Africa

December 23, 2020 (GADAREF) - The Sudanese army came under a new attack from Ethiopian army and Amhara militias near the border strip, military sources told the Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the joint political committee between the two countries wrapped up meetings in Khartoum without tangible results on the border issue.

"A Sudanese army force in Jabal Abu Teyyour was heavily shelled by the army and militiamen, which from the other side of the border area," said the source who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"The Sudanese forces deterred the attack," he further said.

Also, a second clash occurred in the east of the "Wad Koli" area where a Sudanese military patrol clashed with a mobile Ethiopian reconnaissance force.

For his part, the visiting Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonen returned to Addis Ababa without making any progress in the talks on the border issue.

Mekonen demanded that the Sudanese army evacuate cultivated by Ethiopian farmers inside Sudan and compensate them for any damage caused during the clashes with the Ethiopian troops.

The senior official who is from the Amhara region also refused to discuss the border demarcation before to settle the farmers' plight.

The Sudanese government spokesman on Tuesday said that his government wants Ethiopia to accept border demarcation before any further discussions.

The Ethiopian army forces from the Amhara region and Fano militiamen continue to play a significant role in the armed conflict with the TPLF fighter in Tigray as they also have land claims in their region.

A committee of Sudanese affected by the attacks of Ethiopian forces in Fashaga area called on the Sudanese government to suspend any talks with the Ethiopian side before to fully retake every parcel of the national territory.

"We are the ones who know well the policy of procrastination and unfulfilled promises pursued by the Ethiopian over the past years," said Rasheed Abdel Gadir the head of the committee.

(ST)

Just days before elections in the Central African Republic (CAR), an uptick in armed violence is threatening the safety of civilians and their right to vote, according to the UN human rights office.  

December 22, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The Security Council decided on Tuesday to terminate the mandate of Darfur hybrid peacekeeping operation (UNAMID, on 31 December.

The Council “Decides to terminate the mandate of UNAMID as of 31 December 2020,” reads the resolution 2559 (2020) which was unanimously adopted by the 15 members in a videoconference meeting.

The resolution further provided to “Commence the drawdown of UNAMID personnel on 1 January 2021 and to complete the withdrawal of all uniformed and civilian UNAMID personnel by 30 June 2021.

The decision comes in line with the recommendations of the African Union-United Nations Joint Special Report to the Security Council.

The joint report underlined the National Plan on Civilian Protection developed by the Sudanese government and the deployment of troops in Darfur to replace the hybrid mission. The recommendations also pointed to the establishment of joint security forces involving the former rebel groups to protect civilians in Darfur.

The Resolution 2559 urged the Sudanese government to implement the National Plan for Civilian Protection and to protect civilians in Darfur and stressed the need to build local community confidence in the ability of rule-of-law institutions to deliver justice.

Some UN diplomats during the recent discussions about the UNAMID withdrawal underlined the inter-communal attacks and the infighting between the factions of a holdout rebel group in the mountainous area of Jebel Marra for the control of gold mines.

(ST)

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) will have to further reduce food rations and cash assistance for more than 1.2 million refugees in Uganda due to a funding shortfall, the agency has said, calling for urgent resources to sustain aid efforts. 

December 22, 2020 (JUBA) - South Sudan government plans to take full control of its oil sector through establishment of a training facility and controlling data storage, a senior official said Tuesday.

South Sudanese soldiers guard an oil refining facility (AFP)

Speaking during the launch of a Petroleum report in the capital Juba, the country's Petroleum minister, Puot Kang Chol said the training facility will equip South Sudanese ahead of 2027 when the government plans to phase out foreign investors from its oil sector.

“We are working on establishing a training facility — a petroleum training center for the republic of South Sudan where we will be training young men and young women of the Republic of South Sudan, preparing them to take over from our partners when the time is ripe for us to do so,” he said.

The new facility, according to Chol, will be launched next year.

He further disclosed that the government will soon complete the construction of a data center to manage data on oil operations.

“Our data is managed from Khartoum. With support from our partners, we are now at the last stage of building a data center in the Republic of South Sudan,” stressed Chol, adding “The aim is for us to move our data from Sudan so that we manage it ourselves.”

Oil production is crucial for South Sudan to recover from years of civil war that devastated the economy. However, while the nation is estimated to have the third-biggest reserves of the commodity in sub-Saharan Africa, production of about 170,000 barrels a day is less than half the output before fighting broke out in December 2013.

Last year, South Sudan announced its first oil find after the secession, at 5.3 million barrels of recoverable crude. At the time, its oil production averaged 180,000 bpd, down from 350,000 bpd before secession from Sudan, amid plans to increase crude oil production.

About 90% of South Sudan government's revenue comes from oil resources, while the rest is collected in form of customs taxes, market taxes, road taxes, income tax, permits, among others.

(ST)

The women of Africa have been dominating this past year and in this video, we show just some of that.

December 22, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and Ethiopia expressed the need to settle border issues and develop bilateral cooperation to fit with the strong relations between the people of the two neighbouring countries.

Sudanese and Ethiopian delegations started in Khartoum on Wednesday the meetings of the Ethiopia-Sudan High-Level Political Committee to discuss bilateral cooperation and recent border clashes.

The visiting Ethiopian delegation was chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonen while the Cabinet Affairs Minister Omer Munis chaired Sudanese side.

In his speech at the opening session of the bilateral political committee, Mekonen said the Sudanese military operations led to the death of several civilians, destroyed their belongings and farms.

The Ethiopian government is "very much concerned by this recent development in the border areas. Furthermore, it is endangering the agreements we have reached to maintain the status quo in the area north of Mount Dagelish," he said in his speech extended to Sudan Tribune.

"Therefore, it is our firm position that reactivating the existing mechanisms and finding an amicable solution on settlement and cultivation are the only way to bring a lasting solution to the issues in our common border," further said the minister who is from the Amhara region.

The minister did not raise the recent cross border attacks by the Ethiopian army of the Fano militiamen against the Sudanese army inside its territory which are seen by the Sudanese side as the main issue of discord.

Sudanese officials also were dismayed with the accusations directed by Ethiopian lawmakers accusing Sudan of backing the TPLF fighters despite the assurances made by Al-Burhan during his visit to Addis Ababa in November 2020.

Addressing the opening session of the committee's meeting, Munis indicated "the strong political will of the two parties to demarcate the borders between the two countries," said the office of the Sudanese prime minister.

The Sudanese official reaffirmed the historical and strong relations between the two countries and underscored that the meeting would determine a date for the start of the border demarcation process.

This will contribute to "Resolving the outstanding issues between the two parties regarding the issue of borders," he stressed.

The government spokesman Faisal Mohamed Saleh made things more clear about the position of his country when he told reports in Khartoum that the most important now is to demarcate the border.

"When the borders are demarcated, we can discuss anything, including the issue of Ethiopian farmers on the Sudanese territory. This is the official position of the Sudanese government," he stressed.

During a recent meeting for the IGAD countries in Djibouti, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed thanked the bloc leaders for their support for his government to quell the dissent in Tigray and to preserve Ethiopia's integrity.

In a related development, the Ethiopian Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges discussed with her Sudanese counterpart, ways to develop Ethiopian use for Port Sudan.

Moges also discussed with the Sudanese Minister of Energy and Mining, Khairy Abdel-Rahman the supply and distribution of oil products as well as possible projects that the two countries can jointly develop.

(ST)

December 22, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Three civilians have been injured during several attacks by soldiers belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Bobaya village, South Kordofan last week, a local group said on Tuesday.

The attacks took place as part of government raids against those suspected to be sympathizers with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), a rebel group led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu. Two of the victims survived with injuries to their limbs while the third victim, a herder, is being treated for a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The Human Rights and Development Organization (HUDO) has released a statement calling for the Sudanese government to investigate the incidents and hold the responsible officers accountable for violating civilians' right to life.

The statement also calls for “Sudan government at the state and central level to urgently investigate the state of insecurity in South Kordufan/Nuba Mountains and to solve it urgently.”

Despite the cases being reported to local Dilling police, the investigations have not been followed upon.

“Currently, there is a lot of insecurity in Nuba Mountains/ South Kordufan State than before… This raised fear among residents that more attacks may happen,” the organization added.

(ST)

A lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene services have put approximately 250,000 children, displaced by escalating crises in a northern province of Mozambique, at risk from deadly diseases, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned. 

Reports of artillery strikes on civilians and mass killings of non-combatants in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, must be investigated and full access granted to independent investigators, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday. 

December 21, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan shut its borders to travellers coming from Britain, South Africa and the Netherlands due to fears about a highly infectious variant of coronavirus.

“The Civil Aviation Authority notified all carrier companies operating in Sudan to implement the decision from December 23, 2020, until January 5, 2021,” reads a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Monday.

The ban on passengers coming from the three countries is applicable regardless of their nationalities, or whether they are arriving through direct or indirect flights, further said the statement.

The new variant of coronavirus is more able to transmit the respiratory disease than other variants.

The new variant appeared first in London last September but cases of the new strain were also detected in the Netherlands in early December.

It is worth noting that many European countries have cut transport links with the UK. However, some of them such as Italy and Germany say they identified cases of the new strain.

(ST)

South Sudan's FVP Riek Machar (Reuters photo)

December 21, 2020 (DJIBOUTI) – The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has lifted travel restrictions imposed on South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar.

The decision, reached during the 38th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the regional bloc (IGAD) held in Djibouti on Sunday, implies that the South Sudanese opposition leader is now free to travel to any of the IGAD member states.

The summit mainly discussed ongoing regional peace and security initiatives.

“[The Assembly Heads of State and Government] underscored that currently there are no travel restrictions of any kind imposed by IGAD on the First Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan, Dr Riek Machar Teny,” partly reads a communique issued at the end of the summit.

The IGAD member countries are Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea.

Meanwhile, regional leaders attending the summit congratulated the South Sudan's transitional government of national unity and the parties for “commendable progress” made in the implementation of the revitalised agreement on resolution of the country's conflict.

The summit further applauded the progress made in the formation of state and local government structures, in particular the appointment of nine out of the 10 state governors, as well as the agreement on the allocation of positions at state and county levels.

The meeting, convened by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of Sudan, also Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly, was attended by Presidents Ismail Omar Guelleh (Djibouti), Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Mohamed Abdullahi (Somalia), Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, South Sudan's Vice President, Nyandeng and Uganda's envoy to Djibouti, Ambassador Rebecca Otengo.

(ST)

Novatus and Onyango describe the challenges faced by men as victims of rape in Africa.

December 21, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese army on Monday expelled Ethiopian troops and militiamen from Salam Br area on the Sudanese side of the international border between the two countries.

The border area on Monday witnessed fierce clashes between the Sudanese army and the Ethiopian forces which led to the death of a soldier and several other wounded.

"The Sudanese army has continued its military operations to regain control of the agricultural areas, as it penetrated to Greater Fashaga after recapturing Abu Teyyour area," military sources told the Sudan Tribune correspondent.

"An army force took the control of two camps for Ethiopian troops and militias in the Salam Br area," the sources further said.

The Ethiopian forces built two large camps for several years ago in Salam Br, 15 km inside the Sudanese border.

The Ethiopian troops, from the Amhara region, waged severe attacks on the Sudanese army since last April.

The outbreak of the Tigray crisis and a recent attack on a Sudanese force patrolling the border triggered Khartoum's decision to control the whole international border in line with the 1902 agreement.

In the same context, the Sudanese army deployed its troops in Mahaj area, which is located south of Lugdi town, of the Tigray region.

The army reported that an Ethiopian militia, presumably Fano militiamen, attacked Alosra area inside the Sudanese border. They shot a shepherd in the area.

Amhara militiamen have played a significant role in the fight against the TPLF fighters of Tigray.

A joint committee from Sudan and Ethiopia will meet to discuss the border issue on Tuesday.

(ST)

An Italian pathologist is trying to identify the migrants on a boat that sank in the Mediterranean in 2015.

December 21, 2020 (WASHINGTON) - U.S. lawmakers finally approved a bill reinstating Sudan's sovereign immunity for after months of political wrangling.

The legislation which was endorsed by both chambers of the U.S. Congress was released as part of US government funding bill and sent to President Donald Trump to sign into law.

The 'Sudan Claims Resolution Act' would quash all terror-related claims in court with the exception of 9/11 cases currently pending.

The U.S. will also pay a portion of the 1998 embassy bombings victims $150 million to settle their claims. They constitute African victims who have later acquired US citizenship.

Furthermore, Sudan stands to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. under the funding bill including debt relief and other economic assistance.

According to the bill, the U.S. will disburse $111 million to pay off part of Sudan's bilateral debt, and $120 to help pay off its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Also, the legislation provides to support Sudan with $700 million until September 2022.

The Sudanese government signed a bilateral claims agreement with the United States last month that stipulated removing Sudan from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism and passing the ‘legal peace' bill in return for paying $335 million to settle with the victims of terror attacks.

The deal covers the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack against the USS Cole off the port of Aden in 2000 as well as the 2008 killing of USAID employee in Khartoum.

But the Senate Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee insisted that the initially proposed bill extinguishes potential claims by 9/11 families and offered their own versions that allow them to go after Sudan in courts.

Sudan warned the U.S. that its agreement on normalization with Israel will not hold unless the sovereign immunity bill is passed. This also prompted Israeli officials to lobby U.S. lawmakers to salvage the deal.

(ST)

Scores of Malian refugees in Burkina Faso have returned to a camp in the northeast of the country nine months after armed attacks and threats forced them to flee to a neighbouring town, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Monday. 

Research has revealed that the use of mobile phones whilst driving is one of the major causes of road crashes in the Ashanti Region. The Ashanti Regional Police Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) has therefore vowed to stop drivers from using mobile phones whilst driving in the region.

An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a welder to a fine of GH cent;2,400. 00 for stealing items belonging to a soldier. In default, Abdul Razak Salifu, 38, would serve five years imprisonment in hard labour.

There was drama at an Accra Circuit Court when 32 alleged secessionists discharged by the court were re-arrested and escorted to the Police headquarters. When the case was called on Monday, the Prosecution led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sylvester Asare, informed the Court that they were withdrawing the charges leveled against the accused.