Category: Diaspora

Gov’t claims Machar is not under arrest in Juba

South Sudan Information minister and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth [Photo via SSNA]

South Sudan Information minister and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth [Photo via SSNA]

JUBA – South Sudan government has claimed that the country’s main armed opposition leader and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny is not under detention in Juba, despite a statement by IGAD office in Juba this week that the regional body was under consultations to release him.

This comes more than one month after the group’s military chief, General Simon Gatwech Dual, wrote to the regional body, IGAD, which mediated the revitalized peace agreement, seeking permission to release Machar so that he can meet his generals.

The minister of information and government spokesman Michael Makuei said in a statement that Machar is not under arrest, slamming opposition officials and activist who insists that he is being detained in Juba.

“As to where these people got their information is up to them. He has not been restricted,” Michael Makuei said as quoted by Eye Radio.

“If he was under arrest or restricted, why should he be performing the official duties? These are stories concocted by sycophants that do not want peace for South Sudan,” he added.

Makuei’s claims come barely two days after IGAD’s liaison office in Juba said it had wrote to the regional body seeking Machar’s freedom.

Machar has been under house arrest since 2016. He was briefly freed in 2018 to participate in the revitalized peace agreement and was rearrested following his return to Juba.

Defense minister and chairperson of the SPLM-IO Security and Defense Committee Angelina Teny had in recent months said her husband is still being detained as his passport has not yet been returned to him.

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Activist warns against withdrawal of Ethiopian peacekeepers in Abyei

UN peacekeeping soldiers seen on petrol in the disputed region of Abyei [Photo via UN Information Centre]

UN peacekeeping soldiers seen on petrol in the disputed region of Abyei [Photo via UN Information Centre]

JUBA – A South Sudan activist is warning against any attempt to withdraw Ethiopian peacekeepers from the disputed region of Abyei, saying it would undermine protection of civilians in one of the unsafe areas in the country.

Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) raised the alert following media reports about the on-going discussion by the Ethiopian government to withdraw its peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei.

“Any attempt by the Ethiopian government to recall its troops that are peacekeepers in South Sudan under the mandate of UNMISS OR UNIFA will really undermine the protection of civilians, and peace keeping mission under the United Nations chart,” Yakani said during a press conference held in the organization’s premises in Juba on Wednesday.

Edmund advised the government of national unity not to take side either with the Federal government of Ethiopia or Tigray militia.

Edmund appealed to the government of Ethiopia to protect the former chief mediator of South Sudan’ peace talks, Seyuom Mesfin who is currently under detention.

“Whatever is happening concerning Seyuom Mesfin, I hope that the rights and protection of Syuom Mesfin is taken into account because he is somebody remarkable for the peace process in South Sudan,” Yakani told reporters.

“We know he has played a big role in making the agreement to be revitalized, if it wasn’t him, we could not have reached the agreement between the warring parties by then. So whatever that government is doing with him, we want due legal process to be taken,” he added.

The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei is composed of 4250 Ethiopian troops, including civilian police.

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South Sudan army denies sending troops to help Ethiopian gov’t in Tigray offensive

Acting South Sudan army spokesman Brigadier-General Santo Domic [Photo via Radio Tamazuj]

Acting South Sudan army spokesman Brigadier-General Santo Domic [Photo via Radio Tamazuj]

JUBA – South Sudan army has denied reports that it has sent around 4,000 troops to neighboring Ethiopia to help in the country’s military offensive against Tigray region.

Social media reports quoting unnamed sources in the army said President Salva Kiir Mayardit had sent around 4,000 troops to help Ethiopian federal forces in their fight against TPLF.

However, in an exclusive interview with Sudans Post this morning, acting army spokesman, Brigadier-General Santo Domic Chol, denied the claims saying the ongoing unrest in Ethiopia is an internal problem that South Sudan cannot interferes in.

“As far as my office is concerned, there is nothing like that. What I know is that what is happening in Ethiopia is an internal conflict within that country,” Brigadier-General Domic said.

The senior army officer stressed the importance of what he said is positive relationship between South Sudan and Ethiopia, and said his country cannot interfere in Ethiopian issues to pay back the horn of Africa’s help during the liberation struggle.

“South Sudan believes in positive bilateral relations with the region including Ethiopia. South Sudan does not interfere into internal affairs of any country, South Sudan believes in positive relationship and as such those reports are not true,” he said.

“South Sudan cannot pay back Ethiopia by interfering in the internal affairs of a nation,” he added.

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S. Sudan president, first deputy cancel planned trip to Khartoum

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (left) and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar (right) speaks to reporters in Juba on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019 (Photo credit via PPU)

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (left) and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar (right) speaks to reporters in Juba on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019 (Photo credit via PPU)

JUBA – South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and his first deputy, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, have both cancelled a planned trip to the Sudanese capital Khartoum, according to a senior opposition official.

On Saturday, Kiir’s security advisor, Tutkew Gatluak, told reporters in Khartoum that Kiir and Machar would travel to Sudan on Sunday morning to attend a peace-signing ceremony that is going to be conducted on Sunday morning at Saha Al Kadara.

“We have come with vice-president Hussein Abdelbaggi to join our brothers in the state of Sudan in celebrating their peace because this is a historic moment for the people of Sudan and also the people of the state of South Sudan,” Tut said on Friday.

“The day after tomorrow, 1st Lt. General Salva Kiir Mayardit, the President of the state of South Sudan will arrive together with his brother Dr. Riek [Machar] to also join the Sudanese people in the celebration,” he added.

However, speaking to Sudans Post this evening, Dut Majokdit, a senior SPLM-IO member and a close aide to Machar said the two men have cancelled the trip and vice-president Hussein Abdelbaggi will instead attend the peace function.

“The Vice President for Services Cluster will Represent the Presidency,” he said during a telephone call from the capital Juba.

“The two Leaders will attend the upcoming big Celebration of the Sudan Peace,” he added.

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Rebel military officers, gov’t counterparts meeting in Rome – spokesman

Senior member of South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance - Cirilo (SSOMA-Cirilo) Deng Vanang [Photo by Sudans Post]

Senior member of South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance – Cirilo (SSOMA-Cirilo) Deng Vanang [Photo by Sudans Post]

ROME – South Sudan opposition military officers and their government counterparts are meeting their government counterparts in a workshop being organized by the peace monitoring body, the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM), in the Italian capital Rome, according to a senior opposition official.

Deng Vanang, the official spokesman of the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) told Sudans Post in an exclusive interview on Tuesday night that the workshop which began on Monday will end on 13th of November, just before the resumption of peace talks which is expected to begin on November 30th.

“SSOMA military officers are currently meeting government military officers in a CTSAMVM-organized workshop in Rome, Italy,” Deng who is in Italy told Sudans Post on phone.

“The workshop which commenced from yesterday 9th of November will continue up to 13th of November. It is aimed at introducing our officers to how CTSAMVM works,” he added.

The senior opposition official further said the opposition alliance faction will not accept integration of their military officers to the ceasefire monitoring CTSAMVM, until the parties sign peace agreement with the government.

“There will be no integration of our officers into the said ceasefire agency anytime soon, till the SSOMA political leadership signs with government previously initialed re-commitment to COHA on coming 30th of November if the workshop is successfully conduced,” he added.

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Russia’s Putin won’t congratulate Biden until Trump concede

Russian President Vladimir Putin [Photo via Getty Images]

Russian President Vladimir Putin [Photo via Getty Images]

MOSCOW (AGENCIES) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will not congratulate Joe Biden until the U.S. election results are finalized, the Kremlin’s top spokesman said Monday.

“Anticipating your possible question about Putin congratulating the U.S. president-elect, I want to say the following: we consider it correct to wait for the official summing up of the results of the elections,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Interfax, the Russian news agency.

Russia has sought to amplify President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud, with the head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, emphasizing that she has prohibited all voting by mail because of the risks of cheating.

In an interview with Tass news agency, Pamfilova said the U.S. election had shown that mail-in voting “opens immense scope for possible falsifications” and insisted that this is why she has banned the practice despite Russian law allowing for it. (She did not mention Russia’s notoriously unreliable postal service.)

Elections in Russia are hardly recognized as free or fair, with Putin repeatedly running against a familiar cast of Kremlin-approved opposition figures, while also making changes to the Russian constitution allowing him to extend his rule.

Putin also quickly recognized this year’s presidential election results in Belarus, widely disputed as fraudulent, and issued congratulations to Alexander Lukashenko. Demonstrators in Belarus have been protesting those results for three months now.

In his comments on Monday, Peskov cited “certain legal procedures” as the basis for Putin withholding his congratulations from Biden, unlike in 2016 when the Russian leader swiftly sent good wishes to Trump after his victory over Hillary Clinton.

“The difference is quite obvious,” Peskov said, according to Interfax. “You see that there are certain legal procedures ahead, which were announced by the incumbent president. This is the difference. Therefore, we consider it correct to wait for the official announcement.”

He added: “There are no official results yet.”

But Peskov did reiterate Russia’s desire to work with the U.S. leadership. “I want to remind you that President Putin has repeatedly said that he will show respect for any choice of the American people, and that he will be ready to work with any president-elect of the United States,” he said.

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Kiir congratulates Biden on election victory

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit [Photo by unknown]

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit [Photo by unknown]

JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has congratulated American President-Elect Joe Biden on his election victory, according to a statement seen by Sudans Post.

This week, Joe Biden defeated incumbent Trump, becoming the oldest person to become a US President.

In a statement, Kiir congratulated Biden, saying he is ready to work with the new American administration to improve relations.

“On behalf of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity and People of South Sudan, I congratulate President-elect Joseph R. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Devi Harris for winning the trust of the American people,” Kiir said.

“We look forward to working constructively with your administration to build on our historic relations with the goal of consolidating peace in South Sudan, the region and globally,” he added.

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Uganda to extend rail network to South Sudan

A Ugandan train seen at a railway station [Photo via Ugandan media]

A Ugandan train seen at a railway station [Photo via Ugandan media]

JUBA – A senior Uganda  government official is saying that the government there is planning to extend rail network to South Sudan.

Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has said if funds are available, government will extend the rail line to the world’s youngest country.

Speaking during the handover of office to the new Uganda Railways Corporation managing director Mr Kasaija said being the cheapest means of transport, railway investments needed to be prioritised.

“If we can now rehabilitate the metre gauge railway all the way to Tororo, and if money allows, we may have to build it up to South Sudan, because it is the cheapest mode of transportation,” he said.

South Sudan is an integral part of Uganda’s export market being the second highest destination after Kenya. The country, in 2019, earned Uganda $351.5m.

Therefore, extending the railway line would reduce the cost of exporters to the country.

Currently, there are ongoing works aimed at refurbishing the already existing rail network in the country.

Mr Stanley Sendegeya, the new managing director, said there is a $1b requirement to revive the entire network with works centred on refurbishing lines and upgrading slippers from steel to concrete.

“We already have works approved such as Tororo-Gulu for €47m, Kampala-Malaba for $360m, the estimate for Kampala-Kasese is $500m and Gulu-Pakwach is $100m,” he said, adding Uganda Railways Corporation is currently looking for financiers for the works.

In its short and medium term plan, Uganda Railways Corporation also intends to expand its passenger service beyond Kampala-Namanve.

Mr Sendengeya said there are plans to expand the passenger service to Kyengera and Port Bell, with longer term goals of moving to Jinja and Mityana in five years.

However, Uganda Railways Corporation still suffers numerous challenges, key among them, vandalism and encroachment on its land, which limit its ability to realise development.

Mr Sendegeya, who replaced Mr Charles Kateeba, has set an agenda for Uganda Railways Corporation to move forward, targeting the private sector.

In a model dubbed transit oriented, URC is targeting the private sector to invest in non-core areas of the business such as warehousing and hospitality.

During a press briefing in Kampala recently, Mr Kateeba, highlighted the role of privates sector in the transformation journey of the country’s rail business.

“That model is to ensure that we bring private sector on board, if we can build a line then the private sector builds the warehouses and silos, that is the model we are going to adopt and it is the journey ahead of us,” he said.

 

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Joint border committee between Sudan, South Sudan meets in Juba

Meeting of the joint border committee between Sudan and South Sudan taking place in Juba [Photo by SUNA]

Meeting of the joint border committee between Sudan and South Sudan taking place in Juba [Photo by SUNA]

JUBA – The Joint Technical Border Demarcation Committee between Sudan and South Sudan has kicked off its meetings in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Tuesday, according to the head of Sudan’s National Border Commission, Moaz Tango.

Tango told Sudans Post in an exclusive interview on Tuesday evening that the joint committee was meeting in line with decision of the African Union Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council which called for peaceful resolution of border disputes between Sudan and South Sudan.

“These meetings come based on the ‘Border Issues Agreement’ and the resolutions of the African Union Peace and Security Council as well as the UN Security Council which called for the use of peaceful approach resolve border disputes and conflicts between the two countries,” he said.

“The demarcation of the South-North Sudans borders will base as it stood on January 1, 1956 which is inline with the implementation of the decision of the Joint Border Commission between the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan,” Tango added.

“This is to raise the Joint Technical Committee’s comprehensive report supported by documents and arguments on the areas around which they have agreed, and on the two parties ’viewpoints in the disputed areas and the claimed areas, supported by the arguments and documents of each party.”

Tango further said “the meetings that are being held under the auspices of the African Union will continue until November 10 in Juba, and on the 12th, it will move to Khartoum to continue negotiations.”

The two countries contest several border regions, namely, Kaka, the commercial area, Dabba al-Fukhar and al-Muqis, the 14th mile south of the Arabian Sea, Hafrat al-Nahas, Kafi Kanji, Heglig, Jebelen and the Abyei region.

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SPLA-IO denies soldiers robbing citizens crossing to Sudan from Unity state

SPLA-IO military spokesman William Gatjiath Deng [Photo by Sudans Post]

SPLA-IO military spokesman William Gatjiath Deng [Photo by Sudans Post]

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, SPLA-IO, has denied reports that its soldiers in Unity state near and inside the Sudanese border are mistreating and robbing South Sudanese fleeing the conflict in the country.

Last week, several South Sudanese citizens in Sudan’s Keresana area told Sudans Post that their money have been taken by SPLA-IO soldiers who are stationed along the areas bordering Sudan.

However, speaking to Sudans Post on Tuesday, Brigadier General William Gatjiath Deng, the deputy SPLA-IO spokesman, said the claims are not true, saying one of the causes of the main armed opposition group was to bring better treatment to the people of South Sudan and not to harm them in any way.

“I think that report is not true. When we took up arms, it is because of the South Sudanese citizen. So, we cannot fight for the right of the citizens and rob the citizens at the same time. So that is not true,” he said.

Following the outbreak of the conflict in December 2013, hundreds of thousands of South Sudan fled to Sudan to seek refuge or to seek treatment.

Unofficial estimates put the number of South Sudanese in Sudan at 1.3 million.

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