Africa

June 25, 2018 (KHARTOUM) The price of the US dollar has increased on the black market in Khartoum on Sunday, settling at 40,5 Sudanese pounds.

U.S. Dollar bill

Traders speaking to Sudan Tribune Sunday in central Khartoum said selling price of the US dollar settled at 42 pounds while purchase price reached 40,5 pounds compared to 39,2 last week.

They attributed price rise to the scarce supply and the growing demand for the dollar, expecting the US dollar price to continue to rise during the next few days.

Following an unprecedented increase in dollar price, the Sudanese authorities in November 2017 introduced new measures allowing for10-year prison term for anyone caught trading on foreign currency outside the banking system or approved institutions.

In February, the dollar price hit an all-time high on the black market as the Sudanese pound (SDG) declined to 42.00 per dollar. However, the dollar price declined after the crackdown on the Forex traders and stood at 32.00 for several weeks.

The Sudanese pound has lost more than 100% of its value since South Sudan's secession in 2011, pushing inflation rates to record levels given that the East African nation imports most of its food.

The most recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report indicated that Sudan's gross international reserves remained very low in 2017 ($1.1 billion, 1¾ months of imports).

(ST)

June 25, 2018 (JUBA) - The SPLM-IO on Monday accused the South Sudanese government forces of carrying out a series of attack on its positions in Wau State and called on the ceasefire body to investigate into the claims.

The SPLA-IO forces during their arrival at Masana Biira in Wau on 07, August 2017 (ST)

SPLM-IO deputy spokesperson, Lam Paul Gabriel said the army since two days ago attacked several rebel positions in Wau state including Omboro, Bagari, Engo halima and Baslia, adding they have inflicted heavy casualties on the assailants.

On Monday morning "at about 6:00AM as the face-to-face (meeting) is to resume in Khartoum, the regime send a heavy force of SPLA IG combined with JEM militias on one Woral truck and seven Land cruisers; escorted by four (Armoured Personnel Carriers)APCs to attack the SPLA IO defensive position in Omboro in Wau," said Gabriel.

He said they destroyed one APC and three Land Cruisers.

The IGAD head of states and governments last Thursday condemned the repeated violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement.

Also, they decided that Sudan Kenya shall further investigate the violation reports submitted by CTSAMM and JMEC and "report to the next Summit the appropriate targeted punitive measures to be taken".

The rebel official further said that last Saturday 23 June, the South Sudanese army attacked the SPLA IO Positions in Bagari, Engo halima and Baslia in Wau State resulting in the displacement of civilians.

He said their fighters withdrew tactically before to counterattack the government forces on Sunday 24 June and retook their positions. he claimed they killed 76 soldiers and lost 18 fighters.

The spokesperson further went to say that Juba plans to launch further attacks on their forces in Pageri, Magwi and Torit in order to prevent them from "establishing cantonment centres in Imotong State".

The South Sudanese army didn't issue a statement on these clashes also the SPLA spokesperson was not reachable for comment.

(ST)

June 25, 2018 (KHARTOUM) Direct talks between South Sudan's government and the main opposition group led by Riek Machar have begun on Sunday in Khartoum amid large diplomatic and regional presence.

Ahead of the talks on Sunday, President Salva Kiir and Machar held a face-to-face meeting under the auspices of President Omer al-Bashir in the presence of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. But the details of the meeting haven't been disclosed.

In his remarks before the opening session, Museveni said he came to Khartoum to support the efforts to reach a peaceful settlement for South Sudan's crises, expressing hope that the talks manage to achieve positive results.

He pointed out that the face-to-face meeting between Machar and Kiir has reached some agreements that would allow people of South Sudan to enjoy peace.

For his part, al-Bashir vowed to exert every possible effort to assist South Sudan's conflicting parties to reach a settlement to end the civil war in the country.

He pointed out that Sudan has felt the impact of South Sudan's crisis when two million refugees arrived in its territory, saying his country strongly opposed the international community's warning to impose sanctions on South Sudan after the intensification of the crisis.

“We opposed the sanctions because we believe it doesn't produce solutions and the solution lies in the dialogue among the warring parties,” he stressed.

Al-Bashir urged South Sudan's warring factions to rise above personal agendas and put the people's interest ahead of their own interest.

He praised efforts of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and its partners to calm the situation in South Sudan, pledging not to make any move without coordinating with the regional bloc.

For his part, President Kiir said he came to the current round of negotiations to reach solutions to the outstanding issues with an open mind to achieve peace in South Sudan and to stop the "unjustified war".

He expressed his hope that "my brother Dr Rick Machar" also came with an open heart to lead the country to safety and security away from internal differences and enable the people of South Sudan to enjoy peace, stability and prosperity, as he said.

Machar and Kiir held a first face-to-face discussion under the auspices of the IGAD chairperson, Abiy Ahmed on 20 June.

IGAD mandated President al-Bashir to facilitate a second round of discussions between President Kiir and Machar for two weeks to build on the Addis Ababa talks.

President Museveni returned to Kampala after the end of the first day of talks.

The IGAD leaders decided that President Uhuru Kenyatta will facilitate a third round of face-to-face discussions between President Kiir and Machar in Nairobi after the end of Khartoum talks.

Kenyatta will brief the upcoming meeting of the IGAD heads of state and government about the outcome and way forward.

The IGAD leaders directed that the South Sudan special envoy finalize the IGAD bridging proposal on the sideline of the 33rd African Union Summit to be held in Nouakchott, Mauritania on 1 and 2 July.

(ST)

Gambling is a multi-million dollar business in Kenya, but there are more losers than winners, writes Anthony Wanjiru.

By Mahmoud A. Suleiman

The double standards of the international community and its unlimited support for the National Congress Party (NCP) regime at the expense of the rebels have contributed into prolonging the crisis and the suffering of the Sudanese people in the Darfur region.

The Nation Congress Party (NCP) and its former ancestor the National Islamic Front (NIF) are unworthy of their nomenclature as experience has shown the people of Sudan in general and those Sudanese in the Darfur region in particular. Moreover, the people of Sudan thought the putschist regime would reform itself but "essential reforms were not achieved “and will never change its Hippocratic style and so far all calls for change to the better went unheeded. Thus, snakes never change their inherent venomous poisons, so to speak.

The NCP ruling regime continued to lure and penetrate the ranks of the civil and armed political opposition through its twenty-nine-year rule by Saturday, June 30, 2018. Nevertheless, the leaders of the Darfur rebels clung to the Darfur revolution which began in 2003, they remained steadfast in their determination to the principles of the popular revolution of confronting the enemy head-on despite the criminal characteristics and machinations of the enemy, who possessed all the potentials of the Sudan from the gold revenues and to the oil funds and a large army of tribal militias and mercenaries imported from the neighboring African countries and settled them in the land of the Native population in the Darfur region in an attempt to change the demography.

This article comes against the backdrop of the claims of the ruling regime of the National Congress Party (NCP) that the recent crimes committed against the citizens in Jebel Marra regions have been caused by the SLM forces under the leadership of Abdel Wahid Mohamed Ahmed Al-Nour. Without reservation, any humane person will currently find the degree of disappearance of the radar used emanating from the International Community on supporting the rights of the people of Sudan in Darfur and unfortunately today supporting the crimes of genocide committed by the War Criminal Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. The leader of the Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) SLA-AW, Abdul Wahid Al-Nour refuses to reconcile with the ruling regime of the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the National Congress Party (NCP) regime since the Abuja Agreement in Nigeria –aka The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) - in 2006 because that agreement did not address the issues of the people of Sudan in Darfur and also refused to participate in the peace negotiations which did not bring peace to Darfur in Doha, Qatar, which resulted in the Doha Document for Darfur Peace (DDPD) which was born dead because it was then confirmed to him that it is a job document and nothing to do with the rights of the people of Sudan in the Darfur region.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Friday 23 June 2018 that the "fraudulent" acts have been carried out by the Abdel Wahid Movement and that the international bodies were needed to quickly issue statements about the occurrence of military confrontations and new displacements in Darfur. Furthermore, on 23 June 2018, the Sudanese Government (GoS) accused the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) - the leadership of Abdel Wahid Nour - of carrying out "provocative" attacks in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur to push the armed forces to respond militarily and to abort a unilateral ceasefire. Some political analysts responded to the foregoing accusation satirically and said: (This is akin to the Phenomenon in the Sudanese folk proverbs that says he hit me, cried and then preceded me complained!). Thus, goes the daily wailing and ranting of the NCP regime to ask its masters of grace in the Troika to impose sanctions against the Darfur Armed Movements that have been defending their people since 2003. Moreover, there are the ongoing airstrikes by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Worse is the inter-communal violence, exacerbated by the government of Sudan (SAF) actions of “Divide to Rule Doctrine” continued unabated destroying the social fabric.

It is ironic that the international community today threatens to impose sanctions on Abdel Wahid Mohamed Ahmed El Nour and forgetting that the US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick threatened Abdel Wahid and Dr Khalil Ibrahim in Abuja in 2006 when they refused to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) at the time. https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/darfur-peace-process-chronology-24-july-2013

The ruling regime of the National Congress Party (NCP) and its predecessor the National Islamic Front imposed on the people of Sudan in Darfur the policy of scorched earth and killed more than half a million civilian citizens and displaced more than three million in the displacement camps and displaced thousands of civilians to neighboring African countries as well as thousands of citizens In the diaspora, while the head of the regime Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir fleeing international justice and pursued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity and the genocide, and is still a war of extortion is used by the militias Janjawid cloned pro-Chak Sudan, which is called the non-stop rapid support forces, is being waged in the land of Darfur by destruction and corruption. Unfortunately, the troika formed of the United Kingdom, Norway and the United States of America continues to support the ruling regime in return for its cooperation in stopping the migration from the Horn of Africa to Europe and the American support for the regime by lifting the economic sanctions imposed on Sudan since in the year 1997 by the former 42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton or Bill Clinton, for short, in lieu of curbing international terrorism of the fundamentalist Islamism groups that include the Islamic State in Iraq Syria (ISIS)- IKA Daesh which has a foothold in Khartoum since the start of its first strike and so far, and spread to the neighboring countries, especially to the failed state of Libya.

It should be noted that the Troika countries (Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States), condemned the clashes in the Jebel Marra area between Sudanese Armed forces (SAF) and the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement of Abdul Wahid (SLA/M-AW), and criticized for both parties, calling the international community to punish the spoilers of peace.

It is strange that the NCP ruling regime saying that it is still committed to ensuring freedom of movement and access to UNAMID and to all the humanitarian organizations, and calls upon the international community in general and the UN Security Council (UNSC) and international partners in particular to take decisive action against the leadership of the anti-peace group Abdel-Wahid Mohamed Nour, who has been looting livestock, burning villages and terrorizing and displacing innocent civilians. This is said while Omer al-Bashir continues to bomb the Jebel Marra areas in southern and central Darfur states with aerial bombings and the use of chemical weapons, but the international community remained silent about the atrocious crimes being committed by National Congress Party (NCP) army and militia (RSF) by adopting double standards by condemning Bashar al-Asad of Syria in the strongest terms while remaining silent on the use of chemical weapons in Jebel Marra by Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. Can we call the position taken by the International Community as a kind of collusion or what? Moreover, how do you judge? This is the battle of what is referred to satirically as “To Blame Somebody Else, abbreviated to BSE Phenomenon.; BSE originally refers to the Cows Disease, known as the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; now in humans! In other words, it is the process of blaming the innocent individual unjustifiably wrong.

As part of the Sudanese Presidency's plan, a group of Janjawid militia forces known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), supported by the government police forces, launched a new attack on the Aradeiba camp for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Garsila in the Central Darfur State immediately killing three Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and injuring 12 others.
https://www.alhamish.com/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%84-%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A8/

Moreover, on May 21, 2018, the Rapid Support Force (RSF) Militias allies to the (NCP) regime attacked the Khamsa Dagayig (translated five-minutes) Camp in Zalingei, the capital of central Darfur state, and fired shots that claimed the life and led to the martyrdom of the displaced woman, 22-year-old named Magbula and wounding more than eight others according to the latest statistics. http://sudanvoices.com/?p=53023

And let us not forget the repeated attempts by the government of Sudan(GoS) to remove and evacuate the Kalma camp for the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) in Nyala using force.
As well as the crimes of the Government of Khartoum through the militias of Rapid Support Force (RSF) in the State of West Darfur, which killed a number of civilians during the practice of cultivating their lands on the outskirts of the City of El Geneina in Dar Masalit. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%85+%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%B1%D8%B7%D9%88%D9%85+%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%B1+%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B9+%D9%81%D9%89+%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9+%D8%BA%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A8+%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B1&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=TmlsC8QV1EAzNM%253A%252C3y8AzxPhsfJ88M%252C_&usg=__TybUVuILnbZP8DLNQC6t_lCsxMI%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiws_3U6-nbAhWiDMAKHdo4BF4Q9QEILzAC#imgrc=TmlsC8QV1EAzNM:

At this juncture, it is timely and appropriate to refer to the Letter from Abdelwahid El-Nour to the Troika in response to the statement by the United States, United Kingdom & Kingdom of Norway on Cessation of Violence in Darfur. It was the letter the Leader of the SLA-AW, Abdel Wahid Mohammed Ahmed al-Nour addressed to President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Theresa May and Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Abdul Wahid al-Nur, Chairman Sudan Liberation Movement & Commander in Chief Sudan Liberation Arm in concluding his message to the Troika said: “The Sudanese regime is also composed of fascists, militarists, butchers and ideological zealots and do not ask us to do what you would not do yourselves faced with the same circumstances.”
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article65689
http://sudanjem.com/2018/06/letter-from-abdelwahid-elnour-to-the-troika/

The SLA Commander Abdel Wahid Mohamed Ahmed El Nour has been struggling for the rights of the people of Sudan in Darfur since the outbreak of the Revolution of the marginalized disenfranchised people deprived of wealth and power during the period of more than a decade and half without tirelessness and remaining adhered to his principles despite the threats of sanctions against him. Thus, the Leader Abdelwahid continues steadfast and tirelessly struggling for the cause of the people he cares for.

The Enlightenment leader Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, who was born in Paris and Jesuit-educated, and began writing clever verses by the age of 12 and launched a lifelong, successful playwriting career in 1718, interrupted by imprisonment in the Bastille has been quoted as said: “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/double-standard

Commander Abdel Wahid, you have filled our hearts with joy and tried hard to remove some of the irk arising from the fifteen-year-long injustice of the (NCP) regime with your speech addressed to the Troika, said the people of Sudan in the Darfur region Chanting these slogans!

Rosa Luxemburg the Polish Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist, anti-war activist, and revolutionary socialist who became a naturalized German citizen at the age of 28. She was, successively, a member of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania), Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD), and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) has been quoted as saying: “Social democracy seeks and finds the ways, and particular slogans, of the workers' struggle only in the course of the development of this struggle, and gains directions for the way forward through this struggle alone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/slogans
Thomas Paine the English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary has been quoted as saying: “I love the man that can smile in trouble that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.' This is the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/steadfastness

Justice is superior to injustice no matter how long Actus Reus lasts!
Desmond Mpilo Tutu the South African Anglican cleric and theologian who was known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist has been quoted as saying: “ If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality”
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/injustice

The last words at this juncture are there must be accountability of the Perpetrators and it is necessary the return of Democracy no Matter how Long the travel to it will take!! Democracy is light and fire and he who wanted to enjoy the light of it has to resort to struggle for the sake of!

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

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