Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{The South Sudan Government wants an explanation from the United Nations relating to last week’s impounding of weapons allegedly destined for rebels in Lakes State.}}

The weapons were allegedly loaded on 13 trucks and disguised as construction materials for the UN (UNMISS) mission’s Ghanaian contingent in the oil-rich Unity State.

The government said that the privately owned vehicles belonging to different companies based in Juba were being held in Lakes State capital, Rumbek, and another unspecified number had also been detained beyond Rumbek.

“Three of the 13 detained semi-trailer vehicles each carrying two 20-feet containers were searched and a number of firearms and ammunition were recovered,” according to a statement on the government website on Monday.

“The samples of the arms as were being ‘identified’ by military personnel included; Rocket Propel Grenade (RPF) launchers, AK24, Gim files, Anti Riot guns, Binoculars [Ances-6 Trilium night bino], radio systems, Bayonets’ Anti-Personal Landlines among others,” it added.

Information minister Michael Makuei Lueth said the weapons could have been destined to Dr Riek Machar rebels, casting further doubts on the neutrality of the mission in the South Sudan conflict.

The mission was previously accused of sheltering Dr Machar from eminent arrest after a failed December 15 coup in Juba, and later hosting him at its camp in Bor in Jonglei State.

Impounded vehicles

However, the UN mission said the weapons were being delivered to its contingent of the Ghanaian peacekeepers, but admitted that the cargo was wrongly labelled.

“In connection with the transport of cargo of general goods belonging to the Ghanaian battalion on its way to Bentiu, several containers were wrongly labelled and inadvertently contained weapons and ammunition,” UNMISS said in an earlier statement.

“This is regrettable. The Ghanaian troops are part of the surge of UNMISS troops to assist South Sudan and the goods were en route to Bentiu, passing through Rumbek,” it added.

However, the government said just admitting it as an error was not enough.

“It is not enough that the South Sudan UN representative the other day issued a statement and admitted it was a mistake and called it an error; in security situations like this, we will not say ok, if it was a mistake, it is fine …some people must answer,” Mr Makuei said.

“Despite all waybills of the 13 impounded vehicles indicating Bentiu as the last destination of delivery; varying labels could be seen on the containers suggesting that not all the containers were heading to Unity State as indicated in the waybills. Rumbek, Bentiu are some of the labels on the containers,” the government website reported.

The government has been at loggerheads with UNMISS, accusing it supporting rebels since Dr Machar rebelled following the failed coup.

NMG

{{The leader of the al Qaeda-aligned Islamist group al Shabaab has urged Somalis to wage holy war against Ethiopia, Somalia’s Horn of Africa neighbor whose forces are preparing to lead an African Union offensive against the militants.}}

Ethiopia fought an ill-fated war in Somalia in 2006-09 but sent troops back in 2011 to fight al Shabaab. In 2013 it became part of AMISOM, a 22,000-strong AU peacekeeping force that includes troops from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Sierra Leone.

Ethiopian forces have in the past two weeks pushed al Shabaab out of several towns, including Hudur, the capital of the Bakool region in south-central Somalia. Analysts say these advances could presage a planned countrywide offensive.

In a recorded voice message released on Sunday, Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr, said Mogadishu’s Western-backed government and Ethiopia were acting at the behest of the United States and would be defeated.

“Somalis, your religion has been attacked, your land divided, your resources looted directly and indirectly through the puppet government – our victory lies in Jihad (holy war),” Godane said in a recorded message, pointing to the historic rivalry between mainly Christian Ethiopia and Muslim Somalia.

Godane said landlocked Ethiopia had invaded Somalia in pursuit of access to Somalia’s Indian Ocean coastline. The two countries fought a war in 1977-78.

“Ethiopia will fail as it has failed in the past and the Muslims will be much stronger,” Godane said.

His last public statement came in September when al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a deadly raid on a luxury shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Somali gunmen tossed grenades into busy restaurants and executed well-heeled shoppers as punishment for Kenya’s military involvement in Somalia. At least 67 people died.

“The aim of the (foreign) invasion is to divide the remaining Somalia between Kenya and Ethiopia under the cover of the establishment of Somali states,” Godane added, a reference to the creation of a federal Somalia.

Godane in 2013 purged most of his rivals within the al Shabaab leadership after almost two years of wrangling over ideology, strategy and tactics.

Former Somali cabinet minister Abdirashid Hashi, now the deputy director of the Mogadishu-based Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, said Godane’s message was an attempt to create an atmosphere reminiscent of the 2006-09 period when many Somalis at home and abroad opposed Ethiopian troops.

But Hashi said al Shabaab’s bombing campaigns and killings of civilians had made many Somalis uneasy about the militants.

“With the way al Shabaab have been conducting themselves over the last couple of years, I think it will be very difficult for Godane to create the kind of mood that there was in 2006,” Hashi said. “A lot of Somalis are more worried about him and his policies.”

{{The East African Community (EAC) secretariat has remained silent on the suspension of one of its senior officials on graft claims and alleged abuse of office.}}

Neither the Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera, nor the Counsel to the Community, Mr Wilbert Kahwa, were ready to give details on the suspension of Phil Kleruu, a senior estate management officer.

Kleruu was served with a 30-day suspension letter on February 28, this year in connection with the loss of items belonging to the Community.

EAC officials who were contacted declined to comment, saying that it was an internal matter.

Mr Kleruu, for his part, said his suspension was against the existing EAC rules and regulations for it was not consented by the Council of Ministers, the policy organ of the Community.

The Arusha-based secretariat has also distanced itself from some mails circulating among its employees and officials of the ministries responsible for EAC affairs in the partner states which cited allegations of funds mismanagement by key officials.

“Those are just malicious e-mails. We don’t have time to attend to them because they originate from anonymous sources,” an official told The Citizen last week.

Mr Kleruu, a Tanzanian national, joined the EAC in 2007 to handle the new headquarter construction project.

He alleged that his troubles started early this year over the recruitment of some workers and failure to renew a contract of an employee in the estates unit.

He added that he had also raised a number of issues needing the attention of the SG and the executive management team, winning him enemies within the ranks of the secretariat which has over 200 employees.

When contacted over the issue, the deputy secretary general (Finance and Administration), Mr Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, dismissed allegations levelled against him by Mr Kleruu, arguing that the latter had been under investigation for sometime over the Community headquarter project.

He said he had not been served with an audit querry over alleged double payment to him during his numerous trips and assignments outside Arusha. He also denied claims of favouritism in awarding working contracts to employees or consultants.

{thecitizen}

{{Angelina Teny, wife of the South Sudan’s former vice president, Riek Machar Teny, who now leads the three-month rebellion against the government of president Salva Kiir, said the ongoing war in the country was imposed on the people by dictatorial and violent behavior of the president.}}

In an exclusive interview with the Sudan Tribune correspondent in the Ethiopian capital, Tesfa Alem, she accused president Salva Kiir of being behind the escalation of the situation in Juba insisting they only aspired to achieve democratic reforms in the new nation.

The British educated female politician, said the world was not doing enough to condemn and bring to justice those responsible for the “genocidal” war, which she said has been perpetrated by the government in Juba.

She said the rebellion which is now being led by her husband was born out of resistance against the regime that wanted to silent or kill those who have divergent political opinions.

Teny further explained that the former vice-president, Riek Machar, and his colleagues that share political opinion did not commit any crime and that it was President Salva Kiir who should quit the leadership in order to give peace a chance.

She also denied that Machar travelled to the UK as it was rumoured, adding that it was not a crime if he did travel. “He hasn’t committed a crime; he is only trying to resist because somebody is trying to kill him,” she said.

{Below is the full text of her interview:}

…………………….
Question: {{You have now joined the talks, what is your status at the talks? Will you replace General Taban Deng’s position as head of SPLM/A in Opposition delegation or not?}}

Answer:I was never named as a leader of the delegation. Actually under the initial delegation, it was comrade Pagan Amum who is assigned as the leader of the delegation.

Even now when comrade Taban sits leading the talks, he always mentions that “I am speaking on behalf of our chief negotiator comrade Pagam Amum.” That is still the status.

{{But considering the fact that the four remaining detainees, including your initial chief negotiator, Pagan Amum, if released, would any way side with the other 7 former detainees; will you probably drop that demand or will you continue insisting on their release?}}

Still our position hasn’t changed even if the seven released went back inside [to detention] we will call for their release because as a party, as SPLM, the principles and values of our party is to respect human rights, respect the freedom of people, democracy, peace and justice.

The four remaining detainees have been accused falsely that they have plotted a coup. We all know and the whole world knows that there was no coup. Everybody agrees there was no coup.

There is no a just cause why they should continue to be in prison and this is what we are fighting for. What we are resisting is precisely that people are free.

When the seven were released we never said that they should join us but we share the same political views on what should be done to transform a country and building of a democratic state.

The SPLM party is not a one man show because what Salva was trying to push is that to have a constitution in which all the powers are concentrated in one person and he sees that person as himself.

According to his plans, there will be only one position elected that is the position of the chair of the party and the rest of the positions will be appointed by him as he wishes. That really kills the party. The party cannot develop in that manner.

That cannot regenerate and would eventually fail to have younger people coming up in the second and third generations of the leadership. So these are the things we are actually fighting to achieve, and that is why we continue to call for the release of the four.

If the remaining four are released it doesn’t mean they have to join this [armed] resistance. They have a choice and this is the free will of everybody.

{{Do you or your husband take any personal responsibility for the conflict escalating in the way it did? Regardless of what triggered the conflict, has the cost of not pursuing peace without preconditions been worth paying considering the thousands of deaths and humanitarian disaster?}}

We don’t for one simple reason. We were pushing for reform in the party to be done democratically. That is why there was a press conference on the 6th of December and there was a planned rally for 14th of December aimed to explain to the masses of the SPLM on why leaders of the SPLM decided to openly challenge President Salva Kiir’s leadership in the party.

The idea was to work on the reforms of the party so it becomes democratic, and whatever systems, values and principles in the party are reflected in our governance system. We wanted to make the reforms in a democratic and peaceful manner.

We heard if the rally takes place there was to be a use of military force and alongside there was an appeal that the two parties engaged in dialogue within the SPLM. There was also a call for the rally, as well as the National Liberation Council that was called by President Salva Kiir, are postponed to give dialogue a chance.

On our part, we postponed the rally but Salva Kiir ignored the call made by religious leaders, the international community and others who were concerned about the way tensions were developing.

Salva Kiir went ahead with the National Liberation Council and delivered a speech literary declaring war on anyone who would speak out on his leadership and the way he was managing the party.

That is why he said he was going to use everything at his disposal. He also threatened members of the National Liberation Council to pass undemocratic constitution for the party including other documents: manifesto, internal regulations.

That is why we were fighting against passing that kind of constitution. In fact, these documents were not even passed in the political bureau [party highest executive organ]. Therefore he decided not to call for meeting of the political bureau.

So I would say in the escalation we have nothing to do with it. We were pushed to the situation. We left Juba really running for our lives and for days we were chased and ambushed. We only picked ourselves and left everything behind.

The only thing I actually picked was the key to my room because I was thinking I would be back in the morning. So how can we take the responsibility? We can’t take the responsibility. This responsibility wholly lies on Salva Kiir and his inner circles who were working with him at that time.

{{Talks have now stalled and considering the thousands of deaths and humanitarian disaster the conflict has caused, don’t you think it is worth to drop all your preconditions to push negotiations forward and reach a peaceful solution?}}

These preconditions are actually the values that we are fighting for. It is because of the absence of these preconditions that Salva Kiir finds himself at will undermining the constitutions and acting against the constitutions, dismissing governors and carrying out attacks targeting one ethnic group and further committing genocide like what has happened in Juba.

So we don’t see a solution unless these conditions are met including the SPLM leaders who are detained for no reason. This is the issue of personal liberty, freedom and the rights of individuals to express themselves.

That is what we fought for all of these years. We didn’t fight to come again and have another master that also dictates.

I don’t see it is right to drop those because the reason why we have crises in South Sudan is precisely because of political problems. One of these political problems is the military dictatorship that has developed in the country.

And this military dictatorship is led by Salva Kiir and accuses them falsely, detains them falsely and we stand the principle that what we are fighting for is a democratic system where people are free to express their feeling and their opinions on how they see the country should be run.

This is what the comrades who were arrested including the remaining four detainees were doing along. Comrade Salva Kiir calls that indiscipline and he is not ready to hear a second opinion, or the other opinion or the other side and so on.

He terms that as indiscipline and he would use everything at his disposal to address that. And we have seen on 15th December and onwards that it resulted in genocide and killing of innocent people and arresting comrades in the party because they stated their opinion.

{{Human right groups are accusing both sides of committing a serious human right violation. Do you admit Machar forces were part of those crimes?}}

I would challenge some of these. I am not going to totally deny that nothing has happened but those groups who have reported the human right abuses never came to the side and areas we were in control to do the investigations. They did the investigation in one side.

They were doing it in and around Juba. For example, when we were in Bor nobody came there. So you can call it unfair and one side reporting. In Bor, Ugandan jets dropped cluster bombs but there is no mention of that in the UN report.

Other banned chemicals were used. In Bor, where there were exchanges of hands, people were pulled out of UN camps and executed by government forces and we haven’t heard any of that in the UN reports. The UN can testify that if they are honest and truthful.

{{Are you open for investigation?}}

We are open. We say let us have an investigation. We should all be open but all I am asking for is fairness. When human right organizations plan to produce a report it is best that they hear all sides and go personally to check what is happening.

{{Do you think admitting killings had occurred would be a good start towards achieving reconciliation?}}

here was no reason for this war. Salva Kiir imposed it. People would tell us that maybe if we accepted to be in our house and they came and demolished the house and buried us alive, maybe that was the only one we didn’t do but decided to flee for our lives.

And he [Salva Kiir] continued to pursue us when even we refused to react to his pursuit for war.

{{Do you blame the international community for giving little attention in addressing the conflict that has killed over 20,000 people in only few weeks?}}

With what has happened in Juba, the killing of civilians and pulling people out from their houses and burning them and all the other atrocities; to me, unequivocally, the world is guilty of not condemning it because that genocide up to now is being played down. It is even more of an insult to the injury.

How can you not address a systematic genocidal killing of over 20,000 people in Juba in only few days that killed [civilians] including women and children? In Ukraine 200 people died. It is now a cause for the world to say the president has lost his legitimacy. What is so different about Salva Kiir?

Killings have continued, on Wednesday, innocent people were slaughtered in Juba in cold blood murder. These reports are played down by Juba and everything coming out of Juba is gospel truth.

Worse of that the world takes it as this is business as usual. This is not business as usual when you commit genocide.

{{Is it true refugees at UN compounds are being killed?}}

The refugees [internally displaced persons] are in a terrible condition. You can call them prisoners. They are not able to travel and their living conditions are very bad.

I am saying this is happening under the eyes and the noses of the UN. I am calling on the UN to put that into urgent consideration.

Some of them are forced to go out to bring food and drinks for the children and women inside the camp but end up slaughtered by government forces.

There are government snipers right outside the camps. That is how the 31 people who were killed last week ended up.

{{The government says they have arrested 100 soldiers for the violence in Juba, how many members of the SPLM/A In Opposition have been arrested for crimes carried out by the rebels?}}

We are open for all international groups to come and investigate. Let them come. We will welcome them. Everything will be investigated but it is very obvious that what has happened in Juba is a premeditated genocide process.

Nobody can deny that. Juba can say it has established a committee to investigate it, but am sure if you ask the detainees, some of them would tell you they were implicated maybe because they have spoken out something against government.

It was the presidential guards who did all the systematic killings. We ask the question who gave them the order?

{{Would Machar be willing to permanently retire from politics if Kiir agreed to do the same? Perhaps the solution is for this generation of leaders who fought so valiantly for South Sudan’s independence to step aside so the country can move on from this conflict and historical rivalries?}}

Is this a contest between Machar and Kiir? If it is his [Machar] wish and desire to contest for the leadership of the party, it is his right. The constitution of the party says it is a principle value of the SPLM that everybody has a right to be elected or to elect.

So it is his right. But Salva Kiir doesn’t tolerate if someone expresses desire to contest. That is how comrade Pagan ended up in prison; that is why Madam Rebecca was arrested in her house.

This is what we are fighting for. It is the right of every one. So is it a personal thing between Machar and Kiir? I don’t think so!

{{How should the issue of justice be dealt with? Should it be just within the South Sudanese, African Union or even ICC?}}

I put a question also to the African Union, now that you are trying to set up a commission of inquiry, and when you get the results of that inquiry, what are you going to do with it? Will the AU have the capacity to indict?

I am saying this because it is about justice. Our justice system is incapacitated. There is no separation of powers. Lawyers of comrade Pagan [Amum] were chased out from court when they went to submit a petition.

That is the kind of justice we have. Whatever you think can happen in Juba, will be just a kangaroo court. We don’t have a credible judicial system. These are the structural reforms I needed in the country in terms of governance.

{{Would the SPLM/A in Opposition be willing to agree to an ICC investigation if the government also agreed?}}

We will welcome anybody who wants to investigate because it is an important principle because you also have to implement the values you are fighting for, the value of human rights.

{{Would he [Machar] travel to The Hague if at a future date he is indicted for war crimes in the current conflict?}}

I will not respond to that.

{{IGAD has put on table the formation of interim government. But will you accept an interim government that excludes Riek Machar or Salva Kiir?}}

I am wondering why do you want to exclude Riek Machar? If what has happened in Juba happened in your country, and you know the person who committed the crimes, will you accept him as your president?

{{The Ugandan fighter jets are allegedly bombing your positions including last Saturday that has killed some 40 innocent civilians. Some of your members allege that they have used cluster ammunitions.}}

Answer: They have continued to use cluster bombs and the world is quiet. Salva Kiir has used cluster bombs.

{{Is it Salva Kiir or Ugandan forces?}}

Uganda is there by Kiir’s invitation. We even ask ourselves, are we really an independent state, or is Salva Kiir making South Sudan as a sub-region of Uganda?

For example, you hear declarations in Kampala by chief of staff of the Ugandan armed forces of declaring “we have captured Bor.”

{{Those being serious crimes what are you doing about it? Are you asking for the international community to probe on the alleged use of weapons of mass destruction? If you are, who have you asked?}}

Anybody who feels that they have the high moral ground.

{{There were some rumours alleging either you or Dr. Riek Machar travelled to the UK? Is it true?}}

Where is he now? Has he left South Sudan at point during the conflict? He hasn’t travelled anywhere. He is travelling inside South Sudan.

He hasn’t travelled to UK. But is it a crime if he did travel to UK? He hasn’t committed a crime; he is only trying to resist because somebody is trying to kill him.

{sudantribune}

{{The Sudanese foreign ministry accused the international community of adopting double standards on the recent violence in South Darfur, saying some western governments remained mum on rebel attacks and their continued efforts to hamper efforts to achieve peace.}}

The ministry was reacting to a statement released by the United States State Department on Saturday in which Washington strongly condemned attacks on civilians in South Darfur and called on the Sudanese government “to prevent further violence and to cease its own campaign of aerial bombardments”.

The State Department further urged Khartoum to allow UNAMID peacekeepers access to the areas where the violence occurred, and renewed its call for the government and rebel groups “to begin an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflicts in Sudan”.

UN humanitarian office in Khartoum said in its weekly bulletin that between 30,000 to 40,000 people fled their homes in South Darfur during the last week of February as a result of clashes between the Sudan Liberation Army – Minni Minnawi (SLA-MM) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

The head of Darfur Regional Authority Tijani Al-Sissi said two days ago that the army did not play its role to repel attacks by rebel groups. He added that some uncontrolled elements took advantage of the intervention of the militia to attack villagers in the South Darfur areas.

The foreign ministry in a statement on Saturday evening said the rebel SLM-MM launched the attacks in the region aiming to undermine the peace talks with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) to end the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, pointing that the Darfurian group had accused the rebels in the Two Areas of betraying their alliance.

The statement also said the Sudanese government approved the efforts undertaken by the Chadian president Idriss Deby to persuade the rebel groups to join the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur.

The Ministry further calls on “some Western governments and organizations that rushed to condemn the Sudanese government to show for once impartiality, objectivity and fairness, and to condemn these outrageous attacks, to take practical steps that would push these movements to accept peace (…),” read the statement.

On a related development, the SLM-MM claimed in a statement released on Saturday that its fighters captured two new areas in North Darfur state.

{sudantribune}

{{Two dozen men in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have launched a group to fight for women’s rights in the region, which has been called the worst place in the world to be a woman.}}

“Women’s rights don’t just affect feminist movements,” the members of V-Men Congo said in a statement announcing the group’s formation.

“The stakes are global. It’s about our common humanity and the future of our society.”

The group, led by Denis Mukwege, a celebrated doctor known for founding a clinic for rape victims in eastern DR C was launched ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday.

Its mission is to combat “shameful” discrimination and misogynistic attitudes, which impede economic development, it said.

“Let’s break the silence, let’s change the mindset of our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our fathers and mothers, and let’s put an end to impunity and to sexual violence,” it said.

The group takes its name from the V-Day movement aimed at ending violence against women and girls, started by activist and playwright Eve Ensler, the author of “The Vagina Monologues”.

The V stands for victory, valentine and vagina.

The cradle of back-to-back conflicts that devastated the country from 1996 to 2003, DR Congo’s resource-rich east continues to be ravaged by rebels and militia that rights groups say use rape as a weapon of war.

Every day, 1 152 women are raped in DR Congo, found a 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health.

– AFP

{{US Ambassador to Uganda Scott H. DeLisi has come out to explain why he kept away from the launch of an HIV-prevention campaign organised by the country’s First Lady Janet Museveni.}}

Last week, the United States and Irish envoys to Uganda kept away from the government despite having confirmed attendance earlier. Mr DeLisi was speaking to journalists at his residence in Kololo during a pre-departure reception of more than 50 Ugandans travelling to the International Home and House wares Trade Show in Chicago next week.

DeLisi said he had to weigh whether attending the End Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (EMTCT) programme made sense, especially after President Museveni’s remarks to donors while signing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law.

He said his absence at the Kololo ceremony last week does not imply the US doesn’t support EMTCT.

While assenting to the anti-gays law recently, President Museveni said he is ready to stand up to the West if they chose to cut aid over the legislation.

The US is one of Uganda’s donor countries and its president Barack Obama had warned that the relationship between the two countries would become ‘complicated’ if Mr Museveni signed the Bill into law.

{wirestory}