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Ce premier film turc qui sort ce mercredi 17 juin sur les écrans en France a été ovationné à la Quinzaine des réalisateurs lors du festival de Cannes. Dans Mustang, la réalisatrice franco-turque Deniz Gamze Ergüven raconte l'histoire de cinq sœurs drôles et effrontées, à l'âge de la puberté, qui vivent dans un village au bord de la mer en Turquie.

June 16, 2015(BOR) – Unknown thugs broke into offices of the Food Security Program (JFSP) in South Sudan's Jonglei state on Monday and stole $147,000, an official said.

Funded by the United States aid arm (USAID), JFSP is a livelihood project which was established in 2011. It is currently being implemented by Catholic Relief Service (CRS) in a consortium with Save the Children International in nine counties of Jonglei state.

David Deng Ajok, the director for Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), acknowledged the incident, saying theft has lately been rampant in the state capital, Bor.

“Last night, unknown gang went into CRS compound from behind the fence, they broke it, they went inside, and broke five offices, went to finance office, and looted $117, 000 and 90,000 pounds. They also took some laptops and cameras”, he said.

No arrests were made, but the matter is before the criminal investigation department.

In November 2013, the Catholic relief agency also lost several computers and cameras when their Jonglei office was raided in a similar manner by unknown people.

(ST)

Nouveau grain de sable dans le processus de paix au Mali. Récemment le gouvernement malien et les rebelles de la Coordination des mouvements de l'Azawad (CMA) ont signé un arrangement sécuritaire à Alger qui prévoit le départ de Ménaka des groupes armés pro-Bamako. Mais après une visite de terrain mardi 16 juin dans la localité avec la mission de l'ONU, la Plateforme - les groupes armés pro-gouvernement malien - annonce qu'ils ne quitteront pas la ville.

Au Bénin, la campagne pour les élections municipales, communales et locales du dimanche 28 juin a démarré ce mercredi à minuit. Il s'agit d'élire les conseillers municipaux à Cotonou, Porto-Novo et Parakou et les conseillers communaux dans les autres villes qui à leur tour choisiront les maires, les conseils de village et de quartier de ville qui désigneront leurs chefs. Des élections de proximité donc mais qui seront décisives pour le camp présidentiel.

Der Streit um Quoten für Flüchtlinge hält an: Die EU-Innenminister haben sich nicht auf ein verpflichtendes Verteilungssystem auf alle Mitgliedsstaaten einigen können. Nun warnen Deutschland und Frankreich vor einem Ende des freien Schengen-Verkehrs. Österreich will derweil die EU-Grentschutzagentur Frontex mit einem eigenen Mandat für Abschiebungen ausstatten.

Egy amerikai dróntámadásban megölték az Arab-félsziget al-Kaidájának (AQAP) jemeni vezetőjét. Az AQAP elismerte egy interneten közzétett videóban, hogy vezetőjét amerikai légicsapásban tették el láb alól. A terrorista vezető elleni támadást még pénteken hajtották végre Hadramaut tartomány székhelyén, Mukallában.

Au Soudan du Sud, les agences des Nations Unies et les organisations non-gouvernementales viennent d'établir d'urgence un pont aérien pour distribuer des trousses de survie aux personnes déplacées internes dans les zones difficiles d'accès de l'Etat d'Unity, a déclaré l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO).

Tout en appelant les parties libyennes à se mettre d'accord de toute urgence sur un gouvernement d'union nationale, le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU a salué mercredi la réunion qui a eu lieu en ce sens les 8 et 9 juin derniers au Maroc, dans le cadre du dialogue inter-libyen.

June 16, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudanese rebels led by former vice president, Riek Machar, have appointed a governor for Lol state (Warrap state) in accordance with their newly created 21 federal states in the country.

Agel Riing Machar is appointed governor of the state by the rebel leader with effect from 10 June, replacing the former rebel appointed governor Aguer Rual, who has taken new assignment as advisor to the rebel leader, Riek Machar.

Warrap state, according to the proposed states by the opposition leadership, is divided into two states, of which Lol is one.

The newly appointed governor was formerly the president of South Sudan National Youth Union and the Chairman of Political Parties Youth Forum. He declared his defection to SPLM/SPLA, under the leadership of Machar.

In his declaration in March, the former youth leader called on the youth in the country to rise up to restore a country that he believes has been destroyed beyond repairs by incompetent leadership of president Salva Kiir.

The opposition group said appointing the officials in the states was important to mobilize citizens to support the movement and provide security to the populations.

(ST)

A tavalyi év szeptemberében indult környezetvédelmi tiltakozássorozat ma folytatódik Topolyán, hiszen a szervezők akkor azt ígérték, hogy addig fogják folytatnia megmozdulást, amíg látható, kézzelfogható, „szagolható” eredmények nem történnek a Krivaja patak és a levegő szennyezését illetően. A mai napig érdemi változás nem történt. A Tiszta vizet a Krivajába! elnevezésű Facebook-oldalon folyamatosan, újabb és újabb képeket láthatunk a patak szennyezett vizéről, Kishegyesen járva a patak elviselhetetlen szagával találkozhatunk, a Žibel vállalat ezen a hétvégén is bűzzel árasztotta el a várost. A tiltakozássorozat tizedik állomására ma 18 órai kezdettel a központban lévő Panda áruház előtt kerül sor.

EURÓPAI JÁTÉKOK

6.00–20.00, Digi Sport 2: benne aerobic, asztalitenisz, birkózás, röplabda, sportlövészet, taekwondo, torna.

KERÉKPÁRSPORT

16.45, Sport2: svájci körverseny.

KOSÁRLABDA

Női Eb, Magyarország–Románia, középdöntő, E csoport, 1. forduló: Törökország–Montenegró (15.30), Csehország–Fehéroroszország (18.00, Sport1), Görögország–Franciaország (20.30, Sport1).

20.00, Sportklub 2: Bayern München–Brose Baskets (német élvonal, rájátszás, döntő, negyedik mérkőzés, az állás: 1:2).

LABDARÚGÁS

Női vb, Kanada, 3. forduló, E csoport: Dél-Korea–Spanyolország (Eurosport), Costa Rica–Brazília (1.00, csütörtök, Eurosport2), F csoport: Mexikó–Franciaország (Eurosport), Anglia–Kolumbia (22.00, Eurosport2).

U20-as vb, Új-Zéland, elődöntők: Brazília–Szenegál (6.00, Eurosport2), Szerbia–Mali (9.30, Eurosport, RTS1).

U21-es Európa-bajnokság, Csehország, A csoport, 1. forduló: Csehország–Dánia (18.00, Arena Sport 1), Németország–Szerbia (20.45, Arena Sport 1).

20.00, Sportklub 3: Real Zaragoza–Las Palmas (spanyol másodosztály, rájátszás az élvonalba jutásért, döntő, első mérkőzés).

2.00, csütörtök, Arena Sport 3, Sport2: Brazília–Kolumbia (Copa América, Chile, C csoport, 2. forduló).

TENISZ

12.00, Sport1, Sportklub 1–2, 13.30, Sportklub 3: ATP Halle.

12.00, Digi Sport 1, Sportklub 1–2, 13.30, Sportklub 3: WTA Birmingham.

13.30, Sport2, Sportklub 1–2: ATP Queens.

By John Prendergast and Akshaya Kumar

Sudan's President Omer al-Bashir, who has been dodging an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for years, is now safely back in Khartoum. But he returns branded with the scarlet letter of a wanted man, a fugitive from international justice.

Over the weekend, a South African judge responded to a local group's petition for his arrest by issuing a court order preventing Bashir, who stands accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, from leaving the country. Bashir was in South Africa to mingle with other presidents and prime ministers at the African Union's semi-annual summit. The AU's ongoing opposition to the ICC's work in Africa had a prime position on the agenda. But creative lawyering helped South African civil society groups steal the headlines and turn the summit's spotlight back to Darfur's long-suffering people.

Undoubtedly, South Africa's judges and lawyers are this story's heroes. On the morning of June 15, Judge Dunstan Mlambo ruled that his government's failure to arrest Bashir is inconsistent with the South African Constitution. The judge demanded an account of how Bashir was allowed to leave the country despite a court order prohibiting it, when he left and who signed off on his departure. While some may frame Bashir's brazen escape as a setback for the international justice movement, the South African court's commitment to upholding the rule of law must be applauded. Moreover, the South African Litigation Center's brave challenge of their government's decision to allow Bashir immunity should be celebrated. Today, African lawyers and judges stood together in solidarity with African victims to push for justice against one of Africa's most notorious perpetrators of human rights abuses.

Unfortunately, South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) did not do the same. A representative for the ANC said on Sunday that the ICC was “no longer useful for the purposes for which it was intended.” On Monday, South African government lawyers appeared in court to argue against an arrest warrant, notwithstanding their obligations as a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty which requires states to uphold and enforce ICC actions. After originally feigning ignorance of Bashir's whereabouts, after the court demanded his arrest, a government lawyer finally confessed that Bashir had left the country.

The opposition of African heads of state to the international justice movement is not news. While charges of orchestrating murder, rape and persecution were hanging over his head, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta labelled the International Criminal Court a “toy of declining imperialist powers.” Even though the court recently dropped its charges against Kenyatta in part because of disappearing or intimidated witnesses, African leaders' heated animosity towards the ICC has not chilled.

Communities that have lived through these crimes, however, tend to have a distinctly different point of view.

In Darfur, where hundreds of thousands continue to be displaced by government violence, survivors are vehement in their calls for criminal prosecution and accountability. In neighbouring South Sudan, people share the same view. A June 2014 study (in South Sudan by the American Bar Association) found that “every person interviewed indicated that there must be accountability, at all levels, for the atrocities committed during the current crisis.” In a 2010 survey by the University of Berkeley's Human Rights Center, 98% of respondents in the Central African Republic said the people responsible for the violence should be held accountable. Even as their governments obstruct international justice efforts, communities that have suffered through mass atrocities continue to demand accountability. Luckily, creative lawyering is helping to put international criminal justice back in vogue.

This weekend's dramatic court proceedings in South Africa are just one example. On the other side of the continent, an innovative approach to universal jurisdiction has led to a new hybrid court in Senegal, where Chad's former dictator, Hissène Habré has been living in exile. A quarter century after his fall from power, civil society groups demanding Habré's prosecution have finally succeeded in getting their day in court. In July, Habré's trial for crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture will begin at the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal's court system. This hybrid approach represents the first time that a universal jurisdiction claim has gone to trial in Africa.

Seventy years ago, Robert Jackson inaugurated the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg by expressing the hope that those prosecutions would “put the forces of international law, its precepts, its prohibitions and, most of all, its sanctions, on the side of peace.” Winston Churchill, in contrast, believed that Nazi leaders should be “hunted down and shot.” However, in the end, a more measured approach prevailed, substituting the hand of vengeance with the judgement of the law.

A decade after Darfur first entered headlines for the Sudanese government's abuses against its marginalized Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa communities, Bashir's forces are continuing that campaign. Impunity has allowed the same Janjaweed forces who directed attacks over a decade ago to be given charge of better equipped and government financed terror brigades called the Rapid Support Forces. In Darfur, due to the Sudanese government's obstruction, international law's force has yet to be put to service on the side of peace.

But there is a silver lining. From the African Union-backed effort to prosecute Habré in Senegal, to the South African court's ruling on Bashir's arrest, accountability efforts are gaining ground. Despite head of state opposition, creative lawyers, civil society groups in Africa are recapturing the best of the legacy of Nuremberg.

John Prendergast is the founding director of the Enough Project, where Akshaya Kumar is a policy analyst.

Americas

• Following Northrop Grumman, L-3, General Dynamics and Gulfstream’s lead, a competing team of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Bombardier are now positioning to compete for the Air Force’s JSTARS recap program. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin had previously announced their intention to partner for the competition, with Bombardier set to bring their long-range business jet to the team, to complement Raytheon’s sensor portfolio and Lockheed Martin’s system integration expertise. The Air Force has also opened up the competition to European firms.

• Following on from a $478.6 million contract in May awarded to ViaSat for Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS), the Navy handed Data Link Solutions LLC a contract for the same amount on Tuesday. The contract principally covers Navy and other US service requirements, as well as some Foreign Military Sales.

• Also on Tuesday, the Air Force awarded General Atomics a $21.1 million modification for Predator Mission Aircrew Training Systems (PMATS). Unsurprisingly this was a sole source acquisition, with an estimated completion date of 2018. The system is designed to replicate the interface and operation of MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, both of which are produced by General Atomics.

Europe

• As France plans on replacing its fleet of Alpha jet trainers, a Request for Proposals is now expected in September. The Dassault-manufactured advanced trainer the French Air Force intends to replace dates from the 1970s. Alenia Aermacchi has previously seen its M-345 trainer evaluated by the French defense procurement agency DGA, with other possible replacements including both turboprop and jet trainers.

• Airbus is developing a new heavy lift helicopter, referred to as the X6. A follow-up to the H225 Super Puma, which recently scored export success to Poland, the new concept model will undergo two years of concept definition, in collaboration with potential customers. The company also saw the first successful test flight of its H160 medium lift model a few days ago, with this also announced in Paris on Tuesday.

• The Czech Republic will be one of three customers for the L-39NG jet trainer, manufacturer Aero Vodochody Aerospace announced on Tuesday. The trainers will go to Czech company LOM PRAHA s.p. who train the country’s Air Force pilots, as well as to two other customers; – the Breitling and Draken International display teams.

• The cause of the Hungarian Air Force JAS-39C Gripen crash last week is being < href="http://hungarytoday.hu/news/gripen-crash-defence-minister-suspects-computer-error-behind-unfortunate-incident-24055">attributed to software issues, according to the country’s defense minister. This is pre-empting the outcome of the official investigation, with defense minister Csaba Hende citing initial details of that investigation.

• Russia is planning to bolster its nuclear forces by adding over forty ICBMs to its arsenal by the end of 2015. The response from NATO has been understandably frosty, meanwhile no details of precisely which missiles the Russian defense ministry intends to produce have been given.

Middle East

• Qatar has signed a contract with Boeing for an additional four C-17 airlifters, to complement the four already in service with the Gulf state. Other C-17 customers within the GCC include Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

• Saudi Arabia ordered four Airbus C295W transport aircraft at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday. The winglet-ed light transport aircraft found a launch customer in Mexico in March, with the C295Ws headed for the country’s Navy.

• Saudi Arabia may also be looking to purchase Russian tactical ballistic missile systems, according to Russian media. The Iskander has also reportedly received interest from Kazakhstan, with the Russian military planning to procure up to 120 of the road-mobile systems. Armed with a 480kg payload, the Iskander has an approximate range of 500km.

• Egypt is buying Sagem AASM Hammer air-to-ground missiles, following the sale of 24 Rafales in February. The first of these are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2016, with the French manufacturer also contracted to provide support services under the deal.

Asia

• Indian MIG-29s upgraded by Russia are being delivered to the Indian Air Force, with the new fighters now brought up to the UPG configuration. The first two of the improved jets are currently undergoing flight tests, with an additional pair preparing to start these. The upgrades were contracted for in March 2008, with the deal worth $952 million and covering five squadrons (69 aircraft) of IAF MIGs. The first six aircraft were upgraded in Russia, with the remainder undergoing work in India, using equipment kits supplied by RAC-MiG.

• In a possible death-knell to the indigenously developed, infamously unreliable Arjun main battle tank, the Indian Army is looking at replacing its fleet of T-72 tanks, releasing a Request for Information regarding a newly-designed modular armored vehicle, known as the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV). This not only highlights that the Arjun will be unable to meet the Army’s future demands, but indicates that the Indian Army is seeking to base its future combat vehicles on a more open architecture, allowing for rapid integration of future technologies. The new vehicle is slated to enter service by 2025-27; however this is highly likely to slip given the Indian defense ministry’s procurement track record.

• An Indian Jaguar trainer aircraft came down in near the city of Allahabad on Tuesday, with the pilots ejecting safely. The cause of the crash is as yet unknown, with an investigation now underway.

Today’s Video

• Outstanding Indian Air Force promo vid

June 16, 2015 (BENTIU) – At least 4.6 million people need food support in South Sudan in 2015, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

IDPs stack their belongings up outside the gate of the UNMISS compound, after government forces on Friday retook the provincial capital of Bentiu, in Unity State, Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 (Photo AP/Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin)

The numbers of internal displaced persons, OCHA said, has vastly increased in Unity state and other parts of the nation following last month's resumption of fighting.

The numbers of displaced civilians in the protection of civilian camps have reportedly soared from 52,000-72,000 after clashes resumed between country's warring factions.

According to OCHA, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have been tracking the movements of people into displaced camps.

Overcrowding has been cited as one of the biggest challenges faced by the displaced people in the protection of civilian sites.

Ruon Kuol, who heads the IDPs in the UN camp, wants new facilities built for people.

“The UN is working to expand the camp in order to accommodate large numbers of people who have just reported there,” said Kuol.

People reportedly arrive everyday in thousands. Most of them are said to lack basic needs as they seek shelter in bushes while many are feared to have died of starvation.

Kuol further said most of the people have lost everything they owned and many worried about missing relatives and children in the bushes.

Collectively, the aid agencies in South Sudan reportedly require $123 million to reach 3.8 million people with assistance by the end of December 2015. So far, they have a budget shortfall of $39.4 million.

“While needs have risen dramatically, funding hasn't. Those who need help the most, particularly in remote communities many of them cut off by fighting may also end up being cut off from humanitarian aid,” said Aimee Ansari, country director for Care South Sudan.

Over 2 million people have been forced from their homes in, including 135,000 who are living in UN bases across the country and over 500,000 in neighbouring countries.

By end of July, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) predicts 40% of South Sudan's total population will be severely food insecure. The UN has estimated that to fully meet the needs of South Sudanese affected by the crisis, $1.63 billion is needed.

“Only 36% of the response has been funded to date. The South Sudanese regional refugee response is only 11% funded,” aid agencies in South Sudan said this week.

(ST)

A woman has been quarantined in Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky Territory on suspicion that she may be infected with MERS.

June 16, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese and South African governments as well as the United Nations (UN) strongly denied a report alleging that Khartoum held its peacekeepers in Darfur ‘hostages' while they ascertain that president Omer Hassan al-Bashir has arrived safely from the African Union (AU) summit in Johannesburg.

A UNAMID peacekeeper during a routine patrol in Tawila, North Darfur.(Photo UNAMID/Hamid Abdelsalam)

Bashir narrowly escaped an arrest order issued by High Court judges in South Africa in compliance with the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against him for war crimes and genocide allegedly committed in Darfur.

South Africa refused to execute a court decision issued last Sunday that ordered Bashir to remain in the country while a case against him is being reviewed.

After his departure, the government suggested that he left without their knowledge and vowed to submit an affidavit early next week explaining how this happened.

On Tuesday, South Africa's website News24 quoted unnamed peacekeepers in Darfur as saying that they were held “hostage” by Sudanese troops when the drama around Bashir's possible arrest in Johannesburg.

“We were so scared – we were surrounded by soldiers. We handed out extra ammunition to all our troops in case they needed it,” said one South African soldier in Sudan on Tuesday.

“Vehicles approached our bases and the commander placed us on State 2 of readiness,” said another soldier. This meant all troops had to be in combat gear, fully armed, and positioned in bunkers and against embankments.

Another soldier said if the situation got out of hand, “we would have had to surrender to save our lives, because you can't fight a country's army with a poorly equipped battalion”.

“I am so thankful that South Africa did not arrest Bashir. The battalion commander said after Bashir touched down safely in Khartoum, all the [Sudanese] troops were withdrawn. The calamity has returned to normal,” reads a message sent by a soldier in Darfur to his friends in South Africa.

But the South Africa National Defence Force (SANDF) rejected the report calling it unfounded.

“There is no iota of truth in these allegations. There is equally no substance to support these allegations. The SANDF did not come under any threat during this period,” SANDF said in a statement.

“No extra-ordinary operational preparedness was done by the SANDF in view of the reported situation in South Africa. No additional instructions, with regard to higher alert levels, were issued. The security situation in Darfur is calm where our troops are deployed.”

The United Nations also dismissed the report.

"South Africa currently has 802 members of an infantry battalion deployed in Kutum, Malha and Mellit team sites in North Darfur. We can confirm that the mission's South African troops were not held hostage or under any threat as reported in the media," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement.

A Sudanese official speaking to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity called this report “part of a domestic political battle in South Africa.

“This is the same battle that moved the court proceedings [in South Africa against Bashir] from the start,” the official added.

The Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement to al-Sudani newspaper that the information included in the report are “imaginary” adding that Khartoum has no control over Darfur peacekeeping mission.

But the South African National Defence Union's (SANDU) Pikkie Greeff told Eyewitness News (EWN) on Tuesday said this incident had been confirmed by several sources, some of them soldiers.

“The Sudanese army only withdrew from their position once al-Bashir left South Africa. This would boil down to blackmail by threatening someone with war.”

Greef said he has no reason to doubt the reports because they come from the soldiers.

“We are concerned about the safety of our soldiers because they are there as peacekeepers and not there for conventional war. Zuma must take a firm stand on this issue,” he added.

SANDU is the South African trade union for SANDF members.

(ST)

Test de remorquage grandeur nature sur le CMA CGM Jules Verne au large de l’embouchure de l’Elbe, devant l’archipel allemand d’Heligoland. Le maxi porte-conteneurs français de 396 mètres de long et d’une capacité de 16.000 EVP a servi, dans la journée du 13 juin, de plateforme d’entraînement pour l’Havariekommando, l’autorité fédérale allemande du sauvetage en mer.

• Lire la suite de Le CMA CGM Jules Verne dans un exercice de remorquage allemand

June 16, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A visiting German diplomat discussed on Tuesday with Sudanese officials issues pertinent to the national dialogue, illegal immigration and human trafficking.

Last February, the Berghof Foundation, a renowned German institution for mediation, and the SWP (Stiftung Wissenschaftund Politik) the Foreign Policy Think Tank of the German Government organized a workshop for the Sudanese opposition to support the national dialogue.

Following the workshop, the rebel umbrella Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), the National Umma Party (NUP), the opposition alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) and several civil society organizations signed the Berlin Declaration.

The head of East Africa division in the Germany foreign ministry, Marian Schuegraf, who arrived in Khartoum on Monday evening in an official three-day visit, met on Tuesday with Sudan's first Vice President, Bakri Hassan Salih and the foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour.

At the outset of her meeting with Ghandour, the German official conveyed to him congratulations of his German counterpart on taking office as foreign minister.

Ghandour, for his part, told Schuegraf that national dialogue will resume after the holy month of Ramadan with the participation of all parties committed to dialogue as means for resolving issues of contention.

He added that the government is ready to provide the necessary guarantees for the opposition to participate in the dialogue and join the peace process.

Ghandour told Schuegraf that he discussed, in Johannesburg last Sunday with the former South Africa president, Thabo Mbeki the situation in South Sudan and the role that Khartoum could play to maintain stability and resolve problems of the newborn country.

The meeting also discussed the recent regional developments particularly the situation in Libya and ways to restore security and stability in that country.

The first Vice President, who met with Schuegraf Tuesday, welcomed Germany's efforts to support the national dialogue by seeking to convince the opposition and the rebel groups to join the government-led dialogue.

He agreed with the German diplomat to continue discussions on issues pertaining to national dialogue through detailed meetings between competent bodies in the two countries.

The meeting also discussed ways for promoting bilateral ties particularly in the area of economic investment by urging German companies to invest in Sudan in the upcoming period.

Sudan's president Omer Hassan al-Bashir launched the national dialogue initiative a year ago in which he urged opposition parties and rebels alike to join the dialogue table to discuss all the pressing issues.

But the initiative faced serious setbacks after rebel groups and leftist parties refused to join and after the National Umma Party (NUP) led by al-Sadiq al-Mahdi withdrew from the process in protest of al-Mahdi's brief arrest last May.

Later on, several political parties including the Reform Now Movement (RNM) led by Ghazi Salah al-Din and the Just Peace Forum (JPF) led by al-Tayeb Mustafa and the Alliance of the Peoples' Working Forces (APWF) announced they had decided to suspend participation in the national dialogue until the requirements of a conducive environment are met.

COMBATING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Meanwhile, Schuegraf met with Sudan's interior minister, Ismat Abdel-Rahman, on Tuesday in the presence of the director of the European department at the foreign ministry, Youssef al-Kordofani, and commissioner for refugees, Hamad al-Gizouli.

The head of the passports and civil registry authority, Awad al-Nil Dahia, said the meeting came within the framework of ongoing cooperation between Sudan and Germany regarding the illegal immigration.

He stressed two sides agreed to form joint committees to develop a unified strategy to regulate management of illegal immigration, control borders and administer refugees camps in order to eliminate the phenomenon.

Dahia pointed the meeting discussed the outcome of the human trafficking conference held in Khartoum besides the Rome conference which laid the foundation for the European-African partnership for fighting against illegal immigration and human trafficking.

Last October, Khartoum hosted a meeting aimed at combating human trafficking organised by the African Union (AU) in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Sudanese government.

The meeting was attended by ministerial delegations from 15 countries and a large delegation from the European Union, with the US government also represented by its deputy chargé d'affaires in Khartoum.

Ongoing political instability and conflict in the Horn of Africa makes the region volatile and insecure driving large number of people to quit their countries and cross to Sudan seeking to join Europe, Canada and USA.

This situation also created a market for smugglers and traffickers who request important amounts of money to facilitate their departure to their final destination.

In December 2013, the Sudanese parliament endorsed a bill on combating human trafficking and called for carrying out deterrent penalties including capital punishment and life imprisonment against those involved in those crimes.

(ST)

Lors d'un congrès ce week-end, le Front patriotique rwandais (FPR), le parti au pouvoir au Rwanda, s'est prononcé sans surprise pour une réforme de la Constitution ouvrant la voie à un troisième mandat pour le président Paul Kagame en 2017. Dans un pays sans véritable opposition et souvent critiqué en matière de liberté d'expression, quelque 3,6 millions de Rwandais, soit plus de la moitié du corps électoral, auraient demandé au Parlement par voie de pétition de réformer l'article 101 de la Constitution qui limite à deux le nombre de mandats présidentiels.

Au lendemain du double attentat-suicide inédit qui a fait au moins 27 morts et une centaine de blessés dans la capitale tchadienne, les mesures de sécurité ont été considérablement renforcées à Ndjamena et la traque des complices et commanditaires a commencé.