Africa

May 28, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - Darfur main rebel groups Thursday agreed on the need to exert more efforts to protect children in the conflict areas and to adhere to the existing international standards.

In this photo extended to Sudan Tribune, JEM's Gibril Ibraim, SLM Abel Wahid al-Nur and SLM Minni Minnawi pose for a picture at the Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution in Stadtschlaining, Austria, 27.28 of May 2015

Leaders of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Movement - Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM/AW) and Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi (SLM/MM) made their commitment in at the end of a consultations meeting held in Stadtschlaining, Austria, on 27-28 May.

As parties to the conflict we acknowledge that "we also bear responsibility for the protection of children in Darfur/Sudan. We therefore pledge to continue to make every effort necessary to prevent members of our Movements from perpetrating any grave violations against children".

"We hereby renew our commitment to adhere to the applicable international legal standards and norms including Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict".

The meeting was attended by the leaders of the three rebel groups Gibril Ibrahim for JEM, Abdel Wahid al-Nur and Minni Minnawi for the SLM groups.

It was organised by the Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR) in coordination with the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG-CAAC).

The joint statement stressed that protecting children is an individual and collective responsibility and should be part of an early engagement and not await a formal comprehensive peace agreement by all parties to the conflict".

The rebel groups also expressed readiness to engage in follow up consultations until a comprehensive peace agreement is reached.

The parties are prepared to remain actively engaged in follow-up consultations including with the participation of other actors until a comprehensive peace agreement is realized

In July 2010, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) signed a child protection agreement, which includes ending the recruitment of child soldiers in Darfur, with the Justice and Equality Movement.

(ST)

May 28, 2015 (JUBA) - South Sudan has announced its inability to generate enough revenues to fund the country's annual budget, amid allegations that government may halt paying for basic services.

Traders jostle to change money in South Sudan (Reuters)

Presenting a paper at an economic and development forum held on Wednesday, the deputy finance minister, Mary Jervase Yak said government was only able to generate a third of its budget.

The government, she added, now relies on borrowed loans to fund the remaining deficit.

“The government has been looking for both domestic and external loans to fund the budget”, Yak told the forum, saying government now borrow money from its central bank.

The ongoing war and the decline in global oil prices caused the fiscal deficit, she said.

“The parallel exchange rate has affected the pound that it depreciated by 50% against the US dollar during the last 12 months, as the fall in oil revenues has reduced the availability of foreign exchange in the market,” explained the deputy finance minister.

Prices of goods are yet to be increased in line with the depreciation, she added.

However, traders involved in exchange of foreign currencies in the black market say the rate of the dollar against the pound has doubled in the last few months, while residents asserted that traders have more than double increased consumer prices this year.

The deputy minister urged the forum to contribute expertise ideas and make recommendations on how the government would work to improve the nation's economy.

(ST)

May 28, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday has passed a resolution extending mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) until 30 November 2015.

UN peacekeepers in South Sudan with one of their helicopters (UNMISS)

It further authorized the peace keepers to use “all necessary means” to perform their duties and tasks in implementation of the mandate.

The resolution reaffirmed UNMISS mandate to protect civilians in South Sudan, monitor and investigate human rights abuses, create the conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian assistance as well as support the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement signed by the warring parties in the country.

It said that the situation in South Sudan continued to “constitute a threat” to international peace and security in the region and urged all parties to the conflict to resume negotiations and reach a peace agreement.

“Urges all parties to engage in an open and fully inclusive national dialogue seeking to establish lasting peace, reconciliation, good governance, including through the full and effective participation of youth, women, diverse communities, faith-based groups, civil society and the formerly detained SPLM leaders, encourages the efforts of IGAD and the United Nations to reach a peace agreement between the parties, and further urges them to ensure that child protection provisions are integrated into all peace negotiations and peace agreements,” partly reads the resolution.

The Council also urged the African Union to release and make public a report by its Commission of Inquiry on atrocities committed in South Sudan by the warring parties.

It condemned the recent upsurge of violence between forces loyal to president Salva Kiir's government and the armed opposition faction led by former vice president, Riek Machar.

The international body further called on the parties involved in the current conflict to desist from further violations of human rights and abuses such as the ongoing targeting of civilian populations including children, women and elderly.

It also called on the warring parties to desist from attacking and harassing UNMISS personnel and their facilities and provide unhindered access to humanitarian workers that provide relief assistance to the vulnerable populations.

(ST)

As South Sudan’s civil conflict continues to escalate, three senior United Nations officials have urged all stakeholders in the country to reach a sustainable solution to the crisis through inclusive dialogue and foster a lasting peace based on accountability and reconciliation.ed on accountability and reconciliation.

May 27, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese lawmakers on Wednesday ratified the United Nations Convention on Protection and Promotion of Cultural Expression, 2005, months after its introduction in parliament.

The move came shortly after the chairperson of parliament's specialised committee for information, telecommunication and culture, Thomas Wani kundu presented his report to the assembly.

“The convention is consistent with the transitional constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 and other domestic laws of South Sudan,” Kundu told MPs after reading chapters of the document.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) Convention came into force in 2007. It provides principles for respect of human rights, fundamental freedoms, principle of sovereignty, equal dignity for all cultures and openness, among other provisions.

After deliberations, MPs moved a motion to ratify the UN convention.

The word's youngest nation became the 133 state to ratify the convention. With 64 tribes with different cultures and norms, South Sudan is regarded one of the most diversified countries in the world.

(ST)

May 28, 2015 (NYAL) – South Sudanese armed opposition forces under the command of Gen. Khamis Abdulatiff have advised residents in the capital, Rumbek to vacate the town within three days.

General Khamis Abdulatiff (holding a stick) with some of his forces (courtesy photo)

In a statement extended to various media outlets Tuesday, the rebels said their fighters had occupied Lakes state and its surrounding areas, claims Sudan Tribune could not independently verify.

“We have siege the town and all its exits, but we are not ready to harm civilians in Rumbek town,” said Gen. Abdulatiff, adding that, “We asked for immediate evacuation of civilians to safer places.”

He said his forces recently exchanged fire with government forces at the border between Lakes and Unity state.

“I do not want innocent civilians to become victims of the crossfire. The mission of my force is to free the people of South Sudan from oppressive regime especially those from Lakes state whose historical background was buried by the current regime,” he said.

Last year, Lakes state's Dinka youth declined to join the military forces recruited to fight against rebels led by former vice-president Riek Machar, who are mainly from the Nuer ethnic group, leading to increased tensions within the government in Juba.

Fighting between South Sudanese government troops and the armed opposition forces has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly two million in the country.

In April, a group of activists and civil society groups in Rumbek added their voices to calls for removal of governor Matur Dhuol claiming he had failed to effectively run the state.

(ST)

May 28, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The media department in Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) stressed that it will not tolerate any “harmful” stories published by newspapers that goes against the values, morals and traditions of the society.

The head of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamed Atta Abbas Al-Moula (Photo: Reuters)

The NISS does not explain why it seizes runs of newspapers or suspends them and often times summons journalists for interrogation on reports they publish.

On Thursday, officials from NISS and the Sudanese Journalists Union (SJU) held a meeting to discuss the aftermath of this week's decision to seize print runs of 10 newspapers and suspend four others over a story related to children sexual abuse on school buses.

According to a press statement by the NISS, the SJU called during the meeting for upholding the values of freedom and professionalism and resorting to the law.

They also demanded lifting suspension on the 4 newspapers as soon as possible.

But the NISS defended its actions and emphasized that it was done in accordance with the law.

The NISS media officer also described as “inaccurate” a statement carried by Sudan News Agency (SUNA) on Thursday which claimed that the NISS promised to end the suspension of the 4 newspapers.

The SJU issued a sharply worded statement on Monday rejecting the confiscation and suspension of newspapers while the informal Journalists Network called for a strike.

After the security apparatus lifted pre-publication censorship, it started punishing them retroactively by seizing copies of newspapers that breach unwritten red lines inflicting financial and moral losses on these media houses.

The mass confiscation has emerged as a new technique of punishment by the NISS which tend to accuse affected newspapers of disseminating news that adversely affect the national security of the country.

Last February, it seized copies of 14 newspapers from printing press without giving reasons.

Sudan's constitution guarantees freedom of expression but laws subordinate to the constitution such as the National Security Forces Act of 2010 contains articles that can be potentially used to curtail press freedom and instigate legal proceedings against newspapers and individual journalists.

Sudanese journalists work under tight daily censorship controls exercised by the NISS.

Journalists say that NISS uses seizures of print copies of newspapers, not only to censor the media but also to weaken them economically.

(ST)

May 28, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad will be present at the swearing-in ceremony of Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum next Tuesday, according to a news report.

Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir (L) walking with Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdel Aziz in Riyadh on 25 March 2015 (SPA)

The government-sponsored Sudanese Media Center (SMC) website quoted an unnamed official in the preparatory inauguration committee as saying that Egyptian president Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki, Ethiopian Prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Chadian president Idriss Deby and South Sudan president Salva Kiir will also be present.

Previously, the government in Juba announced that VP James Wani Igga will represent Kiir in the ceremony.

If the visit by King Salman materializes, it will be the first by a Saudi monarch to Sudan since 1976 when late King Khalid made a state visit lasting four days for talks with then president Ja'afar Nimeiri.

This will also be King Salman's second international visit since he assumed the throne last January following the death of his half brother King Abdulla.

The Saudi King has snubbed planned appearances in Egypt for an economic conference in March and in Washington this month for a summit with US president Barack Obama.

Relations between Khartoum and Riyadh appear to have normalized after the former distanced itself from Iran which was a cause of concern by the Arab Gulf states.

Hours after Bashir's visit to Riyadh last March, it was announced that Sudan has joined the Saudi-led military operations against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Last week, the Sudanese leader made a brief and unannounced visit to Riyadh for talks with his Saudi counterpart. It was followed by a short trip to Qatar as well.

Sudanese officials have expressed strong hope that Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states would generously reward Khartoum for shifting alliances away from Iran.

But a Gulf diplomat speaking to Reuters last month downplayed these hopes.

"There is no trust in the Gulf for Omer al-Bashir...The leaders in the Gulf think that Bashir can betray them at any time, so they won't give him aid until he shows he is serious about joining them and leaving Iran," the diplomat said.

In April, the Saudi ambassador in Sudan denied local media reports that his country provided any cash assistance to Khartoum.

(ST)

The Security Council today adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations mission in the country until 30 November 2015, giving the operation authorization to use all necessary means to protect civilians, monitor and investigate human rights, and create the conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, arrived in Burundi today as the top UN political official met with a Burundian government representative at UN headquarters and discussed the need to prevent and investigate political violence and killings.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has deplored the shooting incident that took place in Bamako, Mali, on Monday, 25 May, during which a peacekeeper with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was killed and another injured.

May 28, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan's warring parties in the ongoing conflict will resume negotiations early next month, the spokesperson for the presidency said Thursday.

President Salva Kiir (L) and rebel leader Riek Machar (R) attend the signing a ceasefire agreement during an IGAD summit on the South Sudan crisis in Addis Ababa on 1 February 2015 (Photo: Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

President Salva Kiir, Ateny Wek Ateny said, directed chief negotiator, Nhial Deng Nhial and two members of his delegation to travel to Ethiopia on 8 June for resumption of peace talks with representatives of the armed opposition faction.

“The decision was reached during a consultation visit by the Ethiopian and Kenyan foreign ministers who visited South Sudan on Wednesday during which two foreign top diplomats met and held a meeting with President Salva Kiir and some of the senior members of his administration,” he told reporters in the country's capital, Juba.

The meeting, the presidential spokesperson said, discussed whether the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) could use the Arusha model during the upcoming negotiations to see if it's the best approach to resolve the conflict since signatories to the Arusha agreement were also involved in the regional-led talks.

The president, Ateny said, expressed his government's earlier push to have members of the Troika nations participate as observers in the peace talks, instead of playing active roles in the IGAD-led initiative.

“The president welcomes participation of the five African members in the mediation and appreciates the support of the Troika countries in the peace process, but expressed government's desire for them to continue playing positives role as observers,” he added.

Observers, however, say South Sudan's latest position on Troika nations may have been reinforced by resolutions made during the just concluded Great Lakes conference.

In March, the East African regional bloc proposed an IGAD-Plus structure that will bring in other African regions, including South Sudan development partners such as the African Union, the United Nations, China and the Troika, the key funders of the peace talks, which comprises of the United Kingdom, United States of America and Norway.

(ST)

May 28, 2015 (JUBA) - A leading South Sudanese armed opposition commander allied to the former vice president, Riek Machar, has confirmed receiving messages and contacts from people in president Salva Kiir's government proposing to him and his group to accept going into a parallel dialogue with the government.

SPLA in Opposition generals Gatwech Dual (R), Dau Aturjong (C) and Gabriel Tanginye pictured in Pagak on 8 December 2014 (ST)

Major General Dau Aturjong who commands rebel forces in Northern Bahr el Ghazla said he had been approached many times by government officials and agents to initiate a separate negotiation with him away from the Addis Ababa peace process.

“They have been trying to talk to us with the view that we get into separate negotiation from Addis [Ababa] with them. They want to localize our grievances but we have told them clearly that we are part of the national matters, which are being discussed in Addis by our team,”, General Aturjong told Sudan Tribune in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

The government, according to him, had been contacting him and his group through different categories of people and organizations to persuade them to make a separate arrangement with Juba.

“They have never stopped contacting us through different category of people. They are using relatives, religious leaders, my comrades in the army, police and security as well as business people,” he explained.

He also said his troops, which size is not known, have taken complete control of areas near the Sudanese border, but denied that he and his forces were getting support from the government of neighbouring Sudan.

His own headquarters, he said, has been 250 kilometers away from the common border with neighbouring Sudan in an area deeply inside South Sudanese territory since he moved to the region in 2014.

He dismissed allegations that his forces were stationed at disputed territories with Sudan and not inside South Sudan.

“Our forces are outside the disputed areas. We are not in Mile 14 area. We are inside South Sudan, far away from the disputed areas. If there is anybody who is looking for us, he will get us here,” he said.

General Aturjong was reacting to a question asking him to comment on reports that his forces had only taken advantage of the withdrawal of the government forces from the disputed territories and that he had been receiving military supplies, weapons and training from the Sudanese army in Abu Matareq in East Darfur state.

He appealed to the humanitarian organisations to go to the area, saying a lot of people had moved to areas under his control and were helping them to settle so that they could cultivate during this planting season.

People, he said, were running away from the government controlled areas to the opposition held territories, adding this was where they could find a way to cope with the situation.

“They say life in Aweil town and other areas is not easy. They are finding it extremely difficult. They cannot cultivate. But here, they can find a place to cultivate. There is a vast area for cultivation,” he claimed.

He further explained that the opposition appointed governor, Akol Madhan Akol, and his officials were working with the opposition leadership in Pagak to find ways in which humanitarian organisations could extend relief assistance to Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.

He said many vulnerable people were coming to the rebel controlled areas in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, adding they needed shelters, food and items like blankets, saucepans, mosquito net, hoes, axes and farming implements.

The rebel commander also commended Sudanese authorities for opening their gate to South Sudanese fleeing the conflict and other associated difficulties to states in Sudan in search of safety and security.

(ST)

This is 35-year-old Oscar Ouedraogo’s first deployment with a United Nations peacekeeping mission. The native of Burkina Faso has been working as a corrections officer for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) since 20 September 2014, in the capital, Bangui.

By Sudan Democracy First Group

Before Al Gareeda newspaper was indefinitely suspended by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), as part of a mass censorship of Khartoum newspapers, the newspaper had been the first to break the news about the torching of villages and forcible relocation of thousands of villagers in Blue Nile state. Al Gareeda reported on fires that consumed the villages of Maganza, Midyam and Bagis in the Bau locality. The newspaper's local correspondent estimated the number of those left homeless by the fires at 6,872 and quoted a survivor as saying “we have suffered greatly from the effects of the war that has reignited in the region in 2011, but these village fires are the worst we have ever experienced.” Residents appealed to state authorities to investigate the incident, and to humanitarian agencies, both national and international, to come to their assistance. According to Al Gareeda, when asked to comment, the Commissioner of Bau locality declined to comment on the cause of the fires.

While news of these events has been slow to trickle down to national and international audiences, local community activists and human rights monitors, Funj Youth Development Association (FYDA), have been reporting that the village burnings began in April, signaling a new wave of scorched earth tactics in the government's counterinsurgency campaign against the Sudan People's Liberation Movement / Army-North (SPLM/A-N) in Blue Nile. The Blue Nile Human Rights and Peace Center documented these developments in a statement issued on 27 May (Arabic), which prompted the UN Resident Coordinator to issue a strong expression of concern for the populations affected by these forcible evictions and relocations.

According to reports, the first incident occurred on 10 April, when government soldiers stormed the village of Midyam Eljabal, evicted villagers from their huts, looted their possessions, and burned the entire village to the ground. Another wave of attacks occurred on the villages of Maganza and Bagis on 11 and 12 May. These two attacks appeared to be in retaliation for the losses government soldiers sustained in an encounter with the SPLA-N fighters on 10 May. The clash occurred not far from the two villages, near Kilgu, south west of Damazin. Local activists reported that the soldiers surrounded Maganza, ordered the locals to gather at a specific point outside the village, and then set fire to homes, shops, mills, water points and the market. The village was left in ashes. The locals were not allowed to take with them any of their belongings. The same scenario was repeated the next day in Bagis. Local activists estimate the number of houses burnt to be close to 6000.

The displaced, forced to stay in the open for three days, were later trucked to Azaza, Algari, Wadafodi, Shanisha Baidha, Hamda and Umbarid in Roseires locality on the east bank of Blue Nile River by security officials operating trucks brought in from Ed Damazin. The number of people affected is unknown. Figures vary from the 6,872 reported by Al Gareeda for the three villages, to approximately 30,000 according to local community activists who cite other villages that have experienced the same scenario: Gambarda, Galfouk, Abugarin, Midyam Masalit, Salbel and Fadamiya. The displaced from these villages were similarly relocated in Rosairis locality.

Decisive Summer Continues

The Government of Sudan (GoS) has a long record of unleashing such campaigns against entire communities of populations it suspects of being supportive of rebels on account of their ethnicity. This type of campaign has become a fixed feature of the GoS's current Decisive Summer Campaigns against the rebel Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), and populations designated as “rebel supporters.” Thus, during the 2013-14 fighting season, the GoS's Rapid Support Force's (RSF) in late February 2014 burned 35 villages south of Nyala, capital of South Darfur state, forcibly displacing thousands.

These latest attacks on civilians appear to be prompted by the unraveling of the government's Decisive Summer Campaign in Blue Nile. The Minister of Defense Abdel-Rahim Ahmed Hussein launched the campaign in person in a fiery speech in Ed Damazin on 3 October 2014, declaring as its objective the clearing of SPLA-N forces from the southwestern part of the state, along the border with Maban county in South Sudan's Upper Nile state, itself a stronghold for South Sudanese rebels. To preempt the move, the SPLM-N sent mobile units in the heartlands of government-controlled areas in the Ingessana Hills, putting government forces on the defensive. The SPLA-N has since managed to control the town of Jam, and conducted hit and run operations close to Ed Damazin, the state capital.

Full control of the Ingessana Hills, 40 km southwest of Ed Damazin, has become an important military target for government forces. As the home area of Malik Agar, Chairman of the SPLM/A-N and of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, the Hills hold symbolic value. As such the government considers the population in the Hills—named after the majority ethnic group in the area, the Ingessana people—the natural constituency and civilian base of SPLA-N. The area has thus been the target of deliberate and indiscriminate aerial bombings and the site of burned villages and farms since the outbreak of the war, as SDFG reported as early as 2012 (Arabic).

Humanitarian Urgency

The newly displaced people, who lost all of their belongings, are now facing severe humanitarian conditions in their areas of relocation in El Roseires locality. They suffer from a lack of adequate shelter, remaining exposed to the elements, and increasing the risks of catching preventable diseases, including malaria and diarrhea, particularly for children and the elderly.

Attempts by humanitarian agencies present in the area, including those of the United Nations, to reach the displaced in order to assess and provide for their needs, have been frustrated by government blockages. The humanitarian blockade also extends to the public who expressed solidarity with victims. Resident of El Roseires locality, who collected food items from the local market, reported that they were harassed by security agents and not allowed to access the displaced. Local humanitarian organizations seen as largely controlled by the government are reported to be the only ones allowed to provide assistance to the displaced, namely Pan-Care and Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS). Since the beginning of the war, the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) has informed international humanitarian organizations that assistance for civilians in Blue Nile State will be provided by national NGOs, and that any support from international organizations should be channeled through a committee that has been established in the state for this purpose

The incoming the rainy season will only exacerbate the displaced community's plight. The remote areas to which they were relocated are usually inaccessible during the rainy season. Obtaining food, medicine and life saving medicines will be quite challenging when the roads become impassable.

Food insecurity is inevitable for the short and medium run. The poor capacity to plant for the displaced that left behind their land in former villages will make it impossible for them to take advantage of the agricultural season that usually starts in June. As they have already missed planting their home farms (known locally as the Jubraka) and anticipating tensions that could arise due to competition over cultivable land with the local populations, these communities will likely be unable to feed their families.

In this grave context, it is imperative for regional and international actors invested in a future peaceful and democratic Sudan to use their influence and leverage on the GoS to remind it to abide by internationally-recognized laws prohibiting wartime attacks on civilians. The international community should publicly denounce the denial of humanitarian access to relief workers and the blockage of relief supplies to populations that need them.

The GoS itself, recently revived by elections resulting in a renewed five-year mandate, should take seriously its own overtures about a national dialogue process by taking the steps to create an environment conducive to a genuine process. That begins with ceasing deliberate attacks against civilians, as well as the destruction of their homes and the looting of their belongings. It further includes lifting any blockades, and allowing unrestricted humanitarian access to populations in need.

May 27, 2015 (KAMPALA) – Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday called on the government of president Yoweri Museveni to withdraw the country's troops from the neighbouring South Sudan, saying the cost for their operations was very high and a burden to taxpayers.

Thousands of troops of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) backed with helicopter gunships, tanks and other armoured vehicles, have been deployed in South Sudan since December 2013 to rescue president Salva Kiir from rebel fighters led by former vice president, Riek Machar.

President Museveni on many occasions said the intervention was necessary to maintain the government of president Salva Kiir and stability in the new nation. He also said the forces will not withdraw until he was rest assured that Juba was “secure.”

But Uganda parliament on Tuesday said the cost for keeping UPDF in South Sudan had been a huge burden shouldered by the taxpayers in the country.

In a report presented to the parliament by its specialized committee on defence and internal affairs, the document called on the government to pull out the forces and instead to ask the East African regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), to provide alternative forces to protect Juba and other vital areas.

“The committee urges government to continue engaging IGAD to ensure a neutral force is deployed,” the report said as reported by Ugandan Daily Monitor.

“This is because the continued presence of the UPDF in South Sudan is proving to be a very high cost to the Ugandan taxpayer,” the lawmakers further said.

Uganda defence ministry also revealed that the country has so far spent over 119 billion Shillings to finance its intervention in South Sudan, saying this was costlier than the country army's operations in Somalia.

UPDF WILL NOT WITHDRAW

However, defence minister, Crispus Kiyonga, told the parliament, Tuesday, that Ugandan troops will not withdraw from South Sudan despite the cost, adding that Juba government continues to pay UPDF for its other expenses including fuel for the operations against the rebels.

He said the previously talked about alternative force from IGAD had not materialized and therefore UPDF will continue to help defend president Kiir's government.

“The IGAD force that was supposed to take the place of the UPDF has not yet become a reality. To that extent, therefore, we will remain put in South Sudan,” he declared.

However observers doubt that the parliament, which is controlled by the ruling party, will come out with a resolution directing the government to effect withdrawal of the forces.

A cessation of hostilities agreement (CoHA) signed by the two warring parties on 23 January, 2014, under the mediation of IGAD, and which called for withdrawal of all foreign forces from South Sudan, has not been implemented.

IGAD is yet to announce a date on which the peace negotiations will resume in Addis Ababa under a new expanded mechanism that will include countries and international bodies outside the African continent.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

May 27, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party is sweeping vote count from Sunday's parliamentary election.

National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) Chairman Merga Bekana announces preliminary results to the media in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Wednesday, May 27, 2015. (Photo AP/Mulugeta Ayene)

Partial results announced on Wednesday by the country's National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) showed that prime minister Hailemariam Desalegen led EPRDF party has so far won 442 seats out of the 547-seat parliament.

According Preliminary results, the ruling party and its allied regional political organizations are sweeping votes in all regions across the nation.

At a news conference held Wednesday, NEBE chairperson Merga Bekana confirmed EPRDF has won 80.8% of the total parliamentary seats including 23 parliamentary seats from the capital, Addis Ababa.

Bekana said that the EPRDF, which is ruling the country since 1991, has also won 79.4% (1,508) seats for the regional councils.

Over 90 % of the total registered 36.8 million people have cast their votes on Sunday's national elections; the country's first since Ethiopia's long-time ruler Meles Zenawi, died in office in 2012.

Bekana has commended the people's active participation during the election which he said had witnessed huge turnout compared to previous elections.

He said Ethiopians had “really committed themselves to the development of democracy”

In the last vote in 2010, opposition parties won only a single seat in the 547 seat parliament.

Supporters of the country's two largest opposition parties (Blue Party and Medrek) hope that the parties would secure seats this time however officials of the electoral board haven't yet announce if any.

“Regarding the remaining results, we have to wait. According to our timetable we have time to gather, to collect and then publish it according to our schedule,” Bekana said adding “but I cannot actually tell you actually how many remaining seats will be occupied by opposition or ruling party”.

Final election results will be announced on June 22.

The African Union (AU) observers' mission said Ethiopia's Sunday general elections were “credible” and in line with African Union standards.

“The Ethiopian Parliamentary elections were generally consistent with the AU guidelines on the conduct of elections in Africa” former Namibian president Hifikepunye Pohamba, in an initial report he issued on Tuesday.

Approached by Sudan Tribune, some opposition members however said there were some irregularities.

Opposition members claimed that there were some ballot boxes that went missing.

They also said ballot boxes were not openly shown to be empty before voting begins.

(ST)

By Abdirahman Mohamed Dirye

Multiparty politics were introduced in Somaliland a decade and half ago following collective effort to ease power conflict and enhance accountability. Somaliland earned as a result titles like “Beacon of Hope” or Africa's Pearl of Democracy” “Exemplary to the Failed Somalia” among others. But all of a sudden, the democratization process halted when the National Election Commission's( NEC), the only legal body for election affairs from setting time to announcing results, decision of the presidential and lawmaking elections dated 2016 was illegally vetoed by the so called outgoing Council Guurti for financial gains! Their recklessness and gamble triggered massive crisis of each other's throats drawing global threats of cutting aid from Somaliland. The wrong decision sounds a death knell to the democracy.

Nation-wide protests continues despite crackdowns by the so called Police locally known as Residential (houses) Raiders Uninformed or RRU, controversial institution which still funds by the UK government. The abbreviation born out of raiding several houses terrorized sleeping children and abducted their fathers.

Political battles rage between those parroting the government line on insisting on that extension is legal because the First Family's grandson got sick and the Wadanni party and those champions of democracy who say how earth grandson's illness can make elections delay indefinitely! The world should intervene to prevent major wars that will extend from Yemen to Djibouti to seashores of Kenya. In fact, nobody knows for sure what Guurti based their insane decision other whispering, “our hands were lubricated” thanks in part to Hirsi's generosity, and Salaben's bravery combined! “Fools rush where angels fear to tread”. Relapsed Prone-conflict Somaliland into political turmoil dashing any hope for any international recognition—President deprioritized recognition

International Crisis Group published critical report yesterday revealing the trends Somaliland institution and the twists and turns the self-rectifying mechanisms took and the consequences ahead. UN threatened Special Fund Arrangement if no compromise is reached.

“Somaliland entered new era of losing friends not gaining,” he added. “Acceding to the illegal extension of the president's expiring term next July will be disservice to the nation, a perjury to constitutional oath I took when assumed the parliament as speaker, and deception to the democratic values” he also eulogized for the victims of the demonstration in solidarity with democracy and the rule of law. He concluded in his speech “I'll never relent to restore our democracy to its previous track whatever it takes and the confidence of the world in Somaliland's struggling institutions after the ugly decision undermined; discredited NEC's in the eyes of the world”.

Obama's speech to the Muslim World “there're people that advocate democracy when they're out of power, and oppress people when they're in...” president Silanyo, in retrospective, was a “champion” of democracy but he shown that he's pushover to brutes who realized democracy is detrimental to their regime. Nothing far from the truth about Silanyo's crocodile tears on democracy other than the above quote, it fits him so well. He's man with honeyed words but evil man.

Somaliland democracy faces multiple dangers and may die soon! Firstly, Islamists masquerading as innocent lark, secondly, recklessness from the part of the government.

Mr. Irro the presidential candidate, based on surveys, the most likely winner of 2016 elections, showed a great leadership and trustworthiness in his simultaneous micromanagement of the parliament and his party Wadanni. He's a champion of the return of Somaliland ruling party to democracy; uphold the rule of law and annulment of any extension from the Guurti to exit the stalemate and moving forward.

On this issue, the international community clarified their stance on it: stick to NEC's timeframe of the elections or hell with you. The foreign delegates frequent to Wadanni Headquarters in Hargeisa are moral support to the democracy and solidarity with demonstrators, said Mr. irro.

Surely, without contributions from the West, surely without the support from International Republic Institute's technical-know, Somaliland's democracy had utterly failed.

Therefore, The UN should take tougher line to stop recidivism to illegal extensions and vetoing verdicts from NEC or courts. Institutions are in parallel neutralizing each other's verdict had confused voters and people should remember one wrong can't make another wrong right as pro-extension defenders claim. That's a lame excuse was untenable and utterly rejected by UN and other world bodies. Will our Zine Al Abdine having seen the tides against him reverse illegal extension or buries his head in the sand and eventually wakes up Somaliland in “bloodbath” and regrettably say “oh! In retrospective, have I solved it, we might be safe?” The illegitimate extension is a ticking bomb unless the world addresses immediately.

Dirye is Somaliland Activist, political Commentator, and Senior Editor at Democracy Chronicles, mrdirye@gmail.com

By Trayo A. Ali

As I am diving into and trying to fish out the hidden agenda the Sudan government that it wishes to pass them through the armpits of newly speculated Arab military grouping that emerging from the ashes of the Yemen war, I thought it helpful to start with this piece of political folklore that enables us to reveal the inner thinking of Machiavellian nature of the government and preempt the tricks it employs and reveal the motives it harbor when it comes to this kind of “political games”.

(1) Tradition goes, once teacher always teacher

A classical folk story of Sudanese politics has it that, a veteran member of the “oldest profession” went to pilgrimage in “Mecca” and successfully performed her religion duties. When an old client of her came to congratulate for the successful godly journey to the Holy Land, to his utter disbelieve, he found her comfortably engaged in the same usual activities. He then shockingly kept his head down and asked her, whether she had not repented as she is now “Haja”. She replied: how can a carpenter abandon his lifelong profession for the simple reason of visiting “Mecca”? The client replied and said to her: yah, you may be damn right, tradition always goes and “once teacher, always teacher”. She then held her head high and gave a yellow smile and said: “That is also done in politics, ask those in power corridors”.

(1) Machiavellian ways of evading deadly blows
Sudan, although tops the list, when it comes to the issue of international terrorism and states sponsoring, yet surprisingly and under “circumstances need to be further explained”, has miraculously avoided much expected hard punches and deadly blows. But most importantly, those costly “narrow escapes” were made possible on the expenses of many invaluable values including country's “self-reputation”, “citizen welfare”, “unity of the country” among other rationalities.
Sudan's records tell that, when, after the terrorist attacks on America in 2001, and as the issue of international terrorism topped Global security agenda, the regime managed to survive by, among other means, sacrificing with the better half of it (regime's ideological clergy man, Sheikh Hassan Al-Turabi).
In 2005, when the so-termed Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed and the process of openness was due to be effected in the country (to the disadvantage of terrorist policies), the Islamist totalitarian authorities (for reasons better known to them) preferred to keep it “terrorist”. They did it successfully by offering one third of the country to go separate way. That sound like, for Islamic Fundamentalist, “terrorism” pays and is a lucrative business. No wonder they are today partly surviving on South Sudan's problems. All that tricks constitutes part of terrorist survival tactics (TST).
Even on issues related to international crimes and justice whether involves genocide, rape and or crimes against humanity, they are telling that they are “holding-it-off” by mere way of refusal to cooperate! Their line of thinking always remains “no matter how we sound or smell devil we still can evade and yet shake hands with Angels”.
And now when the so-called “Arab Spring” had sprang with all the associated mushrooming of Islamist radicalism (with the noticeable punctuation and hiccups such as the “evaporation” of the Egyptian Brotherhood experience, the government is desperately attempting to turn the war in Yemen to an ideal opportunity to survive on it. Ge. Al-Basheer described it as “unexpected God given golden chance”.
This now is the regime's dream for the would-be “gate way” to the would-be “Eldorado”, of the would-be “Arab Military Alliance”. We can only wait and see, how imaginable, can Al-Basher's blood-sucking and genocider “military cum militia” be in one camp with Americans to brutalize the Sudanese citizen even if under Arab military body.

(2) “Domesticated Kings” now turned heroes!
What Gen-Albasheer has forgotten or tries to (as his habit) forget are those hard and unforgotten facts.
It were those insurmountable amount of verbal abuse and insult poured at by his Islamist regime against the Saudi kings, the Gulf Sheikhs and the Egyptians in those few past years. Till mid ninetieth Sudan government official media was dedicated to insult, humiliate and offend officials of these countries for no reason or occasion.
Everybody at least vividly recall how in those days a demagogic middle level military officer (of morale guide), nicknamed “Younis the Morning Cockerel” use to vomit all kind of intolerable and unforgettable filth against Saudi, Gulf and Egyptian authorities through his daily “one hour” program in national radio, Radio Omdurman.
The “Morning Cockerel” use to remind his listeners to repeatedly describe the late King Fahad of Saudi Arabia as a domesticated one, the Gulf Sheikhs as of having “debauched life style”, slaves, puppets and tutelages of the West and the former Egyptian president Husni Munark as a “tyrant and Despot Pharaoh”. The word “Pharaoh” in Islamic sense is considered a terrible derogative and intolerably offense.
Interestingly the regime today is literally running after the same people who they once described the “cannibals and monsters” and begging to salvage them. They all of a sudden turned their “saviors” and friends and the kings became the “true servants of the two Holly Mosques”, as they were “desecrators”. How contradictive to turn your enemy into a hero overnight. Surely that is their way to the fold.

(3) The real ulterior motives
The regime is devising many tactics to employ to make maximum political profit out of that. The grand strategy is to position itself within the fold of the embroiling Arab politico-military group (fighting terrorism), trap Americans, take them by surprise and force them to conveniently “shake hand with the devil” himself.
In reference to this Yemen war experience, where the US backing up “Operation Decisive Storm”, Sudan, being nominal partner, insisting that, by definition, it is in “military coalition” of a level with the USA. Sudan is now vehemently arguing and interpreting that the fight against at military operation level which puts her together with the US into one boat should soon be upgraded and brought to a degree of “military alliance”.
Further motives are to use “Arab's abundance resources”, including their money, political leverage and military logistic to combat the marginalized African armed movements fighting the regime's imposed racial based wars in the country.
For Sudan this schematic strategy, requires some necessary tactical adjustments including a kind of photoshop facelift political arrangements. This may warrants temporarily sacrifice with the old “bed fellows”: the Iranians, Syrians, Hamas, Egyptian Brotherhoods, Hezbollahs, Somali Al-Shabab, Nigerian Boko-Haram, Libyan Ansar-Al-sharia, and the Huteeth.
They should pay some price that preserves the ability of the “Centre” to stand, that would also prevents the falling apart of “things”.
Like Sheikh Hassan Al-Turabi was sacrificed temporarily before his coming back to the fold, they too will always remain strategic allies.

(4) Yet Sudan likes an “Open-marriage” of witches and wizards?
To prove his regime's “credibility” and upgrade its “eligibility” credentials for the membership of his perceived upcoming “Arab military alliance” Gen. Albasheer, after obediently servicing for a good twenty five years in and for, he, in an abrupt manner, categorically denied his belongingness and membership to his political biological mother, “International Islamist Brotherhood”. He painted the “Movement” black, accused it as a threat to international peace and security and implicitly promised to join the “Crusade” against it.
Yet, while claiming to make a U-turn in its political allegiance, Sudan prefers the grouping as a club of “witches and wizards” where the contract is based on the rules of an “open marriage”. One way Sudan likes to understand and interpret rules of the contract is that “I can breed, groom, nurse, train and arm the Islamists” and “sell them out on demand but on retail bases whenever the need be or dispose them when they are expired and you can bomb them as much as that would not harm my position in power”.

(5) So far No dollars and no Yemen
Even before it's formally baptized into the membership of the much heralded Arab Military Alliance (which yet to be born and fully identified whether will be “bird or bat”, Sudan already failed the test on major “examination subjects”. It failed to send any “ground troops” that singularly committed to. The word in town is that Gen. Al-Basheer himself summoned his militia leader “Himity” and passionately appealed to him that “since the government has no troops with any moral fighting spirit willing to go to Yemen, he decided to send some of the Rapid Support Militia (commanded by Himity) to Yemen. The president also promised a monthly salary of ten thousand US Dollars per each militia man”. The report was that the militia General Himity happily agreed and circulated the “words” among the “money-driven militia”. General Himity went and mobilized two thousand of his militia, and when the time came, they were lifted by military planes, but ended up in Al-Fashir (Darfur) and in Kadogoli (Nuba Mountauns). They all drained up there fighting Sudan's rebels and not Yemeni Houthis. That part of the episode ended up with no Dollar and no Yemen. The militia are so upset and no trust anymore.

(6) Pro-President Mursi solidarity demonstrations
Another development that pissed off Egyptians is the last week government sponsored demonstrations organized in Khartoum. It was led by some proxy government officials like Mr. Zaubair Ahmed Al-Hassan, the NCP former finance minister and now chairman of the government ideological mother organization “Islamic Movement”. The demonstrations condemned in no uncertain the “death sentence” passed against Mr. Mursi, former Islamist Egypt's president. Placards featured holding signs such as “death to Sisi and not to Mursi.
Yet after all, president-elect Gen. Al-Basheer is waiting kings, Sheikhs and Pharaohs (who mow turned his saviors and heroes) to grace his inaugural ceremony, Americans to remove him from “terror support list” and to become member of would be Arab Military Alliance (or pact) that be backed by the US and the entire international democratic system.
It is so superb kind of thinking but can also be wishful one.

(7) Food for thought
Since the advent of the National Islamic Front (NIF), now turned National Congress Party (NCP) to power in 1989, the Sudanese never stopped asking this question:
“Why on earth, only we, the Sudanese, are the targets of this Islamist “cloak and dagger” oppression?
A satirist Arab writer, who paid attention to this repeated complain of Sudanese, which he considered it a kind of “naiveté”, sarcastically wrote in response:
“As you need to keep it clean a house of yours, as big as Islamic World, there is a need to have a back-yard to dump your refuse, rubbish and trash. In politics it's called a political toxic waste. No doubt, that kind of environment automatically affects the way people think in negative way, especially of the leaders. In that case political ideas can terribly be intoxicated and contagious. A pretty good caricature is the one prevailing in the Sudan, where a sensible thinking may not necessary be the order of political behavior and people kept wondering without them putting the reality in right historical context. Sudan's membership in either the Arab League or the Organization of Islamic Conference is more of nominal than substantial issue, and a quantitative than that of qualitative presence. In either way it meant to serve the government of the day and not the people of Sudan like in most other cases.
It Until an advanced technological device for political recycling is designed (which might take a little while), there is very little can be done to sanitize such situations. That may sound a bit discourteous, but it also looks like a God inflicted curse.”
The underlining point related to the issue under discussion in this journalist revelation is the fact that “the membership serves the government of the day and not the people of Sudan”. This is where our cautious comes

Trayo A. Ali is Secretary for foreign relations of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) Mini Minawi and Secretary for Humanitarian affairs of SRF. He is reachable at Email: tmotoy60@gmail.com

May 27, 2015 (RUMBEK) - Warrap state authorities said calm has returned to greater Gogrial counties following two weeks of inter-clan fighting between two Dinka rival groups which left 18 people dead.

Deputy Governor of Warrap state Akec Tong Aleu (ST photo)

The clashes began on 14 May between clans of Gogrial East county and Gogrial West county, home to president Salva Kiir, allegedly over ownership of grazing rights along River Nyinagoth.

However, Warrap state's deputy governor, Akec Tong Aleu, said people were now going about their normal business after organized forces had deployed to quell the tension. He assured the opposing communities of Apuk and Aguok sections that those responsible for the clashes will face justice.

The state official said the fighting had been successfully halted and that the case had been referred to court to try the perpetrators.

“I want to assure people of Warrap state that these people have calmed and they accepted what we told them. They accepted the peace and they are waiting now for the trial,” Aleu assured.

He said both sides of the conflict wanted justice to be served by sentencing those who instigated the violence in the once stable state.

Agany Agany, an eyewitness, however described the conflict between Apuk and Aguok clans as a setback for stability of the two communities, adding that for the conflict to stop there was urgent need to impose justice in a fair manner without favouritism.

“Justice is most [likely] solution to this conflict of Apuk and Aguok communities. We need correct justice and justice should be done in a transparent manner,” he said.

He also blamed the situation on proliferation of weapons in Warrap state, noting that clashes were always encouraged by prevalence of weapons in the hands of civil populations. He called on the government to disarm the civil population in the area.

Residents of the two counties, Gogrial West and Gogrial East are also complaining of lack of food in the area with officials calling for relief assistance.

The deputy governor said severe hunger had hit greater Gogrial counties and called on humanitarian organizations and people of good will to offer food assistance to the two counties, saying the hunger situation was “serious.”

“You know that there is this coconut. Now they are eating coconut all over. There is no food,” he said.

He further added that the population was mainly depending on wild fruits for food, also blaming the rival communities for looting their items.

(ST)