Africa

November 23, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan Friday has stopped issuing and renewing passports and other travelling documents after production system shutdown, sparking public outcry.

In place for more than three weeks, the government resorts to issuing travel permits as it is unable to process issue and renew passports, citing technical matters with production machine.

The Director-General for immigration, Lieutenant Majak Akec told Sudan Tribune on Friday that the department was experiencing technical issue, expressing hope it would be resolved soon.

"It is true we are not issuing new passports. We are also not renewing for those holding passports whose duration has passed, expired. The production machine is down. It is a technical matter on which our team is working to rectify," said Gen. Majak.

"We hope this situation to be resolved soon. the team is working hard, around the clock to ensure it is fixed. when is resolved, we will resume operation normally," said Akec.

A notice put out for public consumption at the headquarters of the passports and immigration office in Juba says the team is working to solve the problem and will make notification once resolved.

"Our technical team is working to solve the problem and will notify next week. Sorry for inconveniences, a notice seen by the Sudan Tribune on Friday reads.

While the overall head of the immigration department attribute the cause of non-operation to technical matters which he did not explain, officials at the department and at the ministry of finance linked the cause to a deliberate decision by a German company running system demanding payment which has not been settled by the government for more than a year.

However, an immigration officer told Sudan Tribune that the server had been switched off by the company more than two weeks ago after the government had failed to pay, despite promises.

Also, another official told Reuters that South Sudan's passports and national identification server has been blocked by its host, the German company Muhlbauer, after the government failed to pay an annual software license fee of around $500,000.

(ST)

November 24, 2017 (JUBA) — The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Special Envoy for South Sudan, discussed with the South Sudanese President and his deputies the organisation of a forum to revitalize the implementation of a peace deal signed in 2015.

The consultations come two weeks before an extraordinary meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers on 11-12 December to discuss the technical modalities of the forum.

"The convening of the Forum will follow the meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers. The Council is expected to provide further guidelines on the modalities, structure and other details on how the Forum will be organised" said a statement released by the IGAD on Friday.

During his visit to Juba, the IGAD Special Envoy Ismail Wais met with President Salva Kiir, First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, and Vice President James Wani Iga as well as members of the Council of Ministers of the national unity governmental.

"The Envoy briefed the partners of the regional effort in convening an inclusive Forum. He informed that so far, thirty-one consultative meetings were held with the various Parties, estranged groups and other key stakeholders," reads the statement.

The consultations included all the signatories of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS), the SPLM of President Kiir, SPLM-IO Taban Deng, SPLM-IO Rioek Machar, SPLM- FDs, and various political and civil society groups.

“Many of the positions advanced and proposals submitted during the consultation process were very valuable. They must be considered at some stage whether before, during or after the Revitalisation Forum, if the cycle of violence is to be broken and for lasting peace to be restored in South Sudan.”

The SPLM-IO Machar considers the forum as the key process to implement the ARCSS and to take part in its implementation, but President Kiir and his first deputy Gai want to limit the role of the process and to give the priority to the national dialogue and the SPLM reunification process.

The SPLM-IO Machar also wants its leader to be allowed to take part in the forum while the government partners believe that keeping him personally far from the forum will be of a general interest.

(ST)

November 25, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour Friday minimised a request by the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir for Russian protection from the United States saying it was about attempts to ban Sudan's gold exportation.

President al-Bashir returned to Khartoum on Friday evening from Russia after a two-day visit where he held a controversial meeting with his counterpart Vladimir Putin. During the meeting, al-Bashir asked Putin to protect his country against U.S. diplomatic efforts against his country at the UN Security Council.

In statements at Khartoum airport, the Sudanese top diplomat said the visit was "successful and historic". He added that Bashir thanked Russia for its support to Sudan in the Security Council.

" Sudan has been targeted since 1990 and until now in successive resolutions led by some Western countries where Russia and China have been supporting Sudan in the Security Council," he said.

"So, (Bashir's) talk about protection came in the context of the targeting that meant to stop the export of gold, which is Sudan's first export," he added.

The minister was alluding to a report by attempts to release a confidential report by UN panel of experts on Darfur in April 2016 about the gold mining in the western Sudan region. The report said that Musa Hilal, notorious tribal leader and his militia earns $54 million a year.

At the time, Russia blocked the publication of the report saying the experts were not neutral and considered it as part of a campaign to punish and weaken Khartoum rather than promoting peace and security in Darfur.

In February 2016, Russia and China had opposed an attempt by the United States and the United Kingdom to adopt the panel's recommendations to sanction individuals and entities that impose illegal taxes on artisanal gold miners beside people engaged in the illegal exploitation and trafficking of gold.

Gold is the primary source of hard currency revenue for Sudan since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

Speaking about the impact of this visit on the relationship with the United States, the foreign minister said that Sudan's relations with a country do not depend on its relations with another and that Sudan develops its relations with all countries of the world.

He said that Washington and Moscow have strong relations and economic cooperation, pointing that the U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin discussed recently the situation in Syria.

"So there is nothing to prevent Sudan from cooperating with the United States while at the same time pursuing strategic relations with China and Russia," Ghandour said.

"The era of blocs and the time of polarization in the world are over and now the world is open to cooperation for the benefit of all," he concluded.

(ST)

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