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February 6, 2017 (JUBA) - A delegation of Sudanese lawmakers is Juba for talks with their South Sudanese counterparts on how the two countries could cooperation.

Suleiman Adam, the Council of States speaker led the Sudanese team.

The visit is reportedly in response to an invitation South Sudanese lawmakers in the Council of States extended to their counterparts during a visit to Khartoum last year.

The delegation, according to South Sudan's speaker of the Council of States, will have ample time to meet and interact with different officials and leaders in the country.

The speaker of South Sudan's Council of States, Joseph Bol Chan told reporters that the Sudanese delegation will meet President Salva Kiir and other government officials.

“Today, we are honored and also happy as your plane touched down in response to our invitation to you to come, and we continue the dialogue between us,” said Chan.

“We continue working together in the regional and international forum in the interest of our two countries and definitely, you are not a stranger here, because we are one people in two countries,” he added.

The three-day visit, according to the speaker of Sudan's Council of States, would cover issues of common interest on how to consolidate relations between two neighbouring countries and also strengthen relations between the two institutions.

“We are pleased as Council of States of the Republic of Sudan that we have accepted the invitation of our brothers from the Council of States of South Sudan,” said Adam.

Bilateral relations between South Sudan and Sudan were officially started on 9 July 2011 following the former's independence from the latter. Sudan became the first country in the world to recognize the independence of South Sudan.

However, since South Sudan's independence, relations between Juba and Khartoum have been poor and frantic with counter accusations of backing each other's rebels.

(ST)

February 6, 2017 (JUBA) - President Salva Kiir Monday has relieved , Chol Deng Alak, the chief administrator of the disputed area of Abyei, attracting mixed reactions from the natives of the region.

Soldiers on patrol in the contested area of Abyei, which is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan (Photo: Reuters)

According to the order which became public this week, the president has replaced Alak with Kuol Alor Kuol Arop, better known as Kuol Alor Jok as the new chief administrator.

It remains unclear what prompted Jok's relief in less than two year after his appointment. However, observers attributed the move to a local power struggle.

The new chief administrator is already in the area carrying out consultations with different community members and groups to form his administration.

President Salva Kiir, in 2015 removed Kuol Monyluak and appointed Chol Deng Alak as the chief administrator for the oil producing and contested region of Abyei.

Khartoum and Juba failed to implement an agreement providing to appoint a joint administration, as the Ngok Dinka of Abyei say the priority should be for the referendum.

Since Juba appoints a chief administrator from the Ngok Dinka and Khartoum appoints a Misseriya for the administration of the same region.

(ST)

February 6, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, on Monday has relieved a “limited number” of officers in a third action of its kind within a year.

In February 2016, al-Bashir relieved senior army officers including 16 Major Generals.
Also, in 15 July 2016, Sudan's defence minister issued a decision to restructure the chief of staff of the ground forces a day after al-Bashir made major changes to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In a press release extended to Sudan Tribune, SAF spokesperson Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami said al-Bashir “issued a number of decisions to promote several officers from various ranks to the top rank and relieved a limited number of officers”.

He pointed the “changes come within the context of the annual routine work in accordance with the laws and regulations of the armed forces”.

However, al-Shami didn't elaborate on the number or ranks of the relieved officers or those who were promoted.

(ST)

February 6, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Father of a deceased Islamic State (ISIS) sympathizer on Monday has revealed that the twin sisters who flew from Khartoum to join the ranks of the group in Syria have been detained in Libya.

A Sudanese baby repatriated to Sudan after the death of his parents in Libya on Monday 6 February 2017 (ST Photo)

In 2015, two batches including twenty nine students from the medicine and pharmacy departments at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology, several of them holding British passports, travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.

The two batches were followed by a third group of four girls, including twins Manar and Abrar Abdelsalam.

Al-laithi Youssef, father of Aya Youssef who joined ISIS in December 2015 and was killed alongside her husband, Ahmed Gasm al-Sid has arrived in Khartoum on Monday accompanied y his baby granddaughter.

According to Al-laithi, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in coordination with the Red Crescent have orchestrated a complex operation to hand over the baby in Libya, saying they conducted the necessary tests to establish her descent as well as her health and safety.

It is noteworthy that Aya had delivered a baby daughter before she was killed.

Al-laithi, who spoke to reporters upon arrival at Khartoum airport, disclosed that he met with the twin sisters Manar and Abrar Abdelsalam in the Libyan town of Musrata, saying they are being interrogated by the security authorities.

He pointed the twins have told him the story of his daughter's death and when and how she delivered her baby, expressing confidence that the NISS would bring the twins back to their family safe and sound.

The grieving father has described his deceased daughter as “pious and genius”, praising NISS's efforts to bring back his daughter and the rest of the youths who joined ISIS.

“It is obvious that the NISS enjoys wide relations abroad and it employs these relations to secure and protect the Sudanese boys and girls and to bring back those who fled the country,” he said.

In 2015, the Ministry of Interior in Khartoum announced that about 70 Sudanese had gone to join the ISIS franchises, both in Libya and Syria.

However, experts on Islamic groups put the total number of the Sudanese fighters within ISIS at 150 Jihadists, saying that 56 of them had travelled to join the extremist organization from countries other than Sudan.

They say that 35 of them have been killed in Iraq and Syria while 20 others have died in Libya.

(ST)

February 6, 2017 (JUBA) -South Sudan president Salva Kiir had instructed the country's defence minister to execute soldiers who commits human right abuses and atrocities.

President Salva Kiir, (L), accompanied by army chief of staff Paul Malong Awan, (R), waves during an independence day ceremony in the capital Juba, on July 9, 2015 (Photo AP)

The president gave instructions at a religious function held in Yei town on Monday after visiting the region for the first time since conflict broke out in the country in 2013.

“Let us do one thing; we get rid of bad elements among us and we remain clean, pure and perfect," he said.

The South Sudanese leader said he will only be interested in receiving execution reports on soldiers found to have committed crimes.

“From today onward, if such a thing happens, I want them to bring me a report that somebody has committed such a crime and has been shot”, said the president.

South Sudan's image, its president said, will not be tarnished if the order is implemented and it will make the country free of crimes.

In July last year, 121 government soldiers were arrested on suspicion of committing crimes including rape and looting of civilians during clashes in the capital, Juba.

The arrest came after the army announced the establishment of a military court martial meant to try soldiers accused of committing crimes during the clashes that occurred between government forces (SPLA) loyal to President Kiir and the armed opposition faction (SPLA-IO) loyal to the former First Vice President Riek Machar.

The United Nations had, in a report, documented more than 120 cases of sexual violence, including rapes and gang rapes of women and minors that allegedly occurred during renewed clashes that left over 200 dead and thousands displaced.

South Sudan emerged from more than four decades of civil war at the cost of 2.5 million lives lost to gain independence from Sudan in July 2011. The country again slid back into chaos that has further killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million from their homes when Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup.

The country remains in chaos, despite the signing a peace deal in August 2015.

(ST)

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