Africa

The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) is told by Fifa to make key changes to its electoral process before presidential elections can take place.

By Stephen Par Kuol

The regionally coordinated policy of isolating the (SPLM/A (IO) since the breakdown of ARCISS on July 8, 2016, was syndicated by subjecting its leader, Dr Riek Machar to indefinite solitary confinement in South Africa. Initially, the publicity of his ordeal was that he was in Pretoria as a guest of the Republic of South Africa. South African authorities later disputed that without disclosing who actually detained him while on a medical visit in that country. To our disbelief and relief, the IGAD Council of Ministers Resolution dated March 26, 2018, has cleared the clouds that Dr Riek Machar was indeed and is still a political detainee of IGAD. The catchword in the wording of that document is “relocation”(not “release”) which could be legally interpreted as a transfer to another indefinite detention in another country chosen by his captors against his will. To anyone connecting the dots, it all makes sense as a manifestation of IGAD's failure to abide by the rule of law and the cardinal ethos that qualify the regional organization to mediate the peace process aiming at resolving the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. Among so many elements of injustice, in this case, the following spectral violations stand out:

1. It goes without first and foremost invoking the basic tenet of the criminal justice that deprivation of human liberty is subject to due process of law. In accordance with that universal standard, even initially lawful detention becomes arbitrary if it is not subject to speedy trial or periodic review. Hence, under the existing international law, the circumstances of Dr Machar's indefinite detention in South Africa contravene Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. That international humanitarian right covenant prohibits inhumane treatments such as kidnapping, indefinite detention, being “disappeared” with no access to court, family or friends all of which depict Dr Machar's ordeal in every jurisdiction under the existing international criminal justice system.

2. Pursuant to Article 9 (a&c) of the Cessation of Hostility Agreement (CoHA) brokered by none other than the IGAD itself, the implementation of the CoHA assigned on December 21, 2017, commences with the unconditional release of all the political detainees. This legally covers Dr Riek Machar as a political detainee of IGAD, which of course includes Kiir's regime. It must also be discerned that the tone of IGAD Council of Ministers Resolution is loaded with discordant prejudice and overt hostility against the person and persona of Dr Riek Machar in violation of Article 4(1) of CoHA, which abhors belligerent or hostile communication during this time of revitalizing ARCISS. This prejudicial tone comes out even louder in the self-incriminating coercion against Dr Machar to unilaterally renounce violence. This infers hostile prejudice portraying Dr Machar as the sole catalyst behind the ongoing violence in South Sudan.

3. Dr Riek Machar has not been formally charged with violation of any law under the IGAD jurisdiction. This makes his detention illegal by all standards of modern criminal law. The technical term for that illegal practice is” false arrest”. The mockery of justice in that political kangaroo court of IGAD is best illustrated by the conditions attached to even the relocation of this political detainee from one confinement to another under the same status. One of those conditions reads: “Riek Machar must renounce violence for IGAD to relocate him to another location to be determined by his self-appointing judges including his erstwhile political enemy( Kiir's regime). Any jurist or student of criminal law can easily discern this case of Dr Machar versus the IGAD as a malicious political persecution vanquished by the victors. It is a spectre of injustice where the victim of violence is arbitrarily victimized and the violent offender (Kiir) who has been an orgy of pogrom and genocide since December 2013 is elevated to the status of a judge to condemn his political enemy to rot in IGAD political jails.

4. Volumes of records surrounding the ongoing crisis in South Sudan have exonerated Dr Machar as a victim of political violence since December 2013. In pursuit of peace and dialogue with Salva Kiir, Dr Machar has escaped death twice from Salva Kiir who pursued him up to Gadiang in December 2013 and again up to the Grampa Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2016. Under that the sun, nothing can demonstrate Kiir's violence than those hot pursuits involving drones and warplanes. Yet, nobody is asking Salva Kiir to renounce violence. The records must also be informed that it was Dr Machar who signed the ARCISS first without any reservation and risked his own life to return to Juba under pressure and assurance by the leadership of IGAD-PLUS as guarantors that they would do everything in their power to ensure that ARCISS is implemented to that letter and spirit. Nobody needs to be reminded here that IGAD failed to do its part leading to the collapse of ARCISS. In a betrayal of Dr Machar and the people of South Sudan, IGAD did not only condone the violation of the agreement it brokered but also recognized that junta of Kiir and Taban as TGONU in violation of Article 6 (4) of ARCISS.

5. Despite all the betrayals by the IGAD and the international community, Dr Machar maintained his pursuit for peaceful settlement of the ongoing conflict even in his South African jailhouse and has written several letters to all the well placed regional and world leaders to intervene in the South Sudanese crisis by resuscitating the ARCIS. He continued with his relentless search for peace amidst military offensive by Kiir's regime until the commencement of HRF that he supported and sent high-level delegation under the leadership of his Deputy, Honorable Hennery Odwar in December 2017.

6. Dr Machar was again the first to embark on the full implementation of COHA by instructing his forces to release all POWS and stranded civilians under their custody. This has been done and witnessed by the international organizations concerned including the UNOCHA, International Red Cross and the International Rescue Committee. Kiir failed to reciprocate. The fascist regime has done the gross opposite by executing the POWs and sentencing detainees and abductees to death in violation of Article 6( a&c) of CoHA and the Geneva Convention. To date, the fascist regime has continuously attacked the opposition-held areas obstructing the delivery of the humanitarian relief and causing untold suffering to innocent civilians again in violation of Article 8(1&4) of the CoHA. It was also sensational that the IGAD Council of Ministers expressed “extreme concern on the report submitted by CTSAMM reporting flagrant violations of the CoHA by Kiir's regime during the 61st Extraordinary Meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers without asking Salva Kiir to renounce violence.

7. During the Phase II of the HLRF peace talks, the SPLM/A (IO) signed the Declaration of Principles (DoP) which Salva Kiir's regime adamantly declined to sign in protest of article 28, which provides for punitive action against the violator and spoilers. This can be easily understood as the regime's audacity to pursue violence and obstruction of the peace process. Again Salva Kiir was not asked to renounce violence and negotiate in good faith. Instead of doing the needful, the IGAD mediating team succumbed to Kiir's intransigence and made the signing of that roadmap document optional.

8. As broadly evidenced by its continued cooperation and collaboration with Kiir's regime, the IGAD has legitimized Kiir's violence by condoning all the war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Kiir's regime since December 2013. This is policy is pursued in deliberate denial of the crude reality on the ground that the people of South Sudan are currently protected from the genocidal violence of Salva Kiir's regime by the United Nations within their own states capitals and the national capital, Juba where they are confined to POCs of UNIMISS. Furthermore, there is no stronger evidence of Kiir's violence than the testimonies of the refugees and IDPs that have confirmed the ugly truth that Kiir's violence is responsible for refugee and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan. In any case, it is desolate that the IGAD member states hosting the victims of Kiir's violence as refugees have miserably failed to ask this violent warlord to renounce violence.

9. The delicate point this region and the international community keep missing is the cold and bitter truth that the ongoing civil war in South Sudan is a popular armed uprising against the oppressive and genocidal policies of Kiir's ethnocentric regime. So, reducing it to the person of Dr Riek Machar is a public insult to the collective intelligence and the dignity of the people of South Sudan who are humanly obliged to resist Kiir's oppression with Dr Machar in the fences or outside the fences of IGAD jails. If anything, it is Dr Machar's physical participation in the peace process that could bring the light closer to the end of this long dark tunnel of political violence in South Sudan. That is why the region and the world must subscribe to Dr Machar's wisdom that the only sure and practical way to permanently end the ongoing violence is signing and implementing agreements such as COH that the SPLM (IO) has so far implemented. Anything else will only prolong the suffering of the people of South Sudan.

10. Given the mountain of factual evidences presented afore, it is hereby submitted that the judgment in that political kangaroo court of IGAD is fraught with gross violation of international humanitarian and human right law, violation of CoHA, double standards and conflict of interest legally and morally disqualifying the regional organization from its current status as a mediator in the peace process to resolve the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. In the light of this overwhelming credibility crisis, the IGAD must expressly take the following actions to save whatever little credibility it might still have to continue with mediating the peace process in South Sudan: Unconditional release of Dr Riek Machar to freely participate in the peace process, putting Salva Kiir where he belongs as a warring party (not a judge or mediator), holding him responsible for violation of CoHA and obstruction of the peace process since the year 2014 and ask him to renounce violence. With this submission, I rest my case and I look forward to hearing from the IGAD kangaroo court and the verdict in the court of public opinion.

The author is the head of the SPLM (IO) Legal Team to the High Revitalization Forum in Addis-Ababa. He can be reached at kuolpar@yahoo.com

With the next phase of regionally-backed peace talks for South Sudan scheduled for later this month, a senior United Nations aid official in the country has urged the parties involved to find a political compromise and allow peace to take hold in the strife-ridden country.

Nigeria international Obafemi Martins is ruled out action for at least six months, according to his Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua.

The UK's V&A museum offers to return on loan treasures seized 150 years ago during a military battle.

Chad le Clos reveals the effect his parents' cancer struggles had on him and explains why a move to Turkey can revitalise his bid to deliver record-breaking performances at Gold Coast 2018.

The death of South Africa's veteran anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has sparked a debate about how she should be remembered.

Thousands of babies and young children are being cared for in informal - and sometimes dangerous - nurseries.

One United Nations peacekeeper was killed and 11 others were wounded early Tuesday morning when the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) was attacked by rebel fighters.

A selection of Winnie Mandela's most compelling quotes.

Ivory Coast's biggest power provider is training drone pilots to inspect electricity pylons.

Timber producers in Zimbabwe are having to diversify in an increasingly difficult market.

She defied her father as a teenager and left her village - now Peace Proscovia will captain Uganda's netball team at the Commonwealth Games.

Dirar Abohoy lives for walking on his hands. Just don't ask his mum what she thinks of his hobby.

Denouncing an attack on civilians in Nigeria’s restive north-east region, a senior United Nations humanitarian official has called on all parties to the conflict to immediately cease hostilities and ensure the protection of civilians.

South African anti-apartheid campaigner and former wife of Nelson Mandela dies aged 81.

Compare your pay to Nigerian senators, who are entitled to $37,500 a month each for expenses.

March 31, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The quadripartite committee between Sudan and Egypt would meet in Khartoum in April, said the Egyptian Ambassador to Khartoum Osama Shaltout

Sudan's FM Ibrahim Ghandour (L) meets with his Egyptian counterpart Samih Shoukri in Cairo on January 9, 2016 (Photo released by the Sudanese FM)

Following a meeting held on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January, President Omer al-Bashir and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed the tensions between the two courtiers and agreed to form a quadripartite committee to develop a roadmap to restore the relationship to the right track.

The quadripartite committee including the foreign ministers and heads of intelligence from both countries met last February in Cairo and agreed on a number of technical measures to diffuse the tensions.

The Egyptian envoy to Sudan told the semi-official Sudan Media Center (SMC) on Saturday that the meeting comes within the framework of the political and security consultations between Khartoum and Cairo.

He pointed out that the meeting of the quadripartite committee in Cairo had discussed bilateral relations and ways to address all outstanding issues between the two countries.

The tumultuous relations between Sudan and Egypt experienced last December a new crisis over media attacks against al-Bashir after a visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sudan. Also, Sudan accused Egypt and Eritrea of supporting rebel groups to attack Kassala state on the eastern border.

But the main differences remain the dispute over the border triangle area of Halayeb and the construction of Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam that Sudan backs.

(ST)

March 31, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - The Liberation and Justice Party (LJP) has demanded the African mediation to set a time limit for the resumption of the Darfur peace talks.

Tadjadine Bechir Niam (File Photo)

The LJP, which is led by Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, is one of two factions of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) which signed the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) in July 2011. The other faction, National Liberation and Justice Party (NLJP) is chaired by Tijani al-Sissi.

The semi-official Sudan Media Center (SMC) has quoted the LJP spokesperson Taj al-Din Bashir Niam as saying the armed struggle has become useless and the arms bearers have no option but to join the negotiating table.

He called on the African mediation to set a date to bring the armed movements and the government to a new round of talks soon, saying there are indications that the rebels would resort to peace.

Niam pointed out to the success of the disarmament campaign in Darfur and the return of the refugees and IDPs, saying the region is witnessing unprecedented climate of social peace.

The LJP spokesperson further underscored that the success of the peace talks in Darfur is the responsibility of all parties to the conflict.

The African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) is brokering comprehensive peace talks to end the war and achieve democratic reforms in Sudan.

The two-track process comprises the Sudanese government and opposition forces including the armed groups in Darfur and the Two Areas.

The government and the opposition Sudan Call alliance including the armed groups signed in March and August 2016 the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the AUHIP including several steps towards their participation in a national constitutional process inside Sudan.

Doha brokered the Darfur peace negotiations resulted in the signing of the DDPD by the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) in July 2011. JEM which had initiated the process rejected the deal.

Three rebel movements including SLM-MM led by Minnawi Minnawi, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Gibril Ibrahim and SLM-AW led by Abdel-Wahid al-Nour didn't join the DDPD.

JEM and SLM-MM call for opening the document for negotiations, saying some issues were ignored or not fairly treated, but Khartoum rejects such request.

In their last meeting from 9 to 14 August 2016 under the auspices of the African Union, the government, JEM and SLM-MM discussed the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement and a humanitarian access agreement.

However, the parties diverged on the location sites of rebel fighters and mechanisms for the monitoring of humanitarian assistance. Also, the two groups raised the release of their prisoners from the Sudanese jails and the need to open the DDPD for discussions.

SLM-AW, however, is not part of the African Union-mediated peace talks. The rebel group rejects negotiating a peace agreement with Khartoum government unless the government militias are disarmed and displaced civilians return to their original areas.

UN agencies estimate that over 300,000 people were killed in Darfur conflict since 2003, and over 2.5 million were displaced.

(ST)

March 30, 2018 (JUBA) - The armed opposition, SPLM-IO, denied issuing threats to wage "endless war" after the IGAD conditional decision to terminate the confinement of the group's leader in South Africa.

South Sudan's First Vice President, Riek Machar, calling for reconciliation and forgiveness at St. Thomas Parish, Juba, 29 May, 2016 (ST Photo)

Last Monday, the IGAd Council of Ministers decided to end the confinement of the armed opposition leader Riek Machar in South Africa "on conditions that ensure he will renounce violence and not obstruct the peace process and he is allowed to relocate to any country outside the region and is not neighbouring South Sudan".

Even if the decision was taken against the will of Juba government, it was seen by the supporters of the rebel group as unfair and frustrating because they believe that the regional community give more consideration to Juba in its decisions and they have always to pay the price.

There were reports by some media that a rebel official called Mawwil rejected the decision and vowed to carry out "endless war" in the country after describing the IGAD leader as "Kiir agents".

"The SPLM/SPLA (IO) wishes to emphasize that we did not issue any statement threatening to wage war. The intention behind the fabricated information is to categorise the Peoples' movement as the party inciting violence and obstructing the peace process," said a statement released by the SPLM (IO) director of information and public relations.

The rebel official further renewed the group "full commitment to the peace process and to a negotiated settlement as the sole means to end the conflict in the country".

The SPLM-IO signed a cessation of hostilities agreement with the South Sudanese government on 21 December 2017. The IGAD, African Union supported by the Troika countries said they would impose sanctions on any party that breaches the deal.

Speaking to Radio France International on 26 March, Machar's wife leading figure of the armed opposition Angelina Teny said the IGAD decision was, in fact, a transfer "from one prison to another".

"We don't know what crime he has committed that justifies him being kept for a year and a half without charge," she added.

Teny further called for more neutrality from the regional body adding it was a necessary condition to achieve a lasting peace in South Sudan.

(ST)