Africa

The Rwandan door company trying to reduce imports by competing against Western manufacturers.

Despite being charged with corruption, former South African President Jacob Zuma still has his loyal supporters.

Jacob Zuma, who was forced from office in February, is accused of taking bribes in a 1990s arms deal.

Australian police charge the former chief of the Mauritius team with sexual assault of an athlete at the Commonwealth Games.

April 5, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have failed to agree over the impact of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the water share of downstream countries.

"Since the morning we discussed many issues but in the end, we could not reach a consensus," Sudan foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters on Thursday evening at the end of the meeting of a tripartite committee.

"Although I can say that the discussion was constructive, comprehensive and important and we could have come out of it with answers to many questions, but this is the case of controversial issues often need patience, and will," he added.

The Sudanese top diplomat added that the will and patience where there " but we needed more time to reach consensus".

The tripartite body was formed after a meeting including Presidents Omer al-Bashir, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 29 January.

It includes foreign ministers irrigation ministers and head of the security and intelligence agencies of the three countries.

Ghandour said that the irrigation ministers will discuss the outstanding issues in a meeting to be determined at a later date. The foreign ministers and head of security agencies will join them when they make progress on the technical issues.

However, he declined to elaborate on the outstanding issues when asked about that.

In March 2015, the three leaders signed in Khartoum a framework cooperation deal on the GERD. They said the “declaration of principles” would pave the way for further diplomatic cooperation on the GERD which has stirred fears of a regional resource conflict.

However, the three countries have failed to agree on the findings of the technical report related to the impact of the dam prepared by consultant companies, French firms BRL and Artelia.

Also, Cairo proposed to refer the matter to the World Bank, but Addis Ababa refused the Egyptian proposal.

(ST)

April 5, 2018 (KAMPALA) - Police in Uganda's northern district of Lamwo are investigating the gruesome murder of a two-year-old South Sudanese refugee girl in Palabek Ogili settlement centre.

South Sudanese refugees fleeing violence in their home country wait to be transported to Uganda's Arua district settlement camp on 6 January 2014 (Photo: AFP/Isaac Kasamani)

The deceased, Daily Monitor reported, went missing on March 21 before her body was found dumped in a nearby swamp days later.

Authorities now suspect the girl could have been murdered in a ritual sacrifice.

Christopher Omal, the Palabek-Ogili LC III chairperson was quoted saying the girl disappeared from Zone A, Block 3 under unclear circumstances, adding that the attackers cut off her right hand and private parts in what seems like a ritual sacrifice.

Meanwhile, the Uganda police reportedly arrested a witchdoctor, who is a South Sudanese national, to help in the investigations.

Police say the witch doctor had promised to find the missing girl on conditions that he is paid, according the Daily Monitor.

About 45,000 refugees, who fled their homes in South Sudan due to the ongoing civil war, settled in Lamwo District in northern Uganda.

The conflict, now in its fifth year, has displaced killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million civilians.

(ST)

By Magdi El Gizouli

A jubilant President Bashir addressed crowds in the White Nile's Aba Island on Wednesday 4 April. The ageing president appeared unconcerned by the severe fuel shortage around the country and skyrocketing prices of basic commodities. His host, the governor of the White Nile State, Abd al-Hameed Musa Kasha, went to great lengths to secure the good mood of the president. The only factor that appeared beyond control was the scorching sun, to which President Bashir responded with his habitual grimace and pinched eyes. Kasha put together a live show for the president. Soldiers of the Sudan Armed Forces' 18th infantry brigade stationed in nearby Kosti attempted to replay a scene from Sudan's Mahdist history for entertainment.

The soldiers split into two groups, Mahdist forces dressed in jibbas and armed with wooden spears and swords and Turkkiya troops in military uniforms with bayonets at hand. The brief spectacle that unfolded before an amused President Bashir was supposed to enact the battle of Aba, the first encounter between the insurgent Mohamed Ahmed al-Mahdi and his loyal followers (Ansar) at Aba Island and a small disciplinary force dispatched by the Turkiyya colonial government in Khartoum on 12 August 1881. In actual fact, the force led by Abu al-Saoud al-Aggad was overwhelmed by the Mahdists as soon as the soldiers descended from their steamer. The force commander who had not joined the battle escaped back to Khartoum with few survivors to inform his superiors that the fakir of Aba Island was not to be frightened back to his senses with 200 soldiers. In the replay, the force commander is seen on the battlefield for dramatic effect and the Mahdi himself appears at the closure of the scene to celebrate victory with his Ansar.

Sadig al-Hadi al-Mahdi, cabinet minister and descendant of the Mahdi himself, accompanied President Bashir on the visit as a surrogate Ansar imam. In his speech, he reminded the crowds that Aba Island was the scene of a second violent episode in recent history. Sadiq's father, al-Hadi, was the imam of the Ansar when Jaafar Nimayri jumped to power in a Nasser-style putsch in 1969. The imam vowed to resist and withdrew to Aba with loyal followers and militant Islamists eager for a showdown. The situation deteriorated further when the Ansar urged by their imam sabotaged a visit by the young president to the area and Nimayri responded with firepower. Troops of the Sudanese army stormed the island after rounds of aerial bombardment and a battle ensued with the armed Ansar and Islamists. Unlike 1881, the Ansar were defeated and al-Hadi the imam was forced to flee towards Ethiopia where government forces caught up with him close to the border and killed him.

The Ansar Imamate, however, did not pass to al-Hadi's son but his star nephew, the famed al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, who had by then already broken ranks with the uncle and established himself as a moderniser of the Ansar and the Umma Party. Sadiq al-Hadi al-Mahdi has Bashir to thank for his political career. He has recycled in junior ministerial positions since 2000 when he joined the government together with his more prominent cousin and current investment minister, Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi. Unlike Mubarak who ventured back into the wasteland of the opposition for several years before seeking the corridors of power again through President Bashir's national dialogue, Sadiq al-Hadi al-Mahdi demonstrated an admirable perseverance in insignificance.

In Aba, al-Hadi's son discovered his faculties as an amateur historian. Sadiq al-Hadi framed the 1970 confrontation on the island between the Ansar and the army as a battle between ‘Islam' and ‘atheism'. He then made the impressive claim that Bashir as president and commander of the same army that routed the Ansar in Aba carried on the project of the slain al-Hadi the imam while atheism was defeated in a replay of 1881! The thousands upon thousands of civilian lives lost and wasted, in President Bashir's wars have no place in Sadiq al-Hadi's historical legend. What he preferred to ignore is the common theme of state violence directed at opponents of central power. The Ansar killed in Aba were victims of state power, he is a minor beneficiary.

Sadiq al-Hadi is no historian; he was just playing second fiddle to Bashir the lifelong president on what is, by all means, an early election campaign rally. Kasha, the governor of the White Nile State, calculated that his interests might be better served by vacating the stage as soon as possible for the president. Instead of delivering a speech he was content or sly enough to introduce Bashir and withdraw. The president took an energetic Obama-step from his seat to the stage; he spoke for ten minutes repeating promises he has made before, development and more development! Bashir's final note, however, is worth considering. He told an amused crowd: “When I come back here next time I want to find the roads in Aba paved in asphalt. If not, I will cut Kasha's head off.” The highlight was the concluding dance. Insaf Medani, the queen of dalooka who catered for the concluding entertainment sang: “His name is Omer and al-Hassan is his father, say well, get up and elect him”, and Omer spared no dance move.

From Aba Bashir and his entourage flew to Kenana where the president inaugurated a new military airbase. He then departed to Rabak, the capital of White Nile State, where the governor Kasha had prepared an evening speaking event for the president in the town's stadium. Bashir made a point of stressing his seriousness in combating corruption. Days earlier, the security forces had arrested the managing director of Kenana Sugar Company on undisclosed grounds. Abd al-Raouf Mirghani joins several prominent businessmen and financiers in detention including the directors of Faisal Islamic Bank and its associate Islamic Insurance Company. In Rabak, President Bashir upped the ante further claiming that he was acting to enforce a sharia-informed vision of social justice in line with the Quranic injunction to prevent the monopoly of wealth and power. The populist twist is interesting as an electoral gimmick but threatening as a political manoeuvre. The president, self-assured as he is, seems to be striking at a key component of his power base or in the fashion of racketeers engaged in a round of extortion in these times of state financial distress.

True to tradition, President Bashir could not do without poking from afar at a foreign enemy. Without naming her, he accused Dame Rosalind Marsden, the former British ambassador to Sudan (2007-2010) and former EU special representative for Sudan and South Sudan (2010-2013) of masterminding the recent meeting of the Sudan Call allies in Paris. When leaving her post as ambassador, he said, she came to me and instead of saying how wonderful the Sudanese people are, like her peers, she started giving me instructions. I could not take it and gave her a piece of my mind, he boasted, adding I made her regret the day she was born. I can well imagine Omer nodding in confused embarrassment with the trademark grimace on his face in response to whatever Dame Marsden might have told him.

The author is a fellow of the Rift Valley Institute. He publishes regular opinion articles and analyses at his blog Still Sudan. He can be reached at m.elgizouli@gmail.com

April 5, 2018 (KAMPALA)-The Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) has called on the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to implement recent sanctions imposed by the United State government on South Sudan oil sectors accused of alleged involvement in massive corruptions and using oil to fund war.

South Sudan's petroleum minister Ezekiel Gatkouth makes opening remarks at the Oil and Power conference in Juba, October 16, 2017 (APO)

CPJ's Executive Director Tito Anthony told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that it is important for the global marketing body (OPEC) to implement the US sanctions on oil companies implicated on the ongoing war in South Sudan.

Last month, Washington imposed new economic sanctions on companies operating in the oil sector in South Sudan, accusing them of fueling the civil war in the country

The US Treasury announced the new sanctions, which followed those imposed previously on figures in the government and the armed opposition, which it accused of “obstructing the peace process in South Sudan”.

Tito, said he believes OPEC has a role to play on sanctions in the oil sector in South Sudan and can prevent the Juba government from buying weapons using oil money.

“The best thing that OPEC can do is to stop South Sudan to sales it's oil in the oil market and from participating in the OPEC discussions and suspend it observer membership till there is peace in the country,” he said.

He says sanctions must be implemented because the oil money does not contribute to any of the developmental projects in the country, stressing that it is used to purchase deadly weapons which are used for destruction of citizen livelihoods.

“The OPEC should stand in solidary with the people of South Sudan and implement the US sanctions imposed in South Sudan in latest and spirit, because if the sanctions are implemented it will limit the government's ability to purchase weapons,” he added.

Tito has urged the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and Africa Development Bank to stop giving loans to South Sudan, alleging the money was being used to fund the civil war in the country.

“I urge all other international financial actors, including the World Bank and Africa Development Bank not to give loans to South Sudan because the will be used for development but to fuel conflict in the country,” he stated.

The conflict has displaced hundreds of people in the country, with over two million fled their homes as result of war forcing therefore refugees into neighboring nations.

(ST)

April 5, 2018 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan rebel leader, Riek Machar, has congratulated Abiye Ahmed Ali on his election as Ethiopia's Prime Minister.

South Sudan's opposition leader Riek Machar speaks during a briefing in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa April 9, 2016 (Photo Reuters/ Tiksa Negeri)

Machar, in his congratulatory message, urged Abiye to play leading roles in regional efforts to bring lasting peace in war-hit South Sudan.

“It is our hope that during your tenure the conflict in South Sudan shall be resolved, particularly that you are the chair of IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government as well as the head of the High Level Revitalization Forum for the peace process,” partly reads Machar's 2 April letter.

He also stressed, in his message, the armed opposition movement's firm commitment to restore peace in South Sudan by revitalization of the August 2015 peace agreement.

Abiye, who replaced Hailemariam Desalegn, becomes Ethiopia's third Prime Minister since the former military junta, the Derg, was overthrown in 1991.

Ethiopia in February declared its second state of emergency in two years amid the ongoing protests that effectively crippled transportation networks and forced the closure of businesses.

(ST)

April 5, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Amnesty International Thursday called to release a Sudanese activist detained in Saudi Arabia and to not deport him to Sudan where he faces detention, torture and ill-treatment.

The 46-year-old Sudanese activist was arrested at his apartment in Jeddah, on the Red Sea, by Saudi security officials on 18 November 2017. He was interrogated about his activism and informed by prison officials that he was detained at the order of the Sudanese authorities, according to Amnesty.

"On 6 March 2018, he was moved from Dhaban prison to Al Shumaisi detention centre, an immigration centre outside Jeddah, where his fingerprints were taken, raising fears that Husham Ali is at imminent risk of deportation," reads a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

The London-based rights groups pointed that Mohammed-Alii is a prisoner of conscience and called on the Saudi authorities to secure his immediate release.

"Release Husham Ali Mohammad Ali immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression," said Amnesty

Also, it called to not deport him to Sudan where "there is a real risk he would be subjected to unfair trial, torture and other ill-treatment".

Amnesty said the detainee who has resided in Saudi Arabia since 2010 contributed to various online forums to expose government corruption, and expressed his support for the November and December 2016 civil disobedience in Sudan on his Facebook page.

During the past years, several Sudanese political activists had been detained in Saudi Arabia for their activism hostile to the regime of President Omer al-Bashir.

In 2005, Saudi Arabia and Sudan interior ministers signed a security pact in Khartoum which included clauses related to preventing any activities by residents or citizens on their territories that are hostile to the government of the other side.

(ST)

Uganda weightlifter Hakim Ssmepereza has to sprint to the stage after almost missing his timeslot for a lift during the men's 69kg competition.

April 5, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rejected claims about the participation of its fighters in fresh clashes in the south-western town of Sabha, 640 km south of Tripoli.

Rebel fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), active in Sudan's western Darfur region (AFP)

The semi-official Sudanese Media Center said two days ago that JEM fighters were blocking the road between Sabha and the southern parts of Libya.

The claim came following reports about clashes in Sabha near a military camp of 6th Brigade of the Libyan National Army of Gen Khalif Haftar involving unidentified armed groups.

"JEM categorically denies any presence in Sabha or any part of Libya. Since JEM is not there it cannot block roads," reads a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

"The Conflict in Libya is an internal affair of the Libyans and JEM is not and will not be party to it," further stressed Gibreel Adam Bilal the group's spokesperson.

Different UN reports point to the participation of Chadian and Sudanese armed groups, among others, in the inter-factional fighting in troubled Libya.

However, the Sudanese authorities recently issued several statements about the alleged presence of JEM in Libya.

Last March, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia said they arrested a rebel commander, Suleiman Marjan, in North Darfur while he was recruiting combatants to fight along Haftar forces.

"Some parties to the conflict in Libya kept erroneously and irresponsibly accusing JEM with interference in their internal affairs without doing a minimum due diligence to know who is who. The mainstream JEM led by Dr Gibril Ibrahim has nothing to do with the internal fighting between Libyan factions," emphasized the rebel group.

The Anadolu Agency said Sabah clashes erupted Awlad Suleiman tribe forces which are part of Haftar army and based in Sabha military camp and the Tabu tribe another rival tribe.

Other reports, however, suggest the clashes sparked between the Libyan army and "foreign" forces, including armed groups from neighbouring Chad.

(ST)

April 5, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - President Omer al-Bashir has renewed accusations against Juba government saying it continues backing Sudanese rebels but vowed that Sudan would keep its working for a lasting peace agreement in South Sudan.

Since even before the secession of South Sudan in 2011, Khartoum has accused Juba of harbouring and supporting the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). After what, it accused Juba of using the armed groups from Darfur region in the counterinsurgency campaign in northern South Sudan.

Juba, first, denied the claims but last year, it said all the armed groups had been expulsed from the country. Also, some South Sudanese officials retorted that Khartoum backs the South Sudanese armed groups.

However, the two countries several months ago started the implementation of the 2012 Cooperation Agreement and deployed joint border monitoring teams. Also, they activated the border demilitarized zone.

Speaking at a public rally held in Kosti town of the White Nile State near the border with South Sudan on Thursday, al-Bashir said the Sudanese rebels are still in the neighbouring country which provides them with the needed support to wage war against his government.

"Sudanese rebels are there, where they receive military support and weapons," he said, adding that his country would nonetheless continue to welcome the South Sudanese refugees.

"We will not change our (humanitarian) policy, and will spare no effort to achieve peace in South Sudan," he stressed.

The White Nile State hosts some 150,000 South Sudanese refugees. In addition, Sudan is part of the IGAD team that mediates a peace process to end the armed conflict in the young country.

Al-Bashir further attacked the South Sudanese leaders saying they deceived the ordinary people and called them to vote for the secession pledging to develop the new nation to become like a European country.

The Sudanese president was referring to the referendum for independence which led to the separation of South Sudan in July 2011.

During his two day visit to the White Nile, al-Bashir inaugurated a new air base for the Sudanese army.

(ST)

A selection of the best photos from across Africa this week.

Expressing deep concern over the slow pace of the inter-Burundian dialogue and the lack of engagement by the Government, the United Nations Security Council called on all stakeholders, in particular the authorities to commit to the dialogue and reach an agreement ahead of the 2020 elections.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres took note of the announcement by the National Electoral Commission on 4 April of the final results of the presidential run-off election in Sierra Leone, the UN Spokesman said Thursday.

The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) hopes Fifa's current visit to the country will help lift a ban on the North African nation hosting matches.

Former military ruler Julius Maada Bio is the winner of the run-off presidential election.

African Adventures says a group of its clients were stopped by armed men but were allowed to leave.

The MC says he's "honoured" and will "continue to put time and love into Nigeria".