Africa

The team bus of Nigerian Premier League side Ikorodu United is involved in a fatal accident en route to Makurdi for a fixture against Lobi Stars.

June 17, 2015 (RAJA) – The governor of the newly created Lol state [Western Bahr el Ghazal], Rizik Zachariah Hassan, on Friday accused forces of the opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) of allegedly carrying out the recent deadly attack on his state capital, Raja, which led to the brief fall of the administrative headquarters.

Western Bahr el Ghazal governor Rizik Zachariah Hassan (FILE)

Governor Hassan said the forces that captured the state capital on Wednesday were members of the SPLA-IO under the leadership of the First Vice President, Riek Machar, adding that their motive behind the attack was to gain recognition of presence in Bahr el Ghazal region.

“Their motive is to prove to the international community that they are around in Bahr el-Ghazal that is their only strategic motive,” Governor Hassan, who narrowly escaped, told Sudan Tribune on Friday in his first public statement since he deserted the state capital on Wednesday.

He said several officers and soldiers, including some of his personal bodyguards were killed during the attack.

“From my personal bodyguards, I lost seven of them that is what happened. We withdrew and we managed to take hold and liberate the town after one hour right now we have taken full control of Raja town,” said Hassan.

Meanwhile Raja county commissioner, Alamin Janga, said another motive of the attackers was a protest against the establishment of Lol state which put together people of Dinka Aweil and non-Dinka tribes of Raja under one state.

“The motive of this group is that they do not want Lol state, they want a separate state of Raja alone,” he said.

Commissioner Janga said the group voluntarily withdrew from the town after looting most of the town's valuable including 30 million South Sudanese pounds from bank, contradicting governor's statement and that of the army's spokesperson, Brig Lul Ruai Koang, that they liberated the town by repulsing the attackers.

Raja county commissioner also said the attackers have gone away with 75 prisoners after they broke into Raja prison and released them, adding some of the inmates were serving a sentence of up to 20 years.

Till now, he added, it is not safe for civilians to return to Raja town, saying “all humanitarian workers have yesterday been evacuated from Raja to Awiel.”

On Thursday, the SPLM-O's undersecretary for information and public relations national committee, William Ezekiel, condemned the attack, but said their forces were not involved.

Ezekiel denied the SPLA-IO forces have carried out the attack and called on the parties to establish cantonment of the forces to control what he called “unknown gunmen” from destabilizing the peace implementation process.

(ST)

June 17, 2016 (JUBA) - The governor of Lol state, one of the newly created controversial 28 states in South Sudan through a presidential decree against the constitutional 10 states, has relocated to Nyamellel town in Aweil West area.

Rizik Zachariah Hassan, Governor of Lol state (UN photo)

The move for the relocation of governor Rizik Zechariah Hassan, followed the attack in which armed men overran Raja town, the administrative headquarters of the new state, after it came under heavy gunfire on Wednesday, forcing him and his cabinet members to flee in disarray.

The state capital fell under the control of the unknown gunmen, which the government described as “bandits” and “criminals” before they withdrew in the evening of Wednesday.

In statements to Sudan Tribune, Governor Hassan, who confirmed fleeing to Khor Shamam, an area which the Sudanese rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement have been allegedly been using as one of their bases near Raja, later returned to Raja town where he met government forces who eventually assisted him to leave the area again in the same evening of Wednesday.

He was given military escorts to accompany him pass through a thick forest, following the route passing through Deimzuber and Awada areas, before crossing to Aroyo town, the administrative headquarters of Aweil south area which falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the newly created neighbouring Aweil state.

Raja, which is the state capital, according to officials accompanying the governor, was not yet safe, citing that the unknown gunmen could return any time.

Hassan reached Aweil town on Thursday where he was received by members of his government who had fled the attack earlier on Wednesday and walked to Nyamellel town which is under the jurisdiction of Raja state.

Officials close to him as well as some of his cabinet members were keen to underline that he wanted to stay in a territory under his administrative jurisdiction where he would initiate contacts with the president and other high ranking government officials and military officers in the country.

Governor Hassan, according to several of his aides, who were accompanying him, described him as having been “visibly tired and exhausted.”

Speaking in an exclusive interview on Friday, governor Hassan confirmed to Sudan Tribune that he was in Nyamellel town preparing to brief communities in the area about what transpired in Raja.

He said security situation in Raja was now calm and under control of the government forces following a military takeover of the town.

The governor described the armed men who carried out the attack in which government officials were targeted as an act of anti-government and peace. He said armed men had looted the town and displaced many civilians but were now returning to their homes after assurances from the government forces.

“The security situation is now under control. The attack which took place on Wednesday was carried out by anti-government forces but they have been repulsed. The town is now under the control of our forces. The civilians are now returning to their homes and everything will be okay. Yes, they have looted the town and broke the banks,” he said.

(ST)

Sylvia Pankhurst is well known for her links with the suffragette movement but she had strong ties with Ethiopia as well, as James Jeffrey reports.

June 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM)- The Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir declared on Friday a four-month unilateral cessation of hostilities in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir listen to the National anthem during opening session of Sudan National Dialogue conference October 10, 2015 (REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

The Sudanese government has been fighting the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North rebels in the Two Areas since June 2011.

The ceasefire, which will take effect at one minute past midnight on Saturday, “comes as goodwill gesture to give an opportunity for the rebel movements that did not sign the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur to lay down arms and to join the peace process in Sudan," further said the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA).

Also, the truce renews the call of the President of the Republic for all the political forces and armed movements to join the national dialogue process before the general assembly of the national dialogue which will be held on the 6th of August, SUNA stressed.

The unilateral cessation of hostilities intervenes as the armed groups and their allied political forces are holding a meeting in Addis Ababa to discuss the way forward after their rejection of the Roadmap Agreement last March.

On 28 April 2016, Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) declared a six- month unilateral cessation of hostilities, and urged African Union mediators to organize a meeting with the government to make it effective .

Last September before the national dialogue general assembly of 10 October 2015, the Sudanese president issued a republican decree declaring a truce for two months in the two areas and Darfur region and granted general amnesty for the armed movements that would join in the national dialogue conference.

(ST)

An elephant in Zimbabwe receives treatment up to six weeks after being shot in the head by suspected poachers.

June 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - A consultative meeting of the opposition alliance of the Sudan Call forces that was scheduled to be held on Thursday in Addis Ababa has been delayed due to the late arrival of two rebel leaders to the Ethiopian capital.

Sudan Call leders pose outside the AUPSC building in Addis Ababa on 24 August - (Photo ST)

Reliable sources told Sudan Tribune that leaders of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) Minni Minnawi and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Gibril Ibrahim have arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday, saying the delay was caused by visa problems.

Leaders of the National Umma Party (NUP) al-Sadiq al-Mahdi and the Sudanese Congress Party (SoCP) Omer el-Digair had arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday to take part in the meeting.

The meeting is expected to tackle organizational issues pertaining to the alliance's structures besides a proposed meeting with the chief African mediator Thabo Mbeki to discus reservations of the Sudan Call forces on the Roadmap Agreement.

Sudan Call leaders will also meet with the international envoys upon an invitation from the US envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth to discuss the peace plan.

Three armed groups including the JEM, SLM-MM, Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and the NUP last March refused a Roadmap Agreement for peace brokered by Mbeki, saying it would reproduce the regime.

The international community continues to exert efforts in a bid to bridge the gaps and bring them to ink the Roadmap Agreement, considering it represents a good opportunity to end war in Sudan and to open humanitarian access to the needy in the war affected areas.

The holdout groups say they reject the roadmap because, among others, it excludes their allies in the opposition and because they want an inclusive process. Nonetheless, they accept to continue discussions over the peace plan with the African mediation and the international facilitators.

However, their allies of the left parties, gathered in the National Consensus Forces (NCF) declined to participate in such meetings over the peace negotiations, saying they are not concerned by the dialogue with the regime.

(ST)

June 17, 2016 (JUBA) – Hilde F. Johnson, former Special Representative in South Sudan for the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, is due to launch a book this week which she has written on South Sudan's political situation and civil war after independence.

The book entitled: ‘South Sudan, The Untold Story From Independence to Civil War' is announced to be launched in London, United Kingdom, on 21 June, 2016, where she will brief an audience about the contents of the book.

Johnson served for three years in South Sudan as head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) which she established in the world's youngest country per a mandate of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

In 2014, she completed her three-year tenure as UN's special representative and head of UNMISS from 2011 to 2014.

Johnson has vast knowledge about the wars in Sudan and their peace processes which finally culminated in the end of the north-south Sudan's civil war in 2005.

As minister for International Development of Norway for almost seven years from 1997 to 2005, Johnson was in charge of development policies and programmes, as well as humanitarian response in Norway.

During her ministerial tenure, she was a key player in brokering the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) for Sudan in 2005, an experience she has documented in the book “Waging Peace in Sudan” (2011).

However, her current book focuses on the three years of her experience in South Sudan from independence in 2011 to the civil war which erupted in December 2013.

Her book is expected to tell a lot of stories about what transpired in the political arena of the leadership which led to the civil war in the country.

(ST)

June 16, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - Unidentified gunmen have killed a security officer on Thursday and stole his vehicle in North Darfur capital, El-Fasher.

Members of the Indonesian peacekeeping force from the UNAMID stand guard at ZamZam camp for internally displaced people in Al Fasher, northern Darfur April 13, 2010. (Reuters)

Reliable source told Sudan Tribune that armed men shot and killed Musaab Omer, an officer belonging to National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), on Thursday evening in downtown El-Fasher.

He added that the gunmen stole the victim's vehicle before they run off, pointing that they have not yet been arrested.

According to the source which is not authorised to speak to the press, the stolen vehicle was later found at El-Fasher's eastern neighbourhood of Al-Ghaba while the corpse was transferred to the hospital.

Earlier this month, a joint campaign between the NISS and the traffic police in North Darfur has led to the seizure of dozens of vehicles illegally smuggled from the neighbouring countries.

Gunmen commonly use vehicles and motorcycles that don't hold license plates to carry out killing and looting crimes.

Commissioner of El-Fasher locality Al-Tigani Abdallah Salih had earlier said that directives were issued to monitor and stop unlicensed cars, pointing that the vehicles which were seized have contributed to increasing crime rate in the state.

He said that the seized cars would be transferred to the customs department to take the legal measures, pointing that the locality would continue its campaigns to enhance security and stability.

Salih further called on the residents to notify the security authorities of any negative phenomena.

Earlier this month, Gunmen riding camels shot dead a security officer during a pursuit of fleeing cattle raiders outside Tawilla locality, 30 km west of El-Fasher.

Also, last month, gunmen abducted a tribal leader and his two companions and took them to an unknown destination while they were heading from Saraf Umra to the locality of Karnoi, north west of El-Fasher.

(ST)

June 17, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan president, Salva Kiir, has defended his commitment to combating corruption in his administration, pushing the blame to global community for failure to support his drive to recover public funds stolen and stashed into foreign accounts by former and current government officials and their business associates before and after independence.

President Salva Kiir addresses the nation at the South Sudan National Parliament in Juba, November 18, 2015. (Photo Reuters/Jok Solomon)

President Kiir's Press Secretary, Ateny Wek Ateny, said the president attempted to recover the stolen monies but could not get the need support from the international community.

“The people of South Sudan and President Salva Kiir are the victims of corruption. It is the desire of the president to ensure those stolen money are recovered. This was why he wrote letters to 75 officials to return the money they have stolen and even offered to pardon them. This was a clear demonstration of willingness to combating corruption but the international community did not support this important campaign,” said Ateny on Friday.

The presidential aide was reacting to a report by a United States-based policy advocacy group, the Enough Project, which called on president Kiir to exhibit strong leadership and take bold decision if he were serious to combat corruption.

Enough Project also stressed that the call for global support was not formalized, suggesting lack of seriousness on the part of President Kiir.

Ateny however emphasized that his boss would be the last person in the country to entertain corruption.

He pointed to the sentencing to life imprisonment of officials in the President's office believed to have played a role in the scandal in which 14 million US dollars and 30 million South Sudanese pounds, slipped between the fingers through forgery and impersonation of presidential seals.

The officials who stole the money got approvals from the central bank in the name of security matters at the presidency over the past years.

(ST)

June 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani would visit Sudan next July upon an invitation from the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, said foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour.

President Omer al-Bashir received by the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha on 16 June 2016 (QNA Photo)

Al-Bashir on Friday concluded a two-day visit to the Qatari capital of Doha.

Ghandour, who spoke at the airport upon return of al-Bahsir and his accompanying delegation, said the latter has invited Emir Tamim to attend a celebration on completion of the implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), noting that the latter has accepted the invitation.

The Doha brokered the Darfur peace negotiations resulted in the signing of the DDPD by the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) in July 2011.

The Sudanese top diplomat said that al-Bashir has discussed with the Qatari Emir ways for promoting and strengthening bilateral ties besides coordination in the regional and international issues.

He pointed that the two leaders also discussed the Qatari investments in Sudan and the convening of the Joint Ministerial Committee and the Joint Political Consultation Committee between the two countries, saying the foreign ministers of the two countries have been instructed to prepare for holding the meetings.

It is noteworthy that the Qatari investments in Sudan amounts to $1,7 billion including agricultural, real estate and banking investments.

Ghandour added that the two sides agreed to hold the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting in November, pointing that the meetings of the delegation with the Qatari ministers have discussed issues of common concern.

Al-Bashir was accompanied by the Minister of the Presidency Fadl Abdallah, the Foreign Minister, Finance Minister Badr al-Din Mahmoud and the director of the president's office Taha Osman.

Ghandour further thanked Qatar on behalf of the Sudanese government and people for the huge efforts that it continued to make and particularly with regard to the peace and development process in Darfur.

(ST)

June 17, 2016 (JUBA) – Spokesperson of the South Sudanese First Vice President and leader of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), Riek Machar, said their priority is to restore peace and stability in the country and not to return to violence.

James Gatdet Dak, press secretary of the opposition leader, Machar, was responding to the queries about the request allegedly made by the South Sudanese army (SPLA) of President Salva Kiir's faction that the SPLA-IO should help in fighting those who on Wednesday attacked Raja, state capital of the newly created Lol state.

Gunmen, described as “bandits” and “criminals” by the SPLA, captured Raja on Wednesday morning but were repulsed in the evening by a combined forces of South Sudan army and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Sudanese rebel group from Darfur which has a base near Raja inside South Sudan.

Brigadier General Lul Ruai Koang, spokesperson of the SPLA of President Kiir's faction, said they have appealed to the leadership of the SPLM-IO to help fight the gunmen in Western Bahr el Ghazal.

But the spokesperson of the SPLM-IO leader said their army's priority was to consolidate peace and not to join in further violence.

“What we recommend is that the focus should be on restoring peace and stability across the country, but not to mobilize forces to renew violence. The priority is to ensure that forces of all parties are cannoned in accordance with the security arrangements. This should also include bringing on board peacefully other armed groups - be they civilians or soldiers - to stop fighting,” James Gatdet Dak told Sudan Tribune when contacted on Friday.

He said until forces of the rival armies of the SPLA-IO and SPLA are assembled and cantoned in specific cantonment areas across the country, it will be difficult to know or ascertain who is still fighting who and for what reason.

He also said the opposition forces in Bahr el Ghazal region as well as in Equatoria and Upper Nile regions have been strictly following directives from the top command to abide by the permanent ceasefire, pending establishment of their cantonment areas.

Dak added that the SPLA and any other armed groups should do the same by observing the ceasefire.

SPLA on Wednesday said they were attacked by a group of “bandits” in Raja town and called on the SPLA-IO to help fight the gunmen, despite earlier denial that the opposition forces existed in Bahr el Ghazal region.

However, SPLA-IO did not send in forces to fight against the unknown gunmen.

(ST)

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