April 27, 14 (AWERIAL) – The governor of South Sudan's Lakes state has urged local youths to join the military in order to protect the country from instability.

Hundreds of South Sudanese youths attend a rally at Mingkaman in Lakes state's Awerial county on 27 April 2014 (ST)

Matur Chut Dhuol made the remarks on Sunday while speaking to hundreds of youths who had gathered at the Awerial county headquarters in Mingkaman following a visit to internally displaced people and local residents.

Mingkaman currently hosts over 100,000 displaced people who fled intense fighting in Jonglei state, which borders Lakes state to the east.

“You must have known that we are under critical time, the country needs you, youth, for protection. Come and you will be taken to where our enemy enters,” Dhuol said.

“What we are doing today is eye for eye, you pinch me, I pinch you too, no forgiveness. If someone pin you time and again and you don't do the same, you are creating a point of weakness to yourself. That was why Moses (in the Bible) introduced these rules to govern his people,” added the caretaker governor.

He encouraged youths to provide the manpower needed to end rebellion in the country, stressing that the South Sudanese government was fully prepared militarily to end the ongoing conflict.

The governor's appeal comes months after the government announced it had embarked on mass recruitment of youth from 18 years onwards to join it army. Since then, more than 20,000 young men have reportedly been recruited and were undergoing training prior to their deployment.

Violence erupted in South Sudan in the capital, Juba, in mid-December before spreading to other key areas across the country. The fighting has pitted forces loyal to president Salva Kiir against rebels fighters aligned with his former deputy, Riek Machar.

The United Nations says over a million people have been displaced by the more than four-month-old conflict, while thousands have fled to neighbouring countries.

(ST)

April 27, 2014 (PORT SUDAN) – A US ship loaded with enough food to help feed 4 million vulnerable Sudanese mainly from the troubled Darfur region arrived in Port Sudan on Sunday.

The acting charge d'affaires of the US embassy in Khartoum, Christopher Rowan (L), and WFP country director Adnan Khan welcome a shipment of food donated by USAID in Port Sudan on 27 April 2014 (ST)

The vessel's cargo included 47,250 metric tonnes of sorghum, a staple food in Sudan, donated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is enough to feed 1.7 million people for three months.

The shipment arrived from Texas after a 24-day journey via the Suez Canal.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP), which is currently assisting more than 3 million people in Darfur, including some 300,000 displaced by recent fighting, has welcomed the arrival of the shipment.

Both Christopher Rowan, the US Embassy's acting chargé d'affaires, and WFP country director Adnan Khan were in Port Sudan for the arrival of the shipment.

Khan welcomed US humanitarian assistance to Sudan, saying the shipment had arrived in time to reach vulnerable people ahead of the impending rainy season.

He told Sudan Tribune that recent clashes between government troops and rebels groups, as well as ongoing tribal fighting, had forced more 300,000 people to flee their villages for displaced camps in the region.

“We are acutely aware of the growing needs created by new displacements in Darfur, the conflict in South Sudan, as well as that in the Central African Republic (CAR),” he said.

The sorghum represents the bulk of the $164 million committed by USAID this year to WFP Sudan.

Of this, $92.5 million was released in July 2013, enabling WFP to respond to a new wave of displacement in Darfur, as well as pre-position food in remote locations in South Kordofan and White Nile states ahead of the rainy season.

In addition to the sorghum, the shipment included 12,510 metric tonnes of yellow split peas and 4,400 metric tonnes of vegetable oil, with the total contribution comprising 43 percent of WFP Sudan's annual requirements for 2014.

Sudan remains one of WFP's largest and most complex operations in Africa. This year, the UN agency plans to reach 4.1 million people across Sudan, of whom 3.1 million are in Darfur.

The US vessel Liberty Glory carrying a humanitarian food shipment arrived in Port Sudan on 17 April 2014 after a 24-day journey (ST)

Although Washington has imposed economic and trade sanctions against Sudan since 1997 in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses, the US remains a major aid donor and is the biggest contributor to WFP Sudan.

“Since the early 1960s, the United States has been WFP's long-standing partner in Sudan. Their continuing support has helped us to provide life-saving food to those affected by conflict, to maintain food security and to build resilience among communities,” said Khan.

“This contribution will enable us to help over 4 million vulnerable people cope with the approaching hunger season,” he added.

A new wave of violence has engulfed parts of Darfur since February, displacing over 300,000 people and ratcheting up needs in the region.

Continuing conflict in neighbouring South Sudan has also forced thousands of displaced people to seek refuge across the border in Sudan, placing further strain on already fragile resources. .

Rowan, meanwhile, said the US remained committed to providing humanitarian assistance to Sudan.

“The people of the United States remain committed to helping people in need in Sudan with life-saving food and other assistance,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

In addition to the food shipment, the US has contributed $4.8 million through USAID's office of US foreign disaster assistance to help support the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, which is managed by WFP and provides passenger and small cargo services to the humanitarian community across Sudan.

(ST)

April 27, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – Senior army officers who mutinied on Saturday in Western Bahr el Ghazal state capital Wau said their defection to opposition forces led by former vice-president, Riek Machar came after they were targeted based on their ethnicity in the aftermath of an alleged massacre in which 192 unarmed Nuer trainee soldiers were killed in Mapel, east of Wau town.

Soldiers from the South Sudanese army (SPLA) on patrol in Lakes state's Yirol East county on 15 February 2014 (Photo: Fabio Bucciarelli/Al Jazeera)

In an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune on Sunday, Brigadier General Gatwech Gach Makuach, one of the generals who defected, said government forces had attacked residents in Wau following the Mapel incident, prompting them to defend themselves, after which they marched out of town.

“We thought we were part of the army and the system fighting against the rebels. Some of the Nuer senior officers taken from Wau recently came back wounded as they fought for the government in Unity state, Upper Nile and Jonglei states. Yet our colleagues from the Dinka tribe wanted to kill us too,” Makuach told Sudan Tribune by phone from near Wau town.

“We didn't want to cause harm to the civil population or destruction to their properties, so we had to march out,” he added.

He also condemned what he said was the massacre of unarmed Nuer soldiers at a Mapel training camp, describing the incident as premeditated mass murder based on ethnicity.

“The government lied that it was an internal mutiny within the army in Mapel. This is not true,” said the senior officer.

“Brig General Baak (a Dinka) separated the Dinka trainees and took them away from the training centre, and the next day hundreds of armed Dinka came back and attacked the training centre, shooting at everybody, including women and children who were families of the trainees,” he further explained.

According to Makuach, the incident occurred as the attackers beat to death an unarmed Nuer soldier found in the market near the training centre after which the “assailants quickly moved to the camp shouting at Nuer [tribesmen] and started shooting indiscriminately”.

“They only exchanged gunfire with [a] few bodyguards of Brig Gen. James Ochan Puot, who himself was on leave in Wau town. The few bodyguards were overwhelmed as the rest of the trainees had no guns,” he added.

Makuach said he and other five brigadier generals, including Puot, the officer previously in charge of the training centre, had defected with a sizeable number of troops and are in the proximity of Wau town.

Fighting erupted in South Sudan in mid-December last year when president Salva Kiir, who hails from the Dinka tribe, allegedly ordered the disarmament of soldiers from the Nuer ethnic group, sparking clashes among the presidential guards in the capital, Juba.

Kiir accused Machar, a Nuer, of allegedly plotting a military coup to remove him from power.

Machar dismissed the claims, saying the president fabricated the matter in order to get rid of his political opponents amid heated debate at the time over the future direction of the ruling party (SPLM).

Kiir's newly recruited, armed loyalists, believed to have come from his home region of Bahr el Ghazal, were largely blamed for allegedly carrying out targeted killings of Nuer civilians in Juba in the days following the clashes.

Nuer generals began to defect in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states in response to alleged ethnic-based killings in the capital. However, several Nuer generals and troops have remained loyal to president Kiir and are in charge of military units in the South Sudanese army (SPLA), which is fighting against rebels.

(ST)

Heavy gunfire erupts in Western Bahr el Ghazal's Wau town amid reports of SPLA defections
Heavy fighting erupts in W. Bahr el Ghazal's Mapel town

April 28, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudan government on Monday reiterated its commitment to maintain stronger ties with neighbouring Sudan, saying it would respect the cooperation agreement both countries signed in September 2012.

Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir (L), Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (C), South Sudan president Salva Kiir (R) at the third Tanana Forum on Security in Africa held in Ethiopia's Bahr Dar town April 27, 2014 (SUNA)

The new nation, its presidential affairs minister said, was determined to promote mutual respect with Sudan over each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

“The president met with the Sudanese president on the sideline of the meeting in Bahr Dar, where he attended a function on peace and security. It was a function about illicit financial flows and the impact of the transfer of these illegally acquired funds, some of which are obtained through illegal means, including corrupt practices,” Awan Guol Riak told reporters while briefing them on the purpose of the high-level visit.

Riak and his foreign affairs counterpart, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, were among the senior government officials and military officers who accompanied president Salva Kiir to the forum hosted by Ethiopia's prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn.

Former Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, recently appointed to head the African Union Commission of inquiry on South Sudan, also attended the forum where presentations were made on security matters affecting the African continent.

GIVE AND TAKE

Marial emphasised the importance of good relations between the two Sudans, saying they both give and take, which was essential for regional development and stability.

“The prevalence of peace and stability between the two countries become the regional peace because the two countries are established islands. If there are good roads which links Khartoum and Juba, the ordinary people will use them to access goods and services. It will facilitate movement of our people and when this happens, when there is a free and secured movement between the two countries, the region is served is in one of way or other,” the foreign affairs minister told reporters in the capital, Juba.

“The goods from Khartoum will go to Kampala and there they go to Kigali in Rwanda and Nairobi in Kenya. But there is a security issue, this movement is affected and it becomes a regional concern,” he added.

Marial said president Kiir had “substantive” discussions with his Sudanese counterpart, Omer al-Bashir, which focused on how to accelerate talks on border security matters, especially the deployment of the joint temporary force.

“It was frank and honest discussions. The president emphasised on the need to accelerate the ongoing bilateral discussions on security matters in the light of current security situation. He (Kiir) made it clear it is important that it is time the two leaders appreciate the importance of the cooperation agreement, especially the security arrangement. And I think that is the key,” the minister stressed.

Marial said a formal high-level army-to-army exchange would be helpful because it would reduce the spread of "military rumour" and avoid conflict. He also expressed his government's commitment to promote healthy relations with neighbouring Sudan.

“As the government of the republic of South Sudan under the president of Salva Kiir Mayardit, we are committed to ensuring that the terms of the cooperation agreement are respected and implemented. We are only committed to ensuring that the two countries work together to strengthen strategic mutual trust,” he said.

South Sudan's presidential spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, confirmed that president Kiir and his Sudanese counterpart met on the sidelines of the two-day peace and security forum, but said discussions held were closed-door.

WEAKENING TIES

In recent months, however, analysts and observers claim the stronger ties which initially existed between the two countries were growing weak and far below the level of current relations between Juba and Kampala. There are also concerns regarding the deteriorating ties between Sudan and Chad as well as with Eritrea or Ethiopia.

Military officers from the two Sudans have often traded accusations over territorial disputes, sparking tensions along the undemarcated borders in recent weeks with Juba accusing Khartoum of allegedly training and hosting within its territory rebel fighters loyal to former vice-president, Riek Machar.

Sudanese government and military officials have dismissed Juba's claims.

(ST)

By Amir Idris

April 28, 2014 - The recent politically motivated violence against unarmed civilians seeking shelter from the violence in South Sudan in the United Nations compound in Bor exposed not only the criminal act of the perpetrators but also the mindset of those who ordered and executed it. The unprovoked brutal attacks on the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp had been justified by the government spokesperson Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Michael Makuei Lueth, and interlocutors' reaction to the IDPs celebration of the fall of the city of Bentiu in the opposition hands. The IDPs were labelled as ‘rebels' and ‘supporters' of the opposition who deserved to be punished for their act of celebrating the defeat of the government forces. Hence, the victims were asking for it. The attacks and its bogus justification have raised questions about how the government of South Sudan understands the key concepts of citizenship, responsibility to protect, and the rule of law. These three concepts are considered to be the sacred pillars of any modern political community.

After all, those who were subjected to violence in their UN shelter are South Sudanese citizens. Their rights and duties as citizens of South Sudan are enshrined in and protected by the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan which the government claims to respect and defend in its war against the opposition forces. None of this has stopped the government from blaming the IDPs, calling them pejoratives such as ‘lazy', ‘lovers' of free food and handouts from the UN. The justification of the attacks not only dismisses the claim to equal treatment of the IDPs as citizens of South Sudan, but also denies their very existence as human beings. Ironically, instead of exposing the fraudulent assertions of the government spokesperson, government supporters, including a handful of intellectuals, bought into the bogus explanation. The bogus official narrative about the IDPs began earlier when the violence erupted last year. Government officials circulated distorted propaganda about the IDPs' connections with opposition forces. They were unsuccessfully portrayed as enemies of the state –‘rebel fighters in civilian clothes', and ‘potential agitators' from within.

However, the truth is the government is attempting to escape responsibility by placing the blame for crime at hands of the victims. The IDPs are not guilty for violence committed by government forces and armed youth in Bor. This violence occurred because the government failed to protect them in the first place. The government could have prevented the attacks by disarming the youth and holding those who broke the law accountable. To say that government's claim is a woeful over simplification would be to give it way too much credit. In fact, the claim is an embarrassing debacle filled with worthless platitudes to back an argument that is insulting not only to the IDPs and the people of South Sudan but to anyone who respects critical reasoning. It also seems to make the tribalistic assumption that all Nuers are rebels and worthless of trust. And even those Nuers who have the interest of mending bridges of peace and reconciliation are categorized as potential enemies. The tendency to smear a whole population of IDPs or an ethnic group reflects what is among the worst aspects of the human condition, where perpetrators blame the victims for their experiences. The danger of this kind of mentality and attitude may worsen hostilities between the conflicting communities, incite ethnically driven revenge, and drag the whole South Sudan into chaos and an uncontrollable bloodbath with unimaginable human tragedy in the 21th century.

The unfolding tragedy in South Sudan is a man made one. And to end it and restore the deep respect for human virtues in particular respect for life to all South Sudanese irrespective of their ethnic, religious, and gender identities, collective political efforts have to be made by the victims and the perpetrators of the violence. This of course can be done if the government and the opposition first recognize that the IDPs are human beings and citizens deserving their constitutional entitlements including protection from both the government and the opposition forces. No valuable lessons will be learned from this inhuman tragedy in South Sudan so long as the government and the opposition and their interlocutors continue to perpetuate the monstrous claim that those who are victims of political violence, including unarmed IDPs, deserve such a fate.

The writer is a Professor and Chair of Department of African and African American Studies, Fordham University, New York City, USA. He can be reached at idris@fordham.edu

April 28, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan's second vice-president, Hassabo Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, has said that consultations are underway with political parties to develop a mechanism for comprehensive national dialogue.

From left to right: Leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) Hassan Al-Turabi, Reform Now Party (RNP) head Ghazi Salah Al-Deen Al-Attabani, National Umma Party (NUP) Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi and secon vice-president Hassabo Abdel-Rahman attend a speech by the president announcing a national dialogue initiative on 27 January 2014 (SUNA)

The dialogue mechanism would include seven members from the government side and an equal number from the opposition.

While the “broad-based” government parties delegated president Omer Hassan al-Bashir to name their members in the dialogue mechanism, there are reports that opposition parties are facing difficulties in determining their representatives.

The opposition parties refuse to have Bashir chair the dialogue mechanism and are instead calling for the appointment of a neutral and independent figure.

Abdel-Rahman, who addressed a public rally at Ali'lega area in the locality of Guli in the White Nile state on Monday, reiterated the government's determination to hold national dialogue on the four issues mentioned in the president's initiative.

He said that dialogue is the most effective mean for strengthening the national front and pointed that all components of the civil society and the Sudanese people at large should take part in it, stressing that dialogue must not be confined to political elites.

“We want to go ahead with the dialogue in order to achieve several objectives including consolidating national principles, allowing peaceful transformation of power, holding elections, drafting new constitution and stop seeking support of foreigners,” he added.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties which are not part of the opposition alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) will hold a consultative meeting on Wednesday to discuss its participation in national dialogue and its administrative mechanisms.

The National Umma Party (NUP), Popular Congress Party (PCP), Reform Now Party (RNP), Just Peace Forum (JPF) and the Truth and Communication Party (TCP) said in a statement on Monday that opposition parties have not yet developed a joint forum to discuss ways for administering the dialogue and selection process for opposition representatives.

The statement extends an open invitation to all opposition parties wishing to attend the consultative meeting, saying that each party will be represented by three members.

Last January, Bashir called on political parties and armed groups to engage in a national dialogue to discuss four issues, including ending the civil war, allowing political freedoms, fighting against poverty and revitalising national identity.

Earlier this month, he held a political roundtable in Khartoum with the participation of 83 political parties.

The NCF boycotted the political roundtable, saying the government had failed to responds to its demands for the creation of an environment conducive to dialogue.

(ST)

April 28, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti received a telephone call on Monday from the UK foreign office's minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, in which the latter expressed his government's full support to president Omer Hassan al-Bashir's national dialogue initiative, state media reported.

United Kingdom Foreign Office Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds

Simmonds also stated the UK's willingness to provide any possible support to make it a success.

Last January, Bashir called upon political parties and armed groups to engage in a national dialogue to discuss four issues including ending the civil war, allowing political freedoms, fighting against poverty, and revitalizing national identity.

Earlier this month, he held a political roundtable in Khartoum with the participation of 83 political parties.

The opposition alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) boycotted the political roundtable, saying the government did not respond to its conditions for creating an environment conducive for dialogue.

Last week the rebel umbrella of Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) proposed a roadmap to achieve a comprehensive solution to end war in the southern and western parts of the country and ensure democratic transition in Sudan.

Rebel sources told Sudan Tribune that they handed over the peace plan to several western countries, including the US, UK and France.

Karti on his end briefed the British official about the recent developments in Darfur and the government's commitment to a peaceful solution to the crisis within the framework of the Doha Document for Peace (DDPD).

The Sudanese minister also explained the progress made in implementing the DDPD and the efforts to persuade non-signatories to join the peace process. He called on the British government to pressure on these movements to come on board.

The two sides also discussed the talks underway now in Addis Ababa between the government and the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) on issues relating to South Kordofan and the Blue Nile states.

Karti stressed that the government entered into negotiations with a firm resolve to achieve peace, particularly in light of the positive atmosphere created by Bashir's national dialogue initiative.

The British official has also welcomed the negotiations, expressing hope that they result in a peace agreement.

(ST)

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

April 28, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – Eritrean rebel group, the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO), alleged on Monday it had killed and wounded dozens of Eritrean government intelligence agents in an attack inside the reclusive East African nation.

The Ethiopia-based rebel group said that the strike was carried out at the military barracks of an intelligence unit based in the Northern Red Sea region in the vicinity of Alhan.

Ibrahim Haron, the leader of the rebel group, told Sudan Tribune that their “forces in the early hours of Saturday attacked the military camp and killed 27 intelligence agents and wounded many others belonging to the 15th sub-division intelligence unit”.

The rebel leader said his fighters took control of the military base for over eight hours following the attack, destroying the entire camp before leaving the area.

The group also claims to have captured various types of weapons.

There was no immediate comment from the government in Asmara and the claims cannot be independently verified.

He said there were some 70 government intelligence members inside the camp during the assault but he said none of them tried to engage the rebel fighters.

“They preferred to runaway than fight against [us]. This indicates how much the government army is weakening,” the rebels said.

Ibrahim said the latest assault was in retaliation to ethnic killings by Eritrean government agents targeting Afar minorities.

This is the rebel group's first cross-border attack since 2012 when they killed 30 Eritrean soldiers in an attack at a military base in the Southern Red Sea region.

RSADO which is a member of the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), a coalition of 11 Eritrean political organisations, renewed its calls for other opposition members to join the armed struggle to topple president Isaias Afwerki's regime.

After the 1998-2000 bloody border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, Asmara considers Eritrea's Afars as being aligned to Ethiopia and having links to fellow Afar tribes in Ethiopia.

(ST)

April 28, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has warned Africans against relying on imported remedies to solve their problems, saying the continent is at risk of being embedded with solutions imposed on its 54 countries.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has dispatched a four-member political delegation for talks with the group of seven senior SPLM officials in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa (AP)

“African problems are African problems and they should get solutions from African leaders. The problem is that some of us think solutions to our problems would come from somewhere else. This thinking must change otherwise we will have solutions which do not address our problems imposed on us,” president Kiir said on Sunday.

Kiir made the remarks in a speech broadcast by the state-owned SSTV while addressing a forum on peace and security, which was held in Ethiopia.

The function was attended by other regional leaders, including the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and the Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn.

Former Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, recently appointed to head the African Union Commission of inquiry on South Sudan, also attended the forum where presentations were made on security matters affecting the African continent.

This is the second time Kiir has spoken of his rejection to solutions to African problems coming from outside the continent. In 2013, he openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the involvement of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) in African affairs, describing the latter as a tool to target African leaders.

Kiir said at the time that his leadership would not support taking of the current Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta to answer charges brought against him and his deputy, William Ruto, at the ICC headquarters.

It remains unclear why Kiir has suddenly emerged as a strong critic of the outside world's involvement in Africa's affairs. However, some analysts have interpreted his statements as reflecting frustration with the failure of Western countries to accept claims from his administration that there was a coup in the country.

Not even the African Union has accepted that the fighting, which started in mid-December last year triggering the conflict in South Sudan, was a coup attempt.

Over one million people have been displaced and thousands killed in fighting between forces loyal to president Kiir and those allied to his former deputy, Riek Machar.

(ST)

April 28, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) announced that they have agreed to negotiate a framework agreement with the Sudanese government, while the latter described the move negatively as “a return to zero point”.

The head of Sudanese government delegation, Ibrahim Ghandour (L), in a one-on-one meeting with the SPLM-N's chief negotiator, Yasir Arman, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia before the resumption of peace talks on 22 April 2014 (Photo courtesy of the Sudanese government delegation)

The two parties resumed peace talks on 22 April aimed at ending the nearly three-year conflict in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states. The African Union (AU) mediation team previously suspended the process after the SPLM-N rejected its draft framework agreement, sticking to a previous one signed on 28 June 2011.

While the parties maintained their initial positions, the mediation directed their focus on the issues they have to discuss, proposing to form four panels to negotiate security arrangements, humanitarian access, political matters related to the Two Areas and the national dialogue process.

SPLM-N delegation spokesperson Mubarak Ardol said in a press release on Monday that the AU mediation made significant efforts since the beginning of this round of talks with both parties in order to reach a peace deal.

Ardol announced that the two parties agreed to the need for reaching a new framework agreement on the basis of the African Union Peace and Security Council (UNPSC) resolution 423 and the UNSC resolution 2046 first; adding that the 28 June, 2011 agreement would be used as a reference for the new framework agreement.

He said they engaged in this round of talks in order to achieve a framework agreement on the basis of the agreement signed on 28 June 2011 besides the 18 February 2014 framework agreement proposed by the AU mediation.

The rebel spokesperson noted that the two parties discussed the idea of working through four committees before reaching a framework agreement, saying that the SPLM-N saw that the idea of the committees should stem from an existing agreement while the government sought to immediately form the committees and skip basic stages.

The SPLM-N considers that the 28 June framework deal enables them to participate jointly with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to lay the ground for a comprehensive solution involving other rebel groups and opposition parties, they say they do not trust the recent preparations launched by Khartoum government for the national dialogue.

However, the Sudanese government sticks to a framework that the mediation proposed to end the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, saying the 28 June agreement is no longer fitting with the recent developments in the country after the national dialogue initiative which aims to involve all the Sudanese stakeholders in a process to discuss the democratic transformation.

Sudan's lead negotiator for peace talks on the Two Areas, Ibrahim Ghandour, has accused the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) of “wasting time” since the resumption of the talks.

He said that after three days of discussing a framework agreement proposal, the rebel side declared that what has been discussed is only a suggestion to reach a frame work agreement.

Ghandour underlined the government delegation asked the mediation to directly discuss the draft framework agreement proposed by the AU mediators on 18 February, saying it must be the reference for the work of the four committees which both sides agreed to form in the presence of Thabo Mbeki.

The Sudanese chief negotiator further underscored that the government delegation would leave Addis Ababa only if the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) suspended the latest round of talks.

But he did not rule out reducing the level of representation, pointing that developments of the negotiation process would determine who will stay and who will leave.

The AU's chief mediator, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, left the Ethiopian capital three days ago to participate in celebrations in Johannesburg for the 20th anniversary of democratic rule in South Africa and the election of the country's first black president Nelson Mandela in 1994 after the end of apartheid.

(ST)

April 28, 2014 (JUBA) – International medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has strongly condemned the “unspeakable” acts of violence that occurred in South Sudan's Unity state capital Bentiu two weeks ago.

Displaced people arrive in Lakes state's Awerial after crossing by river barge from Jonglei capital Bor, where government and rebel forces are battling for control (Photo: Ben Curtis/AP)

MSF said on Monday that tens of thousands of people had fled to the United Nations camps for safety, where they now face life-threatening living conditions.

An MSF international team reportedly visited Bentiu last week to make an independent assessment and gather first-hand testimonies from eyewitnesses.

“What I saw in Bentiu – bodies of civilians strewn through the streets in grisly states of damage and decay, being eaten by dogs and birds – was an affront to humanity,” said Raphael Gorgeu, MSF's head of mission in the country.

“The violence in South Sudan has taken a particularly ugly turn, stripping people of their most basic human dignity. It is a terrible thing to witness,” he added.

MSF has called on all armed actors to cease targeted killings, ensure the behaviour and accountability of fighters under their command and assume responsibility for populations in areas under their control.

The medical charity said it had received credible eyewitness accounts that up to 33 people were killed in Bentiu state hospital alone.

“MSF international staff heard tales of horrific brutality taking place on the hospital grounds from those who were present at the time,” said Christopher Lockyear, MSF's operations manager for South Sudan.

“While patients were not specifically targeted, people who fled to the hospital in search of safety were selectively targeted based on their identities and loyalties. Once again in South Sudan, we see hospitals – places that should be protected safe havens – are increasingly places of attack and cruelty,” he added.

In a statement issued last wee, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said more than 200 people had died in Bentiu after the strategic town fell to opposition armed forces.

Thousands of people reportedly fled for their lives to the nearby UNMISS base, which swelled from 6,000 people to more than 22,000 within a matter of days, placing enormous pressure on aid organisations, which were not equipped to deal with such a rapid influx.

“While organisations like MSF remain committed to caring for those caught up in the conflict as best we can, we are very alarmed that the situation is spiraling out of control. The capacity of aid organisations is not limitless,” says Gorgeu.

“It remains the moral and legal responsibility of all armed actors to limit civilian casualties, facilitate humanitarian assistance and respect medical facilities. It's time for the Opposition and Government to step up,” he added.

The world body has disclosed that over one million people have been displaced by the violence in South Sudan, with thousands said to have fled to neighbouring countries.

Fighting erupted in mid-December last year between soldiers aligned with former vice-president turned rebel leader Riek Machar and president Salva Kiir, with the latter accusing his former deputy of staging a coup to overthrow the government.

(ST)

April 28, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – The third session of South Sudan peace talks focusing on a political dialogue for national reconciliation and healing resumed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday, mediators said in a statement.

IGAD's chief mediator for South Sudan peace talks, Seyoum Mesfin, speaks to the press following the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement between the South Sudanese government and rebels in Addis Ababa on 23 January 2014 (Photo: AFP)

East African regional bloc the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) adjourned talks on 7 April to allow for further consultations.

IGAD said the special envoys had also held a series of consultations with leaders of both warring parties, including South Sudanese president Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar in order to fast-track the negotiation process and avert further escalation of the conflict.

“During the consultations, the principals shared concern over the recent escalation of the conflict and expressed their renewed commitment to the mediation process,” partly reads a statement issued by IGAD on Monday.

Envoys also travelled to regional capitals, where they reportedly held consultations with leaders of IGAD-member countries, the African Union (AU), the United Nations and other partners to help mobilise support for the mediation process.

Discussions also centred on the operations of the IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanism and the deployment of a regional protection force.

HUMANITARIANS CONDEMN KILLINGS

Meanwhile, several humanitarian and advocacy groups have expressed concerns over the South Sudanese crisis, particularly the recent atrocities committed in Bentiu and the attack on civilians at a UN base in Jonglei state capital Bor.

“We strongly condemn these vicious attacks against civilians, including at medical and religious institutions. Both parties to the conflict continue to transform it from a political dispute into a conflict of an increasingly ethnic character, with attacks involving one ethnic group triggering attacks against others,” said a joint statement issued by seven humanitarian agencies, including the Enough Project.

They further warned of the growing “regionalization” of the conflict, saying its continuation could escalate and extend the war, now in its fourth month.

“Unless reversed it will complicate efforts to end the fighting, and the recent attacks in Bentiu, which mark the first targeting of Sudanese groups not previously implicated in the violence, offer a worrying example of the spillover of ethnic violence,” the statement said.

Outlining a series of measures to end the conflict, the group specifically urged both warring parties to fully implement the cessation of hostilities agreement to pave way for full deployment of the IGAD regional forces in the conflict-affected areas to ensure stability.

Also of importance, the humanitarian actors stressed, was the need to allow immediate, full and unimpeded humanitarian access to address ongoing needs of the suffering civilians who could face food shortage as the rainy season approaches.

“Those in the international community concerned with South Sudan's downward spiral into conflict have an important role to play to help stop this senseless killing,” the groups said.

“We call on the international community to take the following steps to address the urgent civilian protection issues facing the people of South Sudan,” the statement adds.

The UN says over one million people have been displaced and thousands killed since fighting erupted late last year between soldiers loyal to president Kiir and rebel forces aligned with Machar.

(ST)

By Ijoo Bosco

April 28 2014 (TORIT) - The governor of South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria state on Monday evening issued a decree sacking four senior members of his administration.

Eastern Equatoria state Governor Louis Lobong Lojore speaking at a peace conference in Greater Kapeota, March 28, 2013 (Photo: Wilson Jino)

The order, announced over the state-owned 97.5 FM , gave no reason as to why Louis Lobong took the decision.

Charles Atul Gabriel, the state secretary general, Claudio Suleiman Liling, the peace and security advisor as well as commissioner of headquarters, Marko Akio Ukinbuil and his Magwi county counterpart, Francis Okech Oteka were the four sacked.

Governor Lobong, in the decree, hailed the four officials for the fruitful services they rendered to the community during their tenure in office.

Meanwhile, the governor also appointed Ben Kingston Loduk, as the new Magwi county commissioner, while ex-commissioner Ukinbul will steer the newly-created youth and sports ministry.

Lobong called on citizens in the state to support his actions, saying the new changes would enhance effective services delivery in the state.

More appointments are, however, expected in coming days, given that positions for the state secretary general, cabinet and parliamentary affairs ministry, and commissioner for the headquarters, were unoccupied.

(ST).

April 28, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese legislators said the government needs to do more to improve relations with the new government in the Central African Republic (CAR) and amend its relations with Chad.

Fighters from the Christian anti-balaka militia stand at their headquarters in the northern Bangui suburb of Boeing, an area near the Mpoko International Airport of Bangui, on 22 February 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Luc Gnago)

The national assembly on Tuesday deliberated on the security situation in the CAR where African troops and a UN-backed French contingent are struggling to protect Muslims targeted by Christian anti-balaka militias.

Earlier this month, Chad announced the withdrawal of its 850 soldiers from the African Union force in the CAR, known as MISCA. The Chadian troops who are seen as siding with the Muslim Seleka rebels were accused by a local Red Cross radio of killing over 10 people in Bangui.

The head of foreign affairs committee at the national assembly, Mohamed Youssef Abdallah, in a report endorsed by the Sudanese parliament on Tuesday, urged to reconcile between the Muslim tribes and other Central African ethnic groups. He also called on the UN secretary general to cooperate with local religious leaders to achieve national reconciliation in the neighbouring country.

The MPs who demanded a closed-door session with the foreign minister to discuss the impact of the crisis in CAR on national security recommended the need to exert efforts to ease current tensions between Bangui and Ndjamena and to rebuild the tripartite force tasked with monitoring border areas between the three countries.

Some Sudanese lawmakers have also accused French troops deployed in the CAR of disarming Muslim militia, while failing to curb the heavily armed Christian militias.

The anti-balaka militia committed war crimes against civilians from the Muslim ethnic groups of Gula, Turku, Fertit, Runga, and Shuwa.

Earlier this year, the Sudanese army deployed troops along the border with the CAR, fearing that armed militiamen cross into the Sudanese territory. Also Darfur regional authority warned against their entry.

National assembly speaker Al-Fatih Izz Al-din told MPs that he invited his Central African counterpart to visit Khartoum next month, adding that the foreign ministry and Sudanese embassy in Bangui played a significant role tin evacuating Sudanese nationals from the troubled country.

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April 29, 2014 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese army (SPLA) has blamed war widows for attacking military trainees in Western Bahr el Ghazal state's Mapel town last week, in an incident it says led to the death of five people.

A South Sudanese army (SPLA) soldier holds his rifle near an oil field in Unity state on 22 April 2012 (AP)

The fighting later spread to the capital, Wau, after a number of senior army officers switched allegiance to rebel forces led by former vice-president Riek Machar.

Speaking to Sudan Tribune on Monday, SPLA spokesperson Colonel Philip Aguer said the “unfortunate incident in Mapel” was used as scapegoat by three brigadier generals to defect.

He says Brig Gen. James Ochan Puot, the former head of the military training centre who had been known to have links with Machar and lead rebel negotiator and former Unity state governor Taban Deng Gai, was among three officers to defect.

These claims have, however, been rejected by the rebel movement.

The government initially said the incident at Mapel, east of Wau, was the result of an internal rebellion.

However, Aguer now says that 280 trainees, most of whom were unarmed, fled after authorities struggled to contain a mob of women who lost their husbands during the recent crisis, was not immediately contented by authorities.

“The widows whose husbands were killed in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states wrongly blame trainees from [the] Nuer tribe as being responsible and this is very unfortunate,” said Aguer. “These brigadiers in Wau exploited the situation to join the rebellion,” he added.

Aguer did not provide further details on how the five trainees died.

There remains conflicting accounts of what occurred at the military facility and Sudan Tribune has been unable to independently verify the number of casualties.

However, it has been alleged that 192 unarmed trainees from Machar's Nuer tribe were massacred at the site by government troops loyal to president Salva Kiir.

In an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune on Sunday, Brigadier General Gatwick Gash Makah, who was among the officers to switch allegiance, described the incident as ethnically motivated mass murder.

Makah said he and another five brigadier generals, including Pout, had defected with a sizable number of troops and are in the proximity of Wau town.

He claims the incident at Mapel was triggered after attackers beat to death an unarmed Nuer soldier at a market close to the military centre before opening fire indiscriminately on Nuer trainees.

Generals who defected said government forces had advanced on Wau on Saturday, attacking local residents, sparking a mass defection of Nuer officers.

However, credible military contacts in Wau and Mapel say Nuer officers became nervous and attempted to enter the UN base in Wau but were denied entry, forcing them to flee into the bush.

Military sources told Sudan Tribune that some of the returning officers have now been allowed to seek protection at the UN base.

In comments to Sudan Tribune on Monday, Gordon Buay, a spokesperson for South Sudanese rebels now allied with Kiir, said the army's former chief of staff, James Hoth Mai, and Nuer ministers had intervened to restore calm.

He said Nuer officers had been provided with assurances that the incident in Mapel was caused by local people whose relatives were killed on the frontline.

“A Nuer general was sent to Mapel to return the situation to normal. Those who left Wau in fear are now returning to the town,” he said.

“We contained the situation in Wau. The local people who caused the problem in Mapel will be brought to justice. Some will be removed from the area all together,” said Buay.

Major Simon Mangok, who headed the gubernatorial guard, was among five officers to return on Monday, several sources at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) confirmed.

Sudan Tribune understands the general command has issued orders to the local command not to launch attacks on returning soldiers and officers.

(ST)

April 29, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The district court of Khartoum on Tuesday has reversed the ruling of an arbitration tribunal in the Sudan Cotton Company (SCC) corruption case and accused arbitrators of corruption and misconduct.

Building of the Supreme Court in Khartoum (photo Elaph)

Several officials at the state-owned SCC were accused of involvement in this case in which millions of US dollars were believed to have been embezzled.

Midcot, a company doing business with the SCC and owned by the same officials, won an arbitration decision against the SCC but Sudan's minister of justice, Mohamed Bushara Dousa, took the case to the parliament last week saying the SCC did not agree to arbitration and as such would contest its ruling.

The arbitration tribunal was chaired by the then Constitutional Court Chief Justice, Abdalla Ahmed Abdalla, who resigned from his post following the ruling besides the former justice minister, Abdel-Basset Sabdarat and the former prosecutor general, Abdel-Dai'm Zumrawi, as representatives of the parties to the dispute.

The participation of several high profile figures and particuarly Abdalla raised eyebrows and heightened speculation of undue influence by some government circles.

Sabdarat, who represented Midcot, had earlier affirmed in press statements that it would be impossible to reverse the decision of the arbitration tribunal.

However, Khartoum's district court on Tuesday approved the request made by the justice ministry to overturn the arbitration decision.

The court said the ruling was based on article 41 of the 2005 Arbitration Act, underscoring that it was substantiated by reasons relating to arbitrators' misconduct and corruption and violation of public order as well as a serious neglect of a basic item of the arbitration proceedings.

It further stated that the nature of the dispute was not decided whether criminal or civil which is to be determined by a court of law.

Misbah Abdallah, a representative of Midcot described the ruling as fair and said that there is a possibility for holding a new arbitration.

(ST)

By Eric Reeves and John Prendergast

April 29, 2014 - With Secretary of State John Kerry traveling to Ethiopia today, site of the peace talks for South Sudan, he will be greeted by a bracing reality: no civilians in the world are in greater danger than those of South Sudan. Not in Syria, Central African Republic, or Darfur is the threat of targeting on the basis of identity so immediate as it is for certain ethnic groups in vulnerable areas of South Sudan. Given the lack of protection by Juba government forces, the inability of currently deployed UN troops to protect large numbers of people, and in the absence of significantly greater protection from the broader international community, hundreds of thousands of people are likely die in the coming months, whether directly through targeted violence or indirectly through hunger. It is an unsurpassably urgent crisis and yet the world's response has been in no way comparable to the threats civilians now face on a daily basis.

Following the political and military events of mid-December when targeted violence erupted in Juba, capital of South Sudan, conflict has steadily escalated. Now, more than four months later, we are witnessing events that have all the hallmarks of genocide. The split in South Sudan's army—the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)—has been largely along ethnic lines, primarily between the Dinka, the largest tribal group in the South, and the Nuer, the second largest tribal group. As a consequence of this split, what appeared initially to be a vehement demand for governance reforms—but without evident military goals—has developed into a full-scale military rebellion, with violence escalating into something like "symmetric warfare" between two forces that are comparably trained and armed.

Unlike the "asymmetric warfare" to which we have become accustomed to hearing about (e.g., Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur), symmetric warfare ensures heavy casualties in military confrontations. But victories and defeats now have more ominous consequences; for in South Sudan the victors see military victory as justifying civilian slaughter of the predominant ethnic group of the opposing forces. And with a terrifying momentum, ethnic slaughter leads to yet greater ethnic slaughter. When the town of Bentiu in oil-rich Unity State fell to rebel forces on April 15-16, hundreds of Dinka civilians (and many Darfuris) were hunted down and killed—men, women, and children. Hate radio locally broadcast locally urged the rape and murder of Dinkas—or even Nuer who were not enthusiastic enough about the victory. Meanwhile, in Bor (Jonglei State), Nuer civilians under the protection of the UN force (UNMISS, UN Mission in South Sudan) made the mistake of celebrating the victory of the rebels in Bentiu; in reprisal, a large gang of Dinka youth broke into the UN compound and killed dozens of Nuer. We have seen earlier versions of this vicious ethnic violence in Malakal (Upper Nile), other smaller towns, as well as Juba itself.

Toby Lanzer, who heads UN humanitarian operations in South Sudan, has referred to the slaughter in Bentiu as a "game changer." Whether or not the game changed with this particular incident, it provided clear evidence that without an international force capable of enforcing a separation of armed elements or at least robustly protecting civilians, the fighting will intensify and become more relentlessly ethnic in character.

Beyond the human suffering and destruction that is a consequence of this terrible violence, an even larger threat looms. For fighting has already displaced more than a million people from their homes and villages, and has done so in the midst of the planting season—April and May, when the rainy season begins.. For planting to be successful, people, seeds, and farming equipment need to be in the same place at the same time. For displaced people this simply doesn't happen; and if this planting season is a failure, the fall harvest will be as well. Famine will stalk the land and as many as 7 million people will confront extreme food insecurity—in short, starvation. And the penchant both parties have for blocking humanitarian aid to areas controlled by the other will exacerbate the difficulties for residents of the most affected areas.

The situation, however, is not hopeless. There are steps that could be taken to prevent full-scale genocide which Secretary Kerry can advance during his visit. First, appropriate international forces need to be deployed to South Sudan to protect civilians. A vanguard regional force should deploy to protect large concentrations of internally displaced persons who are most at risk of targeted attack. This must be followed by a substantial augmentation of the UN mission in the region (UNMISS), which as it has deployed is militarily incapable of protecting all civilians in need.

Second, a major international diplomatic press led by a respected international figure is needed to negotiate a cross-line humanitarian assistance delivery channel.

Third, biting sanctions need to be imposed by a coalition of states that is willing to collectively seize bank accounts, houses, cars, and any other assets owned by government or rebel officials—or other regional actors—complicit in war crimes or obstruction of aid deliveries. Consequences are needed to increase international leverage over the parties, including ramping up efforts to create a mixed judicial process internally and to refer the war crimes perpetrated there to the International Criminal Court.

Fourth, international efforts in support of a peace process must redouble. Leverage should be built by key states with influence and deployed in the service of the talks. And civil society and political opposition should receive greater international support and be meaningfully included in the peace process as well.

Twenty years ago Rwanda was engulfed in the flames of hatred, as Darfur has been for ten years. Hundreds of thousands died because no meaningful international action was taken. With South Sudan threatening to explode in an ever-expanding cycle of revenge, that legacy of international failure must be reversed, or hundreds of thousands more will die. On our watch.

Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. His most recent book on Sudan is Compromising With Evil: An archival history of greater Sudan, 2007 – 2012.

John Prendergast is co-founder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity affiliated with the Center for American Progress.

April 29, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Tuesday said it had recaptured the town of Abri in the Kuwalib mountain range in the middle of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state.

Soldiers from Sudan's army rest after gaining control of an area in the Blue Nile state capital, al-Damazin, on 5 September 2011 (Photo: Reuters)

SAF's spokesperson, al-Sawarmi Khaled Saad, said in a press statement that Abri which is located 150 kilometers northeast of South Kordofan state capital, Kadugli links Kualib Mountains to Kauda, the stronghold of the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N).

He pointed that SAF inflicted heavy losses in lives and equipment on the SPLM-N rebels, adding that they also liberated Serfaya village in the same area.

The statement accused the SPLM-N of denying residents the basic services and forcing them to join its ranks, saying that SAF lost several martyrs and wounded others.

It underscored that SAF will advance in all battlefronts until bringing rebellion to an end.

Earlier this month, Sudan's defence minister, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, told the parliament that the decisive summer military campaign against the rebel SPLM-N in the Nuba Mountain has begun.

The spokesperson of the SPLM-N negotiating team, Mubarak Ardol, for his part denounced the attack on Abri, accusing the Sudanese army of displacing more than 20,000 people and destroying livelihoods including institutions and water wells.

He accused the government Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of carrying out the attack on Abri, saying it displaced more than 70,000 people and burned dozens of villages within two months in Rashad area in the Nuba Mountain besides torching more than 230 villages in Darfur.

On Saturday, the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) announced that it is deploying additional RSF troops to South Kordofan in order to end rebellion in the state.

The RSF militia, which is widely known as the Janjaweed militias, were originally mobilised by the Sudanese government to quell the insurgency that broke out in Sudan's western region of Darfur in 2003.

The militia was activated and restructured again in August last year under the command of NISS to fight rebel groups in Darfur region, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states following joint attacks by Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebels in North and South Kordofan in April 2013.

Ardol further said the attack comes in a time when the SPLM-N delegation is engaged in peace talks with the government in Addis Ababa, emphasising it reveals the true intentions of the regime and the contradiction between its words and deeds.

However, Sudan's lead negotiator, Ibrahim Ghandour, said in a press release on Tuesday that the SPLM-N continued to reject the government's repeated calls for agreement on a comprehensive ceasefire, saying SAF managed to liberate innocent residents in Abri from SPLM-N's injustice.

He denounced Ardol's comments on the attack on Abri, saying the SPLM-N attacked Abu-Kershola and Um Rawaba and killed innocent civilians and burned houses while the third round of peace talks was underway in April 2013.

Ghandour underscored that the only alternative is to achieve immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in order to stop the war and end suffering of the innocent civilians, accusing the SPLM-N of rejecting the move in order to serve its political agenda, military alliances, and foreign links.

The South Kordofan conflict erupted in 2011 when Sudan attempted to forcibly disarm SPLM-N fighters it accuses of being backed by their brother-in-arms in the South Sudanese army.

(ST)

April 29, 2014 (JUBA) - The South Sudanese leader, Salva Kiir on Monday voiced concerns over recent threats by the United States to impose sanctions on individuals frustrating peace processes, saying it could undermine efforts to resolve the conflict.

File - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir (Reuters)

“I don't know what kind of support of cooperation they are saying. They say one thing in America, in Addis Ababa and to our friends and comrades in the region and also in the world but when they come here, they tell us something else. What is this?," asked Kiir, according to one of his aides.

"How do you call this kind of behaviour," he reportedly added.

Both the US and European Union have already threatened South Sudan with sanctions, while the French UN ambassador, Gerard Araud has indicated that the Security Council member states are likely “ready to go down the road of sanctions”.

President Kiir is said to made these remarks shortly before he welcomed Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights currently in South Sudan.

Pillay was accompanied by Dieng Adama, the UN special advisor on genocide prevention. The two top officials were accompanied by Hilde Johnson, head of the UN mission in the country (UNMISS) upon arrival.

The state-owned SSTV later showed footage of the head of UNMISS holding high level meetings with senior government officials, who included president Kiir.

Pillay said president Kiir “carefully listened” to all the issues they raised with him at the meeting, during which the latter promised that he would not allow any atrocities and human right abuses to continue being committed in the country under his watch.

A close aide to the South Sudan leader said the latter criticised the way the US was relating to his administration, insisting that someone could be reporting “negative things” about the performance of his administration and the country in general.

“There is someone who comes around saying their government recognises the legitimacy of this government and remained ready to work with us, but the moment they leave the country, you see reports threatening sanctions and claims of human right violations. What is this?" Kiir reportedly said.

"Instead of holding Riek [Machar] and his group responsible for all these atrocities they have committed against our people, because everybody knows he was the cause of all this conflict, they come and tell us we should negotiate with him. They don't value the lives lost. Is this how they want to stabilize the situation?" he added.

Kiir reportedly accused some unnamed individuals of lacking a clear understanding of the situation, but wrongly reported it so as to undermine his country's sovereignty.

"They say these sanctions will encourage dialogue, but they do not know that they are undermining these efforts”, Kiir reportedly said.

(ST)

By Minga Negash, Seid Hassan and Mammo Muchie

April 30, 2014 - The 1929 Nile water allocation agreement that was signed by Egypt and the United Kingdom (which excluded Ethiopia and nearly all other upper basin countries) allocated 48 billion (65%) cubic meters of water per year to Egypt and 4 billion to the Sudan. The 1959 agreement between Egypt and the Sudan raised the share to 55.5 (75%) billion and 18.5 billion cubic meters to Egypt and the Sudan, respectively. This agreement also excluded all the other upper Nile riparian nations. Egypt wants to keep the colonial-era agreements and the 1959 accord. This unfair allocation of the Nile water enabled Egypt to construct the Aswan Dam and the two countries never cared to consult the upper riparian nations. As argued by Badr Abdelatty, a spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry, Egypt wants to keep the status quo because it needs all the “assigned 55 billion cubic meters a year for vital use such as drinking, washing and sanitation needs” by 2020. This clearly indicates Egypt's desire to secure its own Nile water-related benefits intact while at the same time denying other (Sub-Saharan) Nile riparian countries from using their own waters for alleviating poverty and enhancing sustainable development. Contrary to the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) that was formalized in 1999 that Egypt was a party to, it is now saying that any change to the colonial era agreement would be tantamount to affecting its strategic interests and repeatedly threatens to use all means available if Ethiopia continues to build the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Egypt continues to escalate the confrontation despite Ethiopia's claim that the dam would have no appreciable negative impact on Egypt. Ethiopia, along with the other upper Nile riparian countries object the privileges that Egypt gave itself and consider Egyptian monopoly over the Nile waters as a violation of their sovereignty. In accordance to the 2010 Entebbe Agreement by the upstream countries, which included Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, and now effectively Sudan and South Sudan), Ethiopia, therefore, insists on adhering to its plan and is forging ahead on constructing the dam.

In what follows, we use an amalgam of economics, history, law, security and environment factors to examine the Egyptian opposition to the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). We try to triangulate these factors hoping to contribute to the debate and gain insight into the current tension between Egypt and Ethiopia. We attempt to make a dispassionate analysis of the water sharing problem between upstream and downstream countries. Consistent with theory and real life cases, we surmise that water has been and continues to be the cause for conflict in a number of regions in the world and, unfortunately, water wars tend to be irrational, unsustainable and economically and socially destructive. Trans-boundary water sharing and pollution (environmental-ecological) problems are never resolved through hegemonies, militarism and ultra-nationalism.

Dissenting voices against mega projects such as GERD are not new - the criticisms ranging from cost and scheduling overruns (as a recent study by Ansar, Flyvbjerg, Budzier and Lunn of Oxford University shows ), to their impacts on population dislocation, corruption, transparency in awarding of contracts, the manner in which such projects are financed, social and environmental impacts in upstream and downstream countries and water security concerns. Hence, Ethiopians may legitimately ask questions and raise concerns about the manner in which the Government of Ethiopia is handling the project. In this article, however, we focus on trans-boundary environmental problems, the fair use of the Nile water and address Egyptian concerns. This is important because the construction of GERD has reignited the long standing explosive issue of the equitable use of Nile waters. We also believe the recent (counterproductive) Egyptian threats of war and various forms of diplomatic offensives require the attentions of scholars of substance and policy makers.

Egyptian worries and aspirations over the Nile River system however is historical and goes back to the days before the formation of the Egyptian nation/state even though the issue began to dominate the country's political landscape with the generation of militarism and ultra-nationalism (from Gamal Abel Nasser to the late President Sadat's 1979 threat of war and to the current leaders of Egypt vowing not to lose a “drop of water).” The recent political instability in Egypt must have made the trans-boundary water sharing problem a point of political opportunism. Reports indicate that Egypt may indeed be laying the ground work to “destroy the dam before Ethiopia starts filling it with water or risk flooding Sudan's flat eastern territories upon its destruction.” A WikiLeaks report is also known to have revealed that Egypt, in collaboration with Sudan, had plans “to build an airstrip for bombing a dam in the Blue Nile River Gorge in Ethiopia.” In its June 2013 analysis of Egypt's military options, Straighter, a global intelligence organization indicated that the country does have military options against Ethiopia's dam, but noted that distance will heavily constrain Egypt's ability to demolish the work. The options, however, may include air attack from bases in the Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea and/or sponsoring present day local “militants” to frustrate the construction of the dam. Obviously, Ethiopia is aware of the Egyptian options and its age-old aspiration to control the sources of the Nile River system. For example, on April 17, 2014, amid reports that Egypt was trying to woo South Sudan towards its dispute over Nile waters , the Voice of America reported that the President of South Sudan assured the Ethiopian authorities that the recently signed military and economic cooperation between Egypt and South Sudan would not allow Egypt to attack Ethiopia or allow subversive activities.

Egypt's policy towards upstream countries is primarily driven by its interest on the water which aims at thriving at the misery of downstream countries, apparently without any form of substantive reciprocity. In contrast to the present day relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia, their ancestors, despite their limited knowledge of geography and hydrology, had a better understanding of the economics of water sharing. As the renowned historian Richard Pankhurst documented, the Turkish Sultan who ruled Egypt before the British, had “paid the ruler of Ethiopia an annual tax of 50,000 gold coins” lest the latter diverts the Nile. Nowadays, and not surprisingly, even the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities is against the GERD. In fact, institutional memories and abundant documents of the last sixty years indicate not only just the inconsistency, but also an immense level of damage that Egyptian foreign policy has done to Ethiopia and the Sudan. Egyptian interference in the two countries' internal affairs has been largely driven by the Ethiopian and the Sudanese use of the Nile waters. For instance, Egypt objected the independence movement in South Sudan but promoted the separation of Eritrea and the creation of one of the most densely populated landlocked countries in the world. The international community is not unaware of these facts but Egypt's strategic location and its pivotal role in the politics of the Middle East did not allow the powers to be to call a spade a spade. As of late, intergovernmental organizations like the African Union which were once mute about the behaviors of successive military rulers of Egypt, who often controlled political and economic power under the cover of phony elections and revolutions, have started to recognize the problems of the Nile River system. Ethiopia's and the other upstream riparian countries' rights to equitably share the waters of Nile is now an African agenda though key members of the Arab League continue to support the position taken by Egypt.

Ethiopia's right to use the water that originates within itself would have included (and, in our view, should include), in addition to power-generating purposes, irrigation, water recreation and navigational services, flood control as well as water storage and supply. It is obvious, therefore, that dams provide valuable economic benefits. Just like any mega project, dams also involve several side-effects, which could be summarized as environmental and ecological, social (forced relocation of locals), economic and even political. Other concerns may include evaluating and managing the risks associated with dam construction as well as asking questions whether the product (GERD in our case) would provide the desired and needed benefits to stakeholders such as access to electricity. A reasonable framework of concern about dam construction, therefore, would include a thorough benefit-cost analysis, not just one-sided focus on the costs. This is our major concern in regards to environmentalists and some of their Ethiopian supporters who campaign against the 6000 MW dam.

The environmentalists refer to the GERD as a “white elephant,” despite the fact that the project's leaked document, alleged to be prepared by International Panel of Experts (IPE) showing favorable financial and social benefits to Ethiopia and the Sudan. Environmentalists such as the International Rivers Network (IRN) need to, therefore, quantify the magnitude of the side effects of the project and should not rely on “covert” and “secondary” data. More importantly, rather than being the butterflies of potential conflict in the Eastern Nile region, they need to: (i) acknowledge Ethiopia's sovereign rights to use its own resources in accordance to international law and without hurting downstream countries; (ii) identify mitigation strategies so that genuine concerns are addressed before the construction is finalized; and (iii) propose how the mitigation strategies are going to be financed. In April 2014, the California based environmental pressure group which is against any form of large dam that is proposed to be built in Africa and Asia leaked the 48 pages long confidential document that was prepared by International Panel of Experts (IPE) on Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam. Now that the confidential report is in the public domain, it allows everyone to put to test the concerns of both the friends and foes of the GERD.

The key features of the IPE's report could be summarized as follows:- (i) unlike the options of smaller dams which would have included potential irrigation projects, GERD is an energy production project and any fear of large and permanent reduction in the flow of freshwater to downstream countries is unfounded; (ii) the filling up of the dam is planned, to be done in stages by taking into account rainfall patterns and the catchment area; (iii) both the financial and social cost-benefit preliminary analysis of the project on upstream and downstream countries are favorable and the expected damages on downstream countries are not insurmountable; (iv) the preliminary findings about the project's side effects on Egypt is not sufficient and hence there is an information (hydrological) void, and much of the current allegations and threats are based on unfounded Egyptian fears; (v) work has progressed to the extent that, at the time of writing this article, the project has reached a degree of completion rate of 31% and the water diversion has been successfully carried out; (vi) the expected loss of water due to evaporation for the new project is not worse than what Egypt is currently losing from its environmentally unfriendly projects and poor water management; (vii) recent geological and hydrological studies have documented an abundant level of ground water in the Nile basin countries and hence downstream countries will not be thirsty if upstream countries build dams that generate electricity. It is clear, therefore, that Egypt's no dam policy or stance against large energy producing dams in upstream countries is a misplaced opposition and therefore calls for a new thinking in Cairo.

As Professor Aaron Wolf of Oregon State University observes, there are about 261 trans-boundary rivers across the world and unless carefully handled a significant proportion of these rivers could be causes of conflict. Wolf documented that water has been the cause of political tensions between a number of countries, including but not limited to Arabs and Israelis; Indians and Bangladeshis; Americans and Mexicans, the Chinese and other downstream countries, Brazilians and Paraguayans and all the ten riparian states of the Nile River system. He observes that “war over water seems neither strategically rational, nor hydrographically effective nor economically viable.” In other words, there is little reason for a “water war” between Egypt and Ethiopia. The two countries can also learn from inter-basin development projects that are successful, such as the Colorado River Basin allocation between the US riparian states and Mexico, the Columbia River Agreement between the US and Canada and the numerous European collaborative projects and integrated river basin managements of the River Rhine. In particular, Egypt and Ethiopia could learn a lot from South Africa paying Lesotho to quench its increasing thirst from the Lesotho Highlands Waters Project. The framework for exploiting the Niger River Basin, the Zambezi River basin and the Nile Basin Initiative itself could serve as useful points of departure for cooperation.

Notwithstanding the above, Egyptian politicians often argue about “historical rights” and connect the water issue with the civilizations of the antiquities on the Nile delta and forget about the history of the formation of nations and states. Evidently this stance is self-serving in that it ignores historical tensions between black people in the region (present day Sudan, South Sudan, Niger, Eritrea and Ethiopia, among others) and the race controversy in the African origin of humanity and the history of the Nile Valley (see for example Martin Bernal's Black Antenna, 1987; Anta Diop , among others). The politics of the Nile River system thus has an Africa-Arab dimension and hence sensitive to Pan Africanist and Pan Arabism agendas. Hence, if a conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia erupts, it is more than likely to have spillover effects on the rest of Africa.

Like most of the post colony states of Africa, modern and independent Egypt was created out of the ashes of colonialism (see for example Achille Mbembe and Samir Amin, among others). Britain's colonial interest on the Nile dam at Lake Tana (main source of Abay/Blue Nile) is the foundation of Egypt's historical and legal claims to the water. Britain's interest however was primarily driven by its desire to irrigate its large cotton plantations in the Anglo Egyptian colony of the Sudan and supply its factories which were located in the United Kingdom. Modern day cotton plantations in Egypt are entirely dependent on the soil that gets exported by the river primarily from Ethiopian highlands. In a series of short articles, Dr. Yosef Yacob documented the history of colonialism in the region and indicated how Emperor Menelik (1844-1913) and Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975) managed to escape Britain's colonial ambitions over the Ethiopian highlands. He also revealed how Emperor Haile Selassie was visionary in that he successfully resisted Britain's encroachments on Lake Tana by hiring an American engineering company to construct the dam and trying to finance the project through the issuance of debt securities in the United States. In other words, had the Emperor's wishes were realized, the GERD would have been built a long time ago. We have yet to see any reasonable criticism of Dr. Yosef Yacob's treatise by those who oppose the construction of the dam.

The next leg of the Egyptian opposition is international law. Here too the argument collapses before it faces the scrutiny of legal scholars. Egyptian officials often refer to the 1929 colonial era agreement and the 1959 agreement signed between Egypt and the Sudan (both former British colonies) that Ethiopia was not party to and had never consented to. First, it is important to note that colonial treaties have no direct relevance for resolving Africa's contemporary problems. The Nile basin countries have already rejected it. Thus, the dominant view is that trans-boundary assets belong to the post-colonial states and the new states have to agree how to share their jointly owned assets. Second, Ethiopia was and is an independent state and it was not a party to the 1929 and 1959 agreements. Historical records also indicate that Britain, Egypt and the Sudan conspired and excluded Ethiopia from the negotiation. In this respect, Wuhibegezer Ferede and Sheferawu Abebe, writing on the Efficacy of Water Treaties in the Eastern Nile Basin, Africa Spectrum, 49, 1, 55-67 (2014) outline two approaches that evolve from the principles of international law. The authors show the fundamental differences between upstream and downstream countries in that upstream countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and South Sudan) appear to favor clean slate policy while downstream countries (Sudan and Egypt) favor colonial treaties. Notwithstanding the preference of one or another form of legal principle, Egypt's insistence on colonial treaties collapses simply because Ethiopia was not a colony of Britain or indeed any other European power.

Now that we have seen Egypt's historical and legal arguments falling apart, the next step is to examine the third foundation of the Egyptian stance - the environmental aspects of the dam. Previous literature indicated that carbon emissions and contaminations of rivers that cross national boundaries are examples of trans-boundary environmental problems. Hence, policy formation requires enforceable global treaties, sound national policy and the examination of advances in a number of disciplines. Furthermore, investments in big national projects such as stadiums, mineral extraction, oil and gas, canals, big dams, highways, and big architectural projects add behavioral and political dimensions to the science, technology and the economics of such undertakings. Most of the finest buildings and stadiums that host world cup games were and are being constructed in that national pride. And behavioral and emotional factors dominate financial arguments. In other words, national projects by their nature have behavioral dimensions and may not be captured by the paradigms of rationality and net present values. Time will tell whether the Ethiopian dam is different.

The mainstream literature on environmental economics focuses on welfare measurement, sustainability, technological change, externality and green accounting. The world commission on environment and development (aka the Bruntland Commission, 1987), for example, states that “sustainable development is meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Consistent with this understanding, the Nile River system has both trans-boundary and non-trans-boundary features for the riparian states and hence Egypt, in theory, may have a cause for concern. This concern can nonetheless be resolved through international instruments and institutions and bilateral relations that are based on mutual respect and trust. The international convention on the protection and use of trans-boundary and international lakes which was signed by nearly 40 countries does not provide the base for resolving disputes, and worse, no country from Africa (including Egypt) has actually ratified it. It nonetheless can be another point of departure. The United Nations Environmental program could also be a facilitator. Furthermore, as noted earlier, Africa has frameworks for inter-basin development. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) has been a major institutional development which enables all riparian states to collaborate and act as equal members. Egypt's effort to undermine this agreement is a mistake.

Other features of the leaked report of the International Panel of Experts covers the main factors of the project. Among other things, it confirms that: (i) GERD is economically feasible; (ii) the design meets international standards, subject to minor “corrections”; (iii) the contractor is reliable and has extensive international expertise and reputation in building large dams; (iv) the environmental impact study within Ethiopia is adequate and the trans-boundary effect on the Sudan is favorable and controls flood; and (v) the section on trans-boundary effect on Egypt requires additional study using complex models and actual data rather than reliance on desk work. In short, the authors of the 48 pages-long confidential report did not say that they expect a catastrophe and the vanishing of the Egyptian nation if the project gets completed. In short, Egypt is not in any imminent danger. This conclusion has ramifications for the multilateral institutions that refused to finance the project. In summary, Egypt's opposition to GERD is indeed misplaced. Its return to the negotiation table and the African Union and the ratification of the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework and Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans-boundary Watercourses and International Lakes are avenues for resolving the sticky problems of water sharing.

Minga Negash is a Professor of Accounting at the Metropolitan State University of Denver Colorado and at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Minga Negash can be contacted at mnegash@msudenver.edu or minga.negash@wits.ac.za.
Seid Hassan is professor of Economics at Murray State University. He can be reached at shassan@murraystate.edu.
Mammo Muchie is a research Professor of innovation studies at Tshwane University of Technology (Pretoria) and Senior Research Associate at Oxford University (U.K). He can be reached at MuchieM@tut.ac.za

1 http://chimpreports.com/index.php/special-reports/18421-ethiopia-egypt-tensions-shift-to-power-plant.html
2 The NBI is composed of ten countries: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as Eritrea as an observer.
3 Hassan (2011): http://www.ethiomedia.com/augur/4363.html
4 http://world-wire.com/2014/04/23/scientists-present-alternative-to-sarawaks-mega-dams/
5 http://world-wire.com/2014/04/23/scientists-present-alternative-to-sarawaks-mega-dams/
6 http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/03/06/troubled_waters
7 http://www.madote.com/2014/02/is-egypt-seeking-military-defense-pact.html
8 http://origins.osu.edu/article/who-owns-nile-egypt-sudan-and-ethiopia-s-history-changing-dam
9 http://www.madote.com/2014/02/is-egypt-seeking-military-defense-pact.html
10 http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/egypt-south-sudan-nile-water-dispute-ethiopia.html#
11 http://www.linkethiopia.org/guide-to-ethiopia/the-pankhurst-history-library/the-portuguese-ludolf-and-le-grandthe-
nile-myth-is-shattered/
12 http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/02/04/renaissance-dam-poses-threat-egyptian-monuments-antiquitiesminister/
13 http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/5823/21/Egypt-Sudan-water-relations.aspx
14 http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article46307
15 http://www.ethiomedia.com/broadway/4503.html
16 http://www.internationalrivers.org/
17 http://www.theafricareport.com/Soapbox/rejoinder-on-the-construction-of-the-grand-renaissance-dam-inethiopia.htm
18 A number of analysts have indicated that Egypt has not been an efficient user of the available water. Not only is water not priced properly, but the Egyptian authorities also have allowed the expansion of water devouring crops of rice and sugar cane- against the advice of experts and bilateral donors. The irrational and increasingly thirsty nature of Egyptian use of water has failed to recognize the realities of our time: escalating shortages of water exacerbatedby global warming, population pressure and life-style changes.
19 http://www.gwp.org/Global/ToolBox/ReferencesCapacity%20Building%20Actions%20in%20Groundwater%20Ma
nagement%20Issues%20as%20an%20Aspect%20of%20IWRM%20for%20the%20Nile%20Region%20(CapNet,UNDP,BGR,%202007).pdf
20 Natural Resources Forum, Volume 23 #1, February 1999 pp. 3?30.
21 http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/ted/lesotho.htm
22 http://www.academia.edu/2243972/Supporting_the_Nile_Basin_Initiative_A_Political_Analysis_Beyond_the_River
23 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi0IRivzlNM
24 http://www.ethiomedia.com/14news/5712.html
25 http://water.tkk.fi/wr/tutkimus/glob/publications/Ilomaki/chapters1-8/ch2_laki.html
26 It is not clear whether some of the governments would change their position as a result of Egypt's recent diplomatic offensive.
27 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17038597
28 http://law.missouri.edu/melpr/recentpublications/Ibrahim.pdf
29 http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Nile_River_Basin_Cooperative_Framework_2010.pdf