Africa

The armed thieves stole a haul of foreign currency in "Hollywood-style airport heist", reports say.

A powerful storm has brought strong winds and torrential rain to the island of Madagascar.

When the 2014 Ebola outbreak hit west Africa, the available vaccine had not been tested on humans.

Sudan and Somalia hit back at President Trump's new travel ban against six mainly Muslim nations.

In our series of letters from African journalists, Sola Odunfa examines the attitude of Nigerians to holidaying, at a time when President Muhammadu Buhari has spent more than a month on "medical vacation" in the UK.

Hearing the heart-wrenching stories of desperate families displaced in Somalia, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today urged a massive scale up in international support to avert a famine in the drought-striken Horn of Africa nation and curb the spread of cholera.

Populist politician Geert Wilders has turned his fire on Moroccans, but his campaign is faltering.

How a school science lab experiment is helping tackle the polluting smog that chokes Egypt's cities.

The United Nations political affairs chief today stressed that West Africa could be a model of how the UN can work with local partners in bringing stability to regions or sub-regions.

As a severe drought deepens in Somalia, the risk of famine is looming in the long-troubled country, with about half the population in need of some form of assistance, according to an assessment by United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners.

Mona Eltahawy was fed up of being lectured to by strangers - and so are thousands of others.

The initiatives aiming to help female flower pickers in Kenya fight sexual harassment and earn higher wages.

March 3, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - UN agencies and international aid groups are working with the Central Darfur authorities to rehabilitate local health and education facilities and provide humanitarian assistance to civilians who returned to Golo town in Jebel Marra.

Golo or Rokoro town is located in central and north Jebel Marra and administratively is part of Central Darfur State. The fighting between the government troops and rebel fighters during the past year (2016) forced about 100,000 civilians to flee the whole mountainious area.

However, the Sudanese government declared the area of Jebel Marra free of rebels and, in line with an agreement reached with the American administration, opened humanitarian access to the aid groups and vowed to implement a recovery programme in the affected areas.

Reporting about the humanitarian activities taking place in Golo, the (OCHA) said in its bimonthly bulletin that the World Food Programme (WFP) would "distribute one-month food rations (230 metric tonnes) to 25,564 IDPs and returnees".

While the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has identified some 4,000 people (800 families) to whom it will distribute emergency shelter and essential household supplies. The Danish group has already distributed agricultural supplies to 250 returnee families in Golo and plans to start a food voucher system for 600 vulnerable IDP families.

Concurrently, the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF), WFP and the State Ministry of Education (SMoE) have started a classroom rehabilitation programme. UNICEF provided classroom seating for 3,000 students in five schools as the SMoE rehabilitated 16 classrooms in two schools. The WFP will implement on the other hand a school feeding programmes.

Regarding the humanitarian medical activities, the report says that the UNICEF has established a cold chain system in Golo hospital and stocked it with vaccines. While the International Medical Corps (IMC) provided a number of health workers to conduct routine vaccinations.

"IMC has also sent basic medicines, an emergency response team, two medical doctors, one public health officer and 27 paramedical staff (seconded by the SMoH) to the primary health care and nutrition centres in Golo hospital as well as in Boori and Jokosti villages," OCHA further said.

Also, the state ministry of health, UNICEF are implementing a training programme for health workers to reduce the number of patients forced to come to the Golo hospital. In the same trend, international NGO Catholic Relief Services (CRS) will set up three out- patient therapeutic centres (OTPs) in Jokosti, Borri and Tero villages.

UNICEF donated a drilling rig to the Water and Environmental Sanitation Department (WES) in Golo to improve water services.

(ST)

March 3, 2017 (BOR)- The international humanitarian medical group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders Friday announced its exit from Bor state hospital following the successful implementation of a training programme in cooperation with the state Ministry of Health (MoH).

MSF field Coordinator, Mr Shaukat Muttaqi taking to ST in Bor state hospital

According to MSF field Coordinator, Mr Shaukat Muttaqi MSF decided to pull out its medical staff from Bor, following the completion of their assignment which they had been implementing for nearly three years.

“MSF is pulling out its medical support in Bor state hospital because we have like completed our program here. We came here with the objective of capacity building of the national staff that are working in Bor state hospital. The objectives that were assigned to us and we had agreed with the ministry of health, we had fulfilled them and based on completion of that, we are pulling out medical our team from the ground,” Muttaqi explained to Sudan Tribune on Thursday in Bor.

In the last three years of engagement, MSF trained 70 medical staff in various disciplines including paediatric care, outpatient consultations, immunisation, emergency and surgical care, pharmacy management, sterilisation, waste management, laundry services and in the running and maintenance of a laboratory in Bor state hospital.

“We were here for like almost three years, teaching and doing the classroom training MoH Staff, based on the completion of only those objectives, we feel that the staff are now competent enough to support the medical activities in the hospital,” Muttaqi continued.

MSF also conducted training in the Primary Healthcare centres and Units [PHCC & PHCU] in Twic East and Bor. MSF had recently responded to Cholera in the islands of Bor and Twic East by providing training to the health care staff on how best they can help the victims.

Apart from providing medical supply in the hospital and capacity building to the staff, doctors without borders had also intervened in different areas. Its team provided support to provide 151 surgeries, and 431 patients were admitted in the hospital's surgical ward, supported consultation for 1,390 outpatients and treated 3,415 people in the hospital's emergency department. 8, 982 children were also vaccinated, 1,802 paediatric patients were treated in the wards as well.

MSF is also operating in areas like Malut, Lankien Bentiu, Yuai and Malakal and Mayom.

Ministry of health had also reported a shortage of drugs in its stores, since November 2016.

Abraham Garang Dau, the state drug storekeeper, said some basic medicines for emergencies had been in stock to help them to response to few emergency cases. He further added this limited their capacity to treat everyone that come the government owned hospital.

(ST)

March 3, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan's army Friday announced the arrest of three soldiers accused of committing gross human rights violations including mass rape of women and girls in a village south of Juba.

Military spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang told reporters that three soldiers have been arrested after they were identified by the victims of the assault, which occurred in Kubi, some 50 kilometres from Juba.

The army made the arrest after community leaders reported at least 11 people were raped.

He the decision of the command to arrest the soldiers demonstrate to the citizens and the entire world that rape and other acts of atrocities are sanctioned by the government, saying it has never been a policy to rape women and burn down villages.

South Sudanese government has repeatedly been accused of reluctance to identify and arrest perpetrators of various crimes, dropping confidence in the government and assurances of commitment to maintaining rule of law and order.

While President Kiir and members of his administration has repeatedly vowed to punish perpetrators, the United Nations and various human right organisations have expressed concerns about the prevailing widespread of impunity for rights abuses.

(ST)

By Tesfs-Alem Tekle

March 3, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) - Ethiopia and Eritrea this week traded accusations over an alleged foiled attack on Ethiopia's multi-billion dollar power plant project, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, under construction in Nile river, some 25 kilometres away from the Sudanese
border.

Addis Ababa on Thursday said its security forces thwarted an attack attempt by 20 members of an Ethiopian armed opposition group, Benishanguel Peoples Liberation Movement.

Ethiopian officials said 13 members of the group were gunned down by security forces while they were approaching to launch attacks at the heavily guarded dam site while the remaining 7 who tried to escape to Sudan were arrested by Sudanese security forces and were handed over to Ethiopian authorities.

Ethiopia said the armed men travelled from Eritrea on a mission to attack the dam and thereby disrupt the construction process underway by over 8,000 workers 24 hours every day.

Zadig Abraha, state minister for government communication affairs said the armed group was sponsored by long-time rival Eritrea, an allegation the latter immediately dismissed.

A senior Eritrean official has rejected the allegations by Ethiopia saying his country has no knowledge of the alleged plot to attack the massive dam project being funded by the people and government of Ethiopia.

Eritrea information Minister, Yemane Gebremeskel in a tweeted message denying his country's involvement in over the alleged attack attempt.

"This whole accusation is preposterous and peddled for some sinister reason," Yemane told Bloomberg news agency.

The minister further went on to saying that he has "never heard of this group"

Ethiopia and Eritrea were engaged in a two-year long war between 1998-2,000 over border dispute routinely trade accusations of harbouring and supporting one the other's rebel groups.

In 2013 the self-styled Benishangul People's Liberation Movement laid its armed decided to function in accordance with the constitution of land.

However, it is not clear if this armed group under the same banner is the original one or a splinter group.

The group originated from Benishangul Gumez region where Ethiopia is building the 4.2 billion dollar hydropower plant project.

The power plant with a capacity of generating 6,450 MW of electricity is slated for completion in 2018.

Currently, 56% of its construction is completed.

(ST)

March 3, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - United States Congressman Jim McGovern has expressed strong disagreement with the easing of sanctions against Khartoum holding Sudanese parliament responsible for authorising repressive actions carried out by the government.

Last January, former President Barack Obama eased the 19-year economic and trade sanctions on Sudan. The decision came as a response to the collaboration of the Sudanese government in the fight against terrorism, denying safe haven to the South Sudanese rebels and, improving humanitarian access to people in need.

This week, Jim McGovern, a senior House Democrat and leading voice in Congress on human rights, met with the Speaker of the Sudanese Parliament Ibrahim Ahmed Omer.

In a press release on Tuesday, the Democratic Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission said during the meeting that Sudan's National Assembly and Omer in particular, “have been responsible for authorising many of the most repressive actions carried out by the regime of President Bashir”.

“And therefore are accountable for the murder of millions of their fellow citizens and for the humanitarian crisis in Sudan,” he added.

According to the press release, the Congressman “plans to reintroduce bipartisan legislation this year to impose targeted sanctions on the Sudanese government for its genocidal acts and crimes against humanity”.

McGovern insisted “on the continuing need for unfettered humanitarian access, the release of all political prisoners and the cessation of all hostilities” in order to further improving bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Sudan.

He accused the Sudanese government of renewing attacks against the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) positions in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile.

“Rather than ensure humanitarian access to South Kordofan, Darfur and Blue Nile, Khartoum has renewed offensive operations in South Kordofan, in violation of the agreements reached with the Obama Administration that resulted in the easing of sanctions,” he pointed out.

South Kordofan and neighbouring Blue Nile states have been the scene of violent conflict between the SPLM-N and Sudanese army since 2011.

Last August, the two sides failed to reach a humanitarian cessation of hostilities deal paving the way for political talks including the political opposition parties.

In a bid to break the deadlock in the peace talks between the Sudanese government and SPLM-N, the former U.S. Special Envoy Donald Booth last November proposed that the USAID will deliver medical humanitarian aid to civilians in the rebel-held areas by air directly after its inspection from the government.

The SPLM-N declined the proposal insisting on the need to transport 20% of the humanitarian aid directly from Ethiopian border town of Asosa to the rebel areas.

Meanwhile, U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Khartoum Steven Koutsis on Friday has urged the SPLM-N to allow humanitarian assistance to areas under its control saying the Sudanese government has agreed to the U.S. proposal in this regard.

In an opinion article published in Sudan Tribune on Friday, Koutsis reiterated the U.S. proposal saying Washington has offered to deliver humanitarian medical assistance to the people in SPLM-N controlled areas.

“Our offer to oversee and implement these deliveries intends to give confidence to the SPLM-N that the Government of Sudan would not be able to control or block aid provided under this mechanism,” said Koutsis.

He pointed that the Sudanese government “has agreed to this proposal, but as of yet, the SPLM-N has not allowed the proposal for humanitarian access to go forward”.

“Given current predictions of emergency-level food insecurity likely to occur within the next two months in SPLM-N controlled areas, an agreement to allow humanitarian access to begin now is critical to save lives,” he warned.

“The United States urges the SPLM-N to remove political conditions preventing humanitarian assistance from reaching populations in need and allow rapid deployment of humanitarian aid to civilians in the areas it controls,” he further said.

(ST)

The United Nations Security Council is today in Chad, as part of a four-country visit &#8220to shine a spotlight&#8221 on the ongoing humanitarian challenges in the Lake Chad Basin region and draw international attention to the plight of about 11 million people.

Hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan will starve unless relief workers gain access to needy populations and more funding is raised, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator today warned after meeting malnourished children who fled the raging conflict in the country.

March 3, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) Friday said it has agreed with the United Nations on a comprehensive plan to implement the child protection agreement signed between the two sides.

South Kordofan and the neighbouring Blue Nile states, also known as the Two Areas, have been the scene of violent conflict between the SPLM-N and Sudanese army since 2011.

In November 2016, SPLM-N signed an agreement with the UN in Geneva to end use of child soldiers in the rebel-held areas in the Two Areas.

The UN signed the same agreement with the Sudanese government security forces including the Sudan Armed Forces, the Popular Defense Forces (PDF) and the Sudan Police Forces on 27 March 2016.

A working group from the SPLM-N and the UN has held a workshop from 27 February to March 1, to discuss the implementation of the agreement.

In a statement issued on Friday, SPLM-N peace file spokesperson Mubarak Ardol said the two sides agreed on a comprehensive plan to implement the child protection agreement, pointing they also agreed on the use of humanitarian tracks that will be determined by an agreement between the movement and the Sudanese government.

The SPLM-N underscored commitment to protect children, women and civilians in war areas, renewing readiness to meet with the U.S. Administration to discuss any proposals on humanitarian issues.

Also, Ardol renewed his movement's readiness to respond to any invitation from the African Union High Implementation Panel (UNHIP) to resolve the humanitarian crisis, reiterating their position to give priority to resolving the humanitarian issue and separate it from any political agenda.

The African Union has been seeking to end the conflict for several years. However, last August, the two sides failed to sign a humanitarian cessation of hostilities agreement because Khartoum refuses to allow the delivery of food to civilians in some rebel-controlled areas in the Blue Nile State directly through Asosa, an Ethiopian Town near the border with Sudan.

In order to break the impasse on an agreement and facilitate humanitarian assistance, the United States last November has offered to deliver humanitarian medical assistance to the people in SPLM-N controlled areas.

However, the SPLM-N declined the American proposal and stuck to its demand for a humanitarian corridor through Asosa, to directly deliver 20% of the humanitarian aid to the civilians in the conflict-affected areas.

(ST)