Africa

April 30, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Saturday prevented the Journalists Network (SJN) from holding a symposium to discuss government plans aimed at integrating daily newspapers into a limited number of press institutions.

Veteran Sudanese journalist and analyst Faisal Mohammed Salih speaks to AFP during an interview in Khartoum on May 29, 2012 (File/ AFP)

The director of programmes at Tiba Press Faisal Mohamed Salih told Sudan Tribune that the NISS ordered them over the phone to not host the symposium organized by the SJN without stating reasons.

He added that Tiba Press has the right to host such an event inside its premises without permission from the concerned authorities according to the law.

The move comes two days after a media watchdog said the NISS directed the newspapers to not report about student demonstrations to protest the recent killing of two students.

The symposium titled “Integrating Newspapers: A leap into the Unknown” was supposed to bring a panel of speakers from various newspapers including publishers, chief editors and journalists to discuss the impact of the government plans on their newspapers.

It is noteworthy that senior government officials have repeatedly called on publishers to consider integrating their newspapers in order to receive government support particularly as they suffer from high cost of printing and low circulation.

The government seeks to convince publishers to adopt its plans by mutual consent since there is no law in place that compels them to accept the move, however, disagreements exist among the latter on the proposal.

Also, journalists fear that dozens of their colleagues would be laid off as a result of the integration of the newspapers.

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

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

(ST)

April 30, 2016 (JUBA) – The armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) has dismissed as baseless “rumour” allegation that their party's chief negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, has resigned from the SPLM-IO.

SPLM-IO Chief Negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, speaking to journalists at Juba airport upon his return from Pagak with his team, 22 January 2016 (ST Photo)

The allegation circulated on social media on Saturday could not explain the reason behind the alleged resignation.

Deng has been the SPLM-IO's chief negotiator under the leadership of the newly sworn in First Vice-President, Riek Machar, for two years since peace negotiations with President Salva Kiir's government began in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2014 to end the civil war which erupted on 15 December 2013 in the country.

However, Machar's press secretary, James Gatdet Dak, dismissed the rumours as untrue, but said Deng wanted to take a break from his role as chief negotiator.

“It is not true that H.E. General Taban Deng Gai, Mining Minister, has resigned from the SPLM-IO as rumoured and circulated on social media,” Dak said.

“He just feels that his direct role as Chief Negotiator should come to an end and be replaced with another official,” he added.

Deng, a former governor of the oil rich Unity state, was also appointed as minister of mining in the newly sworn in transitional government of national unity per nomination by Machar.

It was not however clear whether his decision to quit his role as chief negotiator resulted from a frustration to continue leading the opposition's committee.

But Dak told Sudan Tribune that Deng wanted to be given time to establish his new mining ministry.

“He wanted time in order to concentrate on establishment of the Ministry of Mining,” Dak explained.

Deng, he added, therefore decided to resign from the membership of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) as well as from being the chief negotiator for the opposition.

He said the leadership of the SPLM-IO commended him for his role in successfully negotiating the peace agreement until it was signed on 17 August 2015.

(ST)

April 30, 2016 (JUBA) – Amnesty International, a global human rights body, has commended the South Sudan's government for releasing two senior officials who had been under detention since December last year and called on Juba to release 33 others still under detention.

WES governor Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro, pictured in his office on 24 January 2012, has called for peaceful coexistance among communities following rising tensions over federalism (ST)

“This week, we received good news that two men kept under arbitrary detention by the National Security Service in South Sudan, whom Amnesty International has been campaigning for, have been released. The two were part of 35 men that Amnesty International confirmed are being held at the NSS [National Security Service] headquarters in Jebel neighbourhood of Juba,” partly reads a statement from the Amnesty International extended to Sudan Tribune.

The two released this week include former governor of Western Equatoria state, Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro, who was freed upon arrival to Juba of Riek Machar, first vice president, and Leonzio Angole Onek, a Juba University professor, who was released two days earlier.

Bakosoro was arrested on 22 December 2015 at around 3pm after being summoned to the NSS headquarters in the Jebel neighbourhood. He was kept in incommunicado detention until early March when he was allowed family visits. No charged were filed against him.

Onek, who was arrested on 7 December 2015, on the other hand was released on ‘humanitarian grounds' and without charge by the NSS. Since his arrest, Onek did not have access to a lawyer and did not know why the NSS were holding him.

“The remaining 33 detainees have been denied the right to be brought promptly before a judge and the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention,” said Nyagoah Tut, a South Sudanese human rights campaigner for the Amnesty International organization.

She said some detainees are being held incommunicado, without any access to family members or the outside world.

“Detainees are fed a monotonous diet, and sometimes only eat once a day. They sleep on the floor and do not have access to adequate medical care. Some have been beaten, especially during interrogation or as a form of punishment. These poor conditions amount to ill-treatment and may also amount to torture in some cases,” she said.

Nyagoa added that this 33 number of the known detainees however represents a mere fraction of people being detained by NSS and other security forces such as the military in South Sudan.

(ST)

A mosque under refurbishment collapses during Friday prayers in the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing at least 15 people and injuring 40.

The Instagram account poking fun at "orphanage chic"

More than 30 lions rescued from circuses in Colombia and Peru are flown to a sanctuary in South Africa - in what is said to be the largest such airlift.

Journalists in Zambia protest against attacks on the media. Credit: Kelvin Kachingwe/IPS

By Zubair Sayed
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 30 2016 (IPS)

Imagine a world without the media, where we have no verified information about what’s going on around us. Where everything is hearsay and gossip, where there are no trusted sources of information. It would be hard to operate in a world like that: to make decisions about what to do about the things that affect our lives.

Think for a minute too about what it would mean for those in power; they would be able to act as if we, the people, did not exist. It would be impossible to hold them to account, to know that they’re keeping the election promises they made in their wordy manifestos, and it would be impossible for our voices to be heard. Similarly, it would be difficult to know how companies are behaving, how they are treating their workers and the environment, and whether they are colluding to extract ever more from our pockets.

The role of the media in providing credible information, of giving voice to the people and holding those in power to account is fundamental to the realisation of our freedom and human rights. Whilst there are differences of opinion about whether the media are part of civil society, what is undisputed is the key role that they play in social and economic development, democracy, human rights and the pursuit of justice. Organisations and activists that work on social issues and help articulate public opinion need the media to disseminate the voices they represent. Without a plurality of voices, ideas are diminished, debate is stifled and tolerance is weakened.

Yet, or perhaps because of their role in giving voice and speaking truth to power, the media are increasingly under attack from both governments and corporate interests.

In its recently released World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders say that there has been a “deep and disturbing decline in respect for media freedom at both the global and regional levels” and that there is a “climate of fear and tension combined with increasing control over newsrooms by governments and private-sector interests.”

This assault on journalistic freedom takes many forms, including regular harassment of journalists, censorship, confiscation of equipment, closure of media outlets, arrests and in some cases direct and dire attack. Research by the Committee to Protect Journalists is quite chilling: 72 journalists were murdered in 2015 and a further 199 imprisoned.

In Africa, the situation for media varies in different countries across the continent. Alongside Eritrea and Ethiopia as two of the most censored countries in the world – in first and fourth place respectively – there are countries like Namibia, Ghana, Cape Verde and South Africa that score highly when it comes to freedom of information (even though those countries too experience challenges to media freedom). However, in far too many African countries the media come under regular attack and freedom of information remains a distant right.
                              
There is perhaps no clearer indication of both the importance of the media and the assault it faces than when governments crackdown on journalists and media houses in the run up to and during elections. In January this year, Ugandan officials shutdown an independent radio station after it broadcast an interview with a leading opposition candidate. A few months earlier, police shot and injured radio journalist Ivan Vincent as he covered squabbles between supporters of the leading opposition candidate and the police. Between October 2015 and January 2016, the Human Rights Network for Journalists–Uganda documented about “40 election-related incidents in which journalists have been shot at, assaulted, their gadgets damaged, detained and released without charge and blocked from accessing news scenes.”

The situation for media in Burundi following the violence and repression that started ahead of last year’s election has not improved, and some say that the country has seen the near complete destruction of independent media with journalists and civil society being targeted. Facing shutdowns and direct attacks, many journalists have fled the country out of fear for their lives.

Similarly, during the last year in Djibouti and the Republic of Congo, the desire of leaders to hold onto power and to silence voices opposing them, contributed to election-related violence and media repression.

Of course, the media don’t only face attack during elections. In Angola, the government has kept a decades-long close watch on the media, frequently arresting and harassing those it disagrees with. Currently, journalist Domingos da Cruz is one of 17 activists in prison for his participation in a private gathering to discuss non-violent strategies for civil disobedience.

An Ethiopian human rights advocate that spoke with CIVICUS recently reiterated that “Ethiopia has for a long time severely restricted press freedom and the work of civil society. It is one of the top countries when it comes to jailing journalists, many of whom it charges under the 2009 anti-terrorism law.”

This attack on the media is itself part of a broader attack on the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly that CIVICUS has been documenting during the last few years (in 2015 there were serious violations of these freedoms in more than 100 countries). Attacks on the media often go hand in hand with those on activists and organisations that challenge or question the powers that be. In many countries, this crackdown happens with impunity and attacks often go unpunished.

While governments are the main culprits when it comes curtailing media freedom, the private sector also often seeks to control or manipulate media outputs in ways that favour them and their narrow interests: putting profit before people. This takes place in multiple ways, from the concentration of media ownership and the power that allows corporates to yield, to bribing journalists and influencing editorial content in exchange for paid advertising.

Often caught between state repression and corporate influence, media in many African countries face huge challenges. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to these challenges a key part of the solution must be to support independent media, including citizen-journalism; for regional governance institutions to hold African countries accountable and for African countries to hold each other accountable; and for education and awareness about rights related to freedom of information and expression.

With regard to the latter, recent research shows that there is widespread support for media freedom and freedom of expression in Africa but that support for these rights is not universal.  In some contexts, journalistic ethics need to be strengthened; media outlets need to invest more in their journalists and support for independent media amongst civil society and the general public needs to be amplified. We need to look towards innovation too, to think of ways to use inexpensive technology to produce people-powered information and data.

Media that is accurate, credible, ethical and impartial is crucial to development, freedom, human rights and justice in Africa – as it is elsewhere. A study on freedom of expression across 34 African countries in 2013 showed the link between this most basic right and a range of factors, stating that “freedom of expression is also consistently linked to better ratings of government performance, especially with respect to government effectiveness in fighting corruption, but also in other sectors such as maintaining roads and managing the economy.”

Given the challenges we face on the continent, the current media crackdown is untenable and dangerous, and does nothing to facilitate the progress so many are working hard to achieve. As citizens of Africa, we need to increase our efforts to protect those that give us voice and help us realise the full scope of our rights.

Zubair Sayed is the Head of Communication and Campaigns at CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations.

Follow him on Twitter @zubairsay

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta sets fire to a huge stockpile of ivory in an effort to show his country's commitment to saving Africa's elephants, but the move has its critics.

By Shakhawat Liton
Apr 30 2016 (The Daily Star, Bangladesh)

The dead do not feel anything, but those who survive do. The horrendous experience of the insensitive test after rape. The courtroom insults during trial because a draconian law permits the accused to question the victim’s character. The families suffer no less humiliation as they wait for justice. While nations around the world have overhauled relevant laws with provisions that shield the rape victims, ours still favour the offender instead. Isn’t it time we were a little more sensitive towards the victims of a crime now regarded as a crime against society? In the wake of Tonu murder after suspected rape, The Daily Star tries to shed some light on all these aspects.
Today, we run the third and final instalment of the three-part series.

She was gang raped by railway employees at the railway rest room in Kolkata while travelling in India on February 26, 1998.

The incident triggered outrage. Maitree, a network of 42 women’s groups and NGOs in Kolkata, moved to Kolkata High Court seeking compensation for the 27-year old Shefali Begum (name changed to protect her identity).

The Kolkata HC in 1999 gave her 1 million rupees compensation for the humiliation she had undergone. But the Railway Board, which was asked to pay the compensation, challenged the order in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court in January 2000 upheld the HC verdict and said: “Even those who are not citizens of this country and come merely as tourists will be entitled to the protection of their lives in accordance with the constitutional provisions.”

When the apex court ordered for the compensation, the criminal case against the rapists was still on in the lower court.

The judgement was very significant because such a huge amount was never given to a rape victim in India and that too awarded to a foreigner.

In numerous cases, Indian High Courts in different states and the Supreme Court have ordered the state governments concerned to pay compensations to rape victims for their failure to protect their dignity.

In India, the compensation process is independent of the trial process.

In Bangladesh the situation is different than that of countries like the UK and the USA. The government of Bangladesh does not need to pay compensation to a rape victim for its failure to protect the victim’s fundamental rights as a woman.

“As far as I know, there is no such case in which the government has compensated the rape victim,” said advocate Fahmida Akhtar, case manger of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, an organisation that works for women who have been victims of sexual violence and abuse.

Asked, ZI Khan Panna, a Supreme Court lawyer, says they do not need to pray to the court seeking compensation from the state in sexual violence case as the offenders are made to pay compensation, if necessary.

“The court certainly will order the state to compensate the victims if the situation arises,” he told The Daily Star.

Advocate Fahmida Akhtar says special tribunals dealing with offences against women and children, in some cases, have ordered the accused to compensate their victims.

“But the path to the compensation is long, as the accused filed appeals with the higher courts against the tribunal’s orders. Disposal of the appeals takes a long time,” she told The Daily Star.

Eminent jurist Shahdeen Malik says many countries compensate rape victims. Bangladesh should also take responsibility for compensating the rape victims, he added.

“Jurisprudence in this regard should evolve,” he told The Daily Star referring to the practice in India.

The Supreme Court, in the State vs. Md. Moinul Haque and Others case in 2000, emphasised the need for compensating the victims for their rehabilitation.

It, however, observed that victims of rape should be compensated by giving them half of the property of the rapists should be given to the victims to rehabilitate them.

At present, the Woman and Child Oppression Prevention Act 2000 empowers tribunals set up under this law to hold trial of the sexual crimes against women and children for compensating the victims.

As per the law says, the tribunal may imposes any monetary fine on convicted persons and order the district collector to sell the confiscate the convicted person’s movable and immovable assets and sell them on auction. Then the collector will deposit the money to with the tribunal that will award the money to the victim as compensation.

But the completion of the process may take a long time if the convicted person files an files appeal.

So, there is no scope for a sex crime victim to get any compensation before the conclusion of her case.

PRACTICE IN OTHER COUNTRIES

A rape victim in UK is entitled to get compensation from the government. To provide the compensations to blameless victims of violent crimes including rape, the government has set up Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority–CICA.

People who have been physically or mentally injured can apply to the CICA for compensation ranging from £1,000 to £500,000.

A victim of sexual assault or rape has a right to claim compensation. The CICA in its official website says rape is a horrendous experience to endure and it can have a life long physical and psychological effect on the victim – although compensation will never put things right or reverse what has happened it can still come as invaluable financial help for treatment and counselling should you need it. Claiming compensation can help a rape victim gain back control and closure, it states.

In the United States, rape is generally prosecuted as a crime at the state level. U.S. The principal victim compensation programs for rape victims are found at the state level. However, the most significant victim compensation programs at the state level are funded by the federal Crime Victims Fund, which was established by the federal Victims of Crime Act of 1984.

A rape victim in Hong Kong is also entitled to get compensation from the state under the Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation Scheme.

Under the Crime Victim Protection Act, a rape victim in Taiwan, a rape victim and victims of sexual assault crimes and family members of deceased victims get compensation.

INDIAN JUDICIARY SET EXAMPLES

In March, 2014, India’s Supreme Court has ordered the West Bengal government to pay 5 lakh rupees to a tribal woman who was gang-raped in January on orders of village elders.

The judges said the state had failed to protect the victim’s fundamental rights as a woman.

“No compensation can be adequate nor can it be of any respite for the victim but as the State has failed in protecting such serious violation of a victim’s fundamental right, the State is duty bound to provide compensation, which may help in the victim’s rehabilitation,” it stated.

In the Llatest case, in February this year, the Supreme Court directed all states and Union Territories to formulate a uniform scheme to provide compensation to the victims or dependents who have suffered loss as a result of such crime.

“Indisputable, no amount of money can restore the dignity and confidence that the accused took away from the victim. No amount of money can erase the trauma and grief the victim suffers. But this aid can be crucial in the aftermath of the crime,” said a SC bench headed by Justice MY Eqbal.

In this case, the court ordered the Chhattishgarh government to grant a compensation of Rs 8,000 per month compensation to an 18- year old blind girl who was subjected to sexual violence.

The SC also refused to stay the orders of Chhattishgarh High Court in which the convict was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.

The trial court awarded him the accused seven year a jail sentence of seven years for raping a 18-year-old the blind and illiterate girl on the false promise of marriage. The order was upheld by the Chhattishgarh High Court.

The apex court said the states should consider and formulate programmes for such victims in the light of the scheme framed in Goa which provides compensation of up to Rs 10 lakh.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

By Asfiya Aziz
Apr 30 2016 (Dawn, Pakistan)

When young Bisma died in a traffic jam en route to Civil Hospital in Karachi last December, there was a media frenzy. To onlookers it looked like frenzy, devoid of principles – a burgeoning show of power by the media, the right to information overshadowing all other rights. Lately, media debate on similar issues often cross the same boundaries. The gap between what a decent society expects from their media, and what media is able to provide, appears to be widening under the myriad pressures of business and political interests.

Media organisations` business models often appear to determine to what extent basic journalistic skills of accuracy, objectivity and timeliness are stretched or strained.

Step-by-step codes of ethics are often seen as `stifling` and `inadequate` for the mercurial field of 24-hour news reporting. Regardless of business pressures, one must recognise that there is little distinction between the media`s and an individual`s responsibilities.

Both share the same societal responsibilities, and must also share a mutual understanding of ethics. A principle-based approach, therefore, may be a viable alternative framework for journalists to practise in the line of duty. Perhaps we might borrow from other fields to develop an ethics code for journalism.

Bioethics is a subject that devises standards of behaviour when dealing with living beings. One of many theories in this field is Principlism, articulated by T.L. Beauchamp and J.F. Childress in The Principles of Biomedical Ethics. The principles put forward in this book, and currently most practised, include: respect (for individual autonomy); justice; beneficence; and non-maleficence.

For practical purposes, these are rephrased as: be respectful; be fair; be kind (do good); and do no harm. Like medicine, journalism also requires constant (often quick) judgement calls to be made, and therefore needs to develop a set of principles to apply to daily situations.

Analysing the unfortunate case of Bisma from a bioethical standpoint leads us to some interesting observations. The core principles stated here were (in some form) already at work but there still remains a need to formalise such principles, to inculcate them into journalists` decision-making processes.

That day, the principle of `respect` for an individual was absent despite the intention to adhere to it. While the media protested the lack of respect for an average person`s life, they were themselves disrespectful by being invasive; evident in the coverage of her body, and her father`s distress on being pressed to comment seconds after his child had passed away.

Later, commentary shifted to speculations on the family`s economic conditions, some newscasters affecting pity when describing their modest dwelling. They disrespected mourners, zooming in on women struggling to hide their faces from the media glare. The right to information and freedom of the press are poor defences when in conflict with vulnerable parties` rights to respect, privacy and choice.

The principle of `justice` was present, as this story became newsworthy due to a perceived lack of justice and accountability. Whether the media was fair to all parties is, however, a moot point. The coverage drew attention to the state of reporters` skills of maintaining objectivity and taking all parties` positions into account. As surfaced later, some doctors and the administration of Civil Hospital denied there was any obstruction to the hospital that day. Their position was hardly part of the day`s coverage. As journalists demand justice for the people, they still need to remain judicious or `be fair` in their own decision-making. One can also argue that central to the media campaign was the principle of `beneficence`; the media advocating for the individual in particular and the public at large, suffering at the hands of perceived VIP cul-ture. `Non-maleficence` (or `do no harm`) is often a tricky principle to negotiate. The incident had escalated into a full-scale media frenzy forcing the provincial government to do damage control at a time when they were already receiving flak on other issues of governance. The question of media`s intent arises: were they doing this for the benefit of the victim and the public, or to do harm to the government and those VIPs involved? Objective analysis is an essential skill for a journalist if analysis points towards a party`s negligence or incompetence, the journalist bears a responsibility to expose such misdemeanours. However, this still remains a judgement call, which must be guided by the principle of non-maleficence and by examining one`s intent, to determine the limits of reporting.

Perhaps if journalists were to test and adapt bioethical principles in their own practices, and media organisations could reach consensus on the most ef fective and relevant principles in the field, journalism in Pakistan may finally adopt a code of ethics which practitioners could own and uphold.• The writer is a joumalist with a special interest in bioethics.

This story was originally published by Dawn, Pakistan

April 29, 2016 (NEW YORK) – United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, has commend the parties to the conflict, turned peace partners in South Sudan for the formation of a long-awaited transitional government of national unity (TGoNU).

Ministers of the Transitional Government of National Unity swearing in on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

“The Secretary-General welcomes the appointment today by President Salva Kiir of the Ministers of the Transitional Government of National Unity, consistent with the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan of 17 August 2015,” partly reads a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

The statement said the UN chief was pleased to note that President Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar have achieved this “important milestone” of the peace process which the two leaders signed in August 2015 to end 21 months of civil war.

He urged them “cease immediately all hostilities” and to swiftly complete the establishment of all institutions of transition.

The Secretary-General also commended the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) chair, President Festus Mogae, and the African Union High Representative, President Alpha Omar Konare, for steering the peace process forward.

He also reiterated the commitment of the United Nations to support all South Sudanese in restoring peace, stability and prosperity in the country.

The top leader of the world body has called on the larger international community to remain actively engaged in the peace process and provide the necessary support to the full and timely implementation of the Peace Agreement.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Religious leaders from South Sudan's Presbyterian, Catholic, Anglican and Seven Day Adventist churches have conducted a joint prayer on Friday in Ugandan capital, Kampala, calling for reconciliation and healing among South Sudanese people.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (C) poses for a picture after the government swearing in with his first deputy Riek Machar (R) and second deputy James Wani on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

Stephen Liet Machot, a pastor from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, said the gathering was organized as thanksgiving to God for bringing peace in South Sudan. He said many South Sudanese were forced into exile due to two and a half years of conflict in the country.

Pastor Machot said the role of the church should play was participating in realizing a lasting peace and reconciliation among leaders in the country.

“Our role as the church we pray for peace, unity and reconciliation and we will preach that to people that reconciliation and unity is very important for the development of South Sudan,” he said.

He believed it is a collective responsibility of every South Sudanese to make sure stability is restored through dialogue between politicians and the communities who are hard hit by the conflicts.

“Let's come together, unite ourselves as one country, one nation and we can be together in the peaceful and the unity so that we can move forward for reconciliation, development and the healing of the nation,” said pastor Machot.

He also called on the people to refrain from divisions, adding that the formation of transitional government of national unity meant that South Sudanese have become one, despite the deadly war which erupted on 15 December 2013.

Pastor James Baap on his part also called on South Sudanese to stop using social media as a platform to spread hate messages, urging them to focus on peace and love for one another.

“My message goes to those who are on internet who preach bad word. We need to minimize our bad words so that for the peace to come into our hearts and the country,” he added.

He said the war had left big scars in the society, but he urged citizens to forget and put God in all everything and to forgive those who wronged them.

John Yual Guth, chairperson of Nuer Christian Mission Network of South Sudan said peace is the only tool that can unite South Sudanese.

“We need to reconcile at the grass root level, from churches level…all our communities need to have reconciliation in the real sense,” he said.

He said the formation of transitional government is the last hope for peace in South Sudan and urged South Sudanese to embrace peace and unity.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - A Sudanese media watchdog said Friday that the security service directed the newspapers to not report about student demonstrations to protest the recent killing of two students .

Students throw stones during a confrontation with the antiriot policemen in the University Street as they protest over government plan to transfer the premises of the University of Khartoum outside the capital, on Wednesday April 13, 2016.

Two students Mohamed al-Sadiq of Omdurman Ahlia University and Abu Bakr Siddiq of Kordofan University were killed during violent clashes between government and opposition supporters respectively on 27 and 19 April.

Following what, the opposition supporters Thursday and Friday organized several protests in different universities accusing the security services of targeting pro-opposition student groups and called to overthrow the regime.

Sudan's Journalists' Association for Human Rights (JAHR) on Friday issued a statement saying that the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) had directed the newspapers on Thursday to not cover the student protests that erupted in Khartoum.

The press was ordered "to not publish any news reports that can promote violence, feed unrest and chaos or prejudice the ongoing investigation in the case of Omdurman Ahlia University student," JAHR said.

The local watchdog further said the directive contained direct threats to the press. It added that the NISS however mentioned that the government has no intention to close the universities, except in the case of absolute necessity to protect properties.

The Sudanese opposition parties condemned the death of the two students and called to protest against the government.

The leader of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) Farouk Abu Issa on Friday released an audio message through the social media calling on the Sudanese to demonstrate against the regime and to protest the death of the students.

On a similar move, the leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq al-Mahdi issued a statement calling on the Sudanese people to take to the street to protest against "tyranny and corruption without violence or sabotage."

Also, U.S. Embassy in Khartoum on Friday asked its citizens to exercise caution in light of anti-government demonstrations and violence at several universities in the Sudanese capital..

" As a result of ongoing unrest, the Embassy is exercising heightened caution by temporarily restricting Embassy staff from the vicinity of the affected universities," said a message sent by the Embassy to the American nationals in Khartoum.

During the past weeks, Khartoum has been the scene of student anti-government protests after statements by a government official about to sell Khartoum University land.

(ST)

Former President of Ghana, John Kufuor, voiced his support for West Papuan political aspirations during a meeting with West Papuan indigenous leader, Benny Wenda, at Ghana's 59th Independence celebrations in March this year. Credit: Benny Wenda

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Australia, Apr 30 2016 (IPS)

For more than half a century, the indigenous people of West Papua, located on the western side of the island of New Guinea, who are related to the Melanesians of the southwest Pacific Islands, have waged a resistance to governance by Indonesia and a relentless campaign for self-determination.

But despite regular bloodshed and reports of systematic human rights abuses by national security forces, which have taken an estimated half a million West Papuan lives, the international community has remained mostly unwilling to take concerted action in support of their plight.

Now Benny Wenda, a West Papuan independence leader who has lived in exile in the United Kingdom since 2003, is driving a mission to build the support of African states. Following a visit to Senegal in 2010 and two visits to South Africa last year, Wenda was welcomed at the 59th Independence anniversary celebrations in Ghana in March this year.

“There has been widespread attention and further pan-African solidarity for West Papua renewed following my diplomatic visits to these African countries, both at parliamentary and grassroots levels,” Wenda told IPS.

In Ghana, Wenda met with political and church leaders, including former Presidents, Jerry John Rawlings and John Kufuor.

‘We are honoured to fight for your people. We share a similar history. It is no surprise to me that you had support from Ghana at the UN in 1969 and that we accepted West Papuan refugees in the 1980s,’ Jerry John Rawlings said to the Ghanaian media.

The alliance which Wenda is forging is based on a sense of shared historical experience.

“Africa is the motherland to all people and we Melanesians feel this strongly….our affinity primarily lies in our shared ancestral heritage, but also in our recent history because Africa has also suffered the brutalities of colonialism,” Wenda said.

Following decolonisation of the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia gained independence in 1949, but there was disagreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia about the fate of Dutch New Guinea, which the former was preparing for self-determination. A United Nations supervised referendum on its political future, named the ‘Act of Free Choice,’ was held in 1969, but less than 1 per cent of the region’s population was selected to vote by Indonesia, guaranteeing an outcome for integration, rather than independence.

At the time, Ghana and more than a dozen other African states were the only United Nations members to reject the flawed ballot.

During Wenda’s visit to South Africa last February, other leaders, such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Chief Nkosi Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela MP, added their solidarity.

‘I’m shocked to learn that West Papua is still not free. I call on the United Nations and all the relevant bodies, please, do what is right, as they know, for West Papua,’ Tutu said in a public statement.

The momentum continued when the Nigeria-based non-government organisation, Pan African Consciousness Renaissance, held a pro-West Papua demonstration outside the Indonesian Embassy in Lagos in April 2015.

Indonesia’s refusal to recognise secessionist aspirations in its far-flung troubled region is often attributed not only to concerns about national unity, but the immense mineral wealth of copper, gold, oil and natural gas which flows to the state from ‘West Papua’, the umbrella term widely used for the two Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Since coming to power in 2014 populist Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, has vowed to increase inclusive development in the region and called on security forces to refrain from abusive measures, but the suffering of West Papuans continues. In May last year, there were reports of 264 activists arrested by police ahead of planned peaceful protests. Twelve Papuans were shot by security forces in Karubaga in the central highlands in July, while in August three people were abducted and tortured by police in the Papuan capital, Jayapura, and two shot dead outside the Catholic Church in Timika.

West Papua’s political fate stands in contrast to that of East Timor at the end of last century. East Timor, a Portuguese colony militarily annexed by Indonesia in 1975, gained Independence in 2002. The positive result of an independence referendum in 1999 was widely accepted and further supported by a multi-national peacekeeping force when ensuing violence instigated by anti-independence forces threatened to derail the process.

But in the political climate of the 1960s, Wenda says “West Papua was effectively handed over to Indonesia to try and appease a Soviet friendly Indonesian government….our fate was left ignored for the sake of cold war politics.” Now Indonesia staunchly defends its right of sovereignty over the provinces.

In the immediate region, West Papua has obtained some support from Pacific Island countries, such as the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu which have voiced concerns about human rights violations at the United Nations.

And last year the Melanesian Spearhead Group, a sub-regional intergovernmental organisation, granted observer status to the United Liberation Movement for West Papua coalition. However, Indonesia, a significant trade partner in the Pacific Islands region, was awarded associate membership, giving it an influential platform within the organisation.

“Luhut Pandjaitan’s [Indonesia’s Presidential Chief of Staff] recent visit to Fiji suggests that Indonesia is continuing its efforts to dissuade Pacific states from supporting West Papua and is willing to allocate significant diplomatic and economic resources to the objective,” Dr Richard Chauvel at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute commented to IPS.

In contrast to Indonesia’s Pacific Island neighbours, Dr Chauvel continued, “African states mostly do not have significant trade, investment, diplomatic and strategic interests with Indonesia and do not have to weigh these interests against support for the West Papuan cause at the UN or elsewhere.”

How influential south-south solidarity by African leaders will be on West Papua’s bid for freedom hinges on whether championing words translate into action. In the meantime, Benny Wenda’s campaign continues.

(End)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

April 29, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Eritrea and Ethiopia have respectively continue to become Africa's leading jailers of journalists, according to a new survey released Thursday by an independent watchdog.

A Sudanese journalist covers her mouth with a piece of paper bearing the word 'NO' during a hunger strike held by journalists in Khartoum on November 4. 2009

The US-based Freedom House said governments of the two east African countries continue to show little tolerance to dissent and as a result have the highest number of imprisoned journalists in sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite the release of 10 imprisoned journalists in 2015, the report said Ethiopia continued to repress all independent reporting, and remained the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, after Eritrea.

The report noted for the Journalists in East and Southern Africa suffered from a sharp increase in political pressure and violence in 2015.

In the midst of Burundi's political crisis in May, which stemmed from the president's pursuit of a third term, nearly all independent media outlets were closed or destroyed. The loss of these outlets, especially radio stations that had been the main source of information, resulted in a dearth of reporting on critical issues. Extensive intimidation and violence against journalists by the regime of President Pierre Nkurunziza and his supporters drove many into exile.

According to the report for East Africa, the run-up to early 2016 elections in Uganda featured an increase in harassment of journalists attempting to cover opposition politicians. In Kenya, greater government pressure in the form of repressive laws, intimidation, and threats to withdraw state advertising resulted in a reduction in critical reporting on President Uhuru Kenyatta and his cronies.

Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan. South Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti were listed amongst the last 20 African countries designated by the group as not free Media.

According to the group, Press freedom saw decline to its lowest point in 12 years in 2015, as political, criminal, and terrorist forces sought to co-opt or silence the media in their broader struggle for power.

Sudan and Egypt were also listed amongst world countries which has suffered biggest decline in press freedom in the year 2015.

The survey showed that only 13% of the world's population (fewer than one in seven people) enjoy a free press where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures.

41% of the world's population has a partly free press, and 46% live in not free media environments.

The varied threats to press freedom around the world are making it harder for media workers to do their jobs, and the public is increasingly deprived of unbiased information and in-depth reporting.

“Steep declines worldwide were linked to two factors: heightened partisanship and polarization in a country's media environment, and the degree of extralegal intimidation and physical violence faced by journalists” it said.

Ghana, previously the only free country on the continent's mainland, suffered a status decline to Partly Free.

Founded in October 1941, Freedom House is a US-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights.

The group is a US Government funded independent organisation which conducts surveys on political rights and civil liberties in 195 countries around the globe.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (YAMBIO) – The authorities of Tombura county have restricted the United Nations Missions in South Sudan (UNMISS) from accessing the area.

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

UNMISS officials wanted to handover to the county administration the Multi-purpose Community Centre which was built using Quick Impact Project money and supported by UNDP.

A team of UN Agencies and UNMISS left Yambio for Tombura on Monday with the aim to conduct awareness on UNMISS mandate and the peace agreement signed by the government of South Sudan and armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) and to handover the portal and proceed to Source Yubu to access the humanitarian situation.

When the team reached in Tombura, the county commissioner, Abdalla Juma Baziangungu, said he was not aware about the visit of UNMISS and UN Agencies to his county and he could not therefore allow them to do their activities.

He gave order to security forces to restrict the team not to conduct their activities and they should not move or interview the local community on human rights issues or activities of security organs in the county.

But with the presence of UNDP regional Director and Head of Field Office in Western Equatoria, the Commissioner only allowed handing over of the community portal where he commended UNMISS for constructing the centre with the money from Quick Impact.

Speaking on phone to John Bosco, a citizen of Source Yubu, who fled conflict to Tombura town, he expressed his disappointment over the restriction imposed on UNMISS and other non-governmental organizations.

The community of Source Yubu has not received any humanitarian assistance due to the wave of the insecurity and bad road to the area.

UNMISS have been visiting Tombura county to conduct their activities and also visit Nagero county without restriction so that the mandate is realized in South Sudan.

Tombura county experience fighting between the government forces and armed youth last year in Source yubu where at least eight people were killed from both sides and shops and houses were looted, burnt and destroyed.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Religious leaders from South Sudan's Presbyterian, Catholic, Anglican and Seven Day Adventist churches have conducted a joint prayer on Friday in Ugandan capital, Kampala, calling for reconciliation and healing among South Sudanese people.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (C) poses for a picture after the government swearing in with his first deputy Riek Machar (R) and second deputy James Wani on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

Stephen Liet Machot, a pastor from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, said the gathering was organized as thanksgiving to God for bringing peace in South Sudan. He said many South Sudanese were forced into exile due to two and a half years of conflict in the country.

Pastor Machot said the role of the church should play was participating in realizing a lasting peace and reconciliation among leaders in the country.

“Our role as the church we pray for peace, unity and reconciliation and we will preach that to people that reconciliation and unity is very important for the development of South Sudan,” he said.

He believed it is a collective responsibility of every South Sudanese to make sure stability is restored through dialogue between politicians and the communities who are hard hit by the conflicts.

“Let's come together, unite ourselves as one country, one nation and we can be together in the peaceful and the unity so that we can move forward for reconciliation, development and the healing of the nation,” said pastor Machot.

He also called on the people to refrain from divisions, adding that the formation of transitional government of national unity meant that South Sudanese have become one, despite the deadly war which erupted on 15 December 2013.

Pastor James Baap on his part also called on South Sudanese to stop using social media as a platform to spread hate messages, urging them to focus on peace and love for one another.

“My message goes to those who are on internet who preach bad word. We need to minimize our bad words so that for the peace to come into our hearts and the country,” he added.

He said the war had left big scars in the society, but he urged citizens to forget and put God in all everything and to forgive those who wronged them.

John Yual Guth, chairperson of Nuer Christian Mission Network of South Sudan said peace is the only tool that can unite South Sudanese.

“We need to reconcile at the grass root level, from churches level…all our communities need to have reconciliation in the real sense,” he said.

He said the formation of transitional government is the last hope for peace in South Sudan and urged South Sudanese to embrace peace and unity.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan president, Salva Kiir, has appealed for global support, arguing there should be no reason to hold assistance after forming transitional government of national unity.

Thousands of people wait for food aid in the hot sun near the air drop zone in Leer, South Sudan, in July 2014 (Photo AFP/Nichole Sobecki)

“The people who were saying that you cannot be supported unless you form the transitional government of national unity, if they have agents here, they should report back to them that the government has been established,” said president Kiir after overseeing the swearing in of cabinet ministers.

The president spoke on Friday at the first meeting attended by two of his deputies, Riek Machar and James Wani Igga.

He asserted it was time for foreign governments and international organizations to provide financial assistance to the new government so that it helps implement the peace deal.

The transitional government of national unity brings together politicians from the government and the armed opposition under the overall leadership of the first vice president, Riek Machar, who has been at war with President Kiir for two years.

The cabinet also includes non-armed opposition forces, led by Lam Akol Ajawin and Martin Elia Lomoro.

Speaking at the same function, the first vice president, Riek Machar, said the new government must deal with violence if the peace was to be realized by the general population, regardless of obstacles.

"If our people feel in Juba that they cannot walk by night, even if we preach peace to them, they say, 'we don't see it,” said Machar who appointed 10 senior ministers and 2 junior ministers in the cabinet.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The spokesperson of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) said the Sudanese army has resumed its airstrikes against Um Serdiba area and several villages in Hiban area in South Kordofan.

Children in South Kordofan's town of Kauda take cover from a passing Antonov in a makeshift bomb shelter in 2012 (Photo: Peter Moszynski)

Last March, the Sudanese army said its troops captured Um Serdiba, "the main rebel stronghold in Kadugli sector", and Musharaka area. Al-Maradis, El Lipo, Kutna, Ugab, Karkakaia, and El-Biri. But the SPLM-N claimed they repulsed the attacks.

Arnu Ngulutu Lodi in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday said that a a (Sudan Air Force) Antonov plane dropped six bombs on Um Serdiba on Monday, stressing the attack caused panic among the residents and destroyed their property.

He added that similar plane dropped 17 barrel bombs on several villages around Hiban on Tuesday killing a number of cattle heads and destroying residents' property.

Lodi pointed the Antonov plane dropped 4 bombs on Nyakma, 6 bombs on Hagar Bago, 3 bombs on Auru and 4 bombs on Hiban.

Fierce fighting is taking place in the Nuba Mountains area of South Kordofan following a large-scale campaign launched by the government army against rebel positions.

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.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government said it would address the phenomenon of terrorism through dialogue and intellectual work besides implementing administrative and executive measures.

Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (AFP Photo/Ashraf Shazly)

The Under-secretary of the ministry of Guidance and Endowments Hamid Youssef Adam, who spoke on the sidelines of the International Conference on Terrorism and sectarian extremism in Africa, said Sudan is confronting sectarian terrorism through the power of thoughts and dialogue, pointing the phenomena poses serious danger to Islam and the African peoples.

He told the official news agency (SUNA) that Sudan has a moral obligation towards 650 million Muslims in Africa which requires the government to mobilize all regional and international Islamic institutions in order to address this problem.

Adam added that the danger of extremism and terrorism in the African continent is in its early stages and could be avoided and brought to an end, pointing that a proposal was made to hold the conference periodically in order to review and follow up on the implementation of its recommendations.

He stressed that all participants called for developing detailed plans to implement the recommended strategies on the African and international levels.

For his part, the head of the Sudan Religious Scholars Committee (RSC) Mohamed Osman Salih called for developing objective studies and scientific researches to confront the sectarian extremism, stressing the need to implement the outcome of the specialized conferences through executive and administrative measures.

He added that such measures would reflect the peaceful nature of Islam, calling for the importance to return to the moderate Sunni Islam.

The conference was organized by the Sudanese Ministry of Guidance and Endowment in collaboration with the Muslim World League (MWL) between 28 to 29 April in Khartoum.

Addressing the opening session of the conference, President Omer al-Bashir said the enemies of Islam continued to link Islam to terrorism with the aim of depicting it as a violent and merciless faith.

He urged the conferees to come up with resolutions that would lead to practical solutions for the continent to avoid such dangers and encourage co-existence and tolerance among its peoples.

Presence of the extremist Islamic State (ISIS) in Sudan has made the headlines in March 2015 after several medical students from Sudanese origins fled the country to join the group.

Also, dozens of the Sudanese young people have been killed in incidents relating to the extremist group in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Sudan was placed on the United States terrorism list in 1993 over allegations it was harbouring Islamist extremist working against regional and international targets.

In June 2015, the US State Department released the 2014 terrorism report maintaining Sudan's status as a state sponsor of terrorism and mentioning the existence of certain terrorist groups in the country as well as links between Khartoum and some of these organizations.

(ST)