Africa

May 10, 2017 (WAU) – The International Organization for Immigration (IOM) said its team had been deployed to Jonglei, South Sudan, late last month (25 April) in response to a cholera outbreak which affected over 230 people in Ayod County.

A woman is given a cholera vaccine at a medical camp run by the humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres in Minkamman, in South Sudan's Lakes state (Photo: Getty Images)

The IOM team has been supporting local health partners to rapidly scale up the emergency and contain the outbreak in a hard-to-reach and often insecure area of the country.

Relief agencies have responded to cholera outbreaks across the country, with nine countries currently reporting active transmission, including three in Jonglei alone. Since the cholera outbreak was declared in June 2016, over 7,200 cases have been reported, including 229 deaths according to World Health Organization (WHO) and the South Sudan Ministry of Health.

IOM's response began after 140 suspected cases of cholera were reported in Ayod during the first weeks of April, putting the population of approximately 175,000 people at risk. Access to Ayod is difficult during the rainy season, and its proximity to the Nile River increases its vulnerability to outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera.
Due to the ongoing crisis in Jonglei, health facilities in Ayod have not been functioning and face a lack of health workers and medical supplies.

IOM, working alongside the County Health Department and the Christian Mission for Development (CMD) in the town of Jiech has been facilitating surveillance, managing cases and improving community outreach efforts to stem the outbreak.

The majority of the suspected cholera cases come from communities living in cattle camps along the river. IOM has established oral rehydration points in three hotspot areas to increase access to treatment.

“Conditions are extremely difficult for families in Jiech,” explains Carol Kipsang, an IOM health officer and nurse. “We met one mother who was caring for her newborn and her sister's child after her sister died from cholera two weeks ago in her community. The young mother walked one hour to the IOM clinic to receive treatment for the children and seek nutritional support for her malnourished daughter.”

To ensure access to supplies required for a cholera response, the WHO has provided response kits, medication and equipment for the oral rehydration points and cholera treatment units.

The IOM team has also delivered essential medications to treat other common illnesses during the mission.

To date, IOM has reported treating at least 40 people suffering from cholera symptoms and conducted nearly 2,400 health consultations. The team plans to hand over operations to CMD in the coming days but will continue providing additional supplies for the on-going response.

Through the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance Rapid Response Fund (RRF), IOM will continue to support CMD's response in Ayod, as well as Sudan Medical Care in Duk County, Jonglei, where over 380 suspected cholera cases have been reported. The RRF continues to support health partners in Yirol East, where health agencies have been responding to a cholera outbreak since February.

Elsewhere, an IOM water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) team has responded to suspected cases of cholera in Kopoeta, Eastern Equatoria, through hygiene promotion activities aimed at mitigating the spread of the disease. The team deployed on 4 May and immediately began recruiting hygiene promoters from the local community to ensure a quick and effective response after several suspected cases were reported in the area.

Since the cholera outbreak began in 2016, IOM has responded in remote locations and displacement sites throughout South Sudan to manage cases and mitigate the further spread of the disease. On a daily basis, teams continually conduct health and hygiene promotion activities to ensure vulnerable populations have access to basic information to keep their families healthy despite displacement and difficult living conditions.

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May 10, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The director of the secretariat of the East African Emergency Forces (ISAF), Abdalla Omer, said arrangements are underway to conduct the “multi-polar peacekeeping” exercise in Khartoum in November.

SAF troops march during the concluding ceremony of Northern Thunder in Saudi Arabia on March 12, 2016 (ST Photo)

Omer, who is visiting Sudan for the first time, Wednesday has discussed with Sudan's state defence minister, Lieutenant General Ali Mohamed Salem, plans that would be executed by the ISAF in the coming period.

He told reporters that his visit to Khartoum comes within the framework of coordinating efforts of member states to support programmes and meet their financial and political commitments towards the ISAF.

According to Omer, the visit also aims to the arrangements for the military exercise that will be held in Sudan in November, praising Sudan's support for the ISAF programmes.

For his part, Salem stressed Sudan's support for ISAF, hailing the latter efforts to maintain security and stability in the region.

Last month, ISAF commander, Brig. Gen. Alaa al-din Osman Mirghani, confirmed completion of technical and logistical preparations to conduct the military exercise in Sudan's Red Sea region.

He said the exercise aims to ensure full coordination among the forces to enhance the spirit of participation and harmony to achieve readiness for intervention.

In December 2015, ISAF said that 5000 troops are ready to be deployed, if necessary, in order to intervene to preserve and support regional peace.

ISAF which includes 10 east African nations was established by the African Union in 2004 and it consists of military, police and civilian components. The force is part of Africa's standby forces.

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May 10, 2017 (JUBA) - The former chief of general for South Sudan army (SPLA) General Paul Malong Awan has denied intention to rebel against the government of President Salva Kiir after his sack on Tuesday.

Awan made his denial in a speech delivered at a public rally held in Yirol town, Eastern Lakes State, where he suspended his travel to his home region of Aweil.

Following his abrupt departure from Juba on Tuesday following his removal rumours had been circulating in the capital that Awan would lead a rebellion against Kiir.

The circumstances under which he left the national capital in the night remains unclear and no one knows what prompted him to leave before handing over the office. Security analysts attributed the cause of the removal to tensions between the army under Malong and the National Security Services under Akol Koor have split government, with both officials competing for more control and influence.

The internal security bureau and a section of the army have airlifted forces and deployed them to Rumbek where local authorities have been instructed to fight him if he insists going home.

However, the state governor and other officials successfully persuaded him to speak to the nation if he was not having ill intention.

In his speech, Awan said he was on his way home to Aweil and was surprised he was being followed after he was relieved of his duties. He said whatever was being said about him in regards to his intentions were just rumours and that he only wants peace to prevail in the country.

He further said he has never rebelled against the SPLA or the people of South Sudan and that he was not about to do that.

Also, the former army commander congratulated his successor, General James Ajonga Mawut, pointing out that not only was the replacement from his area but also a blood relative to him. General Ajonga, he said, was a professional and patriotic soldier.

Speaking to the press in Juba on Wednesday, the army spokesperson Colonel Santo Domic Chol told reporters the former chief of general staff has left Juba with no intention to cause a war but unnamed people want to cause a problem.

“Yes, the former Chief of General Staff Paul Malong is not in Juba. He has left Juba to avoid tensions. Some people may go to him and say something that may provoke tension. This is what he did not want and is the reason he decided to leave Juba, he is not planning to rebel, not at all,” said Chol.

The military spokesperson said the military leadership was in contact with him and were planning to return him to Juba. He has now been sent the head of military intelligence, General Marial Nuor and other senior military leaders believed to be people who could persuade him to stop moving further.

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United Nations humanitarian workers are responding to a growing cholera outbreak in Ayod, the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan, one of multiple counties throughout the country where the disease has spread since June 2016.

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May 8, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese internal opposition umbrella National Consensus Forces (NCF) Monday reiterated commitment to topple the regime calling to resist what it described as “American conspiracy in Sudan”.

Farouk Abu Issa (R-C) chairs a meeting of the opposition National Consensus Forces on 10 September 2014 (ST)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Monday, the NCF said it “adheres to overthrow the regime as a single option to achieve the people's legitimate aspirations for freedom, democracy, peace, justice, unity and progress”.

It called for broadening the opposition front by bringing together all national forces which seek to overthrow the regime through peaceful and democratic political means including youth and women groups, students and other opposition forces.

The opposition alliance said the regime continues to opt for the security solution, pointing it will seek to create further crises that saddled the Sudanese people with war, hunger, poverty and terrorism.

The NCF renewed rejection for the government-led national dialogue, saying the process, after three years, failed to achieve peace, democratic transformation and progress.

The statement pointed that the regime's submission to the United States political, security and economic conditions poses a great danger to the Sudanese people legitimate aspirations, saying the U.S. strategy contradicts with the higher national interests of the free peoples who aspire to achieve unity, freedom and progress.

“We must expose the international and regional plans in Sudan, which seek to subjugate the countries of the region by weakening and fragmenting them,” read the statement.

Last January, Washington eased the two-decade economic and trade sanctions imposed on Sudan. The decision came as a response to the collaboration of the Sudanese government on various issues including the fight against terrorism.

Next June, several U.S. administration agencies will decide to confirm the decision of President Obama to permanently lift sanctions on Sudan or to maintain it.

Also, there were signs of rapprochement between Washington and Khartoum including the appointment of a new military attaché at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum and the recent participation of Sudan's army Chief of General Staff in the meeting of the US Africa Command known as “AFRICOM” in Germany.

Since January 2014, Sudan's President Omer al-Bashir has been leading a national dialogue process whose stated aims are to resolve the armed conflicts, achieve political freedoms, alleviate poverty and the economic crisis, and address the national identity crisis.

Last October, the political forces participating in the national dialogue concluded the process by signing the National Document which includes the general features of a future constitution to be finalised by transitional institutions.

The NCF, which gathers mainly center-left, and leftist parties, since the launch of the national dialogue, rejected to join the process, asking to include rebel groups, release political freedoms and to free political detainees and prisoners.

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May 8, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Member of Sudan's Higher Coordination Committee to Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Dialogue Outcome Osman Abu al-Majd Monday has called on the committee to meet to discuss reasons for delaying the announcement of the new government.

Members of the national dialogue general assembly and President Omer al-Bashir attend the third session of the internal process in Khartoum on August 20, 2015 (Photo AFP/Ashraf Shazly)

Abu-Almajd, a member of the committee and chairman of the National People's Alliance Party, told Sudan Tribune that “members of the follow-up committee are unaware of the real reasons for the delay of announcing the ministerial formation”.

“I demand to hold an emergency meeting for the higher committee headed by President Omer al-Bashir to discuss the reasons for the delay of announcing the [new] government in both its executive and legislative branches at the federal and state levels,” he said.

He pointed that the government should have been announced shortly after the approval of the dialogue outcome at the parliament, saying there is no justification for the delay of announcing the government.

The government of national concord was expected to be announced last February, however, the new ministerial formation was postponed amid conflicting reports about the reasons. Official statements confirm that the delay was due to differences within some of the dialogue parties participating in the new government.

Abu-Almajd said the announcement of the new government mustn't be held captive to hesitant stances of some political parties, stressing the outcome of the national dialogue should be implemented immediately.

Last October, the political forces participating in the national dialogue concluded the process by signing the National Document which includes the general features of a future constitution to be finalised by transitional institutions.

The opposition groups boycotted the process because the government didn't agree to a humanitarian truce with the armed groups and due to its refusal to implement a number of confidence building measures aiming to create a conducive environment in the country before to hold the inclusive dialogue.

(ST)

May 8, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudanese students Monday took to the streets to protest against the rise in the cost of living. The protester who was joined by the capital residents chanted slogans against President Salva Kiir and carried banners accusing him of collapsing the country.

The protesters said the government was mismanaging the economy as inflation was running at alarming rate. They called for the restoration of subsidies to basic food commodities to dilute the negative impact of the increasing inflation on the population

The national currency, the South Sudanese Pound which was one of the strongest currencies in the region prior to the war in 2013 has depreciated against the US dollar sharply in recent months.

The slump in the currency has led to the price increase of consumer goods, like sugar and fuel. Taxes have also gone up, along with utilities by more than 50%.

Venturing out into the streets of Juba on Monday morning, the protesters chanted and sang combative songs used for unwanted leaders for about an hour creating traffic jams around Juba University. One of the hand-written placards read: “The nation has collapsed under your leadership,” a direct reference to President Salva Kiir.

“A protester warned the resumption of the march if no immediate attention was taken. People are suffering, they have tolerated a lot since 2013. They want peace to come but it seems the government is comfortable with the war that is why the prices are rising. The presidency of Salva Kiir is hanging by a thread and I am afraid he will continue with the do nothing policy,” he said.

This comes after President Kiir had a heated exchange with the Information Minister, Michael Makuei Lueth over the use of state assets in the communal fight in favour of a section of ethnic Dinka youth who invaded a neighbouring ethnic Murle.

It has been alleged that the objective of the march was to recover the stolen cows and the children abducted by members of ethnic Murle.

It is still unclear as to how the cows were stolen or how many children were abducted and in which months or year the incident occurred.

(ST)

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May 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Minni Minnawi, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) has called for a new process involving the European Union to bring peace in Darfur, pointing that only a lasting peace can contribute to stopping the waves of illegal immigrants into Europe.

SLM-MM leader Minni Minnawi (AP Photo)

The SLM-MM and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are engaged in a peace process brokered by the African Union. The two-track process includes also the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) which fights the Sudanese army in the Two Areas, several political opposition parties and civil society groups.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Minnawi accused the Sudanese government of continuing to carry out attack on civilians in Darfur, using the European support to strengthen its janjaweed militia, which is accused of war crimes, under the pretext of combating illegal immigration.

Minnawi without rejecting the stalled African Union peace process stressed on "the urgent need to find a new and effective project for peace in Sudan".

"A project that addresses the root causes of the political crisis in Darfur and linking it to the national crisis by expanding the umbrella of the negotiating platform to include the European Union and neighbouring conflict-affected countries to contribute with the states and organisations involved in the peace process," he further said.

The rebel leader said the EU can play a positive role in strengthening the Sudan Peace Project, adding that its participation will provide a real opportunity to seriously address the illegal immigration, which worries the Union (countries), and to stop manipulation and extortion exercised by the (Sudanese) government.

"It is wrong to rely on the (Sudanese) government as long as it is the main cause of the political, economic and social crisis in the region, which led to mass migration to Europe," he further stressed.

In a report issued last April, the Enough Project warned against the dual-use of European support to the Sudanese security agencies to stop the flow of illegal migrants by the Sudanese government militia of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The EU plans to build the capacities of the Sudanese security and law enforcement agencies, including the RSF militia, which has been branded as Sudan's “border force".

"There are legitimate concerns with these plans. Much of the EU-funded training and equipment is dual-use. The equipment that enables identification and registration of migrants will also reinforce the surveillance capabilities of a Sudanese government that has violently suppressed Sudanese citizens for the past 28 years," stressed the report.

LIFT OF U.S. SANCTIONS

The SLM-M M also criticised the partial lift of sanctions on Sudan saying it would only benefit the government and increase its capacity to commit atrocities and war crimes.

He called to link the lift of sanctions with the end of "génocidaire war" in Darfur and Khartoum support to terror groups.

Furthermore, the SLM-MM called on the U.S. administration to involve "all the national parties, especially the Sudan Liberation Movement, in the monitoring of what is happening on the ground in Darfur in particular and the Sudan in general," Minnawi said.

In line with the five-track engagement process for the partial lift of sanctions on Sudan, U.S. government agencies will continue to assess during a six-month period Khartoum's implementation of the agreement sealed in this respect.

The five key areas include ceasing hostilities in Darfur and the Two Areas, improving humanitarian access, ending negative interference in South Sudan, enhancing cooperation on counterterrorism, and addressing the threat of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

(ST)