Africa

African champions Wydad Casablanca of Morocco lose 3-2 to Japan's Asian Champions Urawa Red Diamonds to finish sixth at the Club World Cup.

In the coming year, severe acute malnutrition could claim the lives of more than 400,000 children under the age of five in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s volatile Kasai region, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned Tuesday.

Former Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba says newly crowned BBC African Footballer of the Year Mohamed Salah is growing into a leader.

Fifa punishes Nigeria for fielding Abdullahi Shehu when he should have been suspended in their 1-1 draw with Algeria in a 2018 World Cup qualifier.

The EU says its work to help migrants has actually made the situation better, not worse.

The UN's drugs agency warns smuggling of the opioid tramadol, used by Boko Haram, must be stopped.

Hundreds of homes have also been burnt, forcing the president to declare a state of emergency.

Gambia denies reports that it will grant land for a Russian 'Romanov Empire' project.

The disgraced athlete, who was jailed after shooting dead his girlfriend, sustained minor injuries.

Players, team-mates and coaches praise Egypt and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah on winning the 2017 BBC African Footballer of the Year award.

December 11, 2017 (JUBA)- South Sudan president on Monday issued an order declaring the state of emergency in the three states of Gok, Western and Eastern Lakes.

The order announced by the state-owned South Sudan on Monday evening ordered the government forces to move into the region and carry out forceful disarmament with immediate effect.

The president issued the order after legislators from Gok, Western and Eastern Lakes petitioned him to declare a state of emergency in the region and order for forceful disarmament. the implementation of these measures would help protect lives and properties of the civilians.

The representatives o the area were prompted by clashes in which scores were killed in a series of clashes among youth in Chueichok, Mayom and Apet areas.

Several houses were also burnt to ashes in the violence that erupted last week over a land dispute in Malek County.

The authorities have however reported that the situation in the area which has witnessed surge insecurity has improved following the recent deployment of security forces.

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December 11, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan president Salva Kiir has rejected a proposal calling for the establishment of a technocratic government in which no political leader seeking to contest in elections, is allowed to participate.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir (AFP)

The technocrat government, the regional bloc (IGAD) said in a proposal submitted to the pre-revitalization forum, would prepare a level ground and create a conducive environment for the parties that would contest in the forthcoming elections.

The people would participate in the government would be drawn from the three regions of Upper Nile, Equatoria and Bahr el Ghazal.

The office holders, according to IGAD's proposal, are envisaged to be men and women selected and vetted on their qualification and professional expertise or experience irrespective of any affiliations to a political party, civil society group or association.

The new proposal has, however, not gone well with President Kiir, prompting the South Sudanese leader to question its legitimacy and who mandated it.

"I have been hearing around some people have come out with proposals and their views have appeared in the pre forum and the report of the IGAD special envoy.

Recently my opinion who asked on this proposal by some of the regional leaders I met when I went to Kenya to attend the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta and I said I did not see the proposal and so i would not comment before I see it,” said Kiir during a meeting with his advisors on Monday.

He added, “Who are these people making this proposal. Who gave them the mandate to make such a proposal without the people?”

The South Sudanese leader has now ordered that the summary of the proposal from IGAD be given to him by Wednesday this week.

"If you have this report and it is one of the reports I am yet to receive, please make sure it is summarized and I get the summary by Wednesday. There are people who assign themselves and what they do get out in the name of the people,” stressed the president.

He added, “The people who do these need to be known".

President Kiir, sources in the coalition in the government told Sudan Tribune, is opposed to a new government without him because he believes it is part of the strategy to prevent him from contesting in the next general elections.

"All these proposals are tactics to implement the regime change agenda. So whenever their plans have been frustrated, they go come out with other strategies. The objective remains the same and I don't think people will accept. The people making this proposal should come out to tell the citizens", further said the president.

A former South Sudanese minister in the coalition government supported a technocratic transitional government in the war-torn nation, saying it will deliver the transition to its “intended” purpose.

According to Lam Akol, Sudan, from which South Sudan seceded in July 2011, has seen two technocratic transitional governments in its modern history and that both came about after popular Uprisings overthrew the military juntas (in 1964 and 1985) and led the transition to democratic elections.

"Of course, technocratic transitional governments are not without problems, but taking all factors into account they come up far on top compared with a transitional government of politicians if the purpose is to prepare a level field for all", Akol wrote in an opinion Sudan Tribune published in September.

“That purpose is to prepare a level ground for all citizens for the country to leave its troubled past behind and embark on a truly democratic path,” he added.

(ST)

December 11, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - President of the Central African Republic (CAF) Faustin-Archange Touadéra on Monday has arrived in Khartoum on an official two-day visit.

Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir greets CAR elected President Faustin Archange Touadéra in Khartoum on 27 March 2016 (Photo SUNA)

Touadéra, who was accompanied by a senior delegation, was received by President Omer al-Bashir and a number of ministers and senior government official at Khartoum airport.

The visiting president would hold bilateral talks with al-Bashir to discuss ways to promote mutual cooperation.

Elected in March 2016, Touadéra has pledged to end violence in the troubled country, which was seized by religious and inter-communal conflict from 2013, when mostly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew long-time ruler Francois Bozize.

During a visit to Khartoum upon his election, Touadéra demanded Sudan to support his effort to bring peace and stability to his country.

The CAR shares a long border with Sudan's western Darfur region.

In the past years, the CAR governments discussed ways to join Chad-Sudan joint border patrols with the two countries but the political instability in Bangui prevented the poor country from joining this force.

(ST)

December 11, 2017 (NYALA) - The first batch of Sudanese refugees in the Central African Republic will return to South Darfur state Tuesday in a repatriation operation by the Un refugees agency (UNHCR).

Participants of the Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees Conference at the Koral Hotel in Nyala, South Darfur on 26 March 2013 (Photo by Albert Gonzalez Farran - UNAMID)

There are hundreds of Sudanese refugees from Darfur in the north-east of the Central African Republic since the eruption of an insurgency in the western Sudan region.

Voluntary return commissioner Taj Eddin Ibrahim said the first batch of 180 returnees would land at Nyala airport on two planes.

Ibrahim said that the transportation of the 1446 refugees who accepted the voluntary repatriation to their home area will continue until the fifth of January.

The Sudanese official further told Darfur 24 that each refugee will receive $ 150 plus $ 50 for his children at the airport of Bangui. Also, upon their arrival at Nyala airport, every returnee will be handed over five thousand Sudanese pounds.

He noted that the arrangements for the repatriation of refugees were coordinated by the UNHCR and the refugee-governmental agency.

The Sudanese government voluntary repatriation commission has to prepare the villages to which refugees will return, especially providing basic services and security.

UN officials say nearly one-third of Darfur's population remained in displacement refugee camps because anxiety about security and lack of confidence about future prospects continue to keep many people from returning to their home areas.

Further, they point to the need for a peace agreement with the armed groups even if the armed clashes between Government and non-signatory forces have subsided and the government forces control the region.

Sudanese officials, however, point the need for financial support for recovery and development projects, stressing that the international community didn't honour its commitments in support of peace in the Darfur region.

The returnees will be transported to their villages in Radum locality, about 400 kilometres from Nyala.

The UNHCR provided six-month food for returnees, while the Sudanese authorities provide water, education and health services and set up a police station.

(ST)

December 11, 2017 (KAMPALA) – The South Sudanese lawmaker killed by unknown gunmen last week has been buried in Uganda.

Jacob Kuwinsuk Gale, a lawmaker representing South Sudan's Yei River State, who was killed during a visit to hold talks with the South Sudanese refugees and locals who fled South Sudan due to the country's civil war.

No rebel group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the lawmaker's killing.

The North Western police spokesperson, Josephine Angucia was quoted saying the slain lawmaker's relatives in Uganda agreed to bury the Kuwinsuk in Yumbe district due insecurity in his country.

"He has been buried temporarily in Dongoture village in Kerwa Sub-county in Yumbe District," the police officer told Daily Monitor.

"The district security team has been meeting to discuss ways of intercepting those carrying illegal guns especially at the Uganda-South Sudan borders," she added.

The police say investigations are underway, but no arrests made.

Kuwinsuk served as the chairperson for members' affairs, gender and human rights committee in the assembly.

Last week, two South Sudanese were beheaded in the northern Ugandan district of Moyo.

(ST)

December 11, 2017 (JUBA) - A team of experts from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights began a six-day visit to South Sudan on Monday to discuss the current human rights situation in the war-torn nation.

A general view of participants during the 29th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 3 July 2015 - (UN Photo)

The two Commissioners, Yasmin Sooka and Andrew Clapham, are scheduled to meet government officials including key ministers and the First Vice President, members of civil society, religious leaders, diplomats, and UN agencies and staff of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), including the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in South Sudan, David Shearer.

Sooka and Clapham will visit camps for internally displaced persons across the country, including UNMISS Protection of Civilian (PoC) sites, to meet the people living there, community leaders and civil society organisations.

South Sudan continues to be dogged by violence, which has killed tens of thousands and forced millions others to flee their homes.

The conflict began in December 2013 following accusations by President Salva Kiir that his then-deputy Riek Machar was plotting to overthrow his government. Machar denied the allegations but then went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.

A peace deal signed in 2015 saw the formation of a unity government led by Kiir and Machar, but did not last long as clashes broke out in the capital in July 2016.

Regional leaders and the international community are urging the warring factions to engage in talks to end the conflict. Machar however remains in South Africa where he went to seek medical attention following attacks in 2016, but has not been able to return to South Sudan.

The UN experts, upon completing their visit of South Sudan, will head to Uganda and Ethiopia, where they will also visit refugee camps and settlements along the South Sudanese border.

They are also scheduled to meet with African Union leaders, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), senior UN officials, as well as other members of the international community and opposition groups in Addis Ababa.

(ST)

December 11, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) Monday has said it will refer Jordan to the UN Security Council for its failure to arrest the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir.

Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the ICC on charges of genocide and war crimes, had attended an Arab League summit in Amman last March.

Jordan is a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC since 2002 and has an obligation to enforce the ICC arrest warrant for al-Bashir.

In a statement on Monday, the Hague-based court accused Jordan of failing to comply with its obligations under the Rome Statute.

“The Chamber (Pre-Trial Chamber II) decided to refer the matter of Jordan's non-compliance to the Assembly of States Parties of the Rome Statute and the United Nations Security Council,” the statement read.

The ICC issued two arrest warrants against al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur.

However, al-Bashir denied the allegations and accused the court of being political. He has continued to travel freely in Africa, Arab countries and Asia, defying the ICC arrest warrants.

Between 13 and 15 June 2015 he visited South Africa for the meeting of the African Union summit in Johannesburg. Pretoria, who is also a member of the ICC, refused to arrest him.

The ICC said South Africa failed in its duty to arrest al-Bashir when he was in the country but considered its referral to the Assembly of States Parties or the UN Security Council was not warranted.

(ST)

December 11, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Public Order Court judge in Khartoum on Monday has delayed the trial of a female rights activist accused of wearing indecent clothing.

In December 2010 shocking images were circulated on the Internet on brutal whipping of a young woman, by uniformed police

Sudan outlawed “indecent or immoral dress” in 1991. Under Article 152 of the Criminal Code, Public Order Police (POP) can arrest anyone who isn't dressed appropriately.

Wini Omer was intercepted by a prosecutor and a police officer as she was leaving her work place at Khartoum 3 neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon and has been taken to the POP station for wearing indecent clothing.

The POP detained Wini for five hours before she was released on bail.

“I was wearing the same clothes that I wore on [Sunday] morning during the trial of the [24 girls], I was wearing a skirt, a blouse and a scarf,” wrote Wini on her Facebook page

The POP filed charges against Wini under Article 152 at the Public Order Court in Khartoum.

In 2010, a former reporter who was working for the United Nations at the time of her arrest, Hussein has publicized her case, posing in loose trousers she was arrested in for photos and calling for media support.

Under international pressure and intense media coverage, Hussein was spared the 40 lashes stipulated under the charge and was fined an equivalent of $200.

It is noteworthy that a Khartoum court on Sunday acquitted 24 girls accused of wearing indecent clothes at a women's party.

The young women most of them are from South Sudan were arrested last Thursday for wearing short skirts and tighten trousers in a women's concert in Al-Mamoura district south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

The Sudanese people have been trying to break the wall of isolation imposed upon them by the government through the Public Order Act (POA) which prohibits women from wearing tight pants, or sometimes any pants, and bans public and private parties after midnight.

The Sudanese authorities imposed the POA claiming that it will prevent the negative behaviours in the society.

However, civil society activists demand the government to repeal laws that violate human rights and contradict with the 2005 Sudanese constitution and the international conventions including the POA.

(ST)

December 11, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir will head to Istanbul Tuesday to take part in an urgent meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over Jerusalem.

The purpose of the extraordinary head of states and government meeting is to coordinate a response to the recognition by U.S. President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

On Wednesday 6 December, immediately after Trump made public his decision on Jerusalem, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who is also the head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation called for an extraordinary meeting on 13 December to take a unified reaction to this development.

Bashir travel to Turkey was announced on Monday evening by official Sudan News Agency (SUNA).

The Sudanese presidency last Wednesday said that President al-Bashir had received a telephone call from President Erdogan who invited him to the extraordinary Islamic summit over the holy city.

Speaking in Istanbul on Sunday 10 December President Erdogan said he explained to the OIC leaders that the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital violates the international law, diplomacy and humanity.

"With the roadmap, we will create during the OIC meeting, we will show that (Trump's) decision will not be easy to implement," he said.

Founded in 1969, the OIC comprises 57 member states representing over 1.6 billion Muslim. Its purpose is to "safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony".

(ST)

Omar Al Bashir recently travelled to countries that recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC) but none arrested or surrendered the Sudanese President, the ICC Prosecutor today told the United Nations Security Council.