Africa

Once heading for the status of ghost town, Riace is now growing as migrants have moved into abandoned homes.

A conference in South Africa could make the trade in pangolin illegal.

The Smart Toy Club collects, sterilises and rents old toys to new customers.

Elephant populations in Africa have declined by around 111,000 over the past ten years according to a new study presented at the Cites meeting in South Africa.

The disputed leader of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram releases a video denying claims he had been killed or badly wounded in air strike.

September 25, 2016 (JUBA) – The armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) led by South Sudan's former First Vice President, Riek Machar, has for the first time come out with a statement declaring war on the “regime” in Juba under President Salva Kiir and called on the international community to declare it a “rogue” regime.

South Sudan's rebel leader, Riek Machar (Photo: Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

The opposition group also said it has now dismissed all its senior members who have taken part in President Kiir's new government.

This came in a resolution passed by the political bureau meeting convened for three days in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, under the chairmanship of Machar, also commander-in-chief of the SPLM-IO.

According to Article 2 (d) of the resolution obtained by Sudan Tribune, the SPLM-IO's political bureau resolved to “Call for reorganization of the SPLA (IO) so that it can wage a popular armed resistance against the authoritarian and fascist regime of President Salva Kiir in order to bring peace, freedom, democracy and the rule of law in the country.”

This is the first official statement from the opposition's leadership since the 8 July violence erupted in the capital between Machar's bodyguards and forces loyal to President Kiir, killing over 200 soldiers.

The resolution also accused President Kiir's regime of allegedly attempting to “assassinate” the leadership of the SPLM-IO at the Juba-based presidential palace when the fighting erupted.

The opposition group, however, said they were for peace and to “resuscitate” it, calling for rapid deployment of regional forces in order to salvage the peace agreement signed in August 2015.

Currently the resolution said, both the peace agreement and the transitional government of national unity have collapsed without the SPLM-IO as a peace partner.

Members at the meeting endorsed the dismissal of Machar's successor, Taban Deng Gai from the armed opposition movement. Also dismissed from the movement were former interior minister, Alfred Lado Gore, Dhieu Mathok Diing, Richard Mulla, Ezekiel Lol Gatkouth, Hussein Mar Nyout, Lumumba Di-Aping a and Sophia Pal Gai.

Machar vowed to reorganize to “wage a popular armed resistance against the authoritarian and racist regime of President Salva Kiir.”

This is the first political statement Machar has issued ever since he fled South Sudan, following an attack on his residence in the young nation's capital.

Machar immediately demanded that additional peacekeepers be sent to increase numbers of the 12,000-strong UN force in South Sudan. These forces will be tasked with restoring security in Juba.

Barely five years after its independence from neighbouring Sudan, South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed and more than 2 million displaced.

In August last year, a peace deal was signed by both Machar and Kiir, but fighting in Juba put the accord at risk of possible collapse.

“(The SPLM-IO) call on the international community to declare the regime in Juba a rogue government,” the resolution reads in part.

It urged those monitoring the peace deal to suspend their activities.

Meanwhile, a senior SPLM-IO member, who sought permission to return to Nairobi, Kenya before the Khartoum meeting commenced, said he supported armed struggle against the Juba establishment.

“These people, the people in Juba, Salva Kiir and his group understand no other languages than the language of guns. If you talk of nonviolent language, they think you are doing so because they have weakened you and will not listen to you anymore. So I told Dr. Riek that we must pursue armed struggle until we achieve objectives of the movement," Ramadan Hassan Laku, the SPLM-IO's national committee chairperson for governance affairs told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

Observers say Hassan's views show the level of difference within the movement on how to approach the settlement of the conflict in the country. Those advocating for nonviolence, they argue, are using it as a strategy to tactically avoid being viewed by the global community as warmongers to be sanctioned while the ones advocating for armed struggle see the approach as the only way through which wider attention could be attracted to demands that must be settled in a position of strength.

(ST)

September 24, 2016 (NEW YORK) – South Sudan's First Vice President Taban Deng Gai on Friday said the world's youngest nation consented to a Security Council resolution calling for the dispatch of the additional troops to Juba.

South Sudan's first Vice President Taban Deng Gai addresses the UN General Assembly (UN Photo/Cia Pak)

“My government's position is that we have to engage more with the UN on the details pertaining to the implementation of this resolution,” Gai told the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

"This is in order to avoid derailing national healing and reconciliation. External intervention often affects negatively internal reconciliation,” he added.

The official's remarks, however, appeared to have contradicted his earlier statement in which he appeared to have rejected the deployment of the force approved by the African Union during its extraordinary summit that was held in Kigali, Rwanda in July.

"We already have 13,000 UN troops in South Sudan who are sitting idle, not doing anything because there's a problem with their mandate, and there's also a problem with how they were selected," Gai earlier told the Associated Press.

“I don't think we need peacekeepers in South Sudan,” he stressed in a statement in line with President Salva Kiir's initial rejection of the peace keepers.

The South Sudanese deputy president, while addressing the General Assembly, also accused his predecessor Riek Machar of allegedly instigating the July violent clashes in between the country's rival forces in the capital, Juba.

Over 270 soldiers died in the incident, which a recent UN report solely blamed on President Kiir and the South Sudanese army chief of staff, Paul Malong Awan.

Gai, however, assured the General Assembly that South Sudan was now “stable, peaceful and that my government is functioning and life is returning back to normal”.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in South Sudan's worst violence since its cessation from Sudan in 2011. The UN, on several occasions, accused South Sudan's warring forces of gross human rights violations.

LEADERS BLAMED

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Ban charged South Sudan leaders, including President Kiir with having “betrayed their people” by pursuing a violent path to power.

Last month, the Security Council approved the deployment of an additional 4,000-strong peacekeeping force in South Sudan, after renewed clashes in Juba between the country's rival factions threatened to send the young nation back to all-out civil war.

Stressing that consensus should not be confused with unanimity, Ki Moon told the General Assembly: “The global public is right to ask whether this is how an organization in which we have invested so much hope and aspirations should function.”

The UN chief also called on the President of the General Assembly, to explore, with his successor, the establishment of a high-level panel to find practical solutions that will improve decision-making at the global organization.

He also urged all countries to cooperate with and work with the UN's human rights arm; to not put obstacles in the path humanitarian workers; and not to ostracize or threaten UN envoys or and staff when they raise difficult issues.

“We must all be open and accountable to the people we serve,” said the UN chief.

(ST)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has taken note of the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Gabon on the appeals lodged against the preliminary results of the 27 August 2016 presidential poll, as well as its confirmation of Ali Bongo Ondimba as President-elect, according to a statement issued by a UN spokesperson today, which adds that the Organization will continue to support the democratic process in the West African country.

September 24, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - South Sudanese President Salva Kiir discussed with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) the implementation of security agreement signed between the two countries.

A photo extended to Sudan Tribune by the SPLM-N showing the group's chairman Malik Agar (C), its secretary general, Yasser Arman (L), and Gen. Gagod Mukwar in Stockholm on 23 May 2015.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Saturday, the SPLM-N leadership said they concluded a visit to Juba at the invitation of President Kiir who expressed the desire of South Sudan government to support the peace process in Sudan.

The meeting also discussed the implementation of an agreement reached by the defence ministers in the two Sudans concerning the opening of the crossing points, border monitoring and the formation of joint forces, the statement further said.

Last June South Sudan's defence minister Kuol Manyang Juuk and his Sudanese counterpart Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Ouf signed an agreement providing to activate the buffer zone between the two countries and the deployment of the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mission (JBVMM) before to open 10 crossing points on the common border.

The Sudanese rebels welcomed the efforts of South Sudan in support of peace in Sudan, and expressed willingness to provide the needed efforts for the successful implementation of this agreement between the two countries.

"SPLM-N welcomes every effort to defuse tensions and improve relations between the two countries. As the SPLM-N controls a considerable part of the international border between the two countries, it has expressed readiness to carry out its duties in all that would contribute to the implementation of this agreement, especially the SPLM-N has no military presence in the State of South Sudan," says the statement.

Last August during a visit to Khartoum, the South Sudanese First Vice President Taban Deng Gai vowed to expel Sudanese rebel groups from his country within 21 days and to implement the security agreement signed between the two countries since September 2012 within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement.

Also, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs recently said the south Sudan didn't implement its pledges and warned that "Juba's failure to commit itself to this agreement entails stopping the transit of humanitarian aid through Sudanese territory to the South Sudan".

Besides the SPLM-N, Khartoum claims that Juba harbours also rebel groups from Darfur region and asks that the South Sudanese government should also evict them.

The SPLM-N and the Sudanese government are expected to meet during the upcoming weeks to resume discussions over cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access.

The parties diverge only on the SPLM-N demand to allow direct transit of 20% of the humanitarian assistance through the Ethiopian border, a matter that Khartoum rejects.

However, the African Union mediation continues to hold informal discussions with the two parties in order to narrow the gaps over this point.

The SPLM-N said they highly value the sheltering of nearly 300,000 Sudanese refugees in the neighbouring country, and are looking to end the war and to reach a just peace with Khartoum to pave the way for the return of refugees to inside Sudan.

The SPLM-N delegation to Juba was led by its Chairman Malik Agar, secretary general Yasir Arman, SPLA-N chief of staff Gen. Gagod Mukwar and his deputy Ahmed Alomda Badi

The statement said they met with President Kiir, his deputies Taban Deng Gai and James Wani Igga, defence minister Kuol Manyang Juuk and a number of security officials.

(ST)

September 24, 2016 (BOR) – Governor Philip Aguer has questioned the unfair distribution of the current newly created 14 counties in the new Jonglei state, but supported the increase in the number of the counties in principle although merging some of them in the future, he said, is a possibility.

Aguer, who first rejected the creation of the 14 counties earlier this month, said he had received a valid reason from the national capital, Juba, for their implementation. He made the remarks during the swearing in ceremony of the newly appointed commissioners on Friday, 23 September.

“The local government board recommended the 14 counties, so we have the legitimacy to implement the fourteen counties,” Aguer noted in his speech.

According to Aguer who comes from Twic East county, home to late leader John Garang, he said the biggest question which remained not answered was the reasons for not increasing the number of counties in Duk and Twic East counties.

Currently, the former Bor county, where defense minister Kuol Manyang Juuk and information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, has been increased into 8 new counties while Twic East is only increased to 3 counties and Duk with only 3 counties as well, making the total 14 new counties.

“The other question was, what about the other counties, like Twic East and Duk, who did not get more [counties] than what they requested? We have addressed that by seeing it to the population,” Aguer inquired.

“Decentralization process is not a one-day-process, you do this step and you evaluate it. So the rest of the areas-Twic and Duk- in the near future, if they need more counties, provided that is justified, and is not bringing more problems, then definitely we will recommend a county,” he said.

He said after two to three years, the state may evaluate the status of the new counties and may decide to further increase the number or merge the current ones into smaller number of administrative units.

“As I said decentralization is a process, [that] needs to be evaluate, may be 2 to 3 years, evaluation will come, and we will recommend more [counties] or amalgamation,” he added.

He said services delivery to the people should be the top priority to the government, not to have more counties.

“We the politicians need more counties, but what do the people want? The people need more services; it is our role to provide the services. You have more counties now, what is remaining is the services and the people will start questioning you tomorrow, where are the services?” Aguer, a former SPLA military spokesperson, continued.

Although the governor instructed the minister of finance to plan on how to get the budget for the 14 counties, he clearly urged the commissioners to think of where to get their vehicles as the state would not be able financially to buy vehicles.

“Now that you are appointed, expect a lot of challenges. You may wonder if you will get salaries. Mobility is another, bicycle and footing will be shame on the commissioner. For you to get vehicles, you must mobilize 250 heads [each] of cattle to buy a car,” he said, directing them to get the cattle from the populations they will be administering in their respective counties.

“We have every reason to create more counties because we have issues of insecurity. Issues of the education are handled at the level of the payams and counties,” he further continued.

Peace was among the issues the governor talked about when he addressed the new commissioner, saying peace between the Dinka of Jonglei state and the Murle ethnic group of Boma state should be consolidated.

“We have the task to implement the peace agreement signed in Juba and the peace between us and our neighbors. We have moved two steps forward in the direction of peace between us and Boma state. The Murle community is more than committed to peace and to peaceful co-existence,” he emphasized.

He said through achievement of peace the state authorities should plan for the return of the displaced people who are scattered all over the region, adding they will not come back if the authorities do not have peace and security.

“Through peace, we will return our cattle camps that are becoming bone of contention in Equartoria,” he said.

Some commissioners, who spoke on behave of their colleagues, pledged to work with the government to improve service delivery, work for peace within, and between their borders.

(ST)

September 24, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has criticized the United Nations for welcoming the release by the sudanese government of child soldiers allegedly recruited by Darfur rebel groups saying the international body was deceived by the regime.

Undated picture extended to Sudan Tribune on 28 April 2015 by the Justice and Equality Movement showing their fighters during a training exercise

Earlier this month, President Omer al-Bashir announced the release of twenty one children allegedly detained during the Gouz Dango battle with the JEM in April 2014.

However the rebel group denied that these children were part of its fighters reiterating its commitment to international conventions banning the use of child soldiers.

On Wednesday, the UN welcomed the release of the child soldiers and vowed to work with the Sudanese government to enhance the protection of children in the armed conflict affected areas in Sudan.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, JEM spokesperson Gibril Adam Bilal, underscored that his movement doesn't recruit children and hence there is no child soldiers among its prisoners held by the regime.

He described the UN announcement that the move indicates the regime's intention to implement the work plan developed by the UN last March as “strange and suspicious”.

“How did the UN know that those whom the regime claimed to have released were captured during the Gouz Dango battle?” he wondered.

Belal also wondered about the measures that the UN has taken to ensure the validity of the regime's claims and to confirm that the children belong to the JEM.

JEM spokesperson described the UN move as “breach of the minimum standards of justice”, saying the international body took for granted the regime's claims and didn't consider the viewpoint of the movement.

“What is the legal justification that allows the regime to keep [these children] in the prison cells of its security organs and torture them physically and morally for 17 months without notifying their families or the United Nations or the competent organizations of their conditions and whereabouts?” he further wondered
The Sudanese army has been fighting a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.

According to the UN, 200,000 people have been killed in the conflict, and 2, 5 million chased from their homes.

(ST)

September 24, 2016 (JUBA)- The new South Sudanese First Vice President Taban Deng Gai will be holding series of meetings with top officials in the United States to explain circumstances under which he replaced Machar and his vision in implementing the peace agreement.

Gai will hold a meeting with the U.S. Administration and Congress between September 28 and October 4.

According to a statement from the embassy of South Sudan in the United States, the US Congress has already accepted to hear from the FVP about how to implement the peace in South Sudan. The high ranking members of the Congress will meet him next week.

On the other hand, senators on Foreign Relations Committee have also expressed willingness to meet the FVP to hear from him the circumstances under which the leadership changes of the SPLM-IO took place and whether it was in accordance with the provision of the peace agreement.

The visiting South Sudanese deputy president will meet officials in the White House and US state Department to discuss humanitarian assistance and the deployment of the protection force that is supposed to be deployed to South Sudan.

“It should be noted that the views expressed by some senators during the hearing of September 20 are not shared by the White House and the State Department. The position of the White House and the State Department is very clear, that is, Riek Machar should not return to Juba. This position was expressed by Donald Booth on September 7 hearing in the Congress," said Gordon Buaya senior diplomat at South Sudan embassy in Washington.

The diplomat stressed that the White House and the state Department want Gen. Taban and President Kiir to continue implementation of the peace. He expressed fears that the return of Riek Machar to Juba can lead to more war and instability.

“The FVP will also make presentations at various Think tanks in Washington DC. He will make presentations at Wilson Center, US Institute for Peace and Atlantic Council. His presentations will be attended by policy makers and academics in Washington, DC,” he added.

Gai led the South Sudan's delegation for the meetings of the UN General Assembly in New York.

(ST)

September 24, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - A delegation from the internal groups of the opposition umbrella Sudan Call on Saturday has travelled to Addis Ababa to participate in the meeting which will take place from 25 to 30 September to discuss organizational matters of the alliance and the pre-dialogue meeting.

Leaders of the opposition "Sudan Call" sign an agreement on the alliance's structures in Paris on 22 April 2016 (ST Photo)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, Sudan Call spokesperson Mohamed Farouk Sulieman said the delegation was led by the chairman of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) Omer al-Digair who is also the head of the internal groups of the Sudan Call.

He pointed the Addis Ababa meeting would review political stances of the alliance besides discussing ways to develop its organizational structures and the role of the Sudan Call in unifying the opposition forces.

According to Sulieman, a workshop would be held in conjunction with the Addis Ababa meeting to develop the joint stance of the Sudan Call toward the upcoming preparatory dialogue meeting with the government groups.

The Sudan Call groups participating in the meeting include the two factions of the armed opposition umbrella Sudan Revolutionary Forces (SRF), the National Umma Party (NUP) besides the internal groups of the alliance including the SCoP, the Sudanese Ba'ath Party (SBP), the National Alliance Party (NAP), the Sudanese National Party (SNP) and the Center Alliance Party (CAP).

Last week, the leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Gibril Ibrahim told Sudan Tribune that the Sudan Call groups will meet in Addis Ababa from 25 to 30 September to discuss the preparatory meeting to coordinate positions and discuss some organizational matters.

Ibrahim who chairs a faction of the SRF stressed that the good coordination between the opposition forces, which include political and military groups, is needed more than any structural reforms.

On Wednesday, the opposition alliance National Consensus Forces (NCF), which is part of the Sudan Call, suspended the membership of the SCoP, SBP, NAP, SNP and the CAP as a result of the increasing differences over their participation in the African Union-led peace process.

Since several months, the NCF has been divided over its participation, within the framework of the opposition umbrella Sudan Call, in the negotiations for a peaceful settlement to end war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states and Darfur region and a national constitutional dialogue conference.

While the suspended groups were willing to take part in the political process alongside the armed groups and NUP, the other forces including the Sudanese Communist Party say they want the Sudan Call to focus on the regime change agenda and popular uprising.

They believe that the current process would not bring democratic change in Sudan but would be a repetition to previous peace agreements and reinvigorates the regime of President Omer al-Bashir.

(ST)

In his address to the General Assembly today, Ibrahim Ahmed Abd al-Aziz Ghandour, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sudan, said the 2030 Agenda and other frameworks before the United Nations are vital for all countries and he hopes that calls for reform will be heeded so the Organization becomes a true platform for implementing principles of international legality and “a bulwark for justice.”

Ethiopian prince Lij Iyasu was deposed after fears he had converted to Islam. But it also put an end to the threat of Ethiopia entering into World War One, writes Martin Plaut.

Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping has said a constitution court ruling which upheld President Ali Bongo's election victory was "unjust".

Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa reach the 2016 African Champions League final, beating Zesco United of Zambia 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final in Pretoria.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the European Union should set up a giant camp to process migrants before they reach Europe.

Samson Siasia, Nigeria's former under-23 coach, gives the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) a two-week ultimatum to settle its long-standing debt to him.

Ugandan police stop gay pride celebrations in two resorts outside the capital Kampala.