Africa

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

September 7, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan's Gajaak Nuer community on Tuesday welcomed the decision by President Salva Kiir's government to accept the deployment of regional forces in a bid to restore peace and security in the war-torn East African nation.

U.S. Ambassador Samanta Power speaks to the press following a closed door meeting with President Kiir, announcing an agreement on the deployement of protection force on 4 September 2016 (UNMISS Photo)

The South Sudanese government on Monday finally accepted the deployment of the strong 4,000 regional protection force, agreed by the East African regional bloc (IGAD) and authorized by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Juba's decision was announced after the UNSC delegation held a meeting with President Kiir during a recent visit to the capital, Juba.

The South Sudanese government has unexpectedly set preconditions with regarding the deployment of regional forces less than 24 hours after reaching a consensus with members of the UNSC.

Juba insists that only one African country, preferably one that does not share with it a common border, be allowed to send troops.

The leader of the Gajaak community in Ethiopia, Kunen Nyak Bol, told Sudan Tribune that their community in Ethiopia and those exiled in the western world welcomed the approval of the regional forces.

He, however, said they want South Sudan's former vice-president Riek Machar reinstated and recognized as a legitimate leader, if a durable peace is to be realized in the troubled East African nation.

“We are very much concerned as a community about the suffering of our people who have been residing in United Nations protection camps in Juba, Malakal and Jonglei states,” stressed Bol.

“These people choose to live in the UN protection camps because of fear,” he added.
A communiqué issued by the community condemned a move by some armed opposition members to succeed rebel leader Machar.

“We would like to assure the international community that these politicians will not bring any progress on peace agreement instead they will aggravate the crises that will possibly fuel the civilians' bloodshed and suffering,” partly reads the communiqué.

The Gajaak Nuer community further urged the international community and IGAD-Plus to immediately deploy the third party force and reinstate Machar to that a peaceful transitional interim period is assured and national elections conducted as scheduled.

“This would stop the suffering of innocent citizens who fled war for other countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Gaak Nuer community strongly denounced the recent move by one of the armed opposition diplomats to join the President Kiir-led government saying it was an unwise decision.

David Dang, who had been serving as the deputy representative of the SPLM-IO mission office in Ethiopia said he had resigned from his position, arguing that Machar had failed the opposition movement.

"Machar has no vision, he is running the SPLM-IO like his own property, and as a result I am no longer supporter of Dr. Riek Machar," Dang told Sudan Tribune last week.

The Gajaak Nuer community said they were strongly dismayed by Dang's statement, which described Machar as man with no vision.

“This is an insane statement that we didn't expect from David Dang whose relatives or friends were murdered by Juba regime in 2013,” Bol told Sudan Tribune.

“We would further like to inform the public that some of you have been questioning Machar's health. We are happy to announce to you that Machar is healthy and highly committed to bring peace to our young nation as our conversation with him today after our resolution,” he added.

Meanwhile, armed opposition officials in Addis Ababa told Sudan Tribune that Machar, currently in Khartoum, would soon be relocated to the Horn of Africa nation.

(ST)

September 7, 2016 (JUBA) - At least 10 people have been confirmed dead after a deadly road traffic accident involving two commercial vehicles traveling in opposite directions along Juba-Nimule highway on Tuesday.

General view of Juba Nimule road leading to Nimule Park and neighbouring Uganda (Pinterest photo)

South Sudan police spokesperson, Daniel Justin, told reporters after the incident in the national capital, Juba, that the incident took place in Pageri area resulting in the death of 10 people and injuring 34 others.

“Yes, I just received report of this unfortunate incident on the Juba- Nimule high way. I am told by our traffic colleagues who visited the scene that it was a head on collision which claimed the lives of all the 10 passengers in the bus,” he said.

“We have not yet identified the bodies of the people that have died. What we did as the authority was to expedite recovery process so that those injured are brought to the Juba teaching hospital where they are getting medical care. For those who have died, we are trying to trace their family members and relatives to pass on them this unfortunate information,” he further explained.

The accident, he said, occurred at around 10am after buses leaving for neighbouring Uganda left the station.

Eye witnesses who spoke to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday from Pageri said some of those who sustained injuries are in critical conditions and the death toll may rise.

One bus was going to Uganda and the other was coming from Uganda to Juba when the accident occurred. The buses belonged to Gateway Company.

The injured passengers have been evacuated to Juba Teaching Hospital where they are receiving treatment. The circumstances under which the two drivers lost control remain unclear.

Police authorities are yet to conduct detailed inspection to establish the actual cause of such deadly head on collision in an area with no corridors to be suspected as the major cause of collision.

Juba-Nimule highway, the only tarmacked road in South Sudan with over 200kms and has had dozens of traffic accidents for the past few years.

(ST)

September 7, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has announced the release of all detainees and Prisoners of War (POWs) from government forces in response to appeals from religious leaders, civil society organizations and prestigious national figures.

JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim talks to reporters in Addis Ababa on 13 August 2016 (ST Photo)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Wednesday, JEM spokesperson Gibril Adam Bilal said the decision to release the detainees and the POWs is an attempt to contribute to the creation of a climate conducive for peace and a genuine national dialogue.

He said that JEM has embarked on making the administrative arrangements and contacts with the mediators to secure the transfer of the detainees and POWs to Khartoum.

Bilal added the decision coincides with the celebration of Eid al-Adha “Festival of the Sacrifice”, saying this is not the first time the JEM releases POWs or granting amnesty to convicts.

Late last month, JEM leader Gibril Ibrahim promised to release POWs from government forces at the request of a Sufi Islamic cleric.

On 10 August, the leader of the Kabashi Sufi sect Abdel-Wahab al-Khalifa al-Hibir al-Kabashi sent a letter to JEM's leader appealing to him to release government POWs.

In a letter he wrote in response to al-Kbashi's message, Ibrahim said he appreciates the latter's request, pointing the religious leader and the POWs families would soon hear good news in this regard.

JEM's decision came hours ahead of an announcement made by the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir to release child soldiers from rebel groups and to consider the release of all POWs.

Political advisor of the (JEM-Dabago), a breakaway group from JEM, Nahar Osman Nahar, had earlier told Sudan Tribune that more than 100 POWs and detainees are currently being held in JEM's prisons including former members of the executive office and commanders from the movement such as Hashim Haroun besides other civilian detainees.

He said that nine detainees from JEM-Dabago are still detained by JEM after 9 others managed to flee from the movement's prisons in Deim Zubeir Camp in Western Bahr el Ghazal region, South Sudan.

(ST)

September 7, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudanese former minister for peace and ex-Secretary General of the ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), has called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to prepare for Plan B as President Salva Kiir's government appears to renege on this week's agreement on deployment of regional troops to the country.

Former SPLM secretary general Pagan Amum (AFP/Getty)

UN Security Council's members visited the South Sudanese capital, Juba, from Thursday last week and agreed with the government on the deployment of 4,000 strong peacekeepers from the region. The troops would provide protection to civilians, humanitarian aid workers as well as vital installations of the government.

Upon departure of the UN officials, the government came out with a contradicting statement, saying it only “consented” to but not “accepted” the 4,000 number.

The government also said it was yet to agree on the number of the troops to be deployed, the type of weapons they will carry and to also decide from which countries the troops will be contributed.

Former SPLM Secretary General, Pagan Amum, who is currently residing in the United States, however said to consent and to accept meant the same thing, adding that the “regime” was instead “embarrassing” itself by playing with the words.

“The Regime's spokesperson [Michael Makuei Lueth] engaged in obscure semantics, claiming the government “consented” to the deployment of the Regional Protection Force, but did not “accept” its deployment. In a classic rope-a-dope the government embarrassed itself by stating the long accepted number of troops, 4,000, was only a “ceiling” and that the number could be as low as 10,” Amum said in a statement released on Wednesday.

“The Kiir spokesperson also said his government had to approve the type of arms the troops were carrying, the countries they would come from and a range of other issues already long settled. To the Kiir Conspiracy, the hard and fast September 15 deadline for agreement set by the Secretary General of the United Nations, will be nothing but a routine bell ringing, signaling the end of an early round in a lengthy and indecisive match,” the statement, extended to Sudan Tribune, further reads.

Meanwhile, Kiir and his “palace guards” continue to systematically loot South Sudan, he argued, the same people are causing the armed conflict in the country to continue and then sending “ill prepared and poorly led troops out to kill or be killed for no defendable cause.”

He said the UN Security Council should not waste time to play the games with the government, but to prepare for Plan B.

“The Security Council's Plan A appeared seriously threatened even before the delegation's plane had cleared South Sudanese air space. They cannot be blamed for trying. However, trying too long plays into the hands of Kiir's rope-a-dope strategy,” Amum said.

“September 15 must be the deadline for the Government of South Sudan's unconditional acceptance of the 4,000 troops. Otherwise, for the sake of the people of South Sudan, IGAD-Plus, AU and the UNSC will have to prepare quickly for Plan B,” he said.

(ST)

September 7, 2016 (JUBA) - The United Nations Commission of Human Rights in South Sudan started, on 7 September, a 19-day mission that will involve visiting South Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda.

A general view of participants during the 29th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 3 July 2015 - (UN Photo)

The team will, during their visit to the three East African nations, reportedly meet political and community leaders, refugees and internally displaced people as well as members of the international community regarding the human rights situation in South Sudan.

The three commissioners were, in March this year, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and report on the human rights situation in South Sudan, establish a factual basis for transitional justice and to provide guidance to the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) of South Sudan on transitional justice.

Commissioners, Yasmin Sooka, Ken Scott and Godfrey Musila, are scheduled to meet a number of ministers, parliamentarians, police, judicial officers, military officials and have requested a meeting with President Salva Kiir during their mission to South Sudan, the UN said.

“They [commissioners] will also conduct a number of visits to camps in Juba and Bentiu,” it added.

The commissioners are also scheduled to meet leaders of the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as well as other members of the international community and civil society when they visit Ethiopia before proceeding Uganda to visit the refugee camps housing South Sudanese refugees.

The commission is due to present a comprehensive written report to the Human Rights Council at its 34th regular session in March 2017.

(ST)

September 7, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir on Wednesday announced the release of child soldiers from rebel groups and promised to consider the release of all Prisoners of War (POWs).

President Omer al-Bashir speaks in a rally held in Zalingei on 3 April 2016 (ST Photo)

An unofficial estimate by the national dialogue mechanism known as 7+7 has put the number of convicts from the armed movements to 93 convict as well as hundreds of POWs including 340 fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who were captured during the Gouz Dango battle in South Darfur in April 2014.

The Sudanese army has been fighting Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011 and a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.

On Wednesday, Al-Bashir attended the celebration marking the completion of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) in North Darfur capital, El-Fasher in the presence of the Emir of Qatae , Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Chadian President, Idriss Déby and Central African Republic (CAR)'s President Faustin Archange Touadéra.

Speaking to the large crowed during the celebration, al-Bashir announced the release the child soldiers who were apprehended during the Gouz Dango battle today, saying they would be handed over to the Ministry of Social Welfare.

“Those [child soldiers] who want to go to schools, we would help them to do so and those who want to return to their families they are allowed to go,” he said.

Regarding the release of the PWOs from the armed movements, al-Bashir said they would consider the issue, stressing that rebel groups would only be granted amnesty if they laid down arms.

He renewed the call for what he described as “the remaining” armed movements to lay down arms and resort to peace, pointing the presence of Darfur rebels is now confined to South Sudan where the government there intends to evict them as well as in Libya where they serve as mercenaries.

Al-Bashir further warned both rebel groups, who are present in Libya and South Sudan, against attempting to enter the Sudanese territory with their weapons, saying they would be “taught a lesson that they will never forget” as it occurred during the Gouz Dango battle when the JEM sought to enter from South Sudan.

For his part, the Chadian President Idriss Déby, in his capacity as chairperson of the African Union (AU), renewed call for holdout rebels to join the Doha forum as soon as possible, urging the international community to contribute to the completion of the DDPD, which according to him, brought the Darfur conflict to an end.

“We should move forward and take further step to promote the gains and achieve permanent peace,” he said.

Head of the Darfur Regional Authority al-Tijani al-Sissi, for his part, said the “war in Darfur has ended”, pointing the region is now free of armed movements.

He pointed that %89 of the DDPD has been implemented so far; saying only one item out of the six items included in the document has not been implemented without naming that item.

The DDPD was signed on 14th July 2011 between the government and the Liberation and Justice (LJM). Also, a splinter faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Mohamed Bashar and Bakheit Dabajo after his death joined the framework agreement on 6 April 2013.

(ST)

A former United Nations peacekeeper from Niger has been presented with the inaugural UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award for her work in integrating gender perspectives into peacekeeping activities while serving in Mali.

The United Nations agricultural agency today signed a $15 million agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to boosting the capacity of developing countries to track key agricultural data – information considered essential to good policy-making and that will help track progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Zimbabwe's high court overturns a two-week ban by police on demonstrations in the capital Harare, despite a stern warning by President Robert Mugabe.

A new mayor in South Africa's Tshwane, an area that includes the capital Pretoria, rejects a fleet of luxury cars bought by his predecessors.

Why isn't more being done to prevent a repeat of last year's flooding in Malawi?

George Wyndham is the only Sierra Leonean competing at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, but his only home is an office in the national stadium.

By Mahmoud A. Suleiman

The Darfur region is located in the far west of Sudan, on an area of 510,000 square kilometers, is characterized by the diversity of the region and the multiplicity of population and tribal and climate, and is adjacent to several countries. Moreover, the Darfur region neighbouring three countries: Libya from the north, Chad to the west and the Central African Republic (CAR) to the south-west, and from the south the state of South Sudan. The region of Darfur is as well adjacent to some Sudanese states like North Kordofan state and the Northern state in the far north of Sudan. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Refugees are people fleeing conflict or persecution. They are defined and protected in international law, and must not be expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedom are at risk. A plethora of reports indicated that the conditions of the Citizens of Sudan in Darfur's IDP camps represent the worst cases of displacement model in the world. The Darfur region continue weary and war-torn by the absurd wars of attrition waged by the genocidal criminal Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir through his proxy Janjaweed militias cloned under the codename of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

As of 5 January 2015, IDMS estimates that there were up to 3,100,000 IDPs in Sudan. Internal-displacement.org

This includes figures in the region of Darfur and the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The IDPs in the camps in Darfur are now currently at risk of the trinity of hunger, disease and thirst, especially in the hot dry summer. Their actual figure as of May 2012 estimated at Two and a half million displaced persons (IDPs).

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) the total number of IDPs in Sudan has decreased significantly from a peak of around five million in 2010. This is due both to large-scale movement of southern Sudanese to South Sudan and the fact that former southern Sudanese IDPs, especially in and around Khartoum, were no longer counted as IDPs in Sudan. However, since 2011, the number of IDPs has been steadily increasing. Neither the figure for Sudan nor South Sudan includes IDPs from the Abyei Area as its final status remains undetermined. In Darfur, OCHA receives information on IDP figures from local authorities, the government, other UN agencies and international and national NGOs.

Media quoted news coinciding with the decision of the Government of Khartoum of dismantling the camps for Internally Displaced people (IDPs) that El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state is preparing to receive the Presidents Omar al-Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Déby and the Emir of Qatar for the celebration of the end for the Regional Authority in Darfur by Wednesday, the seventh in September 2016 in El Fasher. The function takes place in the presence of President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Shadi and Chadian President Idriss Déby. Tijani Sese said that the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) has become integrated and addressed all the root causes of the problem. He renewed his rejection to any other Document to discuss the issues of the people of Darfur! Moreover, observers said that this is a clear signal that the regime of the NCP is trying to legitimize the dismantling of camps for displaced people in Darfur.

Dr. Tijani Sese Mohammed Ateem, head of the Darfur Regional Authority critics consider him that he has benefited from the Darfur war and the suffering of his relatives and the rest of the people of Darfur. His critics say that Dr. Tijani Sese has not been part of the rebels but the former United States Presidential Envoy to Sudan, retired Major General Jonathan Scott Gration whisked him off to the Qatari capital Doha from Addis Ababa for inaugurating him a Chair for the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), which was manufactured in Doha, Qatar.

Thus, the loop was completed to carry out the plot premeditated in advance, the dismantling the camps for the displaced in Darfur.

The removal of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camps in the Darfur Region remained an obsession with great concern to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) regime in Khartoum chaired by Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. Omer al-Bashir remains fugitive from the International Justice and the indictee of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the crimes of war, crimes against humanity and genocide he has perpetrated against the civilian Sudanese populations in Darfur. The insistence of the (NCP) government in Khartoum on IDP camps removal because they stand as living witness and stain for the crimes of genocide committed in Darfur. The (NCP) regime alleges that they opted for the closure of the (IDPs) camps in Darfur because the (IDPs) represent bastions for the armed rebel movement supporters.

Furthermore, the issue of the removal of camps for displaced people in Darfur remains causing grave concern to the ruling regime in Khartoum which currently trying relentlessly for rapprochement with the European Union (EU) in an attempt to receive the amounts of money promised to set up camps in Eastern Sudan to prevent migration by detaining migrants from the Horn of Africa mainly- Ethiopian, Eritreans and Somalis from reaching the shores of Europe through Libya. This is more so given the present dire financial situation, approaching bankruptcy, which the (NCP) regime is languishing in. Every sensible individual knows for fact that the (EU) fund received from the EU will be employed for hardware of the war planned against the armed rebel movements by the end of the rainy season in December 2016, as declared by the proxy Janjaweed paramilitary militia , Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader, Commander Major General "Mohammed Hamdan Dogulw"!

It is noteworthy to recall the statements of the (NCP) regime Second Vice President, Hassabo Abdel-Rahman on December 28, 2015 in EL-Fasher when he urged the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Darfur region to choose between two option, " within no more than a month between resettlement or return to their original areas" adding that his government is determined to close their camps the year 2016. Moreover, Hassabo further reiterated his government's commitment to take all the measures and do the needful to achieve this goal, stressing that "the year 2016 will see the end of displacement in Darfur". http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article57524

Unfortunately that Hassabo descends originally from the Darfur region and without a thread of doubt some of his relatives continued suffering from the devastating effects of war in the region for more than a decade.

Since 2002, the region of Darfur in Western Sudan has undergone significant internal conflict, forcing many people from their homes and into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps, as well as Refugee Camps in eastern Chad. - See more at: http://www.ghets.org/projects/darfur-idps-camps/#sthash.4vH7fOv8.dpuf

As of October 2008, Data provided by UNOCHA, indicated that Some 4.7 million people were directly affected by the Darfur conflict, out of a total population of around 6.2 million. In 2008 alone, 310,000 people have been displaced, or newly displaced – bringing the total at the time to 2.7 million. Half of those affected by the conflict were children; of those, nearly 700,000 (the under-five population) have grown up knowing nothing but the conflict. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sudan_darfuroverview.html

The UN estimates that between 200,000-300,000 people have died in Darfur since the start of the current conflict in 2004. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sudan_darfuroverview.html

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Refugees are people fleeing conflict or persecution. They are defined and protected in international law, and must not be expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedom are at risk.
• Since the succession of Sudan, the UN has estimated that at least 2.2 million people remained internally displaced in Sudan at the end of 2011
• This figure includes the following:
? 1.9 million IDPs in Darfur
? 200,000 IDPs in South Kordofan (excluding Abyei)
? 66,000 IDPs in Blue Nile.
IDP Figures In Darfur region prior to dividing it into 5 States
Northern Darfur 508,499
Southern Darfur 1,410,704
Western Darfur 746,912
Total Darfur 2,666,115
Recent warfare in Jebel Marra locality resulted into new Displacement of 876912 (IDPs).

There are a huge number of IDP camps in the Darfur region. To give just an example one quotes the following for the North Darfur State:

The State of North Darfur alone accommodates five IDP Camps, the largest of which is «Aboushouk» in which about 50 thousand displaced people live, and »al-Salam» where 49 thousand displaced people live, and »Zamzam» where 39 thousand displaced people reside, and »Kassab» in which 26 thousand IDPs live, and lastly »Fatta Borno» in which 24 thousand displaced people live. Thus, the total number is 163 thousand displaced people in the state of North Darfur. The IDPs numbers in Darfur continue increasing due to the ongoing proxy warfare waged by the regime through the Janjaweed paramilitary militias along with the intertribal fighting stirred up and fueled by the division of the Darfur region on tribal and ethnic basis to five warring states using the principle of divide and rule made its inhabitants in a constant infighting adding more displaced persons to those in the (IDPs) camps. According to figures quoted from the UN, there are at least 52 (IDPs) Camps in Darfur. Furthermore, there are 13 Darfuri refugee camps in the East of the neighbouring Chad. This is in addition to 2 refugee camps in the Central African Republic, 2 camps in in South Sudan, one camp in Uganda and 1 refugee Camp in Kenya. The reported numbers of IDPs in those camps estimated between 1900000 to 2500000. Other more recent reports and according to UN statistics indicated that about 3.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) live in the camps scattered in the capitals of the Five states of Darfur since 2003. The outbreak of the Darfur crisis between the three rebel movements and the (NCP) government forces escalated when the parties failed reaching sustainable peace, despite the signing of a number of negotiated agreements. The most recent agreement signed was so-called the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), signed between the Government of Sudan and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) on 14 July 2011. The Justice and Liberation Movement, was created and manufactured in Qatar when the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) the Founder for the Doha Forum (as Platform for Peace Negotiations) refused to sign the (DDPD) as neither meeting the demands nor keeping pace with the basic rights of the people of Sudan in Darfur.

The crime of forced dismantling of the camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Darfur region is an integral part of the crime of genocide and the earlier conspiracy of the so-called Darfur referendum. Both of these criminal acts represent part and parcel of the fraudulent systematic Falsification of the will of the people of Darfur. Moreover, all these desperate miserably failed efforts, which represent waste of the Sudanese people money and carried out by the regime of the NCP only to protect Omar al-Bashir against the grip and lawful apprehension by International Criminal Court (ICC), which monitors the movements of the genocidal criminal wherever and whenever found.

Thus, dismantling of the camps for the (IDPs) in Darfur by force has become the first and last goal for hiding the landmarks of the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed against the people of Sudan in Darfur while the offender and his entourage remain fugitives from the international justice.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir in March 2009 which making it the first president in power required by the court as a second warrant was issued for his arrest in July 2010.

The residents of camps for displaced peoples (IDPs) in Darfur consider the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) was isolated from the core concerns, grievances, and demands of the people of Darfur.

It is clear that nobody else owns a magical wand to solve the Sudanese problems and the damage caused by the National Congress Party (NCP) regime, which continued using a demolition pick over the past 27 lean years, but the united Sudanese people who will not budge from demanding their legitimate rights.

The monster kills a rebel and the Earth Sprouts a Thousand of Rebels.

Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com/

A miner in DR Congo tells the BBC why he ventures 25m (82 ft) underground, without ropes or safety gear, in search of copper.

Two children from one of Nairobi's poorest communities are hoping to start a career in the music industry after some help from their father.

Uganda's qualification for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations delights football fans, most of whom had not been born last time their team appeared.

In the face of increasing protests across the country, the Zimbabwe authorities yesterday invoked a draconian law to ban all public protests in Harare.

On Thursday evening, a senior police official, Chief Superintendent Newbert Saunyama, announced that police would ban all demonstrations in the capital, including a planned demonstration the next day by 18 opposition parties. He justified the ban under the Public Order and Security Act. The parties – which are calling for national electoral reforms – decided to postpone the protest to a later date.

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Riot police stand guard as opposition party supporters, arrested following Friday's protest march, arrive at court in Harare, Zimbabwe, August 29, 2016. 

Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo

The law banning demonstrations, the Statutory Instrument 101A of 2016, went into effect yesterday. It’s use signals intensifying government repression amid rising public discontent. It prohibits “the holding of all public demonstrations” in Harare until September 16, 2016.

Violating the ban carries penalties of up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of $300. Since June, various groups and political parties have staged at least 13 public protests across the country over deteriorating economic conditions, widespread corruption, police brutality, and lack of electoral reforms.

The government’s ban on all protests violates the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression protected under international human rights law.   

Today I spoke to lawyers who are preparing to challenge the ban in Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court. They intend to argue that the ban violates the right to free expression under the country’s constitution. They will also raise a constitutional provision that states that human rights can be limited only “in terms of a law of general application and to the extent that the limitation is fair, reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society based on openness, justice, human dignity, equality and freedom.”

Banning protests will not resolve the country’s problems. Instead of imposing pseudo state-of-emergency regulations banning protests, the police should be maintaining public order and protecting life and property. The government should make a clean break with the country’s violent past: It should allow peaceful protests, respond appropriately if protests turn violent, and hold all those breaking the law to account.

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Billboard advertising the 2016 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit in Mbabane, Swaziland.

© 2016 Dewa Mavhinga/Human Rights Watch

(Johannesburg) – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) should take concrete steps to improve respect for human rights among its 15 member countries. SADC heads of state will meet on August 30-31, 2016, in Mbabane, Swaziland, for SADC’s 36th Summit.

“Political repression and disregard for basic rights characterized several SADC countries over the past year,” said Dewa Mavhinga, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “SADC governments need to ensure that they meet their human rights obligations and improve the quality of life for those who are most vulnerable.”

Child marriage remains a major concern in a number of Southern African countries, Human Rights Watch said. Half the girls in Malawi and one-third of girls in Zimbabwe marry before they turn 18. Girls who marry young often discontinue their education, face serious health problems from early and multiple pregnancies, and suffer greater sexual and domestic violence.

SADC member countries should align their laws to the SADC Parliamentary Forum Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage adopted in June, including by setting and enforcing a minimum marriage age of 18.

Human rights concerns in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe should get particular attention, Human Rights Watch said. SADC member countries have identified peace, security, and the promotion of human rights as key concerns within the region, but the individual countries need to take steps to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law.

In Angola, the government of President José Eduardo dos Santos has pledged to improve its rights record, but instead has been severely curtailing the rights to freedom of expression and association. Security forces have used excessive force, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation to prevent peaceful anti-government protests, strikes, and other gatherings. In April, police gunfire wounded at least three people during a peaceful student demonstration against an increase in school fees in Caluquembe, Huila province. On August 6, soldiers fired live ammunition during a peaceful protest in Luanda, killing a teenage boy. There have also been reports of excessive use of force to evict people for development and agriculture projects.

In Zimbabwe, the government of President Robert Mugabe has disregarded the rights provisions in the country’s new constitution, neither enacting laws to put the new constitution into effect, nor amending existing laws to bring them in line with the constitution and Zimbabwe’s obligations under regional and international human rights conventions. The police use outdated and abusive laws to violate basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly, and to harass activists, human rights defenders, and LGBT people. There has been no progress toward justice for human rights violations during past political violence.

Itai Dzamara, a pro-democracy activist and human rights defender who was forcibly disappeared on March 9, 2015, remains missing. Dzamara, the leader of Occupy Africa Unity Square – a small protest group modeled after the Arab Spring uprisings – had petitioned Mugabe to resign and to reform the electoral system.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has brutally cracked down on those who have spoken out against or opposed attempts to extend President Joseph Kabila’s time in office beyond his constitutionally mandated two-term limit, which ends on December 19, 2016. Since January 2015, government security forces have arbitrarily arrested scores of opposition leaders and activists, fired on peaceful protesters, banned opposition demonstrations, shut down media outlets, accused peaceful pro-democracy youth activists of plotting terrorist acts, and prevented opposition leaders from moving freely around the country.

In one of the latest attempts to curtail human rights reporting during a period of increased government repression, the Congolese government in early August 2016 blocked a senior Human Rights Watch researcher, Ida Sawyer, from continuing to work in the country.

The government should urgently free all political prisoners, allow Congolese and international rights defenders to continue their crucial work, permit activists and opposition supporters to protest peacefully and express their political views, and hold those responsible for the crackdown to account.

Meanwhile, the security situation in eastern Congo, where dozens of armed groups are still active, remains deeply volatile. In the Beni area, armed forces have killed more than 500 civilians in massacres since October 2014, according to local rights groups. The government needs to improve protection for civilians in the area, identify abusers, and hold them to account.

In Swaziland, which takes over as SADC chair for the next 12 months, human rights conditions have deteriorated significantly. The government has imposed restrictions on political activism and trade unions that violate international law, including potential bans under the draconian Suppression of Terrorism Act, and subjected activists and union members to arbitrary detention and unfair trials.

In Mozambique, the political and military conflict between the government and the opposition RENAMO party has resulted in increased human rights abuses. Since October 2015, tens of thousands of people have fled to Malawi because of abuses by the military, including summary executions, sexual violence, and mistreatment of people in custody. In Zambezia province, armed men linked to RENAMO have attacked hospitals and health clinics to loot medicine and supplies, threating access to health care for tens of thousands of people in remote areas. The Mozambican government has yet to publish its findings of an investigation of a mass grave found in May 2016 containing at least 15 bodies.

In South Africa, public confidence in the government’s willingness to tackle human rights violations, corruption and respect for the rule of law has eroded. The government has done little to address concerns about the treatment of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, or the root causes of xenophobic violence. The government has failed to ensure that an estimated half million children with disabilities have access to basic education. Rights groups expressed concerns about the government’s failure to develop a national strategy to combat the high rate of violence against women and the continued underreporting of rape.

“To achieve the SADC Summit theme of ‘enriching nations,’ SADC countries should seriously focus on respecting human rights, upholding the rule of law, and curtailing corruption,” Mavhinga said. “Transparency and justice will help drive regional economic development that can genuinely improve people’s lives.”

A few months ago, I listened to a Kenyan man talk about his brother who has been missing since April 2015. “To see the dead body of your family member is painful, but you at least know he is dead,” he told me. As the world commemorates the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances today, I think of him and many others I interviewed for Human Rights Watch’s report on people who “disappeared” after last being seen in the custody of Kenya’s security agents.

Others have reported similar findings. The official Kenya National Commission on Human Rights documented numerous similar cases, as have local rights groups and the Kenyan media.
 

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Zeinab Bulley Hussein holding the national identity card of her son, Abdi Bare Mohamed. Community members stumbled on Abdi Bare’s dead body 18 kilometers from Mandera, in northeastern Kenya, three weeks after police officers arrested him outside the family’s home in August 2015. 

© 2015 Will Swanson for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Enforced disappearances are devastating. Family and friends of those disappeared suffer tremendously, often never learning whether their loved one is alive or dead. Under international human rights law, an enforced disappearance occurs when a person has been detained by government officials or their agents, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of the person’s liberty or to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the person.

In Kenya, Muslim communities are among those most affected by disappearances, caught between the threat of the armed Islamist group, Al-Shabab, and security forces that carry out abusive counterterrorism operations. While Kenyan government officials often condemn Al-Shabab’s horrific violence, they remain troublingly silent about security forces’ role in enforced disappearances.

Families who report their loved ones as missing to police, providing witness accounts of arrest, often receive no response or are told the police have no information. In some cases, government officials have suggested – without evidence – that Al-Shabab may have killed these people. When United States Secretary of State John Kerry recently visited Kenya, he said Kenyan authorities told him that people reported as disappeared may have crossed the Somali border to join Al-Shabab. This may be true in some cases, but without credible investigations into the disappearances – and considering Kenya’s counterterrorism response – these assertions should comfort no one.

Some diplomats suggested to me that perhaps the disappearances are conducted by “rogue” security officers. But the avalanche of evidence and the sophisticated inter-agency coordination of the operations make that unlikely. Even if true, without the government’s commitment to investigate the abuses and prosecute all those responsible, “rogue” officers will never face accountability.

Today, as the world stands in solidarity with victims of enforced disappearance, President Uhuru Kenyatta should commit to launching a commission of inquiry into these disappearances. Such an effort would be a first step toward justice.

September 6, 2016 (JUBA) – Governor Louis Lobong of the newly created Namorunyang state in Eastern Equatoria, has called on the state youth to stop cattle theft or raiding from their neighbouring communities, including from across the Ethiopian border.

Eastern Equatoria state governor Louis Lobong Lojore talks to communities in Bari and Omorwo villages (ST)

The top executive official of the state made the remark during the community meeting with residents in Kauto county on Friday. He also appealed to community and youths leaders to organize reconciliation process among different tribes.

Governor Lobong called on the communities in Kauto county to identify the Ethiopians' cattle that were recently raided by suspected gangs from his state.

He said he had come along with members of the state parliament and chiefs from various sections of Toposa tribe in order to meet the population of Kauto county in regards to the question of cattle raiding between them and the populations of the county of Nyangtom.

He added that he was also in consultations with the chiefs and the citizens of Nyangchor and the community agreed that there was need to reconcile with the neighbouring community in Ethiopia which cattle have been raided and to return their cattle to them.

Lobong noted that the citizens also tasked them to carry out consultation with the Ethiopian government so that their previously stolen cattle by the Ethiopian community of Suruma should as well be returned to the Toposa.

“The meeting was very fruitful, we also touched [on] some other issues,” said governor Lobong.

Some local chiefs have welcomed the move, saying that they are ready to work together with the state government on peace initiatives.

(ST)