Africa

Alastair Leithead gives his account of what has happened in South Sudan and where it’s heading.

To lose one finance minister may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness, do why did President Jacob Zuma's drop two finance ministers in less than a week, asks the BBC's Milton Nkosi.

Successes and failures of the Arusha tribunal

Can African restaurants in Europe broaden their appeal?

How Africa faces climate change disaster not of its own making

December 9, 2015 (GAMBELLA) – President Omer Hassan Al Bashir of Sudan on Wednesday participated in the Ethiopian all-tribes cultural event in Gambella town, capital of Gambella regional government in western part of Ethiopia where he praised Ethiopians for their unity in diversity.

Tens of thousands gathered at Gambella regional stadium celebrating cultural event of all tribes in Ethiopia, Gambella, 9 December 2015 (ST Photo)

The Sudanese head of state whose country has been marred with violence, sometimes pitting tribes against one another particularly in the western region of Darfur, visited the Ethiopian town close to the South Sudanese border at the invitation of his counter-part, prime minister Haile Mariam Dessalegn.

Bashir who spoke in Arabic and translated in Amharic at the opening of his speech as the Guest of Honour for the event, addressed tens of thousands of participants from all over Ethiopia. The Sudanese president turned the crowd wild when he made his greetings in Nuer language, one of the ethnic groups in Ethiopia who constitute the majority population in Gambella region.

“Maale, maale mi goaa. Yien a thin,” he said, which translates ‘how are you, how are you doing', a similar greeting language spoken by South Sudanese Nuer across the border.

He was earlier received at Makot Airport in Gambella by the governor of Gambella region, Gatluak Tut Khot, whose regional government hosted the event.

The Sudanese leader is also expected to conduct bilateral talks with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Dessalegn on Wednesday evening to discuss issues of mutual interest after he and his counter-part returned to Addis Ababa from Gambella.

“The two presidents will meet to discuss issues of common concern and [President] Bashir might also meet with other guests. This is a good occasion to renew contacts between the leadership of the two countries at the highest levels,” announced the Sudanese ambassador to Ethiopia, Osman Nafie, on Tuesday.

Senior officials from other African countries also participated in the event. South Sudan was represented by the speaker of the national parliament, Manasseh Magok Rundial, who said he represented president Salva Kiir who could not come in person to Gambella for the celebration.

More than 80 different ethnic groups of Ethiopia participated in the cultural event, displaying their respective cultures at the Gambella stadium.

Nuer and Anyuak cultural groups, the host communities, had been welcoming the guests with their respective traditional dances, dressed in traditional dresses. Symbolic traditional villages of Nuer and Anyuak have been built outside Gambella town for show to the guests from other regions.

EVENT COMMEMORATES CONSTITUTION

The Ethiopian cultural day, 9 December, is celebrated annually to commemorate the ratification of the country's constitution by parliament after the fall of the Ethiopian former dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, 24 years ago.

The constitution established the federal democratic republic of Ethiopia which is based on ethnicities and referred to as the ‘Nations and Nationalities' grouped into administrative regional governments across the country.

Ethiopia is the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria with over 100 million inhabitants who are distributed among 83 nationalities or tribes, with largest tribes such as the Oromo and Amhara having their own regional governments while smaller tribes are grouped into other regions.

Gambella region is inhabited by five ‘nationalities' with the Nuer and Anyuak ethnic groups being the majority in the area. They also share cultures and languages with their South Sudanese communities on the other side of the border.

The Ethiopian federal government has also encouraged the development of ethnic languages in schools. In Gambella currently, the Nuer and Anyuak languages are being taught from primary to secondary school levels and with further intention to introduce it into colleges in Gambella region.

The cultural day served as an important forum for nations, nationalities and peoples to show their respective cultures; learn about cultures of other ethnic groups and show unity in diversity as Ethiopians and strong solidarity for peace.

The event is also an opportunity to implement development projects in a particular regional town where an annual cultural event takes place.

Almost all main roads inside Gambella town and leading to the other neighbouring regions including to the South Sudanese border town of Pagak have been tarmacked, some constructed years ago while others shortly before the cultural event.

(ST)

December 9, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Wednesday said that subsidies would be lifted gradually admitting the move will negatively impact on the poor and low-income families.

FILE - A man selling eggs waits for customers at the market in Khartoum, Sudan (REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

On Monday, Sudan's finance minister Badr al-Din Mahmoud urged the National Assembly legislators to approve the 2016 budget including lifting of government subsidies on wheat, flour, fuel and electricity in order to avoid economic collapse.

The chairman of the NCP's economic sector in Khartoum state Al-Mahi Khalafalla stressed that the lifting of subsidies is part of the economic reform program, saying it would be implemented gradually according to a well-thought plan to remove the distortions of the national economy.

He told the official news agency (SUNA) that the poor and vulnerable sections of the society must be put into consideration when the gradual lifting of subsidies is implemented.

“Subsidizing commodities doesn't [help] achieve social justice [in the country] because nobody is benefiting from government subsidies but the [foreign] diplomatic missions and the rich people,” he said.

Khalafalla added that subsidized goods are being smuggled to neighbouring countries where they are sold at higher prices, pointing the government couldn't control Sudan's vast borders to prevent smuggling operations.

The NCP official underscored the need to direct part of the subsidies money to build a wide social security network to offer health insurance and financial support for the productive and the low-income families.

He also stressed the importance to direct large amounts of the subsidies money to increase the production and the productivity to achieve the goals of the economic reform program including improving the living conditions and increasing exports.

Khalafalla further noted that the 2016 budget must include an increase in government employees' salaries because lifting of subsidies would provide real financial resources and help avoid deficit financing which increases inflation rate.

Sudan's economy was hit hard since the southern part of the country declared independence in July 2011, taking with it about 75% of the country's oil output.

However, the government succeeded in bringing inflation rate down from a high of 46.8% in July 2014 to 11.3% in August 2015 but ordinary citizens continue to complain from cost of living increases that impaired their access to basic commodities.

Also, the Sudanese pound has lost 100% of its value since South Sudan's secession. The exchange rate of the US dollar on the black market has reached 11.5 Sudanese pounds (SDG).

The official dollar exchange rate stated by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) is around 6.1 SDG.

The curtailment of fuel subsidies in September 2013 almost doubled prices of gasoline and diesel, triggering some of the worst protests Sudan has seen in years.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the time approved of Khartoum's decision saying that fuel subsidies “disproportionately” benefit the rich, but called for “a new package of corrective measures”, including addressing fiscal imbalances and tax reforms.

In august 2014, the Sudanese government announced the implementation of the five-year program as an extension of the tripartite program, which included the partial lifting of subsidies in 2012 and 2013.

It also agreed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) to help it achieve a set of economic and financial policies and objectives which include sustaining economic growth, controlling inflation, reforming the banking sector and reducing budget deficit among others.

(ST)

December 9, 2015 (JUBA) - Rebecca Nyandeng, wife of late John Garang de Mabior, founding leader of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), has called on South Sudanese rival leaders to launch a nationwide reconciliation plan ahead of the SPLM extraordinary convention scheduled to take place on Saturday, 12 December.

Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior (ST File Photo)

In an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, Nyandeng said the country has been deeply divided by more than 21 months of civil war, urging rival leaders to work for reunification of the ruling party as a prerequisite for stability in the nation.

“The momentum in which the Arusha reunification agreement was reached should be maintained because many believe unity of the SPLM is the unity of the country,” Nyandeng said on Tuesday.

“SPLM is a historical party with many people having attachment to it and they feel that it is good to resolve differences through dialogue,” she added.

She revealed that in her recent meeting with vice-president, James Wani Igga, and members of former detainees, they discovered that one of the challenges the South Sudanese leadership should address together as the first priority was to silence guns and embark on reconciliation process in order to take the country forward.

“The biggest challenge today is to unite the hearts of our people through a national reconciliation process because there is no path towards nation building and reclaiming our pride as people of one nation if we don't take bold decisions and reconcile our people,” she said.

The former presidential advisor who fled the country and lived in the neighbouring Kenya in a self-imposed exile, however said she hoped the upcoming extraordinary convention of the SPLM leadership would be an opportunity for the leaders to pledge commitment to pursue national reconciliation in a country still divided by a war resulting from attempts to reform the ruling party in 2013.

SPLM split in November 2013 when its top leaders could not agree on the way forward, particularly on democratic processes and political reforms as well as on leadership succession and intra-party elections of top leaders.

The differences centered on the type of documents to adopt including the party's constitution, manifesto, code of conduct and rules and regulations. Nyandeng also together with the armed opposition leader, Riek Machar, who was the party's first deputy chairman and Pagan Amum, secretary general, announced their interest to contest for the chairmanship position in an upcoming convention of May 2013.

When the differences resulted to military clashes on 15 December 2013, Nyandeng accused the country's president, Salva Kiir, who also chaired the party, of dictatorship and massacre of members of the Nuer ethnic group in the capital, Juba, sparking the war. She then fled the country and only returned to Juba last week in the company of former detainees, a group of 10 senior party leaders who were once detained, released into exile and returned to the country this month.

But while Rebecca is keen to speak about reunifying the party, supporters of President Salva Kiir are unlikely to accept radical institutional reforms prerequisite for reconciliation and to change the way the government had been running the affairs of the country before and after independence in 2011.

Although it is unlikely to bring about immediate change as it is unclear what exactly it will look like in the coming months since the government “does have an impact to the extent that it is a step in the right direction”, Rebecca believed it could be a preliminary step in what is likely to be a long road.

"In order to halt blood-letting and stabilise the situation, I appeal to the government, particularly the president himself and the parties in peace process to refrain from making sensational statements and commit ourselves to implementing the peace agreement,” Nyandeng stressed.

“Peace is the priority of our people,” she emphasized.

The appeal called on global community to support launching a political dialogue on the basis of the IGAD brokered peace agreement in August which calls for the formation of a transitional government of national unity to run the country for 30 months before elections can be conducted in 2018.

Nyandeng however said the peace agreement is at a critical stage and needed support from the international community in order to survive.

“The peace agreement which has been signed is at [a] critical stage and it is time the international community come together to launch a political process to make parties work together, government and opposition,” she further stressed.

She pointed out the need to halt offensive operations by the government's military forces and armed rebel units in the country, particularly in the conflict affected states of Upper Nile region.

She also called for compliance to security provisions in the peace agreement which call for redeployment of all the forces to positions from which they cannot shell themselves and to halt both ground attacks and air strikes.

She also called for deployment of international observers to monitor the ceasefire, the unconditional release of all prisoners, the establishment of corridors for refugees and humanitarian aid, and the dispatch of aid to rebuild infrastructures which have been the brunt of intense fighting in the conflict affected areas.

"I believe that a strong demonstration of commitments, translating words into actions is needed now. The leaders should reach mutual understanding on the steps that will facilitate full implementation of the peace agreement,” she said.

However, observers fear that the rush by the SPLM and former detainees to conduct a partial extraordinary convention without the armed opposition faction led by Riek Machar, will further widen divisions between the factions of the ruling party and become counter-productive to the spirit of Arusha reunification process.

It was the second time the movement split in 2013 after the first split in 1991 over whether or not to fight the 21 years of war with Sudan for the objective of the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan.

The two factions, led by Garang and Machar, respectively however reunited in 2002 with the understanding to accommodate both the objectives of secular united Sudan advocated by late Garang and self-determination leading to independence for the people of South Sudan, which Machar advocated, resulting to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 and independence of South Sudan in 2011.

(ST)

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December 8, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - The third meeting of the joint Sudanese –South Sudanese Joint Political and Security Committee (JPSC), scheduled to be held here on Wednesday, was postponed for internal Southern Sudanese security reasons.

South Sudanese ambassador in Khartoum Mayan Dut Waal

South Sudanese ambassador to Khartoum Mayan Dot Waal on Tuesday announced for the third time the delay of a security meeting to discuss the operationalization of a buffer zone on the border between the two countries and the deployment of UN supported joint monitoring patrols.

Waal said the South Sudanese delegation headed by the defence minister was not able to travel to Khartoum due to security considerations in his country. However, he didn't elaborate on those reasons.

He told the semi-official Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) that a new date will be fixed for the talks later on.

In an extraordinary meeting in Addis Ababa held under the auspices of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel(AUHP) last September, the JPSC agreed to reactivate the 10-mile wide safe demilitarized zone.

The two countries had deployed troops on the border following the signing of the Cooperation Agreement on 27 September 2012. But Juba stopped the operation fearing that demilitarized zone which is established on disputed areas along the border may be used by Sudan to support its territorial claims.

The deployment of the joint monitoring force however was seen crucial to support a successful implementation of a peace deal aiming to end the 21-month South Sudanese conflict.

Sudan also urges Juba since several years to implement this agreement as it accuses the South Sudanese government of harbouring rebels from Darfur and the Two Areas.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in July, 2011, following a referendum held in January of that year.

(ST)

December 8, 2015 (MALAKAL) - The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has officially opened a new primary health care clinic at the United Nations protection of civilians (PoC) site in South Sudan's Upper Nile state capital, Malakal where nearly 48,000 South Sudanese are reportedly seeking shelter and protection.

A woman carries water through a UN camp for internally displaced people in South Sudan's Upper Nile state (Photo: IOM)

The clinic, IOM said in a statement, provides a safe space for its health staff to conduct general health care services for approximately 7,200 internally displaced persons sheltering in Sector 2 of the PoC site.

With a five-bed maternity ward, the clinic is reportedly offering reproductive health care services, including antenatal and postnatal care, family planning and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. As part of routine services, health staff provide immunizations against common diseases for children less than five years of age and pregnant and lactating mothers.

The new clinic was made possible by support from the Government of Japan, USAID's Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance and the UN Common Humanitarian Fund.

According to the agency, with more than 1.66 million people internally displaced across South Sudan, emergency health operations such as these remain critical as displacement, overcrowding, poor hygiene practices, seasonal disease outbreaks and chronic exposure to violence continue to increase health risks for IDPs of all ages.

“With the ongoing movement of IDPs into the Malakal PoC site, IOM is continuing to prioritize strengthening of health service provision. Collaboration with partners through the Health Cluster mechanism has allowed us to ensure all sectors of the PoC have coverage and avoid duplication of efforts. The opening of this IOM clinic in Sector 2 is an example of this collaboration,” said IOM South Sudan Health Programme Manager, Kelsi Kriitmaa.

As part of a holistic approach to reducing morbidity at the crowded site, IOM health staff in Malakal also work with community-based health promoters to spread health messaging, both in health promotion sessions at the static clinic and through household visits. These efforts, it explained, go hand-in-hand with IOM's hygiene and sanitation promotion efforts conducted every day throughout the PoC site.

To date, IOM staff in Malakal have conducted over 46,500 health consultations, vaccinated nearly 7,400 children against common diseases and facilitated the delivery of 754 babies.

The organisation, however, plans to open a second clinic in Sector 4 in the coming weeks to serve the population of IDPs in newly opened sectors of the Malakal PoC. The IOM clinic currently operating in PoC 1 will be closed and the services relocated to the new clinic in Sector 2, where more IDPs are located due to improved living conditions. Expanding services are crucial to meet the needs of the IDP population, which increased rapidly in late July and early August due to humanitarian needs in nearby Wau Shilluk.

IOM also offers primary health care services at the UN PoC site in Bentu, Unity State, and for IDPs, returnees, refugees and vulnerable host communities in Renk, Upper Nile state.

(ST)

Warning of dire effects of climate change, abject poverty, fast population growth and a tormenting rise in violence and insecurity in Africa’s Sahel region, United Nations agencies and partners today launched the Sahel humanitarian appeal for 2016, which includes a regional plan that calls for $1.98 billion to provide vital assistance to millions of people in nine countries across the region.