Africa

October 02, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan on Sunday said that five African leaders and chiefs of regional organizations will attend the National Dialogue Conference on Monday 10 October .

Sudan's President Omer al-Bashir and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby (L) listen to the national anthem during opening session of Sudan National Dialogue conference in Khartoum October 10, 2015. (Photo SUNA)

Sudan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ibrahim Ghandour, told reporters that Chadian President Idriss Déby, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni would attend the National Dialogue Conference.

According to the minister, the meeting will be attended also by the Islamic Cooperation Organization and Arab League Secretary Generals, African Union Chairperson and delegations from Russia and China.

He said that United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon confirmed UN participation without specifying the level of participation.

In January 2014, al-Bashir launched the national dialogue initiative in which he urged opposition parties and rebels alike to join the dialogue table to discuss all the pressing issues.

But the initiative faced serious setbacks after the government's refusal to create suitable atmosphere before the process, leading several opposition forces to pull out.

The foreign minister further who returned to Khartoum after participating in the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Venezuela and the UN General Assembly meetings in New York briefed President Omer al-Bashir about his trip and stressed on the progress in the dialogue with Washington on bilateral relations.

“On Sunday I have briefed President Al-Bashir on Sudan's participation in the UN's 71st general assembly meeting,” said Ghandour pointing that he met the Chadian President Idriss Déby and discussed with him the regional issues.

He pointed that he has met 23 foreign ministers during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, and discussed with them bilateral relations, regional and international relations.

Further Ghandour said that he discussed the Sudanese –U.S relations. on the sidelines of the UN meetings,

The minister went to say that Washington reiterated that sanctions on Sudan do not include private remittance and humanitarian aid.

“The is a very important step for banking transactions as international banks fear dealing with Sudan since long time,” he said.

Last week, U.S. officials said that sanctions on Sudan do not include private remittance and humanitarian aid to the eastern African country and encouraged transactions with Khartoum within the framework of many authorizations and licenses.

(ST)

October 2, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The internal groups of the opposition umbrella Sudan Call have discussed ways to support and activate the outcome of the Leadership Council of the alliance which was held in Addis Ababa from 25 to 30 September.

Leaders and delegates of the Sudan Call forces pose in a collective picture at the end of their meeting outside Paris on November 13 2015 (ST Photo)

Political and armed groups of the Sudan Call on Friday wrapped up a five-day workshop in the Ethiopian capital where it discussed the different positions of its members and selected its delegation for a meeting with the ruling National Congress Party and allied parties on the confidence building measures ahead of a national dialogue meeting inside the country.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Sunday, the internal groups of the Sudan Call said they discussed ways to activate the outcome of the Addis Ababa meeting particularly with regard to the pre-dialogue meeting and the national constitutional dialogue.

The statement endorsed the leadership council's decision that the preparatory meeting should take place in Addis Ababa after the signing of a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements between the government and the armed groups in Darfur and the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

According to the statement, the meeting also discussed ways to expand the Sudan Call in order to create the broadest resistance front against the regime besides approving the criteria for joining political alliances and forums.

It stressed the need to escalate mass actions against the government, demanding the government to release the political detainees and convicts, stop the vexatious litigations against political activists and readmit dismissed university students.

The statement also called to conduct an impartial and transparent international inquiry on Amnesty International's report regarding the use of chemical weapons by Sudanese army in Darfur.

It further announced that the National Unionist Party (NUP) has joined the internal groups of the Sudan Call, pointing the NUP's leader Youssef Mohamed Zain and its secretary general Mohamed Hamad Saeed took part in the meeting of the alliance.

Last week, the opposition alliance National Consensus Forces (NCF) suspended membership of five Sudan Call groups including the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP), Sudanese Baath Party (SBP), Center Alliance Party (CAP), Sudanese National Party (SNP) and Sudanese National Alliance (SNA) following mounting differences over participation in the African Union-led peace process.

On Wednesday, the five groups decided to pull out of the NCF.

The Sudan Call, which was established in Addis Ababa on 3 December 2014, includes the National Umma Party (NUP) and rebel umbrella of Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF), the Civil Society Initiative (CSI).

October 2, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan's opposition forces of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA-IO), have said that their troops are in full control of Morobo town in Central Equatoria. They added they have been in the town for five days after dislodging government forces.

South Sudanese SPLA soldiers in Pageri in Eastern Equatoria state on August 20, 2015 (Photo AFP/Samir Bol)

Officials of the South Sudanese army this week could not deny or confirm whether fighting took place in the area and who was in control, with the military spokesman, Brig. Lul Ruai Koang saying he did not receive any official report about the fate of Morobo.

The opposition faction under the leadership of Riek Machar, former First Vice President, however said they have been in control of the town, adding the government only shied away from admitting that they have lost the town to their forces.

“It is five days since our forces captured Morobo. They have been in full control of the town,” James Gatdet Dak, opposition leader's spokesperson, told Sudan Tribune.

He also said fighting erupted in Eastern Equatoria's Magwi county between the rival forces this week.

Other fierce clashes have been reported around Bentiu, the capital of the oil rich Unity state, between forces loyal to President Kiir and those loyal to Machar.

Dak said the process of resisting the regime under the leadership of President Salve Kiir is gaining momentum in freeing the people of South Sudan, adding that the forces had been reorganizing for a full scale armed resistance due to the collapse of the August 2015 peace deal.

He said that Kiir has the choice of resuscitating the peace deal as it was signed or face a “determined resistance” that will see him exit from power.

The SPLA-IO, he claimed, are getting stronger in Equatoria region more than ever before and it was a matter of time before the situation will be made to change in Juba.

War has erupted again on 8 July when rival forces clashed at the presidential palace and the subsequent attack on Machar's residence.

The former First Vice President, who was replaced after he escaped from Juba, has declared an armed resistance against the government.

If independently confirmed, the capture of Morobo, a town south of Juba in the newly created Yei River state of Central Equatoria, where the seat of the national government is situated, would be seen as a threat to the capital.

(ST)

Highly-trained dogs, which abseil or parachute from helicopters, form part of the armoury for South Africa's anti-poaching forces.

Kenyan schoolgirls are building apps to end ticket queues and transform organ donation, with the help of new mentors promoting women in tech, writes Anthony Irungu.

A dam to create an energy supply from the Nile will have a big impact on tourism at one of Uganda's greatest natural resources.

Substitute Isaac Success secures a point for Watford as they twice come from behind in a Vicarage Road thriller against Bournemouth.

October 1, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Opposition coalition's Sudan Call has endorsed its position paper for the national dialogue preparatory meeting and reiterated its support for the demands of the armed groups for a humanitarian cessation of hostilities .

Political and armed groups of the Sudan Call on Friday wrapped up a five-day workshop in the Ethiopian capital where it discussed the different positions of its members and selected its delegation for a meeting with the ruling National Congress Party and allied parties on the confidence building measures ahead of a national dialogue meeting inside the country.

This preparatory meeting should take place in Addis Ababa after the signing of a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements between the government and the armed groups in Darfur and the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states known as the "Two Areas."

The Sudan Call Leadership Council approved (the negotiating position paper on the preparatory meeting for the national constitutional dialogue), including the vision of the Alliance its principles, objectives and confidence building measures," said a statement released after the end of the workshop on Friday.

"This negotiating position paper will serve as the main guidance document to determine the course of action of its negotiating delegation headed by Eng. Omer Youssef al-Digair," the statement stressed.

The opposition coalition further said they will no longer be committed to the Roadmap Agreement, if the government continues to show lack of seriousness to reach a cessation of hostilities and holding the preparatory meeting.

"The Sudan Call will directly call for an alternative national constitutional dialogue that includes the Future Forces of Change (FFC) and excludes the regime. At the same time it will escalate the resistance in all its forms until it reaches its ultimate goals through regime change and achieves a just peace and well-established democracy," the opposition groups said.

The Sudanese government dispatched Saturday a high level delegation led by Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid and State Minister Amin Hassan Omer for informal talks with the armed groups over the truce and humanitarian access agreement.

On the Two Areas, the parties finalized a cessation of hostilities agreement but still diverge on the humanitarian access. The government during the last round of talks refused to accept the SPLM-N demand to allow the delivery through Ethiopia of only 20% of the humanitarian assistance to the rebel-held areas in the Blue Nile State.

On Darfur, the parties failed to achieve any progress in the negotiations. Khartoum demands the rebels to sign the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) and rejects their demand for political talks. Also, the government demands the rebels to disclose their position in Darfur and refuse their demand to be associated to the distribution of humanitarian aid.

The Sudan Call groups decided to represent the displaced persons in Darfur and refugees in its organs and to organize a workshop for their representatives to achieve this task.

It also decided to support the claims of eastern and northern Sudan for separate tracks to discuss issues of peace , security, decentralization, culture and development.

(ST)

October 1, 2016 (JUBA) – United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has warned of grave humanitarian situation in the newly established Yei River state of South Sudan due to the renewed fierce fighting between rival forces and continued attacks by government forces on civilians in the area.

Non-food items distributing to IDPS by the UNHCR workers in Maridi on 4 March 2016 (ST Photo)

UNHCR in its report released on Friday said it is increasingly concerned for the safety and well-being of over 100,000 people trapped in Yei – a town situated in the mother Central Equatoria state, and is located about 150 kilometres south-west of the national capital, Juba.

According to the report, more than 30,000 people have been displaced into Yei from surrounding areas, following deadly attacks on civilians and looting of private property on 11 and 13 September. They joined several thousand others displaced from nearby Lainya County since mid-July, and up to 60,000 town residents who remain in Yei with no means to leave and who are now in as much need as those displaced by the conflict.

It said the populations in Yei have been targeted by the government forces under the leadership of President Salva Kiir with the suspicion that they are loyal to the deposed First Vice President, Riek Machar, who leads an armed opposition faction.

“The security situation in Yei deteriorated rapidly after renewed conflict broke out in Juba in early July and came to a head earlier this month, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. This is the first time that the population in Yei – primarily farmers living on commercial and subsistence agriculture – has become a direct target of violence, and on suspicion of their belonging to opposition groups,” partly reads the report.

“They urgently need humanitarian assistance,” it added.

An inter-agency mission to Yei, led by UNHCR on Tuesday, 27 September, observed that tens of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in abandoned houses and smaller numbers in church compounds and are facing a serious shortage of food and medicine.

“Terrorized men and women spoke of horrific violence against civilians before and during their flight, including assault, targeted killing, mutilation, looting and burning of property. Several civilians have been hacked to death, including women and infants. There are reports that many young men, aged between 17 and 30, have been arrested on suspicion of siding with the opposition,” UNHCR report further reveals.

The displaced people, it said, need food, household items, medicines and the children need access to schools. Food prices are skyrocketing, with basic commodities quickly disappearing from the market.

“Many internally displaced people have reported that their food stocks have been looted. Two local hospitals are functioning at reduced capacity. Lack of high-energy food for malnourished children and breastfeeding mothers is becoming critical. As information continues to be gathered, there are indications of increasing sexual and gender-based violence, and unaccompanied and separated children.”

The population, the report added, is unable to leave the town due to limited freedom of movement and lack of resources.

“With farmers unable to reach their fields, harvests are rotting and the risk of missing the upcoming planting season is very high. This means that people may have no crops next year,” it observed.

However, in Juba, humanitarian partners are mobilizing to respond to the situation in Yei, including provision of food, non-food items and drugs, the report further informed.

The deteriorating security situation in South Sudan has forced more than 200,000 people to flee the country since 8 July 2016, bringing the number of South Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries to over 1 million.

In South Sudan, more than 1.61 million people are internally displaced and another 261,000 are refugees from Sudan, DRC, Ethiopia, and Central African Republic.

(ST)

September 30, 2016 (NYALA) - A group of armed men on Thursday night shot dead the former commissioner of Baida locality of West Darfur State and the chief of Dago tribe in front of his house in Nayla, the capital of South Darfur State.

RSF troops in camouflage and draped with ammunition show off the spoils from a major clash with the rebel (JEM), in Nyala 13 May 2015 (Photo AFP/Ashraf Shazly)

The perpetrators managed to flee the crime scene in the third incident of its kind in Nyala within a week.

A relative of the murdered man, called Ahmed Saleh told Sudan Tribune that three armed men shot the tribal leader Gamal Ahmed several times while he was sitting in front of his house around 9 pm on Thursday after he refused to give them his mobile phone.

“The perpetrators escaped the crime scene using a vehicle which had no registration plates waiting them 60 meters away from the deceased's house,” said Saleh.

Saleh went to say that the tribal leader died while being transported to the hospital.

Hundreds of people have gathered outside the house of the tribal dignitary to protest the lack of security in Nyala.

During the week an armed group killed the accountant Az al-Dein Saad when they attacked the municipal salary office of Al-Radoom area staff in central Nyala.

Also armed groups looted Al-Whihda neighborhood in southern Nyala where 12 people have been injured after being beaten with gun stocks.

A police officer said that 17 people from Al-Whihda neighborhood filled criminal complaint accusing the perpetrators of armed robbery, causing serious harm and terrorism.

On Friday, an official source told Sudan Tribune that the security situation in Nyala is deteriorating as a result of gross negligence by the security committee in the application of imposed security measures that include banning vehicles without number plates and covering faces with turbans.

“Traffic police cannot stop vehicles that have no plates as often the drivers are members of regular forces and government militias mainly belonging to the Rapid Support Force,” pointed the source.

In July 2014, governor Adam Mahmoud Jar al-Nabi, declared an indefinite emergency situation in South Darfur state, including a curfew from 7pm to 7am (local time) in the capital Nyala.

The decision also banned riding of motorcycles by more than one person, holding weapons while wearing civilian clothes, vehicles driving around without license plates, and wearing a kadamool (turban which covers the face).

The source pointed that crime has increased in the state, adding that over 2000 vehicles without registration plates are circulating in Nyala.

The official went to say that more unlicensed vehicles are imported from the neighbouring countries after Custom Authorities in South Darfur State promised to cancel the ban imposed on importing old vehicles.

(ST)

September 30, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan's Riek Machar, former First Vice President and leader of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), brought the independence of the young country, his spokesperson has said, adding that those who do not want to recognize his historical great achievements are “dishonest individuals.”

South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar attends the 28th extraordinary summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for heads of state and government in Addis Ababa on 6 November 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

“Who doesn't know in South Sudan and in the region and beyond that Dr. Riek Machar was the first South Sudanese political leader in the history of the Sudan who signed with Khartoum's government a peace agreement on April 21, 1997, based on the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan? And who doesn't know that after his Movement merged with the Movement of late Dr. John Garang in Nairobi on January 6, 2002, where the two leaders finally agreed to pursue the right to self-determination as a twin objective competing side by side with the secular democratic united Sudan, the “first” protocol in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in Machakos, Kenya, on July 20, 2002, was the same clause on the right to self-determination copied from the Khartoum Peace Agreement. And who doesn't know that it is this self-determination which has finally culminated in the independence of South Sudan on July 9, 2011, through a referendum conducted on January 9 2011, as Dr. Riek Machar had been preaching nonstop since 1991?” James Gatdet Dak, official spokesman for the opposition leader, Riek Machar, told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

The opposition leader's spokesperson was responding to accusations published on Sudan Tribune against Machar by the South Sudanese presidency which depicted him as a troublemaker.

President Salva Kiir's spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, on Thursday, said Machar “will never” be a peacemaker, accusing him of threatening to wage an armed resistance as the August 2015 peace agreement has collapsed.

“Riek Machar will never be a peacemaker. Indeed, he has a long history of turning to war to force his demands on the peoples of South Sudan,” said the presidential spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny,

Meanwhile Machar's replacement, Taban Deng Gai, in a separate accusation described Machar as a violent man, enumerating a number of years he had rebelled against some leaders.

“Anybody who is a peace lover has a great future ahead of him, but Riek Machar has been a violent man from 1991, 1998, 2013, and 2016. I think he should have a new approach now. If he denounces violence and becomes a peaceful person like me, like Salva Kiir, there is a role for him," said Gai at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Council's Africa Center in the United States.

But Dak said the “false accusations” show that there are people who do not want to give the deserved credit to leaders who have brought them freedom and independence.

“Well, without Dr. Riek Machar's peaceful approach and championing of independence, these individuals denying his historical great achievements would not be sitting in Juba in an independent nation. It is sad that now instead of enjoying the fruits of Dr. Riek Machar, they are even abusing the independence, the sovereignty, by resorting to violence and corruption and making the people to suffer more,” he claimed.

He claimed that even President Kiir who in the past used to be against self-determination in favour of a united democratic secular Sudan, was finally “made” to sign the first Machakos protocol on the very self-determination in 2002 after the merger of the two factions of Machar and late Garang.

Dak narrated that it was in the Khartoum Peace Agreement (KPA), signed on April 21, 1997, that the clause for “the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan” was subsequently enshrined in the Sudanese constitution of 1998 for the “first time ever” in the history of the Sudan.

“These are well documented historical facts that Dr. Riek Machar championed the right to self-determination which finally brought the independence of South Sudan through the exercise of the referendum. His office, as Vice President, was also directly supervising it as documented in the Council of Ministers' resolutions in 2010 when he was given the responsibility to oversee the implementation of the self-determination that he personally spearheaded,” Dak further explained.

He said Machar was also the reason Salva Kiir was elected in 2010, saying Kiir would not have won the elections if Machar did not campaign for him across the country.

Dak accused Kiir of breaking the understanding between him and Machar in 2010 when he resorted to violence on 15 December 2013 and announced a false attempted coup in order to prevent Machar from contesting for the ruling party's chairmanship in 2013 party national convention and for the office of the president.

Machar, he added, is committed to setting a good foundation for peace and stability, democracy, federalism, development and prosperity for the people of South Sudan as he was equally committed to ensuring that the right to self-determination resulted to independence for the people of South Sudan.

He further defended the recent decision by the SPLM-IO leadership to resist the regime in Juba, saying it was a result of the collapse of the peace agreement which Machar signed with President Kiir in August last year.

“You cannot attempt to assassinate your peace partner and deputy in government, bombed his residence and smashed it to the ground, replace him illegally, chase him in the bushes and across the borders and continuously attacking his forces and then expect him not to resist you by all means available. This is ridiculous!” he said.

(ST)

September 30, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Joint Border Commission (JBC) between Sudan and South Sudan on Thursday has endorsed a number of documents pertaining to the border demarcation, said Sudan's official news agency SUNA on Friday.

South Sudanese refugees wait at a border gate in Joda, in the Jableen locality in Sudan's White Nile State, after arriving from the South Sudanese war zones of Malakal and al-Rank, January 16, 2014. (Photo Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

The JBC has held its sixth meeting in Addis Ababa from 26 to 29 September under the auspices of the African Union.

The Sudanese side was headed by the State Minister at the Presidency and JBC Co-chair Al-Rasheed Haroun while the South Sudanese side was chaired by the Minister of Information and JBC Co-chair Michael Makuei.

Sudan's official news agency SUNA said the JBC on Thursday has endorsed a number of documents including the list of procedural provisions of the JBC, list of the terms of reference of the joint technical team, the border line demarcation budget and work plan and the report of the outcome of the sixth meeting.

According to SUNA, the JBC decided to hold its seventh meeting in Addis Ababa in November.

Claimed and disputed areas of the Sudan and South Sudan border include Abyei, 14-Mile area, Joudat Al-Fakhar, Jebel al-Migainais, Kaka, and Kafia Kingi enclave (Hofrat al-Nahas).

Since South Sudan's independence the agreed border between the two countries is not yet demarcated (marked on the ground). Also, talks between the two sides continue to delimit the remaining 20% disputed boundary.

In September 2012, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, border trade among others.

In March 2013, the two countries signed an implementation matrix for these cooperation agreements. However, the execution of the agreements didn't go according to the plan.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan on July 9th 2011 following a referendum on whether the semi-autonomous region should remain a part of the country or become independent. 99% of the southern voters chose independence.

Relations between the two nations soured after South Sudan's independence following a series of disputes over a number of issues.

(ST)

September 30, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, has pleaded with foreign diplomats to influence their governments and citizens to help him and his administration secure assurances of the global community that the country would not be placed under sanctions, saying he was committed to implementing the peace agreement he signed in August last year with his ousted deputy, Riek Machar.

President Kiir also appeased the incoming diplomats he received as replacements to their predecessors, telling them that they were welcome in his country.

“You are welcome, feel at ease and feel at home. As the government, we appreciate and welcome and commend the support of your various countries and we look forward to continuing to cooperate with each and every country you represent to strengthen and enhance our cooperation in various areas with mutual respect,” said President Kiir at the reception function of seven foreign diplomats on Wednesday at the presidential palace in Juba.

Kiir asked the diplomats that he would like them, as they take over from their predecessors to send back to their governments a message of peace, reconciliation and a desired support to implement the peace agreement instead of pushing for sanctions which he said hurts the common people more than those for which they are proposed.

“As you take up your roles, I expect you to play a very important role in strengthening our relations with your governments and the people. I would like you to send back to your people and governments you represent here a message of hope, peace, reconciliation and our commitment to implementing the peace agreement, and for which we need the support of everybody in the family of nations of the world instead of sanctions, which affect the common people, not those for which they are proposed,” said Kiir.

He made the remarks after receiving credentials of foreign diplomats, who were presenting their credentials to him for approval as a practice in the diplomatic system.

The system requires that foreign ambassadors present their credentials to the president of the host government before commencing their work. The credential documents, according to Joseph Ayok Anei, the undersecretary of the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, follow a standard text covering academic and other necessary qualifications required for diplomats to qualify him or her as representatives of the nominating governments on whose behalf they empowered to speak.

Ambassadors, according to Ayok, cannot assume their diplomatic functions by way of representation of the sending governments or organizations before getting clearance from the ministry of foreign affairs of the receiving government until their credentials have been formally presented in person and have been accepted by the president of the host government as the chief diplomat.

He explained that diplomats whose credentials are accepted are subsequently considered as accredited to the host government and considered representatives of the sending government or organizations.

The president received the credentials in the presence of the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Elia Lomuro, Minister of National Security, Isaac Mabuto Mamur Mete, and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Joseph Ayok Anei.

The ambassadors for which the president received their credentials include, Mette Thygesen, Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of Royal Danish to the Republic of South Sudan with resident in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Alan Hamson, Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to the Republic of South Sudan resident in Juba, South Sudan.

He Xiandong was the ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Republic of South Sudan resident in Juba, South Sudan. Geert Spike Geut was ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Netherlands to the Republic of South Sudan resident in Juba, South Sudan.

Others include Gunar A. Holm as Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Royal Kingdom of Norway to the Republic of South Sudan resident in Juba, South Sudan and Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambage, Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Rwanda to the Republic of South Sudan with resident in Kampala, Uganda.

Hussein Hagi Ahmed Mahmoud was also accredited as the Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

(ST)

September 30, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan army (SPLA) on Friday said it is unaware of the media reports quoting residents and local officials, saying there have been clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar, in Morobo county.

Opposition officials also told Sudan Tribune that the town of Morobo actually felt under the full control of the SPLA-IO forces and their local allies on Friday.

The armed clashes involving the two rival forces in Morobo area pushed hundreds of civilians, majority of whom are innocent women and children, into neighbouring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But the government's military spokesman, Brigadier Lul Ruai Koang, said he had not received an official report about the fighting or whether Morobo has been captured by the opposition forces.

“I am not aware of these developments. I have not been briefed,” army spokesman Brigadier Koang told reporters when asked to comment on reports about the fate of Morobo.

Koang said the security situation was generally under control despite what he referred to as isolated cases by criminals involved in banditry acts in some parts of the country where government forces have limited presence.

“We heard of the UN report about clashes in Lasu but we don't [know] who were involved in that because we have no presence there. Our forces are not present in Lasu. So we don't know who was fighting who,” said Koang.

Unconfirmed reports have in the past few days suggested that fighting to maintain and capture Morobo has intensified between government forces and the armed opposition forces. According to some reports both sides have brought in more reinforcements to maintain their positions and stronghold.

“There have been clashes in and around Morobo border town, but it has intensified on Monday morning and resumed on Wednesday and Thursday when the government forces clashed with gunmen in the area in two separate locations in northwest and southwest of the town,” a resident said on Friday.

A member of parliament representing Morobo at the national legislative assembly in Juba also confirmed the reports in an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune on Friday and said some people from the area left Morobo town heading to Kaya, a border town between Uganda and South Sudan.

The legislator said the fighting intensified after the armed men managed to overrun a military base and pushed away the government forces, he said, have burnt all the buildings in Morobo military base.

Other local administrative officers visiting Juba confirmed that a military outpost guarding Morobo town was captured at dawn on Thursday by the heavily armed men, mostly suspected or believed to be the local youth who have taken up arms against the government after members of their families were either killed or arbitrarily being kept in detention by government security forces in the area.

“Those were angry youth acting out of emotions because their family members were either killed by the soldiers commanded by some rogue elements in our army or those whose parents and relatives were targeted and detained because they failed to report the activities of their sons or where they have gone. These acts have forced many civilians to flee their homes,” a local administrative officer said on Friday.

He claimed that some government forces who could not withstand the fight launched by the local youth have joined the civilian exodus. Some have melted among civilians in plain civilian clothes and are now heading towards Kaya on the Uganda border.

Many civilians as well have vacated the area in fear for their lives, because government security forces are targeting civilians in the area based on their ethnicities.

In similar development, Amadi area in Western Equatoria is reported to have seen heavy fighting between government forces and gunmen. Local officials have called for reinforcement of the presence of government forces, warning that the area could fall under the control of armed men because their activities have increased over the past few days on major supplying and strategic routes.

Meanwhile fighting was reported around Benitu town, the state capital of oil-rich Unity State. Local and state officials and armed opposition sources have traded accusations depicting the other to have initiated the attack on the position held by other in an attempt to derail the implementation of peace deal.

Renewed civil war has erupted after the 8 July violence at the presidential palace between the rival forces in the country.

(ST)

September 30, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) on Friday said it is considering to suspend participation in the peace talks with the Sudanese government over accusations about the use of chemical weapons by Sudanese army in Darfur.

A SPLA-N rebel soldier, in South Kordofan (AFP)

In a report released on Thursday, Amnesty International accused the Sudanese government forces of using chemical weapons repeatedly against civilians, including babies and young children, in one of the most remote regions of Darfur over the past eight months.

The alleged chemical attacks, believed to have killed up to 250 people, mostly children, represent a “new low” in the catalogue of serious abuses perpetrated by government forces in the region, said the human rights group.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday, SPLM-N Secretary General Yasir Arman said his movement is considering to stop talks with the government and demand the UN Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council to conduct an impartial inquiry on the use of chemical and internationally banned weapons by the Sudanese army in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

He said the SPLM-N would consult with its allies in the opposition umbrella Sudan Call in this regard, calling for the need to issue international resolutions to protect civilians in Darfur and the Two Areas.

The rebel leader pointed they would underline to the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) which is organizing unofficial consultations among Sudan's warring parties in Addis Ababa on Saturday the need to conduct an African investigation on those accusations.

He urged the Sudanese inside the country and abroad to launch a wide campaign to press the government and the African and international community to conduct an impartial investigation on those allegations, protect civilian populations and stop the war and war crimes in Sudan.

Arman further pointed that the government is preparing to launch a large military attack in the Two Areas during the summer which indicates that the regime is not keen to achieve peace.

He described Amnesty's report as “courageous”, saying it broke the silence of the international community toward the violations committed by the Sudanese government in conflict zones, saying the rights group had previously shown evidence that the government uses cluster bombs in Darfur and the Two Areas.

The Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-N rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011 and a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.

After a series of talks in Addis Ababa between 9 to 14 August, the Sudanese government, SPLM-N, Sudan Liberation Movement–Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) failed to sign cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements.

(ST)

Journalist Didi Akinyelure looks at a fresh crop of young, enterprising men and women who have more reason than most to celebrate Nigeria's 56th year of independence.

South African tattoo artist Sibusiso Nkabinde talks about the challenges he faced setting up his studio in Soweto.

The UN refugee agency and delegations from African countries as well as the African Union (AU) agreed today on final steps to end the protracted Rwandan refugee situation after seven years of negotiations.

Expand

Malcoal mine in Kayelekera. The open-pit coal mine is among the four largest coal mines in the country and is located on the back of a mountain, close to a river. Malcoal was reported to have closed down operations at the end of 2015, but the mine was still operational as of July 2016. 

© 2016 Lauren Clifford-Holmes for Human Rights Watch

Malita had high hopes when she first heard that foreign and domestic companies would start mining in her area of Malawi. The government and the companies promised jobs, better schools and improved access to healthcare in her village. They didn’t tell people about the risks mining can bring.

She only learnt that it can involve relocation when representatives of a coal mining company ordered her to leave her home in Kayelekera, on the northwestern shores of Lake Malawi.

“We just saw the bulldozer coming,” she said. “I did not know anything. They made me move at noon when they came to demolish our houses. They just left me outside.”

They didn’t compensate her. Stories like hers are all too common in Malawi.

Over the past 10 years, the government has promoted private investment in resource extraction as a way to diversify its economy. The Karonga district, in which Kayelekera falls, is the country’s test case. Malawi’s only uranium mine opened there in 2009 and two of the country’s four biggest coal mines are there.

Villagers in Kayelekera say that in September 2013 the coal mining company forced at least 10 other households to move from their homes, which were near the company’s office building.

The mining company disputes this.

Malita is a widow who has five children and people like her were left in particularly difficult circumstances. “I had no husband to build a new house for me [and] all my children were young. I didn’t know what to do. I just built a shack under the tree.”

Today, three years later, her house still doesn’t have a door. “I have no one to make a door for me,” she said.

As multinational companies, including those from Australia and Cyprus, have started to prospect and mine in the Karonga and neighbouring districts around the lake, residents and nongovernmental organisations have voiced serious concerns about potential environmental damage and the effect on their health, water, food and housing.

While Malita spoke about her eviction several trucks from the nearby mines passed by, coating the primary school, children and fields in coal dust. It’s this dust that has fuelled anxiety about health risks such as respiratory diseases.

Expand

Young girl washing dishes at a borehole near Eland coal mine in Mwabulambo, Karonga district. Women and girls who are largely responsible for fetching water often have to walk longer distances—as a result of mining activity that has affected usual water sources—to fetch water from what they believe are less contaminated sources, farther away from the mines, risking danger and losing time to attend school, earn money, and rest.

© 2016 Lauren Clifford-Holmes for Human Rights Watch

Another concern is that the coal and uranium mines might have contaminated local drinking water.

Women and girls, who are largely responsible for fetching water, said they often walk longer distances to reach what they believe is a safer water source.

Villagers say they have never seen any results of water testing. And they also do not have the adequate access to healthcare facilities promised to them where they could be assessed and treated for any mining-related health conditions.

The government and companies operating in the Karonga district say they monitor the effects of mining. But they don’t release the results. Last year the government officer in charge of environmental inspections in the district left his post.

Malawi does not have adequate legal standards and safeguards to ensure that the mining industry does not compromise the rights of citizens. Weak government oversight and a lack of information leave people unprotected and uninformed about the risks and opportunities associated with mining.

Malawi shouldn’t repeat the mistakes made by mining in other countries in Southern Africa, including in neighbouring Zambia and Zimbabwe. Malawi is still new to mining. There are opportunities for the government and investors to respect the rights of and minimise the risks for residents and natural ecosystems, even as they push for economic development.

It is not enough to create a fertile investment climate for mining companies. The government urgently needs to protect and respect the rights of people.

Malita’s experience shows how important it is for the government, investors and mining companies to develop their industry in a way that benefits the country and respects the rights of the people.

A selection of the best photos from across Africa this week.