Africa

March 17, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan has no forestry policy and its authorities are worried the world's youngest nation could lose its natural forests, unless stringent measures are put in place to curb the rampant rates of illegal logging.

These fears come barely a month after conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warned of dangers the lie ahead as the country's wildlife and natural resources face an alarming expansion of illegal exploitation, trafficking and logging.

The report, the agency said, was based on scientific monitoring and investigations undertaken its team undertook in cooperation with local partners over the past months, which documented a sharp rise in illegal activities in various areas of the young nation.

Cited as an immediate threat to South Sudan's forests were illegal logging, gold mining and charcoal production, among others.

Sadly, however, these illegal activities are reportedly being perpetrated by local and international individuals and actors, including members of various armed groups active in the country.

South Sudan is currently embroiled in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of the population, displacing nearly two million of them.

According to conservationists, prior to the outbreak of its war in December 2013, South Sudan's extensive areas of untouched natural woodlands, forests, and savannas, were home to wildlife populations including approximately 2,500 elephant, hundreds of giraffes, the endemic Nile Lechwe and white-eared kob tiang, Mongalla antelope migrations, wild dog as well as chimpanzees.

However, over the past two years of armed conflict, the various armed forces across the country, WCS said, have been implicated in several cases of large-scale illegal exploitation of natural resources.

“The situation of uncontrolled illegal logging, mining, poaching, charcoal trade, and other natural resource exploitation in the country is getting worse,” acknowledges Jaden Tongun Emilio, the chairman natural resource management group for South Sudan.

He calls for the enactment of a natural resource enforcenemt law.

“We need to work together at local, state, and national levels to ensure that the foundation for future development of the country is secured through sound and transparent natural resource law enforcement and integrated management,” stressed Tongun.

Despite concerns from conservationists and authorities, John Aguer considers forest logging and charcoal production as his livelihood.

The wood, which Aguer converts into charcoal and sometimes to build good shelter for his family, is his only means of making a living.

"I usually cut dry trees around the forest and I burn charcoal out of it," the 35-yearl old tells the African Independent, through a translator.

He adds, “As for now, I consider this the only source of my survival.”

Although there is no information on the exact number of forests in the country, forests and woodlands, according to 2009 figures from the Agriculture and Forestry ministry, cover an estimated 29 percent of the land area in South Sudan or 191,667 square kilometres.

A 2010 study conducted by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), estimated that a high rate of up to 2,776 square kilometres of forests and other wooded land were being lost annually in South Sudan.

PRINS Engineering, in a 2011 study, discovered that the forests of the Imatong Mountains, rising to 10,456 feet (3,187 meters) in southern South Sudan were part of the Eastern Afro-montane ecosystem, rated by scientists as one of Africa's biodiversity hot spots.

These forests, it said, are homes to many endemic and possibly unique species, but scientists have yet to study the region's species.

Policy makers, however, say de-forestation remains a threat to forests, but absence of a forestry policy in the country worsens it.

“It is illegal to cut down trees in the forest reserves,” Beda Machar, the Agriculture and Forestry minister told a recent symposium.

But in the absence of laws, he admitted, deforestation will continue to negatively impact on the country's rain patterns and eco-system.

WCS's conservationists also cited the expansion of unregulated charcoal production along, allegedly involving several members of the South Sudanese army (SPLA).

“Illegal logging has occurred in and around Southern National Park and Lantoto National Park (involving Ugandans in complicity with local South Sudanese) and further illegal logging has been reported in forest reserves in the Yambio area,” it further notes.

But while South Sudan makes progress towards fully implementing the peace accord signed in August 2015, there is an urgent need for the Transitional Government of National Unity, State, and local stakeholders and international partners to work together to halt this exploitation crisis, secure the natural resource base for the future development of the country, and prevent further conflict, says WCS.

“The country is highly vulnerable to slipping into a situation in which various individuals and groups take advantage of the governance vacuum to engage in illegal and unsustainable activities plundering and destroying the natural resource base,” conservationists warned.

“This risks exacerbating corruption, armed and political conflict, and undermining future development, and stability in the country”.

Edmund Yakani, an activist, called or full implementation of all wildlife, forestry, mining and the environmental laws of South Sudan.

“Sustainable peace and development will only become a reality if the nation's natural assets are secured, conserved and sustainably utilised for the development of the country and its citizens,” he said.

The country's Imatong forests, experts say, have been heavily degraded and deforested, and Mount Dongotomea is now bearing the brunt of clearing that threatens to fragment the ecosystem further. The mountain's tree cover has reportedly been reduced by two-thirds since 1986, and, if deforestation in the area continues, the natural forests of will also disappear before the end of the decade.

However, as many people get involved in commercial agriculture, deforestation practices may be hard to control given the growing interest of foreign entities in South Sudan's large spans of land.

With more than a third of its population moderately or severely food insecure, South Sudan is among the most food insecure countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. FAO and World Food Program estimate that a significant proportion of the nation's population, as high as 33% in the lean season, depends on food aid to ensure a minimum level of nutritional intake.

(ST)

“They have reduced the quantity of food they used to give us and we still do not know why. But we are managing. We are refugees and we have no choice. All they give us is rice and some soya beans” John Guige, a Nigerian resident and primary school teacher in the Minawao refugee camp […]

The BBC has been given rare access to an all-women prison in Tunisia, where facilities are becoming increasingly over-crowded.

March 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government Thursday decided to put an end to its open door policy for South Sudanese nationals fleeing the armed conflict in the neighbouring country and decided to treat them as foreigners.

South Sudanese refugees cook on an open fire at a camp run by the Sudanese Red Crescent Society in the western part of White Nile state, Sudan, on January 27, 2014 (Photo AFP/Ashraf Shazly)

The decision was announced following the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by President Omer al-Bashir. It ends the privilege of equal access to health services and education like the Sudanese citizens and possibility to enter and reside in Sudan without visa or residence permit.

The Sudanese government also decided to take all the necessary measures to establish and verify the identity of the South Sudanese nationals. Further it was decided to take legal measures against anyone who does not carry a passport and a visa.

When an armed conflict broke out in South Sudan, the Sudanese government refused to give the South Sudanese nationals the refugees status or to establish camps for them saying they are free to enter, reside and work in their former country and to receive health and education services.

The decision, at the time, was politically motivated and in harmony with Khartoum' policy hostile to the presence of foreign aid groups the establishment of refugee camps.

But very quickly, the Sudanese authorities to relocate the South Sudanese outside the capital Khartoum to the While Nile state near the border.

In line with the Cooperation Agreement of September 2012, Sudanese and South Sudanese can live and work in the two countries. But the protocol of the four freedoms is not yet implemented, and the South Sudanese nationals should also wait to get their identity documents from their government.

There are nearly 200,000 South refugees in Sudan following the eruption of conflict in South Sudan in December 2013. In addition there are some 300,000 who continue to reside in Sudan since the independence in 2011.

(ST)

March 15, 2016 (YAMBIO) – Communities in the greater Mundri region have asked the newly appointed governor of Amadi state to ensure peace and security are prioritized when he takes over office.

Amadi state governor Joseph Ngere Paciko (ST/File)

The governor of Amadi state, Joseph Ngere Paciko arrived in Mundri West county Monday, amidst of unconfirmed reports that his own people strongly opposed his appointment by President Salva Kiir.

Ngere, however, said he was determined to ensure peace was achieved in greater Mundri, forgive each other and reconcile to open a new page for the development of the newly-created state.

This example, he stressed, was shown to the people of Mundri when he unconditionally forgave unknown gunmen who attacked him and shot his leg at night as he traveled back home from a funeral.

The governor dismissed as false allegations that he was afraid to visit Mundri where his community reportedly threatened to end his life.

“The community of Mundri welcomes anybody,” he said, citing the huge numbers of political leaders, traditional leaders, youth and church leaders who showed up to witness his arrival into the region.

According to the governor, they toured the town and market after the rally and it was all calm and not chaotic as many have alleged.

He further asserted that meetings with security organs, military, youth, women, traditional leaders and the church leaders will continue to see how they could work together to bring total peace and harmony to the people of Mundri as long as he would continue to stay in his office from now, unless changes were made in his position.

In May last year, conflict erupted in Mundri between cattle keepers and farmers over grazing land and later involved the national army (SPLA) and the youth. Several people were reportedly killed including the executive director of Mundri, amidst lootings as thousands fled their homes to bushes and nearby areas for safety.

A recent report by the US-based Human Rights Watch faulted he South Sudanese military of allegedly committing crimes against civilians in Western Equatoria state, but the army denies these claims.

(ST)

March 17, 2016 (YEI) – Two people were killed and another wounded by unknown gunmen along Yei-Lainya highway on Tuesday, authorities said.

The Lainya county commissioner Augustino Kiri, March 16, 2016 (ST)

The Lainya county women association chairperson Ludia Mateyo said insecurity in the area had caused several murders, rape and many people were missing.

She attributed the worrying insecurity situation in Lainya county to the delays by the South Sudanese peace partners to establish the long-awaited Transition Government of National Unity (TGoNU).

A speedy implementation of the August 2015 peace agreement would immediately address the suffering of the citizens, Mateyo said.

“We as women in Lainya county are not able to go the forest to collect fire wood because two of our colleagues were raped by unknown men. Secondly two of our sons were killed”, she added.

The Lainya county commissioner, Augustino Kiri Gwolo confirmed the killings, but said security forces had been deployed to patrol the area.

He called on the population to cooperative with local authorities by availing information on suspicious movements of gunmen in the county.

“The security situation for the last few days is normal except the two incidents that happened the day before yesterday [Tuesday] and yesterday [Wednesday] between Kenyi and Limbe where two people were killed. Then the incident that happened at Yei-Lainya border at Limbe where a commercial car was attacked and one person was injured,” the commissioner told Sudan Tribune.

He added, “We are putting up security arrangements to protect the people. I have told both men and women to cooperate with the authorities in case they see unsuspicious movement of people and to inform us so that this incident does not repeat itself again”.

Commissioner Kiri appealed to the population to remain calm and support government in the implementation of the peace deal seeking to end the nation's over 20-month conflict.

(ST)

March 17, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir, has approved a request by the chief of general staff of South Sudanese army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), General Paul Malong Awan, to make a reshuffle in the top command of the army.

S Sudan's President Salva Kiir is received by Chief of General Staff of the SPLA Paul Malong Awan at the airport in Juba March 6, 2015 (Photo Reuters/Jok Solomun)

President Kiir, according to a circular given to all units, approved the changes sought by the chief of general staff to swap his deputies.

Awan, according to an administrative order announced on Wednesday, appointed Lieutenant General James Ajonga Mawut Ajonga as the deputy chief of general staff for administration and finance. General Ajonga replaced Lieutenant General Malual Ayom, who has been moved by the same order to the directorate of inspection.

Lieutenant General Thomas Cirillo Swaka has been moved from the directorate of training and appointed head of the directorate responsible for procurement and logistics management.

He replaced Lieutenant General Malek Reuben, who has been the head of directorate for training. Lieutenant General Mangar Buong was named the head of operations and Lieutenant General Bapiny Monytuil retained his previous assignment as the head of the directorate responsible for chief of general staff for moral and orientation.

No explanations for changes were made public. Several military figures attributed the cause of the administrative changes to a simmering friction between chief of general staff and some of his deputies over the manner in which he has been running the affairs of the army.

General Awan has registered interest in wanting to assemble a team of military officers loyal to him and for a very long time sought the approval of president Kiir, who is the commander in chief.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

March 17, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Survival International (SI)‚ a global movement for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples has lodged complaint against an Italian giant construction company, Salini, over impacts of one of Ethiopia mega projects, the Gilgel Gibe III hydro power plant it has built.

The US$1.5 billion Gibe III project dam is expected to generate 1870 MW of electricity.

Survival said it has reported the Italian engineering giant Salini to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) over the rights impacts to communities in Ethiopia and Kenya.

It also stressed that the construction of the controversial dam in Ethiopia's Omo River cuts off the Omo River's regular flooding‚ over which 100‚000 people rely on to water their crops and livestock and a further 100,000 depend on indirectly.

It said the dam project will eventually destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia and Kenya.

“Up to half a million people face starvation as a result of the dam Salini has constructed on the Omo River,” Survival said in a statement it issued on Monday.

According to experts, the dam project threatens Lake Turkana – the world's largest permanent desert lake – and disaster for the 300,000 people from tribes living along its shores.

Survival said Salini did not seek the consent of local people before building the dam, but claimed that an “artificial flood release” would compensate them for their losses. However, this promised flood never came and thousands of people now face starvation.

According to Survival, the region is one of the most important sites in early human evolution‚ and an area of exceptional biodiversity‚ with two World Heritage Sites and five national parks.

“The head of Kenya's conservation agency said last week that the dam is unleashing “one of the worst environmental disasters you can imagine.”

Stephen Corry of Survival international said “Salini has ignored crucial evidence‚ made false promises and ridden roughshod over the rights of hundreds of thousands of people.”

"Thousands are now facing starvation because Italy's largest contractor‚ and one of its best known companies‚ didn't think human rights were worth its time,” he said.

He said the real consequences of the Ethiopian government's devastating policies for its country's 'development'‚ which were “shamefully supported by western aid agencies like the UK's DFID and USAID”‚ are plain for all to see.

Stealing people's land and causing massive environmental destruction, he added, is not progress; it is a death sentence for tribal peoples.

Ethiopia has been facing massive protests from a number of international rights groups and environmental campaigners over the construction of the Gibe III dam project.

Groups like the International Rivers, Friends of Lake Turkana, The Oakland Institute, and other groups argued that no inclusive Environmental and Social Impact Assessment was made ahead of the construction and extensively campaigned for halt of the project.

According to the groups, Gibe III like those Gibe I and II diverts the flow of the Omo River in Ethiopia, which feeds 90% of Lake Turkana in Kenya and endangers the lake and tens of thousands of people from 17 ethnic groups who live in the Lower Omo Valley.

Despite huge pressure, Ethiopia however recently completed the Gibe which is the country's second largest hydro power plant after the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam; the horn of Africa's nation is building along the Nile River.

Gibe III, a 610 meter-long and 243 meter high roller-compacted concrete dam has power generation capacity of 1,870 Megawatt.

Ethiopia has dismissed allegations that its dam projects will cause environmental damage to populations in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Previously, Addis Ababa however said claims released by the rights groups are bogus. It further accused them of working for the interest of their western alleys.

(ST)

March 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM/JUBA) - A Sudanese presidential aide Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid on Thursday warned that his government may close the border with South Sudan if Juba continues its support to rebel groups in Darfur and the Two Areas.

Sudanese military personnel inspect the belongings of South Sudanese on the Sudanese border on 18 April 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

Following a meeting between President Omer al-Bashir with the head of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, Hamid told reporters that the meeting touched on the continued support that Juba provides to Sudanese rebels groups.

"If the South Sudan does not stop supporting the insurgency we will have to take action to protect the country, even if it led to the closure of the border again," he said, adding "We are waiting for the implementation of the Cooperation Agreements signed with the South Sudan since 2012, so there will be no security problems between the two countries."

The renewal of accusations comes after reports in Khartoum about meetings in Juba between senior South Sudanese officials and SPLM-N leadership to discuss the needs of the Sudanese rebels who are facing a large scale military campaign in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

Last January, President Omer al-Bashir announced the opening of border with South Sudan for the first time since its secession in July 2011. Also it reduced oil transportation fees and decided to open river transport with the South Sudan.

According to the official news agency SUNA, the governor of White Nile state Abdel Hamid Kasha on Wednesday called for the withdrawal of the South Sudanese troops from the border with Sudan, adding that the presence of the SPLA soldiers hinders Khartoum's decision to open the border.

Kasha made his statement during a meeting with an American diplomat from the Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan who visited the border state where are the camps of South Sudanese refugees.

In a statement he issued on 26 January, President Salva Kiir instructed to withdraw South Sudan army units on the border with Sudan, to "at least five miles south of our common borders of 1st January 1956, in accordance with our commitment to the terms of The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 with Khartoum”.

SPLA TROOPS ARE AT 1 KM

However the top command of the South Sudanese army on Thursday denied the accusations of failing to implement the presidential order.

“That order has been complied with long time ago. Our forces have been withdrawn more than 1 kilometre away from the common border with Sudan but they want us to go beyond that, which has security concerns,” South Sudanese presidential advisor on security affairs, Tut Gatluak, told Sudan Tribune on Thursday when asked to comment on the matter.

Gatluak said the government was concerned that “negative and hostile” rebel forces could take advantage of movement away from the common border and may use the area for activities which may compromise security between the two countries.

The new deputy chief of general staff for finance and administration, Lieutenant General James Ajonga Mawut Ajonga, also confirmed that government forces have complied with the order after the army's chief of general staff, Paul Malong Awan, sent out to all units at the border with Sudan to act in compliance with the order of the president.

“In the army, there is a culture of command, order and comply, which is the guiding doctrine world over for the military. When the office of the commander in chief issued the directives, the chief of general staff received it and acted immediately. He issued instructions to all the units and our troops at the common border with Sudan and they complied,” said Ajonga.

Sudan closed its border with the South Sudan in June 2011, one month before the formal declaration of independence.

At the time, the decision intervened days after the start of a rebellion in the South Kordofan by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N). Khartoum accused Juba of supporting the former members of the ruling party in South Sudan.

(ST)

While noting that the ceasefire between South Sudan’s warring factions has “largely held,” the United Nations Security Council today said it was deeply alarmed by ongoing violence in the country and set out specific steps for the parties to take towards full implementation of a seven-month–old peace deal, saying it would review their progress by the end of the month.

South Africa risks turning into a "mafia state", a senior governing party official has warned, as pressure grows on President Jacob Zuma over his links with a wealthy family.

One year since Liberian authorities launched a “historic undertaking” to assume full responsibility of the country’s security by the end of next June, top United Nations officials today discussed what measures are needed to support the implantation of the plan.

After losing most of its territory in Nigeria, Islamist militant group Boko Haram has started to attack neighbouring Cameroon, killing hundreds of people. Maud Jullien went on patrol with the Cameroonian army.

Cameroon sentences 89 members of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram to death in the first case since new anti-terror laws were passed, local media report.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned yesterday’s double suicide attacks in Maiduguri in Nigeria’s restive Borno state by suspected Boko Haram elements, which left 20 people dead and many injured.

The latest flare-up of Ebola in Sierra Leone is over, the United Nations health agency today reported, but cautioned that the West African region remains at risk and should remain on alert.

By Marc-André Franche
Mar 17 2016 (Dawn, Pakistan)

The year 2015 will be remembered for two landmark global agreements. In September, UN member states endorsed the 2030 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Later, 196 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement at the conclusion of UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in France.

The year will also be remembered as the warmest on record with temperature rises breaking the one degree Celsius milestone above pre-industrial era average. A heatwave swept the globe including Sindh where 2,000 perished reminding us of the increased intensity and frequency of climatic events and its growing impact on development, particularly the poor and vulnerable.

It has been established that climate change is the consequence of Greenhouse Gas Emission (GHG) and is caused by human activities.

T he Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Synthesis Report of 2014 pointed to an increase in global temperature of 4°C contrary to the initial estimates of about 3.5°C till 2100.

Developing countries are more vulnerable because of their dependence on agriculture and socioeconomic dynamics including their weak capacities to cope with climate change.

In 2008, more than 100 million people fell below the poverty line largely due to food price hikes and low agriculture yields.

At the COP21 participating countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding climate deal that promises a global action plan to save the world from the effects of climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.

The COP21 agreement is indeed a diplomatic success. However, the intentions in the Paris Agreement and actual commitments in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) by governments don`t connect. Estimates suggest that the combined impact of all INDCs, if fully implemented, will account for 86pc of the GHG emissions and will still result in global average temperature hikes above the 2°C threshold. Similarly, the intention of developed countries to mobilise $100 billion per year until 2025 is not only insufficient but also uncertain to be realised.

Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country to climate change though it produces less than 0.5pc of global emissions. Events like the 2010 floods which resulted in 2,000 human lives and economic losses equivalent to 7pc of GDP reconfirm that climate change is the most immediate development threat faced by this country. There is a clear and visible shift in summer monsoons trend from northeast to northwest by a range of 80-100 kilometres, threatening the agriculture sector. Frequency of other extreme weather events like cyclones, droughts and glacial lake outburst floods showthat Pakistan is becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change.

Pakistan is conscious to the threats. The National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) of 2012 outlines mitigation and adaptation actions. Pakistan is one of the few countries to have undertaken a Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR) and has established public expenditure and institutional benchmarks. Post 18th Amendment, climate change has largely become a provincial subject and provinces must now take the lead. It is encouraging to note that some of the provinces have already started initiatives such as the `Billion Tree Plantation` initiative.

The deficit of vision and action remains widespread however. The INDCs put forward by Pakistan for the COP21 were considered limited and devoid of quantitative commitments and investment requirements for adaptation and mitigation. Using the CPEIR, Pakistan could have spelled out in detail its vulnerability to climate change. This would have afforded an opportunity to plead climate change-related needs in front of lobbyists,donors and negotiators across the globe. Pakistan can still revise its INDCs.

It needs strong institutions to implement its NCCP. A `whole of government` approach including parliament, finance, planning and sectoral departments is needed.The medium-term budgetary frameworks of ministries should talce into account climate change`s effects. The finance and planning institutions at the federal and provincial level should track related expenditure and progress. Provinces must integrate climate change issues in their growth strategies given its impact on poverty and social development.

Pakistan incurred $6bn climate changerelated losses in 2012. It needs to invest 5.5pc of GDP annually for mitigation and 1.5-3pc for adaptation to address its effects. For a 15pc reduction in GHG, an annual investment of around $8bn is needed. Given the global shortfall in financing, Pakistan requires an overarching climate change financing framework which can help streamline budget allocations and ensure holistic response to the challenge.

So far the evidence affirms that no one will remain untouched by the consequences of climate change. Developing countries will be most affected. It is time to act together. As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, `there is no plan B, because there is no planet B`.

The writer is country director of UNDP in Pakistan

This story was originally published by Dawn, Pakistan

There have been angry exchanges in South Africa's parliament over President Jacob Zuma's alleged links with a wealthy family.

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 17 2016 (IPS)

“When it comes to peace talks, women have a special stake,” said Gloria Steinem while discussing current peace talks in the Middle East.

Steinem, a prominent activist, joined the 60th annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as part of Donor Direct Action, an NGO connecting women’s rights activists to donors.

Partnering with Karama, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on violence against women in the Arab region, the two organisations highlighted the need to include women not only in politics, but also in peace processes in conflict nations.

“Women should not be in the corridor, but actually at the table,” Karama founder Hibaaq Osman told delegates.

According to the International Peace Institute (IPI), between 1992 and 2011, just 2 percent of chief mediators and 9 percent of negotiators in peace processes were women.

However, in conflict, women continue to bear the brunt of causalities, gender-based violence and livelihood insecurity.

Despite the unanimous UN adoption of Resolution 1325 calling for the increase in women’s representation in conflict management and resolution, little has been done to enforce and implement it.

No woman has ever been the chief or lead mediator in an UN-led peace negotiation.

In an effort to include more women, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura established a Women’s Advisory Board, the first of its kind.

Though it is a monumental step towards women’s participation in peace talks, Mouna Ghanem, the founder of the Syrian Women’s Forum and member of the Women’s Advisory Board, stated that this is only the first step.

“This is not what we are aspiring for. What we are aspiring for is not only participation,” Ghanem told reporters.

“We are aspiring to be the decision makers, and we have a long way to go,” she continued.

The ongoing Syrian negotiations, which are on their fifth day in Geneva, have invited two parties to the table: Assad’s government and the main opposition bloc High Negotiations Committee (HNC). Though the Women’s Advisory Board will express their concerns and provide recommendations to the delegations, it is unclear how much influence they will have.

While criticising the lack of female decision-makers, Ghanem asked: “Why are [men] making the future of Syria? Why aren’t women also making the future of Syria? Are we going to let those who destroyed Syria and committed huge human rights violations to women and children…are we going to let them decide the future of Syria?

She added that the two-party negotiating system will not bring the best interests of Syrians, especially women.

Sahar Ghanem, the head of Civil Society Organisations Affairs Unit in the Yemeni Prime Minister’s Office, painted an almost identical picture, noting that the Yemeni peace talks also did not include women. She disclosed that women were “sacrificed” from the talks in order to bring the two reluctant parties together to negotiate.

Instead, in October 2015, a coalition of Yemeni women met with the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to consult on the political situation.

Director of the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace Zahra’ Langhi noted that mediation must go beyond just the representation of women, adding that the UN-led mission failed to do this.

“They can bring some women in a segregated track and tick the box and say ‘we have women’, but women were not respectively engaged in the process,” she told IPS.

“The peace [the UN peace envoy] aim to achieve is fragile peace…it is a peace that does not engage local communities that women are the heart of,” she continued.

Langhi also asserted that in order to have sustainable peace, a ceasefire is insufficient, and they must tackle with the root causes of the conflict.

Among the causes are militarisation and the arms trade which, in Libya, has contributed to the systematic violence against civil society representatives, especially women.

Since the country’s revolution in 2011, there has been a wave of seemingly politically-motivated assassinations. In June 2014, prominent human rights lawyer and politician Salwa Bugaighis was shot to death in her home.

A month later, Fariha al-Barkawy was gunned down in broad daylight. In February 2015, civil society activist Intisar al-Hassairy was found dead in the trunk of her car.

“Because of the militarization and the assassination of these women, other women…decided not to be part of civil society anymore,” Langhi told IPS.

Echoing similar sentiments was Syrian Women’s Advisory Board representative Ghanem who said that the international community is simply giving Syrian refugees a “painkiller” without addressing why they are refugees in the first place.

“We should ask what the disease is and the disease is distributing arms to all these groups who are fighting in Syria,” she stated.

The three women highlighted though it is important to have a 30 percent quota for women in politics, the inclusion of more women in peace talks must involve investing in local communities. This will lead to long-lasting “sustainable” peace, they remarked.

Research from the Philippines and Colombia has shown that including women and men in peace processes significantly increases the likelihood of reaching and sustaining an agreement.

Citing the case of Liberia, where a group of women began a nonviolent campaign for peace which effectively ended the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003, Steinem pointed to the power of women in matters of peace and security, stating: “Now if they could make such a difference outside the room and away from the peace table, imagine what women could do in the room and at the table if we were half of every group.”

Though a new administration has been established after more than a year of UN peace talks, violence persists in the country and the peace deal remains weak.

Similarly, the peace deal between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels is on the verge of collapse as negotiations continue to stall.

Syrian peace talks also teeter following disputes with the HNC and the Kurdish party who plan to announce a federal system in the Northern Kurd-dominated region of the country.

End

Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of the Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency and publisher of Other News.

By Roberto Savio
ROME, Mar 17 2016 (IPS)

The recent German elections went as predicted.. A new right wing, xenophobe party, Alternative for Germany, AFD, has emerged with force, and will bein national Parliament in 2017.This development is unprecedented in German politics since the end of the second world war, and it is widely viewedas part of a general trend – the rise of populist and xenophobe forces all over Europe.

Roberto Savio

The European elections of 2004 rang thefirst warning bell. The euro crisis and social instability saw the beginning of a surge to the right. Since then, every national election has seen a shift in the internal balance. Historical examples of civics and tolerance in the Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Denmark, has changed direction. Tthe Swedish Democrats, a party rooted in the neo Nazi movement, has forced the country to change its famous policy of open door to refugees. The Danish Popular Party last summer emerged as the second choice. In Finland, the True Finns becaoe the third force in 2015, and are now in the governmental coalition. In 2011, the massacre of 78 Norwegians by the neo Nazi Breivik heralded the end of the Nordic political identity.

Since 2004, the right wing parties just grew. Now they are in power in Hungary and Poland, and few days ago the pro Nazi “People Party for our Slovaquia” (LSNS), is firmly in parliament as the fourth force. And if elections are held today, the Freedom Party of the islamophobe GertWilders, would get the first place in the Netherlands. In France in 2015, the parties had to join forces to block Marine Le Pen from winning the French regional elections.

The weight of The UK Independence Party UKIP has obliged Cameron to call for a referendum on Europe. In Austria the right Freedom Party won 20.5% of the votes and, more recently, it came ahead either of the socialists or the Christian democrats in some state elections, entered in a Socialist-led government in Burgenland and gained more than 30% of the votes in Vienna. In Italy, the votes of the 5 Stars Movement added with those of the League of Matteo Salvini, it is almost 40% of anti Europe vote. Obviously the arrival of more than a million refugees, has given a boost to all xenophobe parties, and the Alternative for Germany’s fast rise has been explained as a punishment to Merkel, who opened the door to refugees, without any consultation, not even with France,

But beside this obvious explanation, it would be time to consider why since the crisis of the 2009, in such a short time, a campaign against Europe, and for a nationalist platform, seems to beso successful. Even without the refugees, the right wing tide has been a clear and evident fact. Refugees have become just an accelerator to what was happening everywhere. And why those right wing parties attract a very variegated electorate, from workers to housewives, from pensioners to young students? And why, suddenly, the dream of a European integration has lost popular support?

Obviously, this would entail a complex and long analysis, that we cannot afford here. But I would like to add an uncomfortable angle of reflection, probably not politically correct. The strict intransigence of the German government (embodied by the Nein fur Allen, no to everything, i.e. the minister of finance Wolfgang Schauble), has contributed to the decline of the European dream. Until the crisis of 2009, there were no serious financial and social problems. Then the crisis came, and Europe is now barely back to the pre crisis level (Italy not yet). This means that during the seven years of austerity imposed byGermany, with an epic fight on Cyprus and then Greece, and splitting Europe with a North-South divide was the only way forward. It would be of course irresponsible to suggest that the South of Europe could have ignored rules and budgets. But to make of the European Union a warden visibly indifferent to the savage cuts in public expenses, from welfare to hospitals, to the emerging dramatic youth unemployment everywhere, was not certainly the best recipe to give an attractive image of the European institutions.

Germany did look a superpower, passionate of its wealth, insensitive to other’s problems, which went by its own way, with no interest in consultation and socialization. It was easy during the seven years of crisis to attract a large number of people who felt left out, ignored by the traditional political parties, who did remember or imagine the good times of national sovereignty. They saw in foreign banks and corporations their enemy, in foreigners those who were robbing their jobs (remember the British campaign against the Polish plumber?) and saw Brussels as a bunch of unelected bureaucrats who did want to intrude in their lives, and decide on the shape of the tomatoes. Berlin did not do anything to correct that trend. It made a moral issue of the deficit of the debtors’ countries, and blocked any attempt to socialize the excedent of its economy with others.

It is may be time to consider that the German intransigence has a responsibility in the surge of the rightwing and nationalist tide, with the message that they did not care about others, intent only to keep their privileged situation; European solidarity is over. One by one its allies went into budget deficits , like Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, without Berlin even noticing. Austerity was a taboo which could not be discussed, like one cannot or must not discuss moral or religious dogmas.

It can be easily said that this is lamentation is from the side of the debtors, and that is usually what they do. Pass on the responsibility to the creditors, instead of making a real and sincere mea culpa. But then, what happens when Brussels, the warden of Europe, calls on Germany for a European responsibility ? Total indifference.

On the March 13, the European Commission did publish a report on the economic situation, and indicated that Spain, Italy and Portugal were the most fragile countries, in the terrible lack of growth in the Eurozone. The report specifically singles out Germany, echoing what already the IMF, the OECD, and the G20 have been stating: Berlin has completely ignored their call for increasing expenditure in infrastructures, as a way of a stimulus, using its huge superavit.

Germany has taken tiny steps in the last decade on all of the EU recommendations. It did not increase its budget in education, in research and development, nor did it improve the fiscal system. Brussels have been asking to increase the retirement age, at no avail. It has recommended to revise the fiscal treatments of the so called minijobs, and to eliminate barriers in the service sector, without any reaction. It asked to increase salaries, to redistribute the state superavit, in a total indifference. The Commission now says clearly that the large commercial superavit makes of Germany a risk for the euro. Brussels considers that Germany is not doing anything in matter of reforms, that must increase its public investment, and concludes that its enormous budgetary asynchrony with the rest of Europe “has adverse implications for the Eurozone”.

Let us not forget that Alternative for Germany was created by a group of academics who were against the euro. They were misplaced by the present leadership, who wants to get rid of the Brussels inference in the life of Germans, and go back to the times of the strong Germany of the past. Is the path of Merkel’s splendid solitude helping or weakening the European dream? No doubt she is a brilliant national leader. But a European one? .

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