Africa

January 12, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The African Union and the United Nations Thursday appointed a South African diplomat as new head of the hybrid peacekeeping mission in western Sudan region of Darfur.

Jeremiah Nyamane Kingsley Mamabolo (UN Photo)

"United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced today the appointment of Jeremiah Nyamane Kingsley Mamabolo of South Africa as Acting Joint Special Representative for Darfur and Head of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID)".

Mamabolo replaces Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi of Nigeria who left the mission last week, one year after his appointment.

Since March 2016, he has been serving UNAMID as the Deputy Joint Special Representative, overseeing political, human rights, and legal aspects of the Mission's activities.

He also served as Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations from 2013 to 2016.

It is not clear if Mamabolo's responsibilities including those of African Union-United Nations Joint Chief Mediator.

Uhomoibhi had a very limited role since his competences had been transferred to the head of the African Union High level Implementation Panel (AUHIP).

(ST)

January 12, 2017 (JUBA) - The governor of the newly created Wau state in South Sudan has issued an order sacking his deputy, less than six months since the appointment was made.

Wau state governor Andrea Mayar Acho (ST Photo)

Governor Andrea Mayar Achor, according to a January 11th order, removed Pasquale Joseph Ayan from his position as the deputy governor.

The order did not give ex-deputy another assignment and did not explain the reason for such an abrupt change in the administration.

Ayan served as Bazilia county commissioner when his status was elevated to the position of deputy governor and became a minister of local government.

(ST)

January 12, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The outgoing U.S. President Barak Obama will freeze some of the economic and trade sanctions on Sudan, different news agencies reported on Thursday.

U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law in the Oval Office the White House in Washington on March 29, 2016 (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Photo)

The suspension which was contested by some members of Obama administration, is mainly based on "the findings of Sudan's security cooperation with Washington". "It was mainly backed by the State Department," an American source told Sudan Tribune.

The media cited Sudan's collaboration in the fight against terrorism, including limiting the movements of Islamic State fighters.

Regarding the file of peace in Darfur, the partial freezing takes into account the end of military bombardments on civilians areas in the western Sudan, improvement of humanitarian access to civilians in the conflict affected areas.

Also, the decision takes into account Sudanese government efforts to achieve peace in South Sudan and its neutrality in the conflict that started in December 2013. American officials say Khartoum refused to allow rebels to operate from its territory and also stemmed the flow of weapons into the troubled country, despite Juba support to Sudanese rebel groups.

Citing officials at the While House, The Associated Press says Washington will "announce a five-track engagement process with the Sudan, including the easing of sanctions, responding to positive actions by the government. They say these include improved Sudanese counterterrorism efforts"

However, the suspended sanctions could be reinstated if the Sudanese government backtracks on its progress.

U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, Donald Booth, kept working tirelessly on the file of peace in Sudan. Several sources said President Obama wished to close the file of Sudan sanction before to leave the White House like Cuba and Burma.
Congressmen and rights activists say still conditions in Sudan are far from their expectations and have demanded to maintain to maintain the sanctions on the regime of President Omer al-Bashir.

The State Department and the Department of Treasury since last October, held three meetings in Washington, London and Dubai to encourage commercial banks to avoid de-risking humanitarian and non-governmental remittances stressing the trade and financial embargo target only the Sudanese government.

Despite the strong impact of the sanctions on the Sudanese government, officials at the State Department points to the negative impact of the measure on the ordinary Sudanese. It also feeds anti-Americanism in the region and Islamic world they say.

Sudan has been under American economic and trade sanctions since 1997 for its alleged connection to terror networks and remains on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror. The first batch of sanctions restrict U.S. trade and investment with Sudan and block government's assets of the Sudanese government.

Additional sanctions in relations with the conflict in Darfur region were introduced by two Executive Orders in 2006.

(ST)

January 12, 2017 (JUBA) - The SPLA Chief of General Staff, Thursday has reiterated commitment and readiness of the South Sudanese army to strengthen and improve security situation in the country.

SPLA Chief of general staff (3rd from the left), next to him ministers of interior and finance and other officials pose for a picture after the collect of 1200 weapons in Juba on Thursday 12, 2017 (ST Photo)

General Paul Malong Awan spoke at the end of a house-to-house search operation during which more than 1200 different types of weapons were collected, following the conduct of the unannounced exercise at the national capital, Juba.

General Awan, dressed in full military attire and flanked by the minister of finance and interior well as the commander of presidential guards division put on a show of defiance, emphatically denying that government forces carried out the search in a manner that violated privacy in the capital, Juba.

He accused "anti-peace elements" of preparing to go to war on the basis of "lies".

He commended his boss, President Salva Kiir, for demonstrating personal commitment to the Armed Forces allegedly guided by a vision to protecting the nation and making Armed Forces not only as one of the most developed armies but which would serve anywhere in the world.

“Our job as the army is one, defend the country, the constitution and protect civilians and their properties. This is what you have done; conducting a search to ensure Juba is free of weapons. People who are not permitted by law to carry weapons should not be allowed to carry them. They are misusing them and this is why we are collecting them today,” said Awan.

The top military officer announced the search has helped identify people with forged identity impersonating as officers in various organized armed forces to committee crimes.

Acting army spokesperson Col. Santo Domic Chol told reporters on Thursday at a news conference in Juba that the operation had managed to collect more than 1200 different type of weapons and assorted equipment as well as managing to apprehend criminals in Juba.

400 weapons were found in the hands of unauthorized people.

Chol said nine people have been arrested found in possession of cars they could not explain how they got them.

Some of the cars were identified by their owners and 16 other different types of cars have either been stolen or none registered have been detained.

(ST)

January 12, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Wednesday underwent cardiac catheterization tests to evaluate heart function and diagnose cardiovascular conditions, it was revealed on Thursday.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (AFP photo)

"The Presidency confirmed that Field Marshal Omer Al-Bashir President of the Republic yesterday evening, underwent an exploratory cardiac catheterization at Royal Care hospital," reported the official news agency SUNA.

"The results (of the tests) were very reassuring," further said the agency.

An official source at the Presidency said al-Bashir left the hospital immediately after the medical procedure.

Generally doctors recommend cardiac catheterization to evaluate chest pain which is a symptom of coronary heart disease.

Cardiac catheterization can show whether a plaque is narrowing or blocking your coronary arteries.

In a separate development, SUNA reported that President al-Bashir received on Thursday evening the Chairman of the National Legislature (the two houses), Ibrahim Ahmed Omer who briefed him about the ongoing deliberations on a number of important bills to be endorsed ahead of the transitional period.

(ST)

South Africa knows it has a huge problem with drink-driving and is considering some tough measures to tackle it, writes the BBC's Pumza Fihlani.

South Africa has the highest levels of alcohol consumption in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. The government is now trying to tackle the problem.

Air force veterans in Kenya give poor boy a helicopter ride to school and pay for his enrolment.

A video by a Nigerian comedian that jokes about a gay man about to be sexually assaulted has sparked a heated debate.

January 11, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Yasir Arman, SPLM-N Secretary General, has called for a unified mechanism to coordinate the action of opposition and civil society groups to restore democracy in Sudan, terming the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) as "spent force".

Arman made his remarks on Tuesday in a speech delivered at the Eldorado Book Center in Oslo where he met with Norwegian officials to brief them about the position of his movement on the stalled peace talks with the government. Norway is a member of the Troika countries (together with the UK and the U.S.) that support the African Union efforts to achieve peace in Sudan.

Despite the repression of political parties and disentitlement of trade union and civil society groups during the past 29 years, Sudanese people have shown they desire to get rid of Bashir's regime, he said, pointing to the recent waves of civil disobedience protests organized in the country by youth and political activists .

"The youth are sending a clear message that the present regime, does not represent any future for them. Therefore, equally, the regime has no future," he said. " It is evident that the expectations are high, and the National Congress is a spent force with nothing to offer," added the SPLM-N secretary general.

The rebel group which fights the government forces in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states announced its support to the civil disobedience and called on it supporters across the country to participate in the peaceful protests of 27 November and 19 December.

Recently, the Movement signed several political agreements with a number of opposition groups that are against any negotiated settlement with the government. The group also said they are seeking to reunite the rebel umbrella of Sudanese Revolutionary Forces (SRF) factions.

"What is missing, is the unified mechanism that can bring together the oppositions from different backgrounds with a minimal plan of action to remove the NCP government," Arman said.

He went further to say that only overthrowing the regime can ''bring about a new socio-economic/political dispensation that is in favour of peace, democracy, equal citizenship without discrimination and social justice''.

The SPLM-N, which demands to establish a secular state with a system of government conferring a large autonomy to the regions, is negotiating with the government President Omer al-Bashir since June 2011 weeks after the eruption of war in South Kordofan.

Last March, the African Union mediators proposed the Roadmap Agreement which aims to create a conducive environment to stop war and to hold an inclusive process over the future constitution in Sudan.

However, the parties failed to reach a truce to allow aid workers to reach the needy civilians in the war affected areas. The SPLM-N said the humanitarian file should top the agenda of any initiative to end the conflict and blamed the government for refusing to make any concession, pointing they did a lot to reach an agreement.

"They are only interested in reproducing their old, ugly system. They are not interested in a new agenda of peace and democracy, and their old agenda can never bring national consensus,'' he said to explain the government position.

Arman called on the international community to take into account the will of the Sudanese people for regime change, and to stop the normalisation process with Khartoum. He added that government policies toward the international community are "partial and tactical, and based on narrow interests, as they have never led to peace'' in Sudan.

(ST)

January 11, 2017 (JUBA) – The chairman of South Sudan's armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO), Riek Machar has appointed Lam John Kuei Lam as press secretary in his office.

South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar addresses a news conference in Uganda's capital Kampala January 26, 2016 (Reuters photo)

Lam replaces Machar's long-serving press secretary, James Gatdet Dak, currently being detained in the capital, Juba, having been deported from neighbouring Kenya last year.

“Pursuant to the resolutions of the SPLM Political Bureau September 23, 2016 and SPLM (IO) constitution, I Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, Chairman and Commander-in-Chief, SPLM/SPLA (IO), do hereby appoint Cde Lam John Kuei Lam as Press Secretary in the Office of the Chairman with effect from 11 January 2017,” Machar's 11 January 2017 letter reads in part.

Lam's appointment ends months of speculation about Dak's possible successor.

(ST)

The Carter Center

ATLANTA, Januarg 11, 2017 – The Carter Center welcomes the recent regulations issued by the government of Sudan aimed at facilitating humanitarian relief throughout the country and looks forward to further discussions with the government and other stakeholders on the specific rollout of the new directives.

The Carter Center, an impartial, non-governmental organization, works to advance peace and public health in Sudan, with current health activities focusing on fighting trachoma and river blindness. In addition, the Center has worked for decades with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Sudanese health authorities to eradicate Guinea worm disease. By easing access to all parts of Sudan, the new regulations offer the prospect that the International Commission for Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication (ICCDE), supported by the WHO, may have the opportunity in 2017 to certify Sudan as officially free of Guinea worm disease, a historic accomplishment. The Center looks forward to the enhancement of all of its activities as the new regulations take effect.

The Carter Center has worked in Sudan since the 1980s, as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter worked personally to negotiate peace in the Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). Milestones include negotiation of the 1995 "Guinea worm cease-fire," which gave international health workers almost six months of relative peace to enter areas of Sudan previously inaccessible due to fighting, and the 1999 Nairobi Agreement between Sudan and Uganda, in which the governments restored diplomatic relations and pledged to stop supporting rebels acting against each other's governments. The Carter Center also observed elections in Sudan in 2010 and the referendum on independence for South Sudan in 2011.

Contact: In Atlanta, Soyia Ellison, soyia.ellison@cartercenter.org

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The Carter Center

"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.

Visit our website CarterCenter.org | Follow us on Twitter @CarterCenter | Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/CarterCenter | Watch us on YouTube YouTube.com/CarterCenter | Add us to your circle on Google+ http://google.com/+CarterCenter

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

January 11, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) - A hand grenade attack at a Hotel in Gondor town of Ethiopia's northern Amhara region claimed the live of one person and injured at least 11 others, regional police disclosed on Wednesday.

The incident occurred Tuesday evening when an unidentified attacker threw a hand grenade at Entasol, a hotel known for its recreation activities.

No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the historic town.

Gondor is one of Ethiopia's major tourist destination sites well known for its medieval palaces and marvelous architectures of ancient Churches.

Those injured, police said have been taken to Gondar Referral Hospital where they are receiving medical care.

Officials are yet to disclose details on whether if the attack was a terrorist one or linked with the latest violent anti-government protests sparked in Oromia region and spread to Amhara regional state over demands of territorial, political and economic rights.

The attack comes over two months after the horn of Africa's nation declared a six-month long state of emergency imposed in a bid to contain a year-long unrest which claimed lives of at least 500 people.

Police said it has launched an investigation, which is currently in its early stages.

Regional security forces have also continued hunting the attacker or attackers.

“The attack might be a new tactic started by anti-peace forces as the strategy they had been pursuing in the past failed” regional police official told the state affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate.

The official also urged residents of the town to report suspected incidents.

Ethiopia repeatedly accused arc-rival Eritrea of deploying terrorists to destabilise nation, an allegation the tiny red sea nation denies.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war however the two neighbours fought a war during 1998-2000 over territorial disputes which killed over 70,000 people.

As their border dispute yet never settled ties between the two neighbours remain at odds.

Both countries routinely trade accusations of arming and supporting one the others' rebel group.

Ethiopia says it has often thwarted Eritrea-backed bomb plots and several other attacks.

Previously Ethiopian security forces have captured hundreds of Eritrea's mercenaries while trying to sneak into the country to launch attacks intended to destabilize nation.

Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, on Monday told reporters that country's security forces have recently captured at least 100 armed Eritrean mercenaries while trying to cross borders into Ethiopia via the northern Tigray region bordering Eritrea.

Addis Ababa has repeatedly warned that it will take proportional military actions to what it says is to stop Eritrea's unfolding aggressions.

Previously, Ethiopian forces have penetrated deep into Eritrean territories and attacked several military bases including those bases used by militants who are given sanctuary by Eritrea to carry out attacks against Ethiopian targets.

Ethiopia has also foiled a number of terror attacks by an Islamist radical group in Somalia.

Since 2011, Ethiopian troops have been fighting al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab militants in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission.

(ST)

January 11, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir has expressed disappointment with lack of progress in the implementation of the peace agreement which he signed with his first former deputy in government and other stakeholders to end more than three years conflict, claiming spoilers were preventing the deal to be implemented.

Kiir made the remarks on Tuesday in Cairo, Egypt, where he led a high level government delegation in respond to invitation extended to him and members of his regime by his host.

“I want to inform you that there are people, the spoilers who are preventing the implementation of the peace agreement, as we speak here, they are holding a conference in Nairobi that the agreement has collapsed and they want the agreement to be renegotiated, they know what they are doing to South Sudanese so that they are diverted from the government not to listen to what government is doing,” said Kiir in a speech broadcast by the state owned South Sudan Television.

The agreement, according to the president, did not collapse, citing his work relations with his controversially appointed first vice president in place of Machar with whom he signed the deal.

“I want to assure you that the agreement has not collapsed. The First Vice President Taban Deng Gai is working with me very closely, and we are implementing the agreement. They think that without Riek Machar, there is no agreement, but that's not the way people work. You can sign an agreement and you get out of it, like what happened to us in South Sudan,” he said.

He attempted to justify his desire to work with his preferred choice with the death of the founding leader of the governing Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), John Garang, who died before completing the implementation of the 2005 peace accord which he signed to end more than two decades with Sudan, from which the young nation seceded in 2011 in accordance with self-determination protocol.

“Dr. John, who was our leader during the war, signed the agreement, unfortunately, God took him after days, but the agreement didn't collapse. President Bashir who signed the agreement and myself, who was a deputy to John Garang, we implemented the agreement this is why now South Sudan became an independent, nobody wanted to destroy what has been done,” he said.

(ST)

January 11, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese minister of religious affairs Wednesday condemned hatred campaigns by extremists Islamists groups calling to boycott Christmas celebrations and other Christian events, and reiterated his support to religious coexistence in the east African nation.

FILE - A Bishop stands in front of the altar during Easter Sunday service at Episcopal Church of the Sudan Diocese of Khartoum All Saints Cathedral in Khartoum April 24, 2011 (Reuters)

During the celebrations of Christmas by the Sudanese Catholic and Coptic Churches, radical Islamists plastered the walls of several churches with flyers calling on Muslim to boycott the celebrations and to not pay visits or to congratulate them.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Minister of (religious) Guidance and Waqf Amar Mirghani Hussein said he had received complaints from Christian religious leaders and clerics about flyers plastered on the wall of their churches, calling on Muslims to boycott their festivals.

"Islam does not forbid congratulating non-Muslims, especially Christians, on their religious occasions," Hussein said pointing to "the multiple fatwas (Islamic ruling) on this respect that stress the need to communicate with all religions, sects and groups" he added according to the statement.

The minister further called to promote peaceful coexistence, emphasizing that such hatred posters should not be allowed to stir up divisions and drive a wedge between Sudanese Christians and their fellow citizens .

(ST)

Armed fighting over land, water and other natural resources in Sudan&#39s Darfur region continues to put civilians at risk, the top United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council today, calling for long-term solutions that would allow 2.6 million displaced people to return or resettle.

Briefing the Security Council today, senior United Nations officials underlined the significant challenges and deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad Basin region, including in particular those posed by the militant group, Boko Haram, and urged for sustained support to national and regional security, political and humanitarian action.

A new partnership between the United Nations rural poverty agency and officials in Mauritania could boost finances and nutrition for nearly 300,000 farmers in the southern part of the country.

A United Nations-supported mass vaccination campaign is set to start tomorrow to protect more than 4.7 million children against a measles outbreak in conflict-affected states in north-eastern Nigeria.

(ST)

January 11, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudanese government has regretted the hoisting upside down of her national flag during a visit of President Salva Kiir to Cairo, Egypt, attributing it to human error.

The national flag is usually hoisted in a way that places up the black side, which represents the people of South Sudan but this black colour was seen hoisted upside down during president Kiir's arrival at the Egyptian airport and in other main streets through which the president and his entourage passed.

The upside down display was also in the background of the handshake of president Kiir and his host and was hoisted on a stand next to Egyptian flag.

A South Sudanese diplomat at the ministry of foreign affairs told Sudan Tribune when reached on Wednesday to comment on the matter that the hoisting was “a human error”.

Sincerely speaking, this was not a deliberate act on our side. It was a human error and we regret that the incident has caused inconveniences to our people, which is their right, because the flag is the symbol of the nation”, a top diplomat told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.

The official was reacting to protest by South Sudanese outraged by the incident in which some described it as disrespect of the country by displaying dozens of South Sudan flags upside down during the visit of president.

Eyewitness including South Sudanese in Egypt took to social media to express their anger; some described the incorrect display of the flag as a disgrace and demand the Egyptian authorities to issue an apology.

The Egyptians ambassador to South Sudan, Ayman El-Gammal is yet to comment.

(ST)