Africa

February 6, 2017 (JUBA) -South Sudan president Salva Kiir had instructed the country's defence minister to execute soldiers who commits human right abuses and atrocities.

President Salva Kiir, (L), accompanied by army chief of staff Paul Malong Awan, (R), waves during an independence day ceremony in the capital Juba, on July 9, 2015 (Photo AP)

The president gave instructions at a religious function held in Yei town on Monday after visiting the region for the first time since conflict broke out in the country in 2013.

“Let us do one thing; we get rid of bad elements among us and we remain clean, pure and perfect," he said.

The South Sudanese leader said he will only be interested in receiving execution reports on soldiers found to have committed crimes.

“From today onward, if such a thing happens, I want them to bring me a report that somebody has committed such a crime and has been shot”, said the president.

South Sudan's image, its president said, will not be tarnished if the order is implemented and it will make the country free of crimes.

In July last year, 121 government soldiers were arrested on suspicion of committing crimes including rape and looting of civilians during clashes in the capital, Juba.

The arrest came after the army announced the establishment of a military court martial meant to try soldiers accused of committing crimes during the clashes that occurred between government forces (SPLA) loyal to President Kiir and the armed opposition faction (SPLA-IO) loyal to the former First Vice President Riek Machar.

The United Nations had, in a report, documented more than 120 cases of sexual violence, including rapes and gang rapes of women and minors that allegedly occurred during renewed clashes that left over 200 dead and thousands displaced.

South Sudan emerged from more than four decades of civil war at the cost of 2.5 million lives lost to gain independence from Sudan in July 2011. The country again slid back into chaos that has further killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million from their homes when Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup.

The country remains in chaos, despite the signing a peace deal in August 2015.

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February 5, 2017 (JUBA) – Members of South Sudan's armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) have warned of what they described as a humanitarian “catastrophic” in Unity state, if aid workers operating in the area fail to respond to needs of the people affected by war.

A view of the Protection of Civilians (POC) site near Bentiu, in Unity State, South Sudan (Photo UN/JC McIlwaine)

The spokesperson for rebels in the area, James Yoach Biding said Koch, Leer and Rubkotna counties were the areas worst-affected by the current crisis.

According to Yoach, those who fled fighting and sought refuge in the bushes for several months, no longer have access to humanitarian assistance, and this has put their lives at risk of famine.

“If there will be no quick humanitarian intervention, the areas of Koch, Leer and Rubkona counties shall have the worst humanitarian conditions record. You know that since last year, government forces devastated these locations by burning down house, looting properties and destroying health facilities,” he told Sudan Tribune.

Thousands of people, aid agencies say, fled their homes in the aftermath of clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those allied to the country's former First Vice-President, Riek Machar.

Yoach said those displaced by fighting lacked food, medicine and other essential items and have now been surviving on wild fruits and leaves for months in the bush.

Members of the armed opposition are now appealing for quick humanitarian intervention especially in remote areas before the situation is out of control.

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February 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) -The security apparatus detained for several hours the chairman of the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD), the independent group said in a statement released on Sunday.

The CCSD last week held a set-in outside the health ministry to reiterate their demand for protection, following the murder of a doctor in his private clinic in Sennar town in eastern South Sudan.

The doctor union said its chairman Mohamed Yassen had been arrested from the doctors barracks in Khartoum and held for eight hours at an office of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in Khartoum North.

The group condemned the arrest of its chairman and rejected the "barbaric manner" of the security service threatening the safety of Dr. Yassen and the other physicians.

According to the statement, Yssaen was released at 09.00pm local time after being ordered to return to the NISS office in Khartoum North on Monday morning, without explaining the reasons for his arrest.

In October and November of last year, the CCSD organised a series of strikes refusing non-emergency treatments to protest the poor working conditions, lack of medicines and protection of doctors after increasing attacks by frustrated patients and their families.

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February 5, 2017 (JUBA) – The Japanese government has approved the $22.4 million budget it had earmarked for South Sudan's humanitarian and reconstruction assistance through its partnership with international organizations.

JICA

South Sudan witnessed renewed violence in July 2016 when its rival forces clashed in the capital, Juba, killing hundreds of people and displacing thousands.

The incident pegged back the country's nation-building process, less than five years after it gained its independence from Sudan following a referendum.

The humanitarian needs in South Sudan are immense and ever accumulating.

“For our relief efforts to successfully reach those in need, we look to the South Sudanese government's utmost effort to ensure humanitarian access and improve security situations,” the Japanese government said in a statement.

It further added, “Our assistance also goes to essential ceasefire monitors”.

The donation, according to the Japanese envoy to South Sudan, will cater for reconstruction, development and restoration of social fabric, with a view to supporting the nation's efforts to keep the straight and narrow path to peace.

“I wholeheartedly wish that the array of our humanitarian and resilience-building assistance bears fruit and once and for all shines as a Guiding Star for those who endeavour to realize peace and reconciliation in each of their communities,” said Kiya Masahiko.

Under the 2017-2018 projects, the donation will support operations of aid agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), U.N Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), World Food Programme (WFP), U.N Refugee Agency (UNHCR), U.N Population Fund (UNFPA), the U.N Children's Fund (UNICEF), and U.N Development Program (UNDP) and World Health Organisation (WHO), among others.

Japan reportedly provided $13 million assistance to South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Japan's aggregate assistance to South Sudan since the December 2013 crisis reportedly reached $189million.

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February 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - South Kordofan government Sunday set -up a higher committee for the coordination of humanitarian and development action in the troubled state chaired by the Governor Issa Adam Abakr.

The formation of the committee comes in implementation of a presidential decision to coordinate the humanitarian activities in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan state, said the official news agency SUNA.

After a meeting held in Kadugli with the participation of the state ministries, the Governor Abakr, announced the formation of a technical committee for the humanitarian work chaired by the minister of social affairs and another for the development, besides several other committees for health, education, water, and IDPs.

These technical bodies, which are chaired by the general directors of the concerned ministries, have to facilitate the procedures and the movement of the various aid groups and development organizations to perform their work in the state.

The Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), last December reviewed the guidelines and directives of humanitarian action in the country. The government body removed all the restrictions on the humanitarian access, and limited the ban to the risky conflict areas, for the other areas the aid groups have only to notify their decision before 48 hours.

Later on, Washington disclosed that decision was part of a five-track engagement process with Khartoum to lift the sanctions. The improvement of humanitarian conditions in the Two Areas if confirmed next July will lead to remove sanctions on Sudan definitively.

South Kordofan governor directed the different committees to develop clear polices and plans, and to tighten coordination between foreign aid groups and the United Nations organizations working in the humanitarian and development fields.

The meeting was attended by the State Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, UN agencies, foreign and national aid and development organizations as well as security and military and police organs.

Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North have failed to reach an agreement on a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access. However, the two parties continue to abide by unilateral cessation of hostilities declaration they renews since last year.

According the UN agencies, as of 30 June 2016, the six year conflict in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile displaced around 600,000 civilians.

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February 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir said his government has repeatedly asked Egypt to not support the Sudanese opposition denying that Khartoum is hosting any leaders from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) meets with Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in Cairo on 18 October 2014 (Photo: Reuters)

During an interview with the Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV on Sunday, al-Bashir described his personal relationship with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as “very distinct”.

“However that doesn't preclude the presence of outstanding issues [between the two countries],” he said.

He pointed that their problem is not with President al-Sisi but rather the regime, stressing the “Egyptian intelligence is offering support to Sudanese opponents”.

However, President Bashir didn't identify the opposition groups supported by Cairo or develop his claims.

Al-Bashir went further to say that his government has repeatedly demanded Cairo to stop supporting the Sudanese opposition, denying that Khartoum is hosting leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We didn't host any Brotherhood leaders in Sudan because our policy is against harboring any hostile activities against any country,” he said.

Relations between Sudan and Egypt have been frosty over the past few years, but they've recently begun to thaw thanks to a series of conciliatory diplomatic gestures.

In October 2014, presidents of the two countries upgraded representation in a joint committee aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.

DISPUTE OVER HALAYEB

Meanwhile, al-Bashir said Sudan will resort to the United Nations Security Council if Egypt refuses to negotiate over Halayeb area.

The Halayeb triangle, which is a 20,580 km area on the Red Sea, has been a contentious issue between Egypt and Sudan since 1958, shortly after Sudan gained its independence from the British-Egyptian rule in January1956.

The area has been under Cairo's full military control since the mid-1990's following a Sudanese-backed attempt to kill the former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

Al-Bashir underlined that “Halayeb triangle would remain a Sudanese territory”, saying the area was part of the electoral constituencies during the first Sudanese elections in 1954.

In April 2016, Cairo refused a demand by the Sudanese government to hold direct talks on Halayeb and Shalateen or to accept the referral of the dispute to the International Court of Arbitration.

Egypt has used to reject Sudan's repeated calls for referring the dispute to international arbitration.

The international law provides that the agreement of the two parties is needed to arbitrate a dispute by the tribunal.

Also, the Egyptian authorities have imposed restrictions on the entry of Sudanese nationals into the area.

Sudanese government continued to annually renew a complaint lodged to the UN Security Council over Halayeb.

SITUATION IN LIBYA

Meanwhile, al-Bashir said Sudan recognizes the government of national concord in Libya headed by Faiz al-Sarraj as the legitimate government.

“Any vacuum in Libya will [adversely] impact on the whole region, therefore Khartoum supports the resolution of the Libyan issue away from the conflict” he said
He denied that Khartoum is has provided arms to the warring parties in Libya after the fall of President Muammar Gaddafi.

Sudan is accused of supporting Libyan Islamists government based in Tripoli, as reports say Jihadist fighters from Sudan and other African countries are joining the Libyan chapter of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Daesh group.

In September, 2014, the Libyan government had expelled the Sudanese military attaché after accusing Khartoum of flying weapons to Islamist rebels in Tripoli.

RUNNING FOR PRESIDENCY IN 2020

Responding to a question about his intentions to run for a third term in 2020, al-Bashir pointed that the 2005 constitution “limits the president to serving only two terms”, saying “I'm now serving my second term”.

He added that a number of leaders might compete to gain the chairmanship of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), saying the party chairman will be the nominee for the presidency.

The NCP Shura Council, in October 2014, choose al-Bashir again to be the party's candidate for the presidential elections of April 2015, in spite of his pledge earlier to not run for the office of President again.

In an interview with the Egyptian weekly, Al-Ahram in August 2016, al-Bashir said he would step down from the presidency and remains away from politics at the end of his term in 2020.

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February 5, 2017 (JUBA) – Several experts have cautioned over the proposal to place South Sudan under United Nations trusteeship, saying the young nation was not yet at the level that calls for international takeover.

The proposal to put under the U.N for an interim period gained momentum after the renewed clash broke out between the country's warring factions in July 2016, which saw hundreds killed and nearly two million people displaced.

Placing South Sudan under the U.N trusteeship implied the world body will govern the country for a specific period before handing it back to its people.

This proposal came from ex-government officials, citing the worsening security.

Some government officials have, however, dismissed any possibilities of foreigners taking over the country, which gained its independence in July 2011.

“It is our right. It is our country. We fought for it. We achieved the independence through referendum. The people of South Sudan decided for their country. So nobody is better than the people of South Sudan,” South Sudan's presidential spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters in an interview.

“There are always minority voices that would hope for something totally different from what the majority of people of any given country say,” he added.

Uganda on, Thursday, rejected any move to militarily intervene in the war-torn nation, saying such interference will make the country's security situation worse.
South Sudan broke into conflict in December 2013. The conflict has killed thousands of people and driven more than 2 million from their homes.

Currently, over 200,000 people are still sheltered in U.N camps in parts of the country.

In 2014, South Sudan President Salva Kiir accused the U.N of seeking to take over the country and speculated that is mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) may have pushed his political rival, Riek Machar, to rise up against the Juba government.

EXPERTS WARN OVER TRUSTEESHIP

Remember Miamingi, a South Africa-based law expert, argued that conditions in the young nation are not yet at the requisite level for International Transitional Administration (ITA), but backed calls for government of technocrats.

"Even though I believe that in some extreme cases of state failure ITA might be an appropriate remedy, I intend to argue here that South Sudan is not yet a very good case," he told Xinhua.

Miamingi said international trusteeship succeeded only in countries like East Timo and Kosovo, where warring parties had reached mutually hurting stalemates, and with significant domestic constituencies that were willing to consent to ITAs.

"ITAs should more likely be considered only in the event that a territory contains a true vacuum of political authority; domestic political agents are fragmented to the extent that collective action via UN-facilitated power sharing is impossible; political actors are too violent or untrustworthy, or because they have violated foundational internal norms and covenants," said Miamingi.

According to the law expert, ITAs for South Sudan should be the last resort for an extreme form of limited statehood.

"Other options should be tried first before frog jumping to the other extreme. One such alternative is a technocratic administration of South Sudanese with support where needed, from the international community," he said.

He further added that such technocratic government could be responsible for overseeing the healing, reconciliation and accountability processes, ensuring political and security stability, and providing normative and institutional frameworks for successful transition.

Meanwhile, South Sudan's former deputy defence minister Majak D' said there was urgent need for roundtable conference outside Juba to bring all the country's warring factions to chart a new road map for the war-ravaged nation.

"The first premise to restoring peace is to recognize that the peace agreement has been fractured and for peace to return a fresh break is needed," he told Xinhua.

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