Africa

Rapidly spreading violence in Mali is threatening the State’s very survival, the UN independent expert on the human rights situation in the country said on Friday. 

August 5, 2021 (JUBA) - Heavy flooding has displaced at least 30,000 civilians in Ayod county of South Sudan, a United Nations relief official said Thursday.

A heavily flooded area in a remote part of South Sudan (Getty)

Arafat Jamal, acting humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan told reporters in the capital, Juba that persistent rains have washed away crops forcing women and children to survive on grass.

"One of the most moving and shocking things for me is when someone threw pieces of grass on the ground and said this is what we have to eat," he explained.

Jamal, who visited Ayod county, further disclosed that some homes in both Unity and Jonglei states have been submerged and several food crops have been destroyed.

"Floods are nothing new but what is different is that we are truly in the age of climate change and climate catastrophe and what we are seeing now is that floods are coming in regularly and at a higher intensity than before," he said.

The top UN official said the displaced people also lack clean drinking water.

According to UN Children Fund (UNICEF), some 8.3 million people in South Sudan presently need humanitarian support, a much higher number than the levels seen during the country's last civil war.

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August 5, 2021 (JUBA) - South Sudan has shut down The Sudd Institute, a leading think tank, days after a coalition of civil society activists launched a campaign calling for change in the country.

Southern Sudanese police in a convoy on the streets of Juba (UN photo)

The institute's acting Managing Director, Augustino Ting Mayai said the board met and passed several resolutions in response to the current situation and would update the public on the progress being made with authorities.

“The institute's board has met and passed several resolutions in response to the current situation. The board chair will communicate those to the public and the Institute's domestic, regional, and international partners in the next 24 hours”, Mayai said Thursday.

"The institute remains closed, but discussions with the authorities are ongoing and forthcoming. There is a mutual understanding that the Institute's role is critical for the country," he added.

Mayai also dismissed earlier reports that he was arrested by security agents as false.

"I was only summoned by the authorities on Monday to answer questions related to the Coalition's link to the Sudd Institute," he stressed.

The researcher urged the public to refrain from inflaming what he described as “an already tensed situation by drawing conclusions based on hearsay”.

Founded in May 2012, The Sudd Institute is an independent research organization that conducts and facilitates research and training to inform public policy and practice, to create opportunities for discussion and debate, and to improve analytical capacity in South Sudan.

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August 5, 2021 (ADDIS ABABA) - Ethiopia declined Sudan's offer to broker a negotiated settlement to end the armed conflict in Tigray and allow humanitarian access to the troubled region.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok who chairs the East African bloc of IGAD proposed to mediate between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Several leaders in the region and the international community support the offer which the Sudanese premier had also discussed with the two parties and Eritrea which was not very enthusiastic about the idea.

Commenting on a report the Sudan Tribune published Thursday, Billene Seyoum, Spokesperson of the Prime Minister Office told reporters that Sudan should first resolve the border dispute with Ethiopia before being entrusted for such mediation.

"The relationship with Sudan is a little bit tricky because the level of some leaders has already been eroded particularly with the Sudanese army incursions into Ethiopian territory," Seyoum said in a press briefing held on Thursday.

"Trust is the basis of any negotiation and any mediation, as well. So that element needs to be thoroughly addressed before Sudan could be entertained as a credible party in terms of facilitating such kind of negotiations," she stressed.

Sudanese officials say they believe that the continued armed conflict near its eastern border would affect the country as a result of the restrictions on humanitarian access to the northern Ethiopia region.

The United States voiced her support to the Sudanese initiative but Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed did not meet USAID Administrator Samantha Power during a one-day.

Power only met with the Ethiopian Peace Minister Muferihat Kamil who briefed her about the humanitarian aid his government provides to the civilians in Tigray.

"I once again called for a cessation of hostilities and unfettered humanitarian access," she tweeted before leaving in Addis Ababa.

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August 5, 2021 (JUBA)- South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar convened on Thursday an emergency meeting and dismissed claims that he had been ousted and replaced by the armed opposition (SPLM-IO) chief of staff, General Simon Gatwech Dual.

The development follows what appears to be a power struggle within the leadership of the country's main opposition movement after Dual opted to stay out of Juba, preferring implementation of all provisions of the 2018 revitalized agreement, such as the security arrangement.

Dual, a long time ally of Machar, attributed his dissatisfaction to the inability of the SPLM-IO leader to visit troops in the countryside and urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to release the SPLM-IO leader to go and brief the armed opposition fighters on the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.

The decision by the SPLA-IO chief of staff to stay out of Juba was interpreted by the government and some of those in Machar's inner to mean Dual was opposed to the implementation of the peace deal.

In a meeting held on Tuesday in Magenis in Upper Nile State, high ranking military figures in the armed opposition movement, including Gen. Gatwech, Gen. Johnson Olony Thubo, and Gen. Thomas Mabor Dhoal all agreed to oust Machar and replaced him with Dual.

The group claimed Machar no longer represented the interests of the movement.

On Thursday, however, Machar dismissed the declaration, saying “The declaration is intended to derail the formation of the unified command, graduation, and the deployment of the unified forces, which remain an outstanding priority after the conclusion of the reconstitution of the national legislature,"

Dual's decision to suspend the group's chief of military intelligence General Dhiling Keah following allegations of misconduct over accusations of planning to defect to President Salva Kiir's side polarized the leadership and dampened relations between the two leaders in the movement.

Machar overturned suspension escalating the power struggle within the group.

In June, President Kiir appointed Dual as a presidential advisor on peace upon nomination by Machar, but he (Dual) declined the offer, challenging the legal basis of the position to which he was appointed in the peace deal.

He also questioned the legitimacy of the group, pointing to recent decisions in which he removed and replaced Dual, putting him outside military structure after appointment into an advisory position.

“The three generals who met in Magenis do not constitute the SPLA-IO leadership of the Military Council. The Military Council is composed of the Commander-in-Chief, Chief of General Staff and his deputies, commanders of the nine sectors, and commander of the General Headquarters,” the statement reads in part.

“At the time of the declaration, Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual had already been relieved from command and appointed as Presidential Advisor for Peace. However, the Military Council does not make the political decisions of the movement but the Political Bureau or the National Liberation Councils in the absence of the National Convention," it added.

The leadership also assured the members of the movement and the people of South Sudan in general that the “situation is under control”.

The meeting also discussed the constant harassment, arbitrary arrests, and detention of the movement personnel by security organs linked to the factions under President Salva Kiir, particularly In Juba and other towns in the country.

It “discussed and condemned, as a matter of principle, the arbitrary detention of some members of the People's Coalition for Civil Action, as this group was exercising its constitutional right of freedom of speech, expression, and association even though the SPLM/A (IO) does not necessarily agree with the content of their message.”

“In light of this, the Political Bureau demands the immediate release of these detainees,” the communique stressed, adding that the meeting “discussed the blatant violation of the power-sharing agreements in the Administrative Areas.”

Meanwhile, the armed opposition movement reiterated its commitment to the full implementation of the peace agreement in letter and spirit, urging other parties to the accord to do the same.

In September 2018, the warring factions in South Sudan's civil war signed a revitalized peace agreement to end the country's civil war. The peace accord stipulates that there shall be a transitional government formed after eight months of the pre-transitional period.

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August 5, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - El-Obeid Court in North Kordofan state Thursday sentenced to death six members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the killing of student protesters two years ago.

On July 29, 2019, six students were shot dead by the RSF militiamen as they dispersed angry protests in the capital of North Darfur state over food and fuel shortages and high inflation.

The death sentence did not include one of the RSF recruits who took part in the killing of protesters many of whom were wearing school uniforms. The court found that was a minor under the age of 18 when he committed the crime.

The SRF militia which operates under the command of the Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Hemetti is widely accused of recruiting children, also they are accused of committing widespread brutalities and grave human rights violations in Darfur and South Kordofan.

The Public Prosecution had charged the Rapid Support personnel under Articles 21, 130 and 186 of the Criminal Code, related to criminal participation, premeditated murder and crimes against humanity.

On 24 May, a Sudanese court sentenced to death an RSF officer for the killing of a protester during the brutal breakup of the pro-democracy sit-in in June 2019.

The militiamen carried out a vehicle-ramming attack on the protesters.

The huge amount of videos and pictures taken during the attacks on the pro-democracy protests helped to identify the authors of atrocities committed by the militiamen.

Hemetti resists the integration of his militiamen into the national army.

On Thursday, the RSF announced that it completed the second human rights training session for its forces implemented by the Geneva Institute for Human Rights.

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A 1,000-strong force has made major gains against the insurgents since its deployment last month.

An “alarming” 80 per cent increase in sexual violence in Somalia, as documented in two recent reports by the Secretary-General, has been described as “appalling” by two UN Special Representatives.

Kenyan manga artist Shin explains his passion for Japanese comics and what it takes to make a great one.

The new UN Emergency Relief Coordinator ended a six-day mission to Ethiopia with a fresh push to get badly needed food and other supplies into the embattled Tigray region.  

The continued recruitment and presence of mercenaries in Libya is impeding “progress in the peace process” and an obstacle to upcoming elections, independent UN human rights experts said on Friday, calling for their “long overdue” departure.  

A teenage girl who was sold for sex for the price of a few beers as a twelve-year-old, has told the United Nations how she was trafficked between Burundi and Tanzania in East Africa.

After a near-halt of COVID-19 vaccine shipments in Africa, delivers have ramped up in recent months, the UN health agency said on Thursday. 

Practically all peacekeepers and staff have now left the hybrid UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), in line with its drawdown plan, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

At least half a million children under five in drought-afflicted southern Madagascar are on the verge of acute malnourishment, two UN agencies warned on Monday. 

The president says he is taking over, after a virus surge reignites economic and political unrest.

Ivory Coast's Ruth Gbagbi as well as Egyptian duo Hedaya Wahba and Seif Eissa win bronze in taekwondo on day three at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sunday Igboho is accused of stoking ethnic tensions in Nigeria after targeting Fulani herders.

Africa Eye investigates the cycle of death, violence and corruption in Mali's military.

The shooting down of a military jet shows how organised crime is becoming more daring by the day.