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Der Freisinn profitiert von der Stärkung des rechten Lagers im Nationalrat – der SVP nützt ihr Wahlsieg von 2015 hingegen kaum. Für die Linke sind harte Zeiten angebrochen.

Die CVP zieht in der kleinen Kammer an einem Strick – dafür ist die SP weniger geschlossen als im Nationalrat. Daniel Jositsch ist auch im Stöckli der rechteste Sozialdemokrat.

Le Coordonnateur humanitaire en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), Mamadou Diallo, s'est dit inquiet de la détérioration de la situation sécuritaire et humanitaire dans l'est du pays après le massacre d'au moins 30 personnes par des miliciens à Luhanga, dans la province du Nord-Kivu.

Expressing deep concern over the impact of a series of bureaucratic impediments and access constraints on relief operations, a senior United Nations humanitarian official in South Sudan has called on all parties to allow free, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to the people in need.

November 29, 2016 (JUBA/ABUJA) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concerns over the deteriorating security situation in war-torn South Sudan.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (Getty image)

Buhari, the Vanguard newspaper reported, made these remarks during a meeting with South Sudan's envoy, Paul Malong Akaro in the capital, Abuja.

"I was a little disappointed with the subsequent developments in your country. I was hoping that we can move forward and develop the great potentials of your country after the peace accord," said Buhari.

"The African Union will continue to hold your leaders to account in implementing the peace process. And the leaders should be able to accommodate one another for the good of your people,'' he added.

South Sudan's peace process, Buhari said, will be more effective if implemented by the country's leaders without external intervention.

South Sudan experienced renewed violence in July this year when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those allied to his main political rival and the former First Vice-President, Riek Machar.

Both Kiir and Machar were part of a Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) necessitated by the August 2015 peace agreement.

The two rival faction leaders have agreed on several peace deals, but failed to control their troops, hence affecting implementation of the peace deal.

Akaro, however, said South Sudan government was committed to implementing a peace deal signed by warring sides in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Latest estimates from aid agencies say at least 4.6 million people across the country are facing hunger, amid fears food crisis might deepen as the conflict has now spilled into the Equatoria regions.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently accused South Sudan's two warring sides of committing crimes against humanity including killings, rape, torture and the use of child soldiers.

(ST)

ARI 82/2016 - 30/11/2016
Bernabé López García y Miguel Hernando de Larramendi

El 7 de octubre de 2016 el Partido de la Justicia y el Desarrollo revalidó su victoria en las elecciones legislativas de Marruecos.

November 29, 2016 (JUBA) - The South Sudanese government has unveiled measures aimed at closing gaps created by drops in the production of oil resources.

An oil field in South Sudan's Unity State. (Photo: UN / Tim McKulka)

South Sudan's economy is currently in dire straits as the local currency, South Sudan Pound has fallen by over 50% and revenue generated from oil, the mainstay of foreign earnings, is at its lowest in the past years, leading to macroeconomic spillovers and consequent quest for economic diversification.

Unveiling the strategies seeking to close the gap, the country's deputy finance minister, Mary Jervas Yak, said the government wants to generate non-oil revenues and that revenue collected would be used to fund larger parts of the national budget.

"While oil may be our biggest source of revenue, looking at the current economic situation, it may be wise to explore other options," explained the deputy minister.

Yak, however, said situation in the war-torn nation required her institution to raise the bar by deepening and expanding its tax collection drive through an aggressive tax system, considering the dwindling revenue profile as a result of the drop in oil prices.

"In the meantime, funds looted and stashed in foreign accounts should be recovered by the government. These stolen monies run in billions of dollars, which is enough to sustain an economy for a couple of years," she stressed.

According to the deputy finance minister, President Salva Kiir has written to some western countries asking their involvement to help trace the money and return stolen assets stashed in foreign banks, adding that in order to accrue revenue from non-oil sectors, the government needs to tackle electricity issues throughout the country.

"This will help attract global investments for massive industrialisation, which will subsequently increase our internally generated revenue," explained the official.

The minister said government would revamp and carry out major reforms in education and health care systems so that tertiary institutions will churn out graduates who are employers of labour and not go abroad for better opportunities.

If the health system is revamped, the official emphasized, worthy services will be rendered to the citizens and the productive capacity of human resources will be optimised thus increasing life expectancy.

"Similarly, good road infrastructure should be built and existing ones properly maintained to facilitate inter-state commerce and mobility," she added.

Speaking at the non-oil revenue collection management workshop in progress in Juba, a Japanese official said it was time the government should work hard to improve its tax collection system to generate more non-oil revenues.

Higeru Hamano, a Japan's embassy representative at the workshop on non-oil revenue collection, said tax was a very authentic source of government revenues.

“Revenue is a gift for the government and that is why Japan thinks that South Sudanese Government needs to improve its tax system to help South Sudan build its social infrastructure and deliver various social services,” Hamano said on Monday.

“The Government must be accountable to its citizens and such accountability must be exercised through effective parliamentary control. Every minister at the state level is accountable to parliament.”

The training was organized by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in collaboration with United Nations Development Program and Government of Japan.

The resident representative for the UNDP, Eugene Owusu said they were helping in building a strategic financial management system for government institutions.

He pledged readiness to engage stakeholders from the private sector, development partners and the civil society.

“We'd like to build partnership not only the government and state authorities at the local level, but also seek the engagement of the private sector, civil society organizations and development partners,” said Owusu.

“As UNDP, we will continue to provide strategic policy advisory support to the state Government financial management system, we will support budgeting and development planning if we are to succeed in building a transparent financial management system at the state levels which I insist will lessen South Sudan's reliance financial deficits and South Sudan's dependency on aid and donor support in a step by step progressive manner," he added.

(ST).

November 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Tuesday has seized copies of four daily newspapers as civil disobedience enters its last day.

A Sudanese man reads a local Arabic newspaper in Khartoum on April 27, 2009. (Getty)

At dawn on Tuesday, NISS agents confiscated print runs of Al-Tayyar, Al-Jareeda, Al-Youm Al-Tali and Al-Ayam newspapers from the printing house without stating reasons as usual.

However, workers at the four newspapers believe the seizure comes as a punishment for covering the news of the civil disobedience.

Large segments of the Sudanese people have engaged in a three-day civil disobedience from 27 to 29 November to resist recent government austerity measures.

It is noteworthy that NISS on Monday seized copies of Al-Ayam and Al-Jareeda newspapers. Also, authorities ordered to close down the independent Omdurman TV station on Sunday.

On 6 November, the NISS confiscated copies of Al-Tayyar, Al-Jareeda and Al-Watan newspapers for publishing news reports criticizing the government decision to raise fuel, drug and electricity price.

Chief-Editor of Al-Jareeda Ashraf Abdel-Aziz told the non-governmental Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) network that the NISS confiscated his newspaper for the second day in a row without giving reasons.

“The newspaper was most probably seized for publishing a report on the first page on Sunday discussing the calls for civil disobedience and the participation of the opposition in the nationwide strike,” he said.

He pointed to similar confiscation that occurred in 2013 when the government took a decision to scrap fuel subsides, saying the NISS at the time seized copies of Al-Ayam and Al-Jareeda for three consecutive days.

“During that time, the NISS gave the two newspapers the choice either to shut down or continue publication on condition that they publish news conveyed to them by the government authorities only. Al-Ayam and Al-Jareeda bravely chose to stop publication,” he added.

For its part, Al-Ayam's administration told JHR that NISS agents came to the printing house on Monday and Tuesday and told the manager that security orders have been issued to seize the print runs of the newspaper without giving details.

The NISS routinely confiscates newspapers either to prevent circulation of certain stories or to punish them retroactively on previous issues.

It accuses the newspapers of crossing the red lines through publishing reports which adversely impact on national security.

In February 2015, NISS seized entire print runs of 14 newspapers in one day without stating the reasons for its decision.

(ST)

November 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir said the civil disobedience act that took place in his country during the past three days was a complete failure.

Large segments of the Sudanese people have engaged in a three-day civil disobedience act from 27 to 29 November to protest the recent austerity measures and the lack of freedoms.

In an interview with the UAE-based Al Khaleej newspaper on Tuesday, al-Bashir said the recent civil disobedience was a “one million percent failure”, pointing that all residents were keen to go to their workplaces.

“Employee attendance rate was high last Sunday,” he said.

However, al-Bashir acknowledged the rising prices of commodities due to recent austerity measures, saying the move was like a “slap in the face” for the Sudanese citizen.

The Sudanese president described the price list of drugs issued by the former secretary general of the Sudan Pharmacy Council (SPC) Mohamed Hassan Imam as an “error by the competent entities”.

Earlier this month, Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) announced it will no longer provide US dollar for drug importation at rate of 7,5 Sudanese pounds (SDG) forcing pharmaceutical companies to buy the dollar from the black market at 17,5 pounds.

Following the CBoS's decision, the SPC issued a new list showing the drug price has drastically increased by 100 to 300 percent.

The decision stirred a large wave of protests across Sudan forcing al-Bashir to sack Imam and cancel the new list of drug price.

Al-Bashir pointed that the economic reform program was necessary especially after the secession of South Sudan, saying the economic situation is improving and the inflation fell to 13% from 60%.

Sudan's economy was hit hard since the southern part of the country declared independence in July 2011, taking with it about 75% of the country's oil output.

Meanwhile, al-Bashir said a new government of national concord will be formed following the approval of the proposed constitutional amendments in the parliament.

TIES WITH WASHINGTON

Regarding Sudan's relations with the United States, al-Bashir said he is “convinced that dealing with President-elect Donald Trump will be a lot easier than dealing with others, because he is a straightforward person”.

“He [Trump] focuses on the interests of the American citizen unlike those who used to speak about transparency, democracy and human rights. He is a businessman who seeks to achieve interests and it would clear and easy to deal with him,” al-Bashir said.

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.

Also, Sudan has been on the US list of countries supporting terrorism since 1993, for allegedly providing support and safe haven for terrorist groups.

Sudan says Washington didn't honour its pledges to lift Sudan from the United States list of state sponsors of terrorism after the independence of South Sudan and kept sanctions for political reasons.

But Washington says Khartoum has to end the armed conflict in South Darfur and Blue Nile states and to settle Darfur crisis.

FIGHTING AGAINST ILLEGAL MIGRATION

The Sudanese President further said his country is making significant efforts to combat terrorism and illegal migration on the borders with Libya, pointing they deployed more than 1000 four-wheel drive “Land Cruiser” vehicles along the border to fight against human trafficking.

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.

The European Union (EU) said it cooperates with the Sudanese government on projects to tackle the root causes of migration, pointing these “ projects contribute to improving livelihoods, stimulating youth employment, and supporting basic services for refugees, the displaced, and host communities”.

Earlier this year, the EU 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.
Also, in June 2014 the US Department of State hailed Sudan's efforts in containing and fighting against human trafficking.

Last June, a joint operation among Sudan, Italy and the United Kingdom has led to the arrest of an Eritrean man suspected of controlling one of the world's four largest criminal migrant trafficking organizations.

(ST)

November 29, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan's President, Salva Kiir is on a visit to South Africa, amid reports of his deteriorating health situation.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma (R) shakes hands with the visiting South Sudanese President Salva Kiir at his office in Pretoria on 24 October 2015 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

But the Minister for the Presidency, Mayiik Ayii Deng, said President Kiir was invited to South African by his counterpart, Jacob Zuma.

“The president of the republic is going for bilateral visit. He is responding to the invitation extended to him by the president of South Africa, his Excellency Jacob Zuma. It is therefore a very important visit. It will focus on bilateral matters and how the relations between the two countries could be strengthened,” stressed Deng.

“You know that South Africa is one of the countries which stood with our people during the war of liberation struggle and now it is playing another very important role in the peace process,” he added.

Despite the minister's explanations, however, some government officials claimed President Kiir is in South Africa for medical reasons.

“The president will off course use the opportunity to go for routine checks. He was due for checks in October but he did not go because of other commitments”, a presidential source told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

The official, who asked not to be identified, downplayed the severity of the sickness, further saying it was just “a normal check for fitness”.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

November 29, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia authorities said they foiled an Eritrean backed terrorist attack, killed as well as detained dozens of Eritrean mercenaries.

Eritrea, which borders Sudan and Ethiopia, has been dubbed the North Korea of Africa (HRW)

Ethiopian Ministry of Defense said the terrorist attack was thwarted after Ginbot 7, an opposition movement branded by Addis Ababa as terrorist entity attempted to deploy dozens of its armed fighters into Ethiopia.

The Ginbot 7 forces were arrested trying to infiltrate into Ethiopia from Eritrea via the northern Tigray region bordering Eritrea.

Military officials on Tuesday told Sudan Tribune that a total of 113 armed members of the banned group have crossed borders into Western Tigray region.

But most of them were killed or captured by the joint efforts of the residents and regional security forces.

Out of the total 113 members of the infiltrating forces, 15 were shot dead in fire exchange while 73 were captured; officials said adding security forces are hunting to detain the remaining who went to disarray.

According to the ministry, several weapons and military equipment were also captured.

The opposition forces crossed into Ethiopia into two rounds led by Major Mesfin Tigabu and by Destaw Tegegn respectively.

Huge number of military weapons, money and other military materials were also captured from the armed men, the Ministry added

Among others 73 rifles, 62 Hand grenades, other RPG weapons and Satellite communication devices were captured.

In addition to the weapons and the military equipment, several Ethiopian birr bills and US dollars were seized, the statement indicated.

The ministry of defense said added that the attempted terrorist plot by Eritrea and the other destructive forces is intended to destabilize and hider development endeavors in the country.

The captured militants were allegedly trained and armed by the regime in Asmara.

Ethiopia repeatedly accuses the Red Sea nation of deploying terrorists to destabilize nation, an allegation Eritrea denies.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war however the two neighbors fought a war during 1998-2000 over territorial disputes which killed over 70,000 people.

As their border dispute never settled the two countries remain at No war - No peace situation. Both countries routinely trade accusations of arming and supporting each others' rebel groups.

Ethiopia has often foiled Eritrea-backed attacks and have captured a number of terrorist groups while trying to sneak into the country.

Previously, Ethiopian forces have penetrated deep into Eritrean territories and attacked several military bases, including those bases used by militants who are given sanctuary by Eritrea to carry out attacks against Ethiopia.

(ST)

Suzy Eises is a saxophonist from Namibia who has shared the stage with South Africa’s Jimmy Dludlu and other African artists.

Le déploiement au large de la Syrie du groupe aéronaval russe a fait couler beaucoup d’encre au moment de son passage le long des côtes européennes. Une imposante force emmenée par le porte-avions Kuzntesov, qui a quitté en octobre sa base de Severomorsk, près de Mourmansk, avant de rallier la Méditerranée orientale début novembre. Avec au passage une escale annulée à dans l’enclave espagnole de Ceuta, au Maroc, Madrid ayant finalement, après avoir donné son accord à la venue des bâtiments russes, annulé cette autorisation sous la pression du Royaume-Uni et de l’OTAN.

• Lire la suite de Syrie: La Russie éprouve son groupe aéronaval

In our series of letters from African journalists, Nigerian novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani recalls how she was banned from speaking her mother tongue.

On 23 July 2014, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced the appointment of Ellen Margrethe Løj of Denmark as his new Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS). Ms. Løj succeeded Hilde Johnson of Norway, who had completed her assignment two weeks earlier, on 7 July 2014. 

 

 

Ende September 2016 endete die fünfte Überprüfungskonferenz des Vertrags über konventionelle Streitkräfte in Europa (KSE-Vertrag) in Wien ohne greifbares Ergebnis. Russland, das die Implementierung des Vertrags Ende 2007 suspendiert hat, nahm nicht teil. Auch die baltischen Republiken und andere Nato-Staaten gehören dem KSE-Vertrag nicht an. Erneut wurde deutlich, dass er keinen wirksamen Beitrag mehr leistet, um für militärische Zurückhaltung und Berechenbarkeit in einem Europa zu sorgen, das von neuen Konflikten, einem konfrontativen Sicherheitsverständnis und der Gefahr militärischer Eskalation gekennzeichnet ist. Deshalb hatte der deutsche Außenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier Ende August 2016 vorgeschlagen, einen strukturierten Dialog darüber zu führen, wie konventionelle Rüstungskontrolle wiederbelebt werden kann. Der Vorschlag wird von 14 europäischen Staaten unterstützt. Bisher besteht aber noch keine Klarheit über die politischen Voraussetzungen, die militärische Substanz und den rechtlichen Rahmen etwaiger Neuregelungen. Es ist an der Zeit, darüber nachzudenken, sollen Glaubwürdigkeit und Nachhaltigkeit der Initiative gewahrt werden.