Africa

A Chinese-built electric train service from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to the Red Sea port in Djibouti opens with a test run for passengers.

Sixty-year-old Safiyo Jama Gayre tells the BBC why she was motivated to study law in Somalia.

By Abdul Wahid Mohammed Ahmed Al- Nur

To make war on its own citizens, to burn the villages and people of Darfur, the Sudanese Air Force has a marked preference for attacking at dawn. The Antonov transport planes converted into makeshift but nonetheless lethal bombers, now become the ubiquitous symbol of the Khartoum regime's brutality; often arrive with the first light of day, drowning out birdsong with the roar of their engines soon followed by the shriek of the barrel bombs they disgorge to rain down death from high explosive and shrapnel. But since January when the Islamist dictatorship in Khartoum launched its largest military offensive in years in the mountains and plains of the Jebel Mara Mountain, there is a new dimension to the horror endured by the people of Darfur, in an ongoing genocide the world has all but forgotten, the spectre of chemical warfare.

Thus Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, the only sitting head of state on earth indicted by the International Criminal Court for War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide, now joins an exclusive murderous fraternity alongside Iraq's late Saddam Hussein and contemporary Syria's Bashar al Assad as the third national leader in modern history to use chemical weapons bombardments against his own civilian population.

The hard evidence of the Sudanese dictatorship's use of chemical warfare gathered through eight months of painstaking investigation by Amnesty International in its groundbreaking report on the subject is incontrovertible. The burden of proof is a sickening catalog of humanity's inhumanity to itself, revealed in the extensive eyewitness testimony of survivors, together with the graphic visual confirmation of the disfiguring wounds sustained by the victims who died in agonizing pain, the majority of them children. It cannot be readily dismissed by the usual denials issued by Khartoum. What has emerged in the light of day for all to see may not be buried in obfuscation. Nothing leaves the signature of chemical warfare except chemical warfare in the hideous manner that gas and chemical agents intended for offensive use ravage flesh and internal organs, burning, choking, blistering and smothering until death is a deliverance from unspeakable suffering. This is the truth of the latest war crime in a litany of war crimes inflicted on the people of Darfur, surely among the most forlorn anywhere on earth in the collective consciousness of the community of nations. Will this new threshold of horror at last bring resolute action by the outside world to end the misery of Darfur and hold the Sudanese regime accountable or will the international community simply avert its eyes again as it has done for far too many years?

If chemical warfare implemented against unarmed civilians fails to provoke an unequivocal response by the world's leading democracies, what hope is there for the people of Darfur to obtain justice, secure their freedom and see an end to a policy of deliberate extermination, where they may once more live without fear in peace, dignity and security? More than Five hundred thousand dead since the nightmare began in 2003, twenty thousand villages wiped off the map in an unceasing scorched earth campaign and four million refugees and internally displaced people, living in the most abject conditions on the edge of survival, tens of thousands women and minors gang-raped have all thus far been insufficient to bring forth a greater outcry and meaningful change.

So where is the voice of the West? The United States which correctly first decried events in Darfur as genocide, is conspicuously silent now, a position defined by the State Department as the de-coupling of Sudan's egregious human rights record and long patronage of Salafist terror groups in exchange for cooperation in intelligence gathering on the same extremist Islamist groups operating in the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Omar al Bashkir's hope is that crippling sanctions will ultimately be lifted and Washington in time will be persuaded to remove Khartoum from its blacklist of terrorist sponsoring nations, restoring its international reputation. The ironic, counter-intuitive reality of this rapprochement is that Khartoum has not ceased its patronage and alliance with extremist Islam in any respect true to the duplicitous and opportunistic nature of Omar al Bashir's regime. It is the worst possible form of Real politic, not merely cynical but equally ineffective. Washington's aims in its legitimate efforts to contain and defeat Islamist terror will not be advanced by sacrificing the people of Darfur.

This understated process of rehabilitating the Sudanese dictatorship is concurrently also underway in the European Union. Most glaringly as the latest Sudanese offensive began in January, the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin fully aware of events on the ground in Darfur, hosted a delegation from Khartoum. Meanwhile the British government has been quietly training members of the Sudanese security services, in particular officers in military intelligence who figure prominently as henchmen in Darfur. But nothing is more staggering than the funding which may surpass 145 million Euros openly awarded by the European Union to Khartoum to stem the flow of refugees from the African continent to European shores, where the same soldiers, policemen, border guards and partner militias who regularly perpetrate massacres, extra-judicial executions torture and rape en masse in Darfur serve as gatekeepers for the EU.

US Ambassador to the UN Samatha Powers recently eloquently condemned the Russian aerial bombing campaign over Aleppo as barbarism, the same Samantha powers who was once so vocal over the plight of Darfur, just as now outgoing President Barak Obama, whom as a candidate had once pledged to end the stain on our conscience of Darfur, is today himself just as reticent on the subject.

The Sudan Liberation Movement in its struggle to uplift its people from oppression and build a secular, non-sectarian, non-tribal, pluralistic democratic Sudan, free from authoritarianism, extremism and terror, where human rights and a free society may one day flourish, implores the United States to restore its moral leadership in Darfur and abide by the humanistic and democratic values it upholds. The SLM therefore calls on President Barak Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Ambassador Samantha Power to demand that the international community forthwith establish a no fly zone over Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile State, a commission be established to oversee the dismantling of Sudanese chemical weapons stocks, the embargo imposed by Khartoum on humanitarian supplies be lifted , Khartoum's Janjaweed and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militias be disarmed and that Sudanese government troops and their partner militias cease attacking civilian population centers.

The author is the Chairman of Sudan Liberation Movement. he can be reached at
tibotoum@gmail.com

An American woman dies in Ethiopia after the van she was travelling in was hit by stones during anti-government protests.

Nigeria is selling two of its presidential jets in bid to "cut down on waste", as the country suffers from its worst economic crisis in years.

Former Ghana coach Fred Osam Duodu, who won the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations, dies after a short illness, aged 78.

Former Cameroon international Rigobert Song is flown from Cameroon to France for further treatment after coming out of a two-day coma.

October 4, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Tuesday has confiscated print runs of Al-Jareeda daily newspaper from the printing house without giving any reasons.

A Sudanese woman reads a local newspaper in Khartoum in 2010 (AFP PHOTOS)

The independent daily has been one of the most newspapers in Sudan subject to suspension and confiscation.

Chief-Editor of Al-Jareeda Ashraf Abdel-Aziz told Sudan Tribune that 10,200 copies of the newspaper were seized, saying the NISS didn't inform them of the reason for the confiscation.

It is noteworthy that the NISS has ordered the newspapers not to publish any reports about the doctors' strike which was announced on Monday in protest against the continued attacks on the medical staff in the emergency rooms.

Journalists in Sudan frequently complain from NISS's continuous interference in their work to prevent publishing certain items or even deciding what makes it to the front page.

The seizure of Al-Jareeda comes one day after the NISS confiscated print runs of Al-Saiha newspaper from the printing house without stating any reasons.

The NISS uses seizures of print copies of newspapers, not only to censor the media but also to weaken them economically.

Last July, Al-Taghyeer newspaper decided to suspend publishing and started to lay off its staff following the large financial loss it incurred due to repeated confiscations.

The state-run Sudanese National Council for Press and Publications (NCPP) rarely interferes to stop the security punishments although it is the official body responsible for running the work of newspapers in the Sudan.

(ST)

October 5, 2016 (JUBA) – The United States security advisor, ambassador, Susan Rice has expressed grave concern about the prevailing humanitarian conditions and continued fighting in many parts of war-torn South Sudan.

US national security advisor Susan Rice (Photo: Craig Ruttle/AP)

Rice, who met South Sudan's first vice president, Taban Deng on Tuesday, affirmed her administration's strong commitment to the people of South Sudan.

The U.S. official deplored South Sudan government's role in obstructing the United Nations Mission in South Sudan's operations and stressed the need for a rapid deployment of the regional protection force.

A statement from the U.S. embassy in Juba said Rice briefed Deng on how Washington was deeply concerned about the alleged participation of government forces in attacks against humanitarian workers at the Terrain Compound in Juba on 11 July, stressing that the perpetrators of the attack must be identified and held accountable and that an investigation with international support is urgently needed.

“Ambassador Rice underscored the need for the South Sudanese Government to engage opposition groups in dialogue and ensure that it governs inclusively, with strong participation by women and without domination by a single ethnic group or political party,” it adds.

Meanwhile, a section of the armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) claimed Deng was shunned by South Sudanese communities during his recent visit to Washington.

Deng had reportedly attempted to meet with South Sudanese communities, predominantly the Nuer, to solicit for political support.

Reath Muoch Tang, SPLM-IO's representative in the U.S., claimed Gai was only relying on his team from South Sudan and embassy staff which he turned into an audience for his boycotted meetings.

“The purpose of the huge government delegations headed by Taban Deng Gai, is to fake an audience in North America,” he posted on Facebook.

“As Taban Deng Gai has been publicly disowned and denounced by all the South Sudanese communities, in North America, Europe, Australia, Canada and Africa, he Taban, now [relies] only on his huge delegations which composed of more than 50 personnel to fake meetings, in New Jersey and Washington D.C.,” he added.

South Sudanese officials, including the spokesperson for the presidency and its representatives in the U.S, have dismissed the armed opposition's account of Deng's visits to Washington, describing it as a success.

(ST)

October 4, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese and Chadian military officials will begin Wednesday annual meeting in Khartoum to assess the six-year experience of the border joint force.

Chadian Defence Minister Bichara Issa Djadallah, received by his his Sudanese counterpart Awad Ibn Ouf in Khartoum on 4 October 2016 (SUNA Photo)

The recently reappointed Chadian Defence Minister Bichara Issa Djadallah, who had been the defence minister until July 2012, met yesterday his Sudanese counterpart Awad Ibn Ouf and discussed ways to develop the bilateral cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.

"The two sides expressed their desire to expand bilateral cooperation in all fields, especially education and training, capacity building and stand together, side by side as well as enhancing relationship beyond emotional dimension to achieve the interests of the two countries and the two brotherly peoples," said the official news agency SUNA.

Recently the two countries said they would extend the mandate of the joint force to include the fight against terrorism. Also, they agreed with the new Central African government to redeploy tripartite force on the border with the troubled country.

Djadallah in the past fought the Chadian rebel groups that were based in Sudan's Darfur region. His comeback to the defence ministry coincides with rise of unconfirmed reports saying that Chadian rebels have rallied a Sudanese rebel group of Justice and Equality Movement.

The Chadian army recently received logistical support and training from western powers as it is playing a key role in the anti-terrorist fighting in the region.

(ST)

October 4, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan is the second worst country after Somalia in all aspects governance, a survey by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation showed.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (Photo: (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

The survey, which spanned over a decade, focused on how each African nation faired in human development, safety and the of rule of law, participation and human rights as well as sustainable economic development aspects.

Overall, it says, Africa's countries have struggled to improve their governance in the past 10 years, with South Sudan scoring zero in all the areas of governance.

This, the report stressed, showed that the Africa's newest nation has not made any progress or improvement in all aspects of the survey, especially last year.

The governance index reportedly measures each of Africa's countries in 95 criteria, with additional data from Afrobarometer, which polls public perceptions of issues such as corruption, economic opportunity and human rights.

Somalia is ranked in the report as the worst country in the African continent with Ivory Coast, Togo, Zimbabwe, Liberia and Rwanda, respectively said to have immensely improved in the overall governance score sheet in the last 10 years.

The 54 African nations, the report further stressed, collectively contributed only one point on a 100-point scale measuring overall governance since 2006.

Mauritius was ranked Africa's country with the best governance rating, followed by Botswana, Cape Verde, the Seychelles, Namibia and South Africa. Other countries lowly ranked in Africa were Sudan, the Central African Republic and Libya.

(ST)

October 4, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous Tuesday said the United Nations had no evidence on the use of chemical weapons by the Sudanese government in Darfur, and called on Khartoum to cooperate with future investigations by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, speaks to journalists following Security Council consultations on the situation in Darfur, 4 October 2016 (UN Photo)

On Thursday 29 September, Amnesty International accused the Sudanese army of using chemical weapons in Jebel Mara area in Darfur where it fights the rebels of Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) which is not part of the peace process.

The rights group said its report was based on testimonies collected on the ground, on satellite imagery, and expert analysis of images showing injuries. But the government denied the allegations and stressed that it does not possess any type of chemical weapons.

In a briefing to the Security Council on Tuesday about the situation in Darfur, Ladous said the African Union United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) cannot investigate the situation or provide evidence about the claims because the hybrid operations has no access to the area where the fighting taking place in Jebel Marra.

"We have not come across evidence regarding the use of chemical weapons in Jebel Marra" because the government of Sudan has denied consistently any access by UNAMID to conflict areas in Jebel Marra and this obviously has prevented the mission from being able to monitor effectively and report on the impact of the fighting".

He further said that the OPCW had stated, in an initial assessment, that it was not possible to draw any conclusions without further information and evidence being made available.

The French diplomat further called on the Sudanese government which he noted was a signatory to the Convention on Chemical Weapons, to cooperate with any future OPCW investigation on the accusations.

Also in a press briefing after the UNSC meeting, Ladsous reiterated his call saying "we encourage the Government of Sudan, which is a state party to the Chemical Weapons Convention to maintain, as it has stated it would do, full cooperation with any future investigation by the OPCW".

Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations Omer Dahab Fadl Mohammed in his speech before the Security Council meeting didn't raise the issue of chemical weapons but the urged the international community to put pressure on " those who did not wish to join the Dialogue".

He further called on all those backing such groups to end their support. Emphasizing that spoilers inside and outside the country should not be allowed to prolong the conflict and “disintegrate” the country.

Mohammed had previously issued a statement denying the "utterly unfounded" accusations in the report and said it aims to disturb the ongoing African Union efforts for peace in Sudan.

"The allegations of use of chemical weapons by Sudanese Armed Forces is baseless and fabricated. The ultimate objective of such wild accusation, is to steer confusion in the on-going processes aimed at deepening peace and stability and enhancing economic development and social cohesion in Sudan," he said.

(ST)

October 4, 2016 (JUBA) – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said humanitarian situation in South Sudan is deteriorating following the resumption of war in the country, saying civilians have been displaced by the ongoing violence.

IOM and partners help Jamam camp residents board buses to Kaya (photo credit: IOM)

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, IOM said there was need for a political solution to the renewed violence between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar.

“With daily reports of violence and worsening tensions, a political solution is urgently needed to mitigate the increasing suffering of civilians in South Sudan,” said IOM East Africa Regional Director, Jeffrey Labovitz.

“To address the growing needs of those forced to flee their homes and the host communities that receive them, the regional humanitarian response requires long-term planning, improved access to civilians caught up in the conflict, and sustained efforts to secure freedom of movement for those forced to flee across borders,” he added.

Over 894,800 South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, since civil war broke out in South Sudan in 2013, according to UNHCR. Of these, more than 185,000 South Sudanese have fled since fresh fighting broke out in the capital, Juba, on 8 July.

An additional 1.61 million people, the statement said, are displaced within South Sudan's borders, both to displacement sites and remote, often hard-to-reach, areas.

In Ethiopia, it said, the influx of South Sudanese refugees in recent months is placing strain on existing resources. IOM is currently assisting with the relocation of refugees from the transit centre in Pagak, on the South Sudan border, to camps in Jewi, Tierkidi and Kule in the Gambella region. Since 9 September, IOM has relocated 23,954 refugees, mostly women and children.

IOM ASSISTANCE

IOM, according to the statement, is working closely with governments, communities and partners in the region to provide humanitarian assistance and develop sustainable strategies to address complex protracted displacement, such as in South Sudan.

The organization also responded to the influx of refugees into Sudan, which has received approximately 90,000 South Sudanese refugees since mid-January, including 54,400 people to East Darfur State, according to UNHCR figures.

“In Sudan's East Darfur, South Darfur, West Kordofan and South Kordofan states, IOM is providing water, sanitation and hygiene assistance to refugees, as well as monitoring and registering new arrivals through the Displacement Tracking Matrix,” it said.

It is also establishing a mobile clinic to improve access to lifesaving health care for more than 4,200 refugees, as well as host community members, in East Darfur.

IOM continues to implement a multi-sector humanitarian response in South Sudan, where more than 6.1 million people are in need of lifesaving assistance.

The statement said as needs continue to increase, humanitarian workers are facing growing access constraints, hindering their ability to reach conflict-affected populations in many parts of the country.

(ST)

October 4, 2016 (JUBA) - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has asked the United Nations Mission in the country (MONUSCO) to "remove" a group of South Sudanese rebels airlifted on "humanitarian ground" to the Central African nation.

South Sudanese rebels pictured in Jonglei state on 31 January 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)

Kinshasa said the 750 armed opposition soldiers were a security risk to residents in Eastern DRC, various media, quoting local and UN officials, reported.

MONUSCO said it soldiers "extracted" South Sudan's ex-First Vice President, Riek Machar, also commander in chief of the rebels at the DRC border on 17 August, 2016.

The peacekeepers also helped "exhausted" SPLM-IO on "humanitarian ground", rescuing up to 750 soldiers whom it said were in touch "extremely bad shape" after nearly two months of being pursued by government soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir.

Machar proceeded for treatment in Khartoum, where he has remained for the last two months but his fighters are in the care of MONUSCO in largely lawless eastern Congo.

Juba summoned Kinshasa ambassador to South Sudan in August to protest hosting of hostile forces by a friendly country. It is not clear if the latest directives from DRC to UN is a fruit of Juba diplomatic pressure.

Officials quoted by the BBC told MONUSCO that local residents in eastern Congo have accused the SPLM-IO of posting security risk to the region.

DRC is the second country, after Ethiopia, to reject presence of the SPLM IO. Ethiopian Prime Minister recently told Foreign Policy magazine that Machar, who was replaced by Taban Deng Gai, will not be welcomed to Addis Ababa unless he denounce violence.

Both Kinshasa and Addis Ababa are facing internal crisis following weeks of protest due to delayed elections and the demand for political representation, respectively.

(ST)

October 4, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir will meet the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani in Cairo on the sidelines of his summit meeting with the Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, said sources.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Mohammed Osman al-Mirghani (R) and Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir (L) meeting in Khartoum on 15 December 2013 (SUNA)

Al-Bashir will lead his country's delegation for the presidential summit of the Egyptian-Sudanese Higher Committee (ESHC) in Cairo from 5 to 6 October.

A reliable source told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that Al-Bashir will meet Al-Mirghani and his son al-Hassan in Cairo, saying the DUP leader will also meet al-Sisi during Al-Bashir's visit.

According to the source, Al-Hassan, who is also a presidential assistant to Al-Bashir, arrived in Cairo from the United States at dawn on Tuesday.

The same source pointed that the DUP leading figure and Minister of Cabinet Affairs Ahmed Saad Omer will leave for Cairo to brief Al-Mirghani on the final recommendations of the national dialogue.

Al-Mirghani, who left Sudan in 2013 to London for medical treatment, arrived in Cairo last August following controversial reports over his health conditions and that his doctors advised him to give up public work.

The DUP left opposition ranks and joined the “broad-based” government of the NCP in December 2011, citing the “need to save the country” in the words of al-Mirghani himself.

The decision of one of Sudan's biggest opposition parties to join the government has triggered a party crisis, which has seen many DUP members tendering their resignations and others protesting in their home areas.

The party received three ministries in the federal cabinet and continues to serve under this allocation.

(ST)

October 4, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan's security and military intelligence officers have put the country's deputy defence minister and several other members of ethnic Murle officers in the army on watch list, saying their past conducts and actions warranted a close monitoring to gauge whether they are part of the recent decision by some of their members to defect to wage an armed struggle.

SPLA soldiers standing near cattle belonging to the Murle tribe, in Pibor County, Jonglei State, South Sudan, 25 September 2012 (ST)

Multiple security personnel and military intelligence officers told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that the deputy defense minister, David Yauyau, has not been placed under house arrest but he and several of his colleagues have been put on a watch list after his former deputy in the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army-Cobra Faction (SSDM/A-Cobra Faction) defected from the government last week.

The group, based in Pibor county of Boma state, home for ethnic Murle, declared to wage an armed struggle with the liked minded opposition groups, probably under the leadership of former First Vice President, Riek Machar, to change the regime in Juba.

A high ranking military official denied rumoured orders to arrest David Yau Yau but added that he is being monitored closely in case he may decide to defect too.

“Actually I am not aware of such orders as having come from the president or anybody in the Security Council. What I know, and which is a normal practice in the security for precautionary and preemptive measures that such people, like David Yau Yau, who is known for changing sides, are usually placed under closed monitoring and surveillance measures,” the military official told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday when asked to comment on reports alleging David Yau Yau had been put under house arrest in Juba.

“You know Yau Yau is unreliable. Who knows, he may be part of the conspiracy behind the recent defection. For this reason, he and some of his group [members] need to be closely watched until they prove otherwise,” he said.

Yau Yau's former deputy, General Boutrus Khalid, declared his defection last week and claimed he defected with 16,000 soldiers of the SSDM/A. Other sources also said another officer has recently defected to the opposition with 5,000 troops to join General Khalid.

Senior officials in Boma state, including governor Baba Bedan, have however downplayed the defections, saying it will not impact on the situation on the ground.

Observers however say the defection may result to renewed violence in Jonglei state which has had experienced violence pitting government forces against those of the ethnic Murle fighters between 2010 and 2014.

The opposition fighters signed a peace agreement with the government in 2014, but have accused the government of not implementing its provisions.

(ST)

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