Africa

Life as an MP in Ghana is a tough and short-lived stint, but the privilege of being called "Honourable" is worth the trouble, writes Elizabeth Ohene.

January 18, 2017 (WASHINGTON) - The outgoing U.S. Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Donald Both Wednesday criticized the refusal of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N) for a humanitarian proposal saying they should put their people first not their political ambitions.

Since last November the U.S. envoy filled a proposal providing that USAID would transport humanitarian medical assistance to civilians in the rebel held areas after it inspection by the Sudanese authorities. Khartoum accepted it but the SPLM-N stuck to its initial demand to transport 20% of the humanitarian aid through the Ethiopian Asosa town on the border with the Sudan.

This point is the last contentious point preventing the signing of humanitarian and cessation of hostilities agreements between the government and the rebel group, in a peace process mediated by the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) and facilitated mainly by the U.S. and Germany.

"I must say we need to be careful not to hold them in unquestioned high esteem. It is important to be clear-eyed about whom we are dealing with," Booth said, in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace about his action during the past three years.

"I have found that some of the leaders of the Sudanese opposition, especially those with guns, are more than willing to ignore the interests and well-being of ordinary civilians, in favour of their own political ambitions," Booth added.

In line with a Roadmap Agreement brokered by the AUHIP, the government and rebel groups in the Two Areas and Darfur should reach first a humanitarian truce before to move for a second phase to discuss other confidence building measures and hold an inclusive political process to discuss constitutional reforms in order to restore democracy in Sudan.

The Chief Mediator Thabo Mbeki worked to have armed groups in Darfur and the SPLM-N as well as opposition groups in this forum to achieve what he calls "holistic approach" to end the Sudanese crisis. Backed by the German government first and then by U.S. administration he convinced Khartoum to accept this comprehensive process.

"It seems to me that just as there are hardliners within the Sudanese government who hold on to false notions that military victory can be achieved, so too there are leaders of the armed groups who believe they are right to fight on no matter what the cost to their people, until they get what they want politically," Booth said.

Both last Monday together with other Troika envoys (Britain and Norway) and the newly appointed French envoy for Sudan met with the SPLM-N in Paris to convince them to accept the humanitarian proposal, adding that they should not miss this golden opportunity to reach civilians in all the war affected areas in the two areas. Khartoum will not dare to obstruct during the upcoming six month because this means the resumption of sanctions, they underlined.

"So even though we hold the government to its commitments to peace, we must also demand that the opposition set aside personal political ambitions and put their people first," he stressed.

The SPLM-N says they did a lot of concession on the humanitarian file to ensure the delivery of aid to the civilians in the conflict affected areas, and points to Khartoum's intransigence and refusal to accept the 20%.

Khartoum accuses the rebel groups of planning to use the humanitarian corridor through Ethiopia to bring arms and ammunition to their fighters. But the SPLM-N says they accept that the relief materials be inspected by Sudanese authorities before.

The U.S. envoy said during the past year he wanted to go beyond the mistrust and accusations of bad faith in the relations between Washington and Khartoum, adding that this engagement has really started in February 2015 when the invited the then Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Ghandour.

He also said the new administration of President Donald Trump is fully briefed about the Sudanese file, including the recent developments.

Booth is the first American diplomat who has openly criticized Sudanese armed groups, accusing them of obstructing peace in Sudan.

Recently he slamed Abdel-Wahid al-Nur for his refusal to join the peace process saying "His refusal to negotiate has been a perennial problem for international efforts to end the conflict in Sudan, but it has become especially damaging as other parties to the conflict begin moving toward peace".

(ST)

January 18, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has, in a decree read on the state owned SSBC sacked the governor of Boma, one of the nation's new states

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir (AFP)

Baba Medan Konyi was replaced by Sultan Ismail Konyi, a member of the council of state. The council is the upper house of the South Sudanese legislative assembly.

Boma was one of five states curved out of Jonglei in October last year. The other states are Akobo, Biech, Fangak, Western Biech and Jonglei States.

Kiir, in a separate decree, dismissed the governor of Akobo state, Gai Riam before he was sworn into office. Riam was, a few days ago, appointed to head Akobo state.

Meanwhile, General Johnson Gony has been nominated as the new governor for Akobo state, replacing Riam, a former minister in Jonglei state.

No reasons were, however, given for the new changes made in Wednesday's decree.

(ST)

January 18, 2018 (JUBA)- The two main rival forces in the South Sudanese implicated in a newly released United Nations report have denied their involvement in human right abuses, with government troops protesting and questioning the credibility of the report.

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

The world body, in a report released on Wednesday, accused the South Sudanese army (SPLA) and the armed opposition faction of abusing civilians in form of rape, abduction and killing of innocent civilians in various parts of the country.

However, the deputy spokesman of the SPLA Col. Santo Domic criticized the UN report, which claimed government troops of committing grave human rights violations including killings and gang rapes in Juba during and after the fighting that occurred between 8 and 12 July 2016.

The military officer wondered why the victims could not come forward to report the alleged abuses or go to court to file their grievances against the actual perpetrators.

“The victims should go to the court and open cases against the perpetrators, if the accused are members of the SPLA army, they should come and identify the perpetrators, if they are from the national security, they should do the same thing,” he said.

William Gatjiath Deng, the official spokesman of the armed opposition denied their involvement of their forces in the atrocities committed during and after the fighting in Juba.

"The SPLA-IO forces were not part of it, because when the clashes erupted in Juba everybody knows what happened, were clashed with the government forces and we left Juba, but the government forces went and raped international aid workers," claimed Deng.

The two officers were reacting to the UN report, which observed that throughout the fighting between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO),”the belligerents blatantly ignored international human rights law and humanitarian law.”

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and iys H' uman Rights Office published the report.

(ST)

A political crisis is growing in The Gambia, with President Jammeh refusing to step down as Senagalese troops mass on the border.

Yahya Jammeh refuses to step aside for Adama Barrow as regional troops remain poised at the border.

January 18, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBoS) on Wednesday reported that inflation jumped to 30,47% in December 2016 from 29,49 in November pointing to continued rise in food and energy price.

Last November, the government lifted fuel, electricity and drug subsidy in a bid to stop the surge in inflation and control the fall of Sudanese pound in the black market.

Also, Central Bank of Sudan introduced an incentive policy, increasing the exchange rate in commercial banks by 131%. As a result, the U.S. dollar exchange rate went up in banks to 15.8 SDG from the official rate of 6.5 SDG.

Following the CBoS decision, the dollar price went up and settled at 19,4 pounds on the black market.

However, after the U.S. decision to ease economic and trade sanctions imposed on the east African nation since 1997, the dollar price fell slightly in the black market and settled at 18,2 SDG.

In a move to reduce the demand for the U.S. dollar and protect domestic industry, the government banned import of frozen meat and fish and raised tariffs on a number of imports. However, these restrictions pushed inflation further high given the country is heavily dependent on imported goods.

Last month, the Sudanese parliament approved the 2017 budget expecting the deficit would reach 2,1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 1,6% in 2016.
According to the budget, the growth rate would decline from 6,4% in 2016 to 5,3% and the targeted average inflation rate is 17%.

Sudan's economy was hit hard since the southern part of the country declared independence in July 2011, taking with it about 75% of the country's oil output.
The Sudanese pound has lost 100% of its value since South Sudan's secession, pushing inflation rates to record levels given that country imports most of its food.

Ordinary citizens continue to complain from cost of living increases that impaired their access to basic commodities.

(ST)

January 18, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir has criticized the way in which international organizations treat their local staff members, saying they were subjecting them to unfair treatment when deciding on the currency of payment .

“When it comes to local employees they have decided to pay them in local currency, and they pay their international staff in hard currency. That is very unfair," said president Kiir.

The president said most of the international organisations take their money outside the country, denying the country an opportunity to benefit and utilize the money they get from the work they do in the country.

“Foreigners who are working here, including the NGOs, have decided to bank outside South Sudan, and they just bring salaries for their employees. “I'm not an economist, but I think it has an effect on the country's economy”, he said.

The President pointed that most of the hard currency generated within the country is spent abroad .

He made the remarks Tuesday during a function in which he oversaw the taking of office of newly appointed Central Bank governor and his deputy and the deputy minister of finance.

The South Sudanese pound is declining against the dollar due to the collapse of oil price, the fall of oil production and the civil war that erupted in December 2013. Also, foreign donors stopped their aid programmes to the new nation.

In Juba currency traders are selling one U.S. dollar at 103 pounds in the black market, while the official at the Central Bank is 87 pounds for one dollar .

President Kiir expressed concerns about the diminishing value of the pounds.

“What is it that made us lose the value of our money? Is it something that can be corrected, can it not be corrected?” He asked the officials.

“One of them is that, our people took their money out of the country, and money taken out of the country does not benefit us.

“Most South Sudanese have decided to reside out of the country; they just come here to get some dollars and go. That will never make us grow. But we cannot force people to remain in South Sudan, when we are not sure about the security,” he said.

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January 18, 2017 (PARIS) - Leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) al-Sadiq al-Mahdi has re-assured his allies in the opposition umbrella Sudan Call to not hold any bilateral agreement between his party and the government, stressing commitment to address the root causes of the Sudanese crisis.

The veteran opposition leader is expected to return to Sudan on 26 January following a two-year self-imposed exile in Cairo.

He told Sudan Tribune in an interview on the sidelines of a press conference held at the French National Assembly in Paris on Wednesday that the NUP is “acting in a national not partisan manner”, saying his party considers itself a representative of the “Sudan party”.

Commenting on statements by the leading figure at the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Nafie Ali Nafie in which he expected the NUP and Darfur armed groups to join the peace process soon, al-Mahdi said: “The Sudanese government can wish of anything it wants but we have a clear stance … what is the reason for wars and divisions?… the reason for divisions in the Sudanese political body is the lack of democracy and the reason for wars is the existence of specific injustices”.

He stressed that any party who engages in a bilateral agreement with the government and abandons the call for reaching a comprehensive and just peace that addresses the causes of the problem and making full democratic transformation would only serve a “narrow partisan interest”.

Al-Mahdi further said the opposition seeks to remove the injustices and achieve democracy, stressing the NUP is strongly committed to resolve the root problem that caused the wars which is dictatorship.

“In my opinion, any solution that is based on the removal of the causes of conflicts, fighting and dictatorship would be accepted by all [parties] and we will work to achieve this solution which would yield national support,” he said.

During the past two years, al-Mahdi worked tirelessly to win the confidence of the armed groups and to bring them together with the other opposition groups in the Sudan Call alliance to accept the idea of a comprehensive national solution.

The government and Sudan Call forces (the armed groups, NUP, Sudanese Congress Party and other political groups) signed in March and August 2016 the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) including several steps towards their participation in a national constitutional process inside Sudan.

However, the parties failed to sign a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian agreements that are seen crucial before to move forward in the roadmap implementation process. However, the government maintained its plans, held a dialogue conference and adopted a National Document including constitutional reforms and release of freedoms.

Sudanese government and allies pointed that the holdout groups can sign the outcome of the dialogue process (National Document) and participate in its implementation through the National Concordance Government and transitional parliament. The move is seen by the opposition group as clear violation of the Roadmap.

U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

Meanwhile, al-Mahdi said the recent U.S. decision to ease sanctions imposed on Sudan would help the opposition achieve its goals pertaining to democratic transformation and in particular the Roadmap.

Last Friday, President Obama signed an executive order suspending sanctions against Sudan enabling trade and investment transactions to resume with the east African nation. The move comes in recognition of Sudan's collaboration to curtail terrorism, and its efforts to improve humanitarian access.

Al-Mahdi pointed that Washington has appointed itself as watchman on the government behavior regarding the five tracks that constituted the bases of dialogue between the two sides, describing Obama's decision as “certificate of good conduct for the Sudanese regime”.

It is noteworthy that Khartoum and Washington said they have engaged in a five-track dialogue process including the fight against terrorism, Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Sudan's role in the peace process in South Sudan, Sudan's peace and the humanitarian situation in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Al-Mahdi told Sudan Tribune that he demanded Washington to include issues pertaining to the political solution and human rights to the five-tracks, saying the move would help the Sudanese achieve democratic evolution and the Roadmap.

(ST)

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