Africa

June 21, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - A new splinter faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/AW led by Abdel-Wahid al-Nur has joined the peace process following years of rebellion in Jebel Marra area, said Central Darfur governor.

SLM-AW fighters on guard during a visit by UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari to Fanga Suk village, in East Jebel Marra, West Darfur, on 18 March 2011 (Photo: Reuters)

The Central Darfur government last November signed a peace deal with a number of breakaway commanders from SPLM-AW including Abu Gamal Khalil Bakr, Al-Amin Abdel-Jabar al-Tahir (aka al-Amin Turo) and the movement's spokesperson Shihab al-Din Ahmed Hagar.

According to the official news agency SUNA Wednesday, a new dissident group from the SLM-AW led by commander Haroun (aka Kalmang Koi) has joined the peace process at Fugi area east of Golo in Jebel Marra, Central Darfur state.

SUNA quoted the leader of the dissident group as saying they “joined the peace process after they became convinced of the futility of war that continued for years without achieving anything but further suffering”.

He demanded the government to provide services, reconstruct what have been destroyed during the war and to integrate his group into the Sudanese army.

Under such peace deal, the rebels hand over their weapons after being granted a pardon and receive financial compensations. Sometimes, they are recruited in the government militias to fight against their former comrades.

For his part, Governor of Central Darfur Jaafar Abdel-Hakam said Haroun's group would enhance peace efforts, pointing his government has adopted a plan to end the war, address the root causes of the problem, provide services and reconstruct the region.

He pointed that a number of SLM-AW dissident groups have joined the peace process, saying al-Nur has continued to cling to foreign powers and rejects all peace initiatives.

Abdel-Hakam added the dissident groups were “fed up with the non-objective stances of al-Nur and chose to lay down arms and join the peace process”, vowing to include Haroun's group on the security arrangements programme.

Al-Nur refuses to negotiate with the government since the failure of Abuja peace process in 2006. He says that the Sudanese authorities have to disarm militias, provide security for the displaced persons and civilians in Darfur and re-institute grabbed land.

He further insists that any talks should only deal with the root causes of the conflict, not its consequences.

On 12 April 2016, the Sudanese army declared Darfur a region free of rebellion following the capture of Srounq area, the last SLM-AW stronghold in Jebel Marra.

However, the army continued for several months to carry out attacks on rebel pockets in the mountainous area.

(ST)

June 21, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir said he will not accept being forced to step down by force, insisting it would set a bad precedent for the country.

President Salva Kiir addresses the nation at the South Sudan National Parliament in Juba, November 18, 2015. (Photo Reuters/Jok Solomon)

Kiir made these remarks during a meeting with Akobo state governor, Johnson Gony Biliu, who was in Juba to brief him on the current security and humanitarian situation in the area.

Biliu was accompanied to the South Sudan capital by his Bieh state counterpart, Moses Majok.

“You need to talk to your communities, to local leadership, chiefs and you about the importance of the national dialogue which has started the process. They have set up committees. Some will go to those in the diaspora and to refugee camps in countries in the region to where people have gone. Other committees will go to states and different places within the country,” said Kiir.

He added, “This is the only way to stop this war and return the country to the path of peace so that people get the opportunity to go for elections and make their own choices, not through violence”.

During the meeting, Kiir lauded efforts of the two governors and asked them to continue with the efforts of mobilisation for peaceful settlement of the conflict to allow people regain hope and trust.

“Your efforts through these briefings are commendable and you should ahead so that our people understand and embrace peace because it is through peace that people can only make choices. You know I did not into this position by violent means,” said Kiir.

Kiir, elected as president in March 2010, vowed not to accept forceful removal from power.

“They [citizens] want peace and I will not accept to let them down and step down by force,” stressed the South Sudanese leader, who said the unity government will ensure peace returns to the young nation.

South Sudan was plunged into conflict in December 2013 as the rivalry between President Kiir and his then-vice president, Riek Machar, turned into a civil war. Since then, the fighting, which has often been along ethnic lines, triggered Africa's worst refugee crisis, with over three million people fleeing their homes.

(ST)

Migrants are falling prey to criminal gangs in Libya - the BBC hears one man's horrific story.

By Eric Reeves | June 21, 2017

In October 2014, I analysed some of the implications of minutes reflecting the deliberations of the most senior military and intelligence officials of the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime during a “Joint Military and Security Committee Meeting held at the National Defense College on 31/08/2014 (http://wp.me/p45rOG-1wk ). These minutes have been repeatedly and authoritatively confirmed by a wide range of sources (http://wp.me/p45rOG-1w5 ). They were leaked to me by a Sudanese source of unimpeachable character and honesty, although his identity—and those who assisted him in this extremely dangerous undertaking—must remain confidential for obvious reasons.
The minutes are highly revealing on various counts, including what at the time was the vehement insistence that Iran was Khartoum's singularly vital ally in the region. This insistence is a virtual refrain, appearing in the comments of nearly every senior official present, including First Vice President Bakri Hassan, who presided at the meeting. The ongoing implosion of the Sudanese economy has forced that Khartoum regime to abandon Iran and side with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States; but ideologically—as the minutes clearly reveal—the regime is very much on the side of Tehran. Only the possibility of immense financial assistance from the Saudis and the Gulf States compelled the abandonment of Iran. Notably, the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, mentioned in the minutes as recipients of aid from Khartoum, are now being targeted by Sudan Armed Forces in concert with the Saudi-led campaign.

This is the context in which to see the import of a dispatch in today's Sudan Tribune, concerning the repatriation of Sudanese nationals who had gone to Libya to fight with ISIS (Sudan Tribune, June 21, 2017). This is obviously a delicate issue for Khartoum's security services, something reflected clearly in the Sudan Tribune analysis.

But let's return to the views of the Khartoum regime in late 2014, and the question of how that regime saw the opportunities presented by Libya in chaos. I offered contemporaneous commentary on particular passages from the minutes, reproduced here without change or editing. The leaked minutes obviously put Khartoum in an extremely awkward position in communicating with recognised Libyan authorities, and this is where I began. Although reflecting only one issue in a very wide-ranging set of topics covered in the meeting of senior officials, let us remember that there is not a shred of evidence that ideologically the NIF/NCP has changed its views about radical Islamic militants.

“Fallout from Leaked Minutes of August 31 2014 Military/Security Meeting: Khartoum's Obligatory Lies" | 29 October 2014 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1wo

(Speakers in each case are identified; emphases in bold have been added; my commentary appears in italics followed by my initials, ER)

Travelling to Khartoum this month [October 2014], the Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani undoubtedly had the August 31 minutes much on his mind when meeting with regime officials. Libya comes up frequently in these minutes, and at several points in ways that must be deeply disconcerting to the struggling Libyan government, and reveal yet again the depth of the mendacity that characterises the regime. On 7 October 2014 Sudan Tribune reported:
The head of the Libyan government, Abdullah al-Thani, will visit Khartoum in response to an invitation extended by Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir, a government source disclosed this week. “The Libyan government welcomes the invitation received from President al-Bashir. (The government) considers it as a step in the right direction and a confirmation of Sudan's support to the democratic process in Libya,” a Libyan official told the Libyan Bawabat Alwasat on Monday.

The official further said that al-Thani accepted the invitation after Khartoum's full recognition of the House of Representatives as the sole legitimate body representing the will of the Libyan people. Observers in Khartoum says the public acceptance of the invitation is seen by the Sudanese government as the first positive signal from Tripoli after repeated Libyan accusations of supporting extremists groups in the north African nation. On 2 October, Sudan's foreign ministry for the second time within a less than three weeks summoned the Libyan ambassador in Khartoum to protest against these accusations.

Earlier, on 2 October 2014, the Sudan Tribune reported more particularly on the accusations by Libya against Khartoum:

The Sudanese foreign ministry announced on Thursday that it summoned the Libyan charge d'affaires to protest recent remarks by an army general in which he accused Khartoum of backing extremist groups in the North African nation. This follows a similar move on September 15th by the ministry in which the acting Libyan CDA was summoned to complain over same allegations made by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni. The latter warned that Tripoli may sever ties with Khartoum as well as Doha if they continue aiding these militias. Sudan's foreign ministry reiterated its denial of meddling in Libyan internal affairs or taking sides in the ongoing conflict.

"The misleading information transmitted by media that is attributed to Libyan [army] officer claimed Sudan's interference in the internal affairs of his country,” the ministry said in a statement adding that this information is “unfounded." It denounced attempts seeking to involve Sudan in the Libyan conflict and noted the Sudanese government's recognition of the legitimacy of the elected Council of Representatives, which meets in Tobruk.

So Khartoum would appear to be ready to bluster with denial of what is revealed clearly in the minutes of the 31 August 2014 meeting of senior regime officials:

"We have intensified the work to train and graduate Libyan [Islamist rebels] Military Intelligence cadres. Currently, they are doing an advanced course on Internet operation, deciphering of codes, interception of telephones and wireless radios. Their leadership requested us to train and establish for them a strong Military Intelligence system." (General Siddiq Amer, Director General of Intelligence and Security)

"Our intelligence and security files can play a role in the improvement of our economy [how is never explained—ER] and diplomatic relations. They can also be used to abort the conspiracies of the rebellion against us. The victory of our people [Islamists of the Libya Dawn rebel movement—ER] in Libya is an indication that we will also achieve victory over the New Sudan Project ["New Sudan Project" is Khartoum's catch-all phrase for any movement toward democratization, press freedoms, equality in citizenship, and secular governance—ER]

And there seems no way to deal with this assertion by General Imad al-Din Adawy, Chief of Joint Operations:

"The Libyan border is totally secured, especially after the victory of our allies [Libya Dawn forces] in Tripoli. We managed to deliver to them the weapons and military equipment donated by Qatar and Turkey and we formed a joint operations room with them under one of the colonels in order to coordinate and administer the military operations. Turkey and Qatar provided us with information in favour of the revolutionaries on top of the information collected by our own agents so they can control the whole country."

Radio Dabanga reported very recently (28 October 2014) on further details of the Libyan accusations:

[In] late September, Libyan army officers intercepted a Sudanese convoy with Yemeni fighters at El Kufra on the Sudanese-Libyan border. On 6 September, a Sudanese military aircraft was grounded at El Kufra airport, “laden with weapons bound for [Libya Dawn] rebels.” The week before, the Sudanese military attaché in Tripoli was declared persona non grata, after being accused of supporting Libyan militia groups.

Our best news account of what is really at stake here, and the character of Libya Dawn militias is The Guardian [Tunis], 7 September 2014:

Libya has expelled the Sudanese military attaché after accusing Khartoum of flying weapons to Islamist rebels in Tripoli, raising fears of a widening regional conflict. The government, which has fled Tripoli for eastern Libya, accused Khartoum of sending a transport plane loaded with munitions for the Islamist-led Libya Dawn militias who control the capital.

"Sudan is interposing itself by providing arms to a terrorist group that is attacking the headquarters of the state," said a government statement. "This also represents a clear violation of international resolutions, and the latest UN Security Council resolution." The government said the plane entered Libyan airspace without permission on Thursday, making a refuelling stop in the southern oasis town of Kufra, where the weapons were discovered. It said the weapons were destined for the Tripoli airport of Mitiga, controlled by Libya Dawn. Sudan, which is sympathetic to Libya's Islamists, confirmed sending the plane but insisted the weapons were intended for legitimate border forces patrolling the southern desert.

This is who the NIF/NCP was and remains. And if we want to know the face of radical Islam in Libya in 2014, I can think of no more telling image than one showing some twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians being led to their beheadings on a beach in November 2015: http://wp.me/p45rOG-1Cg .

Sudan and Terrorism

In Senate testimony of July 2009, the Obama administration's first special envoy for Sudan, Air Force Major-General (ret.) Scott Gration, declared that:

"There's no evidence in our intelligence community that supports [Sudan] being on the state sponsors of terrorism. It's a political decision," Gration said.

At the same hearing, former Senator Russ Feingold, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Africa rightly pushed back:

Gration said Sudan, once home to Osama Bin Laden, has been helpful in counterterrorism efforts. However, Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin, said Sudan's cooperation is always overstated in this area.
More fully, Feingold had issued a strong statement in May of that year (2009):

"I take serious issue with the way the report [on international terrorism by the U.S. State Department] overstates the level of cooperation in our counterterrorism relationship with Sudan, a nation which the U.S. classifies as a state sponsor of terrorism. A more accurate assessment is important not only for effectively countering terrorism in the region but as part of a review of our overall policy toward Sudan, including U.S. pressure to address the ongoing crisis in Darfur and maintain the fragile peace between the North and the South." (Statement by Senator Russell Feingold, Chair of the Africa Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, May 1, 2009)
Gration was spectacularly ignorant about Sudan and was simply wrong in his claim about what U.S. intelligence knew at the time—and on multiple counts, including Khartoum's assistance in Iran's movements of weapons to Gaza—well reported at the time in The Guardian (December 6, 2010)—and the bald fact that Hamas was allowed to operate freely in Khartoum, despite being on the list of terrorist organizations compelled by a wide range of countries besides the U.S. There were many other examples as well that Gration simply chose to ignore. Rightly, Sudan remains one of only three countries on the State Department's list of “state sponsors of terrorism,” including Syria and “best-strategic-ally-for-life” Iran.

All this becomes particularly important as a Trump administration, easily as ignorant as former special envoy Gration and even more cynical, approaches a decision about whether or not to lift U.S. economic sanctions on Khartoum permanently. The terribly misguided and mendaciously justified decision by the Obama administration in January 2017 provisionally to lift sanctions can still be reversed. But depending on the administration of a xenophobic, pathologically narcissistic, and profoundly ignorant President Trump seems to make reversal a distinct long shot. And although the Trump administration that will make the decision, it was President Obama that set the clock ticking. In rewarding Khartoum's génocidaires, he is a disgrace to the campaign statement he made in running for the presidency in 2008—“that genocide in Darfur was a "stain on our souls" and that he would not "avert his eyes from human slaughter."

Unctuous words that meant nothing for the eight years of his administration, which concluded with Obama's decision to begin the process of lifting longstanding U.S. economic sanctions on a regime guilty of serial genocides.

Eric Reeves, Senior Fellow at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

June 20, 2017 (HAWASSA) – Ethiopia on Tuesday inaugurated what it said is the first specialised, sustainable textile and apparel industrial park in Africa.

Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn (Allafrica)

The massive Chinese-constructed Hawassa industrial park (HIP) was inaugurated in the presence of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who officially declared the full operationalization of the park under phase one.

At the occasion, Hailemariam said Ethiopia's vision is to be the leading manufacturing hub in Africa by the year 2025.

“Our goal is to create millions of new jobs in labor-intensive and export-oriented light manufacturing”, he said.

He added “the full operation of the Hawassa industrial park is the most evident and concrete example yet towards achieving our national vision and marks a milestone in our quest to industrialisation”.

The Hawassa world-class eco-industrial park featuring state-of-the-art, environmentally-friendly technology was built by Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at a cost of about $ 322 million.

Covering an area of 1.3 million square meters, of which 300, 000-meter square is factory shed build up area, the park has so far attracted 18 leading textile and garment companies from across the world including from America, China and India.

Also, eight domestic investors have been meticulously selected and necessary preparations are finalised to facilitate their investment inside the park.

The park, built in record time nine months implements a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) that enables to recycle 90 %of sewerage disposal water and fulfils international standards.

The plant uses the latest technology and has the capacity for treating and recycling 11 million litres of effluent every day.

Ethiopia says its rapid economic growth can only be sustained through the realization of a structural economic transformation.

The country has been registering a strong and steady economic growth for more than a decade now, with an average GDP growth rate of 11%.

The most recent report from both the World Bank (Global Economic Prospect, 2017) and IMF (World Economic Outlook 2017) forecast that the horn of Africa's nation will be one of the fastest growing economies in the world and a star performer in the African continent in 2017.

Furthermore, Ethiopia has become one of the largest recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the continent.

According to UNCTAD's 2017 investment report, Ethiopia is now the second largest recipient of FDI in textile and apparel next to Vitnam.

The Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) Board Chairperson Dr Arkebe Oqubay told journalists that development of world-class, specialised, sustainable, vertically integrated, export -driven and competitive industrial parks is the central drive toward realising vision 2025.

Arkebe, who is also Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, said currently there are some 10,000 employees in the Hawassa Park but at full capacity, the park will hire around 60,000 employees.

He added some companies in the park have already started to export and when the park starts production at full capacity, Ethiopia will earn around one billion USD every year from Hawassa Park alone.

Arkebe said the park could be considered as a model for other parks being built in other East African countries.

Including those two parks which recently operationalized, Ethiopia is currently building a total of 15 industrial parks across the country as part of its goal to emerge as continent's manufacturing hub.

Sudan Tribune has reliably learned that four more industrial parks namely Mekelle, kombelcha, Adama and Dire Dawa parks will be inaugurated till September.

(ST)

June 20, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan's steering committee for the national dialogue says lack of funds hindering its efforts to consult exiled rebel leader, Riek Machar and opposition politicians abroad.

South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar addresses a news conference in Uganda's capital Kampala January 26, 2016 (Reuters photo)

"A committee has being formed to consult with the leader of the SPLM-IO [Riek Machar] and all [South Sudanese in the] diaspora but as you know, the government has no money and members of the international community are yet to offer their support," said Alfred Taban, a member on the information committee.

"This is serious because without money, we cannot travel outside the country to meet refugees, politicians living in exile. This is a very important step in the national dialogue," he added, shortly after a meeting of the committee chaired by Angelo Beda on Tuesday.

President Salva Kiir launched the national dialogue committee last month as parts of efforts he said will restore confidence among the local communities divided by the war. The bottom-top approach is meant to address local issues as well as national political differences that morphed into the war along tribal lines three years ago.

The armed opposition faction loyal to ex-First Vice President Machar has dismissed the dialogue as a strategy to prolong President Kiir's legitimacy after the 2015 peace agreement collapsed last year.

International donors are also reluctant to fund the process after President Kiir said his main rival Machar should not participate in the process because "he will come and cause another trouble in Juba."

However, the national dialogue steering committee has insisted that all sides in the war must participate irrespective of President Kiir's refusal to dialogue with his arch rival. But without fund, amid the economic crisis in South Sudan, the process is likely to further delay.

(ST)

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June 20, 2017 (JUBA) – Fuel shortage in South Sudan worsened on Tuesday amid reports of massive corruption in the national oil supplier, Nile Petroleum (NilePet), with a liter costing 110 South Sudan Pound, the highest price for gasoline ever recorded.

Motorcycles line up for hours to get fuel before it runs out July 18, 2012 in Juba, South Sudan. (Getty)

Early this week, commuters and public transport system were paralysed in the capital Juba and government departments closed.

A government administrator said his ministry's offices remained closed this week, due to shortage of fuel to power the generator.

"We have sent many, very many letters to NilePet requesting fuel for our generator for the last three weeks but never got a single litter because we did not pay bribes. A liter costs 22 SSP at the station but you have to pay extra 8 SSP per litter and extra 5,000 SSP to the national security to escort the fuel tank to the ministry," the ministry official, who asked not to be identified, told Sudan Tribune Tuesday.

NilePet imports fuel from neighbouring East African countries since oil producing South Sudan has no oil refinery, but only one-third of fuel demands is covered and sold at official price of 22 SSP per litter, a quarter of the black market price of about 160 SSP or $1 per litter. But on Tuesday, a liter of petrol reached its highest level ever.

"Right now, water bottle of one and half litters costs 220 SSP. That means, a litter is sold at least 140 SSP," said Peter, a taxi driver.

Mary Achai, a black market dealer, confirmed the souring price, attributing it to lack fuel and rising prices of food items in the market.

"We [black market dealers] buy this fuel from the Security [officials] at a very price and had to make a little profit," explained Achai.

NilePet has, however, denied manipulating fuel supplies for it benefits and in a statement issued on Tuesday said several fuel tanks were heading to Juba from Nimule at South Sudan- Uganda border.

In various locations of the South Sudanese capital, the average price for a litter of fuel went for 115 SSP, which is six times the official price.

(ST)