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South Sudan's High Court halts receiving cases, petitions

Sudan Tribune - Sun, 26/11/2017 - 05:40

November 23, 2017 (JUBA) - The High Court in South Sudan has, in a new directive, instructed courts and advocates to not receive cases.

South Sudanese judges (photo RSS ministry of Justice)

The notification takes effect from 1 December to 1 January 2018.

"The General Public and the advocates are hereby notify that from 1st December, 2017, the courts has directed to not receive cases and will start from 1st January 2018,” reads the 23 November, 2017 notice signed by High Court judge in Juba, Duoth Kulang Bichiok.

The public, in the notice, were also advised not to make petitions of the civil case (suits) and criminal case except remand persons.

The directive does not, however, provide any explanation and no explanatory statement was released by the judiciary to the public.

The notice comes barely a month after the Supreme Court judge, Justice Marino Pitia resigned over “lack of judicial independence”.

Pitia, in a letter to the president, cited lack of independence of judges and justices, security of tenure of the office of the judges and justice, lack of financial independence of the judiciary and poor administration, among other issues.

According to the judge, independence of the judiciary in the young nation has become a “mockery” and “pasquinade” over the years and faulted the executive for “interfering” in the country's judicial matters.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

Traditional gold prospector killed by gunmen in North Darfur

Sudan Tribune - Sun, 26/11/2017 - 04:59

November 25, (El-Fasher) - A traditional gold prospector on Thursday was killed by three gunmen in North Darfur state.

Workers break rocks at the Wad Bushara gold mine near Abu Delelq in Gadarif State, Wad Bushara on 27 April 2013 (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

The incident occurred in Hashaba gold mine in the locality of Kutum on Thursday evening as three gunmen opened fire at the gold prospector Adam Abdallah Adam.

A relative of the victim by the name of Ibrahim Essa told Sudan Tribune Saturday the gunmen had threatened the victim before to shoot him, saying gold prospectors managed to capture the culprits and handed them over to the authorities.

He added a security force including the police and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has arrived from Kutum and received the perpetrators, saying we demand the government to bring an RSF unit to protect the gold mines.

Last August, the Sudanese authorities launched a six-month disarmament campaign to eliminate illegal weapons in the conflict-affected areas in Sudan, particularly in Darfur region.

On 11 October, 10,000 RSF militiamen arrived in North Darfur to contribute to establishing security in the troubled state and support the mandatory phase of the disarmament campaign.

The RSF militia was originally mobilised by the Sudanese government to quell the insurgency that broke out in Sudan's western region of Darfur in 2003.

Earlier this year, the Sudanese parliament passed RSF Act which integrates the notorious militia in the Sudanese army and provides that its commander is appointed by the President of the Republic.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

South Sudan president decries rampant killings in Juba

Sudan Tribune - Sun, 26/11/2017 - 04:59


November 25, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan president Salva Kiir has decried rampant and indiscriminate killings carried out by the unknown gunmen, ordering security organs to improve and tightened the current level of insecurity in the capital.

President Kiir said development situation over the past weeks has not been encouraging for the citizens, ordering the minister of national security, the defence and interior ministers to put extra efforts to improve the situation.

“This issue of people being killed and those behind the killings are not being identified needs to be addressed with urgency. The situation has not been encouraging for the past weeks for the citizens and so you, the minister of security need to work together with your colleagues in defence and interior to improve the situation. The situation should not go like that,” President Kiir told top security officials on Saturday.

The president said conducive security situation should be created so that citizens in Juba and beyond would be able to celebrate Christmas without fear of any threats to life and properties.

“You need to hard to change this situation so that the citizens can go about their normal life and celebrate the Christmas in an atmosphere of peace and assured security. You need to identify these elements who are creating this unnecessary situation,” said Kiir

Presidential adviser on security affairs Tut Kew Gatluak told Sudan Tribune on Saturday the security organs have been directed to coordinate efforts and activities to ensure citizens are safe to attend to their daily life during Christmas season.

“There are plans, strategic plans already put in place to improve security situation before Christmas," Gatluak told Sudan Tribune.

He stressed that a joint operation centre has been launched to reduce insecurity during Christmas celebrations.

"Their government under the leadership of his Excellency the President of the Republic, General Salva Kiir, is not leaving any stone untouched to improve this situation so that lasting peace and complete environment of stability return to the whole country,” he adds.

The comments of the president and his aide on security followed a recent wave of rampant killings of the citizens by an unidentified group.

The director of communications at the relief and rehabilitation commission, Peter Nyale Gatkuoth, an immigration officer, Akec Piol Mawel, and Bol Deng Miyen, an associate of former army chief of staff have been killed in the current month of November.

Miyen was shot dead on Friday evening while returning from a hotel in Juba. Relatives say he had gone to meet officers and political dissidents with links to the former chief of staff.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

Al-Bashir wouldn't stand for Sudan's 2020 elections, says NCP leading figure

Sudan Tribune - Sun, 26/11/2017 - 04:58


November 25, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - A leading figure at Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has ruled out that President Omer al-Bashir would agree to amend the constitution in order to run for the office again.

Al-Bashir's term ends in 2020 and he couldn't run for office again according to the constitution. However, some voices within the NCP and the government have recently called for amending the constitution to allow him to run for the presidency again.

Also, earlier this month, Sudan's Sufi orders announced support for al-Bashir's reelection for another term in 2020 praising his significant efforts to unify Muslims in Sudan.

Al-Bashir who came to power through a coup d'état in June 1989 will have ruled Sudan for 31 years by the year 2020.

In March 2012, al-Bashir said he wouldn't seek his re-election in April 2015 but he ran and won in an election that was boycotted by the major opposition parties.

In August 2016, he said “I'm not a dictator and I don't want to cling to power. I won't run for another term, my term will end by 2020 and I won't be able to run again according to the constitution and the constitution won't be amended”.

NCP leading figure and Presidential Envoy for Diplomatic Contact and Negotiation for Darfur Amin Hassan Omer told Sudan Tribune that al-Bashir wouldn't submit to the calls for his reelection, saying the latter seeks to strengthen the national unity and build the NCP and its new leadership.

“Neither the party constitution nor the state constitution allow for more candidacy for the president,” he said.

He pointed out that the initiative to amend the constitution rests at the hands of the president, saying “I don't think the president would seek to amend the constitution to allow himself to run again because he said he wouldn't stand for reelection”.

Omer added the NCP Reform Document has laid out the approach to renew the leadership and to trade responsibilities within the party and the state, saying al-Bashir is among the strongest supporters of the document.

It is noteworthy that Omer had objected to al-Bashir's candidacy in 2015 elections, accusing former Vice-President Ali Osman Taha of exercising “moral coercion” to influence members of the NCP Shura and Leadership Councils to nominate al-Bashir for a new term.

He ruled out that any party could put pressure on al-Bashir to force him to accept running for office again, saying “no one could force the president to take any decision let alone such decisions as amending the constitution or candidature”.

Speaking before large crowds in the Gazira State in central Sudan last week, al-Bashir said he is ready to support the candidacy of the governor of Gezira State Mohamed Tahir Eila for the presidency in 2020.

However, Eila was quick to respond to al-Bashir's gesture by announcing his full support for the latter's reelection in 2020.

Also, during the visit to Gazira State, al-Bashir received a document titled “covenant and charter” signed by the Gazira State people supporting his running for office in 2020.

Al-Bashir's candidacy for the 2020 elections must be formally adopted by the NCP institutions including the Shura Council and the General Conference which is expected to be held in October next year.

Also, the amendment of the constitution must be approved by the political parties participating in the National Dialogue and the Government of the National Accord.

For his part, the political secretary of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) Al-Amin Abdel-Rzig has warned against any breach of the national dialogue outcome which calls to draft a permanent constitution to be approved by an elected parliament in 2020.

He told Sudan Tribune that al-Bashir candidacy is limited to those who called for his reelection, saying “al-Bashir is currently the head of the Government of National Accord and not the head of the NCP government”.

On the other hand, member of the Reform Now Movement (RNM) Leadership Council Osama Tawfiq told Sudan Tribune he is convinced the constitution would be amended to allow al-Bashir run for office again.

“Al-Bashir wouldn't agree to be a former president, he is either be a sitting president or a late president,” he said.

“As long as al-Bashir continues to be wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), he wouldn't allow anyone to run for presidency because no matter who that person is he might hand him over to the tribunal,” he added.

Tawfiq said the ICC decision has paved the road for al-Bashir to rule “forever”, saying the international community seeks to maintain the status quo in Sudan to serve its own interests.

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, member of the Democratic Unionist Party and Minister of Information Ahmed Belal Osman has expressed intentions to amend the constitution to allow al-Bashir to run for elections in 2020.

He told the Khartoum-based Al-Jareeda newspaper on Friday “if no consensus was reached, we would amend the constitution. The constitution is not the Quran and we will approve an amendment that meets our desire to nominate the president for a third term.”

“Our demand to nominate al-Bashir for a third term was not meant to appease him, we actually need al-Bashir to stay in power because we aspire to implement further reforms,” he said.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

Escaping the leprosy colony

BBC Africa - Sun, 26/11/2017 - 02:35
Ikoli Harcourt Whyte was diagnosed with leprosy as a teenager and spent most of his life in a leprosy colony but managed to compose some 200 hymns, writes Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani.
Categories: Africa

EU, Khartoum process, blind-eye to human rights in Sudan

Sudan Tribune - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 23:25

By Jehanne Henry

The European Union has pledged hundreds of millions of euros for the 'Khartoum Process', a multinational effort to manage migration from the Horn of Africa to Europe.

In Sudan, it supports a mix of development and humanitarian assistance - but also the country's controversial border control and counter-trafficking and counter-smuggling operations.

The upcoming AU-EU Summit next week in Ivory Coast is an opportunity for the EU to renew its commitment to put human rights at the heart of its work, including its migration response.

The EU's programs in Sudan have been widely criticised on human rights grounds, in large part because its border control support the notoriously abusive Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which were responsible for atrocities in Darfur.

The EU has flatly denied funding the RSF, but the perception that it does shows the cost of doing business with Sudan's abusive government.

That perception is reinforced every time the RSF commander, Mohammed Hamdan, known as 'Hemeti', brazenly boasts of capturing migrants on Sudan's border with Libya at the behest of the EU.

This blind-eye approach feeds into a wider shift in Sudan policy, not just by the EU but also the United States, which in October formally revoked broad economic sanctions on Sudan.

Sudanese forces, including the RSF, collude with human traffickers and smugglers rather than responsibly investigate them, Human Rights Watch and the United States government have found.

Moreover, the violence Hemeti boasts about triggers other abuses. Sudan's law enforcement and judicial officials conflate trafficking and smuggling, resulting in criminal prosecution of trafficking victims.

In 2017, this was one of the problems that kept Sudan on 'tier three' - the lowest designation in the US government's annual counter-trafficking evaluations.

In Sudan, migrants are vulnerable to a litany of abuses.

Rape, arrest, and jail
Many live in legal limbo; can be rounded up and arrested at any time and summarily tried for immigration violations; and can be jailed, fined, and deported without due process or transparency.

They face extortion and other forms of exploitation. When I was in Khartoum in October, an Eritrean tea-seller told me that two policemen raped her in June and threatened her with deportation if she reported the case. She finally told a trusted friend about it in September.

Sexual violence against domestic workers, many of them trafficked, appears alarmingly common.

Obtaining refugee status – which under Sudan's encampment policy means going to a refugee camp to register and staying there – does little to guard against abuses by Sudan's national security service.

An Ethiopian man in his sixties who has a refugee card told me of his harrowing experience one night in August, when three national security agents took him from his home in Khartoum, forced him into a pickup, and detained him for nine days in an unmarked building, where they interrogated him about his links to an Oromo opposition group in Ethiopia.

He feels certain the Ethiopian government asked Sudan to pick him up, although he has been living in Khartoum for more than 30 years.

Sudan regularly deports refugees in violation of international and African regional prohibitions on refoulement – that is, sending refugees back to countries where they face persecution.

In August and September, Sudan deported hundreds of Eritreans, including 30 children, on alleged immigration law violations, a move the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said flouted Sudan's international obligations.

In 2016, Sudan deported over 300 migrants, most Eritrean, including six registered refugees, back to Eritrea, where they faced abuse. Such deportations are likely more frequent than media reporting suggests.

If the EU wishes to support the Khartoum Process' goals, it needs to engage in the difficult task of pressing Sudan to improve respect for human rights – not just of refugees, but more broadly.

It is not enough to disavow support for the RSF; it should improve information and legal services, adopt a clear set of human rights benchmarks for Sudan, and call Sudan out on specific violations and patterns of abuse that affect everyone in the country.

Jehanne Henry is acting associate director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch

Categories: Africa

South Sudan rebels say defection of ex-Unity governor insignificant

Sudan Tribune - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 08:31


November 24, 2017 (KAMPALA) - A senior official of the SPLM-In Opposition led by the former First Vice President Riek Machar, has downplayed defection of the former governor of Unity State Ruai Kuol Jal, adding that his resignation has no impact on the rebel struggle.

On Friday, Jal issued a statement declaring his resignation from Machar group's and announced that he and other colleagues have decided to form a new armed group, the National People's Alliance of South Sudan (NPASS).

However, the rebel-appointed governor of Unity State, Brig Gen. Tor Tuonguar downplayed that the defector had significant an influence in the SPLM-IO.

“In this regards, I would like to assure that his defection will never affect SPLM/SPLA-IO vision and objectives,” he told Sudan Tribune when reached by telephone for comment

Tuonguar says the rebel officials and Diaspora groups have stopped their contacts with him after he formed his own political party and claimed that the move had been instigated by Juba government.

“The departure of former governor wouldn't mean anything to the SPLM-IO, but shall be treated like any other leaders or betrayers for example comrade Taban Deng Gai who chose the same path,” he said.

He further accused Jar of having links with the SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Taban Deng Gai and questioned the legitimacy of the former official creditability.

The splinter governor said Machar has no political programme, but the struggle is reduced to take him back to Juba a first vice president.

"Dr Riek has turned the Movement into a family affair. Members of Adok community are the ones now advising him. .(...) He is now grooming his wife to take over the SPLM-IO should anything happens to him," Jar said.

However, the rebel-appointed governor of Unity State denied the claim that SPLM-IO is the family movement. He added Machar has remained a national figure in South Sudan political settlement process.

Last May, Machar relieved Jar from his position as the governor of the rebel areas in the Unity region and replaced him with militarily governor, a son of popular paramount Chief Tunguar Kueinguong.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

Sudan plans to attack IDPs camps in Darfur: SRF

Sudan Tribune - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 07:14


November 24, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese Revolutionary Forces (SRF) led by Minni Minnawi has warned against government plot to attack the IDPs camps in Darfur under the pretext of the disarmament campaign.

Last August, the Sudanese authorities launched a six-month disarmament campaign to eliminate illegal weapons in the conflict-affected areas in Sudan, particularly in Darfur region.

On Monday, a joint government force raided Abu Zar camp for IDPs in West Darfur state as part of the forcible phase of the disarmament campaign.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Friday, SRF spokesperson Mohamed Zakaria Faraj Allah said the disarmament campaign has caused a serious security problem in Darfur.

“The [disarmament] campaign was counterproductive and caused increased security tensions, resulting in new waves of displacement,” read the statement.

Faraj Allah further warned against government plots to attack the IDPs camps “with the intention of emptying them under the pretext of the weapons collection campaign”.

The Sudanese government in September notified the United Nations of the presence of weapons inside IDPs camps in Darfur, saying it poses a serious danger to camps residents.

Earlier this month, the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) called on the Sudanese government and the IDPs to work with the Mission “in a collaborative way in order to advance the weapons collection campaign.”

The call came after a show of force by the Sudanese government forces which surrounded some parts of the Kalma camp in South Darfur state before to withdraw on 2 November.

Also, the residents of Kalma camp rejected the government forcible arms collection in the camp and called to leave the operation for the UNAMID.

Last week, the UNAMID and the government approved a joint plan to collect illegal weapons from Kalma. The plan begins by launching a voluntary disarmament campaign.

SRF is a coalition established in 2011 between rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Movement/SLM-AW led by Abdel-Wahid al-Nour and SLM-MM led by Minni Minnawi and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N).

Divergences appeared within the SRF groups in October 2015 when the three groups from Darfur region, JEM, SLM-AW and SLM-MM, issued a statement announcing the appointment of the leader of JEM, Gibril Ibrahim, as chairman of the rebel umbrella.

The SRF split in October 2015 into two factions one headed by Gibril Ibrahim and the second by Malik Agar after a difference over the chairmanship of the rebel alliance.

Last month, the SRF Gibril held its general conference in Paris. The rebel alliance leaders unanimously elected Minni Minnawi as a new chairman for the umbrella organization.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

Fourth humanitarian route from Sudan to S. Sudan to open this month: UN

Sudan Tribune - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 07:13


November 24, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations said a fourth corridor would be opened in late November to deliver humanitarian assistance from Sudan to the needy population in South Sudan.

“A fourth humanitarian corridor from El Obeid to Aweil, enabling the movement of humanitarian assistance from Sudan to South Sudan, will become operational in late November for the first time,” said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its weekly bulletin.

According to OCHA, trial delivery of 500 metric tonnes has been loaded and will commence upon final clearance from the Sudanese government.

It pointed out that there are currently four corridors that deliver humanitarian supplies to South Sudan from Sudan.

“But only three have been in use in 2017, including Renk and Bentiu in South Sudan and Nazareth in Ethiopia, which the World Food Programme (WFP) uses for airdrops from Gambila into affected areas of South Sudan,” said OCHA.

It added the WFP in 2017 delivered 42,557 out of 97,259 metric tonnes over the past three years to over 1.2 million people facing acute hunger in South Sudan.

In July 2014, Juba and Khartoum signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to open a humanitarian corridor to deliver food assistance to vulnerable South Sudanese through the River Nile or by road. Last January, the agreement was extended for a six month period.

On 30 June, the WFP began providing food assistance to South Sudan using a new corridor to transport food items overland from El Obeid in central Sudan to Bentiu in South Sudan's Unity state.

South Sudan became the world's newest nation after declaring independence from Sudan in 2011.

However, in 2013 the country was plunged into civil war killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

South Sudan halts issuing passports after production system shutdown

Sudan Tribune - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 07:13


November 23, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan Friday has stopped issuing and renewing passports and other travelling documents after production system shutdown, sparking public outcry.

In place for more than three weeks, the government resorts to issuing travel permits as it is unable to process issue and renew passports, citing technical matters with production machine.

The Director-General for immigration, Lieutenant Majak Akec told Sudan Tribune on Friday that the department was experiencing technical issue, expressing hope it would be resolved soon.

"It is true we are not issuing new passports. We are also not renewing for those holding passports whose duration has passed, expired. The production machine is down. It is a technical matter on which our team is working to rectify," said Gen. Majak.

"We hope this situation to be resolved soon. the team is working hard, around the clock to ensure it is fixed. when is resolved, we will resume operation normally," said Akec.

A notice put out for public consumption at the headquarters of the passports and immigration office in Juba says the team is working to solve the problem and will make notification once resolved.

"Our technical team is working to solve the problem and will notify next week. Sorry for inconveniences, a notice seen by the Sudan Tribune on Friday reads.

While the overall head of the immigration department attribute the cause of non-operation to technical matters which he did not explain, officials at the department and at the ministry of finance linked the cause to a deliberate decision by a German company running system demanding payment which has not been settled by the government for more than a year.

However, an immigration officer told Sudan Tribune that the server had been switched off by the company more than two weeks ago after the government had failed to pay, despite promises.

Also, another official told Reuters that South Sudan's passports and national identification server has been blocked by its host, the German company Muhlbauer, after the government failed to pay an annual software license fee of around $500,000.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

IGAD envoy, S. Sudan leadership discuss peace revitalization forum

Sudan Tribune - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 07:12


November 24, 2017 (JUBA) — The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Special Envoy for South Sudan, discussed with the South Sudanese President and his deputies the organisation of a forum to revitalize the implementation of a peace deal signed in 2015.

The consultations come two weeks before an extraordinary meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers on 11-12 December to discuss the technical modalities of the forum.

"The convening of the Forum will follow the meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers. The Council is expected to provide further guidelines on the modalities, structure and other details on how the Forum will be organised" said a statement released by the IGAD on Friday.

During his visit to Juba, the IGAD Special Envoy Ismail Wais met with President Salva Kiir, First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, and Vice President James Wani Iga as well as members of the Council of Ministers of the national unity governmental.

"The Envoy briefed the partners of the regional effort in convening an inclusive Forum. He informed that so far, thirty-one consultative meetings were held with the various Parties, estranged groups and other key stakeholders," reads the statement.

The consultations included all the signatories of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS), the SPLM of President Kiir, SPLM-IO Taban Deng, SPLM-IO Rioek Machar, SPLM- FDs, and various political and civil society groups.

“Many of the positions advanced and proposals submitted during the consultation process were very valuable. They must be considered at some stage whether before, during or after the Revitalisation Forum, if the cycle of violence is to be broken and for lasting peace to be restored in South Sudan.”

The SPLM-IO Machar considers the forum as the key process to implement the ARCSS and to take part in its implementation, but President Kiir and his first deputy Gai want to limit the role of the process and to give the priority to the national dialogue and the SPLM reunification process.

The SPLM-IO Machar also wants its leader to be allowed to take part in the forum while the government partners believe that keeping him personally far from the forum will be of a general interest.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

Sudan's FM downplays Bashir's request for Russian protection

Sudan Tribune - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 07:11


November 25, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour Friday minimised a request by the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir for Russian protection from the United States saying it was about attempts to ban Sudan's gold exportation.

President al-Bashir returned to Khartoum on Friday evening from Russia after a two-day visit where he held a controversial meeting with his counterpart Vladimir Putin. During the meeting, al-Bashir asked Putin to protect his country against U.S. diplomatic efforts against his country at the UN Security Council.

In statements at Khartoum airport, the Sudanese top diplomat said the visit was "successful and historic". He added that Bashir thanked Russia for its support to Sudan in the Security Council.

" Sudan has been targeted since 1990 and until now in successive resolutions led by some Western countries where Russia and China have been supporting Sudan in the Security Council," he said.

"So, (Bashir's) talk about protection came in the context of the targeting that meant to stop the export of gold, which is Sudan's first export," he added.

The minister was alluding to a report by attempts to release a confidential report by UN panel of experts on Darfur in April 2016 about the gold mining in the western Sudan region. The report said that Musa Hilal, notorious tribal leader and his militia earns $54 million a year.

At the time, Russia blocked the publication of the report saying the experts were not neutral and considered it as part of a campaign to punish and weaken Khartoum rather than promoting peace and security in Darfur.

In February 2016, Russia and China had opposed an attempt by the United States and the United Kingdom to adopt the panel's recommendations to sanction individuals and entities that impose illegal taxes on artisanal gold miners beside people engaged in the illegal exploitation and trafficking of gold.

Gold is the primary source of hard currency revenue for Sudan since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

Speaking about the impact of this visit on the relationship with the United States, the foreign minister said that Sudan's relations with a country do not depend on its relations with another and that Sudan develops its relations with all countries of the world.

He said that Washington and Moscow have strong relations and economic cooperation, pointing that the U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin discussed recently the situation in Syria.

"So there is nothing to prevent Sudan from cooperating with the United States while at the same time pursuing strategic relations with China and Russia," Ghandour said.

"The era of blocs and the time of polarization in the world are over and now the world is open to cooperation for the benefit of all," he concluded.

(ST)

Categories: Africa

Petina Gappah: Mugabe and me

BBC Africa - Sat, 25/11/2017 - 02:19
As Zimbabweans usher in a new era, author Petina Gappah considers the long shadow ex-president Robert Mugabe has cast over her life.
Categories: Africa

Four peacekeepers killed in two deadly attacks against UN mission in Mali

UN News Centre - Africa - Fri, 24/11/2017 - 23:26
Four United Nations peacekeepers and a member of the Malian armed forces were killed and 21 others were wounded on Friday in what Secretary-General António Guterres called &#8220outrageous&#8221 attacks against the UN mission in the country.
Categories: Africa

Egypt: UN chief and Security Council condemn attack on Sinai mosque

UN News Centre - Africa - Fri, 24/11/2017 - 19:48
Secretary-General António Guterres and the United Nations Security Council have condemned &#8220in the strongest terms&#8221 the attack on al-Rawdah Mosque during Friday prayers in the town of Bir al-Abed in North Sinai, Egypt, that left scores of people dead and wounded.
Categories: Africa

Shingai Nyoka: What next for Zimbabwe?

BBC Africa - Fri, 24/11/2017 - 02:18
Singing and celebration spring from the belief that the worst is over, our Zimbabwe correspondent writes - but is change coming?
Categories: Africa

Brian Hungwe on how Mugabe was Zimbabwe's 'last political king'

BBC Africa - Thu, 23/11/2017 - 18:58
Zimbabwe's ruling party is intent on retaining power after the earthquake of Robert Mugabe's overthrow.
Categories: Africa

UN chief condemns suicide attacks that leaves dozens dead in northern Nigeria town

UN News Centre - Africa - Tue, 21/11/2017 - 23:06
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the suicide attacks that took place earlier Tuesday in Adamawa state, Nigeria, which resulted in scores of casualties, and called for those responsible for the “heinous acts” to be swiftly brought to justice.
Categories: Africa

Robert Mugabe

BBC Africa - Tue, 21/11/2017 - 19:14
A look at the career of Robert Mugabe, who has resigned as Zimbabwe's president after 37 years in power.
Categories: Africa

UN report urges Sudan to address plight of millions of displaced people in Darfur

UN News Centre - Africa - Tue, 21/11/2017 - 06:00
The United Nations human rights office has called on the Government of Sudan to pursue effective, transparent and durable policies to enable the 2.6 million people who have been internally displaced by the long-running conflict in Darfur to return home voluntarily or to reintegrate into host communities.
Categories: Africa

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