is free and democratic, and we can build the country we dream of,” Siddig Yusif declared in another notable statement to the press.

The statements of the two leaders are both disheartening and revealing in their dismissal of Sudan's independence, following the lead of recent ‘educated' opinion, championed by the likes of the al-Tayar's editor Osman Merghani who ritually decry independence as a fall from a perceived colonial heaven of bureaucratic efficiency and fair government. Indifferent to the very notion of nationalist struggle once championed by the Communist Party, Sideeg and Yusif approximate Merghani's position in all but phrasing. Their agony is that of a defeated elite, sorry for the loss of the colonial-made state rather than that of bearers of emancipatory politics who seek to flesh liberation from the direct colonial yoke, distant and paradoxically idealised as it seems today, with empowerment of the masses. In a stroke of amnesic argumentation, the two dropped the Communist Party's most pointed and accurate criticisms of the colonial state and its heritage in favour of the abortive politics of frustration with the ‘satanical' National Congress Party (NCP).

A single Communist politician in the 1956 parliament that declared Sudan independent, Hassan al-Tahir Zaroug, stood out of the crowd to point out the discrepancies between the letter of the 1956 constitution, hastily adopted by the house, and the actual practice of the state. Zaroug highlighted the lower wages paid to southerners compared to northerners, and to the poor pay of female teachers compared to males, considering the promise of the constitution not to discriminate between Sudanese citizens in employment and public office by their race, sex, religion or place of birth. Rather than submit to the ‘pledged' democracy of the 1956 constitution, Zaroug wanted it entrenched and expanded in the lives of the common women and men of Sudan, and not subsumed in the rotation of governments and cabinet posts.

What Yusif Hussein today perceives as a bureaucracy built on a “democratic basis” and the yardstick of “merit” was criticised by the early Communists who fought for independence as an institution composed predominantly of northern Sudanese males, discredited by class bias and racial and sexual privilege, that caters for the interests of a narrow power base around the patricians and their business associates. In 1965, when the Communist Party declared the necessity to reform if not “destroy” the organs of the state inherited from Sudan the colony, Yusif was an active member of the party and probably cheered. The associations between these inherited myopias of the state and its continuous practice and current configuration have escaped his attention it seems. Yusif speaks of the elements of a ‘national economy' where his peers diagnosed a dependent mono-product economy designed to serve the guardians of a gatekeeper state, direly in need of diversification and expansion and development of the local market. The Gezira scheme was judged as the embodiment of this single crop economy.

Sideeg and Yusif are again mistaken in drawing no distincti on at all between the record of the independent Sudanese and the record of their successive governments. The resourcefulness of the Sudanese in resisting, sabotaging and also taming ill-devised and disastrous statist projects is remarkable but goes unmentioned since the two veterans are haunted by government rather than inspired by popular struggles. The reactionary politics of the patricians, Nimayri's economy of modernisation by immiseration and the NCP's ‘civilisation project' all ended in defeat and mockery, and a living counter-narrative to each inhabits popular consciousness. The notion of ‘no sanctity in politics' raised against the two sayeds, Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi and Ali al-Mirghani and their families, survives today albeit in entangled terms and forces Sadiq al-Mahdi to seek alliances where the Umma Party (renamed National Umma Party [NUP] for the 1986 elections) once reigned supreme with guaranteed votes to absent candidates in Darfur and Kordofan. The Nationalist Unionist Party of the Khatmiyya (renamed the Democratic Unionist Party [DUP] after a tumultuous split in 1956 and a sorry reunification in 1966) vegetates today as a beneficiary of the NCP.

Nimayri's decade and a half of inspired dictatorship ended with a heavily indebted government and a country at war with itself but the Sudanese who took him down scrapped his sharia and dismantled his state security. Even the bigots of al-Ingaz under President Bashir could not find it in themselves to reinstate the punishments of limb severance and stoning in practice, but picked from the sharia disciplinary lashing, a favourite of the colonial state before it was a sharia-informed article of law. State security is yet to rid itself from the disrepute of ‘fascism' meted out against it by generations of Sudanese since the era of the colonial ‘intelligence department'. Today, Bashir's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) sponsors arts and sports to carve a human face into its fascist corpus. The NISS engendered armed battalions that march on a celebrated day every year in a show of force from Qitena to Khartoum to prove their worth in fear of the day when popular agitation and political convenience might dictate its dissolution similar to its predecessor, Nimayri's State Security Bureau. The ‘civilisation project' of the Islamic Movement was effectively extinguished the moment it became a name for flamboyant ‘tobs'. The division between state and religion on the other hand was elevated to an item of intimate and sharp consciousness when it was declared the name of revealing low cut blouses marketed at discount prices.

Sideeg Yusif speaks of a dream, but by all means, the material of that dream seems to be the very same state vilified by the Communist Party that spoke ‘Marx in the vernacular' (to quote Rogaia Abu Sharaf's reading of Abd al-Khalig Mahjoub). No wonder then that Yusif and Sideeg were in no mood to mark the 60th anniversary of Sudan's independence, the beginning of the end of the effendi's paradise, let alone draw lessons from a history of struggle against the lost colony and its heirs for a future they fail even to imagine.

The author is a fellow of the Rift Valley Institute. He publishes regular opinion articles and analyses at his blog Still Sudan. He can be reached at m.elgizouli@gmail.com

January 10, 2016 (KHARTOUM) -The Government of South Sudan has asked Khartoum to cut the lease of Sudanese oil transportation facilities.

A pipeline that transports crude oil from the south to Port Sudan (Reuters)

Juba said its request was prompted by the fall in oil prices on the international market.

Speaking to Ashrooq's TV the South Sudanese foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin said a request to this effect was presented to the Sudanese government.

“Oil prices have dropped ..They are no longer like in the past ..We have to see how we can share the oil revenue under these conditions.. And if we suppose that the oil price can go down to 20 dollars, at that time there would be nothing to share,'' said the South Sudanese top diplomat.

He said the oil ministers in Khartoum and Juba were discussing the matter, but no decision has been reached so far.

Benjamin has, however, expressed optimism that a solution could be reached on the matter.

Oil prices have been on continuous decline , dropping to less than 36 U.S Dollars per barrel this week.

In August 2013 South Sudan agreed to pay to Khartoum $9.10 for the oil produced in Upper Nile state and $11 for that of Unity state which produces some 20% of South Sudan's oil. Also Juba agreed to pay the Transitional Financial Assistance (TFA) to the average of the agreed oil transportation fees.

In January 2015, South Sudan's petroleum minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau said his country will consider whether to continue paying Sudan $25 per barrel of oil or push for reduction.

The $25 per barrel of oil being paid was meant to expedite the repayment of a $3 billion compensatory package they agreed to pay Sudan.

Benjamin has further said that President Salva Kiir Mayardit had offered to mediate between Khartoum and the rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North(SPLM/N).

The TV interview was shot during the recent visit by the South Sudanese official to Khartoum to attend Sudan's 60th independence anniversary celebrations.

Benjamin has denied his government ‘s intention to arrest the SPLM in Opposition leader Riek Machar and his group members when they finally return to Juba.

“Machar will be safe in Juba.. The guarantee for this is his agreement with President Salva Kiir that South Sudan should live in peace and stability,'' he said.

He said a transitional government will be formed once Machar is in Juba. ”Nobody is planning to arrest Machar when he arrives in Juba.. His advance team of 200 troops, led by Taban Deng, is already in Juba,'' he added.

Benjamin also defended Juba's decision to divide the country into 28 states which was seen as a violation of the peace accord between the government and Machar's group.

“The division of the states represents a popular wish that has nothing to do with the peace agreement signed with Machar,'' he said.

He also refused to describe the atrocities committed during the three year conflict as war crimes, saying what had been said was far from the truth.

He also strongly rejected the calls for referring the issue to the International Criminal Court.

“Those calls are coming from outside South Sudan and totally contradict the African Union's Committee report that denied the occurrence of war crimes and violations committed in the South.

In reply to a question, Benjamin ruled out the reunification of South Sudan with Sudan .

“The situation in the Sudan and Southern Sudan dictates the cooperation of two countries on the basis of two independent states,'' he said.

He said the option for confederation between the two countries is in need of many prerequisites to be met , foremost the promotion of trade and the economy and the cementing of the relations between the two countries.

(ST)

January 9, 2016 (YAMBIO) - Authorities in South Sudan's Western Equatoria state said hundreds of citizens have fled the capital, Yambio to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and were living in critical conditions with no food, medicines and shelter.

A group of displaced women wait registration under mango tree in Nzara county, 2010 (ST Photo)

The mayor of Yambio town, Daniel Badagbu and a high level delegation visited Nabiapai border and met huge numbers of internally displaced persons stranded at the DRC border in very awful living conditions.

Badagbu said South Sudan army attacked a group a gangs in Soura village, seven miles away from Yambio. The group allegedly looted several houses, raped women and caused insecurity among the population in Yambio town.

There are, however, no official reports on the causalities involved during the military confrontation between the armed group and the national army.

The armed group is alleged to be the South Sudan People's Patriotic Front SSPPF headed by Alfred Futuyo. The groups declared their positions to join the SPLM/IO in November 2015 accusing the Government of South Sudan of failing to address the insecurity in former Western Equatoria State of which elements of SPLA soldiers were killing innocent people and burning their houses, and dominant of one tribe in the National army.

No assessment has been conducted in Dungu and other remote areas of the DRC to know the exact numbers of civilians displaced by the conflict in Yambio county.

Yambio county authorities have urged all the displaced persons to come back home, saying the security situation had continued to improve in recent weeks.

John Mineala, one of the displaced persons, said life had become so expensive in Yambio town due to insecurity and hiked prices of commodities more than it was before.

“Live has become very scary in Yambio town which was not there before, we continue to live in fear at night because armed groups are looting our money and properties. Not even that prices of commodities are increasing every day, it is better to go and live somewhere” he said.

The South Sudanese conflict, which began in December 2013, has reportedly forced 2.3 million people out of their homes, 650,000 of these across borders and 1.65 million are displaced inside the country.

(ST)

January10, 2016(EL-GENEINA) - Throngs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Sunday stormed the premises of the government of West Darfur State for fear of armed militia attacks. But, local security authorities forcefully evacuated them amid conflicting reports about fatalities in the incident.

IDPs camp with their belongings outside the premsies of W Darfur state government on January 10, 2016 (ST Photo)

The IDPs fled Moli village, 20 KM South of El-Genaina to the state capital after the murder of a pastoralist near their area, fearing revenge attacks.

The state's government spokesperson, Abdallah Mustafa, told Sudan Tribune that the villagers headed towards El-Genaina , hoping to find refuge in the nearby IDP camps.

Mustafa further accused some "political entities" , he did not name, of having exploited the situation and "instigated the crowd to protest inside the Government premises”.

He said some IDPs began to sabotage and burning cars and spread chaos. Then the situation forced the authorities to intervene.

He stressed the situation is under control and returned to normal after the evacuation of protesters from the government building.

Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that more than one thousand IDPs, mostly women and children, entered the government building, carrying their belongings on donkeys.

The presence of the Federal Minister of Social Welfare Masha'ir al-Dawallab , in the premises of West Darfur state prompted the security to evacuate the IDPs.

The state government categorically denied any fatalities during the evacuation of the protesters.

However eyewitnesses confirmed to Sudan Tribune the killing of three persons by the security that used live ammunition and tear gas.

The witnesses said not less than 27 persons were hurt while many others had fainted due to the tear gas and were taken to hospital.

So far, no official figure was released about the number of the victims.

MOLI VILLAGE

Regarding the reasons of the displacement of the villagers, the IDPs said they decided to leave their home area after threats by the pro-government militiamen to burn the village after the herder's body was found near Moli.

The militia gave them two days to implement one of two options: to pay blood money (diyya) or to surrender his killer.

As the villagers failed to respond positively, the militias carried out widespread attacks, burning the village and looting the locals belongings a matter that prompted a mass exodus from the villages in the areas towards the premises of the state government.

The West Darfur is seen as a safe state in the troubled region where the tribal violence replaced fighting between the government forces and rebels.

REBELS CONDEMN

The Sudan Liberation Movement - Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) condemned the brutality of the security forces, and said the state government and to provide protection not to kill them.

''Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement strongly condemns the vicious attack on Moli village, south of El Geneina in West Darfur, resulting in the burning of the entire village and the displacement of all its citizens," said JEM spokesperson Gibreel Adam Bilal.

Bilal further slammed West Darfur government for failing to provide protection to the civilians or to hear their complaint.

The spokesman of the office of the SLM-AW chairman, Mohamed Abdel Rahman al-Nayer said the number of the victims reached 10 people. He further said the militiamen burned down six villages outside El-Geneina.

Al-Nayer called on the African Union and the UN as well as the joint peacekeeping mission UNAMID to investigate the incident and to shoulder their responsibility of protecting the citizens.

He also urged rights groups to campaign for an investigation by regional and international right institutions.

(ST)

January 10, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan's main armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) said they were not “satisfied”, but okay with the allocated ministerial portfolios to form a transitional government of national unity.

SPLM (IO) Chairman, Riek Machar, addressing the 2nd National Liberation Council (NLC) meeting in Pagak, November 5, 2015 (ST Photo)

On Thursday, four factions of the parties to a peace agreement signed in August to end 21 months of violent conflict in South Sudan selected their respective quotas in dividing up 30 national ministerial positions in accordance with power sharing agreement.

The government selected 16 portfolios; SPLM-IO selected 10 institutions; former detainees got 2 and other political parties went with 2 positions.

Among the selected positions by the SPLM-IO included ministry of petroleum and ministry of interior, in addition to 8 others.

Asked by Sudan Tribune whether the opposition faction was satisfied with the allocated ministerial positions, official spokesman of the opposition leadership said they were okay with the outcome but not satisfied.

“I wouldn't say we are satisfied with the selected 10 ministerial positions. But we have accepted them and we are okay with the outcome,” said James Gatdet Dak on Sunday.

“The consensus was a giant step towards formation of transitional government of national unity,” he added.

He said as an organization spearheading reforms in various sectors, it would have been better if they got most of the institutions which badly needed reform as a priority.

The peace agreement provided for a selection process of the ministerial positions which would have been based on rational basis among the four factions, but the parties instead reached a consensus on how to divide up the 30 ministries successfully.

Dak said the chairman and commander-in-chief of the opposition faction, Riek Machar, will nominate names of individuals to be appointed to the selected positions. He however added that their top leader will not travel to Juba until the joint integrated police and military forces are deployed in the capital.

A next expected step will be to form a government of national unity, which will then sit to resolve on some of the remaining contentious and controversial matters such as the creation of 28 states versus the current constitutionally recognized 10 states.

The peace agreement was signed based on the 10 states including the formula of power sharing among the parties in the states.

(ST)

January 10, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan, South Sudan and the World Food Programme (WFP) Sunday have signed an extension of the agreement on the transit of humanitarian aid from Sudan to South Sudan for another six months until the end of June.

WFP's field officer Gabriel Ajak talking to people displaced in Pibor County, January 20, 2012 (ST)

Juba and Khartoum signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in July 2014 to allow the expedition of aid across the borders and through river transportation to feed thousands of impacted civilians in South Sudan.

Sudan's foreign ministry spokesperson Ali al-Sadiq told Sudan Tribune that Sudan agreed to deliver the humanitarian aid to South Sudan through its territory in appreciation of the needy population in the neighbouring country.

He pointed that his country seeks to alleviate the suffering of the South Sudanese affected by the ongoing conflict in the newborn state.

The signing of the extension was attended by the representative of the WFP in Sudan, the United Nations resident representative in Khartoum, Sudan's foreign ministry representative and Sudan's humanitarian aid commissioner.

It is worth to mention that the implementation of the agreement is overseen by the joint technical committee for the transit of humanitarian assistance from Sudan to South Sudan including representatives from the governments of Sudan and South Sudan and the WFP.

The violence which erupted in South Sudan in December 2013 has produced one of the world's largest humanitarian emergencies with 2.3 million people forced to flee their homes, 650,000 of these across borders as refugees and 1.65 million displaced inside the country.

The roughly 30 per cent of the population is mainly concentrated in the troubled Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states which are not far from the Sudanese border.

(ST)

January 10, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, has sacked several top police generals, including inspector general of police two days after his government lost the ministry of interior to the armed opposition faction of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) under the leadership of former vice-president, Riek Machar.

Former Police Inspector General Pieng Deng Kuol (Photo File EPA)

The purged generals included a long serving police inspector general, Pieng Deng Kuol and his deputy, Andrew Kuol Nyuon, and have been replaced with Makur Arol as new inspector general and Biel Ruot as his deputy.

The order was broadcast by the state owned South Sudan Television (SSTV) on Saturday evening and did not elaborate on the motives of the changes at the time the government and armed opposition are expected to form a new transitional government of national unity.

The docket of the ministry of interior, according to the selection of ministerial positions conducted on Thursday will be occupied by the nominee of the opposition faction of SPLM-IO who will recommend a new inspector general to command the police force in the country.

The latest move is also seen as a way to curb the power of influence of some of the officers in the security and police services which have long influenced politics from behind the scene.

General Kuol previously served as deputy chief of general staff for finance and administration in South Sudan's army (SPLA) before being removed from active military service in 2013 and put on reserve list of senior military officers who have been awaiting reassignment.

His former deputy, general Nyuon was one of the longest serving high ranking police officers in different capacities until he was appointed to the capacity of deputy inspector general of police.

Both worked under the overall command and administrative supervision of the former interior minister, general Aleu Ayieu Aleu, an ally of president Kiir, who until he was removed from the interior docket in 2015, had played a role of political king-maker for several years by seeking to influence leadership choices behind the scenes.

Changes in the security sector are closely watched in South Sudan, which has been plagued by the ethnic and political violence since gaining independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011.

Speculations trying to understand the motives behind the removal of general Kuol in particular, who is seen as a close ally of the army chief of general staff, Paul Malong Awan, another strong military ally of president Kiir, have centred on his possible role in the African Union (AU) report of inquiry.

Remarks attributed to him [Kuol] in the report on the atrocities committed by governor forces in December 2013 have been largely interpreted by military and political allies of president Kiir to mean targeting them.

But some analysts see the changes in the police top command as another sign of the waning influence and trust of the president in some of the officers as opposition forces will infiltrate the police force through the implementation of the peace agreement signed in August between President Kiir and Machar in ending 21 months of war.

Relying on oil by 98 percent of its budget and virtually zero exports in other economic sectors, the youngest state on the African soil has been hit by a drastic oil price fall that has slashed its energy revenues by more than half over the past two years of the conflict which has polarized and classified the country into ethnic cantons.

(ST)

January 10, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour Sunday has handed over a message from president Omer al-Bashir to the Egyptian president Abdel-Fatah al-Sissi pertaining to bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to develop it.

Sudan's FM Ibrahim Ghandour (Photo SUNA)

Egypt's presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef said that Ghandour conveyed Bashir's greetings to al-Sissi, expressing his country's keenness to promote cooperation between the two nations.

He added the Sudanese top diplomat underscored the deep ties between the two peoples, emphasizing the need for joint coordination at both Arab and African levels.

Youssef added that Ghandour also expressed his country's support for Egypt within the framework of the historic and close ties between the two peoples.

According to Youssef, al-Sissi asked Ghandour to convey his greetings to Bashir and the Sudanese people, pointing to Egypt's appreciation for the strong historic ties between the two countries.

It is noteworthy that Ghandour had arrived in Cairo Friday night, leading a high-level delegation on a two-day official visit, at the invitation of the Egyptian Foreign Minister.

MEETING POLITICAL FIGURES

Meanwhile, Ghandour has met with several Egyptian politicians including the former secretary general of the Arab League Amr Musa, former Prime Minister Isam Sharaf, former presidential advisor Mustafa al-Fiqi and the leader of the al-Wafd party al-Sayed al-Badawi besides several academics and journalists.

Ghandour said during the meeting that the dispute over Halayeb area can't be resolved by “imposing a fait accompli” but through dialogue or by referring the case to the concerned international institutions.

“The promotion of the Egyptian Sudanese relations must not be subjected to the [situation] in Halayeb area,” he said.

The Halayeb triangle overlooks the Red Sea and has been a contentious issue between Egypt and Sudan since 1958, shortly after Sudan gained independence from British-Egyptian rule.

The area has been under Cairo's full military control since the mid-1990's following a Sudanese backed attempt on former Egyptian president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak's life. Egypt brushed aside Sudan's repeated calls for referring the dispute to international arbitration.

Ghandour denied presence of any elements from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in his country, pointing that Sudan was accused in the past of hosting Islamic extremist figures from Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt but the accusations were proven to be incorrect.

“Those [accusations] sought to offend the Sudan while we want our relations with Egypt to go in the right direction,” he said.

The Sudanese top diplomat further pointed to the strong security and military cooperation between Egypt and Sudan.

Ghandour also criticized the low level of trade exchange between the two countries which at $250 million, saying it isn't commensurate with the strong ties and the potential for bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

He expressed hope that the security situation in the two countries allows for the easy flow of people and goods in order to double the volume of trade exchange.

POLITICAL CONSULTATION COMMITTEE

Also, the Sudanese/Egyptian joint political consultation committee Sunday has discussed bilateral relations and ways for promoting it.

The Sudanese side was headed by Ghandour while the Egyptian side was chaired by the minister of foreign affairs Samih Shokri.

Following the meeting, the two ministers held a press conference in which they briefed reporters on the progress of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

January10, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia says it has finalized preparations to make a new bid to secure a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, government officials said on Sunday.

A UN Security Council session in New York (Photo courtesy of the UN)

According to officials at the ministry of foreign affairs, Ethiopia is currently the only candidate from the East African region and has wider chances of becoming a non-permanent member of the United Nations' Security Council (UNSC).

Ethiopia's bid for a non-permanent membership in the Security Council started after Seychelles agreed to leave its candidature for Ethiopia,

Addis Ababa is currently doing lobbying activities and election campaigns by drawing best experiences from member states.

Recently, Ethiopia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Tedros Adhanom, said the country has done fruitful activities at the Arab-Africa and Africa-South America summits held on the sideline of the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York which would back the country in its efforts to secure seat at UNSC.

At different occasions, Ethiopian officials are expressing confidence that it won't be difficult for Ethiopia to secure two-third vote from the present member states in order to be accepted by the UN influential body.

According to the foreign ministry, Ethiopia has swept 186 votes of the total 190 in elections for UN Human Rights Council membership, saying that is an indication that the country is in “pole position” to become a non-permanent member.

Previously the horn of Africa's country had expressed its position at the ministerial and heads of states meeting held on South Sudan and Burkina Faso at the African Union as well as at the UN peacekeeping mission and UNSC meetings on terrorism.

There are a number of supporting factors that would help Ethiopia in its efforts to attain a non-permanent seat in the Security Council.

One among others - Ethiopia is the seat of the African Union (AU) and it has a significant role in marinating regional peace and security.

Ethiopia is also amongst the leading peace force contributors to the UN peacekeeping missions and has taken part in various peacekeeping missions.

The country has also an experience in serving a non-permanent seat in two occasions in 1967-68 and 1989-90.

The U.N. Security Council includes 10 non-permanent members, with five elected each year.

China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States make up the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

(ST)

December 20, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – An international rights body has accused the peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) of not providing adequate protection to civilians in danger in the war-ravaged nation despite its chapter seven mandate per a resolution of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to do just that.

An honour guard of Rwandan peacekeepers welcomes the Secretary-General at the UNMISS Tomping Base, Juba May 6, 2014 (Photo UN)

UNMISS, which resolution to deploy troops to South Sudan came out on 8 July 2011, one day before the nation became independent from Sudan, has since deployed over 12,000 troops in the country, mandated to protect civilians in danger.

A report released this week by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) has however painted a gloomy picture on what it said was the failure by the UN peacekeepers in the world's youngest nation to protect the civilians outside its compounds across the country.

While the report partly commended UNMISS for providing shelter and protection to nearly 200,000 civilians who managed to escape into their civilian protection sites in the country, it said the majority of vulnerable civilians were still facing danger and losing lives on daily basis without response from the peace keepers.

“As violence escalated, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) took the unprecedented decision to open its gates to thousands of civilians fleeing violence. While the opening of a number of Protection of Civilian (PoC) sites across the country did not prevent mass violence, there is no doubt that it reduced the number of people killed or injured,” partly reads the IRRI report, dated 15 December 2015, extended to Sudan Tribune.

A survivor whose life was saved because of seeking sanctuary inside one of the UNMISS protected sites said he and all of his relatives and friends would have been killed by president Kiir's forces had it not been for the peace keepers who opened their gates to them at the peak of the conflict.

“If it was not because of peacekeepers, all of us would have been killed,” said one survivor.

However, millions of vulnerable civilians who could not make it to safety sites have continued to bear the brunt of the conflict, facing danger from the very government forces or opposition fighters who have been at war for two years.

UNMISS NOT DOING ENOUGH

Although the report commended the speed with which the decision was taken by UNMISS to open the gates in saving “some lives”, it however criticized the peace keepers for not doing enough in exercising their mandate to protect all and not some civilians in danger.

“While the UN's actions are appreciated by the thousands seeking refuge in protected sites, there are millions more outside who are suffering. The UN peacekeeping mission has simply not done enough,” it challenged.

The report cited failure to response by UNMISS in the face of mass killings of civilians in Leer county of Unity state by government forces, targeting fleeing civilians, torching their houses and abducting and raping women. It also said such deadly incidents occurred in many other places across the country and UNMISS has not done anything.

“They [UNMISS] tell us they can only protect us if we stay here. They say that if you go out far from the camp, we can't protect you,” a woman in Bor UNMISS protection camp was quoted as saying in the report.

While the civilians might be safer inside the camps - although on occasion the camps themselves have been attacked - the humanitarian situation is dire. People have been reduced to eating leaves and burning plastic to cook the small amount of food they have as there is nothing else left, the report further observed.

It suggested the pressing need for more action by the UN peace keepers to extend protection of civilians beyond their gates given the fragility of the implementation of the peace agreement signed in August 2015 among the warring parties in the country.

With its mandate expanding to monitor the implementation of the peace agreement, it further warned, there is a real danger that the protection of civilians will only be diluted further. This, it said, would be a disaster in a context in which the trajectory of the conflict continues to deteriorate in spite of the peace agreement.

Although the existence of the peace agreement presents hope for the vulnerable civilians in the young nation, it also cautioned that there is “little faith” in the agreement as the parties may return to war if the peace deal is not supported and left to fail with “devastating consequences for civilians.”

The report also rang an alarm bell about the internal complications of poor governance and weak state structure in South Sudan, saying the conflict's geopolitical positioning may further complicate the situation as the two warring parties seem to further stockpile weapons.

“With both government and opposition allegedly stockpiling weapons (which are in plentiful supply); and with another internal war taking place over the border in neighbouring Sudan's Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states, coupled with long-established networks for destabilisation at the disposal of neighbouring governments, many of the ingredients remain in place for a protracted conflict,” it warned.

On 15 December 2013, war broke out in South Sudan when what started off as debates over reforms within the leadership of the ruling SPLM party generated into a political power struggle between president Salva Kiir and his former vice-president Riek Machar.

The violence was quickly manipulated into ethnically-aligned civil war that spread with extraordinary speed and intensity. Civilians quickly became the prime target with massacres of thousands of members of ethnic Nuer community in the capital, Juba, by president Kiir's forces, prompting retaliations in other states.

A peace agreement signed in August has been facing stumbling blocks, but with the soon expected return to Juba of the advance team of the armed opposition group (SPLM-IO), the implementation of the first phase of the deal may successfully kick off.

(ST)

December 20, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) said its fighters repulsed a government attack on Towred area, 50 kilometers east of Bau town, Blue Nile state.

Rebel fighters from the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) on patrol in the border state of South Kordofan on 6 April 2012 (Photo: AFP/Adriane Ohanesian)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, SPLM-N official spokesperson Arnu Ngutulu Lodi said their fourth front forces in the Blue Nile repelled a government attack against Towred on Saturday afternoon.

He pointed that the SPLM-N fighters destroyed and dispersed the attacking force killing four government soldiers and arresting two others.

Lodi said their fighters arrested a government army sergeant by the name of Ga'afar Abdallah Magloub and a corporal by the name of Guma'a Awarta Kadu, adding they seized 3 RPG-7 anti-armor, 2 BKM machine guns and a large amount of ammunition without losses from their side.

TALKS ON THE TWO AREAS

Meanwhile, the government negotiating team for the Two Areas talks with the SPLM-N said the two sides reached major understandings during the recent round informal meetings expecting to sign a comprehensive agreement before the end of the year.

On Friday, the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N wrapped up a three-day informal meeting in Addis Ababa and agreed to resume discussions soon.

Last November the two warring parties in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan failed to reach cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements, as the five-day talks showed that important gaps persist in the positions of the two sides.

In a bid to bridges the gaps, the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) organized a three-day round of informal talks between the two sides from 16 to 18 December where the two sides debated on how to overcome their differences.

Member of the government negotiating team Bishara Guma'a Aru told the pro-government Sudan Media Center (SMC) said the two sides briefed the African mediation on the outcome of the informal discussion, noting the SPLM-N is keen to reach a final deal to end the sufferings of the people in the Two Areas.

He attributed the success of the informal talks to the regional and international changes as well as the ongoing national dialogue conference, stressing the two sides agreed to engage the holdout opposition in the dialogue.

Aru further expected that a new round of talks would be held before the end of this year.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Friday the spokesperson of the SPLM-N negotiating team Mubarak Ardol said the two sides were not able to reach an agreement on the main outstanding issues.

“However they laid out their positions on those issues openly and seriously and agreed to hold a second informal meeting at the earliest time for further deep discussions and allow each side to consult with its allies in order to achieve comprehensive peace,” he said

The Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-N rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011.

(ST)

December 20, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - The director of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Mohamed Atta has held the newspapers responsible for the exceptional measures taken against the press by his agency.

The head of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamed Atta Abbas Al-Moula (Photo: Reuters)

In an interview with Al-Sudani newspaper Sunday, Atta said that the measures taken against newspapers are not “arbitrary” but based upon the law, noting they are forced to take those measures.

He accused the Sudanese press of using sensationalism and exaggeration to attract readers, citing newspapers reports on child abuse incidents in school buses.

Last May, the NISS seized copies of 10 newspapers and suspended four of them indefinitely. The move was a reaction to reports published by those newspapers on incidents of sexual harassment and child rape taking place inside school buses.

“Sometimes we are forced to take an action against a major violation [by the newspapers] but strangely, when we suspended ten newspapers for one day for reporting the child abuse incidents, the issue was not directed against the NISS or its personnel but rather the whole [Sudanese] society,” he said.

“That is a sort of mistakes that newspapers commit on daily bases, we wish to reach a point where we aren't forced to take any action [against the newspapers]”, he added.

The spy chief defended his agency's move to suspend the ten newspapers, describing the child abuse story as “untrue, exaggerated and unfounded lie”.

He acknowledged that seizure and suspension of the newspapers could distort the image of the freedoms in Sudan, accusing the journalists of being responsible for that distortion.

It is noteworthy that NISS seized copies of al-Tayyar newspapers in the early hours of last Monday from the printing house without giving reasons. On Tuesday, the newspaper was suspended indefinitely.

Sudan's constitution guarantees freedom of expression but laws subordinate to the constitution such as the National Security Forces Act of 2010 contains articles that can be potentially used to curtail press freedom and instigate legal proceedings against newspapers and individual journalists.

Sudanese journalists work under tight daily censorship controls exercised by the NISS.

Journalists say that NISS uses seizures of print copies of newspapers, not only to censor the media but also to weaken them economically.

(ST)

December 20, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The long-awaited arrival to the South Sudanese capital, Juba, of the advance team of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) under the leadership of former vice-president, Riek Machar, will happen on Monday, officials have confirmed.

Taban Deng Gai, head of delegation of the armed opposition faction led by the former vice-president Riek Machar, and the three mediators arrive to attend a special consultation meeting in support of the IGAD-led South Sudan peace process in Khartoum on 12 January 2015 (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

The first group of the advance team will leave Pagak to Juba through the airport in Gambella town, the regional capital of the western Gambella region of the neighbouring Ethiopia, from where they will be airlifted.

“The first group of the advance team of SPLM/SPLA (IO) comprising 150 cadres will arrive in Juba on Monday, December 21,” confirmed James Gatdet Dak, official spokesman of the opposition leader, Riek Machar, in a statement to the media on Sunday.

“They will be led by the Chief Negotiator, General Taban Deng Gai,” he said.

He said a remaining number of 459 to make a total of 609 will follow on different dates before the end of the year.

Dak said the first group that will arrive in Juba on Monday will mainly compose of members who will be participating in meetings of various institutions established under the peace agreement, including their support staff.

He also said a number of senior military generals from the military council of the opposition army will also be among the first group that will arrive on Monday.

In Juba, Akol Paul Kordit, who is the spokesman of the national committee set up by the government to receive and accommodate the advance team also confirmed that the team will arrive on Monday.

The government's national committee for the reception of the advance team is chaired by the minister of finance and economic planning, David Deng Athorbei.

The arrival of the team had been cancelled many times in the past due to disagreements between the government and the opposition faction.

While the SPLM-IO wanted the over 600 to return to Juba and other states in order to mobilize the populations in support to the full implementation of the peace deal, the government wanted less than 50 of them, saying the “huge number” constituted a security risk, resulting to the delays.

However, with this week's intervention of the chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), Festus Mogae, former president of Botswana, who is tasked with the responsibility to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement, the government finally accepted to receive the number.

Upon arrival at Juba airport at around 1:30pm, the team will hold a press conference at the airport in Juba, then move to the mausoleum of late Dr. John Garang to pay respect, and then visit the SPLM House before finally going to their hotels where they will be accommodated.

The parties are now expected to jump-start the implementation of the first phases of the peace agreement including deployment of joint integrated forces in Juba, constitutional amendment, selections of ministerial portfolios and designated ministers and additional members to the national parliament as well as formation of a transitional government of national unity by 22 January 2016.

(ST)

December 19, 2015 (JUBA) – An alliance of 18 South Sudanese political parties claim majority of South Sudanese have now discovered the idea behind the creation of the 28 new state states and have joined voices objecting to President Salva Kiir's directive.

President Salva Kiir addresses the nation at the South Sudan National Parliament in Juba, November 18, 2015. (Photo Reuters/Jok Solomun)

“This government, the present government has been living in a different world and behalves differently. It has been adopting a strange policy, a policy of acting first and think later in order to fool the people of South Sudan. Now the very people have discovered that the government was no longer working for the interest of the very people it purports to represent”, Martin Aligo, the secretary general of the alliance told Sudan Tribune.

Aligo said the way people reacted when exchange rates were floated was a demonstration that government cared less about policies which would harm ordinary people, but rather utilized it to maximise their interests at all cost.

“People have been coming to us at the alliance to say thank you for standing for truth and we told them congratulation for discovery. Now if they care about the people, let them do a survey and see what the reaction would be about these economic reforms. The result would certainly be embarrassing for them. And I challenge them to do so and let us see what happens if they deny. People are fed up”, said Aligo.

"Some of the people who initially supported the creation of 28 states are now regretting and they are the ones now championing the reverse of the decision because they have now discovered the reason", he added.

In October President Salva Kiir criticized his current governance system which he said had been holding the people's power in the center within Juba and proposed the need to adopt a federal system of governance in the world's youngest nation.

“Over the last ten years, the power which was given to you by the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] has remained in the center,” Kiir told the state-owned SSTV, referring to the peace deal signed in January 2005 with Sudan.

The CPA granted South Sudanese a referendum on self-determination which resulted to overwhelming vote for secession from Sudan in 2011. He said his rationale for delaying creation of more states in devolution of powers to the people was because he was allegedly busy preparing for referendum from 2005 to 2011.

“My administration in the center was busy with issues to do with your self-determination such that you become free and sovereign state. Now, indeed you are free, therefore, there is no reason for me to retain your constitutional right for self-governance, self-reliance, self-development and determine your through free, fair and democratic elections in three years to come,” said the South Sudanese leader.

According to President Kiir, the creation of the 28 states, which was meant to come into effect within 30 days, would provide an opportunity to “develop your locality, your home villages through mobilization of local and states resources.”

“We should therefore abandon culture of war and embrace culture of peace, co-existence and hard work such [that] you and I together develop our country because our country is a country of opportunities,” stressed the president.

The order number 36/2015 AD for creation of new states of South Sudan stated that the president would now have the chance to nominate more state governors and additional members of the state assembly in his newly created states.

The sitting state members of parliament (MPs) will be maintained at 21 members in each state and there will be no more than 21 lawmakers.

The president acknowledged that his administration has been facing economic declines, surging unemployment as a consequence of the war which erupted on 15 December 2013.

It is not clear where more resources will be mobilized to fund the development of the states as the creation of 18 more states, which came as a surprise to the nation and the international community.

THE NEW STATES

In the breakdown of the states, Kiir created 8 states for greater Equatoria which included Imatong, Namurnyang, Maridi, Budi, Amadi, Jubek, Terekeka and Yei river.

For greater Bahr el Ghazal he decreed into being 10 states namely, Wau, Aweil, Ngor, Aweil East, Twic, Gogrial, Tonj, Eastern Lakes, Western Lakes and Gok.

In greater Upper Nile he decreed 10 states to include Leer, Northern Guit, Ruweng, Eastern Nile, Jonglei, Western Nile, Eastern Bie, Lajor, Buma and Western Bie.

(ST)

December 19, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - A passerby in the streets of Khartoum can see hundreds of Syrian families who fled the devastating war that swept most of the Mediterranean nation's territories.

Sudanese and Syrian protesters demonstrate against the continued violence in Syria outside Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Khartoum November 23, 2011. (Reuters)

As a result of that carnage, millions of civilians were scattered around the world in search of safety. Like many other countries, Sudan had had its share of these asylum seekers.

In the elite Riyadh and New Extension suburbs of Khartoum, one can see a lot of small businesses run by Syrian nationals. Some of these shops sell delicious Syrian food substances that range from candy to fast food, attracting noteworthy numbers of customers.

Some of these refugees have also opened a lot of crafts shops.

These small businesses provide lots of Syrian refugees with what can be described as scratchy livelihoods , given the harsh economic conditions of Sudan.

An estimated 105 thousand Syrian refugees now live in Sudan. The Government has given them the rights of residence , movement, work, free education and medication . Some philanthropic Sudanese families have hosted Syrian families who cannot afford the high house rents.

Compared to the many Syrian refugees who found a means of bread winning, hundreds of Syrian asylum seekers who failed to be classified as refugees depend on handouts from local charities and from Sudanese and Syrian traders .

Some of these refugees beg in the City streets or around mosques and marketplaces.

Mazin Abul Khair , an official of ‘the office for serving Syrian families in Sudan' said just about 100 Syrian nationals live on begging.

“The office has tried to help these but they declined to accept food baskets and financial aid we offered them, because they feel begging is far more lucrative than what we give,'' Khair told Sudan Tribune.

He said in the year 2012 some Syrian traders living in Sudan had set up a committee to take care of the refugees .The committee, that started with six families , now aids 700 families .

He said his office is run on voluntary basis and depends , primarily, on Syrian traders and some Sudanese businessmen. The office also receives some assistance from local charities.

The office offers a food basket for each of the registered families. It also provides job opportunities to the youth and pays house rents for the poor families.

Khair lamented the fact that many Syrian children could not continue with their education though the Sudanese Government had exempted all Syrian refugee children from school fees. "This is because of the difference in dialect and the difficult educational environment here," he said.

To secure the future of these children , the office has embarked on the establishment of a Syrian school , he said, adding that the office has already obtained all the required paper work and is now looking for funding for the school.

Sudanese refugees commissioner al-Mardi Salih said they strive to find lodgings to the Syrian refugees.

He said the Government of Sudan had accorded the Syrian refugees all the rights of citizenship enjoyed by any Sudanese national.

Salih also said his commission has embarked on the registration of these Syrians , giving them ‘'guest IDs'' that allow them access to free education and medical care.

‘' In the long run we can provide these people with housing in the form of camps in Khartoum. We can also give them sums to rent homes,'' he said.

(ST)

December 19, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) - The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has dismissed media reports Saturday in Khartoum claiming that the movement would participate in the final session of the dialogue conference.

A SPLA-N fighter holds up his rifle near Jebel Kwo village in the rebel-held territory of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan on 2 May 2012 (Photo: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

The government-led national dialogue conference was inaugurated in Khartoum on October 10th amid large boycott from the major political and armed opposition.

In a press release Saturday, SPLM-N peace file spokesperson, Mubarak Ardol, dismissed as “untrue” press reports that a delegation from the movement would participate in the final session of the dialogue conference in Khartoum.

He stressed that those reports has nothing to do with the informal discussions that took place between the SPLM-N and the government in Addis Ababa.

In a press conference Friday, member of the dialogue body known as 7+7 Faisal Hassan Ibrahim expected that several members of the SPLM-N would soon join the dialogue conference.

However, Ardol pointed in his statement that the SPLM-N is negotiating with the Sudanese government not the 7+7 mechanism, saying the latter should refrain from issuing inaccurate statements.

“Unless its [the 7+7 mechanism] objective was to spoil the unremitting efforts made by the conflicting parties to achieve comprehensive solutions and equitable dialogue with the participation of all parties in order to end the war in the Two Areas and Darfur and to achieve national consensus and to bring Sudan's political and economic isolation to an end,” he said.

Last November the government and the SPLM-N failed to reach cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements in the Two Areas, as the five-day talks showed that important gaps persist in the positions of the two sides.

On Friday, the two sides wrapped up a three-day informal meeting organized by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) in Addis Ababa to explore ways to overcome their differences.

The two sides were not able to reach an agreement on the main outstanding issues but agreed to resume discussions soon.

The rare appearance of the SPLM-N chief negotiator Yasser Arman on the government-owned Sudan TV channel following the end of the informal discussions has prompted speculations that a political settlement was imminent, particularly as security services prevents local newspapers and official TV channels from mentioning any statements or remarks by rebel leaders.

The SPLM-N calls for a comprehensive peace agreement in Sudan including the political opposition, saying they refuses to repeat the 2005 peace agreement that led to the separation of South Sudan. They say the issue of the Two Areas should be resolved within a national approach.

The Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-N rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011.

December 19, 2015 (JUBA) – A senior leader of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), Majak Agot, has called on the people of greater Dinka Bor community in general and his Twic clan in particular to exercise calm over the recent abusive attack on Rebecca Nyandeng, widow of the founder of the SPLM, John Garang de Mabior, in a church in Juba.

Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior (ST File Photo)

Sudan Tribune two weeks ago published the report of the attack on the lady whom many South Sudanese referred to as the ‘mother' of the newly founded nation.

Nyandeng was disrespectfully insulted only two days after her return to the national capital, Juba, from Nairobi, Kenya, where she had been in exile for two years following the eruption of the war on 15 December 2015.

Due to her condemnation of the war, blaming it on the South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir, whom she accused of dictatorship and massacre of thousands of members of the Nuer ethnic group in Juba by his presidential guards, she was criticized by those who disapproved of her stance.

A woman, who allegedly hails from Dinka Bor county, uttered insults at Nyandeng while on attendance of a church service at Emmanuel Jieng Parish church in Juba, and reportedly approached her with the intention to slap her before she was restrained by other church leaders and members.

The attack also prompted reactions from members of the Twic East community, where she and her late husband hail, with those mainly in the diaspora publishing condemnation articles in the media, describing it as an attack on Twic East community in general by the Bor community of Bor county.

However, on Saturday, Agot, who was deputy minister for defense and veterans affairs before the country's crisis, appealed to the people of the three greater Bor community of Bor, Twic East and Duk counties to let go the anger generated by the attack on Nyandeng.

Agot, who was accompanying Nyandeng to the church when the insults were uttered at her, confirmed the incident which he said he witnessed despite attempts by some quarters to bury the truth of what transpired in the church, but added the incident was a normal occurrence in the culture of politics in the country.

“I know there are some people here in this country who do not want the truth to be said but we have to break that circle and try to be honest to our people,” Agot told his community gathering at Kush Resort during Duk County fundraising ceremony on Friday in Juba.

“In politics 10 people may like you whereas other 10 people will not like you and that is politics,” a Juba-based The Nation Mirror quoted him as saying on Friday.

Agot, who is a member of the 10-person group known as the ‘former detainees' who together returned to Juba with Nyandeng last month however said the incident was bad because it happened inside a church.

The recent appeal by the political leader from the greater Dinka community came as the church incident seemed to have continued to linger in the minds of those who condemned it.

Nyandeng is being blamed by a section of her Bor community for being vocal about the weaknesses of president Salva Kiir's government and for allowing her eldest son, Mabior Garang, to join the armed opposition faction led by former vice-president, Riek Machar.

(ST)

December 19, 2015 (NYALA) - Police in South Darfur said that it has burned more than five thousands hectares of cannabis and seized 60,870 weed heads in Sango and Al-Radoom areas in the largest anti-drug operation in the area.

Photo showing amounts of Sudanese Cannabis or Bango as called by locals

South Darfur's police director Ahmed Osman Mohamed, who addressed the national police day celebration Saturday in the state's capital, Nyala, said the police managed to destroy 5,000 hectares of cannabis, pointing to fierce clashes with the drugs traffickers.

He noted the police arrested several drugs traders and seized large amounts of cannabis which were in their possession, underscoring the perpetrators would be brought before trial following the completion of the investigation.

Mohamed added the police also seized large quantity of weapons from the drugs traders, stressing they intend to eradicate drugs cultivation in the state besides monitoring drug trafficking from neighboring countries.

Last week, 12 people were killed in clashes between gunmen and drug traffickers in Balbala area in the locality of Al-Fardous, East Darfur state.

Drug trade is spread in the southern localities of East Darfur state due to its close proximity to areas where cannabis is grown such as Al-Radom and Sango in South Darfur state.

Meanwhile, the police director pointed they put in place a precise plan to achieve several objectives including securing primary and high schools exams next March, protecting the planting season and reducing tribal clashes.

For his part, the governor of South Darfur state Adam al-Faki said the regular forces managed to crush rebellion and is currently fighting against drug traders, noting that illegal drugs is a major source of destabilization in the state.

He underlined that the regular forces would make every possible effort to dry out sources of drugs production, saying that illegal drugs pose the same danger as rebellion and tribal conflicts.

South Darfur state is considered one of the major sources of illegal drugs production in Sudan. Cannabis is being cultivated in three main areas in the state including Sango, Al-Radom and East Jebel Marra.

Drug traders usually use small and heavy arms to protect their farms against police raids which led to the killing of several police officers.

(ST)