Africa

(Kinshasa) – Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila should make a public commitment before the end of his second term, on December 19, 2016, to respect the constitution and leave office, Human Rights Watch said today. Failing to do so will increase the likelihood of major violence and government abuses in the coming days and weeks.

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President Joseph Kabila at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 24, 2013.

© 2013 Reuters

Government repression against activists, political opposition leaders, peaceful protesters, and others who oppose attempts to extend Kabila’s presidency has escalated in recent months, Human Rights Watch said. Ongoing talks between the opposition and the ruling coalition, mediated by the Catholic Church, have not resolved the political impasse, while Kabila has repeatedly refused to declare if and when he will step down.

“There is a grave risk that Congo could descend into widespread violence and chaos in the coming days, with potentially volatile repercussions across the region,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “President Kabila is the one person who can prevent this, by making a clear, public commitment to step down and by ending the violent repression by those under his command.”

Congolese across the country have been mobilizing for large-scale demonstrations beginning on December 19 to pressure Kabila to leave office. In addition, leaders of armed groups in the eastern part of the country have said that the army and police will no longer be “legitimate” after December 19, increasing the likelihood of armed conflict. The country’s brittle security forces could fracture if Kabila relies on force to stay in power, and Congo’s neighboring countries could become involved, as they have during past fighting in Congo.

Throughout the country, government officials and security forces have repeatedly banned opposition demonstrations and fired teargas and live bullets on peaceful protesters. During one of the deadliest crackdowns, in the capital, Kinshasa, from September 19 to 21, security forces killed at least 66 protesters, Human Rights Watch found, and possibly many more as demonstrators protested the electoral commission’s failure to announce presidential elections. Some burned to death when the Republican Guard presidential security detail attacked opposition party headquarters. Security forces took away the bodies of many victims. Some were thrown into the Congo River and later found washed up on its shores.

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Over the past three months, Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 75 victims, witnesses, security force officers, and others about the September crackdown and received credible reports of over 30 additional people killed by security forces.

Since January 2015, Congolese authorities have arbitrarily arrested scores of activists and opposition leaders, some of whom the intelligence services held incommunicado for weeks or months while mistreating or torturing them, while others were tried on trumped-up charges. The government has shut down Congolese media outlets close to the opposition, at least six of which remain blocked. The signal for Radio France Internationale (RFI), the most important international news outlet in Congo, has been blocked in Kinshasa since November 5.

One of the September protesters told Human Rights Watch that soldiers arrested him on September 19, put him in an army truck, and drove him around Kinshasa for several hours. He said he witnessed soldiers shooting at a group of peaceful protesters outside of their truck: “When we drove by a group of young men gathered together, they started shooting. ‘You shot him in the neck but he isn’t dead,’ one of the soldiers said. ‘Shoot again,’ the other said.”

Some protesters in Kinshasa turned violent, beating or burning to death at least four police officers and one bystander. They also burned and looted police stations, a courthouse, public surveillance cameras, Chinese-owned shops, buildings associated with majority party officials, and other places seen as being close to or representative of Kabila and his government. Human Rights Watch found that police officers and members of youth leagues mobilized by ruling party officials and security force officers were also involved in the violence and looting.

After the September protests, authorities banned political meetings and rallies in Kinshasa. On several occasions when the political opposition or pro-democracy youth groups attempted to organize demonstrations or rallies, security forces fired teargas to disperse groups, arrested organizers, or surrounded opposition leaders’ homes to prevent them from leaving. Unidentified assailants have also attacked several opposition leaders’ homes in recent weeks. Over 100 pro-democracy youth activists, representatives from the opposition youth leagues, musicians, and journalists have been arrested since October in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Goma, and Bunia – most while planning or mobilizing participation in planned protests. At least a dozen remain in detention.

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In all, at least 40 opposition leaders and supporters and pro-democracy youth activists remain in detention across Congo, some of them held since early 2015. Others have been charged or convicted during politically motivated judicial proceedings and are living in exile. Human Rights Watch has documented cases in which senior intelligence agents and officials from the presidency interfered in judicial proceedings, dictating the charges and judgments and compelling judges to comply.

On December 12, 2016, the European Union and United States announced targeted sanctions – including travel bans and assets freezes – against nine senior Congolese officials who have played a key role in the repression over the past two years.

“The EU and US sanctions send an unequivocal message that those responsible for planning, ordering, or executing violent repression will face consequences – no matter how senior their rank or position,” Roth said. “Kabila and other senior officials should end repressive measures, allow peaceful protests, order security forces not to use excessive force, release political prisoners, drop unjust charges against political leaders and activists, and allow barred media outlets to reopen.”

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, can also play a critical role in helping to mitigate violence in the coming days and weeks, Human Rights Watch said. The mission should do all it can with available resources to protect civilians, including by using its presence in Kinshasa and other large cities as a deterrent to violence and the use of excessive force by Congolese security forces. The mission should also be prepared to rapidly deploy peacekeepers to security incidents across the country.

“Congo’s regional and international partners should mobilize at the highest levels in the coming days to help prevent the situation from spiraling out of control,” Roth said. “Clear messages should be delivered to President Kabila, urging him to make a public commitment to step down and to ensure the security forces use maximum restraint. They should also signal that it will not be ‘business as usual’ in their relations with Congo should Kabila hold on to power by force.”

September Protests and Aftermath

The September 19, 2016 demonstrations against the electoral commission’s failure to announce presidential elections took place in Kinshasa, Kalemie, Mbandaka, Matadi, Bandundu, Kananga, Bukavu, Goma, Butembo, and Beni. Outside the capital, the authorities arrested at least 29 people that day. They were later released.

In Kinshasa, the protests and government response quickly turned violent and lasted for three days. Human Rights Watch found that security forces used excessive and unnecessary lethal force, killing at least 66 people on September 19, 20, and 21. The actual figure could be much higher. Human Rights Watch has received credible reports of over 30 other people killed by security forces. Some protesters resorted to violence, killing at least four policemen and a bystander.

The violence Human Rights Watch documented took place in Kinshasa’s Limete, Matete, Masina, Lemba, Kasavubu, Ndjili, Ngaliema, Kimbanseke, Ngaba, Kisenso, and Kalamu neighborhoods.

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Map provided courtesy of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

© 2012 OCHA

Human Rights Watch interviewed six Congolese security force and intelligence officers, who said that members of the Republican Guard presidential security detail – including some Republican Guard units deployed in police uniforms – were responsible for much of the excessive force used during the demonstrations, firing on protesters with live ammunition and attacking at least three opposition party headquarters.

“The order was given to suppress the demonstrators so that they wouldn’t succeed in their mission,” one officer said. “The order was given to do everything so they didn’t enter Gombe [the part of the capital where most government buildings, the presidency, and embassies are located].” Another said the orders were to “crush” the demonstrations. Republican Guard soldiers, army soldiers, and police who would be deployed in Kinshasa the week of September 19 were paid bonuses on September 16 to motivate them for a strong response during the demonstrations, a security officer said.

Several officers said that Gen. Gabriel Amisi, army commander of the first zone of defense, which includes Kinshasa and other western provinces, and Gen. Ilunga Kampete, overall commander of the Republican Guard, led an operations command center in Kinshasa during the week of September 19 and gave orders to the security force units on the ground who carried out the repression. The officers also said that Colonel Ferdinand Ilunga Luyolo, commander of the National Intervention Legion of the Congolese Police (LENI), gave orders to Republican Guard troops who were deployed wearing police uniforms and armed with assault rifles and grenades during the crackdown.

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Congolese policemen arrest opposition activists participating in a march to press President Joseph Kabila to step down in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, September 19, 2016. 

© 2016 Reuters

Youth recruited by security force officers and government officials, including Youth and Sports Minister Denis Kambayi, were paid to infiltrate the demonstrations. A member of the ruling party’s youth league said Kambayi and other party officials recruited him and other youth, paid them about US$35 each, and instructed them to “disrupt the opposition’s demonstrations and cause trouble so that it looks like the violence was sparked by the opposition.”

“We had special clothes on to help us identify each other, and we incited demonstrators to attack offices of the parties from the ruling coalition,” he said. “The protesters were really angry against those in power, so they let themselves be manipulated without realizing it. We also led them to attack public buses and other buildings associated with the ruling party.”

Kambayi, in a telephone conversation with Human Rights Watch, said that the allegations were “baseless rumors” and that he had no official connection to the ruling party’s youth league.

A youth league member associated with Vita Club, a soccer team whose president is the army officer General Gabriel Amisi Kumba, told Human Rights Watch that he was also called to a meeting in advance of the demonstrations, with General Amisi and several dozen members of the youth league. “We received instructions to create disorder among the demonstrators and to incite them to damage property,” the youth league member said. “This would then be blamed on the protest organizers. One of our members was recognized by the protesters and seriously beaten up because they understood he was an infiltrator.” Human Rights Watch contacted Amisi about the allegation but did not receive a reply.

Two Congolese security and intelligence officers told Human Rights Watch that ruling party officials and security force officers had recruited members of youth leagues and demobilized fighters to disrupt the demonstrations. “They were there to infiltrate and make the demonstrations explode [into violence] from the inside,” one said. “They would start the trouble, the demonstrators would then respond, and that would then justify the response from the police.”

In an apparent attempt to block independent observers from documenting the government repression, security forces detained eight international and Congolese journalists and two human rights and pro-democracy activists soon after the protests began on September 19. The offices of a prominent human rights organization and a civil society organization were also vandalized.

In the days following the protests, security forces conducted warrantless door-to-door searches in several parts of Kinshasa, allegedly looking for looted goods and weapons stolen from police stations. They arrested scores of young men, many of whom appear to have been targeted at random. Opposition leaders Moise Moni Della and Bruno Tshibala were also arrested on September 19 and October 9, respectively, and accused of responsibility for the September 19 violence. Tshibala was provisionally released on November 29. Martin Fayulu, another opposition leader, was badly injured when a teargas canister hit him in the head on September 19, and hospitalized for several days.

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Relatives mourn protesters killed in the September 19 and 20 demonstrations during a funeral ceremony at the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) headquarters in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, October 31, 2016. 

© 2016 Reuters

In the aftermath of the demonstrations, authorities denied relatives, activists, and independent human rights investigators access to hospitals and morgues and threatened their staff, telling them to remain silent about those injured or killed during the protests. This made it impossible for many families to bury their loved ones or obtain the compensation Kinshasa’s provincial government officials had promised.

A preliminary report by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in Congo on the protests in Kinshasa found that 53 people had been killed, including 48 by state actors; 143 people had been injured; and at least 299 arbitrarily detained. The authorities denied the UN teams access to detention facilities upon instructions from senior Defense Ministry officials, and the teams had difficulty visiting morgues. Security forces prevented two UN vehicles from reaching the demonstrations. A police agent shot teargas at one vehicle, and a sniper on top of an anti-riot police truck shot twice at another but missed.

In an October 8 “white paper,” the government said that 32 people were killed in Kinshasa on September 19-20. The government praised the police for their “professionalism” and blamed the protest organizers for having “manipulated” demonstrators, saying they were responsible for “killings, rape, pillage, arson, and willful destruction.”

Accounts From Victims, Witnesses

On September 19, some protesters tore and set fire to a poster with a photo of President Kabila in Kinshasa’s Matete neighborhood. Security forces first used teargas to disperse the protesters and then ran after them, firing live bullets into the crowd, killing at least one protester. A witness said:

When other protesters were trying to pick up the dead body, the police fired teargas to disperse the crowd and prevent them from carrying away the body. The next day, the police conducted door-to-door searches in our neighborhood, breaking down doors when residents refused to let them in. They said they were looking for the youth who had sabotaged the “symbol of power.” Many youth were arrested and others fled the neighborhood.

A member of the Innovative Forces for Union and Solidarity (FONUS) opposition party said his party headquarters was torched early on September 20 by men in military uniform:

About 4:20 a.m., we were on the balcony [of the headquarters], guarding the premises. We heard a suspicious movement outside the building and went a little closer to see what was going on. We saw a man who already had climbed over the wall and others who were trying to force the gate open. They were all armed, and they were wearing military uniforms. They had caps shielding their faces, and some had ski masks on. When they saw us, they fired three shots but we managed to flee and climb over the wall to the neighbors. We were hiding but could see them pour fuel and destroy the windows with a steel bar. In the morning, neighbors came to help us put out the fire. Then police officers came too, dispersing us with teargas as if they wanted to see the headquarters burn.

On September 20, security forces wearing police uniforms shot at protesters pillaging a Chinese-owned shop. A witness said:

I saw the police arrive to chase away the protesters who were looting. They fired live bullets at them, and three people were killed, including a man who was just walking by. The police then took all of the bodies away with them.

The uncle of a youth who was shot in the head by security forces on September 19 said that the family was not allowed to take his body out of the morgue for burial:

My nephew was shot in the head while protesting with the others on Monday [September 19]. We later learned that the Congolese Red Cross brought his body to the morgue. When we arrived at the morgue to recover his body, military police stationed at the morgue threatened us and said we would be sent to Ndolo prison [a military prison in Kinshasa]. They said they had received orders from their superiors to accuse everybody who came looking for victims of having sent their children to remove President Kabila from power.

The Red Cross later gave us a number that had been allotted to my nephew’s corpse. When we returned to the morgue, one of the staff there told us that, according to their registry, the body had already been removed. By whom and when? We have not received any response. Even if we have already held a funeral for him, we hope that the day will come that we can bury his body. We also never received the funds the governor of Kinshasa promised the relatives of victims because we haven’t received any documents from the morgue showing that the body of our nephew was brought there.

A witness told Human Rights Watch about the killing of a police officer during the demonstrations on September 19:

I saw the protesters attack the headquarters of the PPRD youth league, and as they advanced, the policeman who was guarding the building tried to resist instead of fleeing. The large crowd of protesters threw rocks at him and then set him on fire.

A Congolese journalist said that he and a colleague were detained while filming the protests on September 19:

I was filming demonstrators burning tires and barricading the street when a police truck arrived at the scene. I approached a police officer to ask him whether we could continue filming. He agreed but told me he was surprised to see me in a red zone. Later, intelligence agents arrived and told the police officer not to let me film them. The intelligence officers then asked us to identify ourselves and show our authorization to film. They took our identity cards and then told us we were arrested. They brought us to a police office, where we were held for several hours before being released. They never returned our IDs.

A human rights activist who was arrested on September 19 while observing the demonstrations with his colleagues described what happened:

Military police followed us into a house where we were trying to take cover as shots were being fired. They then ordered me to follow them and made me get in their truck. About a dozen other people were arrested with me. They drove us to a military camp, and there they took my watch, shoes and belt. I counted 121 people arrested. They identified us individually from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. and then proceeded to interrogate us. One of the officers allowed me to use his phone so I could alert my colleagues. We spent the night on the floor. They let me go on Wednesday [September 21].

A police officer told Human Rights Watch that six bodies with bullet wounds were found on the shores of the Congo River in Kinshasa’s Kinsuka neighborhood on September 21:

We received information that four bodies were discovered in the morning - two young boys, one girl and a young man. All had bullet wounds. In the early evening, two other bodies of young boys with bullet wounds were discovered. The prosecutor in charge asked us to push the bodies back into the water so they would sink. We did as we were told.

Other witnesses confirmed to Human Rights Watch that they saw dead bodies along the shores of the river in Kinsuka in the days and weeks after the September protests. One witness said that the police and Red Cross took some of the bodies away in a bus. 

December 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) this week condemned the arrest of several Sudanese human rights defenders and urged Khartoum to free them.

Chairman of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO) Mudawi Ibrahim Adam (www.democracyandsecurity.org)

Nearly two weeks ago the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested a Khartoum University Professor Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, his driver Adam El-Sheikh, and Akram Ahmed another rights activist repeatedly harassed by the security agent.

Adam's was arrested on 7 December after a first three-day protest from 27 to 29 November and before a call for a second general strike on 19 December.

"The Special Rapporteur notes that the constant arrests and detention of human rights defenders by security forces of the Republic of The Sudan is a tactic used by the Sudanese authorities to obstruct the work of human right defenders and activist, in their promotion and protection of human rights," said the ACHPR in a statement issued on 13 but extended to the ST on Saturday.

The rapporteur further condemned the detention of Sudanese human rights defenders and called on the government to "provide clarification" over the arrest of the three defenders to the ACHPR which is a quasi-judicial body established by the African Union to promote and protect human rights.

The "Immediately release all human rights defenders arbitrarily arrested and to refrain from repeatedly summoning, questioning and detaining human rights defenders; including Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam and Mr. Akram Ahmed," stressed the statement .

Sudan is a signatory of African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights since 1982, accordingly it has the obligations to guarantee fundamental rights including the right to "liberty and security of the person and to be protected from arbitrary arrests and detention; the rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression".

Following the announcement of a new austerity plan increasing fuel and electricity prices last November, NISS arrested over 40 opposition figures and activists to prevent protests against these measures.

(ST)

December 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - U.S. government on Friday has expressed concern over Sudan's government “threatening rhetoric” and the crackdown on media in response to calls by Sudanese civil society for civil disobedience.

NISS has recently intensified crackdown on newspapers for publishing news reports and articles on the nationwide civil disobedience act which took place between 27 and 29 November. During the last three weeks, it seized copies of various dailies 23 times.

Also, in his address before a crowd in Sudan's eastern city of Kassala last Monday, Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir threatened to use force against opposition and challenged them to take to the streets if they want to topple his regime.

It is noteworthy that Sudanese activists have launched a wide electronic campaign to mobilize the Sudanese to engage in a second civil disobedience action on December 19th to protest recent austerity measures.

Several opposition forces and armed groups expressed support for the general strike and called upon their affiliates to play an active role to ensure its success.

In a press statement on Friday, U.S. States Department spokesperson Mark Toner urged Sudan's government to “respond to protesters with restraint, and encourage Sudanese authorities to take all necessary steps to allow citizens to exercise their right to freedom of expression”.

The statement reiterated Washington's concern “about the detention, apparently without charge, of a number of opposition political leaders and human rights advocates”, urging the government “to stop seizing newspapers and engaging in other forms of censorship of those who report on, or express, political views”.

Following the government decision to raise fuel and electricity price on November 3rd, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) launched a large arrest campaign and detained more than 40 opposition figures from the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) , National Umma Party (NUP), Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), Arab Ba'ath Party, National Alliance Forces (NAF) as well as civil society activists and journalists.

Meanwhile, Sudan's Foreign Ministry has described the U.S. States Department's statement as “inaccurate and unobjective” stressing his government's keenness to maintain security and preserve lives and property of citizens.

In statement released Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gharib Allah Khidir said Sudan's constitution guarantees freedom of association, expression and publication in accordance with the laws in force.

“There are more than eighty political parties and twenty daily newspapers that reflect the intellectual and political diversity in the country,” he said.

He pointed to the positive atmosphere witnessed by the political arena, saying the implementation of the national dialogue outcome would help achieve sustainable development and the peaceful transfer of power.

(ST)

How can the alternative media be strengthened and sustainably harnessed?

By Mohamed S. M. Yassin

Sudan is a conflict-affected and protracted crises reality where the media is facing enormous challenges, constraints and soft process of polarization. The Media under the regime of Sudan is progressively undergoing a process of securitization and adopting sophisticated numbing tactics and modalities. Freedom of expression in Sudan is twisted by a Sudanese apartheid regime, directly governing the state for almost three decades during which most of the independent media operated and replaced, displaced or forced to silence. The Regime is aggressively conducting and implementing a sort of empowerment policies for those who share or inline with its Islamo-Arabization orientation and disempowerment of all those who are rejecting this so-denominated civilization project in all the media outlets, read, listened and seen and recently trying to expand its cultural oppression to the digital media domain as well. Sudanese communities are excluded, numbed and deprived from the right to have free information and diversity of media outlets as a fundamental right of expression and assembly. Therefore, a community media as an alternative media strengthening and support mechanisms in the Sudanese protracted crises and conflict-affected territories is an imperative necessity for this dire reality. In today's world and with special emphasis on dilapidated Sudanese contemporary and in the context of the continuous struggle, there is enough knowledge but little courage to address chronic and complex challenges especially in the Media fronts, though there are encouraging signals of mobilization to break the silence and win the fear. Thus, there are attempts of thinking in identifying, selecting and implementing paradigm shifts from the conventional elite media and knowledge sharing to community media, knowledge and experience sharing at large including the average citizen, and furthermore, from State-monopolized media to community-managed media as a necessity and likely basic need for the Sudanese numbed communities. The tyrannical regimes prevailing in Sudan is erecting every possible constraining barriers and denying the access of media houses to that territories targeted by their discriminative, sophisticated modern local apartheid, scorched earth policies and at the same time practicing horrible numbing on its population. This regime has the complete State-owned or para-statal Media monopoly and absolutely do not allow any transmission of whatsoever informative news unless it undergo through rigorous control, often if not always done through dedicated security apparatus. Logically, this gloomy situation necessitates rapid and concrete actions and interventions, in particular additional and alternative media to silence-break and inform a wider public about those inhuman circumstances. Therefore, ad hoc concrete, consistent, constructive and coordinated alternative media strengthening and supportive mechanisms should be put in place to scale-up the existing fragmented and scattered local Sudanese traditional and innovative media agencies serving the local communities. New media supportive and strengthening services can be realized through web-based media tools such as web-radio, web-based TV, as well as Media Networking Smart Mechanisms. This is also possible and obtainable following innovative partnering modality. Shared visionary media projects and programs can be identified, implemented, maintained and sustained with minimum financial and economic costs and maximum social and cultural benefits for the potential partnering stakeholders. For these motivations multi-player projects, programs can be suggested in a shifting and evolving vision of media knowledge and experience sharing. Thus, participated media support projects and programs should prioritise to be SMART, simple, miserable, actionable, result-based, and time-bounded. The principal requirements for the success and sustainability of relative and relevant proposals can be identified in hard and soft infrastructures frameworks in addition to the voluntary human resource and political will. The inter-university international cooperation and community solidarity for development, among other actors can play major and proactive role in the Sudanese transformational shifts, change and beyond.

As already known, for decades and decades in the African continent and in particular in Sudan prior to its political split, and even till today people have been living in dire humanitarian situations under the eyes and conscious of the entire world except for the Numbed Sudanese themselves. The armed conflicts and successive civil wars have reduced some Sudanese communities to the limits, especially in the deprived areas. The combined marginalization and oppression witnessed are aggravating factors especially in situation of absent, silent or silenced media. Currently, many Sudanese territories are hardly accessible and completely isolated from the media world for diversity of reasons and constraints.

Even the humanitarian organizations are not allowed to denounce and voice out the deteriorating and dire situations in terms of food and nutrition insecurity, absence of reliable education structures and systems, complete lack of sanitary and health infrastructure, resource grabbing, money laundering, green-washing, social and environmental injustice and exclusion, poor governance mechanisms, not to talk about the tragic daily aerial bombardment causing massive displacements towards all the domestic and neighbouring countries, continental and intercontinental mass migration and exodus.

Especially, in the marginalized and impoverished territories, in urban slums, rural dwells, peripheral rural-urban outskirts, refugee's camps as well as reaching the populations under siege in the caves, wondering in the bush, forests, mountains and valleys. An impelling media hard and soft infrastructures are needed to be a disseminative base for just peace, social justice and cohesion, rule of law, respect of universal human rights, democratic transformation and smooth transition from warring mentalities to peaceful and co-liveable spirits, and above all human dignity restitution. The innovative social digital media and ICT can assist in that prospective and would play a proactive role in the service of the Sudanese communities and within the continent and around the globe. To address this challenging reality, there is a need to identify, suggest and implement practical solutions to this problematic scenario, considering the context specificity of the deteriorating Sudan.

Alternative media have historically been a central force in social change. However, they do not uniformly subvert the hierarchies of access that have always been fundamental to mainstream media. In fact, the media or journalistic norms and routines have always drawn on the professional standards of the mainstream. The perception of 'mainstream' and 'alternative' as a misconception arguing that they have always existed on the same continuum and continue to converge [1]. In conflict-borne realities, alternative activist and community-managed media can play the role of the mainstream conventional media and the digital revolution is paving the pathways to the attainment and accomplishment of this affinity.

Media is related to different communication typologies, for instance, in scientific communications, communicating to the public involve three main groups of actors (scientist, journalist and the public) [2]. Likewise, in isolated conflict-affected areas, the communication mainly involves politicians (militarized or civil), ITC professionals and the dynamic public (communities). Media is a medium for the human development structuring, conduction and performance maintenance. As long as the human development is a process of enlarging people's choices—as they acquire more capabilities and enjoy more opportunities to use those capabilities to enhance well-being. Media is entrusted to inform the persons about the essence of the human development and that it their development implies that people are not only beneficiaries of development, but must influence the process that shapes their lives. Media is entrusted to inform and form the collective conscious about the rights to development in social, environmental and economic dimension, and importantly that in all this, economic growth is an important means to human development, but not the goal as there is no automatic link between economic growth and human development. In today's world, the Media is shouldered by more responsibilities of surpassing the limits of not only informing and influencing but to providing elements of information rights and ownership.

Some consideration and appreciation also should be spent on the role of the International Media present in Sudan, though some of them are donor-driven media, who sometimes reports on the Sudanese dire reality, while keeping low profiles and sometimes being anodyne in their reporting or operation in consideration of not to be expelled. International media correspondents suffer a lot in getting their permission or license realized and renewed, and in many times they are denied the free movement within the country, which is a typical regime blackmailing and corrupted tactics.

In Sudan, there is complex dilemma of lack of peace, security, and stability associated with a participated sustainable development and appropriate governance aggravated by lack of deliberative democracy and respect of the basic and fundamental human rights. The government is calling for peace while at the same time contradicting itself by igniting wars against its own populations. Calling and imposing securitized cordon on itself while its security apparatus is jeopardizing the security of its opponents by jailing and sending them to pseudo-voluntary exile or at least neutralizing or silencing them through fear and terror. The regime is trading stability while destabilizing elsewhere. It is pretending democracy through falsified electorate and buying and selling supportive pseudo-opponents. It is deceiving the governance system through decorative figures entrusted to reflect an apparent diversity and participation in the governance mechanisms. Arrogantly and falsely defending the human rights while filling its jails, detention and torture centres with thousands and thousands of opponents and political rivals and rejecters to its injustice and barbaric assaults on public wealth and authority. It is evident that the regime is adapting and adopting oppressive tactics, strategies and deliberated policies of igniting and sustaining conflicts in the country to trade on it. Knowing that the conflict avails a disabling environment for the Sudanese who are calling for their rights in development and justice, but continue to deepen and widening it. For staying in that dilemma and limbo, it is exercising numbing and regime oriented propagandistic state-and para-statal media. Therefore, the alternative Media, especially the social and community based media, are vital for the Sudanese communities who are exposed to cultural transient and transformational environments and deserve to be included in enabling and empowering information technology and communication projects and programs, which will allow and enhance their capability expressions for full economical, social, political and cultural inclusion and participation in non deprivable developmental arena.

Departing from a previously published paper on the alternative media strengthening and support mechanism in African protracted crises and conflict-affected territories: can paradigm shifts assist and relief?, a paper presented by Mohamed Yassin and Renato Kizito and published in the proceedings of the III Congress of the Italian University network for development Universities (CUCS2013) held in Torin, Italy 19-21 September 2013. The theme was imagining cultures of cooperation: university networking to face the new development challenges. In our Sudanese case, we have not embarked in the old development process to indulge in the new development challenges, which are touching and affecting the Sudanese population. The Author is writing a discussion working paper on the role of the alternative media in Sudan and posing some questions on how can the alternative media be supported, enhances, strengthened, sustainably sustained to play its role.

Media knowledge sharing and education does not necessary travel hand in hand with the major Media Freedom and the wealth of the nations does not necessarily reflect media freedom and immunity from manipulations.

This introductory abstract and concepts are circulated to stakeholders for participation in answer the following questions. Answers could be sent written, orally registered, or through direct interviews and e-consultations or in a format of storytelling and experience sharing. The expected feedbacks will be elaborated and shared with public upon completion. The methodology to be adapted and adopted and followed for the extension of this discussion working paper is a blend of direct experience and observations of the Author, simple open-ended ad hoc questionnaire basing through e-consultation and posting in digital media outlets; and lastly but not least semi-structured interviews with privileged informants.

The direct experience of the author will be reported in a sort of story telling additional to others to be narrated by the other and engaged stakeholders, being from and living in protracted crises and conflict-affected territory in Sudan and neighbouring countries. Worth to mention that, the protracted crises and conflict-affected territories are characterized by the longevity and succession of crises, prevalence of aid flow and fragile economic and food and nutrition security status.

The questionnaire is composed of seven core compulsory questions and 2 optional enquiries. The core questions asked are the following:
1. What role can the alternative media play in Sudan?
2. Do you agree that the Alternative Media is playing major roles than the conventional Media? If yes, please explain.
3. How can the Alternative Media be strengthened and sustainably supported?
4. How can the International Media engage with or assist in supporting the Sudanese Alternative Media?
5. How do you evaluate the Sudanese alternative media position in terms of ICT and e-learning specially in the context of the protracted-crises and conflict-affected realities?
6. Do you agree that Media Knowledge and Experience sharing are effective in pushing towards major Mediatisation and Mass Communication Educational Scaling-up? If yes, please explain
7. Do you know any sort of innovative social Media, capacity building, ITC and or e-learning instrument applicable in protracted-crises and conflict-affected realities?

While the optional enquiries were:
8. What sort of improvement and/or inquiry can be added to the questionnaire provided?
9. Do you have any additional inquiry to add? If yes, what is it?

Other complimentary questions:
What are the requirements to create effective and efficient functional alternative media?
What are the potentials of the alternative media?
What type of professionalism is needed to create and support the alternative media?
What are the major missions of the writing, web-broadcasting, photo and video journalist?
Why are journalists frequently in marathon behind the authorities and reporting what they deem suitable, instead of adopting professionalism and non-biasness?
What are the reasons behind the under and misreporting?
Why do some journalists use their media power to shine or gloom rivals?
How to isolate the useless Media operators, and place the suitable person in the right positions?
Why does governments avail all the state Media apparatus only to the journalist expressing their mainstream lines?

Methodology:
The questionnaire will be sent to targeted stakeholders, and posted in the personal social media and web page related to the principal author and blogs of the participants. Respondent to the questionnaire have had sufficient but limited time to formulate their answers and sent it back. The responses are expected to be satisfactory enough, in particular from those who are active in the Alternative and Activist Media. Alternative and Activist New Media [3] could be a suitable outlet in protracted crises and conflict affected Sudanese realities.
While the semi-structured interviews will be conducted via skype (teleconference program) with expert journalists in the Diaspora, and if possible to carry it with another journalists in the war-affected areas in case of overcoming the logistical and security constraint.

The wider public in the social media (Personal Facebook and Twitter pages and You-tube of the Author) is expected to react to the questions with likes, shares and comments.
The time will be major constraint to collect many answers and revert backs. However, the will be told stories, returned questionnaires, and conductible interviews will be sufficient to address the themes put on the table for this e-consultation.
One of the shortcoming and limitation of the questionnaire is that it is formulated in English language, which might be difficult for some potential respondents, and if possible it will be translate that in local languages, however, the author does not have very limited time and means to carry that task.

Internet links to the event and author digital posting will be reported in the questionnaire [4].

Of course the Alternative Media is playing major roles than the conventional Media. Alternative media has proven to challenge existing powers, to represent marginalized groups, and to foster horizontal linkages among communities of interest. Its dimensions in this case we talk of its content, aesthetic, modes of production, modes of distribution, and audience relations has given the reality on the ground unlike what we consume from the mainstream media. The convectional media has been playing to the gallery of its commercial interest or the government manipulation without key interest of championing for the human rights. Communication scholar Robert W. McChesney [5], inspired in part by the work of Chomsky [6] and Herman [7], has linked the failures of the mainstream press primarily to corporate ownership, pro-corporate public policy, and the myth of "professional journalism." He has published extensively on the failures of the mainstream press, and advocates scholarship in the study of the political economy of the media, the growth of alternative media, and comprehensive media policy reforms.” Alternative media are important because they can reach everybody and can be used by everybody with minimal training, and in certain difficult conditions they can gather and disseminate information that the institutional media cannot or do not want to access.”

Actually, the alternative media has played great and influential role in transforming the society in North Africa and specially in contexts where there are oppressive regimes denying freedom of expression and basic and fundamental rights, access to media and gagging and harassing journalists. In realities such as Sudan, the number of Social Media users was very limited, but it is efficient and effective and used by activists inside and outside the country. Through the Social media and personal websites, the information become available even for users in very remote areas and villages, through the phones connected to satellite internet, digital remote webcams, and the world has become ever connected with that remote areas not like in the past. So any change or notable event become widely disseminated and diffused within no time and transmitted consequently. The current social mobilization, strikes, students uprising and protest, and civil disobedience the Sudanese are using the social Media in growing numbers and that will lead to a benchmark and critical momentum to accomplish an inspired change. But this process is an accumulative process and its impacts will need time and resources.

For instance, in Egypt, Tunis, and other aggressive and oppressive regimes, the youth gained and took advantage of the available social media and achieved and developed great communication capacities and led the wide public through that innovative instruments of the social media, so the social media constituted alternative media counter opposing the regimes mainstream conventional media. Despite of the close surveillance and controls by those authoritarian regimes, some external institutional arrangements assisted those youth and activists and through certain systems of codifications and creation of alternative nicknames and fantasy modalities, they managed to communicate effectively and timely. So, substantially, the alternative media is becoming popular and playing a role of the mainstream conventional areas and continue to do so and that will lead to tangible change in the Sudanese reality.

In Sudan Alternative Mass communication is essentially depending on the financial availability and support and willingness to build the capacities of the needy. For example, there are no means and instruments such as cameras, laboratories, training materials, to prepare capable medial professionals, furthermore, recently the universities have lost their spirit of conducing genuine preparations of their students, and limited the freedom of research and journalistic investigation, and by that the universities become only universities in names without much substances, eluding the students and wasting precious time and resources of the students. In the past the students used to prepare concrete projects and participate in the public awareness and social enlightening, combat the socially destructive habits such as the FGM, conducing scientific and practical tours to the remote areas and even to Europe, but the students are mobilized for ideological and religious governmental interests. Add to that the teachers are increasing leaving the country and migrating to the Arab countries in scandalous human resource grabbing, and those who remain are not sufficiently dedicated and less qualified to carry their mission.

Generally, the Alternative Media be strengthened and supported by:
a. Empowering the community to learn the skill of storytelling to increase the content of the alternative media.
b. Replacing the current libertarian media model with one that operates democratically, rather than for profit
c. Strengthening public service broadcasting
d. Incorporating the use of alternative media into a larger discourse
e. Increasing the role of citizen journalism
f. Turning a passive audience into active participants
g. Using mass media to promote democratic ideals
h. Training and popular education.
i. Training of trainers, in absence of pollicised governments, oppressive security and intelligence apparatus
j. Formation of small clubs and information points with a minimal technical support that with a minimal cost can be sources of knowledge and information.
k. Through direct donations
l. Building websites as platforms for alternative media outlets
m. Facilitate accessibility to the world wide web
n. Upload ready contributions
o. Enhance and encourage data and information collection and correspondence
p. Protect the activist by obscuring the physical locations
q. Diffuse songs, short stories, novels, news, photos
r. Train in the main journalistic capacities such as interviewing capacities, public opinion
collection, news gathering, journalistic investigation
s. Offering jobs in media houses and encourage popular journalism
t. Build capacities in photo and video journalism, Event organisation coverage
u. Research for original and historic cultural master pieces of song, poetry and heritage
v. Provision of useful electronic links
w. Moral support
x. Constructive criticism
y. Organization of workshops and symposium and constitution of panel of experts and
stakeholders to deeply address that challenging and imperative Media domain.
z. ….
aa. Erect institutions to defend the alternative media and their defenders.

In summary, from the previous brief participatory action research, emerged that the Alternative Media is becoming more popular in protracted crises and conflict-affected territories, such as the current South Sudan. There are plenty and blended strengthening and supporting mechanism, and there are many ways of enhancing it through the International Inter-university cooperation and solidarity, which can play a proactive role in boosting such enabling pathways. As previously the participants in the mentioned paper on the alternative media recommend organization of workshops and symposium and constitution of panel of experts and stakeholders to deeply address that challenging and imperative media domain, still this proposal remain valid and urgent.

With the advancement and improvements in the ICT tools, some states and particularly the Regime in Sudan exploited these major technological and digital advancements in processes of control and monitory of activist and crackdown on the opponents' media outlets and social media personal pages. The regime has been investing in recruiting operators to discourage, distract and diverge opponents and erected what is called the electronic jihadist, but there is growing popular rejects and isolation of those operators nicknamed the “Electronic Hens”. Actually the alternative media stakeholders should think strategies to intervene electronically and remotely when the Regime blocks or slowdown the Internet connection. It is true that the improvements in the ICT has capacitated the Regime to control and monitor and the opponents to the regime sometime confiscating their tools, instruments, computers and obscuring some websites and practicing sophisticated censorship, however, also the advancement in the ITC has provided platforms to the counterpart to inflict victories over the regime and the regimes recent public discourse has provided evidence that the regime is fearing the alternative media too much and gathering resources to crackdown on it. The regime is working for the collapse of mainstream media of their opponents and by reducing its profitability through the augmentation of the production costs and post-production-confiscations and knowing that will result in greatly reduced budgets for news gathering and dumbing down across the sector, this is further worsened by the cost and complexity of trying to operate in places like the Sudan, which is considered by the Regime as their sole and exclusive territory.

Though the wide spread social media are covering wide spectrum of the Sudanese population, but still it is not covering a critical mass or reaching a benchmark to overweight the prevailing one. It has limited temporal and spatial coverage and the people are suffering limitation of resources and time-constraints to follow all what occurs in the social media. If we consider the Facebook, it has the limit of 5000 co-users or friends, but that might have the accumulative effect and impact considerable number of community members, especially when the messages or posts are shared in groups and groups of groups. Still the twitter is more effective and efficient in reaching wider number, but it has its limit in the telegraphic length of the message limiting it to 140 characters, we have also the Instagram and the YouTube Channels but that are not massively used. To increase the coverage, the alternative media should move better and up-scape and out-scale its reach. Media in the IDP and refugees camps is important and the experience of Nuba report, Aien and filmmakers are useful experiences and need to be taken as good practices, among others, which are capable in generating public opinion. Now the alternative media can restore to the live broadcasting and pre-registered voice or video messages, and that might be effective and efficient tool for mass communication through the alternative media outlets. The Sudanese social alternative media should pass from the individualism, regionalism, localism, social classes and other forms or socio-economic and geographic aggregations to the collectivism to reflect major representation and deliberative voices.

All in all, also Sudan is gradually embarking the post-factual digital economy and media with the new forms of social media replacing considered journalism, and the Sudanese Alternative media will progress and gain momentum even after the tyrannical regime change. Let us hope and work together so that the alternative media play its complementary or substitutive role in yielding the inspired comprehensive change, through genuine solidarity and for inclusive prosperity.

Department of Agro-food, Environmental and Animal Sciences (D4A), University of Udine, Italy,Personal e-mail: yassintowers@gmail.com

By Ban Ki-moon

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the world's newest country, South Sudan. I attended the 2011 independence celebrations in the capital city of Juba. Hopes were high that the long-suffering people of the oil-rich country would finally see the fruits of a peace dividend after a prolonged civil war. Instead, the people of South Sudan now face a more dismal anniversary. This week marks three years since the country plunged into fighting with a terrible and mounting toll.

Tens of thousands have been killed. The social fabric of South Sudan has been shattered. The economy is in ruins. Millions have been displaced from their homes. Hunger and poverty are rampant.

Today, more than 6 million people in South Sudan require life-saving aid. As the conflict intensifies, that number is rapidly growing. Meanwhile, restrictions imposed by the Government of South Sudan on the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and humanitarian organizations continue to tighten.

The people of South Sudan held out hope after independence following decades of war. Yet their leaders bear the primary responsibility of betraying the people's trust and bringing the country to ruins and more misery.

President Salva Kiir has pursued an ethnically-based strategy to suppress dissent, muzzle the media, exclude significant South Sudanese actors in the peace process and unilaterally implement an agreement to reach elections. Fighting has now spread across the country.

At the same time, actions by South Sudanese leaders including Riek Machar and other armed opposition actors are intensifying the conflict and manipulating ethnicity for political gain.

The risk of these mass atrocities, which include recurring episodes of ethnic cleansing, escalating into possible genocide is all too real.

South Sudan WFP site looted

Yet while the people of South Sudan suffer, the Security Council and the region stand divided. This has merely allowed time to mobilize resources to continue the slaughter.

Given the scale of this disaster, the United Nations Security Council, regional organizations and the international community must step up to their responsibility. Key actors, such as former Malian president Alpha Oumar Konaré—the African Union High Representative for South Sudan—have made significant efforts. But we must all do more to end this crisis.

I have taken a number of decisions to improve the performance of UNMISS itself. Yet simply reinforcing this peacekeeping mission to better perform and protect civilians will not end the conflict. There must be a political solution.

This means there must be a cessation of hostilities, followed by a genuinely inclusive political process. If this does not happen immediately, the Security Council should impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions to change the calculations of the parties and convince them to choose the path of peace.

In addition, accountability is crucial so that those responsible for these despicable crimes face justice—from the highest levels to the foot soldiers following orders.

Time is running out as the warring parties ready themselves for another vicious cycle of violence after the end of the rainy season. The responsibility for restoring an inclusive dialogue is squarely on all the leaders of the country.

If they fail, the international community, the region, and the Security Council in particular, must impose penalties on the leadership on both sides. We owe this to the people of South Sudan, who have suffered far too much, for far too long.

Ban Ki-moon is the outgoing U.N. Secretary-General. He will step down on December 31 and be replaced by António Guterres

December 17, 2016 (JUBA)- A South Sudanese rebel commander has dismissed as untrue allegations that they received guns from the United Nation Mission in South Sudan in the oil-rich Unity state, prior to the mid-December 2013 outbreak of civil war.

Arms and light weapons have been used by both warring parties in South Sudan to commit abuses (Photo courtesy of SSANSA)

In an interview with Sudan Tribune on Saturday, Gen. James Koang Chuol, denied any knowledge about alleged delivery of UN weapons to the opposition forces.

The said report, Choul stressed, also failed to mention how the guns were sent to the armed opposition territories, as it was earlier alleged.

The rebel official strongly denied allegations that their forces targeted and raped civilians in the Unity state capital, Bentiu after they recaptured the town from pro-government troops in April 2014.

“I would like to clarify that this report is not true. We haven't killed any civilians, not even a single civilian in Bentiu town. This is not true, it is a real fabrication of lies from those who have reported it”, he said.

Choul said when the fighting started in the heart of Juba on 15 December, 2013, he was at the time in charge of the fourth division headquarters in Unity state and that he protected all civilians.

The killing of civilians in the oil-rich Unity state, he further said, were carried out by the Justice for Equality Movement (JEM), a Sudanese rebel group operating in Sudan's western region of Darfur.

Sudan Tribune was unable to independently verify the rebel official's claims.

A senior United Nations official recently warned of possible genocide in the young nation, should the international community fail to address the ongoing conflict between South Sudan's warring factions.

(ST)

December 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's opposition umbrella Sudan Call on Saturday has participated in a training workshop on conflict resolution organized by the Carter Center in Nairobi.

On 7 December, the Carter Center, on Wednesday, said a delegation of experts would conduct unofficial meetings with the Sudanese stakeholders to explore ways to bring peace in Sudan, pointing the meetings “are not part of the official mediation that the African Union is conducting, but rather supplemental, exploratory gatherings designed to begin to identify points of common ground among all key Sudanese parties”.

On Saturday, the Carter Center organized a training workshop for the opposition umbrella Sudan Call in Nairobi with the participation of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) led by Minni Minnawi, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), National Umma Party (NUP), a splinter faction of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Civil Society Initiative (CSI).

It is noteworthy that the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) boycotted the workshop, saying the movement decided to stop all political contacts with the regime.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Saturday, the participants said the workshop focus was on conflict analysis and resolution, pointing they learnt about peacemaking and transitional justice experiences in various countries including South Africa, Philippines, Northern Ireland, Tunisia and Yemen.

According to the statement, the participants in the workshop included Mariam al-Mahdi from the NUP, Ali Trayo from SLM-MM, Ahmed Mohamed Tugud from the JEM, Al-Tom Hago from the DUP and Babiker Mohamed al-Hassan from the CSI.

Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-N rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011 and several armed movements in Darfur since 2003.

The African Union has been seeking to end the conflicts for several years. However since last August the peace talks are deadlocked over cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access deals

CIVIL DISOPEDIENCE

Meanwhile, the participants in the Carter Center's training workshop have expressed support for the December 19th civil disobedience calling on the Sudanese to actively engage in the general strike.

Sudanese activists have launched a wide electronic campaign to mobilize the Sudanese to engage in a second civil disobedience action on December 19th to protest recent austerity measures.

The statement described the civil disobedience as the “appropriate means to confront the regime”, stressing the need to continue the general strike until the Sudanese people achieve their objective.

The participants further called on Sudan Call leadership office to hold an urgent meeting to follow the course of events during this crucial time of struggle against the tyrannical rule.

They also praised the brave stances of all political prisoners and hostages of war and called for their immediate release.

The Sudan Call, which was established in Addis Ababa on 3 December 2014, includes the NUP, the two factions of the rebel umbrella Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF), and the CSI.

Sudan Call internal groups include the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP), Sudanese Baath Party (SBP), Center Alliance Party (CAP), Sudanese National Party (SNP) and Sudanese National Alliance (SNA).

(ST)

December 17, 2016 (JUBA)-The Jieng (Dinka) Council of elders on Saturday denied reports claiming there was a possibility genocide could occur in South Sudan, equating such claims to another regime change strategy from "people with personal interests".

President Salva Kiir Kiir with members of the Dinka (JIENG) Council of Elders. Its chair Ambrose Riny Thiik apprears to his right (Photo: Larco Lomayat)

Joshua Dau, a leading member of the group, claimed the whole thing about claims of looming genocide is another strategy for regime change.

“They have re-branded the strategy by resorting to the old game of pitting the same people against their own in order to achieve their own objective. They were talking about targeted killings and when it was proven that nothing of sort was taking place, they changed their strategy and are all over claiming a possibility of a potential genocide and ethnic cleansing, which is not true," Dau told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

"All this is an attempt to find a way to implement their regime change agenda," he added.

He claimed there were some South Sudanese leaders were spearheading regime change agenda on behalf of people whose prime objective is to destabilise the young nation.

“There are people who have forgotten their responsibility under the constitution to protect the country. They are only looking after their own interests and they are willing to give away the country any at price, including the loss of sovereignty, loss of the lives and properties of their own people. They are the people you find day and night running their mouths about the efforts of the council to end this senseless war and reconcile the country”, he explained.

He claimed the group of South Sudanese leaders being used to advance foreign agenda to advance their own interest , primarily to extract natural resources like oil, gold, copper, tin, zinc, cobalt, uranium and arable fertile land which they have failed to get under the administration of president Salva Kiir.

“The people of South Sudan should appreciate the council and the president of the republic for remaining steady fast to protecting the rights and sovereign”, he stressed.

(ST)

December 17, 2016 (JUBA)- South Sudan has cautiously welcomed the United Nations Security Council's decision extending the mandate of its mission in the country (UNMISS) until 15 December 2017.

Daniel Awet Akot (ST)

The new mandate will increase number of its troops from the existing 13,500 to 17,000 including the 4,000 regional intervention forces.

The core elements of the mission include “protection of civilians, monitoring and investigating human rights, creating the conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian assistance”, and “supporting the implementation of the agreement”.

It also authorized the Regional Protection Force to “protect routes in and out of Juba, take over the Juba International Airport and key infrastructures around Juba and fight any party that attacks or is ready to attack the UN, non-governmental organisations, their staffs and civilians, but it did not include arms embargo and targeted sanctions.

It remains unclear whether the government would accept to handover key infrastructure and installations to be under the control of the regional protection force as most officials initially expressed deep concern at the security situation in South Sudan and the possibility of an outright ethnic war.

Speaking during an interview on Saturday, the presidential advisor on military affairs said the government has not yet received any official briefing from the United Nations about the new mandate

“I have heard from the media yesterday of the renewal of the mandate of UNMISS (United Nations Mission in South Sudan) but we have not yet received an official briefing from the leadership of UNMISS here. May be this would be the work of the coming week”, Daniel Awet Akot told Sudan Tribune.

He expressed disappointment at the Council for what he described as the continued unilateral action on issues of peace and security without adequate consultations with the government and the African union.

“Issues about peace are supposed to be coordinated since the objective one. They are not supposed to be unilateral. The council should indeed work with the government to implement the peace agreement rather than using threats of sanctions and punishment. What is needed now is a positive and constructive agenda that included the return of security and stability”, he explained.

(ST)

December 16, 2016 (JUBA) - Holocaust and genocide memorials across the world Thursday called on the international community to prevent "what could become the 21st century first major genocide".

In a joint statement to mark the on the third anniversary of South Sudan's war, seven genocide museums and memorials for genocide of Armenian and holocaust of Jewish in Armenia, Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany and South Africa joined calls by UN officials on the need to stop violence on ethnic basis in the troubled country.

The statement pointed to the UN reports speaking about attacks on atrocities and war crimes committed in South Sudan, saying "the signs are already there".

"The government and military of South Sudan is already dominated by the Dinka ethnicity, stoking tension and grievances among other ethnic groups. Polarizing propaganda is being used to stoke the fires of hatred on social media. Killings are happening ever more frequently along ethnic lines and no one is being held accountable," said the statement mentioning statements by UN officials.

The signatories who described themselves as "the custodians of humanity's darkest memories" further called on South Sudanese and East Africa leaders to work with a "determined resolve" to end the conflict stressing "genocide is never inevitable".

"And we will need leaders in the broader international community to use every means of political leverage they have – stopping the flow of weapons, holding perpetrators of violence accountable – to avert yet another genocide from happening on our watch".

Last November in a press conference held in Juba, U.N. special adviser on prevention of genocide Adama Dieng warned that South Sudan violence risks spiralling into genocide.

"Throughout the week, conversations with all actors have confirmed that what began as a political conflict has transformed into what could become an outright ethnic war," he said at the end of one week visit to South Sudan.

(ST)

December 16, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudanese leaders bear the primary responsibility of betraying the people's trust and bringing the country to ruins and more misery, Ban Ki Moon, the outgoing United Nations Secretary General said on Friday.

Ban Ki-moon (Photo UN)

“President Salva Kiir has pursued an ethnically-based strategy to suppress dissent, muzzle the media, exclude significant South Sudanese actors in the peace process and unilaterally implement an agreement to reach elections,” Ki moon wrote in an op-ed article.

He added, “Fighting has now spread across the country”.

Ki moon said actions by South Sudanese leaders, including rebel leader Riek Machar and other armed opposition actors were intensifying the conflict and manipulating ethnicity for political gain.

Since the conflict broke out in December 2013, tens of thousands of people have been killed and over two million displaced in the country's worst-ever outbreak of violence since its independence.

“The social fabric of South Sudan has been shattered. The economy is in ruins. Millions have been displaced from their homes. Hunger and poverty are rampant,” said the outgoing UN Secretary General.

“Today, more than 6 million people in South Sudan require life-saving aid. As the conflict intensifies, that number is rapidly growing,” he added.

He decried what he described as the restrictions imposed by the Government of South Sudan on the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and humanitarian organizations continue to tighten.

He said risks of mass atrocities, which include recurring episodes of ethnic cleansing, escalating into possible genocide is all too real.

“Yet while the people of South Sudan suffer, the Security Council and the region stand divided. This has merely allowed time to mobilize resources to continue the slaughter,” he further stressed.

The outgoing Secretary General urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions to change the calculations of the parties and convince them to choose the path of peace.

“In addition, accountability is crucial so that those responsible for these despicable crimes face justice—from the highest levels to the foot soldiers following orders,” said Ki moon.

“Time is running out as the warring parties ready themselves for another vicious cycle of violence after the end of the rainy season. The responsibility for restoring an inclusive dialogue is squarely on all the leaders of the country,” he further added.

Meanwhile, the outgoing United States president, Barrack Obama said he felt responsible when millions of people had been displaced. I feel responsible for murder and slaughter that's taken place in South Sudan that's not being reported on partly because there's not as much social media being generated from there.

“There are places around the world where horrible things are happening, and because of my office, because I'm President of the United States, I feel responsible. I ask myself every single day, is there something I could do that would save lives and make a difference and spare some child who doesn't deserve to suffer,” said Obama.

(ST)

December 16, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan's President Omer al-Bashir on Friday criticized without naming him the leader of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP), Sadiq al-Mahadi, while the latter has postponed his planned return to Khartoum.

FILE - Sudan's President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir (R) talks with opposition's National Umma Party leader and former Prime Minister al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi on 24 March 2011 (Reuters)

“Do not listen to the speech of the deceivers who are living (abroad) in the hotels, sold the country for dollars, play tennis and celebrate their birthday," said al-Bashir in a public meeting held in Al-Managil, Al-Jazirah State.

''And (do not forget that) our people say do not try what you have already tried,'' he further said without naming al-Mahdi who served twice as Sudan's prime minister.

The second mandate of the elected prime minister was interrupted by al-Bashir who toppled his government in a bloodless coup d'état backed by the Sudanese Islamists on 30 June 1989.

Lately, social media users shared photos of Sadiq al-Mahadi playing tennis. Also, he used to celebrate his birthday.

The opposition leader is residing in Cairo since August 2014 after sealing a political alliance with the armed groups in Paris when he signed the 'Paris Declaration'.

Nearly three months ago, he announced his return to Sudan on 19 December, citing the need to be with his party and to fix some internal problems.

Khartoum was hoping to persuade him once he is at home to abandon his alliance with the rebel groups and other left parties gathered under the umbrella of the 'Sudan call' alliance.

But, in a statement released on Friday, al-Mahdi delayed his return to 26 January, saying he does not want to disturb calls for general strike on 19 December.

"Lest my return disturb the determination of the civil disobedience," he wrote in a short press statement.

Al-Mahdi underlined that his return will coincide with the "Khartoum Liberation Day" when his grandfather Mohammed Ahmed al-Mahdi captured Khartoum on 26 January 1885.

The National Umma Party intends to organize a popular reception for its leader when he returns from his self-imposed exile.

Al-Mahdi party was part of the internal national dialogue process but it suspended its participation in the process in May 2014 following the arrest of its leader. After what, the opposition group called to ensure freedoms, and to hold inclusive negotiations with rebel groups.

(ST)

By Ban Ki-moon

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the world's newest country, South Sudan. I attended the 2011 independence celebrations in the capital city of Juba. Hopes were high that the long-suffering people of the oil-rich country would finally see the fruits of a peace dividend after a prolonged civil war.

Instead, the people of South Sudan now face a more dismal anniversary. This week marks three years since the country plunged into fighting with a terrible and mounting toll.

Tens of thousands have been killed. The social fabric of South Sudan has been shattered. The economy is in ruins. Millions have been displaced from their homes. Hunger and poverty are rampant.

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Today, more than 6 million people in South Sudan require life-saving aid. As the conflict intensifies, that number is rapidly growing. Meanwhile, restrictions imposed by the Government of South Sudan on the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and humanitarian organizations continue to tighten.

The people of South Sudan held out hope after independence following decades of war. Yet their leaders bear the primary responsibility of betraying the people's trust and bringing the country to ruins and more misery.

President Salva Kiir has pursued an ethnically-based strategy to suppress dissent, muzzle the media, exclude significant South Sudanese actors in the peace process and unilaterally implement an agreement to reach elections. Fighting has now spread across the country.

At the same time, actions by South Sudanese leaders including Riek Machar and other armed opposition actors are intensifying the conflict and manipulating ethnicity for political gain.

The risk of these mass atrocities, which include recurring episodes of ethnic cleansing, escalating into possible genocide is all too real.

Yet while the people of South Sudan suffer, the Security Council and the region stand divided. This has merely allowed time to mobilize resources to continue the slaughter.

Given the scale of this disaster, the United Nations Security Council, regional organizations and the international community must step up to their responsibility.

Key actors, such as former Malian president Alpha Oumar Konaré—the African Union High Representative for South Sudan—have made significant efforts. But we must all do more to end this crisis.

I have taken a number of decisions to improve the performance of UNMISS itself. Yet simply reinforcing this peacekeeping mission to better perform and protect civilians will not end the conflict. There must be a political solution.

This means there must be a cessation of hostilities, followed by a genuinely inclusive political process. If this does not happen immediately, the Security Council should impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions to change the calculations of the parties and convince them to choose the path of peace.

In addition, accountability is crucial so that those responsible for these despicable crimes face justice—from the highest levels to the foot soldiers following orders.

Time is running out as the warring parties ready themselves for another vicious cycle of violence after the end of the rainy season. The responsibility for restoring an inclusive dialogue is squarely on all the leaders of the country.

If they fail, the international community, the region, and the Security Council in particular, must impose penalties on the leadership on both sides. We owe this to the people of South Sudan, who have suffered far too much, for far too long.

The author Ban Ki-moon is the outgoing U.N. Secretary-General.

Marking the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today commended all Libyans who engaged in the &#8220milestone&#8221 process, but cautioned that while much progress has been made, &#8220the road to peace is long&#8221 and the Libyan people have not yet achieved the stability and security they deserve.

The United Nations human rights chief today said he is &#8220deeply alarmed&#8221 at a planned Government shutdown of social media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from Sunday evening, ahead of the end of President Joseph Kabila&#39s mandate, coupled with a continuing ban on demonstrations by civil society and the opposition.

December 16, 2016 (NEW YORK) – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), while approving a one-year extension of its mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), demanded an end to the fighting in the country, and decided that the mission shall “use all necessary means” to deter and prevent sexual violence within its capacity.

The UN Security Council votes unanimously to impose sanctions on those blocking peace in South Sudan (Photo: UN/Devra Berkowitz)

The mission will, in accordance to the new mandate, also “monitor, investigate and report incidents of hate speech,” in the country.

The 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted on Friday a resolution, extending the mandate of UNMISS to 15 December 2017.

Over the next one year, however, the UN mission in South Sudan will maintain its core functions, while also maintaining a troop ceiling of 17,000, including a 4,000-strong Regional Protection Force (RPF), and increasing the police ceiling to 2,101 police personnel, and 78 corrections officers, and requesting the Secretary-General to take the necessary steps to expedite force and asset generation.

South Sudan has been in turmoil since December 2013 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those allied to his former deputy, Riek Machar displacing thousands of the nation's population.

The crisis, according to the world body, has produced one of the world's worst displacement situations with immense suffering for civilians.

However, despite the August 2015 peace agreement that formally ended the South Sudanese civil war, conflict and instability have also spread to previously unaffected areas in the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr-El-Ghazal regions of South Sudan.

The Security Council, during its meeting, reiterated its increasingly grave alarm and concern regarding the political, security, economic and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan resulting from a political dispute within South Sudan's ruling party (SPLM) and subsequent violence caused by the nation's political and military leaders.

It also expressed its intention to consider sanctions against those whose actions undermined peace, stability and security in South Sudan.

The Security Council demanded that South Sudan's leaders implement the permanent ceasefire declared in the peace agreement and respective ceasefires, but also expressed grave concern at the findings of the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura of the systematic and widespread use of sexual violence as a tactic by parties against the civilian population, particularly against the country's women and girls.

As such, the 15-member Council also resolved that UNMISS would “use all necessary means” to deter and prevent sexual and gender-based violence within its capacity and areas of deployment, and “monitor, investigate, verify and report specifically and publicly on violations and abuses committed against children and women.”

The Council tasked UNMISS with monitoring, investigating and reporting on incidents of hate speech and incitement to violence in cooperation with the UN special adviser.

(ST)

December 16, 2016 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese Pound (SSP) has lost about 80% of its value, nearly 12 months since the Central Bank floated the exchange rate against the U.S dollar, as most South Sudanese families anticipate tough times during this festive season.

Thousands of people match in Bor, Jonglei State to celebrate Christmas Eve (ST/File)

“My children want new clothes, but I am not sure of what they will eat tomorrow. It is not about new cloths now,” Mary Yar, a mother of three, told Sudan Tribune Friday.

A resident of Lologo, a Juba surburb, Yar moved to the South Sudan capital in 2014, after conflict displaced her from Bor in Jonglei state.

For her children, however, Christmas is a season for new clothes.

“I would buy each of them a pair of shoe, trousers and everything they required but now, I have to use any money on what they will eat,” narrates the mother of three.
Yar does not have a permanent job. At the moment, she works in a restaurant as a waitress, earning a daily wage of 100 SSP (about $1).

Yar is among the millions of South Sudanese calling off luxurious celebrations during this festive season. Millions of South Sudanese have, as a result of war, been displaced from their homes and face severe food shortages. Government has not paid its workers for months and this, for instance, saw teachers strike in Jonglei state.

Presently, one U.S dollar trades between 90 and 100 SSP in the parallel market.

There is scarcity of hard currency in South Sudan, a landlocked country that depends on imports of food and medical among others from neighboring countries.

On Wednesday, South Sudan President Salva Kiir duly acknowledged the hard situation in the country, saying he too felt the pain most families faced, but offered no remedies to the situation.

“I was planning to spend my Christmas in Nairobi but have to think twice,” John Moro, a resident of Juba told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

Moro said he earns about 3,000 SSP, a substantially good pay in a nation where most civil servants are paid less than 1,000 SSP monthly.

“Juba is now very expensive and very hot,” explains Moro.

A meal, in most Juba restaurants, now costs SSP 100 or more, but prices are higher in hotels due to the deteriorating economic situation.

“If I was to spend my Christmas or New Year day with friends in a good restaurant, it will cost me three months pay,” stressed Moro.

The festive seasons, which are meant to host friends, buy new cloths and make trips to the countryside, would pass unnoticed. Some Christian Churches organ street marches on the eve of Christmas and children, like Yar's, want to attend when dressed in new attires.

“My prayer is tranquility in the country. If there is peace, I may choose to leave in the country and my children will be happy and enjoy celebrations without fear of hunger or failure to buy new cloths,” said Yar.

(ST)

December 16, 2016 (JUBA)- South Sudan president Salva Kiir said Friday he hopes the 2017 would be a year of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness, declaring his willingness to extend amnesty to armed opposition to participation in his recently announced national dialogue to end more than two years conflict in the young nation.

President Salva Kiir adresses a joint press conference on 9 July 2016 (Reuters Photo)

"I hope the coming year would be a year of peace, reconciliation, unity and forgiveness. And I therefore called on the people of this country to embrace one another. We fought together in order to have a country. We didn't fight together so that when we have got our country in our own hands, we destroy it. That is not the meaning of liberation. If this was the meaning, then I am sure some people like me would not have been part of such liberation”, president Kiir told a group of senior government officials who paid him a courtesy call at presidential palace on Friday.

The group comprising imminent personalities and Like's advisers congratulated him for launching a national dialogue aimed at resolving differences between people at different levels.

South Sudan's defence minister, Kuol Manyang said Friday that the government would accept the outcome of the national dialogue; saying it was the only way to end conflict.

“I fully agree with what the president told me recently that war is not a substitute to dialogue. This shows how interested he is in bringing this conflict to an end so that the country returns to peace and stability," Junk told Sudan Tribune in the capital, Juba.

He added, "You can also see that the president has also demonstrated his willingness to the end this conflict by personally accepting those still carrying arms against the government to come and participate in the dialogue, which is the only people resolve their difference."

Violence broke out in South Sudan in December 2013 when the country's rival leaders disagreed politically. Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced.

(ST)

December 16, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has expressed serious concern over recent protests by some of its former staff members saying they are “not peaceful in nature”.

On 5 December, dozens of UNAMD's former local staff protested in front of the mission's premises in four capitals in Darfur for non-payment of financial dues owed to them since 2010.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Friday, the mission said the former employees “have on a number of occasions forcefully blocked movement in and out of UNAMID camps and obstructed access of Sudanese nationals employed by the Mission to their workplaces”.

“We, as a Mission, take our responsibilities towards the people we serve, including separated staff members, seriously. However, we cannot condone demonstrations that are not peaceful in nature and are based on unfounded accusations and demand for payments that are not in line with the rules and regulations of the United Nations,” stated the Head of UNAMID, Joint Special Representative Martin Uhomoibhi.

The mission stressed that “all national staff that separated from the Organisation on 31 December 2015 have received all benefits owed to them for the period of their service with UNAMID, except for a relatively small group whose pension entitlements are being processed”.

“UNAMID is working closely with the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, the body solely responsible for administering pension benefits, to finalize this category of payments” added the statement.

It is noteworthy that the former staff members protested seven times during this year in four Darfur states to demand overtime pay.

Chairman of the Dismissed Staff Committee, Hafiz Abiad, had earlier told Sudan Tribune that his committee represents 263 Sudanese staff who were dismissed and their financial rights denied in Nayla, Zalngei, El-Geniena and El-Fasher.

He pointed that the protesting staff demanded to be paid their pensions' entitlements which was agreed on with UNAMID in March, saying the mission didn't recognize some of their rights.

Abiad added that they made a complaint to a court within the United Nations to demand the overtime pay, saying the court asked them to provide a document proving their claim of the previous financial rights.

“We sent the document and we are still waiting [for the court's decision]," he said.
The hybrid mission has been deployed in Darfur since December 2007 with a mandate to stem violence against civilians in the western Sudan's region.

It is the world's second largest international peacekeeping force with an annual budget of $1.35 billion and almost 20,000 troops.

(ST)

December 16, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Friday has seized print runs of the independent daily Al-Jareeda for the eighth time within three weeks without giving reasons.

Chief-Editor of Al-Jareeda Ashraf Abdel-Aziz told Sudan Tribune that the NISS agents confiscated copies of the newspaper on Friday morning while it was on its way to the distribution outlets.

He pointed that the daily has received some financial contribution from readers abroad, saying they paid six-month subscription fees in advance to support the newspaper and compensate for the loss caused by the repeated confiscations.

Last week, Al-Jareeda launched a campaign entitled the “Prudent Reader” to enable each reader to donate price of one seized copy.

Al-Jareeda also said it would take legal action against the NISS due to repeated seizure of its copies during the last two weeks.

NISS has recently intensified crackdown on newspapers for publishing news reports and articles on the nationwide civil disobedience act which took place between 27 and 29 November. During the last couple of weeks, it seized copies of various dailies 22 times.

Al-Jareeda has been one of the most newspapers in Sudan subject to suspension and confiscation. Last May, the NISS had confiscated copies of the newspaper four times during five days.

Journalists working for the newspaper had earlier told Sudan Tribune that the NISS seeks to put pressure on Al-Jareeda to change its editorial policy and mitigate harsh criticism of the government contained in the Op-ed articles and in particular by columnists Osman Shabona and Mohamed Wida'aa.

However, the newspaper's administration refuses to succumb to the NISS's pressures and rejects the idea of dismissing any journalists or columnists.

Sudanese newspapers complain of the far reaching powers of the NISS which routinely punishes dailies through confiscation or suspension.

Following the lift of pre-publication censorship, the NISS started punishing newspapers retroactively by seizing copies of newspapers that breach unwritten red lines inflicting financial and moral losses on these media houses.

In February 2015, it seized copies of 14 newspapers from printing press without giving reasons.

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

Last July, Al-Taghyeer newspaper decided to suspend publishing and laid off its staff following large financial loss incurred due to repeated confiscations.

(ST)