Africa

March 19, 2017 (JUBA) – The office of South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has dismissed reports claiming the country's leader had allegedly confirmed the "death" of Rebecca Nyandeng Garang, widow of South Sudan's ruling party (SPLM) founder, John Garang.

Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior (ST File Photo)

Ateny Wek Ateny, the presidential spokesman said Kiir's alleged confirmation of Nyandeng's "death" that circulated on social media was “just an evil-wishing spree.”

The presidential spokesman said Nyandeng has immediate and extended family members who would have confirmed or denied such news, if any.

"President Kiir has not spoken to anybody about the passing of John Garang's widow nor did he mention the word ‘dead' of any opposition leader," he said.

Ateny advised members of the public to disregard the news and treat it as a scam.

(ST)

March 19, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - European Union Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion, Jan Figel, called on the Sudanese government to released two Sudanese pastors sentenced together with a Czech missionary last February.

Hassan Abdel-Rahim and Abdel-Moni'm Abdel-Mawla were sentenced to 12 years for colluding with the Czech filmmaker who had been condemned for espionage, waging war against the state and inciting hatred against religious congregations.

"The Envoy called for the pardoning of the two Sudanese pastors, sentenced along with the released Czech Missionary Peter Jašek," said a statement released by the European Union delegation in Sudan at the end of Figel's visit to the east African country.

Jašek has been pardoned by President Omer al-Bashir upon the request of the Czech government.

The statement further disclosed that the European envoy had been allowed to meet the human rights defender Mudawi Ibrahim in his detention who has been in custody without charge since last December.

Sources close to the file say Mudawi's case will be soon filled to the court as the investigation have been concluded.

The envoy, according to the statement, discussed the constitutional amendments and their compliance with international human rights law and pointed that the importance that the legislative framework also reflects these standards.

“A fair state must be organised around equal citizenship for all. Diversity enriches while uniformity weakens societies," said Jan Figel.

During his three-day visit, Figel met with Sudanese ministers for Foreign Affairs and Endowments and Guidance, and members of the parliament. Also, he visited the National Human Rights Commission and Council of Islamic Fiqh, Nour Mosque, and Coptic Church.

Jan Figel announced that he will brief the EU Parliament and other EU institutions about his visit.

The Sudanese government has good relations with Germany and Italy. Further, it seeks to improve relations with the European Union and the resumption of it economic support to Sudan which is suspended since the coup d'état of 1989.

(ST)

March 17, 2017 (BOR) - Authorities in South Sudan's Jonglei state have intensified calls for the enactment of forest laws, saying illegal cutting of trees has led to loss of thousands of indigenous tree species in the area.

Forest loss along the edge of Mount Dongotomea in South Sudan from Google Earth.

The director general in the state agriculture and forestry state, Del Anyieth said there has been rampant cutting down of trees by unauthorized people for charcoal business, in addition to those who use it to create settlement areas.

The practice, he said, could lead to complete loss of forests, if uncontrolled.

“Forest laws are supposed to be passed in this country, and when these laws are passed, there should be forest reserves, if they are marked, they can be deserted to make sure that there is no encroachment. When the state has a forest reserve that means there is a future for that”, Anyieth told reporters in the capital, Bor Saturday.

“We have seen a lot of destruction taking place. Forest is being cut without permits, without laws and protection. Supposed if forest laws are passed, there will be protection”, stressed the senior ministry official.

He urged cabinet and lawmakers in Jonglei state to swiftly enact laws that will allow his directorate control random cutting of trees in the surrounding areas.

South Sudan has no forestry policy. And authorities are worried they could lose the country's tropical forests; unless stringent measures are put in place to curb the rampant rate of illegal logging.

These fears come barely a year after conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warned of dangers the lie ahead as the country's wildlife and natural resources face an alarming expansion of illegal exploitation, trafficking and logging.

The report, the agency stated, was based on scientific monitoring and investigations undertaken its team undertook in cooperation with local partners over the past months, which documented a sharp rise in illegal activities in various areas of the young nation.

Cited as an immediate threat to South Sudan's forests were illegal logging, gold mining and charcoal production, among others.

Sadly, however, these illegal activities are reportedly being perpetrated by local and international individuals and actors, including members of various armed groups active in the country.

South Sudan is currently embroiled in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of the population, displacing nearly two million of them.

According to conservationists, prior to the outbreak of its war in December 2013, South Sudan's extensive areas of untouched natural woodlands, forests, and savannas, were home to wildlife populations including approximately 2,500 elephant, hundreds of giraffes, the endemic Nile Lechwe and white-eared kob tiang, Mongalla antelope migrations, wild dog and chimpanzees.

However, over the past two years of armed conflict, the various armed forces across the country, WCS said, have been implicated in several cases of large-scale illegal exploitation of natural resources.

A 2010 study conducted by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), dubbed the "Forest Resources Assessment", estimated that a high rate of up to 2,776 square kilometres of forests and other wooded land were being lost annually in South Sudan.

(ST)

March 18, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan government has resolved to establish a ministry for foreign affairs, an institution that would be tasked to coordinate regional relations.

South Sudanese information minister Michael Makuei Lueth attends a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 5 January 2014 (Photo: AP/Elias Asmara)

This was reached at during the weekly council of minister's meeting chaired by the South Sudanese leader, Salva Kiir Friday.

The information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, said a minister will be appointed by the president, regardless of criticisms over the peace agreement, which limits the number of the national ministers to 30 be shared by the various political partners to the August 2015 peace accord.

“The Council of Ministers has resolved to form a Minister of East African Affairs and gave the President the go-ahead to appoint the minister,” said Makuei.

War-torn South Sudan became a member of the East African regional body (EAC) in 2016, joining Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. South Sudan appointed seven representatives for the East African Legislative Assembly last week and will appoint members to sit on the East African Court in Arusha, Tanzania.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

March 18, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) - The number of South Sudan refugees fleeing to neighbouring Ethiopia has seen a surge since the beginning of March, the UN refugee agency said on Saturday.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a statement it extended to Sudan Tribune Saturday said over 600 South Sudan refugees are crossing borders to Ethiopia in March on daily basis, due to the ongoing conflict and food scarcity.

“The daily arrival rate has significantly jumped from 103 persons in February and 199 in February to 660 so far in March,” it said.

Between 1 and 11 March 2017, a total of 7,258 South Sudanese refugees have arrived in Ethiopia's Gambella region.

Of these, 3,967 arrived in the week of 6 to 11 March, representing a daily average arrival rate of 660 people.

The latest influx has brought the total number of South Sudanese refugees who have arrived in Ethiopia since September 2016 to 68,858.

All the new arrivals have gone through level-1 registration and were most of them relocated to Nguenyyiel refugee camp, one of South Sudan refugee camps in Gambela region bordering South Sudan.

Pagak, a border town of South Sudan continues to be the main entry point through which an increasing number of South Sudanese refugees are crossing into Gambella, Ethiopia.

Between 1 February and 11 March 2017, a total of 12,828 refugees crossed through Pagak.

So far in March, 7,258 arrivals were registered in Pagak and all, but 192, were relocated to Nguenyyiel refugee camp while other new arrivals remain in Pagak, awaiting relocation.

According to the latest report, 65% of the total registered new arrivals are children, including 15,488 unaccompanied and separated children.

A recent sample survey conducted in Pagak revealed that the new arrivals originated mainly from Upper Nile State (Nasir, Longechuk or Mathiang, Ulang and Maiwut Counties) and Jonglie State (Uror, Akobo and Ayod Counties).

Conflict and food insecurity were cited as the main reasons for leaving South Sudan.

The majority (87%) continue to be women and children. A good number of those who arrived in March originated from Bentiu.

According to the UN refugee agency, as of 15 March, Ethiopia hosted more than 356,000 South Sudanese refugees who originate mostly from Upper Nile and Jonglie States, as well as some from the Unity state.

In addition to registration and protection, WASH, Nutrition, Primary Health Care and other services are available and functioning well at the entry point.

As South Sudan refugees continue to flee to Ethiopia in large numbers, UNHCR in close collaboration with its Ethiopian partner, Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) is in the process of ensuring maximum preparedness by reviewing the capacity of Nguenyiel camp and the identification of possible sites for new camps.

"With Nguenyyiel quickly reaching its capacity and no readily available site for establishing additional camps in the Gambella region, the possibility of transferring new arrivals to the Benishangul- Gumuz Region is being considered," the agency said.

"UNHCR and ARRA are in the process of identifying a suitable site in that region" it added.

Given the ongoing conflict and food insecurity in the newest nation, UNHCR together with ARRA and other partners, have also finalised a draft Contingency Plan to respond to the possibility of a renewed influx of refugees from South Sudan.

The draft contingency plan foresees the arrival of potential more refugees in Ethiopia and fund shorting.

(ST)

March 18, 2017 (JUBA)- The South Sudanese government has protested to a confidential report by a panel of experts who were appointed by the United Nations on findings accusing the government of buying weapons while the country was experiencing a devastating famine.

Arms and light weapons have been used by both warring parties in South Sudan to commit abuses (Photo courtesy of SSANSA)

The U.N. panel of experts recommended the government to consider an arms embargo.

South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters after Friday's weekly briefing that “we have not bought arms for the last two to three years."

The Minister went on to say that the government had the right to acquire weapons for self-defence. "We have rights to buy arms for self-protection or self-defence. So this idea of the UN saying the government of South Sudan doesn't care about its people and they are fan of buying arms all the time is not correct," said Lueth.

The minister also dismissed the accuracy of the report, claiming it was biased.

Lueth strongly denied buying weapons, however multiple military sources have told the Sudan Tribune on Saturday that weapons were acquired and the information was leaked by officers at the procurement and logistics department.

The leaking of this information has resulted in the arrest of many military officers, while others left the country. Other military officers formed a rebellion.

“It is true there has been a plan to acquire weapons and this information was leaked to the UN by some of our officers in the directorate for logistics. Some of these officers have now left the country. Others like Thomas Cirilo Swaka have rebelled. So it was the work of rebels from within,” a high ranking military officer told Sudan Tribune Saturday.

Famine was recently declared in Mayendit, a village in South Sudan's Unity state, the latest crisis in the country's three-year civil war. About 100 000 people are said to be at risk, and aid groups are pleading for access. At least 5 million people or more than 40% of the nation's population are need urgent assistance, aid agencies say.

Years of civil war, a refugee crisis and a collapsing economy have taken a toll on South Sudan since it gained independence in 2011. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in the country's worst ever violence since it seceded from North Sudan in 2011.

(ST)

March 18, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Chairman of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) Malik Agar Saturday acknowledged that his deputy Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu has tendered his resignation but didn't mention whether or not it was accepted.

Abdel Aziz Adam El-Hilu (ST)

A twelve-page resignation addressed to the Nuba Mountain Liberation Council, SPLM-N's highest political authority in the Nuba Mountains, and signed by al-Hilo has widely circulated on social media on Friday.

Also, there were media leaks that the Nuba Mountain Liberation Council has issued a number of decisions which involves changing the negotiating team with the government headed by SPLM-N secretary-general Yasir Arman.

In a press release extended to Sudan Tribune Saturday, Agar confirmed his deputy's resignation, denying that any changes have taken place on SPLM-N political and military structure including its negotiating team with the government.

“The only body that would deal with the political issues is the leadership council and the military issues would be dealt with by the SPLM-N chief of general staff,” he said.

Agar accused what he described as “suspicious circles” of seeking to his deputy's resignation to settle scores with the SPLM-N and its leadership and political stances.

“The resignation is true and it would be handled properly and all issues contained in it including the call for self-determination for the Nuba Mountain would be discussed within the regulatory frameworks of the SPLM-N and its leadership and on top of that the leadership council,” Agar said.

The rebel leader stressed the SPLM-N would adhere to the unilateral cessation of hostilities it has declared earlier except for self-defence, pointing the Movement is committed to its stances within the Sudan Call and Sudan Revolutionary Front.

He pointed out the Movement wouldn't abandon issues pertaining to political and security arrangements in the Two Areas besides the comprehensive political solution, saying they will continue to push forward theses issues internally and abroad.

Agar further underscored that the New Sudan project is the SPLM-N's political programme, saying the project is open for the participation of all Sudanese.

SELF-DETERMINATION

Informed sources within the SPLM-N have told Sudan Tribune that al-Hilu continued to demand the Movement's negotiators to raise the issue of self- determination of Nuba Mountain at the negotiating table, saying the refusal of the negotiating team to consider his demand pushed him to tender his resignation.

According to sources, al-Hilu should have addressed his resignation to the SPLM-N leadership council instead of the Nuba Mountain Liberation Council because the former is body entrusted with handling these issues.

In his resignation dated, on 7 March, al-Hilu disclosed differences among the three executive officers of the national leadership council, saying these differences “went beyond the secondary matters to the principles and orientations”.

He pointed that the major disagreement between himself and Agar and Arman evolve around the Movement's manifesto and constitution besides the negotiating position, stressing the SPLM-N has been working without manifesto for six years.

Al-Hilo also accused Arman of controlling the decision-making process, saying the selection of Movement's heads of external offices is done according to “personal mode”.

He also mentioned differences with Arman regarding the Movement's stance towards the security arrangements with the government.

He disclosed that on the security arrangements, he said that Arman last August handed over to the African Union mediation the same position included in Agar-Nafei agreement of 28 June 2011, while he agreed with him in January 2016 to ask for a 20-year period security arrangements deal.

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

(ST)

March 18, 2017 (JUBA) – The Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni said the conflict in South Sudan would only come to an end if the parties at war return to the negotiating table, stressing that a war would not solve the problem.

President Salva Kiir (L) shakes hands with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni (R) after signing a peace agreement on August 26, 2015 (Photo AFP /Charles Lomodong)

“The warring groups must hold negotiations aimed at two things, holding elections and reforming the security sector,” said Museveni on Friday during a meeting with a visiting the Chinese Special Representative on African Affairs.

The Ugandan leader appreciated the involvement from the Chinese government in the process of seeking a way to end the conflict in South Sudan. “We discussed the situation in South Sudan. Glad China is taking interest in this conflict,” he said.

According to President Museveni's official twitter account, he met Xu Jinghu, the Chinese Government Special Representative on African Affairs and her delegation on Friday at the State House.

President Museveni, who has been a lifeline and the only close political ally in the region of President Salva Kiir for the period of conflict in the country, attributed the conflict in the country to the leadership failure to guide the people of the country, stating the group did not have clear headed leadership.

“The main problem in South Sudan is ideological. The groups there do not have a clear headed leadership to guide the people about their future. They push the pseudo ideology of sectarianism of tribes & yet this is detrimental to the people's well being. Force can't solve the conflict,” said the Ugandan leader.

Museveni called on the “warring groups” to hold negotiations with the aim to establish a security sector and hold elections. His call for negotiation follows a similar call made by American lawmakers on President Donald Trump to appoint a high Special Envoy.

12 United States Senators and Congressmen, in a letter dated 24 February 2017, called on US newly elected President Donald J. Trump, to appoint a new high-level Special Envoy for South Sudan and Sudan with International Status to bring the “urgently needed diplomatic leadership to international efforts to achieve a sustainable peace in and between the two countries”.

The Senators also called on the Africa Union through its high-level representative to South Sudan, to reinvigorate an inclusive political process to end South Sudans' conflict. While President Donald Trump is yet to respond, the regional leaders have begun to talk about inclusive process instead of taking side.

Omar Hassan el Bashir, Sudan President called for an inclusive political process, saying that South Sudan would not have peace without including the leader of armed opposition, Riek Machar. Bashir said that Machar controls wide areas in the country.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir also indicated his readiness to pardon Machar if he denounces violence.

(ST)

This Saturday, Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state and government will meet in Swaziland. The subregional organization, which includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, should use this meeting to help resolve the political and human rights crisis in Congo.

On February 24, SADC foreign ministers called for the urgent nomination of a new prime minister in Congo and for a rapid application of the New Year’s Eve deal. With the appointment of the new government and implementation of the deal still largely stalled, regional heads of state and government should reiterate this call strongly and clearly.

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Congolese Catholic Church (CENCO) Bishops Fidele Nsielele (left), Marcel Utembi (center), and Fridolin Ambongo (right) arrive to mediate talks between the opposition and the government of President Joseph Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, December 21, 2016.

© 2016 Reuters

They should also call on the Congolese authorities to quickly and fully implement the confidence-building measures agreed upon in the deal. Those include releasing and dropping charges against political leaders and activists targeted because of their peaceful political views or activities and opening barred media outlets.

On February 22, Congo’s Roman Catholic bishops warned that the political deadlock coupled with the escalation of conflict in parts of Congo could “plunge [the] country into an uncontrollable chaos.” Violence has intensified across the country in recent months, leaving several hundred people dead, including in the Kasai provinces, Tanganyika, North Kivu, and Kongo Central, as well as in the capital, Kinshasa.  “Is it only by accident that this [intensified violence] occurs in this pre-electoral period?” the bishops said, adding that they feared “a design with the aim of delaying or preventing” elections.

On February 25, the United Nations Security Council called on all stakeholders in Congo “to redouble, in good faith, their efforts towards a speedy conclusion of the ongoing talks on the ‘arrangements particuliers’ of the agreement.”

The United States, which played a major role in pressing for elections and defending human rights during the Obama administration, has been rather silent on Congo under President Donald Trump. The US could, and should, be doing more, including a new round of targeted sanctions against abusive officials. As the Washington Post recently put it, “another explosion of bloodshed in Central Africa” is “something that even an ‘America First’ president should want to stop.”

The European Union, meanwhile, made a strong call for urgent implementation of the New Year’s Eve deal in its March 6 foreign affairs council conclusions on Congo. Foreign ministers also instructed High Representative Federica Mogherini to start the process for new targeted sanctions, looking at “those responsible for serious human rights violations or for incitement to violence and those who would obstruct a consensual and peaceful solution to the crisis.”

It is time for regional leaders to take a stand. Their engagement last year played a role in pressing President Joseph Kabila and others to accept the Catholic Church-mediated agreement. But continued, high-level engagement is needed to ensure that the agreement holds and that credible elections are organized, and to prevent an already explosive situation in Congo from deteriorating even further. 

(Johannesburg) – The Angolan government must allow protesters to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today, ahead of a planned demonstration in Luanda for a woman’s right to have an abortion.

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A general view of Luanda, Angola, where organizers are planning a demonstration for women’s right to have an abortion on March 18, 2017. 

© 2014 Reuters

The protest, scheduled for March 18, 2017, is in response to the new draft penal code currently before parliament, which punishes, without exceptions, those who have or perform an abortion with up to 10 years in prison.

“We have often seen Angolan police use unnecessary and excessive force against peaceful demonstrators,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s regional director for Southern Africa.

Parliament approved an amendment on abortion on February 24, as part of the process of replacing Angola’s penal code from the 1886 colonial-era version. The government had proposed a bill that would criminalize abortion, except in cases of rape, or when the mother’s health is in danger. But parliament rejected that proposal and made abortion, without exceptions, illegal. The final vote on the draft penal code is slated for March 23.

Under the current penal code, abortion is also illegal. The organizers of the protest want the new code to end the ban on abortions. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch call for the decriminalization of abortion in all circumstances.

The protest organizers informed the Office of the Governor of Luanda Province, Gen. Higinio Carneiro, of their intention to march at 10 a.m. Central African Time from Santa Ana Cemetery to the Heroines Monument (Largo das Heroinas). As of March 17, the group had not received a reply.

“The right to protest is protected both under the constitution and international law, so the Angolan authorities have a duty to ensure that these protesters can march freely and without any intimidation,” said Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“Especially as elections approach, authorities should show that they will tolerate dissenting views.”

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