Africa

January 13, 2018 (KAMPALA) – A South Sudanese youth entity has condemned what it described as violation of the cessation of hostilities by South Sudan government allegedly with the intention of frustrating efforts to bring everlasting peace to the ordinary citizens.

President Salva Kiir attends a session during the 25th Extraordinary Summit of the (IGAD) on South Sudan in Addis Ababa March 13, 2014 (Reuters Photo)

The International Youth for Africa (IYA), in a statement, said a host of the nation's citizens are dying every day and therefore continuing to attack the opposition is utter violation of ongoing peace processes.

IYA's executive director, Ter Manyang Gatwech urged the warring parties to respect the cessation of hostilities signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last year.

Strongly condemning the attack in the “strongest term”, Gatwech said those responsible for the ceasefire violation should be brought to book.

“We have incompetent politicians who cannot think about the suffering and the future of citizens. It will be useless to go to Addis Ababa and warms those seats for no reason. IYA therefore urges the international community, IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development], AU [African Union], UN [United Nations] and the UNSC [United Nations Security Council] to mount pressure on both parties to end the ongoing crisis in the South Sudan,” said Gatwech.

He added, “The two main warring factions must sort out their differences through a peaceful political dialogue not through guns”.

On Friday, the AU, UN and the Troika countries also condemned the continuing violence in South Sudan in clear violation of a cessation of hostilities they worked together with the IGAD to achieve last December.

(ST)

January 13, 2017 (JUBA) – Two senior military officers have defected from South Sudan's armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) loyal to former first vice president, Riek Machar, an official said on Saturday.

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

The spokesperson for the SPLM-IO faction allied first vice-president Taban Deng Gai, Col. Dickson Gatluak Jock, identified the duo as Brigadier General Gabriel Guet and Brigadier General Micheal Tuak from the rebel's fourth division headquarters in the former Unity state.

“The Leadership of the SPLM/A (IO) is profoundly grateful for the wise decision taken by the two officers to join the SPLA-IO under the wise and able leadership of General Taban Deng Gai, the FVP [first vice president] of the Republic of South Sudan,” Jock said in a statement.

Also said to have defected, according to Jock, is the commissioner of Jekou county in South Sudan's Maiwut state, James Kueth Chuol.

Chuol, allegedly defected on 12 January 2018 along with 63 soldiers.

“The commissioner who defected from Chany payam is currently in Pagak,” Jock stressed, adding, “I commend them [those who defected] for their wise decision and good steps taken towards the restoration of peace and healing wounds in the country”.

A spokesperson for the Machar-led faction was unavailable to comment.

(ST)

January 13, 2018 (JUBA) — Presidential spokesman Saturday Ateny Wek Ateny has questioned the logic behind the denial of the authenticity of the audiotapes which recorded the voices of former army chief of staff, Paul Malong Awan, ordering his associates in the army cause fighting or asked them to carry out attacks in some areas.

Former South Sudan army chief of staff, General Paul Malong Awan speaks at the presidential palace in Juba, November 16, 2017 (ST)

The presidential aide said people who denied the authenticity of the audiotapes have either lost the objectivity or had chosen voluntarily and intentionally to ignore objectivity.

He wondered how people accepted recording done for him about the blockage of Awan travel to Aweil which he said was going to cause division in the region as was feared he would rebel if allowed to go home.

“When it is Ateny Wek's illegally recorded tape by someone who was eating with him, only once then the audio is believed to be authentic. But when it is Malong Awan Anei recorded five times ordering disgruntled SPLA soldiers to attack government targets in an attempt to cause an uprising, then the audio is fake and manufactured by enemies of peace. Is this double standard or just selling and buying that is taking momentum?”

Ateny said he has never found anywhere a machine that exists anywhere for faking voices only exists in South Sudan for recording Malong and his cohorts alone. He equated the denial to ignorance.

(ST)

January 13, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Governor of the Blue Nile State Hussein Yassen Hamad said 13,000 out of 55,000 Sudanese refugees have returned to their home areas from Ethiopia.

He told the official news agency SUNA that his government in coordination with the Humanitarian Aid Commission has provided food, clothing and medicine to returnees after they settled in their villages of origin.

Hamad added that a number of rebel fighters have also laid down their arms and returned to the state following the presidential pardon and appeals by the residents.

The Sudanese refugees were being sheltered in camps and among host communities along the Ethiopia-Sudan border since their arrival in 2011.

Blue Nile State and neighbouring South Kordofan state have been the scene of violent conflict between the SPLM-N and the Sudanese army since 2011.

Talks between the two sides for a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access are stalled since August 2016.

(ST)

January 13, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Ambassador to Egypt Abdel-Mahmoud Abdel-Halim said his country would take further escalatory actions against Egypt within days.

Ambassador Abdel-Mahmood Abdel Halim

On 4 January Sudan summoned its ambassador to Egypt for consultation, hours after the head of the Sudanese Border Technical Committee, Abdallah Al-Sadiq, accused Egypt of trying to drag Sudan into a direct military confrontation.

Speaking to journalists on Friday night, Abdel-Halim said his summoning was a step in a series of moves that could include “withdrawing of ambassador or expulsion of other country's ambassador or breaking off the relationship and declaring war”.

He pointed out that Sudan has taken the first step in the diplomatic battle with Egypt and didn't yet resort to other options.

However, Abdel-Halim did not explain the reasons for the Sudanese escalation towards Egypt, but only expressed hope the two countries could overcome the current challenges.

“In every challenge there lies opportunity and we want to take advantage of this opportunity to put our relationship with Egypt on the right path through resolving the outstanding issues which prompted my summoning,” he said

The Sudanese diplomat warned that his country could take further escalatory moves, saying important developments will occur in the next few days in this regard.

New tensions have erupted between Sudan and Egypt following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Khartoum in late December.

Last week, Sudan closed its border with Eritrea after the deployment of thousands of troops from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters to Kassala State.

On Thursday, Sudan admitted that the deployment of troops along the Eritrean border came as result of military threats from Eritrea and Egypt against the country.

CALL FOR MILITARY MOBILIZATION

Meanwhile, the governor of Khartoum State and head of the National Congress Party (NCP) in the capital has underscored readiness of the army, security, and the RSF to counter any kind of aggression against the country.

Hussein, who spoke before the meeting of the NCP's Shura Council, called on the members of the ruling party to get ready “to wear the Khaki (army uniform) and go to the battlefield in defence of Sudan's dignity and the dignity of its people”.

However, Hussein didn't elaborate on the nature of the military aggression.

He said the summoning of Sudan's ambassador to Egypt was meant to underline Sudan's keenness to maintain the fraternal relations between the two countries on the bases of mutual respect.

Hussein also demanded to stop the hostile Egyptian media campaign against Sudan led by some who hold hidden agenda to hurt bilateral relations.

(ST)

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