Africa

Despite improvements for persons with Albinism in Kenya who have historically suffered attacks and discrimination, a United Nations expert has signaled that “much remains to be done”, especially when it comes to accessing equal treatment under the law.

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has welcomed the meeting between the Presidents of Djibouti and Eritrea, held on Monday in Saudi Arabia, as “yet another step in the consolidation of recent peace and security gains in the Horn of Africa region”.

Recent data shows that the national murder rate in South Africa is going up.

Amidst a collapse in public services, water supplies have become contaminated with untreated sewage.

Nigerian tech entrepreneur Oscar Ekponimo has invented an app which will help cut down on food waste.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, condemned on Monday the killing of an aid worker who had been held captive by a non-state armed group in north-east Nigeria since  March.

The plight of South Sudan’s women and girls “should no longer be ignored”, UN investigators told the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, citing the disturbing testimonies of sexual abuse victims who have been treated by soldiers and militias as the “spoils” of the more than five-year conflict.

The death of three firemen reveals a reckless attitude to health and safety, many South Africans feel.

Young girls are sold to men as old as 90 in the custom still practised in Nigeria's Becheve community.

There is a powerful wind of hope blowing across the Horn of Africa region, said UN chief António Guterres on Sunday, in Saudi Arabia to witness the signing of a peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea, ending decades of simmering conflict.

Kenyan cake artist Tamima Mohamed has a passion for hyper-realistic designs.

A “lack of command and control” on the part of South Sudan’s government, just days after signing a new peace agreement to end years of brutal civil conflict, is one of the factors which led to the shooting of a United Nations peacekeeper on Saturday, the UN mission chief in the country has said.

September 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese presidency postponed for 24 hours the swearing-in ceremony of ministers of the National Reconciliation Government in its second edition, amid reports that some of the appointed ministers declined to accept the posts.

Members of Sudan's new cabinet take their oaths in Khartoum December 10, 2011 (REUTERS)

The Presidency of the Republic announced that the taking oath ceremony of ministers and ministers of state in the new government, which was scheduled at 8 pm on Friday, will be on Saturday.

"The swearing-in ceremony will be on Saturday so as to enable the appointed ministers who are outside the country to take part in the ceremony with their colleagues," said the official news agency SUNA.

The postponement intervened amid unconfirmed reports since the early hours of Friday, that the appointed minister of finance Abdalla Hamdok has declined the important ministerial post.

During the day, other rumours circulated in the social media that the appointed state minister for finance Nagi al-Sharif and the appointed minister of social security and development Samia Abu Kashwa have also refused to take part in the new government.

None of the three has issued a statement or stated publically about his decision on his participation in the lean government.

Hamdok is the only one residing outside the country in Addis Ababa. Currently, he is the Acting Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

Last week, al-Bashir dissolved the large government formed as part of the national dialogue process and the new lean cabinet was announced on Thursday as part of the government austerity efforts.

(ST)

By Duop Chak Wuol

Throughout the South Sudanese peace process, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) has been faced with serious political issues. These issues make it nearly impossible for the armed opposition to come up with a counterproposal that could force the government to accept a genuine peace. The armed opposition failed the people of South Sudan by accepting a pro-tyrannical peace deal that will only work in favour of Salva Kiir. The recently signed Sudan-mediated revitalized peace agreement is designed to empower Kiir's brutality, keep elites in control, and deny democratic reforms to take shape. This peace agreement is not just wrong; it is a looming disaster for the people of South Sudan.

Why is the Khartoum's power-sharing deal disaster?

There are many critical issues the East African regional peace mediators have ignored. However, the failure to address the root causes of the civil war, expansion of the government, the issue of 32 states, proposed legislative body, and the failure to replace the current National Constitutional Review Commission with an impartial and inclusive body are the main issues that the SPLM-IO should have paid close attention to. It is good to remind people that most of the SPLM-IO's fundamental reform provisions were deliberately rejected by the mediators in late August.

Kiir's regime and its regional allies are working hard to make sure this pro-Juba peace deal is materialized. For instance, during the signing process in Addis Ababa, the government, SPLM-IO, and other political parties were forced to agree that the National Constitutional Review Commission, which is currently being run by Kiir's loyalists, will only be restructured in the fourth month of the transitional period. The new provision stipulates that an internationally renowned constitutional entity will conduct workshops for parties to the conflict and that the parties would then use the outcome of the workshops to draft a new legislation to amend the constitution.

Why would the armed opposition and other parties accept to amend the constitution four months after the transitional period begin?

It is important to remind people that Juba's regime consistently refused to allow the proposed constitutional review committee to study and amend the current tyrannical constitution. There are also logical reasons to believe that four months are enough for Kiir to formulate a strategy that could impede the constitutional review process to carry out its mandates, let alone the fact that the requirement is stipulated in the final pact.

This peace was pre-determined by the incumbent Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU). Everything in it was designed by Kiir to make sure he accommodates SPLM-IO's leaders in exchange for his cruelty to continue. What I find baffling is that the armed opposition keeps arguing that it accepts the agreement because it wants to end the suffering of South Sudanese refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The SPLM-IO is categorically wrong on this. Remember, the armed opposition did not cause the ongoing conflict. Its soldiers and supporters are technically living outside Juba and other government-controlled cities. The idea that it wants to end the war by abandoning its reform agenda without giving a reasonable explanation is absurd. The armed opposition fought for almost five years, claiming it worked for reforming the political system. It is now clear that the SPLM-IO is merely looking for ways to rejoin the very tyrannical system it once rejected. This is rather intriguing, to say the least.

There is a newly-found argument within the SPLM-IO that assertively claims that anyone who questions the viability of the peace deal is wrong or is against its doctrine. Even some of the armed opposition supporters went too far, calling on those who questioned SPLM-IO's peace strategy to either go to the bush or shut-up. This is, again, one of the fallacious arguments being disseminated by clueless armed opposition supporters who seem to lack critical thinking. For example, when Juba initially attached reopening of oil fields to Khartoum's peace agreement, every sensible South Sudanese knew that Kiir was not working for real peace; rather, he was looking for ways to have huge financial power before the SPLM-IO and anyone who opposed his leadership to strike a deal with him. He did this to make sure that he maintains an upper-hand, should the war resume in Juba when rebels rejoin his government. This issue was raised by many South Sudanese political analysts—nevertheless, the supposedly democratic movement of SPLM-IO suddenly became hostile to those who questioned its political dogma.

Do you still remember when in August 2015 Kiir signed the agreement with a list of reservations?

The SPLM-IO has been committing serious violations by allowing Juba's repressive regime to get whatever it wants. For instance, the armed opposition released Prisoners of War (POWs) and political detainees and abide by ceasefire agreements while the government keeps prosecuting POWs and political prisoners and keep attacking the armed opposition positions. Kiir also refuses to accept SPLM-IO's peace deal provisions he sees as a threat to his ruthless leadership. This systematic refusal of the armed opposition demands seems to work in Kiir's favour. For example, the most contentious issues in this peace agreement are the issue of 32 states, National Constitutional Review Commission, the consensus in the proposed incumbent government-dominated parliament, root causes of the civil war, security arrangements among others. Kiir is truly a calculating dictator. After he realized in Addis Ababa that the SPLM-IO would refuse to sign the final deal, he then instructed his negotiating team to come up with a smart way to lure the armed opposition and other political leaders to accept the agreement. He did this by downplaying that the issue of 32 states is not a big problem because a body proposed in the pact will be tasked to resolve it or the people of South Sudan will decide through elections. Kiir also traps the SPLM-IO by claiming that constitutional amendments will be conducted four months after the transitional period began. This is a monumental red flag that the armed opposition and other political leaders failed to examine. The armed opposition must tell the people of South Sudan why it puts too much focus on wanting to secure a peace deal while the government is simply working hard to destroy its existence.

Is the recent peace deal really the democratic agenda the armed opposition has been singing for nearly five years?

It is increasingly becoming more evident that the SPLM-IO is prepared to sign-up for any deal if it is given its shares in any proposed transitional government. This decision appears to be politically correct, but it can only be just if the armed opposition is simply fighting for its own viability, not on behalf of the people. For nearly five years, the SPLM-IO vowed to either reform South Sudan's political system or remove Kiir from power by all necessary means. Now the very central idea the armed opposition drove its existence from is surprisingly vanishing. The SPLM-IO did not sign a good deal. The Khartoum peace agreement is not a good deal. What the armed opposition signed is an accommodative pact — this is no different from exchanging your own freedom with an autocratic ring. Kiir is an experienced and cunning tyrant. This peace is not a real peace, but a rather all about awarding positions to the SPLM-IO and other political parties. Kiir wants these parties to abandon their political doctrines and rejoin this infamous Oyee's band. It is shameful and must be confronted by the people of South Sudan. The elites in South Sudan must be told by the people that they are working for their own bellies, not the people.

The SPLM-IO's apparent deal with the government suggests that South Sudan's current tyrannical leadership could probably continue ruling for years. It must be made abundantly clear that the armed opposition has no legislative or constitutional power to amend the constitution. Kiir rules by decree and he loves it. Any attempt to deny him such a one-man rule is doomed to failure because he will have a legislative number to overrule any attempt to democratize the constitution. Constitutional changes are done through parliament or an established legal entity. This peace deal is simply an empowering of the existing Kiir's viciousness because the two important government branches, the National Constitutional Review Commission and the future transitional Parliament, will be controlled by Salva Kiir's fanatics. The SPLM-IO and some of its clueless supporters must stop waging a deceitful campaign to try to push people into believing that Khartoum's power-sharing deal is the real deal. The idea that reforms will be done after the armed opposition rejoined the government is simply a political blunder. This seemingly twisted assumption can only be accepted by uninformed individuals. If the SPLM-IO is fully committed to this questionable deal, then it must prepare for a third political tragedy. This is the 21st-century: the days of political cults are over.

The author can be reached at duop282@gmail.com.

September 14, 2018 (JUBA) - Several groups members of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance voiced their rejection of the revitalized peace agreement saying it only serves Sudan and Uganda interests and pledged to continue their struggle for a sustainable peace.

The media release announcing the rejection was signed by the National Salvation Front (NAS) of Gen. Thomas C. Swaka, Pagan A. Oketch, People's Democratic Movement (PDM) chaired by Hakim Dario, National Democratic Movement (NDM) led by Emanuel Aban and the United Democratic Republic Alliance (UDRA) of Gatwech K. Thich.

The NAS and PDM have already rejected the governance agreement pointing it does not respond to their demand for a genuine federal system. Also, Pagan Amum rejected the governance deal as the Chair of the SPLM-FDs but this time he appended his signature without the name of his.

"We, the undersigned leaders and our respective organizations would like to inform our people and the international community that we are not party to the Revitalized Peace Agreement signed on 12th September 2018," reads the statement.

The holdout leaders further vowed to continue the search for a just, inclusive and sustainable peace.

In addition, they called on the United Nations Security Council, the AU, TROIKA, EU and IGAD Plus "to take note of the shortcomings of the signed peace agreement, which now renders it unsustainable and subservient to outside regional interests than to those of the people of South Sudan".

Beside their demand for a strong federal regime, the non-signatories said the agreement failed to address the root causes of the South Sudanese crisis, to bring justice and accountability for war crimes and atrocities.

All these deficiencies make the "Revitalized Peace Agreement unsustainable, and is at a great risk of returning the country to another war as it did in July 2016," they stressed.

The IGAD leaders responded positively to the demands of the SPLM-IO and SSOA in terms of the disputed number of states and tribal boundaries, decision-making process in the meeting of the presidency, cabinet, and the legislative assembly as well as state and local governments. Also, they reviewed the procedures of the permanent constitutional-making process.

However, during the talks, NAS and PDM accused the mediation of brushing aside their demands for a federal system granting sufficient autonomy and adequate resources to the states vis-à-vis the federal government.

Observers say the mediation approach adopted by the IGAD this time was positive because the mediation team when it fails to reach a compromise between the parties used to refer the disputed matter s to the IGAD leadership which play the mediation at another sphere directly at the level of foreign ministers or the heads of state and government.

However, they say what is problematic, it sometimes allows the government to impose its point of view at the higher levels of negotiations when the matters are discussed by the ministers and leaders without giving the opposition the opportunity to advocate its positions.

During the Khartoum round of talks, the opposition reached the Sudanese president who sought to reflect their positions at the meetings of the heads of state and government. Also, Omer al-Bashir used to coordinate with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to press Kiir to make some concessions.

The Troika countries praised the role played by the IGAD in the resolution of the conflict but remained sceptical over Juba full commitment to implement the deal, based on the repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement and attacks on civilians and aid workers.

(ST)

September 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - South Darfur government and the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) have discussed ways to promote security and health situation in various localities, voluntary return villages and IDPs camps.

On Thursday, governor of South Darfur Adam al-Faki met with a delegation from the Mission headed by Head of the UNAMID in South Darfur, Burhan Mesk Nika.

The meeting also discussed arrangements to hand over the Mission's headquarters and camps in the Graida and Buram localities to the government in the next period.

During the meeting, al-Faki pointed to the stable security situation in South Darfur, saying it has positively impacted on the development and reconstruction projects.

For his part, Nika stressed UNAMID's keenness to support the government programmes particularly the national schools' competition which would take place in South Darfur in November.

He described the schools' competition as a good opportunity to enhance security, peace and peaceful coexistence in South Darfur.

Last year, the UN Security Council decided to reduce the UNAMID, admitting that the security situation has improved in the Darfur region.

The hybrid mission has been deployed in Darfur since December 2007 with a mandate to stem violence against civilians in western Sudan's region.

It is the world's second-largest international peacekeeping force with an annual budget of $1.35 billion and almost 20,000 troops.

UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 people were killed in the Darfur conflict since 2003, and over 2.5 million are displaced.

(ST)

September 14, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The joint committee among Sudan, Chad and the United Nations on Friday has discussed in N'Djamena the voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees in Chad.

On 31 May 2017, Sudan, Chad and the UNHCR signed two separate tripartite agreements on the voluntary return of Sudanese refugees from Chad and Chadian refugees from Sudan.

Also, the three parties in January 2018 signed an operational plan for the repatriation of 20,000 Sudanese refugees from Chad to Darfur region during this year.

The Sudanese and Chadian sides were headed by the refugee commissioners Hamad al-Gizouli and Mahmoud Aseel with the participation of UN representatives in Sudan and Chad.

Sudan's Ambassador to N'Djamena Abdel-Aziz Hassan Salih told the official news agency SUNA the meetings aims at developing the detailed plan to repatriate the Sudanese refugees during the next period.

UN reports say the security situation in Darfur has largely improved but stress that the lack of infrastructures and services prevent the return of refugees and displaced persons to their areas of origin.

Chad hosts over 300,000 Sudanese refugees residing in the eastern region of the neighbouring country not far from the border with Chad.

The Sudanese army has been fighting a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003. UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 people were killed in the conflict, and over 2.5 million were displaced.

(ST)

September 14, 2018 (JUBA) - The South Sudan ceasefire monitoring body Friday said it launched an investigation into SLM-IO claims of an attack by the South Sudanese government on its position in Yei River State Thursday, as the armed groups reported continued attacks on Friday.

According to the SPLM-IO, the government army on Thursday morning, in less than 24 four after the signing of the revitalized peace agreement, attacked their positions at Kendiri and Mangalatore in Kajo-Keji County of Yei River State. As a result of the fighting 17 SPLA troops were killed.

In a swift reaction to the allegation, the CTSAMM issued a short statement saying they received the complaint and started a probe on the reported attack.

"CTSAMM have received allegations regarding violations of the ceasefire agreement in the Yei area and an investigation into these reports is currently underway," said the ceasefire monitoring body in a rare prompt statement after a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

For his part, UK Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Chris Trott praised the monitoring mechanism for dealing quickly with the first allegation of violation after the signing the revitalized peace agreement a

"Pleased to see a swift response to these reports from CTSAMM. For the peace agreement to succeed swift monitoring, credible reporting (based on immediate access) and robust accountability are essential," Trott said in a message posted on Twitter Friday.

The mechanism further called on the parties to observe the signed agreements and to cease hostilities.

"CTSAMM would like to remind the Parties of their commitment to refrain from any form of hostilities as per the R-ARCSS," said the statement.

FRIDAY ATTACKS

In a statement on Friday, Lam Paul Gabriel, SPLM-IO deputy spokesperson said the "anti-peace" elements continued their attacks on their position in Lainya and Kajo-Keji counties of Yei River State.

The first attack occurred at about 7:15 am on the SPLM-IO positions at Mundu in Lainya county. the second attack was at 9:30 am on the SPLM-IO base of Mangalatore in Kajo-Keji County.

"We urge Juba regime as one of the key partners to the signed Revitalized ARCISS to restrain its forces from violating this agreement signed on 12/09/2018 in Addis Ababa," Gabriel called on the government of President Salva Kiir.
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"We also call upon CTSAAM to keep investigating these broad daylight violations by some elements within the SPLA," he said.

(ST)

Only 5.5% of Ugandans are physically inactive - less than any other nation.

The portrait photographers examine how African-Americans are perceived in art, the workplace, and through their physical appearance.