Africa

United Nations Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Wednesday that the UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reported it had received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor that took place in Bambari by UN peacekeepers.

The notion that elections would most probably not be held before the end of 2017 has regrettably led to the re-emergence of a climate of political uncertainty and tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a United Nations envoy for that country told the Security Council today.

October 10, 2014 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (SPLM-N al-Hilu) denied reports that the delegates had been embroiled in a disagreement over the number of Blue Nile state representatives in the Extraordinary General Conference.

Nowadays, the rebel group is holding a an extraordinary conference to endorse its charter and constitution and to elect a new leadership after a rift last April over the right of self-determination for the Nuba Mountains.

Scheduled to kick off on 6 October, the meetings, however, began on Sunday amid reports of difference over the number of Blue Nile representatives in the conference. The reports insinuated that Nuba Mountains people wanted to have the upper hand in the conference.

However, Attiya Attroon Attiya the head of the Conference Media Committee refuted the claim, asserting that the meeting is taking place with the participation of South Kordofan and the Blue Nile delegates.

"Delegates for the Extraordinary General Conference have been chosen in accordance with the percentages agreed in the Election Regulations," Attiya said.

" We would like to assure the masses of the SPLM inside and outside Sudan, all the peoples of Sudan and forces of change in Sudan as well as SPLM friends, we assure that the conference has become a reality," he further added.

In a statement released on Sunday, the SPLM-N Nuba Mountains said held its general conference and elected 122 delegates to the Extraordinary General Conference.

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (WAU) - The governor of South Sudan's Wau state, Angelo Taban Biajo has vowed to protect all foreign traders operating in the region.

Biajo made these remarks after meeting with the Sudanese business community who mainly hail from Sudan's western region of Darfur.

“You traders work very hard and we have a relationship with you. Our responsibility is to protect all of you, whether you are citizens from Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia or Kenya in Wau”, said the governor.

He said it was the right of everyone living in Wau to live in harmony.

“You all know that we have just emerged from the war and we became a nation [and] so this country should not only be for South Sudanese citizens [but] for all. You all have right as civilians. There is a civil right and there is nothing wrong there”, further stressed Biajo.

The Sudanese business community welcomed the governor's assurance, re-affirming their commitment to support his administration by funding security operations using collections from trade unions.

In the past, however, Darfur business community in Wau have complained about night robberies targeting their properties, something the governor condemned and vowed to address.

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (JUBA) – A former South Sudan rebel commander says he is optimistic that the peace revitalization forum, spearheaded by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) will help end the country's conflict and bring about peace.

General Peter Gatdet Yak addressing a conference in Pagak, South Sudan, April 20, 2015 (ST photo)

General Peter Gatdet made these remarks on Monday after meeting the revitalization forum team in Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

Gatdet, who broke away from the armed opposition faction led by former First Vice President Riek Machar, urged IGAD to consider all options required to restore peace and stability in the war-torn nation.

“The meeting was mainly focused on how to revitalize the collapsed peace in South Sudan in order to help the people of South Sudan, whose lives have been at risks for so long. The people of South Sudan have been at war for so long,” he told Sudan Tribune by phone.

“Therefore, the re-engagement of all political parties, both in oppositions and in government in the process of revitalization and restoring peace is a wise decision made by IGAD in order to end the war and in South Sudan, the world's youngest nation”, he added.

In 2015, Gatdet abandoned the Machar-led rebel faction and formed South Sudan United Movement /Armed Forces (SSUM/AF). He is currently based in Khartoum and commands a few soldiers.

Gatdet says he will actively participate in the IGAD-led peace initiative.

“Peace is a priority and only option a human being cannot denounce. We need peace in the Republic of South Sudan as a mechanism of helping people from the current suffering” he stressed.

In June, a summit of IGAD heads of state and government decided to convene a meeting of the signatories of the South Sudan peace agreement to discuss ways to revitalize the peace implementation.

During the June summit, however, it was agreed that all groups be included in the discussion aimed at restoring a permanent ceasefire.

Last week, IGAD unveiled the timetable for the revitalization forum to start consultations with South Sudanese leaders and the nation's citizens. The process, it said, begins on 13 October until the 17.

The South Sudanese government earlier warned that the revitalization forum by IGAD, the regional bloc which mediated the 2015 peace accord, should not be another platform for negotiations of the peace accord between the two factions to the conflict.

Over a million people have fled South Sudan since conflict erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked Machar from the vice-presidency. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in South Sudan's worst ever violence since it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and South Sudan have resumed border air patrols since last September, five years after the signing of a security agreement providing to prevent cross-border attacks, said the United Nations on Monday.

Within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement of 27 September 2012, the two countries signed a security agreement with the purpose of stopping the flow of guns and supplies to the rebel groups across the border. The deal also provided to establish a Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (SDBZ) and to deploy a Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mission (JBVMM) with the support of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

However, South Sudan government resisted the implementation of the agreement, fearing that delimitation of the SDBZ centreline, which passes through contested areas, may be seen as final location of the disputed boundary. After few monitoring operations, Juba had suspended its participation in the JMVMM ending the monitoring operations On 22 November 2013.

However, in a statement released on Monday evening, the UNISFA announced the resumption of the JBVMM operations with the participation of Sudanese and South Sudanese monitors, UNISFA military operations/technical staff, JBVMM international observers and military operations staff and United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS).

The JBVMM of the UNISFA "undertook a joint reconnaissance between 16 and 22 September 2017. A first of its kind air patrolling operation, it was conducted from the UNISFA Force Headquarters base in Abyei to the proposed team site locations astride" the SBDZ, said the statement.

The air patrols carried out reconnaissance of Safahah (Kiir Adim), As-Sumayh (Majak Kol) and Tishwin (Takshwin), three JBVMM sites located within the buffer zone.

Performed by air hovering operations, the reconnaissance "was significant as it enabled the team to fly at a low altitude to verify and monitor the situation on the ground".

Last May, The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided to reduce UNISFA's troops from 5,326 to 4,791.

Further, the resolution reiterated concerns about persistent delays and stalled efforts to operationalise the JBVMM and threatened to end UNISFA's support to the border patrolling operations within six months unless the two countries activate the agreed mechanism.

Khartoum and Juba trade accusation of supporting rebel groups from both sides.

(ST)

By Mahmoud A. Suleiman

This article comes in the aftermath of the calming and fading away from the heavy dust triggered by the event of lifting the decades-long US economic and trade sanctions on Sudan on Friday, October 6, 2017. The purpose of the article is to explore these decisions and their immediate and future implications in the two countries. In this context, it is worth mentioning the statements of the charge d'affaires of the US embassy in Khartoum after the decision to lift the trade and economic sanctions on Sudan. The charge d'affaires of the US embassy in Khartoum was explicit in his statements that included his knowledge of the policies of the ruling regime of the National Congress Party (NCP) and its tendency to manipulate agreements and non-compliance with them. It goes without saying, everyone knows well through experience as to how deceptive the NCP/NIF were famous for reneging agreements signed with parties in disputes. On the other hand, the lifting of sanctions is not something for granted. In other words, there are still e remaining terms and conditions which the NCP regime needs to abide by. Implicitly it means the five tracks that stress Sudan's commitment to UN resolutions on North Korea, fighting terrorism, working against the LRA, peace in the South Sudan, peace in Sudan, and the unfettered arrival of humanitarian relief and assistance to civilians in war zones. Despite this latest action, Sudan will remain on the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list. It also remains subject to separate United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions related to its violent crackdown on opposition groups in Darfur, for which Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, faces International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes including genocide.

State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement Friday. "Furthermore, the United States is prepared to use additional tools to apply pressure if the Government of Sudan regresses on progress to date in the five areas noted above or takes negative actions in other areas of concern. http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/06/politics/us-to-lift-sanctions-sudan/index.html

Going forward, we're going to engage the government of Sudan to ensure that there's no regression on its positive actions to date," the official said, "and secondly, to work for continued progress, both on the issues in the five track areas, and to advance additional administration priorities. “Any further normalization of ties will require continued progress by the Government of Sudan," State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Furthermore, the Democratic Representative of the US House of Representatives Jim McGovern said the decision to lift sanctions would "legitimizes the killings committed by the government of Sudan" and warned that "any setback will likely prompt Congress to re-impose sanctions.” US Republican McGovern Condemns Trump Sanctions Relief for Sudan. https://mcgovern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=397129

Thus, lifting sanctions is not just a gift without follow-up. Without a doubt, the follow-up will be accurate and cannot be circumvented and manipulated by the Khartoum regime as it used to do with the conventions. The lifting of the US sanctions is not a gift in the bowl of gold as they say. On the contrary, there is a high price to be paid to the Americans who expect it on an ongoing basis and under close scrutiny.

Washington said that some Sudanese officials are subject to separate sanctions. US officials said Sudan would remain on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism (with Iran and Syria), a situation that - according to Reuters - imposes a ban on arms sales and restrictions on US aid to it.

Prior to lifting the sanctions, President Trump exempted Sudan from the ban imposed on citizens from majority Muslim countries. The US Administration sources attributed the decision to drop Sudan from the ban to the country's co-operation with the American government on national security and information-sharing, the Washington Post reported. Nevertheless, others have suggested the choice was in fact politically motivated. Ryan Grim, Washington bureau chief at The Intercept, wrote on Twitter: "Sudan getting dropped from the travel ban comes as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been lobbying hard for them in DC in exchange for mercenary support in Yemen".

Background of enmity of NIF for the US

During the summit of their arrogance in the 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood movement, the Khartoum branch, which called itself the National Islamic Front, decided to declare enmity and hatred against the United States of America and carried out a hollow campaign of slogans saying that the destruction of America had come close and decided to harbor terrorist organizations, Jihad against the infidels, headed by America and was among the hosts of the National Islamic Front Osama bin Laden, the founders of Al Qaeda and Carlos the Jackal international terrorist the Venezuelan terrorist currently serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murder of an informant for the French government and two French counter-intelligence agents. Furthermore, the war in southern Sudan was at its summit in the name of jihad against the infidels and the worse was still to come and that was when the National Islamic Front (NIF) elements were involved/ implicated in the explosions in the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which made US President Bill Clinton to impose economic and trade sanctions on the Khartoum regime, as well President Clinton ordered missile strike that hit al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum in 1997.

The enmity of the National Islamic Front of the United States continued in the form of chanting slogans of arrogance, intransigence and dodging, without taking into account the consequences of their actions. They remained at the top of their screech, saying that America had condemned its torment and that it was under the shoes of Omar al-Bashir. Examples of their hollow arrogance that harmed the Sudan and its people and the misfortune of the Muslim Brotherhood movement are that their memory is weak and they do not take the lessons and lessons from their previous fatal mistakes and they commit the same mistakes over and over again as they are said to be like the French royal family who repeat the same mistakes as the history tells.

Now that the conditions of their economic regime have deteriorated due to corruption and failure in the administration of the Sudan, Omar al-Bashir and his entourage tried to please the United States by all means to lift the trade and economic sanctions. They offered Washington all sorts of concessions and gave America intelligence about their Islamic accomplices and all the terrorists. They presented all that the US administration wanted. The result was the announcement by Donald Trump to lift the sanctions on Sudan, which made the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) officials dance as if they had achieved whatever they wanted to achieve despite the limited benefits of lifting US sanctions. This is more so in the presence of the epidemic of corruption and the systematic chronic nepotism that remaining steadily developing in the joints of the State ruled by the genocidal criminal fugitive from the international justice of Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir.

The lifting of US Sanctions on Sudan is not a magic stick to reduce the suffering of the Sudanese citizens.

Jokes

With the announcement of lifting US sanctions on Sudan, jokes, pranks and humorous anecdotes provoking laughter about the event emerged.

A satirical comic said that those who have been cheering and chanting for the lifting of sanctions on Sudan have been fasting for a decade but will break their fasting by a piece of an onion!

Another one made the following statement: Greetings to the jealous Sudanese citizen, who is keen and desirous of protecting his homeland's security, dignity, sovereignty, history and cultural heritage. Furthermore, the sarcastic comments have come one after another in succession about the lifting of US sanctions on Sudan and over the unbridled rejoicing of members of the NCP ruling regime as follows:

• A popular tale from Darfur would apply to the position of the (NCP) regime from fierce Confrontation to total surrender and full submission. The popular story was said to have taken place under reign of the Sultan of Darfur, Sultan Ali Dinar. The story was about a thief who was caught red-handed steeling a sack of onions. Sultan Ali Dinar ordered the thief to choose one of three options: to eat all the onions or instead to endure one hundred lashes or to pay a fine of one hindered Dinars. The thief immediately opted for the eating of all the onions! He began eating but he soon gave up after just finishing eating four onions and requested to endure the one hundred lashes of whipping. However, after twenty floggings/ lashes and blood gushing from his wounds, he begged the executioners to stop the lashing ordeal and give him the last chance of paying the fine of one hundred dinars! Here an analogy could be drawn between the position of the onion thief and the elements in the National Congress Party (NCP) regime in their dealings with US sanctions and their overall positions against the American Administration and their current submission to orders and the harsh conditions America has demanded from the ruling regime of the (NCP)!
• Omar al-Bashir, during the height of his hostility and confrontation with the West said defiantly: (I would not be subject to America, Britain and France and all of them under his shoes)!
• One Sudanese said was not it logical for Omar al-Bashir and his entourage to surrender since 1997 to his American masters instead of entering the whole of Sudan into a losing battle against the countries of the world. Then he comes today scrambling and surrenders in subjugation and loss of Sudan's economic and commercial investments in return for empty slogans after 20 lean years. Here, the tale of the onions thief applies to the right and the world is the best witness to it.
• When the Sudanese people were questioned in a public opinion survey about their views regarding lifting the US sanctions on Sudan one of the Sudanese citizens replied and said: Sanctions for me are such as the ritual tent of condolence, whether raised or not lifted in the end, the dead person will not return alive!

AS of the 1990s the NCP/NIF regime's' enmity for the United States of America (USA) and the Western countries that included Britain and France was at the height of the summit. Their slogans were calling for the destruction of America and chanted that America's demise was imminent and their rule would include that country, America! All these slogans are now hollow without substance and went unheeded. Ironically, now they remain begging and jogging behind the gaining the satisfaction of America, which they considered to have been demised by all means.

The hostile chanting accompanied by flags written on them Slogans that America has come close to torment and demise. Furthermore, they chanted that the arrogance of America and the Great Satan in the streets of Khartoum. However, today the picture is quite different and there is no such a thing called singing or dancing. The elements of (NIF)/(NCP) regime surrendered to their once archenemy and they began praising US President Donald Trump!

The political project of political Islam and all the superstitions and empty words that almost nearly pierced and deafened the ears for 28 years should not fool the acumen of the Sudanese people again or continue playing the same game to mock at the simple people of the country. The people have known the truth the hard away and how much they have been betrayed and bamboozled for so long through exploiting the Islamic religion in order to mislead them. The poverty-stricken marginalised Sudanese people now have realised the hypocrisy and the corruption of the NIF/NCP regime hidden behind the mulberry leaf that they were covering has fell down apart and exposed everything hidden has been uncovered. And people would say that their supplications for the curse of Allah on the hypocrite liars who deceived the Sudanese public for decade in the name of Islam have responded to their calls and prayers. And then they were far from the teachings of the True Religion and marching with the accursed Satan.

The US Administration of the President Donald Trump in its attempt to converge and deal with the National Congress Party (NCP) regime in Khartoum by lifting the economic and trade sanctions on it recently under conditions, he seems as if he were betting on a losing horse. This is because the regime will not abide by the covenants and agreements. Moreover, the regime is callous and unrepentant. Worse, the elements in it do not take lessons from its mistakes. They continue committing the same crimes. Thus, soon after the lifting of the sanctions on Sudan, the regime had unleashed its security apparatus before the ink with which the Washington Executive Order (EO) had dried up. The infamous security apparatus, National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) has prevented travel the Sudanese political opposition leaders from travelling abroad to attend an important meeting to find ways and means to achieve just and sustainable peace in Sudan, a country ravaged by intransigent wars, poverty, cholera and the displacement of its citizens. Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Monday 9 of October 2017 prevented the deputy president of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) Dr. Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi from travelling to Paris to participate in the meetings of the rebel umbrella Sudan Revolutionary http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article63714

That is in addition to continuing persecution of Christians in Sudan: the arrest of eight church leaders. The Security forces, (NISS) have arrested eight church leaders in recent weeks, according to the World Watch Monitor. The arrests included Mahjoub Abotrin, a senior leader of the Church of Christ of Sudan, who was arrested from his home in Omdurman on September 22, 2017. In August 2017, seven prominent church leaders, including Rev. Kuwa Shimal, Rev. Ayyub Matan, Abdul Bagi Ali Abdul Rahman, Amin Hassan Abdul Rasoul, Yacoub Naway and Moussa Kodi were arrested. Sudan under the rule of the (NCP) regime is the fifth of the countries that most persecuting Christians in the world, according to the 2017 Open Doors Index.
https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2017/10/sudan-church-leader-interrogated-after-refusing-to-yield-to-state-takeover/
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/sudanese.government.arrests.churchs.leaders.in.attempt.to.take.over.denomination/115359.htm

The writer Ahmed Witchi - ????? - wrote by the following remarks about the US lifting of the sanctions on Sudan: (Slowly and slowly, the irrational joy of the lifting of the sanctions imposed on the Bashir regime by the US administration will be dispelled in part. Many observers have written a pessimism about the situation and optimistic about improving the situation. Despite my wish for improvement in my country, nevertheless the facts of reality, my wishes, will remain mere velvet and they will not see the light, pessimism is the master of the situation)! http://www.sudanjem.com/

Non-fulfilment of covenants is inherent in the ruling regime of the (NCP) led by the genocidal criminal, fugitive from the international justice, indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. A renunciation of agreements concluded with the parties remained over the decades inherent and a registered trademark with the descendants of the National Islamic Front (NIF) in Sudan.

Elwyn Brooks "E. B." White the American writer, contributor to The New Yorker magazine and a co-author of the English language style guide The Elements of Style, which is commonly known as "Strunk & White", has been quoted as saying: (There is nothing more likely to start disagreement among people or countries than an agreement).
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/ebwhite117807.html?src=t_agreement

Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com/

Exercises in Self-Interest and Culpable Ignorance

By Eric Reeves

I'll be writing regularly about what follows in the wake of the Trump administration's permanent lifting of U.S. economic sanctions on the Khartoum regime. Given the abundance of commentary on the benefits of such action, it seems useful to begin with the observations of a Sudanese economist who actually knows something about the Sudanese economy, as opposed to the staggering ignorance in this sphere revealed in commentary by the International Crisis Group, other American and European “think tanks,” and actors such as UNAMID, whose contemptible performance in reporting on what has occurred in Darfur since the Mission deployed in January 2008 makes its celebration of the Trump administration action particularly and perversely ironic. Professor Hamid Eltigani of American University in Cairo has regularly and astutely commented on the economic situation in Sudan and understands full well the dynamics of the collapsing economy. His previous work—frequently cited by actual experts on Sudan such as Suliman Baldo and Omer Ismail—has proved consistently accurate and Radio Dabanga's interview of him today provides a useful overview:

“US sanctions relief will not improve living conditions in Sudan”: Economist
Radio Dabanga | October 9, 2017 | CAIRO / KHARTOUM
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/us-sanctions-relief-will-not-improve-living-conditions-in-sudan-economist

Economic expert Prof Hamid Eltigani has contradicted predictions by Sudanese government officials that the US lifting of the trade embargo on Sudan will solve the economic crisis in the country to a large extent. Sudan's FA Minister announced that the second phase of the dialogue with Washington will take place early next year. According to Prof Eltigani, economist and head of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at the American University in Cairo, the permanent lifting of the trade embargo on Sudan as declared by Washington on Friday, “has mostly a psychological effect. The lifting of the sanctions opens the door for Sudan to free trade and investment, but the problem is that Khartoum is bankrupt and has nothing to sell,” he commented in an interview with Radio Dabanga broadcast today.

“Almost all industries have become inoperable in Sudan, as their structures have collapsed,” he explained. “Most of the productive forces migrated to urban areas and are trying to survive by doing marginal jobs in the informal sector. Others are living in the various camps for the displaced. In addition, the country's infrastructure and the education sector that is supposed to provide qualified production cadres have collapsed completely.”

Investments

Eltigani does not believe that investors will enter into long-term projects. “Major US and European companies will refrain from investing in Sudan under these circumstances, especially as Sudan is still on the list of countries that support terrorism. These countries will most probably not invest in Sudan as long as Al Bashir remains in power,” he stated. “Service companies such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut etcetera may enter the Sudanese market but they will not contribute to an increased production.”

The economist predicted that large national transport institutions such as Sudanair, the railways and sea lines, and the El Gezira Agricultural Scheme “will not return to normal again. “The collapse of these institutions does not result from the sanctions and the ensuing scarcity of spare parts, as government officials claim, but of forgoing corruption, mismanagement, and a lack of commitment to the services they provide.” He ruled out that the lifting of the sanctions on Friday will stabilise the rate of the Sudanese Pound, but predicted a further rise of the price of the Dollar against the Sudanese Pound at the black market. “The dependence on the import of various basic commodities such as grain or medicine requires hard currency.

“The government is supposed to raise the exchange rate, but instead it is misleading the people with slogans saying the lifting of the sanctions will solve the economic crisis - which of course will not happen.” He further refuted rumours that the lifting of the sanctions represents an opportunity for government officials to smuggle the hard currency they acquired through corruption abroad. “These allegations are unfounded because the leading members of the current regime and its beneficiaries have secured their money long ago. At least 11 billion Dollars have been put away in Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the Arab Gulf,” he said.

Not all sanctions lifted

On Friday, the administration of President Donald Trump lifted two-decades-old economic sanctions on Khartoum “in recognition of the Government of Sudan's sustained positive actions to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan, improve humanitarian access throughout Sudan, and maintain cooperation with the US on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism”. The US State Department noted that any further normalisation in the bilateral relations with Khartoum requires “continued progress” by the Sudanese government.

The US decision did not include the removal of Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism—to which it was added in 1993—which means that restrictions on debt relief, receiving foreign aid, or the sale of arms are still in place.

Debts relief

In a press conference in Khartoum on Saturday, Sudan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Ibrahim Ghandour, announced visits by American high-level officials within the coming weeks “to further develop the partnership between the two countries” He said that Khartoum agreed with Washington to start “the following dialogue stage early next year. “There are files still pending, including keeping Sudan on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the external debts problem, and Sudan's accession to the World Trade Organisation.”

—
Eric Reeves, Senior Fellow at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

October 10, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it is investigating the arrest of a diplomat at Sudan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations for allegedly groping a woman at a bar in Manhattan, New York.

Sudanese diplomat, Hassan Salih

Several U.S. media outlets and newspapers reported that the Sudanese diplomat, Hassan Salih, 36, grabbed a 23-year-old victim's butt and breast while they were on the dance floor at Third Avenue's Bar None at around 2:25 a.m. (ET) on Sunday.

According to FoxNews TV, “police were alerted after the woman informed security at the bar about the alleged incident”.

“When officers arrived, Salih attempted to flee the scene, authorities said. Police reportedly gave chase and he was cuffed and taken to a nearby precinct” said Fox News.

“During questioning, Salih proved his diplomatic status which— because of immunity laws— reportedly led to his release” added the news channel.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Gharib Allah Khidir said: “some media outlets and social media reported accusations of violating the proper conduct against a diplomat at Sudan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York”.

He pointed out that the Foreign Ministry has immediately contacted the Mission to clarify the facts and conduct an investigation with the diplomat according to the relevant law and regulations.

Khidir stressed the Foreign Ministry “deals seriously with any accusations of violations of the code of professional conduct and public service ethics”.

Last January, a Sudanese diplomat at Sudan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations was also caught grinding on a woman in a Manhattan subway.

Police charged him with sexual abuse and forcible touching but released him after he proved he was a diplomat.

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (JUBA) - A South Sudanese group on Tuesday welcomed the proposed the revitalization forum, saying it has already been consulted by the delegation of the regional bloc (IGAD) and the team that is monitoring and evaluating the 2015 peace agreement.

A delegation of DOT BAAI-SSPA/SSPM headed by the President of the Consultative Council of SSPA/SSPM, Costello Garang Ring Lual, met with an IGAD delegation in Khartoum to discuss to revitalize the Addis Peace Agreement (ARCSS) on the 9th of October.

Garang was accompanied by General Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, according to a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Tuesday.

The regional delegation was led by the IGAD's Special Envoy for South Sudan, Ambassador Ismail Wais. Also, the IGAD team included Major Gen. Molla Hailemariam, Chairman of the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM).

The consultative meeting, the group said, sought to listen to the views of the different opposition groups on the revitalization of the 2015 peace agreement to derive mechanisms on how the war can be resolved.

“The leadership of the Movement met the team of IGAD which came to Khartoum and submitted a written position to them. The movement accepted and welcomed the revitalization process and affirmed its commitment to participating in the process the only way the conflict in the country could be resolved,” the statement added.

In June, a summit of IGAD heads of state and government decided to convene a meeting of the signatories of the South Sudan peace agreement to discuss ways to revitalize the peace implementation.

During the June summit, it was agreed that all groups be included in the discussion aimed at restoring a permanent ceasefire.

Last week, IGAD unveiled the timetable for the revitalization forum to start consultations with South Sudanese leaders and the nation's citizens. The process, it said, begins on 13 October and ends on 17.

South Sudan government earlier warned that the revitalization forum by the regional bloc, which mediated the 2015 peace accord, should not be another platform for negotiations of the peace agreement between the two factions to the conflict.

IGAD is an eight-member economic bloc that brings together Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda.

Over a million people have fled South Sudan since conflict erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked Machar from the vice-presidency. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in South Sudan's worst ever violence since it seceded from Sudan in 2011

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (JUBA) – Members of South Sudan's national dialogue steering committee are currently in South Africa for a three-day retreat.

The over 20-member team is led by the committee's co-chair, Angelo Beda.

The spokesperson for the delegation to South Africa said the team seeks learns from experiences of South African on how they managed their processes and differences, which saw an end to apartheid system in the country mainly dominated by the blacks.

“We will be meeting with the South Africans and a few other international personalities to discuss the national dialogue process and how it's going and to try to learn from the experience of others and in the sense to sharpen the strategy of the national dialogue,” he said.

Several regional and international experts are expected at the retreat.

Deng, a former diplomat, did not, however, say whether the team will seek an audience with the rebel leader Riek Machar while in South Africa where he has been under house arrest since last year.

Meanwhile, other sources, as well as the delegation members, told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that the team will ask the South African deputy president to arrange if they could talk to the rebel leader.

“We will not give up because there is nothing personal. Our interest in this process is to end the war and ensure there is peace so that people in the displaced camps and those who have fled the country returns to their homes so that they can resume their normal life and stability returns,” Deng told reporters in the capital, Juba.

He added, “So we will not stop, even if we did not succeed in the first trip. We will again try this time through the South Africa's Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, who promised us last time [that] he [will] continues to encourage Riek Machar to participate in the national dialogue”.

Officially launched in May, the national dialogue is both a forum and process through which the people South Sudan shall gather to redefine the basis of their unity as it relates to nationhood, redefine citizenship and belonging, as well as restructure the state for national inclusion.

Since December 2013, tens of thousands of people have been killed and over two million displaced in South Sudan's worst ever violence since its cessation from Sudan in July 2011.

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The opposition National Umma Party (NUP) has criticized the demand of the Nuba Mountains body of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (SPLM-North al-Hilu) for self-determination.

NUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi speaks to reporters at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 30 November 2014 (ST)

The SPLM-N Nuba Mountains Liberation Council (NMLC) held an extraordinary conference in the rebel-controlled area of Heiban in South Kordofan from 4 to 7 October 2017, ahead of the Extraordinary General Conference after a rift that broke it into two groups last June.

The three-day meeting was attended by 475 delegates representing all the districts of the Nuba Mountains. It was addressed by the leader of the group Abdel Aziz al-Hilu in the presence of his deputy Jacod Mekouar and SPLA-N Chief of Staff Izat Koko Angelo.

“After extensive deliberations and discussions, the participants passed the Crucial Issues Document, including the right of self-determination for the people of the Nuba Mountains/ South Kordofan, and then the conference endorsed the organizational performance report,” said a statement released on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the NUP leader al-Sadiq al-Mahdi said his party was invited to attend the SPLM-N al-Hilu conference.

“However, what came out of the Nuba Mountains conference, if true, is considered unfortunate because it didn't fulfill their promise to abide by the Sudan Call, and it left no room to heal the rift within the Movement and didn't renew their commitment to the Roadmap signed by the Sudan Call parties with the Mbeki mechanism and insisted on self-determination,” he said.

The Sudanese government and Sudan Call signed in March and August 2016 the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) headed by Thabo Mbeki, including several steps towards their participation in a national constitutional process inside Sudan.

Al-Mahdi further expressed surprise that the Movement which calls for the liberation of Sudan insists on granting the right of self-determination for a part of the country “even though everyone knows the failed experience of the self-determination”.

He was alluding to the secession of South Sudan following the self-determination referendum in 2011 and the subsequent state of anarchy which prevailed in the newborn country.

The Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-N rebels in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011.

The SPLM-N is now divided into two factions: one led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu and the other led by Agar. The rift emerged several months ago over the right of self-determination and other organisational issues.

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October 9, 2017 (JUBA) - The Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) has urged the United Nations Security Council and the United States government to impose sanctions on South Sudan President Salva Kiir and First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai for allegedly instigating the violence that has blocked peace in the country.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune, CPJ's coordinator Tito Anthony claimed President Kiir used Gai, a former rebel chief negotiator, to create instability by failing to implement the 2015 peace accord.

“The reason why president Kiir is to be sanctioned, it's because he is using Taban Deng to fight the war on behalf of the government and Taban Deng will claim that it is his troop that are fighting with Riek Machar forces, not only that, but, the president is also supplying Taban Deng Gai with ammunition to fight the war and that is destruction,” Tito said on Monday.

He claimed Gai created the mess in the country and blocked the peace dividends, which allegedly makes him liable for sanctions.

“Taban must be sanctioned because the world is now planning on how to end this conflict and yet Taban Deng is sending his troops to go and fight in Pagak and Bieh state”, stressed the CPJ coordinator.

The official said President Kiir and his First Vice President, who both serve in the coalition government, must take responsibility for the massive destruction caused in the country as a result of the civil war.

“The implications are not only [about] sanctions, but one day they [Kiir and Gai] must face the court of law for their conspiracy against the people of South Sudan,” Tito further told Sudan Tribune.

Last month, the US government placed sanctions on three close associates of South Sudan's president, saying they had personally profited from a climate of corruption in a government that has been called a kleptocracy.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Gen. Malek Reuben Riak Rengu, the army's deputy chief of staff in charge of military procurement; and Michael Makuei Lueth, South Sudan's information minister. In addition, sanctions were placed on Paul Malong Awan, who was chief of staff of the South Sudan People's Liberation Army until President Salva Kiir fired him in May.

Three companies owned or controlled by Riak also were sanctioned.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions were in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in South Sudan and the role of officials in undermining stability and peace.

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October 9, 2017 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese government says it plans to start re-integrating former armed opposition fighters (SPLA-IO) in Northern Liech state into the country's national army (SPLA).

Colonel Dickson Gatluak (ST Photo)

The spokesperson for the SPLM-IO Juba faction, Col. Dickson Gatluak Jok said members of the armed opposition faction welcomed the order, which seeks to bring diversity within the national army.

“This re-integration exercise will also bring change in the warring communities and in military bases in the whole country,” said Jok.

He said as a partner in the coalition government, the SPLM-IO under the leadership of the country's First Vice-President, Taban Deng Gai, regard the process as an important milestone in the country's army.

“As stipulated in the transitional security arrangements (Chapter ll), it is the duty for warring parties to disseminate the provisions of this agreement to all their forces,” stressed Jok in the statement.

He emphasised the need for equal treatment within the national army.

Jok said members of the armed opposition infantry forces who will soon take part in a military parade after being re-integrated include, Lt. Gen. Peter Dor Manjur Gatluak, Major Gen. Karlo Kuol Ruai, Major Gen. William Gueh Duop, Major Gen. Micheal Makal Kuol Deng, Major Gen. David Joang Puk, Major Gen. Stephen Bol Puok Bur, Major Gen. Peter Toar Nyuel and Major Gen. Mayiel Thai Wuor Naam.

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October 9, 2017 (WASHINGTON) – A high-level South Sudanese delegation led by its Finance and Planning Minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau is in Washington DC to attend the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Boards of Governors.

The South Sudanese delegation attending the IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington DC, October 9, 2017 (Larco Lomayat)

The annual meeting will take place from 09-15 October.

The event brings together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, parliamentarians, private sector executives, civil society representatives and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.

Seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial system will grace the event.

Also on South Sudan team are the Central Bank Governor, Othom Rago Ajak, first undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Agak Achuil Lual, Director General of Budget in the Finance Ministry, Simon Kimang Lado, Deputy Director for Statistics and Research, Bank of South Sudan,Charles Abugo Joseph, Technical Advisor for Policy, Aid Coordination and External Affairs in the Finance and Planning ministry, Abraham Diing Akoi.

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October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Ms Marta Ruedas, Monday called to release a Swiss aid worker recently abducted in North Darfur.

United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Ms. Marta Ruedas on 21-August-2017(Photo PaulinaRothova/UN)

Margaret Schenkel was kidnapped by unknown gunmen from her residence in El-Fasher on 7 October 2017. There is no demand for ransom by the abductors while the Sudanese authorities launched search operation to find here.

“I am deeply shocked by this incident. Targeting aid workers who provide neutral, impartial and life-saving humanitarian assistance is a crime under International Humanitarian Law,” said Ms Ruedas.

“I would like to urge all parties to ensure her safe release and well-being,” Ms Ruedas added.

This is the third incident of aid worker abduction in Darfur over the past two years.

Unconfirmed reports from El-Fasher say she has been abducted by the members of a pro-government militia to protest the non-payment of their salaries.

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October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Nuba Mountains body of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (SPLM-North al-Hilu) demands self-determination for the war-torn, southern area of the country.

The SPLM-N Nuba Mountains held an extraordinary conference in the rebel-controlled area of Heiban in South Kordofan from 4 to 7 October 2017, ahead of the Extraordinary General Conference after a rift that broke it into two groups last June.

The three-day meeting was attended by 475 delegates representing all the districts of the Nuba Mountains. It was addressed by the leader of the group Abdelaziz al-Hilu in the presence of his deputy Jacod Mekouar and SPLA-N Chief of Staff Izat Koko Angelo.

"After extensive deliberations and discussions, the participants passed the Crucial Issues Document. including The right of self-determination for the people of the Nuba Mountains/ South Kordofan, and then the conference endorsed the organizational performance report," said a statement released on Monday.

Also, the extraordinary meeting elected 110 members to the Nuba Mountains Liberation Council (NMLC) and designated 122 members as delegates to the Extraordinary General Conference.

Initially, the general conference had been scheduled to start on 6 October. But it was delayed due to the difficulties faced by the delegates to reach the landlocked area, and also because of some organizational matters related to the representation of the different areas outside the Nuba Mountains.

Sudanese opposition groups were not able to travel to the venue of the meeting after the rejection of the South Sudanese embassy in Khartoum to grant them as a visa to South Sudan from where they can reach the rebel-held area.

It is not clear if the general conference will follow the conclusions of the Nuba Mountains body or decline to endorse the demand for self-determination.

Last April, the NMLC decided to suspend peace talks and sacked the SPLM-N Secretary-General and Chief Negotiator, Yasir Arman, because he had refused to include the self-determination in the position paper of the rebel group during the peace negotiations with the government.

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October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North led by Malik Agar (SPLM-N Agar) said it received a letter from the United Nations stating the Movement has been included in the list of organizations collaborating to protect children in conflict zones.

On 30 June 2015, the SPLM-N signed the Geneva Call's Deed of Commitment for the Protection of Children (DCPC) and became the first African armed non-State actor (ANSA) to commit to child protection.

The Commitment is a mechanism developed by the Geneva Call, allowing the signatories from the rebel groups that cannot become parties to international treaties, to agree to respect a set of norms related to child protection and provide them with the aid and care they require.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Monday, SPLM-N Agar spokesperson Mubarak Ardol welcomed the move, expressing readiness to collaborate with the UN to complete the remaining steps to protect children and women in conflicts zones.

He added that chairman Agar received a letter from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) congratulating the Movement on the inclusion of its name in the list of organizations collaborating to protect children in conflict zones.

Ardol pointed out that the SPLM-N had earlier established a commission for the protection of children and women in war zones, pointing to the signing of the DCPC in 2015.

He also added that Agar had signed the joint plan for the protection of children in conflict zones in Geneva in the presence of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui and the UNICEF resident representative in Sudan Abdallah El-Fadil.

The Sudanese army has been fighting the SPLM-N rebels in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan, also known as the Two Areas since 2011.

The SPLM-N is now divided into two factions: one in the Nuba Mountains led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu and the other in the Blue Nile State led by Agar. The rift emerged several months ago over the right of self-determination and other organisational issues.

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October 9, 2017 (JUBA)- South Sudanese peace partners in the national unity government have released conflicting statements in which they expressed divergent opinions over their participation in the proposed revitalization of the 2015 peace agreement by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The former political detainees in the unity government on Saturday issued a statement welcoming separate consultations proposed by IGAD to revitalize the 2015 peace agreement, saying they do not see any problem in separate consultation with all individual parties or even entity.

“We do not see any issue in IGAD consulting all parties separately or even as one entity. It is our strong belief and hope that the convening of the proposed ARCSS Revitalization Forum by IGAD, will greatly enhance current efforts being undertaken by the parties to the agreement in South Sudan and their regional and international partners, to bring about durable peace and stability to our war-torn country and the immense suffering of our people”, the October 7th, 2017 statement reads in part.

Their statement was preceded by two other separate statements issued on Friday 6 by members of the opposition faction of Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In-Opposition (SPLM-IO) under the leadership the First Vice-President, Taban Deng Gai and the leader of the alliance of political parties calling itself as national agenda group under the minister of cabinet affairs, Martin Elia Lomuro.

Minister Lomuro wrote that the approach IGAD proposes implies the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) does not exist and the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan is indeed dead, and further that the revitalization Forum is intended to resuscitate it as stated by many times by anti-peace element South Sudanese politicians.

The Secretary-General of the Sudan People's Liberation In Opposition under Taban Deng Gai, Dhieu Mathok Diing Wol told Sudan Tribune on Friday that the proposal by the regional countries undermines the existence of the unity, expressing the need to be consulted as part of the government instead of individual parties. He equated individual consultation to fresh negotiations on the peace deal.

However, the former detainees say they do not subscribe to the views of the other parties, explaining that separate talks, will help the parties to address the immense challenges implementation of the accord.

“We do not share the above interpretations of the revitalization process. Instead, we believe that the process can help the parties to address the immense challenges facing the implementation of the peace agreement,” the statement of the former detainees released to the public reads in part.

The group said it is their strong belief and hope the convening of the proposed revitalization forum of the peace agreement will greatly enhance current efforts being undertaken by the parties to the agreement and regional partners to bring about durable peace and stability to the war-torn country.

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October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Security meetings between two border states in Sudan and Ethiopia have called the deployment of joint forces along the border between the two countries to fight smuggling, human trafficking and outlaw gangs.

Despite the strong ties between Sudan and Ethiopia, there are serious criminal activities in the border areas including smuggling and human trafficking to reach Egypt and Libya through the Sudan.

At the end of the joint meetings in the Ethiopian city of Bahr Dar, the security committee of Sudan's Gedaref state and Ethiopia's Amhara region agreed to recommend to their respective national governments to approve to the deployment of joint forces along the border.

The committee, according to a press statement released Monday, the two delegations agreed to "form a high committee composed of security forces commanders border officials from the two sides to assess the scale of violations on agricultural land."

The statement further stressed the need to fight the different forms of smuggling, human trafficking, weapons, ammunition and drugs, and to fight outlaw gangs, and to ensure the establishment of security and stability and to make the border areas for mutual benefits.

For his part, Gadaref Governor Merghani Salih Sayed Ahmed stressed the importance of ensuring security and continuing work on development projects along the border strip to achieve stability in the border zone.

The governor of Amhara region Kadu AndrKago renewed his government's keenness to stop all aggressors on Sudanese agricultural land and to fight all kinds of smuggling, weapons and drugs.

There many disputes between Ethiopian and Sudanese farmers over the ownership of framers on the border area particularly between Al-Fashga and Gadaref. Also,

Also, the Eritrea based Ethiopian rebel groups try often to cross the Sudanese border heading to Ethiopia, but the Sudanese authorities arrest the opponents and deliver them to Ethiopia.

The border areas, also, witnessed more than once the use of Ethiopian opponents, mostly fighters, from Eritrea to Sudan, handed over by the Ethiopian authorities.

(ST)