Africa

July 4, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government militia; Rapid Support Force (RSF); on Monday said that they arrested over 300 illegal immigrants heading to Libya across the remote desert of Northern State.

SRF field commander Mohamed Hamdan (Hametti) speaks in a press conference in Khartoum on Wednesday May 14, 2014 (ST)

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

Last June, hundreds of Rapid Support Force elements have been deployed in the Northern State shortly after complaint by the governor of drug and human trafficking by the criminal networks.

RSF Commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Hametti, told the pro-government al-Shrooq TV that his force, which was combing the western desert in the northern state, has arrested over 300 illegal immigrants in Al-Sheverlite area on the Sudanese- Libyan borders.

The combing operations of the desert in the Northern State are going "as planned by the top leadership" Hametti said, adding that "his forces were deployed in all locations to secure and protect the Sudanese economy".

He further said that the RSF troops have closed all the crossing points into Libya in the Northern State.

The commander of 19th Infantry Division of the Sudanese army, General Adil Hassan Humaida, on his part, said that RSF have been deployed in Northern State to comb the western desert in the state and protect borders with Libya.

Northern State governor, Ali al-Awad said that RSF is deployed combat crime, stressing that RSF first mission is mainly humanitarian and to provide security.

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

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

(ST)

July 3, 2016 (JUBA) – A group of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on Saturday clashed with South Sudan army soldiers at Jebel check point, which is located north of the United Nations Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in the national capital, Juba.

UNMISS personnel erect barbed wire fencing around Tomping camp in Juba January 7, 2014 (Reuters/James Akena)

The acting spokesperson for the UN mission in South Sudan (UNIMISS) said the incident was a provocation by several IDPs, who were drinking at the nearby checkpoint area located north of PoC1, towards SPLA soldiers in the area.

“This resulted in an altercation between the IDPs and SPLA soldiers, and a few causalities, to be confirmed,” Chantal Persaud told Sudan Tribune Monday.

“UNMISS and SPLA senior officers met Sunday morning at the Jebel checkpoint, to ascertain the circumstances around the incident and verify information related to the shooting,” she added.

About 50 civilians who run small shops outside UNMISS compound were reportedly allowed temporary entry to UN House Compound and remained in close proximity of the main gate, eventually returning to their premises when the situation was under control.

Both the government and the armed opposition officials confirmed Saturday's clashes.

(ST)

July 4, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Monday has confiscated copies of Al-Jareeda daily newspaper from the printing house without stating any reasons.

Members of Sudanese Journalists Network (SJN) hold banners outside the National Council for Press and Publication (NCPP) premises in Khartoum in protest against repeated seizure of newspapers, on May 26, 2015 (ST photo)

NISS has recently intensified crackdown on the newspapers. Last May, it confiscated copies of Al-Taghyeer, Al-Saiha, Al-Jareeda and Akhir Lahza newspapers for two days in a row.

Journalists working for Al-Jareeda told Sudan Tribune that the NISS agents seized 12,000 copies of the newspaper, expecting the financial loss to reach 50,000 pounds (SDG) (about $3,700 dollar).

Al-Jareeda has been the most censored and confiscated newspaper by the security services. Last May, the NISS had confiscated copies of the newspaper four times during five days.

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 the national security.

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

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.

(ST)

July 4, 2016 (JUBA) - Spokesperson of South Sudan Police Service has denied that the death of an officer belonging to the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), a co-national army under the overall command of the First Vice President, Riek Machar, was politically motivated.

Late Captain Gismallah George (File photo)

Brigadier General Daniel Justin Boulo attributed the cause of death of Lt. Colonel George Gismala on Saturday to the prevalence of guns in the hands of unauthorized persons in the country.

“When people who have access to weapons and everyone has a gun, the life of everyone is [at] risk and it becomes difficult to identify and know the perpetuators,” Boulo said Monday when reached to comment on the matter.

He said people with different motives have illegally acquired weapons as well as those using military uniforms are among the groups roaming and causing insecurity situation.

The issue of insecurity, he said, will reduce when the illegally armed people are identified and disarmed.

This, he further added, cannot be done single handedly by the army or the police force and security forces but a work of everybody in the country in order to create a conducive security environment.

“Nobody has the monopoly of creating conducive security situation. The army can do its best to avail manpower to provide protection to the citizens and their properties but it is the responsibility of every citizen to work with the army, the police and the security personnel by giving information. If the government has no information about the unusual behaviour of a certain group, then how will the army know there is a group involved in strange activities? It is through information sharing that the army, the police and the security organs will know,” Boulo explained.

His comments came after government acknowledged that its military intelligence killed a “criminal” who attacked their patrol team at Kator residential area.

SPLA-IO ACCUSES SPLA OF MURDER

However, Military Spokesperson of the SPLA-IO, Colonel William Gatjiath Deng, has released a press statement on Monday, accusing the SPLA forces of killing the officer, George Alex Sandra aka George Gismala.

Deng also enumerated a number of other violations the SPLA and national security have allegedly committed in Juba over a period of two weeks.

“National Security agents shots our cars and firing random bullets even near the residence of the 1st Vice President. 1. On date 16/6/2016, National Security shot the car of the 1st Vice President at Gudela road and 2. Shot also the car of the share command Cdr. John Mabiek Gaar at Mongateen on 19/6/2016. 3. On the 2nd of July/2016, the SPLA-IG, killed our good officer by the name “Lt.Col. George Alex Sandra” while he was found sitting with his brothers shot him and take him away and brought his body back at night and place it at the Juba Teaching Hospital. 4. They have planned to assassinate all former National Security and IM officers and personnel who deserted to the SPLA-IO. 5. They keep 137-IO members in their detention and they don't want release them, where is the peace?,” wrote Col. Deng in the statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Monday.

He accused the troops loyal to President Kiir of reneging on the implementation of the security arrangements, including establishment of cantonment areas for SPLA-IO in Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr el Ghazal regions.

Also, he said their partner has not implemented the required redeployment of forces to 25 km outside the national capital.

(ST)

July 4, 2016 (JUBA) – A South Sudanese minister lashed out at institutions and people who have expressed fears of imminent collapse of the August 2015 peace agreement due to lack of consensus between two main warring parties.

South Sudanese information minister Michael Makuei Lueth attends a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 5 January 2014 (Photo: AP/Elias Asmara)

The parties led by President Salva Kiir and his first deputy, Riek Machar, are yet to resolve disputes over key sticking points, raising concerns that the intransigence could lead to collapse of peace, if no immediate measures were taken to keep the agreement on track.

Earlier, the two leaders in their presidency meetings last month said they reached consensuses on a number of issues including establishment of cantonment areas and review of the number of states and boundaries across the country.

President Kiir however did not sign the resolutions of the outcome of the meetings, returning the parties to further consultations.

However, Information Minister and Government Spokesperson, Michael Makuei Lueth, told reporters on Monday that there were people wishing South Sudan to continue to be in crisis for their benefits.

“Those who write such report, who say peace is going to collapse, who don't talk about the progress which have been so far in the implementation of the agreement, are those who wish the country every failure and they are people who are not for peace in South Sudan,” said Lueth.

The official, himself seen by the critics of the government as one of the hardliners and among those in the government who would like certain provisions of the agreement not to be implemented, said warlords in the country have perpetually remained in crisis for their own benefits.

“So these are warlords who would all the time like to see the whole country in crisis so that they benefit out of all these,” he said, without mentioning them by names.

Leading figures in the leadership of armed opposition, including the First Vice President Riek Machar himself, contended that implementation of the peace agreement was slow but ruled out its collapse. They asserted that it would be premature to make conclusion while the parties are still in discussions.

Minister Lueth was reacting to the report of the crisis group in which it urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to ensure that all parties renew their commitment to the agreement during a summit in Kigali, Rwanda, in coming days.

The report further asked the regional bloc, which mediated the talks, to bring to an end the conflict in the country to resume active engagements in the implementation process of the peace deal which the parties grudgingly signed in August 2015.

It called on IGAD to direct the parties to act on key issues in order to avoid collapse of the peace agreement.

(ST)

July 3, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The late Secretary General of the National Islamic Front (NIF) in Sudan Hassan al-Turabi has revealed in a recorded interview from 2010 the involvement of his deputy and former Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha in the assassination attempt against former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1995.

Ali Osman Mohamed Taha (ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)

In episode 12 of a series of testimonies broadcasted by the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday, the late Islamist leader said that Taha told him on the same day of the failed attempt about his personal involvement in the assassination plot alongside the General Security Services which was then headed by Nafie Ali Nafie.

Al-Turabi pointed that neither him nor the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir were aware of the assassination plot, saying the operation was arranged by Taha and Nafie.

He added that a meeting was held following the failed attempt in the presence of himself, Bashir, Nafie, Taha and others to assess the situation, saying that Taha proposed during the meeting to kill two Egyptian Jihadists who returned to Sudan after they participated in the assassination plot against President Mubarak.

However, the late Islamist leader said he had strongly objected to Taha's suggestion, underscoring that the meeting had eventually abandoned the idea of killing the two Egyptian Jihadists.

Al-Turabi also disclosed that the funding of the assassination attempt which amounted to more than $1 million was provided by Taha who secretly took the money from the NIF.

He further said that Islamist leaders from a country which he declined to name but said it is not far from Egypt came to him before the failed plot and asked him to facilitate an operation to assassinate Mubarak.

“Our president would travel to Addis Ababa to participate in the African Summit and we want to kill him” the Islamist leaders told al-Turabi.

Al-Turabi said however he rejected the proposal of the Egyptian Islamists and convinced them to abandon the idea.

“I told them that even if you managed [to assassinate Mubarak] would you get over your personal hatred toward him? … If you succeeded [to kill him] then hundreds of your [followers] would be killed and the mosques in your country would be shut down,” said al-Turabi.

The late Islamist leader added that he told President Bashir and Taha about the Egyptian Islamists who asked him to facilitate Mubarak's assassination and that he “warded them off and convinced them that killings are useless”.

Al-Turabi further pointed that Taha was not driven by personal motives but sought to help Egyptian Islamists who belong to a group that has nothing to do with Muslim Brotherhood.

It is noteworthy that investigations have revealed the involvement of elements from the Egyptian Jemaah Islamiah including Mustafa Hamza the head of the group's Shura (consultative) Council in the assassination attempt.

Al-Turabi's testimony is expected to provoke controversy in Sudan as it was the first time to openly implicate Taha and Nafie in the assassination plot against President Mubarak.

Ethiopia and Egypt have accused the Sudanese government of helping to plan the attack by Egyptian extremists on Mubarak's bulletproof car as he was on his way to an African Summit in June 1995 summit in Addis Ababa.

However, Sudan has always denied a role in the attempt.

Responding to a motion at the UN Security Council in 1996 calling on Sudan to hand over Ethiopia three men suspected in the attack, Taha, who was then Sudan's Foreign Minister said that Sudan was “neither a party to, nor had a role” in the attempt.

Al-Turabi, who passed away last March, was one of the most influential figures in modern Sudanese politics and a longtime hard-line ideological leader. He was the leader of the NIF which orchestrated the 1989 military coup d'état that brought President Bashir to power.

Taha served as Turabi's deputy in the NIF and was one of his loyal disciples until 1999 when a split occurred between President Bashir and Turabi. Taha joined Bashir's camp and became First Vice President until he was chased out of office in 2013.

Since then, Taha has not held any government post but he retains his position in the leadership council of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

When he recorded his testimonies in 2010, Turabi had stipulated that it would only be aired after his death.

During the first years of the regime, the country was ruled by the NIF, as Taha was tasked with the management of the government affairs.

(ST)

Arvind Ganesan is the director of Human Rights Watch’s Business and Human Rights Division. He leads the organization’s work to expose human rights abuses linked to business and other economic activity, hold institutions accountable, and develop standards to prevent future abuses. This work has included research and advocacy on awide range of issues includingthe extractive industries; public and private security providers; international financial institutions; freedom of expression and information through the internet; labor rights; supply chain monitoring and due diligence regimes; corruption; sanctions; and predatory practices against the poor. Ganesan’s work has covered countries such as Angola, Azerbaijan, Burma, China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, India, Indonesia, the United States, and Nigeria. His recent research has focused on predatory lending practices and governance issues on Native American reservations in the United States. He has written numerous reports, op-eds, and other articles and is widely cited by the media.

Ganesan has also worked to develop industry standards to ensure companies and other institutions respect human rights. He is a founder of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights for the oil, gas, and mining industries and is a founding member of the Global Network Initiative (GNI) for the internet and telecommunications industries, where he also serves on the board. Ganesan has helped to develop standards for international financial institutions such as the World Bank, and regularly engages governments in an effort to develop mandatory rules or strengthen existing standards such as the Kimberley Process. He serves on the board of EGJustice, a nongovernmental organization that promotes good governance in Equatorial Guinea, and is a member of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR)’s steering committee.

Before joining Human Rights Watch, Ganesan worked as a medical researcher. He attended the University of Oklahoma.

Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program, is an expert on LGBT rights. He has conducted research, taught and published extensively on gender, sexuality, LGBT issues, and HIV/AIDS.

Before joining Human Rights Watch in 2011, Reid was the founding director of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa, a researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research and a lecturer in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies at Yale University. An anthropologist by training, Reid received an master’s from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and a PhD from the University of Amsterdam.

(Nairobi) – Kenyan authorities must urgently investigate the killing last week of three men, including a human rights lawyer, and ensure that those found responsible are held to account in fair trials, 34 Kenyan and international human rights organizations said today. Human rights activists will today hold demonstrations in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya to protest the heinous killings.

The shocking abduction, enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings of lawyer Willie Kimani, as well as his client and their taxi driver that day, whose bodies were recovered from a river 73 kilometres northeast of Nairobi, should be cause for alarm over the state of human rights and rule of law in Kenya, especially in the face of reports suggesting that police officers were involved.
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The perpetrators of the killing of Willie Kimani, Josephat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri should face justice for this horrific crime.

“These extrajudicial killings are a chilling reminder that the hard-won right to seek justice for human rights violations is under renewed attack,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes. “The Independent Policing Oversight Authority must initiate and lead prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into the abduction, enforced disappearance and extrajudicial execution of these three people with a view to bringing criminal charges against all those reasonably suspected of responsibility.”

The bodies of Willie Kimani, who was employed by International Justice Mission, a Christian legal aid charity, his client Josephat Mwenda, a motorcycle taxi rider, and Joseph Muiruri, a taxi driver, were recovered on June 30, 2016 from Ol-Donyo Sabuk River in Machakos County, eastern Kenya, a week after the three went missing in circumstances suggesting they were victims of enforced disappearance. Initial reports immediately suggested that Administration Police (AP), officers, one of whom Mwenda was defending himself against in court that day, may have abducted them.

The three were last seen as they left Mavoko Law Courts, in Machakos County, on June 23, 2016 where they had attended a hearing of a traffic case against Mwenda. Police officers from Syokimau AP Camp preferred traffic charges against Mwenda in December 2015, months after he had lodged a complaint with IPOA against a senior officer at the camp who had illegally shot him in April 2015 as he dismounted a motorcycle after the officers had waved him down to stop. Human rights organisations in Kenya have evidence indicating the three men were briefly held at Syokimau AP Camp soon after they were abducted. The men’s whereabouts after that remained unknown until their bodies were recovered seven days later.

“That these killings are coming before numerous similar allegations in other parts of the country have been adequately investigated is a matter of serious concern of the willingness of the Kenyan authorities to stem cases of police killings,” said Henry Maina, regional director at Article 19, Eastern Africa. “President Kenyatta must take decisive steps to assure Kenyans and the international community that the government is serious about addressing police killings.”

The Kenyan agencies responsible for investigations, including IPOA and police should ensure that all those reasonably linked to the killings are investigated and all available evidence properly preserved to ensure the credibility of the investigations, the organizations said.

“A transparent process of investigating and prosecuting those responsible is what is now needed to reassure shocked Kenyans of their safety and restore their faith in the national police,” said Kamau Ngugi, National Coordinator at Kenya’s National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders. “That a lawyer working for an international organisation and his client could be abducted and disappeared in broad-day light only to be found dead is a matter that cannot be taken lightly.”

It is, however, encouraging to note that in the early hours of July 1, before news of the bodies being found was publicly known, Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinett ordered the arrest of three AP officers attached to the Syokimau AP Camp and further directed that all their colleagues at the camp be questioned about the disappearances.

On July 2, the Inspector General said three officers – Frederick Leliman, Stephen Chebulet and Sylvia Wanjiku – were being held over offences relating to the killings.
It cannot be business as usual when cases of police killings are emerging from many parts of the country each year. The government should urgently conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and that these killings stop Otsieno Namwaya

Africa Researcher at Human Rights Watch

“The Inspector General should now clarify whether the AP officer accused of shooting Mwenda in April 2015 is one of those under arrest,” said Otsieno Namwaya, Africa Researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It cannot be business as usual when cases of police killings are emerging from many parts of the country each year. The government should urgently conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and that these killings stop.”

These outrageous crimes should not only be the concern of the police and IPOA, but should be addressed by all levels of Kenya’s leadership, including the national assembly and the head of state.

“The killing of these three young Kenyans in cold blood should concern President Uhuru Kenyatta,” said George Kegoro, Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission. “The head of state must immediately institute a full judicial commission of inquiry into the appropriation and misuse of the institution of the police and its resources for personal and criminal ends including, as in this case, extrajudicial killings.”

Kenya’s international partners – in particular Sweden, the UK and USA – that are currently providing financial support to the Kenya police units implicated in extrajudicial killings, should urge Kenyan authorities to ensure effective investigations into these killings and prosecution of those responsible. Supporting Kenyan security agencies without insisting on accountability for human rights violations makes donor countries complicit in those violations.

Signed hereunder:
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
National Coalition on Human Rights Defenders (NCHRC)
Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU)
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Freedom House
Article 19, Eastern Africa
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
Defend Defenders
International Commission of Jurists (Kenya Chapter)
InformAction
Chapter Four, Uganda
Pan African Human Rights Defenders Network, Uganda
Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Uganda
Rights Promotion and Protection Centre
Muslims for Human Rights
Haki Africa
Coalition for Constitution Implementation
Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice
Centre for Reproductive Rights
Bunge La Mwananchi
Coalition of Grassroots Human Rights Defenders
Kenyan Peasants League
Pan African Grassroots Women Liberation
World March of Women Kenya
Mathare Social Justice Centre
Bunge La Mwananchi, Kangemi
Kamukunji Human Rights Defenders Network
Women Arising
Dandora Must Change Social Movement
The Change Movement Kenya
Sauti Ya Umma, Kenya

UPDATE (July 1, 2016): On Friday, July 1, International Justice Mission announced the  deaths of staff member, Willie Kimani, client, Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri. Their bodies were found in a river in Ol-Donyo Sabuk, Machakos County after an extensive search. Human Rights Watch extends sincere condolences to IJM and the families.   (Nairobi) – Kenyan police should urgently locate a human rights lawyer, his client, and their driver who have been missing since June 23, 2016. There is credible evidence the men were, at some point, in the custody of Kenya’s Administration Police and may be victims of an enforced disappearance.   Expand

Human rights lawyer Willie Kimani was last seen on June 23, 2016. There is credible evidence that Kimani, as well as his client and taxi driver, may be victims of an enforced disappearance.

© International Justice Mission

The lawyer, Willie Kimani, his client, Josphat Mwenda, and their taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri, were last seen returning from a traffic court hearing at Mavoko Law Courts, Machakos county, on June 23. Kenyan and international human rights organizations have stated that the three were abducted and that they may have been held at Syokimau Administration Police Camp.

“The three men have been missing for over a week,” said Otsieno Namwaya, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.” The police inspector general should be ordering his officers to urgently find out where the men are and ensure their safety and well-being.”   Any police officers involved in the men’s disappearance should be held to account for what would be a very serious crime.   Kenyan lawyers held a protest on June 30 and petitioned the police inspector general for information regarding the men’s whereabouts.   Human Rights Watch understands that officers from the police unit known as the Flying Squad, along with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, are investigating. But after eight days, there is still no clarity as to the men’s whereabouts. Should police officers, or other government agents, be involved with or implicated in depriving the men of their liberty and concealing information about their whereabouts, their actions would constitute an enforced disappearance, a serious violation of human rights for which there is no justification.   Kimani, a lawyer working with the International Justice Mission (IJM), has been representing Mwenda in his legal problems stemming from an April 10, 2015 incident in which an Administration Police officer from Syokimau Administration Police Camp shot him during a traffic stop.   An IJM official, Wamaitha Kimani, told Human Rights Watch that Mwenda received medical treatment for his injuries but was then taken into custody at Mlolongo Police station, in Machakos county. Mwenda was charged with “being in possession of narcotic drugs,” “gambling in a public place,” and “resisting arrest.” IJM believes that the officers fabricated the charges in an attempt to justify the shooting.   “What surprised us is that four other officers who were not at the scene recorded statements to support the charges,” Wamaitha Kimani said. “That is why IJM decided to defend Mwenda.”   Mwenda later filed a complaint over the shooting with Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), a civilian police accountability institution, against a senior Administration Police officer in Machakos county.   Police later charged Mwenda with six traffic offenses, including riding a motorcycle without a helmet, on December 13. On February 16, Wamaitha Kimani said, two men claiming to be officers from the police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations arrested Mwenda again, alleging that he was a suspect in a violent robbery. Willie Kimani represented Mwenda and insisted on being present during any interrogations. Wamaitha Kimani told Human Rights Watch that these charges appeared to be an effort to intimidate Mwenda and compel him to withdraw his complaint against the police.   Willie Kimani had previously worked with Release Political Prisoners, a Kenyan pressure group now known as Rights Promotion and Protection Centre (RPP), Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU), and IPOA.   “Police should not hesitate to interrogate and arrest their own officers when there is cause,” said Namwaya. “This case stands as a clear threat to the legal profession and all those who push for police accountability in Kenya.”

The Angolan Supreme Court on Wednesday provisionally released 17 members of a book club who were jailed after they discussed peaceful protest and democracy at a meeting last June, inspired by Gene Sharp’s book, From Dictatorship to Democracy.

Public prosecutors charged the group members with “preparatory acts of rebellion” and “plotting against the president and state institutions.” The latter charge was dropped during their trial, and a new charge of “criminal conspiracy” added.

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Book-club activists walk through the streets of Luanda after their provisional release.

© 2016 Katya dos Santos

After six months in pretrial detention, the activists were put under house arrest in December. In March 2016 they were convicted and received sentences of between two and eight years in prison – and returned to jail.  Their lawyers appealed their convictions to the Supreme Court, arguing they were unconstitutional and in violation of the activists’ fundamental rights. Under Angolan law, they should have been freed pending a decision of the Supreme Court. But instead they  languished in jail for another three months, while their relatives and friends held several protests outside the courts.

In its ruling on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered the group’s conditional release pending a final decision on their case. They will not be allowed to leave the country, and must check in with the authorities every month.

The first group of activists left the Sao Paulo Hospital-Prison in Luanda that afternoon. As they walked through the streets of the Angolan capital for the first time in more than a year, they shouted: “Reading is not a crime!”

Wednesday’s ruling could be a light at the end of the tunnel for many other people who have been denied justice in the Angolan judicial system, which has often been an instrument of the government to target its critics. The Supreme Court may want to restore public trust in state institutions. While the ruling does not acquit the activists, who never should have been arrested or charged, it gives hope that the review of their sentencing will be fair, thorough, and prompt. 

Ethiopia has a horrendous human rights record – but that didn’t stop its election this week to the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member. It’s worth noting too that Ethiopia – implicated in the deaths of hundreds of peaceful protesters in recent months – is also a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

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The UN Security Council votes on a resolution at UN Headquarters in New York on March 2, 2016.

© 2016 Reuters

Ethiopia, among Africa’s leading jailors of journalists, has decimated independent civil society and misused its counterterrorism law to stifle peaceful dissent. Arbitrary arrests and torture continue to be major concerns. The ruling coalition won 100 percent of parliamentary seats at federal and regional levels in the 2015 elections, after years of restrictions on opposition parties and supporters.

Two weeks ago, Human Rights Watch published a report into the government’s handling of the largely peaceful Oromo protests, where security forces killed an estimated 400 people, many of them students. Thousands have been arrested. The use of excessive force to stifle peaceful protest has occurred frequently, but Ethiopians have few outlets to criticize the government that won’t get them arrested. This has created a volatile internal security situation. The investigation by Ethiopia’s national Human Rights Commission fell short of international standards and concluded that security forces used “proportionate force” against protesters. A credible, independent investigation with international support is needed into these killings.

Despite the dire human rights situation, Ethiopia is a now a member of both the Security Council and the Human Rights Council. Its track record on the rights council has been poor: it has consistently blocked cooperation with UN special mechanisms, not permitted access to a single special rapporteur since 2007 – other than the special rapporteur on Eritrea, unsurprising given the ongoing “cold war” between the two countries. UN special rapporteurs on torture, freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly, the right of food, and the independent expert on human rights and international solidarity all have outstanding requests for visits.

Ethiopia should stop hiding its own human rights record from international scrutiny, and as a member of both the Human Rights Council and the Security Council, cooperate fully with UN special mechanisms, in particular the rapporteurs on peaceful assembly and torture to further investigate the human rights situation. Moreover, Ethiopia’s international partners should be supporting a credible, independent investigation into abuses during the Oromo protests.

 

 

June 4, 2016 (JUBA) – The Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), said it would not accept a one-party nomination of the speaker of the would-be transitional national legislative assembly in the country.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit speaks to the National Legislature on the occasion of the inauguration of the three years extension of his mandate, on July 8, 2015 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

The group said the one-party move would amount to a violation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS) signed in August 2015 by President Salva Kiir and the SPLM-IO's chairman, Riek Machar.

Machar is also the current first vice president of the transitional government per the executive power sharing arrangement in the peace deal which ended 21 months of civil war which erupted in December 2013 between the two factional leaders.

An inclusive transitional national legislative assembly with memberships from all parties to the agreement was supposed to be formed concurrently with the transitional cabinet two months ago. However, disagreement over mode of electing the new parliament's speaker has delayed its formation.

President Salva Kiir's faction recently disclosed their position that the speaker should be nominated from their party alone or to be appointed by President Kiir.

They argued that the position of the speaker would be to compensate for the position of the vice president, James Wani, President Kiir's ally, who has become number 3 in the hierarchy of the top executive or presidency.

The opposition's faction, the SPLM-IO, however said they will not accept their partner's position to single-handedly nominate the speaker or appoint him, saying this would be violating the peace agreement.

“The leadership of the SPLM (IO) will not accept a one-party nomination process in electing the speaker. This would be a violation of the peace agreement. And why would we accept an act that violates the agreement?” Machar's press secretary, James Gatdet Dak, told Sudan Tribune.

Dak also said “appointing” a speaker would be another violation, adding that parliament's speaker is elected, not appointed by the President.

The opposition's media official further reaffirmed that SPLM-IO is committed to the full implementation of the peace agreement in accordance with its provisions.

He said the peace agreement did not restrict nomination of the speaker to one party, adding he or she should come from any party to the peace agreement as long as the person is an Equatorian.

The SPLM-IO, he said, would also select their Equatorian member to contest for the speakership.

Earlier, on Wednesday, President Kiir said he did not trust the “majority” number of his faction's members in parliament to secure a vote for one of his members to become the speaker, saying some of them may defect and vote in favour of opposition's member.

There are concerns that pro-reform members from President Kiir's faction may also vote in favour of someone from the opposition so as to push for the reforms in the parliament.

(ST)

July 3, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan on Sunday has criticized being placed by the United States on the blacklist countries involved in human trafficking, saying the report as "biased and intentionally distorting" Sudan's efforts to combat human trafficking..

Eritrean migrants wait aboard a navy ship in the Sicilian harbour of Augusta, March 4, 2015 (Photo Reuters/Antonio Parrinello)

The U.S “Trafficking in Persons Report –June 2016” which was released last Thursday has placed Sudan with the 27 countries that do not comply with minimum international standards in combating human trafficking.

“The Government of Sudan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” said the report.

The report mentioned un verified reports about South Sudanese children sold for agricultural work particularly in West Kordofan. It accused the Sudanese army of recruiting children aged between 16-17 years. It also accused the government militia of the Rapid Support Forces of using child soldiers citing unverified reports.

It further said that asylum seekers from African and Arab countries are "highly vulnerable" to sex trafficking and forced labor in Sudan, citing kidnapping of Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees from east Sudan who are transferred into other countries for blackmailing and ransom. The Sudanese law enforcement agencies are accused of being involved in this criminal activity.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that U.S report on human trafficking lacked accurate information on Sudan and neglected to acknowledge the government's efforts to end recruitment of child soldiers and human trafficking.

The ministry stressed that Sudan has established law enforcement agencies in both federal and state levels, working with a high degree of coordination, to combat human trafficking.

Regarding the cooperation with international community in combating human trafficking, the ministry of foreign affairs said that Sudan has hosted in 2005 the UN Conference for Transitional Organized Crimes that covered human trafficking. And signed the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) of 2000.

In 2014 "Sudan issued Anti- Human Trafficking Act that included capital punishment in some cases," stressed the foreign ministry. It pointed to the national and regional efforts to combat human trafficking in eastern Sudan, including the establishment of a national committee to combat child trafficking and illegal immigration.

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

But Amnesty International criticized the EU policy saying it only focus on ''keeping people out, by preventing their arrival and facilitating their return, with no meaningful steps taken to increase mobility nor safe and legal routes for refugees''.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement stressed that Sudan is committed to all its obligations with the international community and European Union to combat human trafficking.

“Sudan is committed to the international laws that it has ratified and will be an active member in the fight against human trafficking,” stressed the statement.

Last June, Sudan handed over to Italy an Eritrean man suspected of controlling one of the world's four largest criminal migrant trafficking organization.

COURT SENTENCES HUMAN TRAFFICKERS

In a related development, s Sudanese court in Khartoum, on Sunday, sentenced to 10 years in prison 8 persons for human trafficking.

Khartoum Central Court, headed by Judge Osama Ahmed Abdalla, condemned eight defendants and acquitted one for the lack of evidence.

The defendants, who work for a human trafficking criminal network between Sudan and Libya, were condemned for criminal complicity and human trafficking across the border.

The court has decided to toughen the penalty against the defendants on the ground that human trafficking is a serious crime that threatens the security of the society and the state.

The court has also said that “based on facts, the defendants were found guilty of criminal accomplice with regard to sheltering and transporting people from Sudan to Libya after deceiving them that they are being taken to work in the traditional gold exploration in al-Muthalath (triangle) area in Sudanese northern state.

(ST)

July 3, 2016 (JUBA) - A top South Sudanese religious leader has criticized the hate speech employed by high ranking officials and their supporters to polarize the country, calling for solidarity among those victimized by the “smear campaign.”

Bishop Edward Hiboro (ST file photo)

Bishop Edward Hiboro of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura based in Yambio said one of the triggers of violence in the country is the manner in which people chose the language and words to communicate their messages.

“Language is doing much more violence, sometimes even much more harm than the gun,” said Bishop Edward while speaking to a United Nations sponsored Miraya FM radio on Thursday.

The religious leader appealed to South Sudanese to avoid “harsh and divisive” language and instead develop a language that can build the country.”

“Take off too much negativity, take out provocative language, the anger needs to give way to the language of peaceful communication, non-violent communication to help the country wake up from the current situation,” he further advised.

He said there is need to develop a new language and a conscience to prevent crime and consolidate the country's peace process.

His remarks come amid growing concerns about the growing insecurity in Wau. He said the violence in Wau, while regrettable, stems from lack of dialogue, adding “when dialogue is missing immediately people resort to violence and fighting.”

“South Sudanese need to learn to talk. It is talking that brought us South Sudan. It is not cowardice to speak to your brother and sister and say look we have gone wrong here, how do we go about this.”

While acknowledging the problems in the country, he said there is huge mistrust, and people are afraid to speak to each other. Instruments such as the church, civil society, international NGOs, he added, have the power to engage in Dialogue.

“But how can they do it?” he asked. He stressed that every leader, individual and family in South Sudan should find time for a retreat and use this time to reflect on the kind of South Sudan they want.

He urged the government to find ways to reach people “with the power and closeness of peace.

“If there could be a general ceasefire, no more shooting, no more fighting, the rest of things would fall in place. We prepare people in the church, we pacify them, we need the government to step in and reinforce the messages spread by the church to pave way for a peaceful stable nation,” he added.

(ST)

July 3, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and Brazil have on Sunday agreed to develop and promote bilateral relations in the various fields especially trade and investment.

Brazilian Ambassador to Khartoum José Mauro da Fonseca Costa (ST Photo)

Brazilian Ambassador to Khartoum José Mauro da Fonseca Costa on Sunday has discussed with Sudan's Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdel-Ghani Al-Naem the bilateral ties and ways to enhance joint cooperation between the two nations.

During the meeting, Costa briefed the Sudanese diplomat on joint private sector investments and ways to promote them, stressing his government's desire to develop economic relations with Sudan.

He pointed to the importance to embark on arrangements for the next meeting of the joint political consultations committee between the two nations which would be held in Brazil.

The Brazilian envoy added that he would exert every possible effort to coordinate with officials in both nations to promote bilateral ties in all domains particularly trade exchange and investment.

For his part, Al-Naem briefed Costa on the recent economic and political developments including the national dialogue besides President Omer al-Bashir's declaration of a four-month ceasefire in South Kordofan and Blue Nile and the Roadmap Agreement for peace and dialogue brokered by the African Union.

He also pointed to Sudan's efforts to enhance regional security and stability especially in Libya, South Sudan and Yemen, calling for the need to speed up actions to move bilateral ties to more advanced stages particularly in areas of trade, agriculture, investment and technical cooperation.

The Sudanese diplomat further underscored the need to resolve all problems facing the flow of investment between the two nations.

(ST)

June 2, 2016 (WAU) – The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in South Sudan has reached 70,000 displaced persons in Wau with relief aid, its head of delegation, Jurg Eglin said.

Eglin, who visited Wau in the aftermath of the recent violence, said ICRC had to respond to the humanitarian needs of people in Wau.

“No what happened last week, there was a violence, there was an attacks, there was looting and killing, people had fled their homes and more than 10,000 people had fled their homes from the town to the western part, people are really in desperate under the trees looking for support,” Eglin told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

The displaced, he added, were provided with food, shelter, medicines and water, in addition to uniting lost children with their families.

Currently, ICRC is reportedly accommodating 5,000 displaced people at its compound in Wau town, its delegation head said.

“The conditions at the compound are quite difficult as sanitation facilities are not enough, including lack of space,” Eglin said, but stressed that ICRC was doing its best to address the situation.

(ST)

July 3, 2016 (BOR) - The quality of fish may not be of high standard due to the lack of refrigerators for preserving the huge catch, but local fishermen in South Sudan's Jonglei state still earn good cash from their fish daily, which has improved their living standards.

Fishermen in Mayen village loading boats for distribution, December 17, 2015 (ST)

Currently, there are hundreds of fishermen who go fishing along the River Nile and some open water bodies' rich in different varieties of fish species.

James Achiek Dengic, a 39 year-old man from Jarwong in Malualchat of Bor told Sudan Tribune that he has, for now 20 years, been fishing for business. Although he never revealed how much he had saved in his traditional saving “hole” as referred to it, Achiek said he was able to buy an engine-powered boat, which ferries people to Lakes state.

The fishing business, he said, was one that does not require licensing from government. His father, for instance, never had any major economic activity other than fishing.

Acheik was born and raised up by parents who all belonged to the fishing community.

In his community, fishing sites are managed by local laws and orders passed and implemented by chiefs. The sites are open all times for anyone belonging to the community.

“Fishing is easy and free business each member of a community can do. It is quick rewarding with minimal loses all year round”, Achiek told Sudan Tribune.

Life style in the fishing camps has also proved to be better than that in the cattle camp.

South Sudan is a cattle-dominated economy, but this is changing slowly. Many cattle keepers are now changing their lifestyle by abandoning cattle keeping for fishing.

Akech Bol, a fisherman in Bor, said he abandoned cattle keeping for the fishing industry.

“With cattle, you go out every day to look after them in the grassing field. They, while there, you can be killed by people who come to steal or raid your cattle. Or you kill somebody who comes around. This way, our population get reduced day by day. That is the common problem we have in Jonglei,” said Akech.

"If you don't want to be in the cattle camp, you cattle will not be taken care of by someone else properly, which is still another problem. This forced me to sale my few heads of cattle I had in 2010 and started fishing as my main economic activity. Today, I am a happy man with my eight children and two wives”, he added.

The fishermen live in small camps along the Nile River bank, some cultivate maize on the islands not commonly prone to flooding. They use various fishing tools, including gill nets, traps and in rear cases cast nets. Hooks and long lines are used in shallow tributaries.

Each morning, fishermen jump into their rowboats and sail to the siting site not always far from their residential place, and return before lunch with their catch.

The most common types of fish caught include, Cat fish, Gymnarchus, Heterotis, Tilapia, Distichodus and Citharinus.

Each day he goes out, Akech says, he sells his fish to fish vendors who come to the docking site near his village. He doesn't have to sail or walk or pay transport cost to Bor town for marketing. But his profit margin isn't good compared to his labour cost.

For the last five years he had been fishing, he managed to pay school fees for his children in Uganda, and use the rest of the money to feed his dependents at home. He spends any amount of money that remains to buy goats, which he said are easy to manage.

Currently, he has more than 20 goats he keeps at home, a good sign of his pride as a man.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported them with fishing nets and gears, and boats, and technical ways of fish preservation, through Catholic Relief Service (CRS), Oxfarm, HDC among others.

The preservative plating of the fish is used then sun dried. One plated thread contains five to 10 fish, depending on the type and size of each constituent. Such a thread is prized upto 250 South Sudanese pounds ($6 at the current rate) in the local market.

(ST)

July 3, 2016 (KHARTOUM) -The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) denied that a date has been fixed to resume the Two Areas talks with the Sudanese government.

Sudan government and SPLM-N delegations on the meeting room with the mediator before to engage in discussions in Addis Ababa on 21 November 2015 (ST Photo)

South Kordofan and neighbouring Blue Nile state have been the scene of violent conflict between the SPLM-N and Sudanese army since 2011.

Last December, negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM-N stalled after the government delegation insisted that the objective of talks is to settle the conflict in the Two Areas, while the SPLM-N team has called for a holistic approach to resolve ongoing conflicts across Sudan.

On Saturday, member of the government negotiating team Hussein Karshoom revealed that his team will meet with the chief African mediator Thabo Mbeki after Eid al-Fitr (the Festival of Fast-Breaking) to discuss the latest developments on the Roadmap Agreement.

He expressed readiness to meet with the Sudan Call forces if they sign the Roadmap in order to arrange for the cessation of hostilities and agree on the security and humanitarian issues besides completing the framework agreement which they had previously agreed on 90% of its items.

Last March, the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) proposed a roadmap agreement to the Sudanese government and four opposition groups from the Sudan Call forces.

However, only Khartoum government signed the framework text while the four groups declined the text, saying the Roadmap would reproduce the regime.

The opposition groups handed over a supplemental document to Mbeki and vowed to reconsider their rejection of the Roadmap if he accepts it to ensure that the Roadmap becomes a gateway to an equal, serious and fruitful dialogue.

The Sudanese government declined to accept the opposition supplemental document on the Roadmap, saying the peace plan is definitive and cannot be modified.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Sunday, SPLM-N peace file spokesperson Mubarak Ardol said his movement isn't making any arrangements to meet with the government.

He pointed that Karshoom's statements come within the framework of a “feverish campaign targeting the unity of the opposition”.

“Any claims that the opposition would sign the Roadmap without responding to the Sudan Call demands is nothing but pure fantasy and reflects the [depth of the] regime's crisis and its dire need for the opposition forces”.

Ardol further said if the government is in hurry to meet the SPLM-N and the Sudan Call forces it “should respond to the demands to hold an equal dialogue”.

“Without [responding to the opposition demands], no peace talks or dialogue will commence after this Eid or the next Eid,” he said.
The opposition calls to hold a preparatory meeting for the national dialogue; ensuring political and press freedoms, release of political detainees and to set up a transitional government to implement the outcome of the national dialogue.

(ST)