Africa

September 21, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - U. S. Department of State Tuesday praised Sudanese government efforts in the fight against terrorism but excluded the removal of sanctions on the east African country as long as there is no improvement in Darfur conditions.

The US imposed comprehensive sanctions on Sudan in 1997 (US Embassy in Khartoum website)

Sudan is under American economic and trade sanctions since 1997 for its alleged connection to terror networks. However in 2007 Bush Administration strengthened the embargo, citing abuses in Darfur which it labelled as genocide.

Also in June 2012, the then U.S. Special Envoy Princeton Lyman said the indictment of President Omer al-Bashir by the war crimes court , International Criminal Court, " hinders the possibility of full cooperation with Western countries and therefore makes Western countries less motivated to provide assistance to Sudan".

"The United States welcomes Sudan's recent efforts to increase counterterrorism cooperation with the United States. In recent months, Sudan has taken important steps to counter ISIL and other terrorist groups and has sought to prevent their movement into and through Sudan," said a statement issued by State Department spoksperson John Kirby.

"While countering terrorism is an important objective for the United States, we continue to engage the Government of Sudan on protecting human rights, resolving internal conflicts, addressing humanitarian needs, improving regional stability, and advancing political freedoms, accountability and reconciliation," he further stated.

Sudanese officials were actively working to convince the American Administration to remove the sanction pointing to its negative impact on the ordinary people. Also, the two countries held a series of meetings on this respect and discussed the need to end armed conflicts in the Two Areas and Darfur.

Also, U.S. Special Envoy Donald Booth who is involved in the African Union efforts for peace in Sudan, carried out a visit to Darfur where he assessed the situation on the ground. He regretted the detention of IPDs representatives after meeting them in Central Darfur.

In statement to the Associate Press, Kirby excluded the lift of sanctions and normalization of bilateral relation in the near future. He said Washington hasgrave concerns about the situation in Darfur region.

"Complete normalization of relations would require significant progress in a range of other areas," Kirby said.

The spokesperson underlined "the need for improvements in conditions in Darfur" according to the AP.

However, the diplomat further said his administration would launch the formal revocation process of sanctions, if Sudan meets the relevant criteria, which include renouncing terrorism and not supporting extremist groups for a six-month period''.

"This process has not been initiated," he told the AP.

"We have been quite clear with the Sudanese on the steps that need to be taken for us to consider rescission, and what would be required to make progress in easing our economic sanctions, which are distinct from the state sponsor of terrorism listing, and have remained in place, because of the continued conflicts in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan. These conflicts are continuing today," he added.

The news agency also cited officials who alluded to al-Bashir indictment by the ICC saying that ''any move to improve U.S. ties with Sudan would be complicated" by the arrest warrants.

The Sudanese government says is committed to the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur and calls on the armed groups to sign it.

Two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi are part of the African Union mediated process for peace in Sudan.

They demand the government to open the framework agreement for negotiations pointing to the need to better protect civilians and their rights in the landownership.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (NAIROBI) - The leadership of South Sudan's opposition People's Liberal Party (PLP) has urged communities in Equatoria region to end hostilities targeting ethnic Dinkas.

Peter Mayen Majondit (ST)

Peter Mayen's call comes days after social media was awash with a video link showing six people, allegedly members of Dinka ethnic tribe, mercilessly being slaughtered by armed youth in Wonduruba area located along Yei-Juba road.

"All communities must values human lives and work to enhance harmony and peaceful co-existence among community members,” said Mayen.

"We stand against all inhuman treatment to all south Sudanese regardless of their tribe, regions and political affiliation,” he added.

According to the official, it is the responsibility of government and its people to end hostilities.

The outspoken opposition politician also blamed those in the coalition government of allegedly promoting tribalism in the country, saying innocent citizens were the ones paying the price.

Mayen hails from President Salva Kiir's home area of Gogrial in Warrap state. Last year, the opposition party leader pressured government into relocating Dinka cattle keepers from Equatoria region, claiming they instigate insecurity and tribal clashes.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - At least six people were killed and several others injured in an attack by militia believed to be affiliated with the government on a commercial market in Kutum locality, some 100 kilometres west of El-Fasher the capital of North Darfur.

Pro-government janjaweed militiamen on top of a heavily armed pickup patrol the main road out of the Kirinding-2 refugee camp at the outskirts of Al-Geneina, April 24,07 (Reuters)

An eyewitness by the name of Ibrahim Ahmed told Sudan Tribune that the incident occurred on Sunday morning, pointing that government militias attacked a market in the village of Donki Ba'ashim.

He said that 6 people were killed and several others injured in the attack, adding that hundreds of cattle heads besides the residents' property were looted by the attackers.
The same eyewitness pointed the name of the attacking militia commander is Wali.

For his part, the commissioner of Kutum locality Adam Awad al-Karim told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that an armed militia had looted the Donki Ba'ashim market, pointing his locality has sent a joint force to enhance security in the village.

However, the commissioner didn't reveal the identity of the militia and the motive behind the attack, stressing that it was nothing but a normal looting incident.
He added that the governor of North Darfur has been notified of the incident but didn't elaborate on the nature of attacking militia.

Last June, North Darfur governor Abdel-Wahid Youssef accused unnamed parties of seeking to keep the “insecurity and instability” situation in Darfur, pointing to “hidden hands that prompt the security chaos in all Darfur's five states not only North Darfur”.

He declared a state of maximum readiness among regular forces to control the lawlessness situation in the state and prevented riding of motorcycles, wearing of Kadamool (a turban which covers the face) and holding arms inside the capital, El-Fasher.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (NAIROBI) – The commander of the armed forces of South Sudan United Movement has dismissed as “untrue” reports that he reached an agreement with President Salva Kiir's government.

Rebel General Peter Gatdet Yaka gestures as he speaks to South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar (not seen) in a rebel controlled territory in Jonglei February 1, 2014. (Photo Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)

Gen. Peter Gatdet told Sudan Tribune from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi that had never made any contact with the Juba establishment as claimed.

“The claim by President Salva Kiir's security advisor was not true. I Gen. Gatdet have never held talks with any officials and I have to dismiss it as misinformation and misinterpretation from Tut Kew Gatluak,” he said.

The general, formerly with ex-vice president Riek Machar-led rebels, said he cannot betray his people without identifying the root causes of 2013 massacre of Nuers and other South Sudanese civilians.

“I fought Salva Kiir and the groups with purpose and I decided to reject the IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development]-Plus peace agreement about re-unification of the SPLM [Sudan People's Liberation Movement] because of premeditated bloody confrontation between our communities that reflected the tribal divisions in South Sudan under the poor leadership,” he stressed.

The official, however said, he was willing to be part of a comprehensive agreement designed to unite all South Sudanese.

“If there would be peace for all opposition members, I must be convinced with the durable peace that will address the root cause of the fighting and the reason why 30,000 civilians were killed in Juba. We fought with the Juba government and three armed groups, likewise all the opposition groups,” he said.

For lasting peace to be achieved in South Sudan, he added, there was need for inclusiveness in representation within government, which would pave way for realization of a final peace agreement.

Since the beginning of the South Sudan conflict in 2013, Gatdet has been operating in Bor, Jonglei State from where he crossed to Malakal in Upper Nile state. In 2014, United States, through its State Department, imposed sanctions on the commander of President Kiir's guards, Major General Marial Chanuong Yol together with Gatdet.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour on Tuesday has arrived in New York to participate in the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on behalf of the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir.

Ibrahim Ghandour attends African Union ministers meeting in Addis Ababa on 11 April 2016 (ST Photo)

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gharib Allah Khidir said Ghandour will address the UNGA on Saturday, pointing the 71st session is held under the theme “UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants.

He added the Foreign Minister will meet with the UN Secretary General, President of the UNGA, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation besides the heads of delegations and foreign ministers from more than twenty nations.

Khidir pointed that Ghandour will also participate in high level meetings to discuss issues of international cooperation, sustainable development, least developed nations and terrorism.

He also said Ghandour will participate in a number of meetings including the meeting of the Committee of African Ministers on the ICC with the UN Security Council, the high-level meeting on South Sudan, the ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the ministerial meeting of the Arab League and the ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Last May, the Sudanese presidency said that President Omer al-Bashir who faces an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had applied for U.S. visa in order to attend the annual gathering in New York.

Since, neither the U.S. State department nor the Sudanese foreign ministry commented on Bashir's planned appearance.

Bashir made a similar attempt to fly to New York in September 2013 but Washington dragged its feet on granting him visa without rejecting it outright.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (JUBA) - A former South Sudan newspaper editor who quit journalism for politics, has tendered in his resignation and terminated his membership from the armed opposition movement he joined after a peace deal was signed in 2015.

South Sudanese journalist and editor, Nhial Bol , reads a copy of the Juba Monitor, with a heading referring to the killing of journalist Peter Moi of The New Nation newspaper, on August 21, 2015 (Photo AFP/Samir Bol)

Nhial Bol Akeen, former chief editor of the now defunct The Citizen newspaper told Sudan Tribune Tuesday that he wrote to the SPLM-IO leadership under First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, informing him he wanted to go into private life.

“I just want to inform you that I have decided to leave politics. I have resigned from SPLM-IO. I have written to the First Vice President, General Taban Deng Gai of my decision”, Akeen said Tuesday.

The veteran journalist said he joined the movement hoping to see reforms in the party.

"When I decided to join the SPLM-IO, I was hoping there would be reforms. But the way I am looking at the things, nothing is going to change. So I decide to leave and retire to my private life because the kind of politics I am seeing is like a detention cell. There are not going to be reforms. You know that the country is now being run without the constitution. So how will work on reform if there is no constitution? Until the constitutional review committee has not completed its work. It is a difficult situation. South Sudan now is a country without constitution”, he explained.

Akeen's abrupt resignation, analysts say, affects hope for reforms in South Sudan.

According to the outspoken scribe, influential politicians are "trying to establish control over financial resources - first and foremost and the defense industry instead of using the agreement to address the root cause of the conflict by embarking on reforms.

Akeen said he was afraid whether South Sudan's new first vice president would champion reforms in accordance with the stipulations of the peace agreement signed in August last year.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) led by Minni Minnawi has called on the U.S. administration not to lift economic sanctions imposed on Sudan.

Media reports in Khartoum on Monday said that senior Sudanese and U.S. officials will meet in New York on Thursday to discuss ways to normalize ties between the two countries and possibilities for implementing partial lifting of sanctions especially with regard to banking wire transfers.

Also, the U.S. Department of State on Monday hosted a conference in New York to discuss the U.S. sanctions on Sudan.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, SLM-MM leader Minni Minnawi said the crisis in Sudan and particularly in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile can't be resolved by lifting the sanctions, pointing the conditions in the war-affected areas have worsened.

“The Sudan Liberation Movement strongly urges the US State Department not to lift the sanctions. Its SLM considered view that the US State Department planned conference (hold it on 19th September in New York) over the US Sanctions on Sudan should rather focus on examining the unprecedented violations committed against the innocent civilians rather than moving to reward the regime to perpetrate genocide” he said.

The rebel leader added the government militias known as Janjaweed continue to commit more atrocities in Darfur, “including their routine violations of attacking IDPs, raping women and looting civilian properties to exacerbate the on-going genocide in Darfur”.

“Under these circumstances any cooperation with this dictatorial Regime on whatever security justification will definitely be on the account of the miserable humanitarian situation and violation of moral obligation and at expense of democracy and the values of good governance which are championed and guarded by no other government in the world than the United State of America itself,” he said.

Minnawi further expressed readiness to cooperate with the international community in order to resolve the crisis in Sudan through a genuine national dialogue, reiterating that they are “most in need of peace for our people in displaced and refugee camps”.

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

Washington eased the sanctions imposed on agriculture equipment and services, and allowed exports of personal communications hardware and software. Also, the US Treasury Department removed the private Bank of Khartoum from a blacklist of Sudanese entities.

(ST)

September 20n 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The African Union United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Tuesday has acknowledged that one of their vehicles in North Darfur State ran over a child girl and killed her on the spot.

A UNAMID peacekeeper during a routine patrol in Tawila, North Darfur.(Photo UNAMID/Hamid Abdelsalam)

“On 16 September 2016, a road accident involving a UNAMID vehicle resulted in the death of a young girl in Al-Abbasi village, North Darfur,". said the hybrid mission in a state extended to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

UNAMID spokesperson Ashraf Eissa, further said that UNAMID Joint Special Representative Martin Uhomoibhi has expressed his sincere condolences.

“This is a great tragedy. My thoughts are with the family and friends of the child,” said the head of the joint mission

Eissa said that the mission is investigating the circumstances of the accident.

He emphasized that the hybrid mission "takes road safety very seriously and has in its structure a dedicated section to ensure the promotion and enforcement of safe driving practices".

Ahmed al-Tijani Adam, the victim's uncle told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that UNAMID's patrol vehicle didn't stop after the accident

"They fled the scene without helping her. The members of the patrol didn't stop to relief her which led to her immediate death” he said.

“We informed the police and we went to the UNAMID's headquarters and they said the [vehicle] didn't stop because there was no interpreter among the patrol members,” he added.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (JUBA) - A senior official in the office of the South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, has downplayed threats by the Sudanese government to close the border between the two countries.

Sudanese military personnel inspect the belongings of South Sudanese on the Sudanese border on 18 April 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

Sudanese government called on South Sudan to expel its rebel fighters being hosted by the South Sudanese government. They warned to close the common border of the two neighbouring nations should Juba fail to expel their rebels.

An agreement, duped as Cooperation Agreement signed in September 2012 by the two countries, called on South Sudan to stop its support to the rebels opposed to the leadership in Khartoum.

Also, another agreement signed in August last year between President Kiir and his rival, former First Vice President, Riek Machar, also provided for disarmament and expulsion of Khartoum's rebels from the territory of South Sudan.

The newly appointed South Sudan's First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, also visited Khartoum four weeks ago and pledged that the rebels will be expelled from South Sudan.

However, a senior presidential advisor in South Sudan said they only agreed in principle during the Khartoum's visit and that a technical committee would have to work out the matter.

“That is not what we have agreed in our meeting in Khartoum. So I don't expect the Sudanese government will take a unilateral decision to close down the border. We have agreed in principle to open the border after the technical committees have finished their work”, Presidential Advisor on Security Affairs,” Tut Kew Gatluak told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

The top presidential aide revealed that he was in the meeting on Monday with the Sudanese ambassador to prepare the ground for the upcoming ministerial meeting on the matters.

(ST)

September 20, 2016 (JUBA) - Over 23,000 people were vaccinated against cholera in the South Sudan capital, Juba, between 17–20 September, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

A child receives an oral cholera vaccine dose in the South Sudan capital, Juba (Medair Photo)

The vaccination campaign, the agency said in a statement, aims to mitigate the spread of cholera in South Sudan's capital, where the UN and the Ministry of Health have reported nearly 1,800 cholera cases and 12 related deaths since July.

"The campaign, funded by the Government of Japan, targeted populations in the Gumbo and Mangaten neighbourhoods, where cholera caseloads have been high, and reached 112 percent of the initial target," it said.

The vaccinations were conducted by the Health Ministry, in collaboration with IOM, the UN World Health Organization, the UN Children's Fund, Health Link and Live Well. In advance of the campaign, volunteers were trained on administration of the vaccine and community messaging.

“The partnership seen in this campaign is outstanding and it is important that we continue to work together to help improve the health of families affected by the conflict in South Sudan,” said IOM South Sudan Chief of Mission William Barriga.

“In Juba, like many places across the country, access to safe water can be challenging, meaning that prevention through vaccination is central to keeping families safe,” he added.

Violence in the capital in July displaced over 15,000 people, disrupting livelihoods and affecting access to public services. In crowded areas and among families with limited access to medical care, early prevention of cholera is crucial to reducing community transmission of the disease, which can spread rapidly.

With support from the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance Rapid Response Fund, IOM partners Impact Health Organization, Nile Hope and Mentor Initiative are reportedly conducting hygiene promotion in Juba neighbourhoods and at the UN Mission in South Sudan Tongping base to stem the spread of cholera and water-borne diseases.

"Messages focus on the importance of personal hygiene and proper handling of water and food", IOM stressed in it's statement.

Of the more than 1.61 million internally displaced persons and 6.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid in South Sudan, the UN estimates that 4.7 million people require lifesaving health care assistance this year, as conflict and displacement increase the risk for epidemics and the spread of preventable diseases.

(ST)

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