Africa

May 6, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - A delegation from the Supreme Council for Coordinating Affairs of Ngok Dinka of Abyei region Saturday has arrived in Sudan's central town of Wad Medani to discuss ways to issue national identity cards for its community members residing in the Gezira State.

An unidentified woman stands in the central market of Abyei, Sudan, Thursday Jan. 13, 2011,

Ownership of Abyei, an oil-producing region contested by Sudan and South Sudan, remained contentious even after the world's youngest nation split from Sudan in 2011. Khartoum and Juba failed to agree on who can participate on in a vote to determine the future of the region.

However, the two governments continue to treat the population of the region as its nationals.

Last February, President Omer al-Bashir underscored that Abyei is a Sudanese territory, instructing national authorities to provide its residents with full administrative services including issuance of identity cards and passports.

The secretary of organisational communication at the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the locality of Wad Medani Hassan Abdel-Aziz Al-Maz said his party is “committed to supporting the entire issues of Ngok Dinka of Abyei”.

The official news agency SUNA reported that Al-Maz, who met the delegation Saturday, expressed pleasure to inaugurate the office of Ngok Dinka in the Gezira State as the first regional office.

For his part, the head of the supreme council and political secretary of the NCP in Abyei Chol Mawien Bol said they seek to prove that Abyei is a Sudanese territory, pointing the council is non-partisan.

He said that the number of Ngok Dinak community members residing in the cotton-producing Gezira State ranges from 6000 to 7000 people, saying they are distributed at the eight localities of the state.

The 2005 peace agreement which ended 21 years of war between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) provided for a referendum to be conducted by the people of Abyei to choose between remaining in the Sudan and joining South Sudan.

The Dinka Ngok organised a unilateral referendum from 27to 29 October 2013 to say they want to join the Republic of South Sudan.

Khartoum, Juba, the African Union and the international community refused to recognise the outcome of the vote.

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May 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's Attorney General has cancelled a decision to release human rights defender Mudawi Ibrahim, who has been detained since last December without charges, his lawyer said on Friday.

Ibrahim, university professor and chair of the non-governmental organisation Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) was arrested on 7 December 2016 by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

By the end of March 2017, his lawyer Nabil Adib said the court had issued a decision to release his client on bail. But his family at the time expressed concern over the possible intervention of the national security service (NISS) to keep him in detention.

On Friday, Adib told Sudan Tribune that the general attorney has cancelled its decision to release his client.

"I have not seen the reasons for the decision and will try to see the merits on Sunday," he said.

"(But) I learned that the decision ordered further investigations. It seems that a hidden motivation triggered this measure," the lawyer added.

For her part, Mudawi's family considered the decision as more "procrastination" from the Sudanese government to prevent his release.

"This means that they want to continue holding him and prolong his detention," his wife Sabah Adam told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

A media outlet, close to the ruling National Congress Party, earlier this year claimed that Mudawi is involved on a report released last year by Amnesty International on the use of chemical weapons in Darfur's Jebel Marra.

However, the NISS seemingly has failed to provide evidence supporting its allegations.

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May 5, 2017 (JUBA) - Ten people, including three children and five women, have been killed in an ambush on a passengers' car on Juba- Bor road on Friday, relatives and officials said.

Armed robberies are common on South Sudan highways. Rebels and gunmen are allegedly responsible for these criminal attacks. The bloody attack on Juba-Bor road occurred near Gameza, a centre in Terekeke State at some 120km from Juba.

"Three children died as well as five women and two men. The driver was shot and killed instantly and the gunmen then killed passengers," a witness who was travelling in another car told Sudan Tribune late on Friday.

Three people survived in the ill-fated vehicle. The survivors are said to be one woman and two children. The Land Cruiser hardtop was travelling to Bor from Juba.

Jonglei state information Minister Akech Dengdit confirmed the ambush but declined to discuss further details.

Dengdit said police is still investigating the incident.

Other sources told Sudan Tribune that tension has been rising between Murdari and Dinka Bor in recent days after two people from both sides were killed in unclear circumstances. It is not clear which side started the fight.

Hundreds of people and thousands displaced during armed clashes between the two ethnics in 2009. Also, it led to close the Bor-Juba road which is crucial to supply Bor with essential food commodities imported from neighbouring countries.

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Strongly condemning the attack against the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on 3 May, the Security Council has called on all parties to immediately adhere to the permanent ceasefire called for in an August 2015 peace agreement.

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

May 5, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) - Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Workneh Gebeyehu, on Friday said he is working with the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations to find a durable resolution to the conflict in South Sudan.

Workneh made the remarks after he held discussions with Nicholas Haysom, UN Special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan here in Addis Ababa.

The two sides discussed the current situation in South Sudan and ways to resolving the crisis.

They further conferred on regional peace and security and agreed to work together to make sure peace and security in South Sudan as well as at the volatile east African region at large.

The Ethiopian foreign minister emphasised the importance of an inclusive peace process including the warring parties in South Sudan for a lasting peace in the newest nation.

Workneh further stressed a need for UN, AU and IGAD combined efforts to end violence in South Sudan.

While commending Ethiopia's efforts for regional peace and security, the UN special envoy to his side vowed to closely work with Ethiopia and provide the needed support to ensure peace and security in South Sudan and the region as a whole.

Ethiopia, the venue of South Sudan peace process, had been playing a key role to sign the August 2015 peace agreement.

South Sudan gained independence in 2011 as an outcome of a peace agreement that ended continent's longest-running civil war in Sudan.

The country, however, slides back to the conflict in 2013 after president Salva Kiir accused his former deputy turned rebel leader, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.

The conflict has so far forced an estimated three million people (around a third of country's population) flee to the neighbouring countries.

UNHCR officials in Addis Ababa say an average of 500 South Sudanese arrive per day in Ethiopia seeking shelter and food.

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May 5, 2017 (JUBA)- The ministry of foreign affairs in South Sudan has elevated Gordon Buay; a former political dissident turned a diehard supporter of President Salva Kiir, to a deputy head of its diplomatic mission in the United States.

President Salva Kiir moved Gordon Buay through a republican order in 2014 to a second grade ambassadorial position after previously appointing him as third grade ambassador in fulfillment of the terms of the agreement which the government signed with a collection of armed groups that responded to a presidential amnesty in 2012, after agreeing to lay down their arms and abandon rebellion in several parts of the country, including Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states.

Buay, according to a letter dated April 2017, notifies him of his new assignment as the Deputy Head of Mission with effect May 1, 2017.

The letter of assignment seen by Sudan Tribune bears the signature of Lumumba Makelele Nyajok, acting undersecretary at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Nyajok, in the letter, requested Buay to accept the appointment with assurances of support.

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May 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sharp differences have emerged within the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) over its participation in the upcoming government after the National Assembly dropped constitutional amendments pertaining to freedoms and the security apparatus.

Popular Congress Party (PCP) Political secretary Kamal Omer (Photo SUNA)

Last month, the PCP of the late Islamic leader Hassan al-Turabi expressed disappointment on the approval of constitutional amendments without restraining the powers of the security apparatus saying the parliament move has trashed the recommendations of the national dialogue conference.

However, last Wednesday the party decided to join the government of national concord and handed over the Prime Minister Bakri Hassan Salih names of its candidates for the government posts.

PCP political secretary Kamal Omer told Sudan Tribune on Friday that he declined to accept his nomination for the membership of the National Assembly, saying the decision to take part in the upcoming government is inconsistent with the party's declared stance and his personal conviction regarding the issue of freedoms.

Omer added that he also resigned from his post as PCP political secretary, saying he wouldn't betray the teachings of the late leader Hassan al-Turabi who he described as the “Imam of Freedoms”.

“I wouldn't hold any government or party post and my stance reflects the real position of the PCP,” he said.

Omer ruled out that the PCP could split following the recent resignations, saying the party is coherent.

“We only demand to correct the path of party… now the PCP has no institutions … it only has a secretary general who controls all decisions,” said Omer.

Last month, PCP has elected Ali al-Hag Mohamed as Secretary General succeeding Ibrahim al-Sanousi who hold the post for a transitional period following the death of the party founder Hassan al-Turabi in March 2016.

Observers say Omer who was a close aide to the late al-Turabi does not have the same closeness with the new secretary-general.

Sudan Tribune learnt that Sharaf al-Din Bannaga who was also nominated by the PCP for the National Assembly membership has declined to accept the party proposal.

It is noteworthy that the PCP had earlier linked its participation in the upcoming government to the approval of the constitutional amendments pertaining to the “Freedoms Document” which was recommended by the national dialogue.

The PCP splinted from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) since 1999, and joined the opposition ranks since that time but it supported the national dialogue process declared by al-Bashir in 2014 and participated in all its forums.

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May 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - An international maritime border arbitrator has revealed that Sudan is planning to take Egypt to a binding arbitration before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) over the disputed Halayeb area pointing to Khartoum's recently lodged objection with the United Nations against Cairo's annexation of the region to its maritime border.

The Halayeb triangle, which is a 20,580 km area on the Red Sea, has been a contentious issue between Egypt and Sudan since 1958, shortly after Sudan gained its independence from the British-Egyptian rule in January 1956.

The area has been under Cairo's full military control since the mid-1990's following a Sudanese-backed attempt to kill the former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt has used to reject Sudan's repeated calls for referring the dispute to international arbitration. The international law provides that the agreement of the two parties is needed to arbitrate a dispute by the tribunal.

According to the international arbitrator Osman Mohamed al-Sharif, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea signed by Sudan and Egypt oblige the two countries to appear before the ITLOS.

Al-Sharif told Sudan Tribune that the declaration lodged by Sudan's foreign ministry at the UN last March according to a presidential decree aimed to take a third path after Cario refused the direct negotiations and the international arbitration.

He pointed that Khartoum's move to deposit with the UN coordinates of the baselines from which its maritime areas are measured after 27 years since former President Hosni Mubarak lodged the maritime borders of Egypt doesn't strip Sudan of its sovereignty over Halayeb and the equivalent Red Sea waters.

By virtue of its membership in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Sudan is required to notify the UN Secretary-General of any development affecting the geography of its maritime boundary.

On 2 March, President Omer al-Bashir issued a decree including the baselines from which the maritime areas of the Republic of Sudan are measured. Last month, Sudan deposited with the UN its maritime borders.

Accordingly, Al-Sharif pointed that the UN Secretary-General will now notify Egypt that “its 1990 declaration of maritime border is being objected [by Sudan]” and will wait for Cairo's response before the two sides could go to court.

“Sudan and Egypt are obliged to go to arbitration before the ITLOS according to UN Convention on the Law of the Sea … the UN Security General might refer the dispute to arbitration and if Egypt refuses, he will intervene to force it to submit,” he said.

“If we deal with the issue as a maritime dispute, we will find away to a binding arbitration, however, there is no binding arbitration in the international law,” he added.

Al-Sharif underscored that the UN Secretary General as guarantor to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can end the fait accompli which was established by Egypt in Halayeb in 1995, saying the maritime borders of the Sudan in Halayeb are fixed and complementary to the land border.

It is noteworthy that Cairo in April 2016 refused a demand by the Sudanese government to hold direct talks on Halayeb and Shalateen or to accept the referral of the dispute to the International Court of Arbitration.

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May 5, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudanese army (SPLA) said Friday its forces have captured the headquarters of the opposition SPLM-IO fighters, allied to the exiled former First Vice President, Riek Machar, reversing all gains rebels made in the past months.

Lol State Minister of Agriculture Angok Achuol Barjok told Sudan Tribune on Friday that government forces have regained control of Dollo, some 20 miles west of Raja town, the administrative headquarters of Lol state.

The new military gains in favour of the government have tilted a previous significant push by armed opposition fighters to gain a strong foothold in the area.

“I would like to congratulate our gallant SPLA forces for the job well done. They have done well when they captured and destroyed the headquarters of the rebels in a place called Dollo. Now this place is under control of our forces," said Minister Barjok.

He further added that it was a joint operation including Divisions Five and Three under the command of Col. Albino Akol Mayuol and his Deputy Operation Commander Col James Riek Par under Supervision of H. E. Maj Gen Rizik Zachariah Hassan Governor of Lol State.

The SPLM-IO spokesperson was not reachable for comment.

The minister said the government was still pursuing armed fighters until where their legs would stop.

“The resting point will be determined by their legs and this is where they will stop with our forces. They are giving them a hot pursuit,” he added.

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