Africa

September 18, 2016 (JUBA) – Officials of the armed opposition faction led by former First Vice President, Riek Machar, have dismissed as “not true” claims by President Salva Kiir's government that the opposition leader returned to Juba in April to renew violence in a regime change strategy.

President Kiir last week accused the United Nations of allegedly working for a regime change and supporting Machar to carry it out. He also became bitter because the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) extracted Machar at the border and saved his life.

He said when Machar could not succeed in the two years of war which started on 15 December 2013, he signed the peace agreement in August last year in order to continue with the regime change agenda, including violence from within.

But Machar's officials said this was not true, arguing that the small number of forces they took to Juba clearly indicated that there was no plan to fight in Juba.

“It is not true. We did not return to Juba in order to fight. How could we plan to start another war inside Juba when he had only 1,300 troops brought to the capital with light weapons while Salva Kiir and his group had tens of thousands of troops in and around Juba with heavy weapons, tanks and helicopter gunships. The claim does not make any sense at all,” said James Gatdet Dak, Machar's spokesman.

Dak said their opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA-IO) would have insisted on bringing to Juba at least all their 2,910 troops allowed by the agreement, or would have even ensured that they had not less than 10,000 troops, also with their heavy weapons transported to Juba before Machar returned, if they had planned for a fight in Juba.

He said it was instead President Kiir and his group who had the plan to lure Machar to Juba in order to kill him and scrap the peace deal.

“The United Nations report is very clear, it is Salva Kiir and Malong Awan who ordered the recent violence in July in Juba. The UN panel investigated it and clearly held Kiir and his group responsible,” he said.

The opposition leader's spokesman further added that “President Kiir and his group were responsible for all the messes in the country, “whether it is assassination attempts against Dr. Riek Machar on 15 December, 2013, or on 8 July, 2016 violence in Juba as confirmed by the UN, or corruption as also confirmed in the recent report by The Sentry organization based in the United States.”

Machar and his faction, he added, accepted to return to Juba in April despite the improper security arrangements because he thought that Kiir had changed from his violent behavior after the two years of war.

He however said the opposition group will not give President Kiir another third chance to attempt to lure in and murder Machar in Juba.

“The violent situation in Juba has to change first,” he said.

(ST)

September 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese government Sunday it would close border with the South Sudan if the government of President Salva Kiir does not implement its pledge to expel Sudanese armed groups waging war in the two Areas and Darfur.

Last August Khartoum and Juba said that First Vice President Taban Deng Gai discussed during his meetings with the Sudanese officials the presence of rebel group in South Sudan and pledged to take tangible measures within three weeks.

Last week, South Sudanese Army Spokesperson, Lul Ruai Koang, told Sudan Tribune that they will expels rebels fighting its northern neighbour once it receives directives from the high command.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kamal Ismail said South Sudan's First Vice President Taban Deng Gai pledged during his recent visit to Khartoum to expel rebel movements from its territory within 21 days.

"Juba's failure to commit itself to this agreement entails stopping the transit of humanitarian aid through Sudanese territory to the South Sudan," he said in statements to the semi-official Sudanese Media Centre (SMC).

The minister further stressed that they are closely monitoring and watching Juba's decision on this respect.

"South Sudanese political authorities have to take a clear decision providing to expel (rebel) movements" and "there is no excuse for those who have been warned." he stressed.

Khartoum and Juba trade accusations of support to rebel groups since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011.

The peace agreement on the resolution of the South Sudanese conflict signed in August 2015 provides that the transitional government in Juba would expel Sudanese armed movement.

However hopes for the implementation of the peace agreement fade and observers say Machar group is preparing for a new war against the government in Juba.

(ST)

September 18, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - A vehicle belonging to the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) had run over a seven-year old girl in Malit town, 60 kilometers north of El-Fasher the capital of North Darfur state.

A UNAMID peacekeeper from from Burkina Fasso and based in Forobaranga, West Darfur, checks a map during a patrol to Tamar village. (Photo UNAMID/Albert González Farran)

Ahmed al-Tijani Adam, the victim's uncle told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that UNAMID's patrol vehicle has run over his niece Marwa al-Tijani Adam Idriss , saying she was killed on the spot.

“They 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.

UNAMID officials were not reachable for comment on the incident.

A security source, who spoke to Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity, attributed the accident to the over-speeding and reckless driving, pointing that traffic accidents by UNAMID vehicles have lately increased.

“It is noted that UNAMID troops continued to flee after committing car accidents” he said

The hybrid mission has been deployed in Darfur since December 2007 with a mandate to stem violence against civilians in the western Sudan's region.

It is the world's second largest international peacekeeping force with an annual budget of $1.35 billion and almost 20,000 troops.

(ST)

After 25 years of vicious conflict that has cost countless lives and displaced millions of people, peace has finally broken out in south-central Somalia — at least that's what Kenya says. And the UN refugee agency, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has joined Kenya to tell the world it should now focus on helping as many refugees as possible to return home.

But I recently spoke with some of the estimated 320,000 Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, the world's largest refugee camp. And it's clear that peace is the last thing some of those signing up for UNHCR's $400 repatriation cash handout are discovering.

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A newly arrived Somali refugee is forced out of the queue outside a reception centre in the Ifo 2 refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, July 28, 2011

© 2011 Reuters

A number of refugees told me they had returned destitute to destroyed Somali villages without health care provision and schools, or faced danger as armed groups continue to clash in and around their villages, including towns. After doing their best to survive, they fled back to Kenya, once again as refugees.

One of them is "Amina," a 38-year-old single mother. After a decade in Dadaab, she decided to try her luck and returned in January 2015 with her five children to her village, Bula Gudud, in the Lower Juba region, hoping to rebuild her life.

She told me: "After two days back home, fighting broke out between government troops and al-Shabab [armed Islamist group]. I could hear the bullets. My children were so scared. They just ran around, trying to get out of the house." The following day, Amina fled to the closest city, Kismayo. She had no relatives there but hoped she'd find safety and work to feed her children. She found neither.

She and her family barely survived for nine months with other displaced civilians in Kismayo's appalling internally displaced persons' camps. After a man in a government uniform raped her, a common occurrence in the unprotected and aid-starved camps across the country, Amina gave up and 10 months ago begged her way back to Dadaab.

But her ordeal didn't end there. The Kenyan authorities have refused to re-register her and her children as refugees, and UNHCR has not reactivated her ration card or given her any food.

"If we send 1,000 people home under the voluntary repatriation agreement but we then register 1,000 new arrivals, we would not get the job done," a Kenyan government official in Dadaab told me

Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR had signed an agreement in November 2013 on the "voluntary repatriation" of Somali refugees. It says that both countries and the UN would make sure that Somalis return voluntarily and safely and would get help to resettle back home. A few months later UNHCR said that "the security situation in many parts of ... Somalia [is] volatile [and] protracted ... conflict has had devastating consequences, including massive displacement, weakened community structures, gross human rights violations and the breakdown of law and order".

But Kenya has repeatedly referred to this agreement as evidence that it is time for all Somalis to go home, stressing that the UN agency should help Kenya "expedite" refugee repatriation.

Somali refugees have a collective memory of previous repeated attempts by Kenyan security forces to coerce "voluntary" returns. In late 2012, Kenyan police in Nairobi unleashed appalling abuses in an effort to enforce an illegal directive to drive tens of thousands of urban Somali refugees into the Dadaab camps and from there back to Somalia. In April 2014, Kenyan security forces, primarily police, carried out a second round of abuses against Somalis in Nairobi and then deported 359 a month later without allowing them to challenge their removal.

In May 2016, Kenya announced that "hosting refugees has to come to an end", that Somali asylum seekers would no longer automatically get refugee status and that the Department of Refugee Affairs, responsible for registering and screening individual asylum applications, would be disbanded.

So far, thankfully, the Kenyan police in Dadaab appear to have been acting properly and the refugees told us they had not been harassed or directly coerced. But they are all aware that the government intends to close the camp by the end of November. Everyone we spoke to expressed the fear that those who do not take the voluntary repatriation assistance package now will be forced back later this year with nothing.

Since mid-2015, Amina and at least another 4,000 Somali refugees have either returned to Kenya after facing conflict and hunger back home or fled to Dadaab for the first time.

But with refugee registrations now closed, Amina and the others won't get food aid. Their survival will depend on the kindness of neighbours or relatives whose own rations were slashed last year by a third because of a funding shortfall. Amina and other returnees and new arrivals will also be the first to face arrest and deportation for "illegal presence" if Kenya shuts down Dadaab in three months.

International and Kenyan law require the authorities to make sure that anyone seeking asylum in Kenya is fairly heard and, if found to need protection, gets it. As long as Kenya continues to shred its commitments, Amina and thousands of others like her will languish hungry and destitute in legal limbo and wake up every morning wondering whether they are about to be deported back to the dangers that many have repeatedly fled and still fear.

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Asylum seekers behind a metal fence in the ‘Hangar 1’ detention center, in Röszke, Hungary. September 9, 2015.

© 2015 Zalmaï for Human Rights Watch

(New York) – The massive refugee crisis demands an unprecedented global response. At two summits on September 19 and 20, 2016, at the United Nations, world leaders should take bold steps to share responsibility for millions of people displaced by violence, repression, and persecution.

Leaders will gather in New York to discuss providing greater support to countries where refugees first land, just as many of those countries are at breaking point. There is a grave risk to the bedrock foundation of refugee protection, the principle of nonrefoulement – not forcibly returning refugees to places where they would face persecution and other serious threats. People are fleeing violence in Afghanistan, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Honduras, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria, among others.

“Millions of lives hang in the balance,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “This is not just about more money or greater resettlement numbers, but also about shoring up the legal principles for protecting refugees, which are under threat as never before.”

This year, Human Rights Watch has documented Turkish border guards shooting and pushing back civilians who appear to be seeking asylum; Jordan refusing entry or assistance to Syrian asylum seekers at its border; Kenya declaring that it will close the world’s largest refugee camp in November and pushing Somalis to return home despite potential danger; and Pakistan and Iran harassing and deregistering Afghan refugees and coercing them to return to a country in conflict.

The UN General Assembly has convened the September 19 summit “with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach” to refugees. The final statement, already drafted, is a missed opportunity to widen the scope of protection and limits expectations for concrete, new commitments. However, it affirms refugee rights and calls for more equitable responsibility sharing. Given the scale of the refugee crisis and populist backlash in many parts of the world, this affirmation should be the basis for collective action, Human Rights Watch said.

On September 20, US President Barack Obama will host a “Leader’s Summit” to increase commitments for aid, refugee admissions, and opportunities for work and education for refugees. Governments are expected to make concrete pledges toward goals of doubling the number of resettlement places and other admissions, increasing aid by 30 percent, getting 1 million more refugee children in school, and granting 1 million more adult refugees the right to work. Though the participants have not been announced, 30 to 35 countries are expected to attend. Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Sweden, and Jordan will join the United States as co-facilitators.

Boost Humanitarian Aid to Countries of First Arrival
The vast majority of the world’s 21.3 million refugees are in the global south, where they often face further harm, discrimination, and neglect. Human Rights Watch called on countries of first arrival like Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Thailand, Kenya, Iran, and Pakistan, to commit to proposals to provide refugees with better access to work and education.

The world’s richest nations have largely failed to help countries on the front lines of the displacement crisis. As of September 9, UN aid appeals were 39 percent funded, with some of the worst-funded in Africa; the appeal for refugees from South Sudan stands at 19 percent. The regional refugee response plans for Yemen and Syria are funded at 22 and 49 percent.

Increase Numbers Resettled in Other Countries
Resettlement from countries of first arrival is a key way to help refugees rebuild their lives and to relieve host countries, but international solidarity is glaringly absent. In 2015, the UN refugee agency facilitated resettlement of 81,000 of a projected 960,000 refugees globally in need of resettlement. The agency estimated that over 1.1 million refugees would need resettlement in 2016, but projected that countries would only offer 170,000 places. Representatives of 92 countries pledged only a slight increase in resettlement places for Syrian refugees at a high-level UN meeting in March.

In the European Union, the arrival by boat in 2015 of more than 1 million asylum seekers and migrants – and more than 3,700 deaths at sea – laid bare the need for safe and legal channels for refugees to move, such as resettlement.  However, many EU countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, and Hungary, are focused primarily on preventing spontaneous arrivals, outsourcing responsibility, and rolling back refugee rights.

A July 2015 European plan to resettle 22,500 refugees from other regions over two years has resettled only 8,268 refugees, according to figures from July 2016. Most EU countries underperformed, and 10 failed to resettle a single person under the plan.

End Abusive Systems, Flawed Deals
The EU struck a deal with Turkey in March to allow the return to Turkey of almost all asylum seekers on the deeply flawed grounds that Turkey is a safe country for asylum; it is on the verge of falling apart. Australia forcibly transfers all asylum seekers who arrive by boat to offshore processing centers, where they face abuse, inhumane treatment, and neglect.

The EU and Australia should renounce these abusive policies. EU countries should swiftly adopt a proposed permanent resettlement framework with more ambitious goals and a clear commitment to meet them, Human Rights Watch said. They should share fairly the responsibility for asylum seekers arriving spontaneously, and help alleviate the pressure on Greece and Italy.

Governments also undermine asylum with closed camps, as in Kenya and Thailand, and by detaining asylum seekers, as do Australia, Greece, Italy, Mexico, and the United States.

While by many measures the US leads in refugee resettlement and response to UN humanitarian aid appeals, it has been particularly slow and ungenerous in admitting Syrian refugees. And it has had notable blind spots, as with its border policies for Central American children and others fleeing gang violence and its use of Mexico as a buffer to keep them from reaching the US border.

The Obama Administration met its goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year in the face of opposition from more than half of US governors and a lack of resettlement funds from Congress, but the US has the capacity to resettle many times that number. It should commit to meeting the Leaders’ Summit goals, which would mean doubling this year’s 85,000 total refugee admissions to 170,000.

Several other countries with capacity to admit far more refugees, including Brazil, Japan, and South Korea, have fallen woefully short. Japan admitted 19 refugees in 2015, South Korea only 42 aside from North Koreans, and Brazil only 6.

Russia resettles no refugees. The Gulf States do not respond to UN resettlement appeals, though Saudi Arabia says it has suspended deportations of hundreds of thousands of Syrians who overstay visitor visas. Most Gulf states, except Kuwait, have also fallen short in their response to Syrian-refugee-related UN appeals to fund refugee needs, according to an Oxfam analysis.

“Every country has a moral responsibility to ensure the rights and dignity of people forced to flee their homes,” Roth said. “When more than 20 million people are counting on a real international effort to address their plight, lofty pronouncements are not enough.”

“The government wants to starve us,” an Ivorian traditional leader told a local human rights researcher, describing what happened after the government evicted tens of thousands of cocoa farmers from nearby Mont Péko national park in July.

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A farmer evicted from the Mont Peko National Park walks in the remains of his village that was destroyed during an eviction operation of farmers inside the Mont Peko National Park in Duekoue department, western Ivory Coast August 1, 2016.

© 2016 Reuters

The displacement of these farmers – the bulk of whom have moved to villages bordering the park – led the Ivorian Coalition of Human Rights Actors (Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains, RAIDH) to today warn that the operation “puts at risk food security, health and social cohesion in the area.” The influx of displaced farmers, who have lost the cash crops they depended on to feed their families, has meant that several towns and villages have seen their populations more than double.

Restoring Mont Péko, a 34,000-hectare national park that has been devastated by small-scale cocoa farming, typifies the dual challenges the Ivorian government faces in conserving forests and the endangered chimpanzees, forest elephants, and other animals that live there, as well as respecting the rights of communities that rely on forests for their survival.

Côte d’Ivoire – which at one point reportedly had the highest rate of deforestation in Africa – saw its forest decline from 50 percent of the national territory in 1900 to less than 12 percent in 2015. To help protect the country’s biodiversity and combat climate change, the Ivorian government has committed to return at least 20 percent of its territory to forest.

But measures to protect the environment, such as the protection of national parks, should not come at the expense of the rights of those who live there. International law protects anyone who occupies land from forced evictions that either do not provide adequate notice or do not respect the dignity and rights of those affected, regardless of whether they occupy the land legally.

Human Rights Watch and RAIDH in June documented how Côte d’Ivoire’s forestry agency evicted farmers from forests without warning and without giving them alternative housing or land. “Without our land, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” one farmer said. “We don’t even have enough food to give us the energy to work.” 

“I still haven’t gotten back on my feet,” said a woman who was evicted in June 2015. “I have trouble feeding my children, and they are not going to school anymore.”

Other research by RAIDH in Mont Péko suggests that while farmers were told that evictions were planned, the government failed to ensure that villages bordering Mont Péko could shelter and feed those displaced, even if temporarily. 

An August 11 UN report concluded that the infrastructure in communities surrounding Mont Péko was “largely insufficient” to accommodate those evicted, and that social, health and education services were “overwhelmed.”

As Côte d’Ivoire restores its forests, it should work harder to balance the human cost of evictions with the environmental imperatives. When relocating communities is the only option, the government should ensure that those displaced have the food and basic services that they need.

Kenya’s repatriation program for Somali refugees, fueled by fear and misinformation, does not meet international standards for voluntary refugee return. Many refugees living in Kenya’s sprawling Dadaab camp, home to at least 263,000 Somalis, say they have agreed to return home because they fear Kenya will force them out if they stay. In May 2016, the Kenyan government announced plans to speed up the repatriation of Somali refugees and close the Dadaab camp in northeastern Kenya by November. Kenyan authorities, with officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), then stepped up a 2013 “voluntary” repatriation program.

By James Okuk, PhD

As my part-time top boss at University of Juba, I would like to thank the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Akec for keeping his private hobby of public writing. Many intellectuals of South Sudan and in many other African Countries abandon their hobbies when they become bosses. He needs to be appreciated and encouraged to keep up this consistency and freedom of expression.

What attracted my attention is Prof. Akec's reference to St. Augustine and Thomas Hobbes to justify his apologetic defence of Juba's suspicion and reservation on the awaited Regional Protection Force. I'm saying this because I have been a lecturer of “Comparative Political Thought” in the esteemed University of Juba since 2012, both to Arabic and English patterned students of the Department of Political Science.

The evolution of political thought, some of which are practiced in many countries to date, is an area I have admired with great interest. Thus, I must thank the electronic engineer, Prof. John Akec, for becoming an active participant in the classic political field, though. I would have wished to invite him to attend a special lecture on the context and content on St. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Hobbes and Jean Bodin who had put forward some rigorous political thinking in the history of human governance, especially in regard to ‘Sovereignty and the Sovereign' in time of ‘Peace' and ‘War'.

Those great thinkers of the middle ages in Europe were concerned much about “Sovereignty of the Monarch”. This political situation was broadened and cemented by the Treaty of Westphalia (October 1648) that legitimised the limited European Nation-States' Systems and Principles between the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France and their respective Allies.

However, the French Revolution (known also as the people's bread revolution) and the American Declaration of Independence (known also as the people's land revolution) made the Westphalia Treaty irrelevant for constitutional liberalism and democratisation of the modern nation-states. The Centre of 'Sovereignty' shifted from 'I the King for the State' to 'We the People for the Nation'.

The sovereignty as far as St. Augustine and Thomas Hobbes were concerned was about “I the King” only with disregard to the centrality of the people and their dignified livelihood welfare. Is this what Prof. John Akec is trying to argue for South Sudan now?

Even Hobbes conditioned the necessity of the sovereign and the government on “not killing the subjects and also not instilling fear in them”. The Hobbesian Leviathan was for absolute peace and security of the people. Once the sovereign and the government break this condition, then they should immediately lose the value to continue ruling the nation in a state.

St. Augustine has also conditioned the sovereignty on 'Peace and Justice', with permissible 'War of a Just Cause', conducted through right intention, declared by a competent authority with good faith, and using proportional military force while discriminating the non-combatant citizens (i.e women, children, the elderly, the clergy, etc.) from the warriors of the sinful 'City of Man' who are being punished by divine authority to repent and return to goodness of 'City of God' for everlasting eternal grace. Once peace and justice is denied to the citizens, then the sovereign and government should be prayed upon for divine fire of deposition and salvation for a new replacement.

Jean Bodin defined sovereignty as “Absolute”, “Indivisible” and “Complete”, the attributes which are not nearer to the situation of the divided South Sudan on the power of their current government.

Therefore, Prof. Akec shouldn't kindly misquote these intellectual historical giants to mislead the public about ‘sovereignty' and how UN Protection Force is “Trusteeship” in another name. If the Prof. Is not yet aware and informed about the matter, let him now know that the UN Charter since the end if World War II in 1945 doesn't allow ‘UN Trusteeship” for an independent state with full UN and other regional organisations memberships.

The UN Charter and AU Constitutive Act predicate the modern sovereignty on: a)Protection of the population without discrimination, b) Undivided loyalty of the citizens to the state, c) Enforceability of government powers in all the jurisdictional and integral territory, d) Cooperation with the UN and other international and regional bodies based on treaties, mutual recognition and other legitimate obligations, and e) Viability of the state and sustainability of its government among other nations.

Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (December 1933) is what has defined the modern and contemporary state, not necessarily the traditional medieval nation-state any longer. Article (1) defines a state as a person of international law that possesses a) permanent population (i.e, not Refugees or IDPs), b) a defined territory, c) government, and d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.

Also the Westphalia principles of equality of states, non intervention of one state in the internal affairs of another state and "forgiving the sins of the past" are no longer practiced in vacuum, especially when the UNSC, in accordance with the UN Charter, defines a situation as ‘threat to international peace and security' as it came out in Resolution Number 2304 (2016) and acts via a "peace-keeping" long-term strategy or "peace-enforcement" emergency response in accordance with the principle of "the Responsibility to Protect".

The Republic of South Sudan should not be made an exception on the evolution of the power of multilateral diplomacy and international relations. The Juba Varsity Prof. Akec has missed the intellectual goal that a professor shouldn't afford to mess up with.

The Regional Protection Force and UNMISS-Plus is not and can't turn into a formal trusteeship force in South Sudan because their mandate is clear and supplementarily limited to restoring the direly needed peace and security environment in the embattled country from all fronts.

That was why Juba signed a Joint Communique on 4th September 2016 with the UNSC Members who came to the country for first hand information and experience of the gravity of the situation.

Dr. James Okuk is a lecturer of politics in University of Juba reachable at okukjimy@hotmail.com.

September 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudan People's Liberation Movement -North (SPLM-N) and several doctors unions affiliated to opposition parties have urged the government to declare an outbreak of cholera in the Blue Nile State a national emergency and to allow local and international response.

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

Sudanese government is refusing to declare a suspected outbreak of cholera an epidemic despite the deaths of over 17 people. Health officials are insisting that the disease is acute watery diarrhoea - a symptom of cholera -, pointing it is under control.

The government, nonetheless, has officially admitted 614 cases of " acute watery diarrhoea", while unofficial reports say cholera death toll has risen to over 100 cases.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, SPLM-N Chairman Malik Agar Saturday called on the government to acknowledge cholera outbreak in the Blue Nile state, to take rapid action and provide urgent medical support to people in the areas affected by the epidemic.

Agar said he "contacted a number of specialists and doctors in connection with the deteriorating health situation in the Blue Nile, and beyond reasonable doubt he made sure that the cholera epidemic is spreading quickly, while the government lack of interest rises to the level of criminal negligence".

He further called on the regional and international organizations to pay attention to what is happening in the Blue Nile State , adding that "the government's silence is to be added to the crimes of the regime.".

The SPLM-N rebels are fighting the government of President Omer al-Bashir in South Darfur and Blue Nile states since June 2011.

An African Union mediation team is brokering a process to end the five-year conflict. The ongoing efforts for a cessation of hostilities aim to allow humanitarian access to the war affected areas and to pave the way for an all-parties constitutional conference.

Opposition doctors unions of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the National Umma Party (NUP) released statements about the alarming situation in the Blue Nile State and asserted that all the indicators strongly suggest that the spread of diarrhea is the result of infection with the cholera bacterium.

The practitioners further called on the decision-makers to put aside political "tricks" and to deal in a professional manner with the outbreak in line with preventive medicine and public health rules.

Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The bacteria can cause severe diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to death, so treatment needs to be swift.

(ST)

September 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid has accused political and armed opposition of lack of seriousness and stressed that peace and political talks would stop by the end of the national dialogue conference which will start on October 10th.

Last August, after a week of negotiations over a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements, the African Union mediation suspended the discussions between the government and rebels in Sudan's two areas and Darfur region.

On Friday, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Gibril Ibrahim disclosed they requested the mediation to dedicate more time for the preparations of the upcoming round of talks, adding no date has been determined yet for its resumption.

Hamid, who addressed the meeting of the Political Parties Affairs Council (PPAC) on Saturday, said the government has been working for years to achieve security, stability and permanent peace.

“However, the opposition forces, driven by foreign agendas, are not serious in their endeavors to achieve the desired peace,” he said.

He underlined that negotiations with all political and armed opposition would stop following the end of the national dialogue.

“No party would be allowed to access power through the force of arms, [they could only do that] by resorting to the ballot boxes that are determined by the Sudanese people,” he said.

Hamid renewed the commitment of the presidency to implement the outcome of the national dialogue in order to strengthen the domestic front and the government institutions and to give all political forces the opportunity to participate in the power by creating a political system that could achieve stability in the country.

In January 2014, President Omer al-Bashir called on political parties and armed groups to engage in a national dialogue to discuss four issues, including ending the civil war, allowing political freedoms, fighting against poverty and revitalising national identity.

Launched on 10 October 2015 for three months, the dialogue process was initially expected to wind up in January 2016 but it was delayed until October 10th.

The opposition groups refuse to join the process and call on the government to implement a number of confidence building measures aimed to create a suitable atmosphere for dialogue. But the government refuses their claims.

The presidential aide accused opposition forces of making poor excuses to stall the talks time and again, saying the government has made a number of concessions during the negotiations on the Roadmap Agreement.

Last month, four groups from the opposition umbrella Sudan Call including the National Umma Party, Sudan People's Liberation Movement /North, Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minnawi signed the Roadmap Agreement for peace and dialogue brokered by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP).

The four groups had initially rejected the peace plan which was signed by the government last March, saying it excludes other opposition groups, and omits important confidence building measures such as political freedoms and release of political detainees and prisoners.

However after five months, they agreed to ink it after receiving reassurance from the head of the AUHIP Thabo Mbeki.

(ST)

September 17, 2016 (JUBA) - A United Nations-mandated human rights commission has expressed “deep concern” over rights violations and the slow implementation of the August 2015 peace agreement between rival political factions in South Sudan.

The delegation which has been on a one-week visit to South Sudan said the implementation of the peace agreement has not been going on well following the 8 July clashes in Juba, coupled with human rights violations.

“We are deeply concerned at the slow progress on the implementation of the provisions of the Peace Agreement which is fundamental to ending the conflict, human rights violations and normalization of the lives of South Sudanese,” Yasmin Sooka, the Chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, told reporters in the country's capital, Juba on Friday.

The Commission was established in March this year by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and comprises two other members Kenneth Scott and Godfrey Musila. The Commission has been tasked with, among other mandates, monitoring and reporting on the situation of human rights in South Sudan and make recommendations for its improvement.

According to a statement, the three Commission members travelled throughout South Sudan from 8 to 15 September, holding exchanges with the government officials, the judiciary, the legislative assembly, the diplomatic corps, UN actors, civil society organizations and internally displaced persons (IDPs) taking shelter at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians Site (PoC).

In early July, close to the fifth anniversary of the country's independence, the youngest nation in the world was plunged into fresh violence due to clashes between rival forces – the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), loyal to President Kiir, and the SPLA in Opposition, backing former First Vice-President Riek Machar. That led to deaths and injuries and a mass displacement of civilians, also undermining the implementation of the peace agreement between the political rivals in August 2015, which formally ended their differences.

An earlier report of the United Nations last week blamed President Salva Kiir and his army's chief, Paul Malong Awan, for ordering the recent renewed fighting in Juba, which has threatened the collapse of the peace deal.

“We travelled to Bentiu and made a stop in Malakal. The visit proved to be extremely useful as we were able to visit the Malakal UNMISS PoC site housing IDPs and obtained an extensive briefing on the human rights situation there,” said the rights delegation's statement.

The Commission said it observed the deplorable conditions under which IDPs live, but it could not visit the PoC site in Juba for security reasons. It however held a meeting with the site's leadership on the human rights situation and the violations and abuses reportedly committed in Juba.

The Commission also said it held two meetings with women in the PoC sites where they were able to hear directly from women on the human rights situation and the human rights violations and abuses they had suffered, including gang rape by armed men in uniform.

In meetings with Government officials, the Commission members touched on critical issues of accountability, particularly in respect of previous and current investigations and inquiries that the government has either conducted, instituted or committed to, the press release said, noting that these issues included the establishment of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan, the Bill amending the Penal Code to incorporate international crimes and the establishment of the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing.

“Overall, we remain concerned by the diminishing space for journalists and civil society members who are subject to intimidation and harassment; by the lack of access for UNMISS and humanitarian actors to reach the most vulnerable; the escalation of sexual violence against women and girls,” it said.

“Above all, we are concerned about the ongoing impunity and lack of accountability for serious crimes and human rights violations in South Sudan, without which lasting peace cannot be achieved,” it added.

The three members are currently in Addis Ababa for meetings with high-level officials from the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission and will later travel to Uganda to interact with South Sudanese refugees and for further meetings in connection with their mandate.

The Commission revealed that it plans to return to South Sudan later this year before reporting to the Human Rights Council in March 2017.

(ST)

September 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, has appointed ambassador Jean-Michel Dumond as Head of the EU Delegation to Sudan.

EU's ambassador to Sudan Jean-Michel Dumond (EU Photo)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, the EU delegation to Sudan said that Dumond has arrived in Khartoum on September 13th, pointing he is expected to present his credentials to the Sudanese government in the coming days.

The French diplomat, who succeeded former Czech envoy Tomas Ulicny, was previously serving as Head of the EU Delegation to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He also served as ambassador of France to Nigeria and had been posted to Germany, Italy and Romania.

“Ambassador Dumond was also Director for Common Foreign and Security Policy and Deputy-Director for Western Europe at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He devoted a part of his career to the Francophonie” said the statement.

The statement added that the role of Dumond is “to represent the EU in Sudan, to ensure the enhancement of bilateral relations, to promote the values and interests of the European Union, notably peace, democracy, and respect for human rights through political dialogue, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance to the people of the Sudan”.

(ST)

September 17, 2016 (BENTIU) - A delegation of 35 members from South Sudan's armed opposition loyal to First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai are in Northern Liech, one of the country's new states on peace deal implementation.

Taban Deng Gai addresses delegates after he was sworn-in as South Sudan FVP inside the Presidential Palace in the capital of Juba, July 26, 2016 (Photo Reuters/ Jok Solomun)

Former Mayom county commissioner, John Bol Mayak, said the visiting team discussed a number of issues on with state officials.

“We are happy to receive the delegations, and we now pledge to the general public that the Northern Liech state is for peace,” said Mayak, now a state security advisor.

Last month, he said, the state received several members of the country's armed forces under the command of Lt. Gen Dor Manjuor as a sign of peace in the country.

Former Unity state security advisor, Manyiew Dak led the delegation, comprising of several senior SPLM-IO members.

Dak separately told Sudan Tribune that he led the over 35-member delegation to Bentiu to spread messages of peace and assure them of the peace implementation.

“Our coming to the state was to assure people and government officials that peace must be implemented in line with Taban Deng Gai's appointment as the first vice president of the republic of South Sudan,” he said.

Dak stressed that the people of Northern Liech state were for peace, which he said must be embraced by all citizens.

“It is time for us to leave Riek Machar alone and his groups. We assure you that through Gen. Taban Deng and President Salva Kiir, peace will be achieved without any obstacle,” he said.

The armed opposition delegation, officials told Sudan Tribune, will move around the counties informing the public about new development for peace in the country.

(ST)

September 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Over 2,000 South Sudanese refugees relocated from Khor Omer to Kario camp in Sudan's East Darfur state, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), said in a new report.

The relocation of the refugees reportedly began on 20 August and as of 9 September, 2,173 refugees from Khor Omer camp had been moved to the new camp.

According to UNHCR, Kario camp, which is located about 45km south of Ed Daein, was selected by authorities to host the refugees coming from the Northern Bahr el Ghazal area of South Sudan.

“The relocation will help decongest Khor Omer and ensure better access to basic services including access to water, sanitation and health services and other assistance in Kario,” the agency said.

Those relocated have reportedly also received shelter materials.

As of 31 August, the total number of South Sudanese in Sudan had exceeded 247,000, the refugee agency said, adding that fluctuating figures in some refugee hosting locations is due to the internal movement of refugees within Sudan, particularly in East Darfur and the Kordofan states where refugees have been seeking seasonal labour.

Meanwhile, over 6,000 South Sudanese were moved by local authorities between 18-19 August, from three open areas in Jabrona sites, located in Ombeda locality (Omdurman) to a new site in Nivasha, 15km from the Jabrona, the UN agency said.

UNHCR, however, said it was not consulted on the relocation of the refugees, but added that it was monitoring the situation closely.

The UN refugee agency said it was engaged in dialogue with the Sudanese Federal Civil Registry to promote the issuance of birth certificates for South Sudanese children born in Sudan.

“Authorities in White Nile and South Kordofan States have indicated they are ready to issue certificates, which UNHCR welcomes,” it said, adding it is currently following up with the authorities at state levels.

(ST)

September 17, 2016 (JUBA) - A senior official at South Sudan's information ministry says it has no knowledge about the recent closure of an independent English daily newspaper.

South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, speaks to reporters in Jonglei state capital Bor on 25 December 2014 (ST)

South Sudan's director general of information, Paul Jacob Kumbo, said he was unaware of the decision behind closure of the Nation Mirror newspaper.

"I cannot say anything about this because I am not unaware of the reasons for which the paper you are talking about was closed. So I cannot also comment on when it will resume. It is the responsibility of the national security and they are the ones to decide," he said.

He was reacting days after the Juba-based newspaper was closed by authorities.

The decision by operatives drew a significant attention of the media advocacy group and the international organizations advocating for upholding of freedom of expression as well as right to gathering and disseminating information in the interest of the public.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in a statement issued on Thursday, called on South Sudan authorities to immediately re-open the paper. The statement was in reaction to reports that security services ordered the independent daily to close.

"The newspaper's editor, Aurelions Simon Cholee says security officials summoned editors and accused them of "engaging in activities that are incompatible with the newspaper's registration status," but did not offer further explanation.

Cholee said that authorities ordered the Nation Mirror closed and did not specify when it would be able to resume publication. The paper's website was last updated on 13 September.

In its most recent edition, the Nation Mirror covered a report by The Sentry, a Washington advocacy group, which alleged that President Salva Kiir and his rival, the former vice president Riek Machar, had amassed enormous wealth and invested it in multimillion dollar properties abroad, while a conflict triggered by a dispute between the pair has left many citizens in South Sudan living in poverty.

"President Salva Kiir's government should immediately allow the Nation Mirror to resume publication," said Murithi Mutiga, CPJ's East Africa representative.

"South Sudan needs more, not fewer, independent and critical voices. Preventing professional journalists from doing their work will not advance efforts to build a democratic and stable South Sudan," he added.

The Nation Mirror was closed before. In February 2015, CPJ documented how National Security Service agents seized a print run and issued a publishing ban after the paper was accused of printing anti-government reports.

The media environment in South Sudan has deteriorated in recent months. CPJ reported in July that the major daily, Juba Monitor, was ordered closed and its editor, Alfred Taban, was arrested after he wrote a column critical of both Kiir and Machar.

(ST)

September 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Gibril Ibrahim Friday disclosed they requested the African Union mediation to dedicate more time for the preparations of the upcoming round of talks adding no date has been determined yet for its resumption.

Last August, after a week of negotiations with the government over a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements the mediation suspended the discussions between the warring parties in Sudan's two areas and Darfur region.

Sudanese officials recently expected the resumption of talks soon, and announced a visit by the head of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki to Khartoum ahead of the negotiations.

However , JEM leader who is currently visiting the French capital Paris told Sudan Tribune that no date has been yet determined. He further said they informed an AUHIP delegation during a recent meeting held in Kampala they would not join the negotiating table before the good preparations for the short rounds of negotiations the mediation used to hold.

He said together with Minni Minnawi the leader of Sudan Liberation Movement faction, they recommended to not call for a new round of talks without good preparations and making every diplomatic effort to narrow the gaps between the parties.

Ibrahim further told a limited number of journalists and activists that they asked the mediation not to set a deadline for the negotiations. " We told them if there is a problem in the means, the mediation should search further funding."

"So, no specific date has been fixed for the resumption of negotiations," he concluded.

The talks on peace in Darfur between the Sudanese government, JEM and SLM-MM are stalled over four points: the rebel rejection of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), the determination of the exact location of their sites, release of the prisoners of war and the establishment of a mechanism to monitor the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

JEM leader explained they asked to open the DDPD for negotiations to review some issues but the government refused. Following what they proposed to keep the framework agreement aside and to negotiate new deal but the government also rejected their proposal.

"That means there would be no political or economic discussions and we would only negotiate security arrangements and power sharing protocols," he stressed, pointing they are interested in justice and reforms.

According to Ibrahim the mediation held a separate meeting in Kampala with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement to discuss the differences between them and the Sudanese government on the humanitarian access, as they diverge over the delivery of 20% of the aid from Ethiopia.

He confirmed that the Sudan Call groups will meet in Addis Ababa from 25 to 30 September to discuss the preparatory meeting to coordinate positions and discuss some organizational matters.

Ibrahim who chairs a faction of the Sudan revolutionary Front stressed that the good coordination between the opposition forces, which include political and military groups, is needed more than any structural reforms.

He also, the preparatory or the strategic meeting between the government and opposition groups will discuss the other confidence building measures besides the humanitarian truce such as the release of prisoners and ensuring public freedoms through the suspension of the National Security Act of 2010.

The meeting will discuss the participation of the "Call of Sudan" and other opposition forces in a comprehensive and genuine national dialogue and how to enable them to implement its outputs. This requires restructuring the National Congress Party controlled process in Khartoum, he added.

He regretted that some opposition groups decided to boycott the negotiations with the government before too fulfill a number of conditions saying they want to bring these preconditions on the negotiating table.

Some groups of the National Consensus Forces refused to take part in the African Union brokered negotiations before the creation of a conducive environment and the acceptance of Bashir's government to form a transitional cabinet to implement the outcome of the national dialogue.

(ST)

A few days ago on the way to the office, BBC Nigeria reporter Stephanie Hegarty grabbed breakfast at a new juice bar on the Lagos street where she lives. Three hours later, it was gone.

Amma Asante on bringing to the big screen the story of an African prince's controversial marriage to a white English woman in the 1940s.

September 16, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan's President, Salva Kiir, has extended an official invitation to the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, expressing willingness to implement the collapsing peace agreement which he signed with his former first deputy, Riek Machar, in August last year.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma (R) shakes hands with the visiting South Sudanese President Salva Kiir at his office in Pretoria on 24 October 2015 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

South Africa is one of the countries in the continent which played a supportive role to the regional led mediation to reunite fragmented ruling party in South Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), and to end the 21 months of civil war.

The invitation was delivered by the new First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, who went to South Africa last week in an attempt to solicit support from the South African government and its ruling African national congress (ANC).

The support-seeking mission was based on the promise to implement the agreement and Arusha reunification of the SPLM.

The newly appointed Minister of Petroleum, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, who acted as spokesperson during the visit to South Sudan, told reporters on Thursday upon arrival at Juba airport that the visit to South Africa was to discuss bilateral issues between the two countries and solicit recognition of the controversial leadership of the new vice president, Gai, who replaced Machar in July.

He said the South African president has accepted the invitation from president Kiir to discuss bilateral issues in Juba.

"The invitation has been accepted and President Zuma will be visiting South Sudan soon to show solidarity with the people of South Sudan and also the implementation of the agreement and all the bilateral issues," announced Gatkuoth.

He said Gai, while in South Africa, met his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, to deliver an invitation from President Kiir to Jacob Zuma.

South Africa, he said, has been training South Sudanese on state and national administration and project implementation and still wants to continue with these trainings as part of its support to the young country.

(ST)

September 16, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Three students were killed and two others injured on Thursday by armed groups in the locality of Kass, 86 km west of South Darfur capital, Nyala.

Hundreds of the victims' relatives have traced the perpetrators while the state's security committee held an emergency meeting to take the legal measures to bring the culprits to justice.

A traditional administration leader in the locality of Kass, who spoke to Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity, said 3 armed groups have deliberately shot 5 high schools students in Diginj area, 15 km south of Kass, pointing that 3 of them died immediately and 2 others sustained serious wounds and were transferred to Nyala Teaching Hospital.

He added the students were spending Eid al-Adha vacation with their families.
The same source pointed that the killing incident was carried out by armed groups who have seized homes and lands of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Shattaya area, stressing the same groups had threatened to obstruct the peace and social coexistence conference which was recently held in the area.

“The armed groups have bluntly said they don't recognize the Shattaya conference even if [its recommendations] are signed by the President of the republic” said the source.

He pointed the negative activities of the armed groups have significantly increased following the signing of the social and peaceful conference recommendations in clear defiance of the state government.

The same source said they submitted a formal complaint to the governor's office in Nyala demanding him to put an end to the outlaws who prevent the return of the IDPs to their original villages and undermine security, stressing the need to deploy troops to protect the residents according to the recommendations of the Shattaya conference.

Last August, the Shattaya conference for peaceful coexistence was held under the auspices of the Sudanese Presidency in order to encourage voluntary return of the IDPs in South Darfur.

The conference called for the need to end control of the armed militias and new settlers and hand over lands and villages to the IDPs.

On Wednesday, Governor of South Darfur state Adam al-Faki said that arrangements are underway for the visit of President Omer al-Bashir to the locality of Shattaya to attend the social peace conference.

Al-Faki pointed that 113 IDPs have received their original homes and lands in the locality of Shattaya, vowing to reinstate all residents' rights in the locality.

He accused those who seek to achieve personal interests of obstructing peace efforts, stressing they would deal with them decisively.

UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 people were killed in Darfur conflict since 2003, and over 2.5 million were displaced.

(ST)