Africa

October 9, 2017 (JUBA)- South Sudanese peace partners in the national unity government have released conflicting statements in which they expressed divergent opinions over their participation in the proposed revitalization of the 2015 peace agreement by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The former political detainees in the unity government on Saturday issued a statement welcoming separate consultations proposed by IGAD to revitalize the 2015 peace agreement, saying they do not see any problem in separate consultation with all individual parties or even entity.

“We do not see any issue in IGAD consulting all parties separately or even as one entity. It is our strong belief and hope that the convening of the proposed ARCSS Revitalization Forum by IGAD, will greatly enhance current efforts being undertaken by the parties to the agreement in South Sudan and their regional and international partners, to bring about durable peace and stability to our war-torn country and the immense suffering of our people”, the October 7th, 2017 statement reads in part.

Their statement was preceded by two other separate statements issued on Friday 6 by members of the opposition faction of Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In-Opposition (SPLM-IO) under the leadership the First Vice-President, Taban Deng Gai and the leader of the alliance of political parties calling itself as national agenda group under the minister of cabinet affairs, Martin Elia Lomuro.

Minister Lomuro wrote that the approach IGAD proposes implies the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) does not exist and the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan is indeed dead, and further that the revitalization Forum is intended to resuscitate it as stated by many times by anti-peace element South Sudanese politicians.

The Secretary-General of the Sudan People's Liberation In Opposition under Taban Deng Gai, Dhieu Mathok Diing Wol told Sudan Tribune on Friday that the proposal by the regional countries undermines the existence of the unity, expressing the need to be consulted as part of the government instead of individual parties. He equated individual consultation to fresh negotiations on the peace deal.

However, the former detainees say they do not subscribe to the views of the other parties, explaining that separate talks, will help the parties to address the immense challenges implementation of the accord.

“We do not share the above interpretations of the revitalization process. Instead, we believe that the process can help the parties to address the immense challenges facing the implementation of the peace agreement,” the statement of the former detainees released to the public reads in part.

The group said it is their strong belief and hope the convening of the proposed revitalization forum of the peace agreement will greatly enhance current efforts being undertaken by the parties to the agreement and regional partners to bring about durable peace and stability to the war-torn country.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Security meetings between two border states in Sudan and Ethiopia have called the deployment of joint forces along the border between the two countries to fight smuggling, human trafficking and outlaw gangs.

Despite the strong ties between Sudan and Ethiopia, there are serious criminal activities in the border areas including smuggling and human trafficking to reach Egypt and Libya through the Sudan.

At the end of the joint meetings in the Ethiopian city of Bahr Dar, the security committee of Sudan's Gedaref state and Ethiopia's Amhara region agreed to recommend to their respective national governments to approve to the deployment of joint forces along the border.

The committee, according to a press statement released Monday, the two delegations agreed to "form a high committee composed of security forces commanders border officials from the two sides to assess the scale of violations on agricultural land."

The statement further stressed the need to fight the different forms of smuggling, human trafficking, weapons, ammunition and drugs, and to fight outlaw gangs, and to ensure the establishment of security and stability and to make the border areas for mutual benefits.

For his part, Gadaref Governor Merghani Salih Sayed Ahmed stressed the importance of ensuring security and continuing work on development projects along the border strip to achieve stability in the border zone.

The governor of Amhara region Kadu AndrKago renewed his government's keenness to stop all aggressors on Sudanese agricultural land and to fight all kinds of smuggling, weapons and drugs.

There many disputes between Ethiopian and Sudanese farmers over the ownership of framers on the border area particularly between Al-Fashga and Gadaref. Also,

Also, the Eritrea based Ethiopian rebel groups try often to cross the Sudanese border heading to Ethiopia, but the Sudanese authorities arrest the opponents and deliver them to Ethiopia.

The border areas, also, witnessed more than once the use of Ethiopian opponents, mostly fighters, from Eritrea to Sudan, handed over by the Ethiopian authorities.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Monday prevented the deputy president of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi from travelling to Paris.

NUP deputy chairman, Mariam al-Mahdi (AFP Photo)

Al-Mahdi was heading to the French capital to attend the meetings of the rebel umbrella Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) faction led by Gibril Ibrahim.

She said in a WhatsApp text message that the NISS at Khartoum airport prevented her from boarding the plane after she completed departure procedures.

“There are no reasons for the ban, according to the statement of the NISS element who seized my boarding pass,” she added.

Al-Mahdi was heading to the Egyptian capital, Cairo and will travel from there to Paris to attend the SRF meeting scheduled for 12 October.

Media reports during the past few days said the NUP leader, al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, had apologized for not attending a meeting of the opposition umbrella Sudan Call dedicated to discussing the unity of the Sudanese opposition in Paris which resulted in the cancellation of the meeting.

The Sudan Call, which was established in Addis Ababa on 3 December 2014, NUP, the SRF, and the Civil Society Initiative (CSI).

Sudan Call internal groups include the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP), Sudanese Baath Party (SBP), Center Alliance Party (CAP), Sudanese National Party (SNP) and Sudanese National Alliance (SNA).

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The fourth meeting of the strategic dialogue between Sudan and the United Kingdom (UK) would kick off on 16 October in London.

The semi-official Sudan Media Center (SMC) has quoted the British Ambassador to Khartoum Michael Aron as saying the UK-Sudan relations have witnessed significant improvement since launching the strategic dialogue in 2016.

He pointed to a number of tangible measures that have been implemented by both countries especially with regard to granting of visas.

“There has been remarkable progress in cooperation [between the two countries] in areas of combating illegal migration and terrorism and coordination on human rights issues,” said the British envoy.

According to the SMC, the Sudanese delegation to the fourth meeting of the strategic dialogue would be led by the Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdel-Ghani al-Nai'im.

The strategic consultations meetings between the two countries started in March 2016 in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum and considered the first talks of its kind at this level in 25 years.

Sudan and Britain agreed to exchange of visits at the level of senior officials from the two countries along with increasing cooperation in the fields of economy, investment and culture.

The UK Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Chris Trott earlier this year visited Khartoum several times to discuss ways to develop bilateral relations and encourage Khartoum efforts to reduce the illegal immigration from the Horn of African countries towards Europe and Britain especially.

The dialogue also was seen within the framework of the after-Brexit policy aiming to develop trade relations with the former British colonies.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (JUBA) - The Sudanese government through its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, has declined to grant the entry visa to the former South Sudanese deputy defense minister and member of the former detainees group, Majak D'Agoot.

South Sudan's former Deputy Defence Minister Majak D'Agoot poses for a photograph at his office in Juba, October 16, 2012. (Photo Reuters/Adriane Ohanesian)

The former official was due to take part in a three-day meeting jointly organized by the African Union (AU), the East Africa bloc IGAD and the Sudanese government over issues relating to peace, security, stability, cooperation and development in the Horn of Africa region.

t started on Sunday in Khartoum but Majak, one of the officials who received invitations from the African Union said he could not travel to attend because he was not until Sunday received a permission from the Sudanese government to attend the meeting, saying his visa was not approved.

The Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, he said, did not provide any explanation. It just decided to keep quiet until the day the prior travelling time came to pass.

Kosti Manibe Ngai, who speaks for the group to which Majak associate said he was invited as a security expert in the Horn of Africa and not as a member of the former political detainees.

Majak had a long-serving military career and security service, leading to his previous appointment in key command position before the singing of the 2005 peace agreement.

His two most senior assignments before the eruption of the conflict in 2013 were being deputy minister of defence in South Sudan. He also served as deputy head of National Security and Intelligence Services before South Sudan's independence from Sudan in 2011.

(ST)

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