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August 1, 2016 (GUIT) - Two senior South Sudan armed opposition (SPLM-IO) generals say they are in contact with Riek Machar, who was recently dropped from government.

South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar addresses a news conference in his office in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, August 31, 2015. (Photo REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri)

Machar was replaced by the SPLM-IO's former chief negotiator, Taban Deng Gai last week, a move the armed opposition leader described as “illegal”.

But Maj. Gen Liah Diu, a senior military officer with the armed opposition, told Sudan Tribune he still remains loyal to Machar.

“I have never gone anywhere. I'm still in contact with my commander in chief Dr. Riek Machar. Those who wish me to defect to Taban Deng are great enemies of the movement,” he said.

Forces allied to two senior opposition generals reportedly clashed after one side declared allegiance to Gai at Neemni village.

Diu, however, confirmed he and Lt. Gen Dor Manjuor conducted a meeting with local chiefs in the area on the replacement of Machar by South Sudan President Salva Kiir.

He claimed most people in the area disagreed with the appointment of Gai, which they alleged was a tactical move by President Salva Kiir to divide the armed opposition faction.

South Sudan's newly-appointed vice-president reportedly dispatched Maj. Gen Carlo Kuol from Juba to the area to discuss and mobilize the community to support his new position.

But Diu insists some people were simply misled into backing Gai, stressing the Machar was still the legitimate leader of the armed opposition movement.

“It is not true the statement you received from commissioner and press secretary of Unity State governor. We were in the meeting yesterday as Guit county community on ground, but our position has been misunderstood by members of our comrades,” he explained.

Diu said they communicated the SPLM-IO leader on Monday and that the latter assured them of his support to the movement and the struggle to fight for a better South Sudan.

(ST)

La semaine dernière, le conseil d'administration d'Électricité de France (EDF) avait approuvé la construction de deux réacteurs nucléaires de type EPR à Hinkley Point, dans le sud-ouest de l'Angleterre. Mais ce projet géant pourrait être mis à mal, le nouveau gouvernement britannique ayant repoussé l'examen du projet face à l'urgence du Brexit. Visiblement, Londres se méfie notamment du partenaire chinois censé financer un tiers de la nouvelle centrale, CGN. Une méfiance qui passe très mal à Pékin.

Harminc éve egy fekete füzetbe vezeti azok nevét, akik keresztbe tettek neki. Orbán Viktor előkelő helyen lehet a felsorolásban.

Harminc éve egy fekete füzetbe vezeti azok nevét, akik keresztbe tettek neki. Orbán Viktor előkelő helyen lehet a felsorolásban.

August 2, 2016 (JUBA) – Spokesperson of the leadership of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), said forces loyal to President Salva Kiir have been defeated in all fronts around Juba and that the SPLA-IO troops are waiting for an order from their commander-in-chief to move on Juba.

SPLA soldiers drive past military tanks that were destroyed and abandoned in the recent fighting in the Jabel area of Juba, on July 16, 2016 (Reuters Photo)

Reached by Sudan Tribune on Tuesday morning, James Gatdet Dak has said that “Several hundreds of soldiers” belonging to President Kiir have been killed in the forests in the south, west and northwest of the national capital, Juba, as they tried to hunt for Machar, former first vice president who fled the town three weeks ago.

Machar left Juba with his “small number of troops” after battling President Kiir's forces for four days in the capital. The former first vice president said he left to save his life, de-escalate the situation in the capital and would return after a third party force is deployed in Juba.

Dak said over 10,000 of the SPLA forces have been defeated in the frontlines with some having now reported to have fled to United Nations protection of civilians cites in Juba, including three military Generals who have taken refuge and refused to go back to the front lines.

But he said only air raids using helicopter gunships is what the government is dwelling on.

“Our forces have defeated President Kiir's troops in all their frontlines. They have been dispersed in disarray. The government is not telling the truth about what is happening in the forests. Several hundreds of their troops have been killed and dozens of their military vehicles and other logistics captured,” said Dak.

“SPLA-IO forces are in upper hand as we speak and are only waiting for the right time and order from their commander-in-chief to take control of Juba. This will happen soon unless a third party force is deployed in Juba,” he further added.

The South Sudanese army spokesperson was not reachable for comment on these claims.

Asked about SPLM-IO leader, Dak said their, Machar, is safe protected by his forces, saying that all the battles occurred in locations far from where he is situated. Also, he said that the opposition forces have received reinforcements from different locations in the country who have "besieged Juba without the government knowing".

Dak further claimed that Juba-Yei road and Juba-Mundri road have been closed by their forces, as well as taking control of northwest of Juba in Katigiri.

The spokesperson who said he has been in contact with his boss also announced that Machar has appointed Lt. General John Jok Gai, as Sector Commander for Central Equatoria, where he is deployed to coordinate the operations of the army divisions which are commanded by his junior officers including Major General John Kenyi, Major General Mabie Gaar, among other Major Generals in charge of different frontline locations in the area.

(ST)

Allgemeines : Flüchtlingskrise, Datenschutz, Terrorismus und Brexit-Votum. Das sind die Themen der meistgelesenen Artikel auf der Website des Europäischen Parlaments in der ersten Jahreshälfte 2016. Mehr Informationen zu diesen Themen finden Sie in unserer Zusammenfassung.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2016 - EP

General : The European Parliament has had an eventful six months. MEPs worked hard to help member states contain the migration crisis, updated rules for the protection of personal data and adopted new measures to fight the terrorist threat. Those with an interest in European politics were also very keen to read about it on our website. Revisit the articles that proved the most popular in the first half of 2016.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The European Parliament has had an eventful six months. MEPs worked hard to help member states contain the migration crisis, updated rules for the protection of personal data and adopted new measures to fight the terrorist threat. Those with an interest in European politics were also very keen to read about it on our website. Revisit the articles that proved the most popular in the first half of 2016.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Général : Le Parlement européen a connu un semestre bien rempli : les députés se sont penchés sur des mesures pour résoudre la crise migratoire et faire face à la menace terroriste. Ils ont également adopté de nouvelles règles sur la protection des données et ont débattu du résultat du référendum britannique. Découvrez les sujets de nos articles les plus lus et cliquez sur les liens pour les consulter !

Source : © Union européenne, 2016 - PE

Általános : Az adatvédelmi szabályok reformja, a menekültválság, népszavazás az Egyesült Királyság uniós tagságáról, küzdelem a terrorizmus ellen. Az ezekről szóló cikkeinket, összeállításainkat olvasták a legtöbben honlapunkon az év első felében. Visszatekintés.

Forrás : © Európai Unió, 2016 - EP

August 1, 2106 (EL-FASHER) - Doctors at the main hospital in El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state went on strike since July 28th to protest against government refusal to respond to their demands for improving working environment.

IDPs wait to be seen at an MSF health post in North Darfur state in 2010 (File Photo/MSF)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, general practitioners and intern doctors at El-Fasher Teaching Hospital said they launched the strike due to delay of their financial entitlements, deteriorating work environment and poor housing conditions.

“Our continued discussions with the hospital administration and the ministry [of health] didn't yield any results due to the administration's intransigence” read the statement

Last week, the director general of the Ministry of Health in North Darfur has sacked directors of several departments including the therapeutic medicine, basic health care, health planning and development, training and human resources development besides directors of thirty sub-departments.

The health sector in North Darfur suffers from administrative and financial problems besides the lack of qualified health professionals, medical equipments and the inappropriate doctors' housing.

(ST)

Eric Reeves August 1, 2016

It is telling that a visit to Khartoum by the U.S. Special Envoy for the Sudans, Donald Booth, generated not a single bit of international news coverage, even as his schedule was known to include a “fact-finding” trip to Darfur. According to one highly reliable Sudanese news source, the Khartoum regime didn't have to bother with requests from journalists asking to accompany Booth during his visit to Darfur: there weren't any. Among other things, this encourages Khartoum in its already strongly held belief that the world has forgotten about Darfur, and that it can simply wait for the final stages of “genocide by attrition” to accomplish themselves.

To be sure, the lack of non-Sudanese journalists is perhaps understandable, given the tight control by Military Intelligence and the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) over every moment Booth was in Darfur, every location to which he would travel—something that could easily have been foreseen on the basis of previous highly controlled “fact-finding” missions.

But at least Booth went to the right places: North Darfur and what is now called “Central Darfur” (formerly part of West Darfur). The latter is where the Jebel Marra massif is located, site of the particularly savage military assault by Khartoum's regular and militia forces beginning in January of this year. We still have no fully reliable figures for how many were displaced during the campaign on the ground and from the air; 200,000 seems a reasonable estimate based on UN figures and reports from Radio Dabanga and Sudan Tribune, although it may well be higher. We certainly have no data that can establish mortality totals, but the reports from these two Sudanese news sources, as well as a range of other sources, makes clear that the death toll has been very high, as have the number of rapes, assaults on villages, and instances of large-scale looting and destruction.

North Darfur is the location of what is somewhat loosely referred to as “East Jebel Marra,” the region east of the massif itself and heavily populated, primarily by people of the African Fur tribe. Over the past four years this region in North Darfur has seen the worst violence in all of Darfur, rivaling in intensity and brutality the early years of the genocide (see my January 2016 report on the mass rape of girls and women and “Changing the Demography”: Violent Expropriation and Destruction of Farmlands in Darfur, November 2014 – November 2015" [November 2015]).

Booth has become notorious for not making statements, according to a Sudanese journalist colleague, even when meeting with opposition groups in Paris or Addis Ababa. And true to form, Booth has so far made no statement during his current (and presumably now concluding) trip to Sudan. He did meet with some of those who have witnessed the horrors of recent years, and some apparently spoke honestly, acts of extraordinary courage. Booth was in Nierteti (Central Darfur) and Tawila (“East Jebel Marra” in North Darfur), scenes of some of the very worst human rights abuses and violent destruction. He reportedly also met with civil society representatives in el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur.

For their honesty, outspoken displaced persons and civil society representatives will pay a heavy price, as Radio Dabanga reported yesterday:

Agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) detained five men in Nierteti in Central Darfur today. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, multiple sources reported that Adam Siddig, of the Northern Nierteti camp for the displaced, and Abdelkarim Adam Abdelkarim, of the Southern Nierteti camp were held at the town's bus station this morning. Nasreldin Yousef and Adam Mohamed, the owner of a welding workshop, were detained in the market of Nierteti. Ahmed El Tijani Abdeljabar Yousef was taken from a house in the Dar El Naeem district. The sources said that the NISS officers seem to be still searching for others. Last week, the US special envoy for Sudan, Donald Booth, paid a visit to Darfur. In Nierteti, he reportedly spoke with a number of displaced (July 31, 2016).

Reporting today (August 1, 2016) Sudan Tribune offered a fuller account of events in Nierteti:

Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Monday has arrested at least 21 leaders of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the locality of Nirtiti, Central Darfur state following a meeting with the United States Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, Donald Booth, said IDPs official. On July 26, the American envoy started a visit to Darfur states to assess the security and humanitarian situation on the ground particularly in Jebel Marra area. Deputy Chairman of IDPs and Refugees Association Adam Abdalla Idris told Sudan Tribune that the NISS is now making intensive efforts to arrest dozens of IDPs leaders after it accused them of providing Booth with misleading information pertaining to the security and humanitarian situation in the region particularly in areas of east Jebel Marra. He added that several IDPs leaders have disappeared from sight for fear of being arrested by the NISS, pointing the latter has a list including names of all IDPs who met with the American envoy.

According to Idris, a security source disguised as an IDP has attended the meeting with Booth and submitted a report including details of the meeting to the NISS. Idris pointed that the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), human rights groups operating in the area and the IDPs have provided identical reports to the American envoy including numbers of those killed in the recent clashes in Jebel Marra besides numbers of the newly displaced persons and the rape incidents. “The humanitarian situation is at its worst particularly after food and drug supply have stopped besides the lack of blankets and other basic necessities” he said. He added that the American envoy will likely delay his visit to South Darfur state in fear of subjecting dozens of IDPs to harassment and detention by the NISS.

[These reports are partially confirmed by another Darfuri source on the ground near Nierteti—ER]

Despite his reluctance to issues statements, it would seem incumbent upon Ambassador Booth to demand publicly that Khartoum provide assurances that his fact-finding mission did not result in the large-scale arrests of displaced persons, and that he be provided evidence of the safety of those with whom he spoke.

Not to speak out is to allow diplomatic tactical calculations to outweigh the clear risks to those who dared to speak with Booth, at his request, in order to provide what the U.S. surely already knows from the many reports that have appeared in the last year: from UN OCHA, from other UN agencies and humanitarian organizations, from Human Rights Watch (two important reports in 2015, focusing on the mass rape of girls and women at Tabit, East Jebel Marra, by Khartoum's regular army forces, and the ghastly predations of recent years by Khartoum's current militia force of choice, the Rapid Support Forces). The Special Envoy's office is also in possession of a great deal of research—including first-hand interviews of victims—that reveals the scope of human devastation from this year's campaign against the people of Jebel Marra.

Silence from Ambassador Booth at this critical moment in the lives of courageous Darfuris will be acquiescence in their fate, a fate his visit to their ravaged lands has worked to define.

Eric Reeves, Senior Fellow at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. To read more articles, please go to his blog www.sudanreeves.org

August 1, 2016 (JUBA) - Alfred Taban, a prominent journalist and chief editor of the daily English newspaper, Juba Monitor, has been released on bail but still faces charges.

Alfred Taban (Time-UA Photo)

Taban was arrested two weeks ago and detained by security personnel but was transferred from the National Security Service (NSS) headquarters on 22 July to police custody in Juba town.

He has been charged with ‘publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to South Sudan' and ‘undermining the authority of or insulting president Salva Kiir.

The veteran journalist prior to his arrest wrote an article which called for resignation of both President Kiir and his former first deputy, Riek Machar, for returning the country to war on 8 July.

He was released on bail in response to his request so that he could receive medical treatment for a previously existing health condition.

It is not clear whether or not he will be dragged to court to answer for the charges against the president.

(ST)

Some 60,000 people have fled South Sudan&#39s recent violence in the capital city of Juba, bringing the overall number of South Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries since December 2013 to nearly 900,000, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

Les flux de réfugiés entrant en Ouganda en provenance du Soudan du Sud ont doublé au cours des dix derniers jours, portant le total à plus de 52.000 personnes entrées dans le pays depuis que la violence a dégénéré il y a trois semaines. Le Kenya a signalé de son côté l'arrivée de 1.000 réfugiés au cours de la même période, tandis que 7.000 ont fui au Soudan.

Le Secrétaire général adjoint des Nations Unies aux affaires humanitaires, Stephen O'Brien, a rencontré mardi des personnes déplacées par la violence à Wau et Aweil, au Soudan du Sud, au deuxième jour d'une visite dans ce pays.

L'économie ghanéenne perd environ 2,6 milliards de dollars par an, soit 6,4% du PIB, en raison des effets néfastes de la sous-nutrition chez les enfants, selon une nouvelle étude des Nations Unies publiée mardi à Accra, la capitale du Ghana.

Le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) a rendu hommage mardi à un employé tué la semaine dernière dans une attaque à la voiture piégée à Mogadiscio, la capitale de la Somalie.

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