Africa

July 30, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, (aka Hametti) said his fighters have arrested about 600 Ethiopian illegal migrants near Sudan's border with Libya and Egypt.

SRF field commander Mohamed Hamdan (Hametti) speaks in a press conference in Khartoum on Wednesday May 14, 2014 (ST)

Last June, hundreds of RSF elements have been deployed in the remote desert of the Northern State shortly after complaint by the governor of drug and human trafficking by the criminal networks.

On Saturday, Sudanese army's sixth infantry division in North Darfur capital El-Fasher has celebrated the return of the RSF from the Northern State.

Speaking during the celebration, Daglo said his forces arrested about 600 illegal Ethiopian migrants and thwarted several human trafficking operations near Sudan's border with Egypt and Libya and at Al-Nakheel area in the Sahara desert.

He pointed those illegal migrants have been handed over to the authorities in North Darfur as a prelude to repatriate them into their home country.

The RSF commander said the media has turned a blind eye on numerous offences committed by rebel groups including killing incidents, displacement of civilians and destruction of civil institutions.

Daglo hailed discipline among RSF fighters, saying Sudan became a crossing point for illegal migrants seeking to travel to Europe and the United States.

He called on the West to appreciate efforts exerted by the Sudanese government to combat human trafficking and illegal migration across the Sahara.

Sudan is considered as a country of origin and transit for the illegal migration and human trafficking. Thousands of people from Eritrea and Ethiopia are monthly crossing the border into the Sudanese territories on their way to Europe through Libya or Egypt.

For his part, the commander of the sixth infantry division Ashraf Mahdi El-Rifaie said North Darfur became free of rebellion due to efforts of the Sudanese army, RSF and the rest of the regular forces.

“The RSF carried out its full role and combed the area of the rebel remnants and human traffickers” he said

He added that the RSF managed to free hundreds of foreigners from the grip of human traffickers on the desert near the Egyptian border.

Earlier this month, Daglo said his men arrested over 300 illegal immigrants heading to Libya across the remote desert of Northern State.

Deputy Governor of North Darfur, Mohamed Braima, for his part, described the RSF as the right arm of the Sudanese army, saying they play a major role in maintaining peace and security.

He pointed that the security situation in Darfur is stable, saying the government works to amend the social fabric and hold tribal reconciliations to unify the internal front and address the effects of war.

Earlier this year, the European Union granted a €100m development package to address the root causes of irregular migration in Sudan. The financial support came after pledge by the Sudanese government to cooperate with Brussels to stop human trafficking to Europe.

In January 2014, the Sudanese parliament approved an anti-human trafficking law which punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.

The RSF, which is widely known as the Janjaweed militias, were originally mobilized by the Sudanese government to quell the insurgency that broke out in Sudan's western region of Darfur in 2003.

The militia was reactivated and restructured again in August 2013 under the command of NISS to fight the alliance of rebel groups from Darfur region, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states following joint attacks in North and South Kordofan in April 2013.

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July 30, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir on Saturday has pledged to destroy what he described as “institutions of injustice” saying he wouldn't kneel down to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

President Omer al-Bashir at Khartoum airport after his return from Addis Ababa where he received the African Dignity Award on 30 July 2016 (SUNA Photo)

Al-Bashir returned to Khartoum on Saturday from Addis Ababa where he received the the African Dignity Award from the African Initiative for Pride and Dignity (AIPD) in recognition of his efforts in Africa.

He was received at Khartoum airport by large crowds and senior government officials including the First Vice-President Bakri Hassan Salih.

Al-Bashir, who appeared wearing a red bobble cloak and sat on a royal chair in a high platform, addressed the crowed saying he wouldn't succumb to the ICC, saying the western countries don't recognize that he represents the Sudanese people.

“We would destroy all institutions of injustice and liberate Africa from the modern political and economic colonization … we are firmly embedded like mountains and .we wouldn't kneel down,” he said.

The Sudanese President is under two ICC arrest warrants since 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.

Al-Bashir swore by Almighty Allah (God) three times before the crowed, saying he will always take stances that make the Sudanese people proud of themselves.

“All our decisions and moves were inspired the Sudanese people who don't accept the injustice,” he said.

He said that his government has implemented peace agreements for the sake of peace not to be thanked by other people, pointing that Sudan opened its borders to receive refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea and West Africa when drought hit the region in 1984 despite the fact that it had suffered from famine.

The Sudanese President further thanked Africa, Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University and Africa's scholars and expert for honouring him.

It is noteworthy that the AIPD was launched by the Addis Ababa University on Tuesday 25 and ended on 29 July.

The initiative aims at basing Africans development efforts on Africans Indigenous Knowledge systems.

It was launched in partnership with the United Nations University for Peace (UP-EACE), the Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Chair of Cultural Diversity based at the International Relations Institute in Cameroon, the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies African Network,Tanzania and Centre for the Study of Peace and Human Rights in Sudan.

(ST)

July 30, 2016 (JUBA) - The South Sudanese government has agreed to dispatch a high level delegation, led by its first vice president, Taban Deng Gai to the United Nations headquarters in New York as part of efforts to rally global community support.

Head of the rebel delegation, Taban Deng Gai, attends the opening ceremony of South Sudan's negotiation in Addis Ababa, January 4, 2014. (Photo Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

“The objective of this mission is to mobilize the international support for implementation of the peace agreement and explain to the leaders of Intergovernmental authorities on development (IGAD) member countries why there were changes within the SPLM-IO leadership,” vice president, James Wani Igga told reporters Friday.

“This is a very important mission,” added the vice president.

Gai, who succeeded the armed opposition (SPLM-IO) chairman Riek Machar, was sworn-in early this week, a move the former rebel leader described as being “illegal”.

"President Salva Kiir wants the country's first vice-president to explain to the world the recent political changes in nation," Igga told reporters in the capital, Juba.

The South Sudanese leader, he said, told the armed opposition leaders in the capital, Juba it was their role to make the region understand why Machar was replaced.

“Taban and some members of the team which will select by the President to go to the neighboring countries, including Khartoum as number one, so that we put clearly to them the situation,” explained Igga.

The team will reportedly also tour neighboring countries to advocate for regional support for the peace agreement.

Igga further said President Kiir agreed to accelerate discussions on how to improve security in the country, revive the economy and repatriate internally displaced persons.

(ST)

Tunisia's parliament passes a vote of no confidence in the government of PM Habib Essid over what is seen as his failure to push through economic reforms.

July 30, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese authorities have released on bail an editor they detained for weeks after he wrote an article said to be critical of he country's leaders.

Alfred Taban (Time-UA Photo)

Alfred Taban, the Juba Monitor's managing editor, had accused President Salva Kiir and his then deputy Riek Machar of failing to cooperate in the implementation of peace agreement, prompting his immediate arrest and detention.

Taban, however, said Saturday that he was granted bail to allow him to continue taking his medication as directed by his personal doctor.

This was after he was detained for a week without charge. He was charged under Article 75 and 76 of Penal Code 2008 for writing a false story and insulting the president.

Amnesty International, in a statement, said detaining Taban over his peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression makes him a prisoner of conscience.

“We urge you to support our call for the immediate and unconditional release of Alfred Taban”, partly reads the organisation's statement, also extended to Sudan Tribune.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had also called for the immediate release of Taban.

The editor's arrest came weeks after John Gatluak Manguet Nhial, a journalist who coordinated and reported for Radio Naath FM in Leer, was killed with complete impunity in Juba's Terrain Hotel on 11 July, probably because he hails from the Nuer ethnic group.

South Sudan is ranked 140 out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index, thus falling 26 places since the start of the conflict in Africa's newest nation.

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The UN Security Council authorises the deployment of a UN police force to Burundi to try to quell violence and human rights abuses.

The Security Council today extended for two weeks the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), allowing time for its membership to consider options on adapting the operation’s mandate amid renewed violence in the world’s youngest country.

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