Africa

January 6, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Justice and Equality Movement Friday denied statements by Sudanese presidential aide that an agreement has been reached with two Darfur rebel movements on major issues at informal meetings held recently.

Chief negotiator of JEM & SLM-MM delegation Ahmed Tugud and his delegation member Sayed Sharif (C) seen after a meeting with the mediation, while the government chief negotiators listens to unidentified interlocutors on Sunday November 22, 2015 (ST Photo)

JEM, Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) and the Sudanese government last held several informal consultations meetings in Addis Ababa and Doha brokered by Uganda and U.S. special envoy for two Sudans, and Qatar.

Following his meeting with the UN Secretary-General Special Envoy, Nicholas Haysom on Wednesday, Sudanese Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid said the “government, in informal meetings held earlier, has reached an agreement with Darfur rebels on the major issues and we hope to settle the issue completely in the coming rounds of talks”.

JEM Chief Negotiator Ahmed Tugod Lissan denied that they had reached any compromise with the government since the end of the peace talks brokered by the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP).

"The Movement did not meet at all - either alone or jointly with the SLM-MM - with a National Congress Party (NCP) delegation to discuss any outstanding issues related to the cessation of hostilities or to the negotiations between the parties since the last round under the auspices of the AUHIP in Addis Ababa," Tugud said.

"We are not surprised that a leading NCP member lies because lying is part of their political methods," to cover up the massacres committed by their militiamen or the failure of the dialogue process, he added

In their last meeting from 9 to 14 August 2016, the government, JEM and SLM-MM discussed the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement and a humanitarian access agreement. The two deals are part of confidence building measures conceived by the mediation to pave the way for an inclusive national dialogue conference inside Sudan.

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 their prisoners from the Sudanese jails and the need to open the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) for discussions.

At the time, the AUHIP criticized the position of the two armed groups saying they “re-opened numerous issues that had previously been agreed and others which contradicted the Roadmap Agreement”. Also the mediation disclosed they refused the options the mediation proposed on the location sites of fighter.

In a bid to break the deadlock, U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, Donald Booth, and before him President Yoweri Museveni organized informal and separate consultations meetings with the parties to narrow the gaps between them.

Also, Qatari Deputy Prime Minister tasked with the implementation of the DDPD Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud and the head of UNAMID and Joint Chief Mediator Martin Uhomoibhi met with the two parties and made some proposals.

(ST)

January 6, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir expressed readiness and optimism of forging new working relations with the new Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, saying his administration appreciate and wants to enhance better working relations with the new leadership

“Sometimes situation creates misunderstanding, it creates confusion but with leadership, these challenges can be turned into opportunity to address the issues of concern. I extend you, your Excellency, on behalf of the people of South Sudan and the government the support your office would require so that we all work together in championing universal principles and ideals enshrined in the UN charter”, president Kiir said in a congratulatory message address to the new Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, who assumed office this week.

Kiir said he would like the United Nations and other western countries to look at South Sudan as a member state with equal rights, sovereignty and leadership ready to work with the global community.

He said sanctions and arms embargo would not solve the problem but rather support for peaceful dialogue and nonpartisan engagement of the international community would address the conflict.

“We say sanctions and arms embargo would not contribute to addressing the issues of war, instead they will exacerbate and undermine the process”, he added in a 1st January 2017 message seen by Sudan Tribune on Friday.

The message is his first official reaction to a draft resolution by the United States, backed by Britain and France, seeking to impose arms embargo after it warned of a risk of impending mass atrocities and genocide.

The measure, however, fell short of the nine votes needed for adoption in the 15-member council.

Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Venezuela and three African council members — Angola, Egypt and Senegal, abstained from the voted after they all expressed serious reservations.

Activists and human right groups viewed the rejection of the arms embargo a setback for the United States, which helped South Sudan to gain independence in 2011 but has been unable to steer the country away from a war that erupted two years later.

If the proposal was approved it would have seen rebel leader Riek Machar, Chief of General Staff of the government forces and a key ally of President Kiir, Paul Malong and Information Minister Michael Makuei, put on a sanctions blacklist and subjected to an assets freeze and a global travel ban.

Japan, which has some 350 troops serving in the UN mission in South Sudan, has argued that the measures, if adopted, would antagonize President Kiir's government and put peacekeepers' lives at risk.

Opponents of the sanctions point to Kiir's call earlier this month for a national dialogue process to restore peace, saying that initiative must be given a chance.

However, the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was backing the U.S. push for sanctions on South Sudan, saying an embargo would reduce the capacity of all sides to wage war.

"If we fail to act, South Sudan will be on a trajectory towards mass atrocities," Ban told the Council. The proposal provides for a one-year ban on the “supply, sale or transfer” of “arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment” as well as spares parts.

The world's youngest nation, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead and more than 3.1 million people displaced.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power argued at the time of failing to secure the support of other members that all sides were mobilizing for more fighting and that action was needed to prevent a bloodbath.

"The situation is not getting better, but worse, and we are sitting on our hands," Power told the council on Monday. "Large-scale attacks could start at any moment."

Russian Deputy Ambassador Petr Iliichev expressed different view of the warning and cast doubt over warnings of a risk of genocide, arguing that criminal groups and "undisciplined" troops were responsible for mass violence, and not the government's policy.

There is growing alarm over the humanitarian crisis in the country as the conflict enters its fourth year.

More than 6 million people — half of South Sudan's population — are in need of urgent aid and humanitarian organizations expect this number to rise by 20 to 30 percent next year.

Some 1.3 million South Sudanese have fled across borders as refugees, including 383,000 who have fled to Uganda since July, according to UN figures.

(ST)

By Trayo A. Ali

On January first 2017 Sudan celebrated Sixty One anniversary of its Independence Day. Unfortunately, neither the political environment is pretty cozy nor the public mood is festive to stomach the occasion. It is rather all out grief, state of mourning, and sorrow. The news is polluted and the air is contaminated with blood. The smell is all gun-powder than an odour. Orphan children, street boys and school dropped youngsters out number their age group who have access to milk, bread, butter and class room. The horizon is getting ever darker and hopes getting dashed. It's a suffocating air. The Six Decades of the independence are lost case and the ordinary Sudanese manages to erase the bad memories while the government insist to force and fool by way of a fake celebration. The government should stop selling the wind to boats.

Hailing the conquered is never the answer
The state of Sudan is a failure case and the Six Decades of the claimed Independence are a lost ones. What is there then to celebrate for it at all?.
The independence is meaningless and celebration is worthless unless it's totally associated with the welfare of the people. Progress, prosperity, voluntary unity, peace, security, stability, equality and education for all.
The independence anniversary is usually considered as a time to exercise sober reflection, soul searching and self reexamination for stock taking.
The true independence is measured up by indicators that answer questions such as:
How much prosperity and welfare of the citizen is achieved? How equal are the concerned citizens? How dignified are they before their state? How much security they enjoy? How much its leaders (men or women) are of integrity who cheer accountability? How affordable the necessary services to the disposal of the citizen (education, health, food, clean water, shelter, electricity and roads)? How clean the environment?
This is how the relevancy of any independence is measured. Ask the Koreans, the Ghanaians, the Tanzanians, the Senegalese and the rest of the Sexagenarian nations. All are age group of the Sudan.
The Britons have every right to question the ability and stamina of Sudanese leaders for self management.

The missing link is visionary leadership
"He who has nothing can offer nothing". How can any independence be credible and meaningful if it only generates death, misery, abject poverty, hunger, wars, diseases, ignorance, corruption, thievery, greed, nepotism, racism, hatred, genocide, indiscipline, abuse of power, brutality, displacement, refuge, insensitivity, frustration, extremism, intolerance, exclusion, marginalization, dishonesty, divisions, mediocrity, dependency ?. It only takes a crook regime like the Islamist NCP government to insist on presenting false facts to fool its citizens. You can fool some peole some time or all people for some time but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
So what the celebration for?. Aren't we exercising a kind of self deception in hailing the conquered instead of hailing the conqueror hero? Aren't we only adding insult to injury?. Stupid level of ostracization and a state of living in denial

Challenges and fundamentals. None is fixed
How can the independence be relevant and worth celebrating if it was not able to identify the challenges and failed to fix the fundamentals ? .

Searching for identity: Zebra, Donkey or Zonkey ?
No nation can conduct its affair in this manner. Any meaningful progress and development can only take place in the context of redefined identity acceptable to all. What does it mean when a president of nation confess and publicly declares that his country has failed to redefine its identity after six decades of its independence? Does this situation deserve to be celebrated?
Strange for a sexagenarian nation searching for identity ? Unable to identify itself whether Is it Zebra, donkey or Zonkey ? Are we celebrating Zebra, or donkey or Zonkey for a Zonkey is a hybrid. The celebrators should tell us.

Indeed Fire gives birth to ashes
Sudan (once a cradle of African civilization) is in state of evaporation. It is reduced into smoke. Professor Leopold Senghor of Senegal statement clicks our memory. He once noted that "Sudan made the worst choice. Instead of becoming the best of Africans it chose to be the worst of Arabs". Indeed history does not have a mercy upon a fool who mess and tamper with it. The circumstances will dictate upon a kind of revenge you deserve. It is humiliating.

Aluta must continua till the beautiful ones are born.
Sudanese must continue to fight for conditions that deserve a meaningful and useful celebration. They should first liberate themselves from the yoke of dictatorship. Dignity must reign, prosperity must prevail. Peace and security of the citizen must be the order of the day. That was when it give birth to the beautiful ones. They are not yet born. Only then they can have enjoyable, credible and sustainable independence that is truly independent. Only then Sudan deserve national celebration.

African Peace Information Service (APIN). He can be reached at saharaclub2015@gmail.com

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(Dakar) – The government of President Yahya Jammeh, defeated in Gambia’s December presidential election, has arbitrarily arrested opposition sympathizers and closed three independent radio stations in the past week, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. Jammeh is required under Gambia’s Constitution to cede power to President-elect Adama Barrow by January 19, 2017.

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Supporters of president-elect Adama Barrow celebrate Barrow's election victory in Banjul, Gambia on December 2, 2016. © 2016 Reuters

Since December 31, intelligence agents have arrested and briefly detained at least six people for wearing or selling T-shirts bearing the logo of the #Gambiahasdecided movement, which has called for Jammeh to respect the election results and step down. Several senior members of the movement have fled Gambia after receiving credible threats from alleged National Intelligence Agency (NIA) officers. On January 1, 2017, intelligence agents forcibly closed three private radio stations, depriving Gambians of independent sources of information during this critical period.

“The targeting of the #Gambiahasdecided movement and the closure of private radio stations threaten the rights of Gambians to express their opposition to Jammeh’s attempt to stay in power,” said Jim Wormington, West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It’s at times like this that free expression is most crucial.”

Jammeh publicly conceded defeat the day after the December 1, 2016 election, but then rejected the results on December 9, criticizing what he called the “treacherous” Independent Election Commission (IEC) for its lack of independence. Gambian security forces on December 13 evicted Alieu Momarr Njai, the commission chairman, and his staff from their headquarters. Njai subsequently told Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that he feared for his safety, and on December 30, he left Gambia to seek refuge abroad.

Jammeh’s party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), on December 13 filed a challenge to the election results in the Supreme Court. Because the Supreme Court has no permanent associate judges, and so hearing the case would require Jammeh to appoint new justices, the Gambian Bar Association has said this appeal is “fundamentally tainted.”

The targeting of the #Gambiahasdecided movement and the closure of private radio stations threaten the rights of Gambians to express their opposition to Jammeh’s attempt to stay in power. It’s at times like this that free expression is most crucial. Jim Wormington

West Africa Researcher

Jammeh’s refusal to accept the election results has been widely condemned internationally, including by the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). On December 17, ECOWAS said that when Jammeh’s term ends on January 19, Barrow “must be sworn in” and promised to “take all necessary actions” to enforce the election results.

Sources in Gambia described to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International how intelligence agents detained two men, Alpha Sey and Muhammed Kuyateh, wearing #Gambiahasdecided T-shirts on the evening of December 31. One witness said five men in civilian clothes forced Sey into a white pickup truck. “They asked to have a word with him and, after a brief conversation, they just pushed him into the car,” the witness said. “Sey was the only one wearing a #Gambiahasdecided T-shirt, and I heard him say, ‘There’s no need for me to get in the car, I can just take it off.’ But they forced him in anyway.”

Another witness described how on December 31, men in civilian clothes forced Kuyateh into a vehicle in Bakoteh, a suburb of Banjul, apparently for wearing a #Gambiahasdecided T-shirt. Kuyateh and Sey were held incommunicado at NIA headquarters, then released on bail on January 3, 2017.

Intelligence officers detained three store managers selling #Gambiahasdecided merchandise in the Westfield area of Serrekunda on the evening of December 31. Ebrima Sambou, Mamie Serreh, and Isatou Jallow told Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that the intelligence officers came to their shops and confiscated T-shirts and other materials featuring the text #Gambiahasdecided, or graphics supportive of president-elect Barrow or the opposition coalition. They were then taken to the intelligence agency headquarters in Banjul, where they were questioned about the suppliers of this merchandise, and released a few hours later.

The store merchandise has not been returned. Serreh said that before she was released, an intelligence officer told her, “Anything you say about this, it will come back to you.” The wife of another of the store managers left Gambia soon after his release, fearing for her safety. Intelligence officers also reportedly detained a coalition supporter, Wandifa Kanyi, for selling T-shirts in Serrekunda on January 2. Kanyi was released on January 3.

Two founding members of the #Gambiahasdecided movement, Salieu Taal and Raffi Diab, fled Gambia on December 31, after receiving what they believe was credible information of their imminent detention by the intelligence agency. The agency has a long track record of arbitrarily arresting opposition activists, many of whom were tortured and sometimes killed while in agency custody. Taal, the movement’s chair, said that NIA officers nearly intercepted him outside his house on December 31. “I believe Jammeh is trying to send a message, to stop us from resisting his attempt to stay in power,” he told Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. “But we won’t be intimidated.”

On January 1, intelligence agents forced three private radio stations, Teranga FM, Hilltop Radio, and Afri Radio, to go off air. Although Afri Radio was reopened again on January 3, it is not currently airing news-related material. Given the government’s control of state television and radio, private radio stations provide an important outlet for Gambians to access dissenting views and opinions, although the security forces’ history of arresting and intimidating journalists have caused many to self-censor. Teranga FM and Hilltop Radio were two stations that discussed diverse political news in local languages.

Emil Touray, president of the Gambia Press Union, told Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that the radio closures “denied Gambians several essential media outlets during a crucial phase in the country’s history.” Teranga FM has been closed three times in recent years and the station’s managing director, Alhagie Ceesay, was arrested in July 2015, beaten and tortured at the NIA headquarters, and then charged with sedition. He escaped from custody and fled abroad in April 2016.

As the deadline for Jammeh to leave office and transfer power nears, the Gambian authorities and security forces should respect and protect the rights of all Gambians to freely and peacefully express their political views and opinions, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said. Private radio stations should be free to operate without government interference or fear of reprisals.

“The risk of a crackdown against independent and critical voices will only increase as calls for Jammeh to step down intensify prior to the January 19 deadline,” said Sabrina Mahtani, West Africa researcher at Amnesty International. “The Gambian authorities must send a clear message that human rights abuses, including by members of the security forces, will not be tolerated and that those responsible for abuses during the transition will be adequately investigated and prosecuted.”

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January 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Khartoum and Juba governments Thursday signed an agreement extending river and land transit of international humanitarian assistance for the South Sudanese civilians for a six month period.

In July 2014, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to open a humanitarian corridor to deliver food assistance to vulnerable South Sudanese through the Nile river or by road.

The cross-border operation allows the World Foord Programmes (WFP) to reduce the costly airlift or airdrop operations in a time where the international agency faces serious financial challenges.

The MoU was signed by the Sudanese Deputy Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Ahmed Mohamed Osman and South Sudanese Ambassador to Khartoum, Mayan Dut Waal.

Speaking to the media following the signing ceremony, the Sudanese humanitarian official said the extension of the agreement contributes to consolidate human relations between the two countries.

He further stressed that the Sudanese government would continue to exert the needed efforts with international partners to deliver humanitarian assistance to the affected people in South Sudan.

"We reaffirm the keenness of the government of Sudan to provide all possible facilities for the passage of humanitarian aid into South Sudan," he added.

River transport of goods across the joint stopped after the border's closure following South Sudan's independence in 2011 as Khartoum accused Juba of supporting Sudanese rebels in the Two Areas.

The resumption of river and road transport enabled the WFP to deliver hundreds of metric tons of food to South Sudanese. Barges loaded of food reached South Sudanese in the Upper Nile state towns of Renk and Wadakona.

(ST)

January 5, 2017 (JUBA) - A top South Sudanese rebel commander has been killed after squabbles erupted over the allegiance and the objective of the armed struggle.

Gabriel Tanginye shakes hands with leading members of the Nuer tribal community in Unity state, Bentiu on October 19, 2010 (AP)

Gabriel Tanginye was killed on Wednesday during a clash in which more than 20 others lost lives. The exact circumstances under which the attack took place remain unclear. Military sources and relatives have provided conflicting accounts surrounding the incident.

Military spokespersons representing two rebel leaders, Lam Akol and RiekMachar, confirmed his death in separate statements without elaborating on the circumstances under the attack was carried and which the sides initiated it.

Tanginye was one of the senior rebel commanders who switched side from the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition under the overall command and leadership of the former vice president, Riek Machar before the signing of the 2015 peace agreement.

He remains one of the holdout rebel commanders and did not join Machar when the new conflict resumed.

He opted to remain at South Sudan-Sudanese border as independent commander until Lam Akol resigned from the unity government in which he served as the minister of agriculture and formed his own rebel movement.

Sources say Akol later recruited Tanginye as one of his commanders. Others refute the reports of having joined Akol, saying Tanginye was only in the area under the control of Akol's commander Yohanis Okech, whose headquarters came under attack on Wednesday by a group allied to Machar, resulting in the clash in which several lives, including Tanginye and his son were lost.

“As far I know, I don't think Tanginye was one of the commanders under Lam Akol. He was only in the area preparing to go to Fangak area, where he wanted to carry out his own recruitment.

His mission to the area took sometimes due to logistics and so he decided to stay with Yohanis Okich, who is the commander of the forces under Lam Akol. He was there because of personal relations between the two men. They are friends”, a source with the direct knowledge of the situation told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

The source explained Tanginye became the victim of an internal conflict between Okich and Johnson Olony, who is the commander, allied to Riek Machar forces in the area.

(ST)

One of the schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok by Boko Haram is found with her six-month-old baby.

January 5, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese Interior Minister, Ismat Abdel Rahman Zein al-Abdin, Wednesday has called for the intervention of the army to end the control of armed militias over gold mines in North Darfur State.

Interior minister Ismat Abdel-Rahman (SUNA Photo)

Responding to a questions by a Sudanese lawmaker about presence of foreigners at the gold mines in North Darfur State, the minister admitted that the Jebel Amir gold mines are under the control of "foreign elements, and some dual national armed tribal groups in the region".

Fighting between two government allied Arab militias of Bani Hussein and Abbala Rizeigat tribes during the year 2013 resulted in the death of over 800 people and displaced 105,000 others. Since, the Abbala militiamen control the area.

In their report of July 2016, UN experts said Abbala militiamen under the control of Musa Hilal control at least 400 mines. They said the group earns some $54 million annually from levies on prospectors and support businesses, direct prospecting and the illegal exporting of mined gold.

"They are more than 3,000 heavily armed foreigners riding four-wheel-drive vehicles in the gold rich area in addition to other foreigners the interior ministry was not able to count because of the 'overlapping tribal ties in Jebel Amir," said the minister.

"The Ministry is in need of heavy machinery and tanks to break up the heavily armed groups." further said Ismat who is a former Chief of Staff of the Sudan Armed Forces.

He disclosed that an inter-ministerial meeting will be held next week including officials from the North Darfur State; ministry of minerals, interior ministry and other services to discuss the needed solutions and to mull over a plan on how to intervene in the area.

The minister stressed that the alone police would not be able to face what he called "the enormous quantity of foreigners", pointing they had failed to control the area in the past because of the huge military machinery of foreign miners and people with dual nationality.

"We cannot confront this colossal quantity of vehicles, and we need to advanced weapons," he said.

(ST)

January 4, 2017 (YAMBIO) – Hundreds of citizens, mostly women and children from South Sudan's Gbudue state have reportedly fled their homes and are currently taking refuge in schools around Yambio town as a result of the killings and burning of houses along the Rimenze-Yambio road.

The map of Western Equatoria in red

An elderly man who spoke to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity, said he fled due to fears he could be killed after all homes within his neighbourhood were set ablaze and properties looted.

“We are running away from our homes fearing death and all our belonging have been looted and houses are burnt and we decided to flee to Yambio town where life can be better for us,” he explained.

A few dead bodies, he added, were lying on the road between Rimenze and Yambio.

Eye witnesses have accused government's organized forces, who were deployed to the area to provide security, for the allegedly killing innocent people and burning their houses while warning the community in the area to evacuate and leave the area for destruction. Those who resisted were allegedly killed.

On Wednesday, the acting state governor, Victor Edward visited displaced persons in Nabima primary school and brief the displaced people about the situation, assuring them that calm would be restored.

“We are going for a security meeting to discuss about the safety of the community, if it is the organized forces who were deployed there are the problem, we will call them back from those areas,” said Edward.

The security situation in Gbudue state continues to worsen after the Christmas and New Year periods, as armed men have continued looting, while over five civilians were reported killed in the same period.

Meanwhile, World Vision, UNICEF, and the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission are reportedly conducting assessment in order to supply the necessary humanitarian assistance to the population.

(ST)

January 04, 2017 (JUBA) – Authorities in South Sudan's Jongeli state have assured citizens of security after several cattle raids and child abductions blamed on Murle tribesmen from neighbouring Boma state.

Jonglei state governor, Phillip Aguer speaks during the independence occassion July 9, 2016 (ST)

The governor of Jonglei, Philip Aguer said he was closely working with his Boma counterpart, Baba Medan Konyi and the national government to devise a proper plan for identifying the suspects.

"When we join hands with Boma [state] and South Sudan army, the unknown criminals will be known this dry season," stressed Aguer.

Cattle raiding and child abductions rocked Jonglei state in December last year, while an attack on Christmas day in Twic North county left over a dozen people dead and several others injured.

Although both raids were blamed on Murle tribesmen from Boma state, its officials have repeatedly denied involvement of their people.

The raids increased at the time both states were engaged in peaceful resolution of the tribal hostilities. A peace agreement between Bor and Pibor was signed on 4 December, 2016 - only to be followed by several attacks north and south of Jonglei.

In the agreement facilitated by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the two states agreed to form a joint police force to patrol the borders of the rival communities and arrest cattle raiders.

However, the 500-strong joint police force is yet to be established.

(ST)

January 4, 2017 (JUBA) - Government official who just ended a visit to Yei says South Sudanese in the volatile Yei River State have called on President Salva Kiir to end war in and achieve reconciliation.

S. Sudan cabinet minister Martin Elia Lomoro (Photo KT Press)

UN officials including UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, issued reports about the deterioration of the security situation and massive displacement of civilians in Yei.

On Wednesday the delegation which had been led by the First Vice President Taban Deng Gai presented a report President Salva Kiir, petitioning him personally to reach out and speak out directly to the aggrieved population.

Cabinet affairs minister Martin Elia Lomuro told reporters that every group they met has a special message to the President. So they decided to compile all the messages they were given by various groups into a single and detailed report.

“You know every group we met and held discussion with them has a special message to the president. Their messages are all about peace, they want the war to stop. " said Lomuro.

"They want their people come out from wherever they have run and return to their homes. They also want reconciliation and indeed I accept. This country needs to reconcile,” he stressed.

The minister who was part of the two-day visit to Yei said the journey was a successful mission, as they met all components of the government and civil society including traditional leader.

"We met with the governor and his cabinet members, members of parliament, traditional leaders, youth, women, members of the civil society, everybody," he said.

Last October, a delegation led former governor of Central Equatoria state, Clement Wani Konga, who is the current presidential advisor for special affairs with Daniel Awet Akot, presidential advisor on political affairs was in Yei to assess the security situation and the causes on the attacks on civilians by the government forces.

Local youth groups loyal to the SPLM-Io leader Riek Machar carried out attacks on the government forces. The latter launched reprisal assaults on the civilians in a bid to quell the insurgency.

Following a visit to the area last November, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide told reporters in Juba about violence escalating along ethnic lines, and mentioned the risk of a genocide there.

He also made a report to the UN Security Council where spoke about fears among local population

"When I visited, there was widespread fear among the population. One person told me in desperation, “Tonight I don't know what will happen to me.” An elder expressed terror that his community would be “finished.” Dieng told the Security Council.

(ST)

A malaria vaccine has passed a "critical milestone" in human safety trials, say researchers