Africa

January 8, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sunday said it has intercepted the smuggling of 1500 illegal migrants on the Sudanese-Libyan border during the last seven months.

SRF field commander Mohamed Hamdan (Hametti) speaks in a press conference in Khartoum on Wednesday May 14, 2014 (ST)

Sudan is considered as a country of origin and transit for the illegal migration and human trafficking. Thousands of people from Eritrea and Ethiopia are monthly crossing the border into the Sudanese territories on their way to Europe through Libya or Egypt.

In June 2016, hundreds of RSF elements have been deployed in the remote desert of the Northern State shortly after complaint by the governor of drug and human trafficking by the criminal networks.

On Sunday, 115 illegal immigrants captured by the SRF at Sudan's northern border have arrived in Khartoum.

Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum Sunday, SRF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, (aka Hametti), said the victims would be handed over to the Ministry of Interior.

He pointed that Sudan is amongst countries who fight ruthlessly against human trafficking, illegal migration, arms smuggling and terrorism, saying the SRF troops were deployed along the borders with all neighboring countries.

Dagolo added that the SRF is making large efforts to combat human trafficking and illegal migration especially as the operations are being conducted in rough terrain within the desert, saying several of his men were killed and injured during these operations.

He demanded the international community to lift the sanctions imposed on Sudan in order to allow it to combat human trafficking, pointing to the adverse impact of sanctions on all segments of the Sudanese society.

Sudan has been under US economic sanctions since 1997 and remains on the US list of state sponsors of terror.

Washington admitted Sudan's cooperation in the anti-terror war but now points that it wouldn't remove Sudan from the list of states sponsor of terrorism or left economic sanctions before the end of armed conflicts in Darfur region and Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

Last year, the European Union granted a €100m development package to address the root causes of irregular migration in Sudan. The financial support came after pledge by the Sudanese government to cooperate with Brussels to stop human trafficking to Europe.

In January 2014, the Sudanese parliament approved an anti-human trafficking law which punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.

The RSF, which is widely known as the Janjaweed militias, were originally mobilized by the Sudanese government to quell the insurgency that broke out in Sudan's western region of Darfur in 2003.

The militia was reactivated and restructured again in August 2013 under the command of NISS to fight the alliance of rebel groups from Darfur region, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states following joint attacks in North and South Kordofan in April 2013.

January 8, 2017 (JUBA)- A former South Sudanese official has warned President Salva Kiir of a looming "revolution" should he fail to step aside from the helm or change the way he runs the country's affairs.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir speaks at a public rally in Juba on 18 March 2015 (Photo: AP/Jason Patinkin)

“The people's revolution is coming. You're dividing our society .You're killing your own legacy and our fallen heroes legacy. If you can't run it, step aside”, Suzanne Jambo, a former secretary for external affairs at South Sudan's ruling party secretariat, said.

Jambo, a supporter of the president while in office, said South Sudanese were fed up after being pushed too far since President Kiir got into the centre of national affairs.

“You've pushed us too far and we are now fed up! You've only a few months to act or get out of that seat! Make sure you take with you all your Incompetent relatives, expired old guards & corrupt colleagues," Jambo wrote on her Facebook page on 3 January.

The former party official warned that change was coming and nothing would stop it.

“We are coming and nothing will stop us, the patriots, the youth, the won and the competent", she further wrote.

It is unclear what prompted Jambo to openly criticise the ruling party.

Critics of the former South Sudan ruling party official, however, argued that it could have been an attempt to draw the attention of the president to get into negotiation through middlemen and colleagues at the secretariat or in the government to offer her a job.

(ST)

Earthworms help South Africa's farmers - Nicholas Ing tells the BBC about his agribusiness.

January 7, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir is scheduled to visit the restive Yei town in February to consolidate peace and reconciliation, following report about attacks on local population by the government army and growing tensions on tribal lines.

Minister of Information and Government Spokeperson Michael Makuei Lueth said the visit comes in response to an invitation of the people of Yei and church leaders, who have asked him to visit them.

“The people of Yei and especially the churches had invited President Salva Kiir to visit them in February, and the President has accepted to visit Yei and attend the celebrations of the ECS church in Yei in a date to be determined in February,” said Lueth in a statement broadcast by the official South Sudan television after a regular cabinet meeting.

The minister said the cabinet had approved the visit.

Representatives of the government, opposition and civil society groups in Yei plan to meet with him during his first visit to the restive area since the resumption of the conflict in July 2016, when government forces and soldiers allied to his former First Vice President, Riek Machar, clashed at presidential palace.

His first deputy Taban Deng Gai was recently in the area with a number of key government ministers. Also, another delegation was in Yei last October.

UN officials and rights groups say civilians continue to flee the area massively, indicating that the government forces carry out indiscriminate attacks on civilians as result of the presence of local rebel fighters in the Central Equatoria area.

In a report released last November, HRW said unidentified attackers, in the government controlled areas entered a house and killed a mother and her 4-year-old daughter with machetes, then dumped their bodies in a river. "The 4-month-old baby was cut on the neck but survived," the group said.

The rights group further reported that the local SPLM-IO rebel fighters ambushed cars from the area and killed mostly Dinka, the same tribal group of President Salva Kiir.

(ST)

Ivory Coast is reported calm after a two-day mutiny which saw soldiers seize the defence minister.

January 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) -The government militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has dismissed statements by the minister of interior about the presence of armed militias at Jebel Amir gold mines in North Darfur State.

Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces sit in an armed vehicle in Nyala, south Darfur, displaying weapons they say they captured from the Justice and Equality Movement rebels on May 13, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ashraf Shazly)

Interior Minister, Ismat Abdel Rahman Zein al-Abdin, on Wednesday 5 January has called for the intervention of the army to end the control of foreign militias over gold mines in North Darfur State.

"They are more than 3,000 heavily armed foreigners riding four-wheel-drive vehicles in the gold rich area, in addition to other foreigners the interior ministry was not able to count because of the 'overlapping tribal ties in Jebel Amir," said Minister Zein al-Abdin.

However, in statements to the official news agency SUNA on Saturday, RSF spokesperson Adam Saleh ruled out the presence of foreign militia in Jebel Amir.

"The Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan Armed Forces are present in Jebel Amir performing their national duties, and there is no foreign presence in the area," he told SUNA.

The spokesperson further said the RSF "managed to capture four vehicles loaded with gold and two trucks transporting illegal migrants in the desert, north-west of Dongola, on their way to Libya."

He added that the trucks were transporting 140 migrants.

The minister who was briefing the parliament about the security situation in Jebel Amir spoke about an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the matter, and pointed that they have no presence in the largest gold artisanal production area.

(ST)

January 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North agreed to develop joint actions and to escalate peaceful struggle to achieve regime change in Sudan.

A photo extended to Sudan Tribune by the SPLM-N showing the group's chairman Malik Agar (C), its secretary general, Yasser Arman (L), and Gen. Gagod Mukwar in Stockholm on 23 May 2015.

The agreement between the two left opposition groups comes a month after a positive impact of an electronic campaign by Sudanese youth activists for a civil disobedience to overthrow the regime of President Omer al-Bashir.

"The two parties and other forces will work to unite all the different segments of the opposition in a flexible center able to cope with the daily activities and the escalation of the struggle to overthrow the regime and strengthen relations between all opposition forces," said a joint statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

The two disobedience campaigns of November and December 2016 have shown that the country was ready to support calls for regime change.

However, very quickly it was marred by the lack of unified and visible leadership and accusations that opposition groups taking part in the African Union mediated process want to take advantage of the campaign to get more concessions on the negotiating table.

The holdout groups said they seek a regime change not a negotiated solution leading to maintain the regime in place.

"The balance of power is heading for the benefit of our people and its active forces. Also (the civil disobedience) has shown that the regime lost its legitimacy and created the necessary conditions to bring about change and overthrow the regime," emphasised the SPLM-N and SCP in their statement.

The SPLM-N which is under international pressure to reach a political agreement with Khartoum, also recently signed a similar agreement with the Broad National Front (BNF) of Ali Mahmoud Hassanein which refuses negotiations and calls to topple down the regime, like the SCP.

On 30 December 2016, the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) led by Malik Agar who is also the leader of the SPLM-N adopted a five-step plan to create a unified center for the opposition groups saying it also aims to convince the international community to support the aspiration of Sudanese people for a regime change.

Following the adoption of the National Document at the end of the National Dialogue Conference in Khartoum, the Sudanese government blamed the rebels, the National Umma Party and other Sudan Call factions for not joining the process.

The government says the Sudan Call groups and other holdout groups can join the National Document and participate in the elaboration of a new constitution through the transitional parliament and government that it is preparing to announce soon.

(ST)

January 7, 2017 (JUBA) – Another rebel commander has been shot dead in South Sudan, barely two days after the killing of General Gabriel Tanginye in Upper Nile state, sources confirmed on Saturday.

South Sudan's main opposition leader, Lam Akol (AFP)

Maj. Gen. Yohanis Okiech was reportedly killed after his forces clashed with armed opposition troops in Thoroji, north of Upper Nile.

“At around 10:30am this morning, SPLA-IO forces under Division One Major General Parom and Brigadier General Diang Latjor pursued and killed Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin's most notorious militia commander Major General Yohanis Okiech Okic, along with his 27 bodyguards, at Thoroji toward Lirri on South Sudan-Sudan border,” the SPLA-IO director for information, William Gatjiath Deng, said in a statement.

Five soldiers loyal to Ajawin, he added, were also captured during the operation and are under the command of the SPLA-IO Sector One commander Lt. Gen. Johnson Olony at Kaka miliarity base.

“In addition, two military vehicles mounted with 12.7 1-zuu-37 were captured in good conditions,” further said Deng in the statement.

The SPLA-IO deputy chief of staff for administration, Gen. James Koang Chuol confirmed Okiech's death in a separate interview.

He said forces loyal to Ajawin declined to surrender despite repeated attempts by the SPLA-IO troops to extend this initiative.

“I have been in contact with the leader of the group to surrender peacefully, but they refused my initiative, so we had no other option as they continued attacking our forces in the area,” said Chuol.

Okiech, an ex-government defected last year to join the SPLM/A-IO, but later quit the rebel movement and re-united ranks with Ajawin.

Ajawin, a former minister in coalition government, is yet to react to Okeich's death, days after one of his senior commanders was killed.

(ST)

Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara announces a deal designed to end a mutiny in the army.

January 07, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan's local currency (SSP) further weakened, in the first week of January, against the U.S. dollar ($) indicating the deteriorating economic situation in the oil-dependent country.

Women carrying babies are commonly seen queuing at commercial banks and forex exchange companies in Juba. Trade in dollars has now become a lucrative business in South Sudan (ST/File)

On Friday, a 1$S sold for 105 SSP, which showed a significant surge from the $1 sold at 90 SSP late last year.

A number of traders Sudan Tribune interviewed attributed weakening of the SSP to increased demands from families abroad and the scarcity of hard currencies.

"People are sending more [U.S] dollars to their families in Uganda and Kenya and this has place a huge pressure on the black market and currency traders are maximizing their profits," said John Ladu, a trader dealing in money exchange in the South Sudan capital, Juba.

Maker Majok, another trader, concurs with Ladu's views.

"I have received more than ten phone calls since morning from my clients who are asking me to reserve them some dollars so that they can send to their families for school fees and house rental charges," said Majok.

South Sudan depends on export of crude oil for hard currency, but production has declined substantially since conflict erupted three years ago. The continuous decline in oil prices in global markets has further reduced monthly revenues for the young nation.

In December 2015, the ministry of finance and central bank of South Sudan floated fixed exchange rate of dollars against South Sudan from $1 to 2.96 SSP in the central bank to $1 for 18 SSP in the black market at the time.

The rate has doubled several times, prompting a surge in commodities prices.

The recent weakening of SSP against the dollar, experts say, could also be attributed to high spending during Christmas and End of the Year shopping and lack of auctioning for dollars by South Sudan's Central Bank.

(ST)

January 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Foreign Ministry Saturday announced that the Permanent Under-Secretary at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Simon McDonald, would visit Khartoum on Monday accompanied by a number of senior British officials.

Sir Simon McDonald (FCO-Photo)

In a press release extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gharib Allah Khidir said the “British delegation will hold official talks on ways to strengthen bilateral relations between Sudan and Britain in all fields”.

He pointed that the visit, which will last for three days, comes within the framework of enhancing cooperation and coordination in the regional and international forums besides the recent peace developments in Sudan.

Khidir described the visit as “one of the fruits” of the strategic dialogue between the Sudan and the United Kingdom, saying it comes at the invitation of Sudan's Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdel-Ghani Al-Nai'm.

According to the statement, the British delegation will visit South Darfur state to inspect development projects funded by the UK government.

The delegation will also meet with Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour and the acting Minister of Investment and International Cooperation.

Si McDonald, as the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Office, is responsible for advising the Foreign Secretary and the ministerial team on British foreign policy.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune in March 2015, former UK Ambassador to Khartoum Peter Tibber acknowledged differences between his country and Sudan but revealed that the two nations started a dialogue upon request from Khartoum to push forward bilateral ties.

Meetings between the two countries started in March 2016 in Khartoum and considered the first talks of its kind at this level in 25 years. Also, the two sides held similar meetings in London last October.

The two sides agreed to exchange of visits at the level of senior officials from the two countries along with increasing cooperation in the fields of economy, investment, culture and the fight against extremism and illegal immigration.

During his visit to Khartoum last September, UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan Chris Trott said he is optimistic about the future of relations between Khartoum and London, pointing to the historical relation between the two countries.

He expressed hope that Sudan and UK develop their relation to serve the interests of the two nations.

January 7, 2017 (JUBA) - Former Governor of South Sudan's Western Equatoria, Baghazi Joseph Bakosoro, announced formation of a new political party.

Western Equatoria governor Joseph Bangansi Bakosoro (Photo: Larco Lomayat)

The new party 'National Movement for Change (NMC)' aims to cease further bloodshed, collapse of the country and upholding rule of laws, Bakoksoro said without elaborating on how to attain those goals.

Speaking at the launch of the NMC in an event in Atlanta - Georgia, U.S., Bakosoro criticized the government of President Salva Kiir and pledged to work with "like minded" people and opposition parties to usher in a new political roadmap for the new nation.

Bakosoro won election in 2010 as an independent candidate against President Kiir's SPLM choice Jemma Nunu Kumba. He was fired by President Kiir in 2015 and detained for several months without charges. Bakosoro left South Sudan after his release from detention in early 2016 and remained in the U.S.

The former governor said he will work with the United Nations to promote nationalism among South Sudanese, halt fragmentation of the country, uphold rule of law, protect human rights, promote sustained economic growth and ensure that federal system of governance is implemented in the country.

"We need peace in our country and this cannot be achieved without rule of law," he said in his hour long speech delivered to supporters, mainly the South Sudanese opposed to President Kiir in the diaspora.

Bakosoro did not say if he will form a military campaign or enter into agreement with active rebel groups in the country.

Other armed groups challenging President Kiir are SPLM in Opposition loyal to former First Vice President Riek Machar and the National Democratic Movement led by Former Agriculture Minister Lam Akol.

(ST)

January 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Foreign Ministry Saturday has called on the incoming U.S. Administration to reconsider Washington's policy towards Khartoum following the large changes in the political scene.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives the thumbs up (AFP Photo)

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will take office on January 20 as the 45th President of the United States.

Sudan's State Foreign Minister Kamal Ismail said “Sudan has expressed practical desire to cooperate with Washington on terrorism and human trafficking dossiers”.

He told the pro-government Sudan Media Center (SMC) that large efforts have been made to reach understandings with Washington to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Sudan during the coming period.

“We expected that the economic sanctions wouldn't be extended but unfortunately it was renewed at the end of Obama's term,” he said.

Ismail underscored his government's readiness to cooperate with the new U.S. Administration to achieve Sudan's legitimate interests, pointing the Foreign Ministry expects a breakthrough in the US-Sudanese relations.

Sudan has been under US economic sanctions since 1997 and remains on the US blacklist of state sponsors of terror since 1993. After 2003 sanctions were twice tightened over the conflict in the Darfur region and human rights violations in other parts of the country.

Last October, President Barak Obama extended Sudan's sanction for another year saying that “The actions and policies of the Sudanese government continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States".

Trump didn't speak about Sudan during his election campaign. However one of his foreign policy advisers, Walid Phares, vowed to support the struggle of Sudanese people for freedom.

In the wake of Trump's election last November, Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said he does not expect major change in the U.S. policy towards Sudan.

Nonetheless, Ghandour stressed that Sudan would continue to engage in dialogue with the United States until it reaches understandings to normalize bilateral relations.

(ST)

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January 7, 2017 – (JUBA) – One of the key witnesses in the case involving the alleged theft of $14 million and SSP 30 million from the Office of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, has spoken out during the trial of the 16 accused persons.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir (AFP)

The witness, Maj. Gen. Paul Nang Majok was the third prosecution witness to present his case to the court against the 16 accused persons from the Office of the President.

Majok, court documents Sudan Tribune obtained shows, told court that he was called by the Director General of the General Intelligence Bureau (GIB), Gen. Thomas Duoth Guet on 28 May 2015 and ordered to arrest 1st Lt. John Agou.

The arrest came in the wake of an alleged intelligence report implicating Agou in the huge transfers of money from the president's office to his bank account in Nairobi, Kenya in favour of Mayen Wol Jong and Yel Luol Koor.

“On 29/5/2015, I ordered a company of security personnel from GIB under the command of Capt. Gum Bol Noah, Capt. Charles Andrew Churukali and 2nd Lt Adiing Deng to arrest 1st Lt John Agou and other staff of his company and to take them to GIB Headquarters,” Majok told the court.

He further went on to tell the High Court that on 2nd June, 2015, the Director General of GIB General Duoth ordered him in writing through a letter to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, to institute criminal proceeding against Agou and 11 of his employees who had been arrested together with him during the operations on 29 May 2015.

“On 3/6/2015, I opened case number 2158/2015, Agou and others versus the General Intelligence Bureau (GIB) at Juba High court,” he asserted.

However, during cross examination by defense lawyers on whether he was aware about the case against more other accused persons other than Agou and his company's staff, Majok told the court that "he did not have a case against some of the people in court, adding that he was unaware of who ordered for their arrest, investigation, detention and prosecution in court".

The accused persons Gen. Paul referred to as having no case to answer according to court documents are; Susan Anyieth Chaat Paul (John Agou's wife), Yel Luol Koor, Mayen Wol Jong, Ring Ajing Juk, Nhomuot Agoth Cithiik, Anna Kalisto Ladu, Kur Ayuen Kou, Garang Aguer Akok, Chaat Paul Nul, Anyang Majok Ayuen and Francis Yatta Justin.

But when asked by the judge if the National Security Service was subordinate to civilian authority and the constitution, Majok responded that they were required to work within the country's constitution which is the Supreme law of the South Sudan.

He was further asked why the National Security Service stormed someone's business premises without search warrant from the court and if that action is legal and lawfully? He says the searches that were done at Click Technologies Ltd was "illegal and did not follow correct procedures of the law" but he did it because he was "ordered by senior authority" to do so.

He also denied that he personally participated in drafting of the intelligence report that led to Agou's arrest and did not know the source of that intelligence report. What he know is he was acting on orders from his senior General Thomas Duoth Guet, the Director General of GIB.

According to report released by Legal Watch Associates, the case into the alleged corruption in the president's office was formally opened, five days after Agou, eleven of his employees and customers had been arrested and detained without charge in violation of constitutional provisions.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune, one of the lawyer who was representing some of the accused persons by then described the case as “politically motivated”.

“We assumed that day the judge was going to free the people denied by the complainant and continue the case against others he mentioned as having opened the case against, if the complainant abdicated his case against an accused, the judge is under obligation to free the accused there and then because it will be considered as having withdrawn the case against that particular person", said the lawyer.

In the absence of the rule of law in the country, the judge was ordered to sentence them with or without a crime and that is the very reason he passed that severe and uniform blanket convictions,” he added.

The case, currently before the appeal court, places the country's justice system under scrutiny, calling into question public confidence in the independence of the judiciary. The case involved 16 people from different institutions including the President's office, Finance Ministry, Bank of South Sudan and four Kenyan nationals who worked for Click Technologies Ltd.

(ST)

January 6, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The outgoing head of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and joint chief mediator, Martin Uhomoibhi, , is leaving the hybrid operation, the hybrid mission announced.

"On 4 January 2017, UNAMID organized a farewell parade in honour of the outgoing AU-UN Joint Special Representative/Joint Chief Mediator for Darfur, Martin Uhomoibhi," said a statement released on Thursday.

The Nigerian diplomat served as head of the joined operation for 12 months. He replaced the Mohamed Ibn Chambas, a diplomat from Ghana who reigned from his post after the publication of reports accusing the UNAMID of denying or or ignoring attacks carried out by Sudanese militia against civilians.

During his term, Uhomoibhi kept a low profile policy in his management of the peacekeeping force also politically he had not much to do as the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) is now mediating to end the Darfur conflict.

His deputyJeremiah Nyamane Kingsley Mamabolo of South Africa as Deputy will serve as the UNAMID acting chief Darfur until the appointment of a new Joint Special Representative by the African Union and the United Nations.

Speaking at the farewell ceremony Uhomoibhi, thanked his team members for their support and dedication to the UNAMID mandate.

“This team has been professionally committed, full of integrity and honor, committed to the course of the United Nations and the African Union and determined to work for the hope of a better life for the Darfuri people,” he said.

The Nigerian diplomat served as Ambassador of Nigeria to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva.

From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Uhomoibhi served as the third President of the United Nations Human Rights Council and Chair of the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly.