Africa

April 29, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Religious leaders from South Sudan's Presbyterian, Catholic, Anglican and Seven Day Adventist churches have conducted a joint prayer on Friday in Ugandan capital, Kampala, calling for reconciliation and healing among South Sudanese people.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (C) poses for a picture after the government swearing in with his first deputy Riek Machar (R) and second deputy James Wani on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

Stephen Liet Machot, a pastor from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, said the gathering was organized as thanksgiving to God for bringing peace in South Sudan. He said many South Sudanese were forced into exile due to two and a half years of conflict in the country.

Pastor Machot said the role of the church should play was participating in realizing a lasting peace and reconciliation among leaders in the country.

“Our role as the church we pray for peace, unity and reconciliation and we will preach that to people that reconciliation and unity is very important for the development of South Sudan,” he said.

He believed it is a collective responsibility of every South Sudanese to make sure stability is restored through dialogue between politicians and the communities who are hard hit by the conflicts.

“Let's come together, unite ourselves as one country, one nation and we can be together in the peaceful and the unity so that we can move forward for reconciliation, development and the healing of the nation,” said pastor Machot.

He also called on the people to refrain from divisions, adding that the formation of transitional government of national unity meant that South Sudanese have become one, despite the deadly war which erupted on 15 December 2013.

Pastor James Baap on his part also called on South Sudanese to stop using social media as a platform to spread hate messages, urging them to focus on peace and love for one another.

“My message goes to those who are on internet who preach bad word. We need to minimize our bad words so that for the peace to come into our hearts and the country,” he added.

He said the war had left big scars in the society, but he urged citizens to forget and put God in all everything and to forgive those who wronged them.

John Yual Guth, chairperson of Nuer Christian Mission Network of South Sudan said peace is the only tool that can unite South Sudanese.

“We need to reconcile at the grass root level, from churches level…all our communities need to have reconciliation in the real sense,” he said.

He said the formation of transitional government is the last hope for peace in South Sudan and urged South Sudanese to embrace peace and unity.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - A Sudanese media watchdog said Friday that the security service directed the newspapers to not report about student demonstrations to protest the recent killing of two students .

Students throw stones during a confrontation with the antiriot policemen in the University Street as they protest over government plan to transfer the premises of the University of Khartoum outside the capital, on Wednesday April 13, 2016.

Two students Mohamed al-Sadiq of Omdurman Ahlia University and Abu Bakr Siddiq of Kordofan University were killed during violent clashes between government and opposition supporters respectively on 27 and 19 April.

Following what, the opposition supporters Thursday and Friday organized several protests in different universities accusing the security services of targeting pro-opposition student groups and called to overthrow the regime.

Sudan's Journalists' Association for Human Rights (JAHR) on Friday issued a statement saying that the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) had directed the newspapers on Thursday to not cover the student protests that erupted in Khartoum.

The press was ordered "to not publish any news reports that can promote violence, feed unrest and chaos or prejudice the ongoing investigation in the case of Omdurman Ahlia University student," JAHR said.

The local watchdog further said the directive contained direct threats to the press. It added that the NISS however mentioned that the government has no intention to close the universities, except in the case of absolute necessity to protect properties.

The Sudanese opposition parties condemned the death of the two students and called to protest against the government.

The leader of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) Farouk Abu Issa on Friday released an audio message through the social media calling on the Sudanese to demonstrate against the regime and to protest the death of the students.

On a similar move, the leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq al-Mahdi issued a statement calling on the Sudanese people to take to the street to protest against "tyranny and corruption without violence or sabotage."

Also, U.S. Embassy in Khartoum on Friday asked its citizens to exercise caution in light of anti-government demonstrations and violence at several universities in the Sudanese capital..

" As a result of ongoing unrest, the Embassy is exercising heightened caution by temporarily restricting Embassy staff from the vicinity of the affected universities," said a message sent by the Embassy to the American nationals in Khartoum.

During the past weeks, Khartoum has been the scene of student anti-government protests after statements by a government official about to sell Khartoum University land.

(ST)

Former President of Ghana, John Kufuor, voiced his support for West Papuan political aspirations during a meeting with West Papuan indigenous leader, Benny Wenda, at Ghana's 59th Independence celebrations in March this year. Credit: Benny Wenda

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Australia, Apr 30 2016 (IPS)

For more than half a century, the indigenous people of West Papua, located on the western side of the island of New Guinea, who are related to the Melanesians of the southwest Pacific Islands, have waged a resistance to governance by Indonesia and a relentless campaign for self-determination.

But despite regular bloodshed and reports of systematic human rights abuses by national security forces, which have taken an estimated half a million West Papuan lives, the international community has remained mostly unwilling to take concerted action in support of their plight.

Now Benny Wenda, a West Papuan independence leader who has lived in exile in the United Kingdom since 2003, is driving a mission to build the support of African states. Following a visit to Senegal in 2010 and two visits to South Africa last year, Wenda was welcomed at the 59th Independence anniversary celebrations in Ghana in March this year.

“There has been widespread attention and further pan-African solidarity for West Papua renewed following my diplomatic visits to these African countries, both at parliamentary and grassroots levels,” Wenda told IPS.

In Ghana, Wenda met with political and church leaders, including former Presidents, Jerry John Rawlings and John Kufuor.

‘We are honoured to fight for your people. We share a similar history. It is no surprise to me that you had support from Ghana at the UN in 1969 and that we accepted West Papuan refugees in the 1980s,’ Jerry John Rawlings said to the Ghanaian media.

The alliance which Wenda is forging is based on a sense of shared historical experience.

“Africa is the motherland to all people and we Melanesians feel this strongly….our affinity primarily lies in our shared ancestral heritage, but also in our recent history because Africa has also suffered the brutalities of colonialism,” Wenda said.

Following decolonisation of the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia gained independence in 1949, but there was disagreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia about the fate of Dutch New Guinea, which the former was preparing for self-determination. A United Nations supervised referendum on its political future, named the ‘Act of Free Choice,’ was held in 1969, but less than 1 per cent of the region’s population was selected to vote by Indonesia, guaranteeing an outcome for integration, rather than independence.

At the time, Ghana and more than a dozen other African states were the only United Nations members to reject the flawed ballot.

During Wenda’s visit to South Africa last February, other leaders, such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Chief Nkosi Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela MP, added their solidarity.

‘I’m shocked to learn that West Papua is still not free. I call on the United Nations and all the relevant bodies, please, do what is right, as they know, for West Papua,’ Tutu said in a public statement.

The momentum continued when the Nigeria-based non-government organisation, Pan African Consciousness Renaissance, held a pro-West Papua demonstration outside the Indonesian Embassy in Lagos in April 2015.

Indonesia’s refusal to recognise secessionist aspirations in its far-flung troubled region is often attributed not only to concerns about national unity, but the immense mineral wealth of copper, gold, oil and natural gas which flows to the state from ‘West Papua’, the umbrella term widely used for the two Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Since coming to power in 2014 populist Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, has vowed to increase inclusive development in the region and called on security forces to refrain from abusive measures, but the suffering of West Papuans continues. In May last year, there were reports of 264 activists arrested by police ahead of planned peaceful protests. Twelve Papuans were shot by security forces in Karubaga in the central highlands in July, while in August three people were abducted and tortured by police in the Papuan capital, Jayapura, and two shot dead outside the Catholic Church in Timika.

West Papua’s political fate stands in contrast to that of East Timor at the end of last century. East Timor, a Portuguese colony militarily annexed by Indonesia in 1975, gained Independence in 2002. The positive result of an independence referendum in 1999 was widely accepted and further supported by a multi-national peacekeeping force when ensuing violence instigated by anti-independence forces threatened to derail the process.

But in the political climate of the 1960s, Wenda says “West Papua was effectively handed over to Indonesia to try and appease a Soviet friendly Indonesian government….our fate was left ignored for the sake of cold war politics.” Now Indonesia staunchly defends its right of sovereignty over the provinces.

In the immediate region, West Papua has obtained some support from Pacific Island countries, such as the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu which have voiced concerns about human rights violations at the United Nations.

And last year the Melanesian Spearhead Group, a sub-regional intergovernmental organisation, granted observer status to the United Liberation Movement for West Papua coalition. However, Indonesia, a significant trade partner in the Pacific Islands region, was awarded associate membership, giving it an influential platform within the organisation.

“Luhut Pandjaitan’s [Indonesia’s Presidential Chief of Staff] recent visit to Fiji suggests that Indonesia is continuing its efforts to dissuade Pacific states from supporting West Papua and is willing to allocate significant diplomatic and economic resources to the objective,” Dr Richard Chauvel at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute commented to IPS.

In contrast to Indonesia’s Pacific Island neighbours, Dr Chauvel continued, “African states mostly do not have significant trade, investment, diplomatic and strategic interests with Indonesia and do not have to weigh these interests against support for the West Papuan cause at the UN or elsewhere.”

How influential south-south solidarity by African leaders will be on West Papua’s bid for freedom hinges on whether championing words translate into action. In the meantime, Benny Wenda’s campaign continues.

(End)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

April 29, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Eritrea and Ethiopia have respectively continue to become Africa's leading jailers of journalists, according to a new survey released Thursday by an independent watchdog.

A Sudanese journalist covers her mouth with a piece of paper bearing the word 'NO' during a hunger strike held by journalists in Khartoum on November 4. 2009

The US-based Freedom House said governments of the two east African countries continue to show little tolerance to dissent and as a result have the highest number of imprisoned journalists in sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite the release of 10 imprisoned journalists in 2015, the report said Ethiopia continued to repress all independent reporting, and remained the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, after Eritrea.

The report noted for the Journalists in East and Southern Africa suffered from a sharp increase in political pressure and violence in 2015.

In the midst of Burundi's political crisis in May, which stemmed from the president's pursuit of a third term, nearly all independent media outlets were closed or destroyed. The loss of these outlets, especially radio stations that had been the main source of information, resulted in a dearth of reporting on critical issues. Extensive intimidation and violence against journalists by the regime of President Pierre Nkurunziza and his supporters drove many into exile.

According to the report for East Africa, the run-up to early 2016 elections in Uganda featured an increase in harassment of journalists attempting to cover opposition politicians. In Kenya, greater government pressure in the form of repressive laws, intimidation, and threats to withdraw state advertising resulted in a reduction in critical reporting on President Uhuru Kenyatta and his cronies.

Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan. South Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti were listed amongst the last 20 African countries designated by the group as not free Media.

According to the group, Press freedom saw decline to its lowest point in 12 years in 2015, as political, criminal, and terrorist forces sought to co-opt or silence the media in their broader struggle for power.

Sudan and Egypt were also listed amongst world countries which has suffered biggest decline in press freedom in the year 2015.

The survey showed that only 13% of the world's population (fewer than one in seven people) enjoy a free press where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures.

41% of the world's population has a partly free press, and 46% live in not free media environments.

The varied threats to press freedom around the world are making it harder for media workers to do their jobs, and the public is increasingly deprived of unbiased information and in-depth reporting.

“Steep declines worldwide were linked to two factors: heightened partisanship and polarization in a country's media environment, and the degree of extralegal intimidation and physical violence faced by journalists” it said.

Ghana, previously the only free country on the continent's mainland, suffered a status decline to Partly Free.

Founded in October 1941, Freedom House is a US-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights.

The group is a US Government funded independent organisation which conducts surveys on political rights and civil liberties in 195 countries around the globe.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (YAMBIO) – The authorities of Tombura county have restricted the United Nations Missions in South Sudan (UNMISS) from accessing the area.

An honour guard of Rwandan peacekeepers welcomes the Secretary-General at the UNMISS Tomping Base, Juba May 6, 2014 (Photo UN)

UNMISS officials wanted to handover to the county administration the Multi-purpose Community Centre which was built using Quick Impact Project money and supported by UNDP.

A team of UN Agencies and UNMISS left Yambio for Tombura on Monday with the aim to conduct awareness on UNMISS mandate and the peace agreement signed by the government of South Sudan and armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) and to handover the portal and proceed to Source Yubu to access the humanitarian situation.

When the team reached in Tombura, the county commissioner, Abdalla Juma Baziangungu, said he was not aware about the visit of UNMISS and UN Agencies to his county and he could not therefore allow them to do their activities.

He gave order to security forces to restrict the team not to conduct their activities and they should not move or interview the local community on human rights issues or activities of security organs in the county.

But with the presence of UNDP regional Director and Head of Field Office in Western Equatoria, the Commissioner only allowed handing over of the community portal where he commended UNMISS for constructing the centre with the money from Quick Impact.

Speaking on phone to John Bosco, a citizen of Source Yubu, who fled conflict to Tombura town, he expressed his disappointment over the restriction imposed on UNMISS and other non-governmental organizations.

The community of Source Yubu has not received any humanitarian assistance due to the wave of the insecurity and bad road to the area.

UNMISS have been visiting Tombura county to conduct their activities and also visit Nagero county without restriction so that the mandate is realized in South Sudan.

Tombura county experience fighting between the government forces and armed youth last year in Source yubu where at least eight people were killed from both sides and shops and houses were looted, burnt and destroyed.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Religious leaders from South Sudan's Presbyterian, Catholic, Anglican and Seven Day Adventist churches have conducted a joint prayer on Friday in Ugandan capital, Kampala, calling for reconciliation and healing among South Sudanese people.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (C) poses for a picture after the government swearing in with his first deputy Riek Machar (R) and second deputy James Wani on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

Stephen Liet Machot, a pastor from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, said the gathering was organized as thanksgiving to God for bringing peace in South Sudan. He said many South Sudanese were forced into exile due to two and a half years of conflict in the country.

Pastor Machot said the role of the church should play was participating in realizing a lasting peace and reconciliation among leaders in the country.

“Our role as the church we pray for peace, unity and reconciliation and we will preach that to people that reconciliation and unity is very important for the development of South Sudan,” he said.

He believed it is a collective responsibility of every South Sudanese to make sure stability is restored through dialogue between politicians and the communities who are hard hit by the conflicts.

“Let's come together, unite ourselves as one country, one nation and we can be together in the peaceful and the unity so that we can move forward for reconciliation, development and the healing of the nation,” said pastor Machot.

He also called on the people to refrain from divisions, adding that the formation of transitional government of national unity meant that South Sudanese have become one, despite the deadly war which erupted on 15 December 2013.

Pastor James Baap on his part also called on South Sudanese to stop using social media as a platform to spread hate messages, urging them to focus on peace and love for one another.

“My message goes to those who are on internet who preach bad word. We need to minimize our bad words so that for the peace to come into our hearts and the country,” he added.

He said the war had left big scars in the society, but he urged citizens to forget and put God in all everything and to forgive those who wronged them.

John Yual Guth, chairperson of Nuer Christian Mission Network of South Sudan said peace is the only tool that can unite South Sudanese.

“We need to reconcile at the grass root level, from churches level…all our communities need to have reconciliation in the real sense,” he said.

He said the formation of transitional government is the last hope for peace in South Sudan and urged South Sudanese to embrace peace and unity.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan president, Salva Kiir, has appealed for global support, arguing there should be no reason to hold assistance after forming transitional government of national unity.

Thousands of people wait for food aid in the hot sun near the air drop zone in Leer, South Sudan, in July 2014 (Photo AFP/Nichole Sobecki)

“The people who were saying that you cannot be supported unless you form the transitional government of national unity, if they have agents here, they should report back to them that the government has been established,” said president Kiir after overseeing the swearing in of cabinet ministers.

The president spoke on Friday at the first meeting attended by two of his deputies, Riek Machar and James Wani Igga.

He asserted it was time for foreign governments and international organizations to provide financial assistance to the new government so that it helps implement the peace deal.

The transitional government of national unity brings together politicians from the government and the armed opposition under the overall leadership of the first vice president, Riek Machar, who has been at war with President Kiir for two years.

The cabinet also includes non-armed opposition forces, led by Lam Akol Ajawin and Martin Elia Lomoro.

Speaking at the same function, the first vice president, Riek Machar, said the new government must deal with violence if the peace was to be realized by the general population, regardless of obstacles.

"If our people feel in Juba that they cannot walk by night, even if we preach peace to them, they say, 'we don't see it,” said Machar who appointed 10 senior ministers and 2 junior ministers in the cabinet.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The spokesperson of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) said the Sudanese army has resumed its airstrikes against Um Serdiba area and several villages in Hiban area in South Kordofan.

Children in South Kordofan's town of Kauda take cover from a passing Antonov in a makeshift bomb shelter in 2012 (Photo: Peter Moszynski)

Last March, the Sudanese army said its troops captured Um Serdiba, "the main rebel stronghold in Kadugli sector", and Musharaka area. Al-Maradis, El Lipo, Kutna, Ugab, Karkakaia, and El-Biri. But the SPLM-N claimed they repulsed the attacks.

Arnu Ngulutu Lodi in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday said that a a (Sudan Air Force) Antonov plane dropped six bombs on Um Serdiba on Monday, stressing the attack caused panic among the residents and destroyed their property.

He added that similar plane dropped 17 barrel bombs on several villages around Hiban on Tuesday killing a number of cattle heads and destroying residents' property.

Lodi pointed the Antonov plane dropped 4 bombs on Nyakma, 6 bombs on Hagar Bago, 3 bombs on Auru and 4 bombs on Hiban.

Fierce fighting is taking place in the Nuba Mountains area of South Kordofan following a large-scale campaign launched by the government army against rebel positions.

South Kordofan and neighbouring Blue Nile state have been the scene of violent conflict between the SPLM-N and Sudanese army since 2011.

Last December, negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM-N stalled after the government delegation insisted that the objective of talks is to settle the conflict in the Two Areas, while the SPLM-N team has called for a holistic approach to resolve ongoing conflicts across Sudan.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government said it would address the phenomenon of terrorism through dialogue and intellectual work besides implementing administrative and executive measures.

Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (AFP Photo/Ashraf Shazly)

The Under-secretary of the ministry of Guidance and Endowments Hamid Youssef Adam, who spoke on the sidelines of the International Conference on Terrorism and sectarian extremism in Africa, said Sudan is confronting sectarian terrorism through the power of thoughts and dialogue, pointing the phenomena poses serious danger to Islam and the African peoples.

He told the official news agency (SUNA) that Sudan has a moral obligation towards 650 million Muslims in Africa which requires the government to mobilize all regional and international Islamic institutions in order to address this problem.

Adam added that the danger of extremism and terrorism in the African continent is in its early stages and could be avoided and brought to an end, pointing that a proposal was made to hold the conference periodically in order to review and follow up on the implementation of its recommendations.

He stressed that all participants called for developing detailed plans to implement the recommended strategies on the African and international levels.

For his part, the head of the Sudan Religious Scholars Committee (RSC) Mohamed Osman Salih called for developing objective studies and scientific researches to confront the sectarian extremism, stressing the need to implement the outcome of the specialized conferences through executive and administrative measures.

He added that such measures would reflect the peaceful nature of Islam, calling for the importance to return to the moderate Sunni Islam.

The conference was organized by the Sudanese Ministry of Guidance and Endowment in collaboration with the Muslim World League (MWL) between 28 to 29 April in Khartoum.

Addressing the opening session of the conference, President Omer al-Bashir said the enemies of Islam continued to link Islam to terrorism with the aim of depicting it as a violent and merciless faith.

He urged the conferees to come up with resolutions that would lead to practical solutions for the continent to avoid such dangers and encourage co-existence and tolerance among its peoples.

Presence of the extremist Islamic State (ISIS) in Sudan has made the headlines in March 2015 after several medical students from Sudanese origins fled the country to join the group.

Also, dozens of the Sudanese young people have been killed in incidents relating to the extremist group in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Sudan was placed on the United States terrorism list in 1993 over allegations it was harbouring Islamist extremist working against regional and international targets.

In June 2015, the US State Department released the 2014 terrorism report maintaining Sudan's status as a state sponsor of terrorism and mentioning the existence of certain terrorist groups in the country as well as links between Khartoum and some of these organizations.

(ST)

April 29, 2016 (JUBA) – The newly appointed South Sudan's ministers of the transitional government of national unity have been sworn in on Friday, a day after they were appointed.

Ministers of the transitional government of national unity swearing in on 29 April 2016 (Photo Moses Lomayat)

The country saw the swearing in of cabinet ministers appointed on Thursday in preparations to complete formation of the transitional government of national unity, ending months of uncertainty.

Thirty full cabinet ministers and seven deputy ministers took oath of office in a function presided over by President Salva Kiir and his two deputies, Riek Machar and James Wani Igga.

Kiir urged the newly appointed ministers to put the interest of the nation first in the execution of their duties.

He enjoined new ministers to make good use of the opportunities provided to them to serve their nation, and reminded them that their appointments were based on trust and confidence

The new cabinet is a mix up of old and new faces. They took three oaths of office, secrecy and allegiance, administered by the Chief Justice, Chan Reec Madut.

Speaking at the occasion, Kiir thanked the officials for accepting the positions to be part of a team that he said will, by God's grace, bring the country to prosperity that “most people think will be a far-fetched dream.”

“Nothing is beyond the reach of God and nothing is beyond His reach. If you have faith in God, with His support, there is nothing that you cannot achieve in this world,” said Kiir while emphasizing on institutional cooperation in the delivery of services to the people.

This comes after President Kiir on Thursday evening dissolved his cabinet and formed the new one in compliance with the August 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

The head of state, according to the broadcast by the state owned South Sudan television on Thursday, appointed 16 full ministers, 4 deputies from his group and 10 senior ministers and 2 deputies from armed opposition under the overall leadership of the first vice president, Riek Machar.

Two full ministers and one deputy from the group of former detainees, two full ministers from other political parties with one deputy were also appointed.

(ST)

A six-storey building collapses in Nairobi in Kenya, after heavy rains and flooding across the country.

Dozens of lions, rescued from circuses, are being airlifted from Colombia and Peru to South Africa.

Participants in the biannual International Civil Society Week 2016, held in Bogotá, waiting for the start of one of the activities in the event that drew some 900 activists from more than 100 countries. Credit: CIVICUS

By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA, Apr 29 2016 (IPS)

When Tamara Adrián, a Venezuelan transgender opposition legislator, spoke at a panel on inclusion during the last session of the International Civil Society Week held in Bogotá, 12 Latin American women stood up and stormed out of the room.

Adrián was talking about corruption in Venezuela, governed by “Chavista” (for the late Hugo Chávez) President Nicolás Maduro, and the blockade against reforms sought by the opposition, which now holds a majority of seats in the legislature.

The speaker who preceded her, from the global watchdog Transparency International, referred to corruption among left-wing governments in South America.

Outside the auditorium in the Plaza de Artesanos, a square surrounded by parks on the west side of Bogotá, the women, who represented social movements, argued that, by stressing corruption on the left, the right forgot about cases like that of Fernando Collor (1990-1992), a right-wing Brazilian president impeached for corruption.“Together, civil society has power…If we work together and connect with what others are doing in other countries, what we do will also make more sense.” -- Raaida Manaa

“Why don’t they mention those who have staged coups in Latin America and who have been corrupt?” asked veteran Salvadoran activist Marta Benavides.

Benavides told IPS she was not against everyone expressing their opinions, “but they should at least show respect. We don’t all agree with what they’re saying: that Latin America is corrupt. It’s a global phenomenon, and here we have to tell the truth.”

That truth, according to her, is that “Latin America is going through a very difficult situation, with different kinds of coups d’etat.”

She clarified that her statement wasn’t meant to defend President Dilma Rousseff, who is facing impeachment for allegedly manipulating the budget, or the governing left-wing Workers’ Party.

“I want people to talk about the real corruption,” she said. “In Brazil those who staged the 1964 coup (which ushered in a dictatorship until 1985) want to return to power to continue destroying everything; but this will affect everyone, and not just Brazil, its people and its resources.”

In Benavides’ view, all of the panelists “were telling lies” and no divergent views were expressed.

But when the women indignantly left the room, they missed the talk given on the same panel by Emilio Álvarez-Icaza, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), who complained that all of the governments in the Americas – right-wing, left-wing, north and south – financially strangled the IACHR and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Emilio Álvarez-Icaza, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the last one on the right, speaking at an International Civil Society Week panel on the situation of activism in Latin America. Credit: Constanza Vieira/IPS

He warned that “An economic crisis is about to break out in the Inter-American human rights system,” which consists of the IACHR and the Court, two autonomous Organisation of American States (OAS) bodies.

“In the regular financing of the OAS, the IACHR is a six percent priority, and the Inter-American Court, three percent,” said Álvarez-Icaza.

“They say budgets are a clear reflection of priorities. We are a nine percent priority,” he said, referring to these two legal bodies that hold states to account and protect human rights activists and community organisers by means of precautionary measures.

He described as “unacceptable and shameful” that the system “has been maintained with donations from Europe or other actors.”

There were multiple voices in this disparate assembly gathered in the Colombian capital since Sunday Apr. 24. The meeting organised by the global civil society alliance CIVICUS, which carried the hashtag ICSW2016 on the social networks, drew some 900 delegates from more than 100 countries.

The ICSW2016 ended Friday Apr. 29 with the election of a new CIVICUS board of directors.

Tutu Alicante, a human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea, is considered an “enemy of the state” and lives in exile in the United States. He told IPS that “we are very isolated from the rest of Africa. We need Latin America’s help to present our cases at a global level.”

Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang has been in power for 37 years. On Sunday Apr. 24 he was reelected for another seven years with over 93 percent of the vote, in elections boycotted by the opposition. His son is vice president and has been groomed to replace him.

“Because of the U.S. and British interests in our oil and gas, we believe that will happen,” Alicante stated.

He said the most interesting aspect of the ICSW2016 was the people he met, representatives of “global civil society working to build a world that is more equitable and fair.”

He added, however, that “indigenous and afro communities were missing.”

“We’re in Colombia, where there is an important afro community that is not here at the assembly,” Alicante said. “But there is a sense that we are growing and a spirit of including more people.”

He was saying this just when one of the most important women in Colombia’s indigenous movement, Leonor Zalabata, came up. A leader of the Arhuaco people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, she has led protests demanding culturally appropriate education and healthcare, and indigenous autonomy, while organising women in her community.

She was a keynote speaker at the closing ceremony Thursday evening.

A woman with an Arab name and appearance, Raaida Manaa, approached by IPS, turned out to be a Colombian journalist of Lebanese descent who lives in Barranquilla, the main city in this country’s Caribbean region.

She works with the Washington-based International Association for Volunteer Effort.

“The most important” aspect of the ICSW2016 is that it is being held just at this moment in Colombia, whose government is involved in peace talks with the FARC guerrillas. This, she said, underlines the need to set out on the path to peace “in a responsible manner, with a strategy and plan to do things right.”

The title she would use for an article on the ICSW2016 is: “Together, civil society has power.” And the lead would be: “If we work together and connect with what others are doing in other countries, what we do will also make more sense.”

In Colombia there is a large Arab community. Around 1994, the biggest Palestinian population outside the Middle East was living in Colombia, although many fled when the civil war here intensified.

“The peaceful struggle should be the only one,” 2015 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Ali Zeddini of the Tunisian Human Rights League, who took part in the ICSW2016, said Friday morning.

But, he added, “you can’t have a lasting peace if the Palestinian problem is not solved.” Since global pressure managed to put an end to South Africa’s apartheid, the next big task is Palestine, he said.

Zeddini expressed strong support for the Nobel peace prize nomination of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian leader serving five consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison. He was arrested in 2002, during the second Intifada.

 Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

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April 27, 2016 (Gogrial) - Authorities in Kuajock, the capital of a newly created Gogrial state, home to President Salva Kiir, have conducted a door-to-door pursuit of unlawful firearms and alcoholic drink in the town on Tuesday.

Policeman destroying beer and Shisha in Gogrial State (ST Photo)

The operation targeted homes, residents, bars and other public places inside Kuacjok town that restricted public movement till midday on Tuesday. Soldiers and police as well as security personnel in civilian dress controlled the traffic but no abuse reported during the search of alcohol and firearms.

Police commissioner of Gogrial state, Major Gen John Akot, said that the search was empowered by a council of ministers resolution number 4 that bans alcohol sell and illegal firearms in the town.

He instructed forces of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and all other organized forces to comply with the order that bans carrying of firearms in town and directed all men in uniform to leave their arms in checkpoints if they needed to enter Kuacjok town.

“The local order is implemented accordingly – the local order is banning illegal firearms, drinking of alcohol and smoking of shisha in the town,” he said.

The police commissioner said during the search rifles and hand grenades were recovered with several pieces of ammunition.

“We managed to confiscate 19 AK47 guns and 5 pistols, including one hand grenade,” he said, adding “Our colleagues who are in the SPLA I advise them to leave their arms in the barrack when they come to the town – if you are coming from Juba on a mission.”

Kuacjok municipal Town Mayor, John Akol, confirmed that their searches resulted into confiscation of items that were destroyed in a public ceremony at the main police station.

Akol said that join security forces will continue to patrol the town day and night to maintain law and order.

“Completely we are not ready to have present of shisha and alcohol in this town- we are warning anyone to stay away with her or his alcohol or shisha outside Gogrial state,” he said.

The police chief added that if anyone violated the order the person must face law with fine of three thousand South Sudanese pound.

(ST)

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