Africa

October 10, 2017 (JUBA) - A South Sudanese group on Tuesday welcomed the proposed the revitalization forum, saying it has already been consulted by the delegation of the regional bloc (IGAD) and the team that is monitoring and evaluating the 2015 peace agreement.

A delegation of DOT BAAI-SSPA/SSPM headed by the President of the Consultative Council of SSPA/SSPM, Costello Garang Ring Lual, met with an IGAD delegation in Khartoum to discuss to revitalize the Addis Peace Agreement (ARCSS) on the 9th of October.

Garang was accompanied by General Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, according to a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Tuesday.

The regional delegation was led by the IGAD's Special Envoy for South Sudan, Ambassador Ismail Wais. Also, the IGAD team included Major Gen. Molla Hailemariam, Chairman of the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM).

The consultative meeting, the group said, sought to listen to the views of the different opposition groups on the revitalization of the 2015 peace agreement to derive mechanisms on how the war can be resolved.

“The leadership of the Movement met the team of IGAD which came to Khartoum and submitted a written position to them. The movement accepted and welcomed the revitalization process and affirmed its commitment to participating in the process the only way the conflict in the country could be resolved,” the statement added.

In June, a summit of IGAD heads of state and government decided to convene a meeting of the signatories of the South Sudan peace agreement to discuss ways to revitalize the peace implementation.

During the June summit, it was agreed that all groups be included in the discussion aimed at restoring a permanent ceasefire.

Last week, IGAD unveiled the timetable for the revitalization forum to start consultations with South Sudanese leaders and the nation's citizens. The process, it said, begins on 13 October and ends on 17.

South Sudan government earlier warned that the revitalization forum by the regional bloc, which mediated the 2015 peace accord, should not be another platform for negotiations of the peace agreement between the two factions to the conflict.

IGAD is an eight-member economic bloc that brings together Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda.

Over a million people have fled South Sudan since conflict erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked Machar from the vice-presidency. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in South Sudan's worst ever violence since it seceded from Sudan in 2011

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (JUBA) – Members of South Sudan's national dialogue steering committee are currently in South Africa for a three-day retreat.

The over 20-member team is led by the committee's co-chair, Angelo Beda.

The spokesperson for the delegation to South Africa said the team seeks learns from experiences of South African on how they managed their processes and differences, which saw an end to apartheid system in the country mainly dominated by the blacks.

“We will be meeting with the South Africans and a few other international personalities to discuss the national dialogue process and how it's going and to try to learn from the experience of others and in the sense to sharpen the strategy of the national dialogue,” he said.

Several regional and international experts are expected at the retreat.

Deng, a former diplomat, did not, however, say whether the team will seek an audience with the rebel leader Riek Machar while in South Africa where he has been under house arrest since last year.

Meanwhile, other sources, as well as the delegation members, told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that the team will ask the South African deputy president to arrange if they could talk to the rebel leader.

“We will not give up because there is nothing personal. Our interest in this process is to end the war and ensure there is peace so that people in the displaced camps and those who have fled the country returns to their homes so that they can resume their normal life and stability returns,” Deng told reporters in the capital, Juba.

He added, “So we will not stop, even if we did not succeed in the first trip. We will again try this time through the South Africa's Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, who promised us last time [that] he [will] continues to encourage Riek Machar to participate in the national dialogue”.

Officially launched in May, the national dialogue is both a forum and process through which the people South Sudan shall gather to redefine the basis of their unity as it relates to nationhood, redefine citizenship and belonging, as well as restructure the state for national inclusion.

Since December 2013, tens of thousands of people have been killed and over two million displaced in South Sudan's worst ever violence since its cessation from Sudan in July 2011.

(ST)

October 10, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The opposition National Umma Party (NUP) has criticized the demand of the Nuba Mountains body of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (SPLM-North al-Hilu) for self-determination.

NUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi speaks to reporters at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 30 November 2014 (ST)

The SPLM-N Nuba Mountains Liberation Council (NMLC) held an extraordinary conference in the rebel-controlled area of Heiban in South Kordofan from 4 to 7 October 2017, ahead of the Extraordinary General Conference after a rift that broke it into two groups last June.

The three-day meeting was attended by 475 delegates representing all the districts of the Nuba Mountains. It was addressed by the leader of the group Abdel Aziz al-Hilu in the presence of his deputy Jacod Mekouar and SPLA-N Chief of Staff Izat Koko Angelo.

“After extensive deliberations and discussions, the participants passed the Crucial Issues Document, including the right of self-determination for the people of the Nuba Mountains/ South Kordofan, and then the conference endorsed the organizational performance report,” said a statement released on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the NUP leader al-Sadiq al-Mahdi said his party was invited to attend the SPLM-N al-Hilu conference.

“However, what came out of the Nuba Mountains conference, if true, is considered unfortunate because it didn't fulfill their promise to abide by the Sudan Call, and it left no room to heal the rift within the Movement and didn't renew their commitment to the Roadmap signed by the Sudan Call parties with the Mbeki mechanism and insisted on self-determination,” he said.

The Sudanese government and Sudan Call signed in March and August 2016 the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) headed by Thabo Mbeki, including several steps towards their participation in a national constitutional process inside Sudan.

Al-Mahdi further expressed surprise that the Movement which calls for the liberation of Sudan insists on granting the right of self-determination for a part of the country “even though everyone knows the failed experience of the self-determination”.

He was alluding to the secession of South Sudan following the self-determination referendum in 2011 and the subsequent state of anarchy which prevailed in the newborn country.

The Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-N rebels in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011.

The SPLM-N is now divided into two factions: one led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu and the other led by Agar. The rift emerged several months ago over the right of self-determination and other organisational issues.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (JUBA) - The Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) has urged the United Nations Security Council and the United States government to impose sanctions on South Sudan President Salva Kiir and First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai for allegedly instigating the violence that has blocked peace in the country.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune, CPJ's coordinator Tito Anthony claimed President Kiir used Gai, a former rebel chief negotiator, to create instability by failing to implement the 2015 peace accord.

“The reason why president Kiir is to be sanctioned, it's because he is using Taban Deng to fight the war on behalf of the government and Taban Deng will claim that it is his troop that are fighting with Riek Machar forces, not only that, but, the president is also supplying Taban Deng Gai with ammunition to fight the war and that is destruction,” Tito said on Monday.

He claimed Gai created the mess in the country and blocked the peace dividends, which allegedly makes him liable for sanctions.

“Taban must be sanctioned because the world is now planning on how to end this conflict and yet Taban Deng is sending his troops to go and fight in Pagak and Bieh state”, stressed the CPJ coordinator.

The official said President Kiir and his First Vice President, who both serve in the coalition government, must take responsibility for the massive destruction caused in the country as a result of the civil war.

“The implications are not only [about] sanctions, but one day they [Kiir and Gai] must face the court of law for their conspiracy against the people of South Sudan,” Tito further told Sudan Tribune.

Last month, the US government placed sanctions on three close associates of South Sudan's president, saying they had personally profited from a climate of corruption in a government that has been called a kleptocracy.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Gen. Malek Reuben Riak Rengu, the army's deputy chief of staff in charge of military procurement; and Michael Makuei Lueth, South Sudan's information minister. In addition, sanctions were placed on Paul Malong Awan, who was chief of staff of the South Sudan People's Liberation Army until President Salva Kiir fired him in May.

Three companies owned or controlled by Riak also were sanctioned.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions were in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in South Sudan and the role of officials in undermining stability and peace.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese government says it plans to start re-integrating former armed opposition fighters (SPLA-IO) in Northern Liech state into the country's national army (SPLA).

Colonel Dickson Gatluak (ST Photo)

The spokesperson for the SPLM-IO Juba faction, Col. Dickson Gatluak Jok said members of the armed opposition faction welcomed the order, which seeks to bring diversity within the national army.

“This re-integration exercise will also bring change in the warring communities and in military bases in the whole country,” said Jok.

He said as a partner in the coalition government, the SPLM-IO under the leadership of the country's First Vice-President, Taban Deng Gai, regard the process as an important milestone in the country's army.

“As stipulated in the transitional security arrangements (Chapter ll), it is the duty for warring parties to disseminate the provisions of this agreement to all their forces,” stressed Jok in the statement.

He emphasised the need for equal treatment within the national army.

Jok said members of the armed opposition infantry forces who will soon take part in a military parade after being re-integrated include, Lt. Gen. Peter Dor Manjur Gatluak, Major Gen. Karlo Kuol Ruai, Major Gen. William Gueh Duop, Major Gen. Micheal Makal Kuol Deng, Major Gen. David Joang Puk, Major Gen. Stephen Bol Puok Bur, Major Gen. Peter Toar Nyuel and Major Gen. Mayiel Thai Wuor Naam.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (WASHINGTON) – A high-level South Sudanese delegation led by its Finance and Planning Minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau is in Washington DC to attend the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Boards of Governors.

The South Sudanese delegation attending the IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington DC, October 9, 2017 (Larco Lomayat)

The annual meeting will take place from 09-15 October.

The event brings together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, parliamentarians, private sector executives, civil society representatives and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.

Seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial system will grace the event.

Also on South Sudan team are the Central Bank Governor, Othom Rago Ajak, first undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Agak Achuil Lual, Director General of Budget in the Finance Ministry, Simon Kimang Lado, Deputy Director for Statistics and Research, Bank of South Sudan,Charles Abugo Joseph, Technical Advisor for Policy, Aid Coordination and External Affairs in the Finance and Planning ministry, Abraham Diing Akoi.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Ms Marta Ruedas, Monday called to release a Swiss aid worker recently abducted in North Darfur.

United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Ms. Marta Ruedas on 21-August-2017(Photo PaulinaRothova/UN)

Margaret Schenkel was kidnapped by unknown gunmen from her residence in El-Fasher on 7 October 2017. There is no demand for ransom by the abductors while the Sudanese authorities launched search operation to find here.

“I am deeply shocked by this incident. Targeting aid workers who provide neutral, impartial and life-saving humanitarian assistance is a crime under International Humanitarian Law,” said Ms Ruedas.

“I would like to urge all parties to ensure her safe release and well-being,” Ms Ruedas added.

This is the third incident of aid worker abduction in Darfur over the past two years.

Unconfirmed reports from El-Fasher say she has been abducted by the members of a pro-government militia to protest the non-payment of their salaries.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Nuba Mountains body of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (SPLM-North al-Hilu) demands self-determination for the war-torn, southern area of the country.

The SPLM-N Nuba Mountains held an extraordinary conference in the rebel-controlled area of Heiban in South Kordofan from 4 to 7 October 2017, ahead of the Extraordinary General Conference after a rift that broke it into two groups last June.

The three-day meeting was attended by 475 delegates representing all the districts of the Nuba Mountains. It was addressed by the leader of the group Abdelaziz al-Hilu in the presence of his deputy Jacod Mekouar and SPLA-N Chief of Staff Izat Koko Angelo.

"After extensive deliberations and discussions, the participants passed the Crucial Issues Document. including The right of self-determination for the people of the Nuba Mountains/ South Kordofan, and then the conference endorsed the organizational performance report," said a statement released on Monday.

Also, the extraordinary meeting elected 110 members to the Nuba Mountains Liberation Council (NMLC) and designated 122 members as delegates to the Extraordinary General Conference.

Initially, the general conference had been scheduled to start on 6 October. But it was delayed due to the difficulties faced by the delegates to reach the landlocked area, and also because of some organizational matters related to the representation of the different areas outside the Nuba Mountains.

Sudanese opposition groups were not able to travel to the venue of the meeting after the rejection of the South Sudanese embassy in Khartoum to grant them as a visa to South Sudan from where they can reach the rebel-held area.

It is not clear if the general conference will follow the conclusions of the Nuba Mountains body or decline to endorse the demand for self-determination.

Last April, the NMLC decided to suspend peace talks and sacked the SPLM-N Secretary-General and Chief Negotiator, Yasir Arman, because he had refused to include the self-determination in the position paper of the rebel group during the peace negotiations with the government.

(ST)

October 9, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North led by Malik Agar (SPLM-N Agar) said it received a letter from the United Nations stating the Movement has been included in the list of organizations collaborating to protect children in conflict zones.

On 30 June 2015, the SPLM-N signed the Geneva Call's Deed of Commitment for the Protection of Children (DCPC) and became the first African armed non-State actor (ANSA) to commit to child protection.

The Commitment is a mechanism developed by the Geneva Call, allowing the signatories from the rebel groups that cannot become parties to international treaties, to agree to respect a set of norms related to child protection and provide them with the aid and care they require.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Monday, SPLM-N Agar spokesperson Mubarak Ardol welcomed the move, expressing readiness to collaborate with the UN to complete the remaining steps to protect children and women in conflicts zones.

He added that chairman Agar received a letter from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) congratulating the Movement on the inclusion of its name in the list of organizations collaborating to protect children in conflict zones.

Ardol pointed out that the SPLM-N had earlier established a commission for the protection of children and women in war zones, pointing to the signing of the DCPC in 2015.

He also added that Agar had signed the joint plan for the protection of children in conflict zones in Geneva in the presence of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui and the UNICEF resident representative in Sudan Abdallah El-Fadil.

The Sudanese army has been fighting the SPLM-N rebels in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan, also known as the Two Areas since 2011.

The SPLM-N is now divided into two factions: one in the Nuba Mountains led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu and the other in the Blue Nile State led by Agar. The rift emerged several months ago over the right of self-determination and other organisational issues.

(ST)

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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